Frederic Chopin essays

Frederic Chopin essays Frederic Chopin was a very famous pianist who started studying piano when he was four, and played at a private concert in Warsaw when he was eight years old. At age 16 Chopin was already well known for his music, and at that time he was enrolled in the Warsaw Conservatory of Music. His teacher Joseph Elsner was said to have done a brilliant job preparing him for his life in music. His music, which is romantic and lyrical in nature, is characterized by originality, adventurous harmony, rhythm, and poetic beauty. His music is considered to be romantic in content, but very different from the romanticism of the time. Chopin felt that many performance details, such as phrasing, dynamics, pedaling, and articulation, were not fixed elements of his music, even though they have a substantial impact on the way it sounds. Another thing that sets him apart from other musicians is the fact that he received little or no criticism from anyone about his music. Very much unlike many other famous musicians, Chopin could not stand to perform in concerts and as a result it is said that he performed in less than thirty over the course of his entire life. Whe n Chopin gave music lessons, he commanded as much as thirty francs per lesson, which at the time was a very large amount money. Chopin greatly influenced other composers, such as the Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt, German composer Richard Wagner, and French composer Claude Debussy. As a pianist he created a style that dominated the entire second half of the nineteenth century and was not changed until Debussy and Prokofiev came along. ...

psych essays

psych essays The five journal articles I examined were all from a journal titled Developmental Psychology, May 2000. The first journal article that I observed was Sleep Patterns and Sleep Disruptions in School-Aged Children. This study assessed the sleep patterns, sleep disruptions, and sleepiness of school-age children. Sleep patterns of 140 children (72 boys and 68 girls; 2nd-, 4th-, and 6th-grade students) were evaluated with activity monitors (actigraphs). In addition, the children and their parents completed complementary sleep questionnaires and daily reports. The findings reflected significant age differences, indicating that older children have more delayed sleep onset times and increased reported daytime sleepiness. Girls were found to spend more time in sleep and to have an increased percentage of motionless sleep. Fragmented sleep was found in 18% of the children. No age differences were found in any of the sleep quality measures. Scores on objective sleep measures were associated with subjective reports of sleepiness. Family stress, parental age, and parental education were related to the child's sleep-wake measures. The next article I observed was Shared Caregiving: Comparisons Between Home and Child-Care Settings. The experiences of 84 German toddlers (12-24 months old) who were either enrolled or not enrolled in child care were described with observational checklists from the time they woke up until they went to bed. The total amount of care experienced over the course of a weekday by 35 pairs of toddlers (1 member of each pair in child care, 1 member not) did not differ according to whether the toddlers spent time in child care. Although the child-care toddlers received lower levels of care from care providers in the centers, their mothers engaged them in more social interactions during non-working hours than did the mothers of home-only ...

Human Resources Management in Health Care Assignment - 2

Human Resources Management in Health Care - Assignment Example According to Exhibit 3 this results to ADR of around $340, and the earliest this can be achieved is March to June, most probably during May. There are many reasons why I do not recommend overhauling the training process. First, the 7-day countdown is a Ritz-Carlton tradition that has been proven through time to prepare its new employees to become a proud part of the famous hotel chain. In fact, there have been no reports that the hotel chain have subpar employees. Second, there are many other ways to increase occupancy, such as providing packages for events participants, creating a loyalty card for frequent guests, increasing advertising, etc. Human resource is an integral part of service business. This makes experimenting more difficult, because not only should it be considerate of the customers’ happiness, but also of the employees’ welfare. Unlike machines that only need power to drive it, butlers, managers, and other personnel need more than food and clothing, they also need job security, sense of achievement, and good work

Antonio Gaudi Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Antonio Gaudi - Research Paper Example Using modern decorative tools of ceramics, glass and color of the Art Nouveau school, he introduced innovative techniques in the processing of materials. By the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century, Gaudi had secured his place as an architect beyond orthodox modernism, creating a personal style based on the observation of nature, using its geometric patterns as well as color, texture and structural and decorative allusions to emulate nature in architecture. Now, nearly one hundred and sixty years after his birth, and over seventy since his tragic death in a street accident, Gaudi has finally transcended his local fame as a Spanish icon and become internationally recognized as the prime architect of the modern city of Barcelona. His famed Sagrada Familia, a cathedral of enormous architectural and landmark proportions, is recognized not only as a design phenomenon of universal importance, but as a major contribution to modern ideas regarding religious architectu ral representation. While Gaudi’s work was initially met with incomprehension, mockery and outright hostility from both the professional architectural world and the populace of Barcelona, the passing of time and further scrutiny has been kinder. His work now is considered the prime example of nature combined with architecture in its purest, most original and spectacular forms. Evidence of this is replete in his major works. A Dedication to Natural Form Religiously dedicated to the extreme from childhood, plagued by rheumatic ailments from an early age, Gaudi, unable to play with other children, spent time observing the world around him and drawing what he saw. It was during this time that he developed his keen observation of the elements in nature destined to later influence his architectural designs. Somewhat of a mathematical genius, throughout his life Gaudi also studied nature's angles and curves and incorporated them into his designs and mosaics. Hyperboloids and parabol oids he borrowed from nature were easily reinforced by steel rods, allowing his designs to resemble elements from the environment. In Gaudi’s view, â€Å"Those who look for the laws of Nature as a support for their new works collaborate with the Creator.†1 Given this, and his religious bent coupled with a childhood spent ill, isolated and contemplative in the country, it is not surprising that Gaudi’s design sense would reflect his intense interrelationship with God and nature. The elements found in Gaudi’s nature-inspired work--sometimes alluded to as biomimetic, are obvious to the informed structural observer: catenary arches, spiral stairways, conoid-shaped roofs, and a new type of tree-inspired column that uses hyperbolic paraboloids as its base. Ornamental aspects have their own identifiers: honeycomb gates, vine-inspired frieze, diatom-shaped windows, gargoyles depicting animals displaced by the church’s construction, and pinnacles in the for m of grasses and pyrite crystals. Gaudi’s dedication to nature is always reflected in his insistence upon color, â€Å"as nature does not present us with any object that is monochrome or completely uniform in colour.†2 Following in that vein, the artist went well beyond color in his quest for the incorporation and refection of natural elements. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Gaudi for his models

