Analysis Batangas University by Porter 5 Forces

There are a number of models and frameworks used in the analyses of competitiveness of engineering universities in the context of internationalization and globalization. Although much can be derived from such analyses, it is argued that universities that can be harnessed to provide competitive advantage can be best analyzed when regarded as an industry.In this study, the competitiveness of Batangas State University College of Engineering was determined based on Porter’s Five Competitive Forces Model and was defined by the following: the threat of new entrants, rivalry among existing firms within an industry, the threat of substitute products or services, the bargaining power of suppliers, and the bargaining power of buyers. The intensity of threats of new entering universities, short-term substitutes, and rivalry among existing universities were determined over the strength of Batangas State University College of Engineering as supplier, and as viewed by the industries and alu mni as buyers.PURPOSEThis paper examined the competitiveness of Batangas State University College of Engineering using Porter’s Five Competitive Forces Model. It assessed the competitive edge of the College as perceived by alumni and other stakeholders vis-à  -vis other engineering institutions, which highlighted the applicability of this model in determining the competitiveness of the College.DESIGN / METHODTo be able to analyze the competitive advantage of Batangas State University College of Engineering over the other existing engineering schools in Batangas, its graduates from twelve engineering programs over the last five years were surveyed. This determined the graduates’ assessment of faculty competence in different aspects, effectiveness of its curriculum, and the capability of the university in providing quality services to the students.On the other hand, the personnel from different companies in the region were included in the population of this study to det ermine their assessment of the competitiveness of the graduates of Batangas State University College of Engineering. The respondents of this study were 386 alumni out of 2,197 graduates from twelve engineering programs of Batangas State University from the school year (SY) 2005-2006 to SY 2009-2010. On the other hand, a total of 52 respondents from major industries in the CALABARZON region were the second group of respondents of the study.RESULTSResults revealed that the perceptions of the alumni and industry partners on the College’s competitiveness as regards buyer power, supplier power, threats of new entry and rivalry among existing competitors were relatively high. On the other hand, they had an average perception on the competitiveness of the College’s programs considering threats of substitutes .CONCLUSIONPorter’s Five Competitive Forces Model has been found applicable in the analysis of competitiveness of Batangas State University College of Engineering similar to that in business entities to have distinct attributes and capabilities which are presented to their clientele if they are to have a strong market and competitive position.The results underscore the competitiveness of the University in terms of faculty, curriculum and other attributes that make it a University of choice by students for an engineering education. Despite these, it is challenged by  aggressive competition by other institutions and by alternative substitute modes of learning equal to an engineering degree.KEYWORDSPorter's Five Competitive Forces, competitive advantage, differentiation strategiesIntroductionGlobalization has become inevitably beyond the control of individual Higher Education Institutions and governments. Characteristically, since global cities have a high density of participation in higher education, there is a strong positive correlation between the higher education enrolment ratio of a nation or a region, and its global competitive performa nce (Bloom, 2005). Future opportunities and challenges for internationalization of higher education must be explored in order to respond to globalization of societies, cultures, economies and labor markets (Kà ¤lvermark & Wende, 1997).There has been a continuing interest in the analysis of forces that induce impact on organizations, particularly those that can be harnessed to provide competitive advantage like universities. (Thurlby, 1998).The Batangas State University stands as a university offering engineering education anchored on its mission and the mandates of the Commission on Higher Education. Having acquired recognition for its engineering education through the years, there is a felt need to verify how it stands as to the entities it has served: the alumni, and the market – the industries.One of the bases of competitiveness is readiness for internationalization. Termed as internationalization of tertiary education (ITE), this means integrating international, intercul tural or global dimension into the goals, functions, and delivery of higher education (Knight and de Wit, 1997) as cited by Eglitis and Panina (2010). Evidently, this is seen in the crafted vision of Batangas State University, which has geared its direction in the shaping of a global Filipino. Also, the Batangas State University is governed by national regulations, policies and norms which according to Duczmal (2006) may have an impact on students and their academic and  personal and social behaviors as well as their choice of university.To date, the College is home to 122 top performers in national licensure examinations notably in mechanical, electrical, electronics and communications, civil, chemical, environmental and sanitary and architecture programs, and the graduates’ performance in national licensure examinations is consistently higher than the national passing percentage expected among engineering graduates. As a result of the efforts to continuously improve the q uality of its curricular programs, faculty, and research capabilities, it has become a university of choice by future engineering students and one of the top producers of globally competitive professionals in the region.According to Porter, it is imperative that organizations have their own strategies that reflect their needs and plans, given the institutional arrangements and external conditions. The Batangas State University took the risk of program differentiation when it started offering programs other engineering schools in the province did not offer. It adapted by making the faculty strong