Evaluating Eligibility Rules Essay Example for Free

Evaluating Eligibility Rules Essay In determining which eligibility rules can be associated with the Lakeland Police Department, it the objectives of such institution must be looked into before going through the details in which such rules apply. The institution provides public and security measures to the community it holds. They promote the welfare of the people around them under the parameters mandated by the law in the creation of such institution. With this, the eligibility rules that the agency uses revolves around the (1) eligibility by administrative rule and regulation, (2) eligibility by administrative discretion and (3) eligibility by judicial decision. To understand whether the eligibility rules advocated by the agency promotes a stigmatization, trade-offs or off-target benefits, each rule must be looked into in accordance to the application of such within the Lakeland Police Department. The eligibility by administrative rule and regulations creates â€Å"an advantage to client beneficiaries because it gives social workers and other human service staff members a means by which to administer the benefit or service program evenhandedly and reliably, so that people similarly situated are given similar benefits. (Chambers and Wedal, 2005, p. 112) This rule can be seen to create trade-offs within the system of Lakeland Police Department. Trade-offs is evident because of the situational circumstances in which this rule can be applied to citizens within the district. There are implications of such applications in the way the police department addresses the people. â€Å"On the other hand, administrative rules restrict the freedom of staff members to use their discretion that is to judge need for the benefit or service in individual circumstances. (Chambers and Wedal, 2005, p. 112) The next thing is the eligibility by administrative discretion. This discretion sees to it that all particular concerns within a system need to be addressed by the agency. â€Å"All general organizational policies and administrative rules must be interpreted and applied to individual situations, so it is important to understand that such interpretation and applications necessarily involve significant personal judgment on the part of the staff member. † (Chambers and Wedal, 2005, p. 14) With this, it can be seen that there is a stigmatization of benefits among members of the community handled by the Lakeland Police Department. Their capability to address situations of its citizens particularly concerning their welfare in accordance to the law and mandates of the city can clearly be seen. This creates benefits among locals on the assurance that their welfare is protected by the agency. Lastly, is the eligibility of judicial decision. This rule can also be seen as applicable to the Lakeland Police Department. After a program has been in operation for a period of time, it is very likely that a contention will arise about whether the enabling legislation or whether an administrative rule or discretionary judgment was faithful to the spirit and intention of the law under which the program or policy was established. † (Chambers and Wedal, 2005, p. 115) It can be seen that this categorization creates an important part of the Lakeland Police Academy. This creates a stigmatization of benefits among local citizenry. It may be true that the agency can exercise administrative discretion, however issues may arise between the proper execution and application of such initiative among members of the community. This rule seeks to create a check-and-balance among the members of the police force. It is true that the objectives are in-line with the rules and mandates of the law, however, the actual practice remains to be on the part of local enforcers and policeman. This creates a subjective interpretation of actions by enforcers that more often than not leads to judicial contention. Appeals to the judiciary for clarification of the law are routine and in the end they can become as important as the legislation or administrative rules themselves. † (Chambers and Wedal, 2005, p. 115) To determine whether there are weak rules in the system of Lakeland Police Department, the three eligibility rules again must be looked into. On the eligibility by administrative rule and regulation, there exists a problematic issue on how to effectively distinguish what are the different parameters for such actions. The agency may have difficulty in promoting the necessary measures present if such issue persists. â€Å"Therefore, it is important to know whether a certain entitlement rule originates with judicial decisions, administrative rule, or individual staff discretion, for on that fact depends the probability of change – staff decisions certainly are changed more easily than are formal rules and statutes. † (Chambers and Wedal, 2005, p. 112) On the other hand, the two other eligibility rules are described to be minimal in problems. This is due to their ability to sink within the system and serve as both a check-and-balance among local authorities under the Lakewood Police Department and an initiative to further create changes that the department needs to address the changing needs of the future. Eligibility rules are characterized to create a foundation for actions by people. In the case of Lakewood Police Department, it seeks to cater the needs of the locals in promoting security and their welfare. In the issue of such eligibility rules being fair, it can be argued that they are indeed fair overall since it is based from the mandate of laws and legislation. The only issue here is the actual application of such rules by people who supposed to be fit for the description. Sometimes, there is a subjective interpretation of how such rules can be applied. This creates the sense of disparity of opinions and practices to both local and enforcers of such rules. On the other hand, tackling the issue of sufficiency, yes, it can be argued that the rules applied during that time are sufficient to address the current need of the locals. However, it may not be the case in the future as new issues and challenges arise within the new system. That is why, changes in the system and rules are needed to further pursue the interests of people. For one, rules are and regulations are meant for the people to ensure their security and welfare within the community.

Using The Mother As A Model In Meditation :: essays research papers

I feel that using the mother as a model in meditation fascinating because one can Personalize their own experience by visualizing his/her own mother and in effect, associate inner emotion & raw compassion for the one who created and protected them. I also thought that the realization of immense inapplicable rebirths, that everyone has been everyone’s mother in a sense, is a powerful tool towards introducing compassion for all beings. Just understanding the respectful nature of this compassion in general is a basic fundamental towards what the second Dally Lama, Gendun Gyatso calls ‘giving and taking’. It (‘giving and taking’) has many phases, and taking responsibility, and feeling empathy, towards all things is essential throughout. First one pictures his/her own mother personalized in his/her own frame of reference and associates the compassion of his/her mother towards other people close, like friends, family and pets by ‘giving and taking’. The second level of this concentration of the mind is feeling compassion for his/her enemy and even strangers he or she has never ever met. The next stage of this meditation is of course having compassion for all beings through compassion for the sake of helping other people to fulfill enlightenment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I should mention that anyone who wishes to practice the meditation of ‘giving and taking’ must have the self control and discipline attained by more basic meditations, for example 'mindfulness of breath'. With out such discipline, his/her mind may easily be swayed by any various stimulation that ‘giving and taking’ may evoke.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I thought it was interesting the book said that realizing the love of my Mother is indirectly responsible for who I am today, and here I sit writing and studying the holy practice of Dharma. And here I am appreciating my good fortune. And of course stay away from the negative and strive towards the positive for all, eliminate the harmful and to produce and encourage happiness towards all.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I also want to add some positive criticism towards the excerpt ‘How to Meditate upon the Ultimate Bodhi-Mind’, on page 163 of ‘Entering the Stream’.