by sending them for advanced studies and trainings abroad to prepare them for the instructional needs and challenges of the new programs.To Porter, this move shows the competitiveness of an organization. Organizations adapting to new institutional arrangements and new demands will choose the way they respond and reorganize themselves. One way is to create added value to its products which in this context, Batangas State University did. Duczmal (2006) had cited not-for-profit organizations, such as a higher education institutions use added value strategies not just for money but works for value for society and performance of their mission, as well.MethodologyThe study was anchored on the theory of Michael Porter on competitiveness which is a tool used to analyze an industry’s or company’s structure and their corporate strategies. This will present the different competitiveness models and frameworks as applied to business and knowledge intensive organizations. Industry analysis in higher education institution was also presented to show the appropriateness of Porter theory in the analysis of competitiveness of universities.The respondents of this study were the 386 alumni out of 2,197 graduates over the past five years from twelve engineering programs of Batangas State University from the school year (SY) 2005-2006 to SY 2009-2010. The number of respondents used exceeds the 339 minimum required number of samples determined using Slovin’s Formula with a margin of error of 0.05, distributed to different programs using stratified proportional sampling technique. On the other hand, a total of 52 respondents from major industries in CALABARZON region were the second group of respondents in the study.Survey Questionnaire DesignGenerally, the developed questionnaire consisted of seven sections (Sections A to G). The first six sections (Sections A to F) were intended for alumni respondents while the seventh section (Section G) was aimed for industry personnel who were able to handle Batangas State University College of Engineering graduates and trainees. The responses of the respondents to the questionnaire items were given scalar values of 1-5 with 1 as the lowest to 5 as the highest.Section A. This part of the questionnaire dealt with the general criteria in choosing engineering university. This includes affordability, adequacy of fac ilities, laboratories and library resources, availability of scholarships, efficiency of students’ services, accreditation of programs, honors and achievements earned by the university, and linkages with industries and other agencies. This reflects the competitiveness of Batangas State University College of Engineering as based on Porter’s buyer power attribute as perceived by alumni.Section B. This part pertained to faculty competence as to professional qualification, advanced education, sufficiency of teaching experience and training, affiliation to professional organizations, participation to seminars and conferences, and linkages with the industry. This reflects the competitiveness of Batangas State University College of Engineering based on Porter’s supplier power attribute as to  faculty competence as perceived by alumni.Section C. This was concerned with the strength of the curriculum as to submission to Commission on Higher Education standards, updated ness and responsiveness to industry needs, and involvement of the stakeholders in its revision. This reflects the competitiveness of Batangas State University College of Engineering based on Porter’s supplier power attribute as to curriculum as perceived by alumni.Section D. This section dealt with the strength or limitations of Batangas State University as compared to other existing engineering schools in Batangas with regard performance, affordability, faculty, accreditation, research and innovation, awards and honors, linkages and international affiliation. This reflects the competitiveness of Batangas State University College of Engineering as based on Porter’s attribute of rivalry as perceived by alumni.Section E. This contained the preference to other substitutes to engineering courses which includes enrollment to short term or technical courses, affiliation to some professional organization, and enrollment to some online programs. This indicates the competitiven ess of Batangas State University College of Engineering as based on Porter’s threats of substitute attribute as perceived by alumni.Section F. This part focused on the acceptability of Universities that introduce new engineering programs that are competitive in providing engineering education. This shows the competitiveness of Batangas State University College of Engineering based on Porter’s threats of new entry attribute as perceived by alumni.Section G. This concerned the attributes of the graduates of Batangas State University College of Engineering as well as the responsiveness of its curriculum relative to the needs of the industry. This reflects the competitiveness of Batangas State University College of Engineering as based on Porter’s buyer power attribute as perceived by the industries.Competitiveness ModelsIn the higher education literature, Pringle and Huisman (2011) observed that most models and frameworks for analysis are based on defining governan ce structure or coordination models such Clark’s Triangle of Coordination (1983), van Vught’s Rational Planning and Control Model (1989), Olsen’s Four States Model (1988) and Hood’s Comparative Framework (1998).Porter (1990) outlined his conceptual framework of competitiveness first in ‘The Competitive Advantage of Nations’. At a broad level, Porter distinguished between two sets of factors that impact competitiveness: The social, political, macroeconomic, and legal context on the one hand and the microeconomic foundations on the other hand (Porter, 2004). In his research, Ketels (2006) pointed out that without microeconomic improvements macroeconomic reforms fail to achieve sustainable improvements in prosperity.Within the set of microeconomic factors, Porter distinguishes between the sophistication with which companies operate and the quality of the business environment Haataja and Okkonen (2004) synthesized the three competitiveness models as applied to knowledge intensive organization. This includes value chain, resource-based view and knowledge-based view.Porter (1985) pointed out that every activity in the process creates value for the customer through the chain of activities. According to this view, the chain of activities helps to develop