The Impact of Korean Tv Dramas on Taiwanese Tourism Demand

Tourism Economics, 2009, 15 (4), 867–873 Research note: The impact of Korean TV dramas on Taiwanese tourism demand for Korea HYUN JEONG KIM School of Hospitality Business Management, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-742, USA. E-mail: [email  protected] edu. MING-HSIANG CHEN Department of Finance, National Chung Cheng University, Chia-Yi, Taiwan, ROC. E-mail: [email  protected] edu. tw. HUNG-JEN SU Department of Management, National Chung Cheng University, Chia-Yi, Taiwan, ROC. E-mail: [email  protected] edu. tw. This study examines the effects of popular Korean TV dramas on Taiwanese outbound travel to Korea between 1997 and the end of 2005.The popularity of Korean TV dramas began with the drama Fireworks, first shown in Taiwan from July to September 2000. Based on that information, the data were divided into two subsamples: January 1997 to September 2000 and October 2000 to December 2005. The Chow tests revealed a significant structural change in the total number of Taiwanese visitors to Korea between the two sample periods. Additional analyses indicated that a significant structural change was attributable mainly to the increase in pleasure travel, further demonstrating the strong effects of Korean TV series in Taiwan.Empirical results support the concept of film-induced tourism. Keywords: TV drama; Korea; Taiwan; outbound travel; Chow tests Traditionally, South Korea has focused on exporting manufactured goods. However, recently, the country has become known for exporting entertainment products. In May 1994, the Korean Presidential Advisory Board on Science and Technology released its first report regarding the impact of digital technology on economic development. The report pointed out that the Hollywood film Jurassic Park generated revenue equivalent to foreign sales of 1. million Hyundai cars (Shim, 2002). The comparison between Hyundai cars and 868 TOURISM ECONOMICS Hollywood films drew the country’s attention to the imp ortance of media content to the national economy. Since then, the Korean government has declared the high value-added audiovisual industry as one of the national strategic industries for the next century. In 1995, the government enacted the Motion Picture Promotion Law, with incentives such as tax breaks to encourage corporations to invest in the film industry (Shim, 2002).Korean TV dramas did not travel much beyond the national border until the late 1990s. Along with the Korean government’s support for the film industry, Korean TV dramas began to be broadcast in Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Russia (Lin and Huang, 2006). The Taiwanese media coined the slogan ‘Korean Wave’ in 2001, in response to the phenomenal popularity of the Korean pop culture in Taiwan (Chang et al, 2005). Not only has Taiwan been engulfed by the ‘Korean Wave’, but also Japan, China, Singapore and Malaysia (Lin and Huang, 2006).The popularity of Korean TV dramas in T aiwan began with Fireworks, first aired in 2000. The programme was an enormous success and it was rerun several times over the years, thereby forming the foundation of the ‘Korean Wave’ in Taiwan (Sung, 2008). Since Fireworks, more than 100 Korean soap operas have been shown in Taiwan (Lin and Huang, 2006). The Korean TV programmes have led to a dramatic change in the negative image associated with Korea; for example, roughness, violence and a lack of cultural refinement (Sung, 2008).Taiwanese people are now more willing to purchase Korean consumer goods (Onishi, 2005), join an international trip to Korea (Onishi, 2005) or learn the Korean language (Sung, 2008). Lee (2005) argued that the popularity of Korean TV dramas and movies overseas could launch a second economic boom for South Korea, particularly benefiting the entertainment and tourism industries. Lee (2005) stated that according to the export statistics of South Korean TV dramas, Taiwan was a leading importer ( 24. 5%), followed by Japan (19%), China (18. 6%) and Hong Kong (3. %). Accordingly, this study tests the influence of the popularity of Korean TV series in Taiwan on the number of Taiwanese tourists travelling to Korea. Although previous studies have discussed the effect of films on tourism (Tooke and Baker, 1996; Riley et al, 1998), no formal statistical tests have been performed to examine the significant increase in visitation and there has been no focus on a specific overseas audience. Taiwanese tourism demand for Korea: from 1980 to 2005 Geographically, South Korea and Taiwan are very close to each other.After World War II, both countries perceived each other as political allies until the early 1990s. For 12 years (1980–1992), the number of Taiwanese visitors to Korea increased gradually from 76,995 to 302,184, with an average annual growth rate of 14. 59% (see Figure 1 for the monthly travel flow from Taiwan to Korea). However, in August 1992, Korea severed diplomatic t ies with Taiwan to pursue its relationship with China. In 1993, the travel flow collapsed dramatically, by almost 60%, after the end of the political relationship.The low Taiwanese demand for travel to Korea lasted about eight years (1993– 2000), with a negative annual growth rate of –8. 84%. Taiwanese tourism demand for Korea Total outbound departures 800,000 700,000 600,000 500,000 400,000 300,000 200,000 100,000 0 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 1 869 1 2 3 4 Taiwanese tourist arrivals to Korea 50,000 1 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 0 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 2 3 4 Figure 1. Monthly time series of total Taiwanese outbound departures (all countries) and total Taiwanese tourist arrivals in Korea: 1/1980–12/2005.Note: Dotted line 1 – end of political relationship between Korea and Taiwan (8/1992). Dotted line 2 – earthquake of 21 September (9/1999). Dotted line 3 – start of the popularity of Korean TV series in Taiwan (10/ 2000). Dotted line 4 – outbreak of SARS in Taiwan (4/2003). Starting in 2001, the number of Taiwanese tourists travelling to Korea increased rapidly, although political ties were not renewed. Experts attribute the sudden travel flow to Korea to the unprecedented popularity of Korean TV dramas in Taiwan (Onishi, 2005). The growth rate of the travel flow to Korea (28. 9%) in a short period is impressive: 108,831 in 2000 to 368,205 in 2005. One sharp decrease occurred in 2003 because of the negative effect of the SARS outbreak in Taiwan on Taiwanese overseas departures. However, the number of Taiwanese visitors to Korea rebounded quickly. In 2004, to accommodate the strong tourism demand for Korea, Taiwan signed a new aviation agreement with 870 PLEASURE 40,000 TOURISM ECONOMICS BUSINESS 300 250 30,000 200 20,000 150 100 10,000 50 0 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 0 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 OFFICIAL 3,000 2,500 2,000 60 1,500 40 1,000 500 0 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05OTHER 100 80 20 0 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 Figure 2. Monthly time-series data of Taiwanese tourist arrivals in Korea: different purposes for visitation (1/1997–12/2005). Korea to resume flights between the two countries, ending a 12-year suspension on regular flight services (Government Information Office, 2005). Data, hypotheses and tests of structural changes Figure 1 presents monthly time-series data of total Taiwanese overseas travel (all countries) from January 1980 to December 2005; data were obtained from various issues of the annual report on tourism by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau.Figure 1 also plots the monthly data of total Taiwanese outbound travel to Korea over the same period. Data were collected from the Korea National Tourism Organization’s (KNTO) Taipei office. Figure 2 illustrates monthly data of Taiwanese arrivals to Korea in terms of purposes for visiting: pleasure, business, official and other. Data from the KNTO Taipei office were available for only nine years, f rom January 1997 to December 2005. KNTO (2006) reported that in 2005 pleasure trips accounted for 94. 1% of the total Taiwanese travel to Korea; in the same year, business, official and other categories accounted for only 0. 23%, 4. 86% and 0. 10%, respectively. To examine whether the popularity of Korean TV dramas in Taiwan has a Taiwanese tourism demand for Korea 871 significant impact on Taiwanese travel to Korea, we hypothesize that there is a structural change in the total number of Taiwanese trips to Korea before and after October 2000. This date is selected because the first popular Korean TV drama, Fireworks, ended in September 2000. To investigate the ffects of the popularity of Korean TV dramas further, we test if there is a structural change in total outbound departures (all countries) before and after October 2000. We expect no structural change in total outbound departures if the significant increase in Taiwanese overseas travel is restricted to South Korea, due to popu lar Korean TV dramas rather than the overall growth of outbound travel in Taiwan. In addition, we apply the same hypothesis to the different purposes for visitation (business, pleasure, official and other) to see which type of visit is affected more significantly by the popularity of Korean TV series.Accordingly, the following hypotheses are tested: †¢ Hypothesis 1: There is a structural change in the total number of Taiwanese visitors to Korea before and after October 2000. †¢ Hypothesis 2: There is a structural change in the total Taiwanese outbound departures before and after October 2000. †¢ Hypothesis 3: There is a structural change in the number of Taiwanese pleasure trips to Korea before and after October 2000. †¢ Hypothesis 4: There is a structural change in the number of Taiwanese business trips to Korea before and after October 2000. Hypothesis 5: There is a structural change in the number of Taiwanese official trips to Korea before and after October 20 00. †¢ Hypothesis 6: There is a structural change in the number of trips of the other category before and after October 2000. We used two Chow tests, namely the Chow breakpoint test and the Chow forecast test, to ensure the consistency of structural break test results. To perform the tests, the full sample period is divided into two subsamples: January 1997 to September 2000 and October 2000 to December 2005.The results of the Chow breakpoint test (Table 1) show a significant structural change in the total number of Taiwanese visitors to Korea, but no structural change in the total Taiwanese outbound departures before and after October 2000. In addition, structural changes are detected in pleasure travel and official travel, but no significant structural change is found in business and other travel. In conclusion, the Chow breakpoint test results support Hypotheses 1, 3 and 5. Table 1. Tests of a structural change in the number of Taiwanese visitors: before and after the popula rity of Korean TV series.Tourist arrivals Total outbound departures Total Pleasure Taiwanese visitors to Korea Yes Yes Yes Yes Business Official Other Chow breakpoint test Chow forecast test No No No No Yes No No Yes 872 TOURISM ECONOMICS The Chow forecast test produced similar results, with a minor difference in the results of travel purposes (Table 1). Structural changes are detected in the total number of Taiwanese visitors to Korea, pleasure travel and other travel; no structural changes are found in the total Taiwanese outbound departures and business and official travel before and after 2000.Therefore, Hypotheses 1, 3 and 6 are supported. Discussion and conclusion This study conducts tests of structure changes to examine the effects of popular Korean TV dramas on Taiwanese outbound travel to Korea from January 1997 to December 2005. The two Chow tests demonstrate a structural change in the total number of Taiwanese visitors to Korea between two periods: before and after Octobe r 2000 (before and after the showing of the Korean drama Fireworks).In addition, the fact that there is no structural change in the total number of Taiwanese outbound departures suggests that the significant increase in travel flow to Korea is an independent phenomenon, not associated with the overall growth of outbound departures in Taiwan. Chow tests, using travel purposes, do not show that business travel has a significant structural change, indicating that the number of Taiwanese travellers coming to Korea for business is not changed significantly before nd after 2000. For official and other travel, the results of two Chow tests are mixed; therefore, it may be difficult to support the existence of a structural change. Among four groups, only pleasure travel consistently shows a structural change through both Chow tests. This indicates that pleasure travel most likely drives a structural change in the total number of Taiwanese visitors to Korea before and after 2000, thereby furt her demonstrating the significant effects of popular Korean dramas in Taiwan.If Korean TV dramas, staged in Taiwan over the past few years, were linked to travel motivation, the effect would be seen on pleasure trips rather than other types. Overall, this study presents strong evidence regarding the effects of film on overseas travellers and supports the concept of film-induced tourism (Tooke and Baker, 1996; Kim et al, 2007). After diplomatic ties ended in 1992, South Korea was perceived by the Taiwanese as a violent country and one that overnight traded loyalty and faith for economic gains (Choe, 2001).Although this study does not measure the image/perception change, it is reasonable to assume that the popular Korean TV dramas have had a positive influence on the image of Korea, thereby leading to more Taiwanese pleasure trips to Korea. This study, therefore, confirms indirectly that movies, specifically TV dramas, can be an effective vehicle to change the perception of a certain destination country and further ease political conflict between two countries by stimulating social/pleasure travel flow (Kim et al, 2007).The film-induced tourism of this study is therefore in line with earlier notions that tourism is likely to act as a positive force to promote peace by reducing tension and suspicion (D’Amore, 1988). The great success of Korean TV dramas in neighbouring Asian countries such as Taiwan seems to offer an opportunity to consider countries further away than Asia. Due to globalization, outbound travels from the West to the East (and vice versa) are increasing constantly. The West may learn Asian culture, Taiwanese tourism demand for Korea 873 specifically Korean culture, through Korean dramas or movies.Therefore, the Korean government should develop the deeper understanding resulting from film-induced tourism to promote South Korea as a more appealing travel destination in the world. Future research directions The analysis of the present study is at a general level, breaking down Taiwanese arrivals only by total and purpose of visit. It is useful to identify the detailed profile of Taiwanese visitors drawn by popular Korean TV dramas. Hence, it is recommended that future research of this kind includes demographic variables such as gender, age and occupation.In addition to Taiwanese tourists, similar analyses should be performed using visitors from other countries/places where Korean TV programmes are broadcast. Currently, the film-induced tourism demand for Korea is being generated from East and South East Asian countries where the ‘Korean Wave’ exists strongly. In Asia, each country has its unique cultural character and economic power. Some demographic or behavioural differences may be found among these Asian visitors to Korea. References Chang, H. , Chen, Y. , and Liu, Z. 2005), ‘Korean Wave swept through and took away a large chunk of money’, China Times, 12 May 12 (http://news. chinatimes. com/ Chinatimes, accessed 12 October 2007). Choe, Y. (2001), ‘Asia dreaming of Korea’s pop singers and actors’, Korea Herald, 11 September (http://kn. koreaherald. co. kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2001/09/11/200109110034. asp, accessed 13 October 2007). D’Amore, L. (1988), ‘Tourism: a vital force for peace’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol 15, pp 269– 270. Government Information Office (2005), Foreign Relations, Government Information Office, Taipei, Taiwan. Kim, S. S. , Agrusa, J. Lee, H. , and Chon, K. (2007), ‘Effects of Korean television dramas on the flow of Japanese tourists’, Tourism Management, Vol 28, pp 1340–1353. KNTO (Korea National Tourism Organization) (2006), ‘Overview of Korea’s tourism industry’ (http://www. knto. or. kr, accessed 13 October 2007). Lee, D. (2005), ‘Winter sonata drama fever’, UNIORB: Asian Trend: Japan/South Korea (http:// uniorb. com/ATREND/Japanwatch/wsdramafev er. htm, accessed 12 October 2007). Lin, Y. , and Huang, J. (2006), ‘Marketing of South Korean tourism using TV mini series’, Business Review, Vol 5, pp 61–65. Onishi, N. 2005), ‘Roll over, Godzilla: Korea rules’, The New York Times, 28 June. Riley, R. , Baker, D. , and Van Doren, C. S. (1998), ‘Movie induced tourism’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol 23, pp 919–935. Shim, D. (2002), ‘South Korean media industry in the 1990s and the economic crisis’, Prometheus, Vol 20, pp 337–350. Sung, S. (2008), ‘The high tide of the Korean Wave III: why do Asian fans prefer Korean pop culture? ’ Korea Herald, 4 February. Tooke, N. , and Baker, M. (1996), ‘Seeing is believing: the effect of film on visitor numbers to screened locations’, Tourism Management, Vol 17, pp 87–94.

Forward the Foundation Chapter 9

3 Yet, even so, Hari Seldon could not repress the surge of satisfaction that he felt as he entered his laboratory. How things had changed. It had begun twenty years earlier with his own doodlings on his second-rate Heliconian computer. It was then that the first hint of what was to become parachaotic math came to him in a cloudy fashion. Then there were the years at Streeling University, when he and Yugo Amaryl, working together, attempted to renormalize the equations, get rid of the inconvenient infinities, and find a way around the worst of the chaotic effects. They made very little progress, indeed. But now, after ten years as First Minister, he had a whole floor of the latest computers and a whole staff of people working on a large variety of problems. Of necessity, none of his staff-except for Yugo and himself, of course-could really know much more than the immediate problem they were dealing with. Each of them worked with only a small ravine or outcropping on the gigantic mountain range of psychohistory that only Seldon and Amaryl could see as a mountain range-and even they could see it only dimly, its peaks hidden in clouds, its slopes veiled by mist. Dors Venabili was right, of course. He would have to begin initiating his people into the entire mystery. The technique was getting well beyond what only two men could handle. And Seldon was aging. Even if he could look forward to some additional decades, the years of his most fruitful breakthroughs were surely behind him. Even Amaryl would be thirty-nine within a month and, though that was still young, it was perhaps not overly young for a mathematician-and he had been working on the problem almost as long as Seldon himself. His capacity for new and tangential thinking might be dwindling, too. Amaryl had seen him enter and was now approaching. Seldon watched him fondly. Amaryl was as much a Dahlite as Seldon's foster son, Raych, was, and yet Amaryl, despite his muscular physique and short stature, did not seem Dahlite at all. He lacked the mustache, he lacked the accent, he lacked, it would seem, Dahlite consciousness of any kind. He had even been impervious to the lure of Jo-Jo Joranum, who had appealed so thoroughly to the people of Dahl. It was as though Amaryl recognized no sectoral patriotism, no planetary patriotism, not even Imperial patriotism. He belonged-completely and entirely-to psychohistory. Seldon felt a twinge of insufficiency. He himself remained conscious of his first two decades on Helicon and there was no way he could keep from thinking of himself as a Heliconian. He wondered if that consciousness was not sure to betray him by causing him to skew his thinking about psychohistory. Ideally, to use psychohistory properly, one should be above worlds and sectors and deal only with humanity in the faceless abstract-and this was what Amaryl did. And Seldon didn't, he admitted to himself, sighing silently. Amaryl said, â€Å"We are making progress, Hari, I suppose.† â€Å"You suppose, Yugo? Merely suppose?† â€Å"I don't want to jump into outer space without a suit.† He said this quite seriously (he did not have much of a sense of humor, Seldon knew) and they moved into their private office. It was small, but it was also well shielded. Amaryl sat down and crossed his legs. He said, â€Å"Your latest scheme for getting around chaos may be working in part-at the cost of sharpness, of course.† â€Å"Of course. What we gain in the straightaway, we lose in the roundabouts. That's the way the Universe works. We've just got to fool it somehow.† â€Å"We've fooled it a little bit. It's like looking through frosted glass.† â€Å"Better than the years we spent trying to look through lead.† Amaryl muttered something to himself, then said, â€Å"We can catch glimmers of light and dark.† â€Å"Explain!† â€Å"I can't, but I have the Prime Radiant, which I've been working on like a-a-â€Å" â€Å"Try lamec. That's an animal-a beast of burden-we have on Helicon. It doesn't exist on Trantor.† â€Å"If the lamec works hard, then that is what my work on the Prime Radiant has been like.† He pressed the security keypad on his desk and a drawer unsealed and slid open noiselessly. He took out a dark opaque cube that Seldon scrutinized with interest. Seldon himself had worked out the Prime Radiant's circuitry, but Amaryl had put it together-a clever man with his hands was Amaryl. The room darkened and equations and relationships shimmered in the air. Numbers spread out beneath them, hovering just above the desk surface, as if suspended by invisible marionette strings. Seldon said, â€Å"Wonderful. Someday, if we live long enough, we'll have the Prime Radiant produce a river of mathematical symbolism that will chart past and future history. In it we can find currents and rivulets and work out ways of changing them in order to make them follow other currents and rivulets that we would prefer.† â€Å"Yes,† said Amaryl dryly, â€Å"if we can manage to live with the knowledge that the actions we take, which we will mean for the best, may turn out to be for the worst.† â€Å"Believe me, Yugo, I never go to bed at night without that particular thought gnawing at me. Still, we haven't come to it yet. All we have is this-which, as you say, is no more than seeing light and dark fuzzily through frosted glass.† â€Å"True enough.† â€Å"And what is it you think you see, Yugo?† Seldon watched Amaryl closely, a little grimly. He was gaining weight, getting just a bit pudgy. He spent too much time bent over the computers (and now over the Prime Radiant)-and not enough in physical activity. And, though he saw a woman now and then, Seldon knew, he had never married. A mistake! Even a workaholic is forced to take time off to satisfy a mate, to take care of the needs of children. Seldon thought of his own still-trim figure and of the manner in which Dors strove to make him keep it that way. Amaryl said, â€Å"What do I see? The Empire is in trouble.† â€Å"The Empire is always in trouble.† â€Å"Yes, but it's more specific. There's a possibility that we may have trouble at the center.† â€Å"At Trantor?† â€Å"I presume. Or at the Periphery. Either there will be a bad situation here-perhaps civil war-or the outlying Outer Worlds will begin to break away.† â€Å"Surely it doesn't take psychohistory to point out these possibilities.† â€Å"The interesting thing is that there seems a mutual exclusivity. One or the other. The likelihood of both together is very small. Here! Look! It's your own mathematics. Observe!† They bent over the Prime Radiant display for a long time. Seldon said finally, â€Å"I fail to see why the two should be mutually exclusive.† â€Å"So do I, Hari, but where's the value of psychohistory if it shows us only what we would see anyway? This is showing us something we wouldn't see. What it doesn't show us is, first, which alternative is better, and second, what to do to make the better come to pass and depress the possibility of the worse.† Seldon pursed his lips, then said slowly, â€Å"I can tell you which alternative is preferable. Let the Periphery go and keep Trantor.† â€Å"Really?† â€Å"No question. We must keep Trantor stable, if for no other reason than that we're here.† â€Å"Surely our own comfort isn't the decisive point.† â€Å"No, but psychohistory is. What good will it do us to keep the Periphery intact if conditions on Trantor force us to stop work on psychohistory? I don't say that we'll be killed, but we may be unable to work. The development of psychohistory is on what our fate will depend. As for the Empire, if the Periphery secedes it will only begin a disintegration that may take a long time to reach the core.† â€Å"Even if you're right, Hari, what do we do to keep Trantor stable?† â€Å"To begin with, we have to think about it.† A silence fell between them and then Seldon said, â€Å"Thinking doesn't make me happy. What if the Empire is altogether on the wrong track and has been for all its history? I think of that every time I talk to Gruber.† â€Å"Who's Gruber?† â€Å"Mandell Gruber. A gardener.† â€Å"Oh. The one who came running up with the rake to rescue you at the time of the assassination attempt?† â€Å"Yes. I've always been grateful to him for that. He had only a rake against possibly other conspirators with blasters. That's loyalty. Anyhow, talking to him is like a breath of fresh air. I can't spend all my time talking to court officials and to psychohistorians.† â€Å"Thank you.† â€Å"Come! You know what I mean. Gruber likes the open. He wants the wind and the rain and the biting cold and everything else that raw weather can bring to him. I miss it myself sometimes.† â€Å"I don't. I wouldn't care if I never go out there.† â€Å"You were brought up under the dome-but suppose the Empire consisted of simple unindustrialized worlds, living by herding and farming, with thin populations and empty spaces. Wouldn't we all be better off?† â€Å"It sounds horrible to me.† â€Å"I found some spare time to check it as best I could. It seems to me it's a case of unstable equilibrium. A thinly populated world of the type I describe either grows moribund and impoverished, falling off into an uncultured near-animal level-or it industrializes. It is standing on a narrow point and topples over in either direction and, as it just so happens, almost every world in the Galaxy has fallen over into industrialization.† â€Å"Because that's better.