knowledge creation and service processes.Porter’s Five Competitive Forces Model has already been applied in a wide array of businesses including non-profit organizations where competitive advantage is a central theme. As cited by Pringle and Huisman (2011), Porter’s model (1985) is anchored on microeconomics and despite criticisms from Mintzberg (1994) and others, it is still one of the most strategic frameworks used today. Since engineering universities can be harnessed to provide competitive advantage, it is in this context that Porter’s Five Competitive Forces Model was chosen by the researcher in analyzing the  competitiveness of Batangas State Univer sity College of Engineering.Industry Analysis in Higher EducationAccording to Collis (1997), industry analysis is based on the concept that all industries create value. The questions are what amount of value the industry can create and who captures the created value. The two forces that affect the size of the industry include threat of entry of new providers and threat of substitute products. On the other hand, the three forces that determine the division of the industry include power of buyers, power of suppliers, and the degree of rivalry. Together these five forces are considered contributory to the average profitability of an industry.Duczmal (2006) cited that some industries are inherently more profitable than others because of the distinct differences in their structure. In the analysis of higher education, the success of industry analysis lies in its focus at the various agents of change that operate directly or indirectly through the ‘five forces’. The framework considers the collective changes caused by the five forces, and how the resulting changes may reconfigure the higher education industry as a whole rather than looking at the impact of the individual forces or drivers.Each public and private higher education institution always strives to gain a competitive advantage in the market. (Porter, 1980, 1998). Having a competitive advantage over other competing organizations attracts prospective sufficient students, and further generate state funding and tuition fee income, which is necessary for sustainable development. Porter distinguished two families of business concepts or strategies useful for industry analysis namely: product differentiation strategy and efficiency or cost leadership strategy.The first type of strategy refers to the idea that the organization is unique for it serves  a particular market and offers products and services that are different from  the products offered by other suppliers. In the second family of strat egies, the advantage of the organization lies in its ability to produce its product in a less costly way as compared to its competitors. As further identified by Porter, strategies can be directed towards either a broad market; or specific market segments. In some cases, targeting the broad market may lead to an increased added value and a better competitive position in the market (Duczmal, 2006).In the case of higher education applying focus strategy, universities and colleges concentrate on a narrow student or program segment, and within that segment they manage to develop the best offer and capture the students’ interests. This discourages other providers from competing directly. In this case, students have less choice and are left with fewer alternatives to choose from.On the other hand, a broad market-wide business concept suggests a broad market strategy, where the products offered caters to a wider market segments. Organizations choosing the broad market strategy can a dopt the differentiation strategy or the cost leadership strategy, emphasizing price first then availability. However, most often they will mix both strategies, offering low-cost products to some consumer groups that emphasize the price first, and high-quality products to those consumers that are attracted by the brand and quality of the products (Porter, 1980). Universities that consider a broad market strategy offer a wide range of programs, including those leading to bachelor, master or even doctoral degrees.They may offer varied modes of delivery, including full-time, part-time and evening-time programs. Their offer is targeted at a wide array of students groups from different economic classes. They also try to attract students from rural areas by opening branches in smaller non-academic cities. Higher education institutions that decide to adopt such a broad market strategy need to have diversified sources of financial resources in the form of state subsidies or large endowments , or donations (Duczmal, 2006).Porter’s Five Competitive Forces TheoryAccording to Porter (1980, 1985) and Porter and Millar (1985), as cited by Shin (2001), a firm develops its business strategies in order to obtain competitive advantage over its rivals. This is done by responding to five primary forces: the threat of new entrants, rivalry among existing firms within an industry, the threat of substitute products or services, the bargaining power of suppliers, and the bargaining power of buyers (Figure 1). The threats of new entrants become a competitive force when they are new and render the same products and services. The easier it is for new companies to enter the industry, the more cutthroat competition there will be.Power of suppliers is the pressure suppliers can place on a business. If one supplier has a large enough impact to affect another company's offerings, definitely it becomes a competitive force to reckon and then it holds substantial power. On the other hand, power of buyers is manifested by the pressure customers can place on a business. Businesses have to adopt strategies so that they provide requirements and demands of customers as they have impact to the success sustainability and profitability of the business.Availability of substitutes is a pressure as buyers will have the tendency to switch to another supplier with a competitive product or service. These forces help analyze the intensity of competition to the profitability and attractiveness of an industry. Figure 1 shows the interaction among the different competitive forces.In the context of Porter’s Five Competitive Forces, the study presupposed that these could also be adopted as assessment factors in determining the competitiveness of educational institutions. Along this end, the forces were aligned so that they may appropriately be useful on the educational field. Supplier in the educational sector referred to faculty and curriculum.