† â€Å"Maybe. But it can't continue forever. We're watching the results of the overtoppling now. The Empire cannot exist for much longer because it has-it has overheated. I can't think of any other expression. What will follow we don't know. If, through psychohistory, we manage to prevent the Fall or, more likely, force a recovery after the Fall, is that merely to ensure another period of overheating? Is that the only future humanity has, to push the boulder, like Sisyphus, up to the top of a hill, only to see it roll to the bottom again?† â€Å"Who's Sisyphus?† â€Å"A character in a primitive myth. Yugo, you must do more reading.† Amaryl shrugged. â€Å"So I can learn about Sisyphus? Not important. Perhaps psychohistory will show us a path to an entirely new society, one altogether different from anything we have seen, one that would be stable and desirable.† â€Å"I hope so,† sighed Seldon. â€Å"I hope so, but there's no sign of it yet. For the near future, we will just have to labor to let the Periphery go. That will mark the beginning of the Fall of the Galactic Empire.† 4 â€Å"And so I said,† said Hari Seldon. † ‘That will mark the beginning of the Fall of the Galactic Empire.' And so it will, Dors.† Dors listened, tight-lipped. She accepted Seldon's First Ministership as she accepted everything-calmly. Her only mission was to protect him and his psychohistory, but that task, she well knew, was made harder by his position. The best security was to go unnoticed and, as long as the Spaceship-and-Sun, the symbol of the Empire, shone down upon Seldon, all of the physical barriers in existence would be unsatisfactory. The luxury in which they now lived-the careful shielding from spy beams, as well as from physical interference; the advantages to her own historical research of being able to make use of nearly unlimited funds-did not satisfy her. She would gladly have exchanged it all for their old quarters at Streeling University. Or, better yet, for a nameless apartment in a nameless sector where no one knew them. â€Å"That's all very well, Hari dear,† she said, â€Å"but it's not enough.† â€Å"What's not enough?† â€Å"The information you're giving me. You say we might lose the Periphery. How? Why?† Seldon smiled briefly. â€Å"How nice it would be to know, Dors, but psychohistory is not yet at the stage where it could tell us.† â€Å"In your opinion, then. Is it the ambition of local faraway governors to declare themselves independent?† â€Å"That's a factor, certainly. It's happened in past history-as you know far better than I-but never for long. Maybe this time it will be permanent.† â€Å"Because the Empire is weaker?† â€Å"Yes, because trade flows less freely than it once did, because communications are stiffer than they once were, because the governors in the Periphery are, in actual fact, closer to independence than they have ever been. If one of them arises with particular ambitions-â€Å" â€Å"Can you tell which one it might be?† â€Å"Not in the least. All we can force out of psychohistory at this stage is the definite knowledge that if a governor of unusual ability and ambition arises, he would find conditions more suitable for his purposes than he would have in the past. It could be other things, too-some great natural disaster or some sudden civil war between two distant Outer World coalitions. None of that can be precisely predicted as of now, but we can tell that anything of the sort that happens will have more serious consequences than it would have had a century ago.† â€Å"But if you don't know a little more precisely what will happen in the Periphery, how can you so guide actions as to make sure the Periphery goes, rather than Trantor?† â€Å"By keeping a close eye on both and trying to stabilize Trantor and not trying to stabilize the Periphery. We can't expect psychohistory to order events automatically without much greater knowledge of its workings, so we have to make use of constant manual controls, so to speak. In days to come, the technique will be refined and the need for manual control will decrease.† â€Å"But that,† said Dors, â€Å"is in days to come. Right?† â€Å"Right. And even that is only a hope.† â€Å"And just what kind of instabilities threaten Trantor-if we hang on to the Periphery?† â€Å"The same possibilities-economic and social factors, natural disasters, ambitious rivalries among high officials. And something more. I have described the Empire to Yugo as being overheated-and Trantor is the most overheated portion of all. It seems to be breaking down. The infrastructure-water supply, heating, waste disposal, fuel lines, everything-seems to be having unusual problems and that's something I've been turning my attention to more and more lately.† â€Å"What about the death of the Emperor?† Seldon spread his hands. â€Å"That happens inevitably, but Cleon is in good health. He's only my age, which I wish was younger, but he isn't too old. His son is totally inadequate for the succession, but there will be enough claimants. More than enough to cause trouble and make his death distressing, but it might not prove a total catastrophe-in the historic sense.† â€Å"Let's say his assassination, then.† Seldon looked up nervously. â€Å"Don't say that. Even if we're shielded, don't use the word.† â€Å"Hari, don't be foolish. It's an eventuality that must be reckoned with. There was a time when the Joranumites might have taken power and, if they had, the Emperor, one way or another-â€Å" â€Å"Probably not. He would have been more useful as a figurehead. And in any case, forget it. Joranum died last year on Nishaya, a rather pathetic figure.† â€Å"He had followers.† â€Å"Of course. Everyone has followers. Did you ever come across the Globalist party on my native world of Helicon in your studies of the early history of the Kingdom of Trantor and of the Galactic Empire?† â€Å"No, I haven't. I don't want to hurt your feelings, Hari, but I don't recall coming across any piece of history in which Helicon played a role.† â€Å"I'm not hurt, Dors. Happy the world without a history, I always say. In any case, about twenty-four hundred years ago, there arose a group of people on Helicon who were quite convinced that Helicon was the only inhabited globe in the Universe. Helicon was the Universe and beyond it there was only a solid sphere of sky speckled with tiny stars.† â€Å"How could they believe that?† said Dors. â€Å"They were part of the Empire, I presume.† â€Å"Yes, but Globalists insisted that all evidence to the effect that the Empire existed was either illusion or deliberate deceit, that Imperial emissaries and officials were Heliconians playing a part for some reason. They were absolutely immune to reason.† â€Å"And what happened?† â€Å"I suppose it's always pleasant to think that your particular world is the world. At their peak, the Globalists may have persuaded 10 percent of the population of the planet to be part of the movement. Only 10 percent, but they were a vehement minority that drowned out the indifferent majority and threatened to take over.† â€Å"But they didn't, did they?† â€Å"No, they didn't. What happened was that Globalism caused a diminishing of Imperial trade and the Heliconian economy slid into the doldrums. When the belief began to affect the pocketbooks of the population, it lost popularity rapidly. The rise and fall puzzled many at the time, but psychohistory, I'm sure, would have shown it to be inevitable and would have made it unnecessary to give it any thought.† â€Å"I see. But, Hari, what is the point of this story? I presume there's some connection with what we were discussing.† â€Å"The connection is that such movements never completely die, no matter how ridiculous their tenets may seem to sane people. Right now, on Helicon, right now there are still Globalists. Not many, but every once in a while seventy or eighty of them get together in what they call a Global Congress and take enormous pleasure in talking to each other about Globalism. Well, it is only ten years since the Joranumite movement seemed such a terrible threat on this world and it would not be at all surprising if there weren't still some remnants left. There may still be some remnants a thousand years from now.† â€Å"Isn't it possible that a remnant may be dangerous?† â€Å"I doubt it. It was Jo-Jo's charisma that made the movement dangerous-and he's dead. He didn't even die a heroic death or one that was in any way remarkable; he just withered away and died in exile, a broken man.† Dors stood up and walked the length of the room quickly, swinging her arms at her sides and clenching her fists. She returned and stood before the seated Seldon. â€Å"Hari,† she said, â€Å"let me speak my mind. If psychohistory points to the possibility of serious disturbances on Trantor, then if there are Joranumites still left, they may still be plotting the Emperor's death.† Seldon laughed nervously. â€Å"You jump at shadows, Dors. Relax.† But he found that he could not dismiss what she had said quite that easily. 