Berny Madoff’s Ponzi scheme

Globalization has necessitated the need to develop a code of ethics for different professions, due to the need to streamline operations across the globe. The accounting profession is one of these professions which is regulated by the code of ethics. The major purpose it serves in this profession is to prevent misconduct of accounting professionals, and develop a standard way of presenting accounting information. However, despite the presence of these regulations, serious scandals such as fraud still occur in many companies. There has been an increase in financial scandals in various US companies, and most of them can be traced to lack of controls and disregard for the code of ethics. The code of ethics has been ignored by many professionals, a fact which has led to the emergence of these scandals. The Berny Madoff ponzi scheme is one such scandal, which has caused huge losses to various banks and other institutions. The paper will discuss this scandal in relation to the accounting code of ethics, and their role in preventing such scandals. Berny Madoff ponzi scheme. Bernard Madoff masterminded what may be the largest stock fraud in history committed by an individual. He confessed to having masterminded a ponzi scheme, through his firm Madoff Securities, which led to losses amounting to over $50 billion (Zambito and Smith 2008). A ponzi scheme is a fraud which involves payment to investors, out of funds received from previous investors, rather than profits. Madoff used a strategy of investment called the split-strike strategy. It involved purchasing stocks, and simultaneously purchasing options, to guard against losses, and these were known as ‘puts'. In case the cost of the ‘puts' went down, Madoff would trade in ‘calls', which involved trading these stocks to buyers who aimed at profiting from small gains. This strategy ensured that he made small profits in cases where shares appreciated in value, after numerous trades. However, with time, some financial analysts began questioning the profits that Bernard made from these transactions. They were concerned that his methods of investment were incapable of earning the level of profits he enjoyed, and recommended an investigation on his activities (Henriques A1). In fact, Madoff Securities were investigated for over eight times by the regulatory bodies. The investigations did not find major problems, since they were not looking at the in-depth operations of the firm. Some analysts actually suspected that it was a ponzi scheme way before it became clear to investigators. They questioned the use of an audit firm with only one auditor and accountant. They also questioned the unusual strategy which involved avoiding disclosure of SEC holdings, through selling them for cash after each period. In the beginning of 2008, the market downturn revealed that Madoff Securities were in fact dealing in a ponzi scheme (Naidu 2008). This was as a result of several requests by investors to withdraw their money, which amounted to $7 billion, and Madoff could not honor their requests. He was forced to confess the truth to his sons, who reported him to the authorities. He was subsequently indicted in December last year. Role of strict standards in the accounting profession. The accounting profession requires ethical guidelines which are used by both the accounting professionals and their clients (Carey and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants 1-5). The strict standards are beneficial to all stakeholders in a business. We will analyze the role of these ethical standards according to various stakeholders. Accountants. In these modern times, globalization has transversed boundaries and connected the world. This has led to the emergence of multi-nationals, with branches in different countries. Since the parent company has to standardize its accounting reports across several branches, it is necessary to present a global standardized way of preparing and presenting accounting reports to stakeholders. Examples of accounting standards are the IFRS and GAAP accounting standards. This is one purpose that accounting ethics serve, and it enables companies to easily compare their performance with others. Accounting ethics also helps accountants to maintain integrity and professionalism in their profession so that it may remain respectable and profitable. Ethical standards such as professional competence, objectivity and confidentiality help the accountants to prepare accurate and complete financial reports. Flouting these standards leads to consequences such as de-registration from the professional body, suspension of the practicing license, criminal liability among other consequences. Madoff flouted these principles through committing fraud, a situation which led to criminal proceedings being preferred against him. He now faced the possibility of spending a long time in jail, as well as paying heavy fines. Investors. Investors require knowledge about market trends and stock movements before making investment decisions, in order to get favorable returns on their investment. After investing