5 The Wye Sector had a tradition of opposition to the Entun Dynasty of Cleon I that had been ruling the Empire for over two centuries. The opposition dated back to a time when the line of Mayors of Wye had contributed members who had served as Emperor. The Wyan Dynasty had neither lasted long nor had it been conspicuously successful, but the people and rulers of Wye found it difficult to forget that they had once been-however imperfectly and temporarily-supreme. The brief period when Rashelle, as the self-appointed Mayor of Wye, had challenged the Empire, eighteen years earlier, had added both to Wye's pride and to its frustration. All this made it reasonable that the small band of leading conspirators should feel as safe in Wye as they would feel anywhere on Trantor. Five of them sat around a table in a room in a run-down portion of the sector. The room was poorly furnished but well shielded. In a chair which, by its marginal superiority in quality to the others, sat the man who might well be judged to be the leader. He had a thin face, a sallow complexion, and a wide mouth with lips so pale as to be nearly invisible. There was a touch of gray in his hair, but his eyes burned with an inextinguishable anger. He was staring at the man seated exactly opposite him-distinctly older and softer, his hair almost white, his plump cheeks tending to quiver when he spoke. The leader said sharply, â€Å"Well? It is quite apparent that you have done nothing. Explain that!† The older man said, â€Å"I am an old Joranumite, Namarti. Why do I have to explain my actions?† Gambol Deen Namarti, once the right-hand man of Laskin â€Å"Jo-Jo† Joranum, said, â€Å"There are many old Joranumites. Some are incompetent, some are soft, some have forgotten. Being an old Joranumite may mean no more than that one is an old fool.† The older man sat back in his chair. â€Å"Are you calling me an old fool? Me? Kaspal Kaspalov? I was with Jo-Jo when you had not yet joined the party, when you were a ragged nothing in search of a cause.† â€Å"I am not calling you a fool,† said Namarti sharply. â€Å"I say simply that some old Joranumites are fools. You have a chance now to show me that you are not one of them.† â€Å"My association with Jo-Jo-â€Å" â€Å"Forget that. He's dead!† â€Å"I should think his spirit lives on.† â€Å"If that thought will help us in our fight, then his spirit lives on. But to others-not to us. We know he made mistakes.† â€Å"I deny that.† â€Å"Don't insist on making a hero out of a mere man who made mistakes. He thought he could move the Empire by the strength of oratory alone, by words-â€Å" â€Å"History shows that words have moved mountains in the past.† â€Å"Not Joranum's words, obviously, because he made mistakes. He hid his Mycogenian origins far too clumsily. Worse, he let himself be tricked into accusing First Minister Eto Demerzel of being a robot. I warned him against that accusation, but he wouldn't listen-and it destroyed him. Now let's start fresh, shall we? Whatever use we make of Joranum's memory for outsiders, let us not ourselves be transfixed by it.† Kaspalov sat silent. The other three transferred their gaze from Namarti to Kaspalov and back, content to let Namarti carry the weight of the discussion. â€Å"With Joranum's exile to Nishaya, the Joranumite movement fell apart and seemed to vanish,† said Namarti harshly. â€Å"It would, indeed, have vanished-but for me. Bit by bit and rubble by rubble, I rebuilt it into a network that extends over all of Trantor. You know this, I take it.† â€Å"I know it, Chief,† mumbled Kaspalov. The use of the title made it plain that Kaspalov was seeking reconciliation. Namarti smiled tightly. He did not insist on the title, but he always enjoyed hearing it used. He said, â€Å"You're part of this network and you have your duties.† Kaspalov stirred. He was clearly debating with himself internally and finally he said slowly, â€Å"You tell me, Chief, that you warned Joranum against accusing the old First Minister of being a robot. You say he didn't listen, but at least you had your say. May I have the same privilege of pointing out what I think is a mistake and have you listen to me as Joranum listened to you, even if, like him, you don't take the advice given you?† â€Å"Of course you can speak your piece, Kaspalov. You are here in order that you might do so. What is your point?† â€Å"These new tactics of ours, Chief, are a mistake. They create disruption and do damage.† â€Å"Of course! They are designed to do that.† Namarti stirred in his seat, controlling his anger with an effort. â€Å"Joranum tried persuasion. It didn't work. We will bring Trantor down by action.† â€Å"For how long? And at what cost?† â€Å"For as long as it takes-and at very little cost, actually. A power stoppage here, a water break there, a sewage backup, an air-conditioning halt. Inconvenience and discomfort-that's all it means.† Kaspalov shook his head. â€Å"These things are cumulative.† â€Å"Of course, Kaspalov, and we want public dismay and resentment to be cumulative, too. Listen, Kaspalov. The Empire is decaying. Everyone knows that. Everyone capable of intelligent thought knows that. The technology will fail here and there, even if we do nothing. We're just helping it along a little.† â€Å"It's dangerous, Chief. Trantor's infrastructure is incredibly complicated. A careless push may bring it down in ruins. Pull the wrong string and Trantor may topple like a house of cards.† â€Å"It hasn't so far.† â€Å"It may in the future. And what if the people find out that we are behind it? They would tear us apart. There would be no need to call in the security establishment or the armed forces. Mobs would destroy us.† â€Å"How would they ever learn enough to blame us? The natural target for the people's resentment will be the government-the Emperor's advisers. They will never look beyond that.† â€Å"And how do we live with ourselves, knowing what we have done?† This last was asked in a whisper, the old man clearly moved by strong emotion. Kaspalov looked pleadingly across the table at his leader, the man to whom he had sworn allegiance. He had done so in the belief that Namarti would truly continue to bear the standard of freedom passed on by Jo-Jo Joranum; now Kaspalov wondered if this is how Jo-Jo would have wanted his dream to come to pass. Namarti clucked his tongue, much as a reproving parent does when confronting an errant child. â€Å"Kaspalov, you can't seriously be turning sentimental on us, are you? Once we are in power, we will pick up the pieces and rebuild. We will gather in the people with all of Joranum's old talk of popular participation in government, with greater representation, and when we are firmly in power we will establish a more efficient and forceful government. We will then have a better Trantor and a stronger Empire. We will set up some sort of discussion system whereby representatives of other worlds can talk themselves into a daze-but we will do the governing.† Kaspalov sat there, irresolute. Namarti smiled joylessly. â€Å"You are not certain? We can't lose. It's been working perfectly and it will continue working perfectly. The Emperor doesn't know what's going on. He hasn't the faintest notion. And his First Minister is a mathematician. He ruined Joranum, true, but since then he has done nothing.† â€Å"He has something called-called-â€Å" â€Å"Forget it. Joranum attached a great deal of importance to it, but it was a part of his being Mycogenian, like his robot mania. This mathematician has nothing-â€Å" â€Å"Historical psychoanalysis or something like that. I heard Joranum once say-â€Å" â€Å"Forget it. Just do your part. You handle the ventilation in the Anemoria Sector, don't you? Very well, then. Have it misfunction in a manner of your choosing. It either shuts down so that the humidity rises or it produces a peculiar odor or something else. None of this will kill anyone, so don't get yourself into a fever of virtuous guilt. You will simply make people uncomfortable and raise the general level of discomfort and annoyance. Can we depend on you?† â€Å"But what would only be discomfort and annoyance to the young and healthy may be more than that to infants, the aged, and the sick†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Are you going to insist that no one at all must be hurt?† Kaspalov mumbled something. Namarti said, â€Å"It's impossible to do anything with a guarantee that no one at all will be hurt. You just do your job. Do it in such a way that you hurt as few as possible-if your conscience insists upon it-but do it!† Kaspalov said, â€Å"Look! I have one thing more to say, Chief.† â€Å"Then say it,† said Namarti wearily. â€Å"We can spend years poking at the infrastructure. The time must come when you take advantage of gathering dissatisfaction to seize the government. How do you intend to do that?† â€Å"You want to know exactly how we'll do it?† â€Å"Yes. The faster we strike, the more limited the damage, the more efficiently the surgery is performed.† Namarti said slowly, â€Å"I have not yet decided on the nature of this ‘surgical strike.' But it will come. Until then, will you do your part?† Kaspalov nodded his head in resignation. â€Å"Yes, Chief.† â€Å"Well then, go,† said Namarti with a sharp gesture of dismissal. Kaspalov rose, turned, and left. Namarti watched him go. He said to the man at his right, â€Å"Kaspalov is not to be trusted. He has sold out and it's only so that he can betray us that he wants to know my plans for the future. Take care of him.† The other nodded and all three left, leaving Namarti alone in the room. He switched off the glowing wall panels, leaving only a lonely square in the ceiling to provide the light that would keep him from being entirely in the darkness. He thought: Every chain has weak links that must be eliminated. We have had to do this in the past and the result is that we have an organization that is untouchable. And in the dimness, he smiled, twisting his face into a kind of feral joy. After all, the network extended even into the Palace itself-not quite firmly, not quite reliably, but it was there. And it would be strengthened.