in a company, investors are very interested in knowing the performance of the company in order to make investment decisions. In order to facilitate this, it is important to prepare accurate financial statements which enable investors to make proper adjustments in investment. The accounting code of ethics helps in achieving this purpose through enabling accountants present the true state of affairs of a company. In the case of Madoff Securities, the disregard of the code of ethics has led to the apparent loss of over $40 billion by investors who include companies, banks and individuals. Some investors, such as Martin Roseman who lend Madoff $10 million, have sued him in order to get back money they are owed. Financiers. Before a company can receive a loan from a financier such as lending institutions, there are various aspects which are analyzed. One aspect is the financial performance of the company. If a firm performs financially well, then the financiers are confident that they will be paid back, with minimal risks. However, firms which perform poorly have higher chances of defaulting on payments and are less likely to receive loans from financial institutions. As a result of this, firms may be tempted to misrepresent their financial position in order to obtain financing. Madoff Securities can be said to be one firm which engaged in this practice, since the firm could not survive without additional funds from new investors, in line with operations of a ponzi scheme. The code of conduct comes in, in such a case, to discourage these practices. Accounting principles such as prudence requires that firms do not understate their expenses or overstate their assets, in contrast to operations of ponzi schemes. This is beneficial to financial institutions since it enables them to finance companies with minimal risk. Accounting principles responsible for Madoff Securities collapse. Several accounting principles which were broken, were responsible for the financial collapse of Madoff Securities. One principle, prudence, requires that accountants anticipate losses and make provisions for them early enough (Kwok 30-38). It also requires accountants not to overstate the value of their assets (Marriott et. al. 221-223). Madoff Securities did not provide for the losses attributable to fraud, and actually concealed them over several years, through the use of subsequent investor deposits. When they were finally revealed several stakeholders were affected, among them some charitable organizations which had to close down due to reliance on this firm (Storm 2008). According to Warren et. al. (34-35), another principle of accounting is the matching concept. This concept states that expenses which are incurred in the course of generating revenue should be recognized during this period. This is done to ensure that comparison between revenues and expenses of a similar accounting period can be achieved (Eskew and Jensen 40-42). This is very important in making business decisions. In the case of Madoff Securities, expenses which the company incurred were matched with future revenues in order to conceal the fraud. This means that the accountants did not follow the matching concept, which was responsible for the accrual of huge expenses over the years. Accounting standards require that the accountants present the true state of affairs of a company. Misrepresentation of the state of affairs is a violation of these standards. Madoff Securities misrepresented the financial position of the company, presenting it as a profitable firm, yet it had significant liabilities. This misrepresentation attracted new investors, which led to the company owing over $50 billion to investors at the time of collapse. Conclusion and recommendation. Bernard Madoff's ponzi scheme has been seen to have affected very many local and international investors. The ignorance of the code of ethics and accounting principles that have been discussed was a major factor which caused this scandal. The code of ethics in accounting helps to protect the interests of all stakeholders of a company. It also makes it easier for companies to compare performance, due to standardization of accounting report preparations and presentation. Madoff forgot one fact about ponzi schemes; they eventually collapse due to the inability to handle sudden withdrawals by investors. The economic meltdown played a role in exposing this scheme. It is important that the role of the market regulators with regards to the scheme be thoroughly investigated, since several warnings were given prior to detection of the scandal. If the authorities had acted sooner, the loss would have been lower than it currently is. The stock regulatory authorities need to establish measures that deter such practices. One of them would be to scrutinize transactions of companies with the aim of detecting irregular and unethical accounting practices. The next course of action would be to investigate the detected suspicious trends, even if the actions are not entirely illegal. This will minimize the risk of loss attributable to fraud, by investors in the stock market.