Free Essays on Ritalin

In recent years, more and more kids seem to be on a prescription drug called Ritalin. This drug is being handed out more and more by doctors as a way of treating Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, a complex neurological impairment that prevents kids from concentrating. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates one out of every six students has this disorder. The rate of Ritalin use in the United States is at least five times higher than in the rest of the world according to federal studies. Ritalin is a central nervous system stimulant that is somewhat similar to amphetamines. It was created in 1955, classified as a controlled substance in 1971, and became the drug of choice for ADHD in 1981. It is also used in treating narcolepsy. It is thought to activate the brain stem arousal system and cortex, and, like cocaine, works on the neurotransmitter dopamine. It appears to increase the levels of dopamine in the frontal lobe where attention and impulsive actions are regul ated. When taken in its intended form under a doctor's prescription, it has moderate stimulant properties. There has been a great deal of concern about its addictive qualities and adverse affects. (Long 1991) ADHD is a relatively new disorder. It was introduced in 1980, where it was labeled ADD (attention deficit disorder). In the 1950's, children were simply labeled "hyperkinetic." The term "hyperactivity" was added in 1987, hence the name ADHD. Not all children have the hyperactivity, and thus are labeled to have ADD. ADD is not treated with Ritalin; antidepressants are more commonly used. One of the problems with the label ADHD is that just because a child may be overly hyper, doesn't mean the child is not paying attention. The problem is the child is paying too much attention to too many things at the same time. Some scientists believe ADHD is a result of a problem in pregnancy ranging from fetal alcohol syndrome to exposure to lead in uterus. Oth... Free Essays on Ritalin Free Essays on Ritalin Parents throughout the country are being pressured and compelled by schools to give psychiatric drugs to their children. Teachers, school psychologists, and administrators commonly make dire threats about their inability to teach children without medicating them. They sometimes suggest that only medication can stave off a bleak future of delinquency and occupational failure. They even call child protective services to investigate parents for child neglect and they sometimes testify against parents in court. Often the schools recommend particular physicians who favor the use of stimulant drugs to control behavior. These stimulant drugs include methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta, and Metadate) or forms of amphetamine (Dexedrine and Adderall). My purpose today is to provide to this class the scientific basis for rejecting the use of stimulants for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or for the control of behavior in the classroom or home. I. Escalating Rates of Stimulant Prescription Stimulant drugs, including methylphenidate and amphetamine, were first approved for the control of behavior in children during the mid-1950s. Since then, there have been periodic attempts to promote their usage, and periodic public reactions against the practice. In fact, the first Congressional hearings critical of stimulant medication were held in the early 1970s when an estimated 100,000-200,000 children were receiving these drugs. Since the early 1990s, North America has turned to psychoactive drugs in unprecedented numbers for the control of children. In November 1999, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) warned about a record six-fold increase in Ritalin production between 1990 and 1995. In 1995, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), a agency of the World Health Organization, deplored that â€Å"10 to 12 percent of all boys between the ages 6 and 14 in the United Sta... Free Essays on Ritalin In recent years, more and more kids seem to be on a prescription drug called Ritalin. This drug is being handed out more and more by doctors as a way of treating Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, a complex neurological impairment that prevents kids from concentrating. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates one out of every six students has this disorder. The rate of Ritalin use in the United States is at least five times higher than in the rest of the world according to federal studies. Ritalin is a central nervous system stimulant that is somewhat similar to amphetamines. It was created in 1955, classified as a controlled substance in 1971, and became the drug of choice for ADHD in 1981. It is also used in treating narcolepsy. It is thought to activate the brain stem arousal system and cortex, and, like cocaine, works on the neurotransmitter dopamine. It appears to increase the levels of dopamine in the frontal lobe where attention and impulsive actions are regul ated. When taken in its intended form under a doctor's prescription, it has moderate stimulant properties. There has been a great deal of concern about its addictive qualities and adverse affects. (Long 1991) ADHD is a relatively new disorder. It was introduced in 1980, where it was labeled ADD (attention deficit disorder). In the 1950's, children were simply labeled "hyperkinetic." The term "hyperactivity" was added in 1987, hence the name ADHD. Not all children have the hyperactivity, and thus are labeled to have ADD. ADD is not treated with Ritalin; antidepressants are more commonly used. One of the problems with the label ADHD is that just because a child may be overly hyper, doesn't mean the child is not paying attention. The problem is the child is paying too much attention to too many things at the same time. Some scientists believe ADHD is a result of a problem in pregnancy ranging from fetal alcohol syndrome to exposure to lead in uterus. Oth...

The Word of the Year for 2016

The Word of the Year for 2016 The Word of the Year for 2016 The Word of the Year for 2016 By Mark Nichol Each year, several major lexicographers release their word of the year- the term that, among the most frequently looked-up words during the previous twelve months, has most prominently captured the zeitgeist. This post discusses the 2016 selections. Merriam-Webster selected surreal, a word apropos for a year in which various seemingly irrational, inexplicable events occurred. The dictionary company announced that a significant spike in the number of people who looked up the word occurred three times during the year, including after Election Day in the United States. Surreal was coined about a hundred years ago by a group of artists responding to Sigmund Freud’s recent explication of the concept of the unconscious mind; they called their movement surrealism, and the art the surrealists produced was marked by fantastic and incongruous imagery or elements. The prefix sur-, meaning â€Å"above† or â€Å"over,† is seen in other words such as surname (â€Å"beyond name†) and surrender (â€Å"give over†). Among the other words Merriam-Webster noted as being frequently looked up during the year include revenant, meaning â€Å"one who returns†; the attention was prompted by its use in the title of a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a man left for dead who seeks vengeance on those who abandoned him. Another is feckless, meaning â€Å"ineffective† or â€Å"irresponsible.† Derived from the Scots word feck, an alteration of effect, the word gained attention when Mike Pence, the US vice president–elect, uttered it in a debate against his Democratic Party rival, Tim Kaine. (Feck and feckful are now obsolete, and feckless is rare.) Icon, ultimately from the Greek verb eikenai, meaning â€Å"resemble,† was yet another; the death of the musician who (usually) called himself Prince (born Prince Rogers Nelson) prompted lookups for this word meaning â€Å"idol† or â€Å"symbol.† (Interestingly, for a time he employed a glyph, or symbol, in place of his name.) Words with icon as a root include iconography, meaning â€Å"depiction of icons,† and iconoclast, meaning â€Å"destroyer of icons.† The Oxford English Dictionary chose as its Word of the Year post-truth, signifying the growing trend toward subordination of objective truth to appeals to emotion and personal belief when weighing decisions. (In American English, the prefix post is usually not hyphenated, but British English tends to retain the hyphen in such usage, and usage of this word in the United States tends to follow that style.) Meanwhile, the word selected by Dictionary.com to represent the preceding year is xenophobia, meaning â€Å"fear or hatred of strangers or the unknown.† (In Greek, xenos means â€Å"stranger†- but also â€Å"guest†- and phobia is derived from the Greek word phobos, meaning â€Å"fear.†) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Useful Stock Phrases for Your Business EmailsHow to Play HQ Words: Cheats, Tips and TricksPeople vs. Persons

Instruction and Student Learning Research Paper

Instruction and Student Learning - Research Paper Example One essential element that needs to be carefully monitored is the curriculum and instruction of the school. It is evident that any curriculum definition one way or another puts emphasis on the learning process, gained knowledge and skills, subject content and students’ comprehensive learning experience. In designing an appropriate course curriculum, an essential process needs to be considered including which curriculum model is most suitable for the needs of the learner. The process of learning is as important as the content learned (Newby 2005). One of the most traditional and most commonly used models is â€Å"content or syllabus-based†. Blenkin et al (1992) suggest that curriculum is delineated into subjects and delivered through a bulk of knowledge-content. Education, he states, is the route where these can be transferred to students using efficient teaching and learning methods. This type of curriculum emphasizes students attending schools to learn subject-specific facts. It also helps to use this model in assessment process where students, according to their gained qualification can be grouped in to high and low achievers. Schools at present may have similar goals of optimizing students’ learning and maximizing their potentials but may have differing philosophies, approaches and educational strategies in fulfilling these goals. â€Å"Predictably, the traditional teacher-centered model in which knowledge is â€Å"transmitted† from teacher to learner is rapidly being replaced by alternative models of instruction (e.g., learner-centered, constructivist, and sociocultural ideas) in which the emphasis is on guiding and supporting students as they learn to construct their understanding of the culture and communities of which they are a part (Brown et al., 1993; Duffy & Cunningham, 1996; Pea, 1993). In the process of shifting our attention to the constructive activity of the learner, we recognize the need to anchor learning in real-w orld or authentic contexts that make learning meaningful and purposeful. â€Å" (Bonk & Cunningham, 1998, p.27) Constructivist theory is gaining more attention, recognition and acceptance in many educational institutions. It premises on the belief that learners â€Å"construct† their own learning, and in effect, have better retention of it. In the Constructivist theory the emphasis is placed on the learner or the student rather than the teacher or the instructor.   It is the learner who interacts with objects and events and thereby gains an understanding of the features held by such objects or events.   The learner, therefore, constructs his/her own conceptualizations and solutions to problems.   Learner autonomy and initiative is accepted and encouraged (Van Ryneveld, n.d., n.p.). Teachers come up with several strategies in capturing their students’ attention, and courses are offered in helping educators become more efficient in imparting knowledge and skills t o their pupils. No longer do they limit their teaching strategies to boring lectures, dizzying written and oral examinations and students’ delivery of memorized answers to expected questions. Teaching aids have likewise expanded from using flashcards, blackboard demonstrations and textbooks to more concrete materials like actual 3-dimensional objects, dioramas and multimedia materials. Activities are likewise evolving to be more

Strategic management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 4

Strategic management - Essay Example From the report, it is clear that the greatest threats that face Kepak Group are the increase in costs for the beef industry in terms of technology and the threat from cheaper beef from South America. However, they have major opportunities in the increase of population and evolving diets in Asia. This has informed their strategy. Table of Contents Contents Page 1. Executive Summary†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦2 2. Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦4 3. Kepak’s Business Environment†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦......4 4. Kepak’s current strategy†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦7 5. Appraisal of Kepak’s Business Strategy†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...10 6. References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.12 7. Appendix†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..13 REVIEW OF THE STRATEGIC SITUATION OF KEPAK Introduction Kepak Group is a dynamic and young business that has become a leading company for food processing in Europe. Their success has been informed by their belief in pursuing a partnership approach through the development of customer relationships. The company is dedicated to consumer focus, brand management, innovation, as well as unwavering commitment to ensuring food safety. Because of volatile market requirements, Kepak Group continues to provide its consumers with quality products at prices that are competitive. Their operations are divided into three business units that comprise of Agra Trading, Kepak Convenience Foods, and Kepak Meat Division. Each of this division plays a crucial role in the expansion and growth of Kepak Grou p. The group processes more than 25,000 tons of consumer foods, 1.5 million lambs, and 30,000 cattle every year and has more than â‚ ¬750 million in turnover, employing in excess of 2,000 people. They have nine facilities for manufacturing across Ireland, as well as the UK, with sales presence in major countries in the EU and globally and a South American operations office. Kepak’s Business Environment PEST Analysis Political factors: With regards to the WTO, the lift from a successful DOHA Round deal would have to be balanced, as well as take Ireland’s agricultural interests into account. Ireland’s department of Agriculture continues to show strong reservations concerning current agricultural proposals in agricultural, particularly its potential effects on the Irish beef industry (Garavan, 2011: p43). It is estimated that Irish cattle prices could drop by 9% with output value of Irish beef dropping by â‚ ¬120m. A tariff reduction of 23%, furthermore, unde r sensitive designation of products would see beef imports increasing in the EU by 30%. Alternatively, if beef is not designated as a sensitive product, its negative impact on agriculture in Ireland could be higher. These circumstances, which would lead to a 70% tariff cut, would result in a drop in price for Irish beef, by more than 28% before the year 2017 and an annual beef output fall of â‚ ¬380m every year. Economic factors: The recent years have seen fluctuations of commodity prices, especially for beef and cereals. The medium-term products concerning agricultural commodities, despite the economic crisis, are promising (Garavan, 2011: p45). Changing dietary patterns, improved living