Advanced Information Security

Viewing Web pages: For the web pages, the imposter could appeal off a phishing attack, tricking users into thinking that they were accessing their bank's Web site, and hence pull off a man-in-the-middle attack and gather login credentials. Moreover, they are accessing some personal data or putting some personal data on some website and hence pull off a man in the middle attack and collect all the personal details of this user. Why, in practice, are server certificates rarely signed: It appears to be too much trouble to distribute the public keys securely for the certificate authorities in advance and store them in the .ssh/authorized_keys directory of the client machines. The user wants to be sure that he or she has logged in to the machine that she is trying to log in to, especially if the authentication method is to send a password.   Otherwise, an attacker could act as a man-in-the-middle. Rule conflicts is a problem in a firewall rule set. Some rules are created for rejecting all the packets from a particular destination. On the other hand, some rules are established to accept all the packets from a particular destination. If reject and accept destination are same then rule conflicts will be Occur. In this case, some rule conflicts are present which is given bellow: Above table shows that rule 2 allow all the packets from the destination IP address and destination port. Rule 3 indicates that all the packets are rejected from a particular destination where the destination of rule 2 and 3 is same. Therefore, a rule conflict occurs. In this case rule, 13 allow all the packets those are using any protocol. But in rule 14 and 15 shows that the packets are rejected those are using TCP and UDP protocol. Therefore, a rule conflict occurs. The FIRST match policy put on the first rule which match the packet. The BEST match policy put on the rule which is more accurate regarding the network. The LAST match policy put on the rule that is first. Mainly it is bottom to top. Proxy Firewall is one type of network security system which protects a network by filtering the packets. This firewall is used in an application layer. The proxy firewall allows all the network traffic by checking their validity. Proxy firewall is placed in the network gateway.   All incoming packets are checked in the proxy server. If the packets are authorized then, proxy firewall grants the access. If not then proxy firewall destroy this packet.   The transparent firewall acts as a gateway of a network. Mainly it is a routed hop. It is also called layer 2 firewalls which perform as a "bump in the wire" or a "stealth firewall." A transparent firewall has commonly used the firewall. The proxy filter firewall is extremely secure than the transparent firewall. The main difference between the transparent firewall and proxy firewall is proxy firewall use a proxy server in the system, but the transparent firewall is used routed hop firewall. NAT stand for Network Address Translation. NAT is applied in a single device as a network gateway. For an example router. A net enables router connect with the internet and hide the entire private from the public network. In NAT system, it is not necessary to recognize all the internal devices. All the generated request by workstation are sent via the router. NAT help the router to transfer this packets in the internet t destination. The NAT convert the source address of all packets and place its IP address. If security is to provide in to the NAT, the network will be more secure for the attackers. Mainly NAT create a firewall for the security purpose. All servers that are presented to people in the general system (web), including web servers and DNS servers ought to be set in the DMZ. The DMZ is a different subnet situated outside of the association's system, but at the same time secured by a firewall. Movement starting from the organization's system is permitted into the DMZ, however, activity from the DMZ is not allowed into the association's system. This is imperative since ought to a server get to be bargained, and an aggressor cannot access the organization's inside system. Braun, J., Volk, F., Classen, J., Buchmann, J. and Mà ¼hlhà ¤user, M., 2014. CA trust management for the Web PKI. Journal of Computer Security, 22(6), pp.913-959. Bray, R.F., Grzelak, C.P. and Keirstead, J.D., International Business Machines Corporation, 2015. Firewall event reduction for rule use counting. U.S. Patent 9,043,461. Carthern, C., Wilson, W., Bedwell, R. and Rivera, N., 2015. Network Address Translation and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. In Cisco Networks (pp. 255-272). Apress. Francis, P., 2015. Network Address Translation (NAT). ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review, 45(2), pp.50-50. Ghai, S. and Verma, A., 2015. Network Security Using Divergent Firewall Technologies. IITM Journal of Information Technology, 1, p.29. Kachare, M.S.S. and Deshmukh, P., 2015. Firewall Policy Anomaly Management with Optimizing Rule Order. International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM), 4(2), pp.201-205. Mao, H., Zhu, L. and Li, M., 2012, September. Current State and Future Development Trend of Firewall Technology. In Wireless Communications, Networking and Mobile Computing (WiCOM), 2012 8th International Conference on (pp. 1-4). IEEE. Vratonjic, N., Freudiger, J., Bindschaedler, V. and Hubaux, J.P., 2013. The inconvenient truth about web certificates. In Economics of information security and privacy iii (pp. 79-117). Springer New York.

Storytelling, the Meaning of life and The Epic of Gilgamesh Research Paper

Storytelling, the Meaning of life and The Epic of Gilgamesh - Research Paper Example A., â€Å"Story Telling, the Meaning of Life, and the Epic of Gilgamesh†). The close inspection of these lines will lead the readers of Arthur. A. Brown to the life that is between realms of mortality and immortality. The switching of codes between the imagination and pragmatism is what we call life. This is the underlying vision of the author and so he focuses that any story can easily launch us to a world of imagination which can be termed as an escapade from the harsh realities of life but then it is always essential because it refreshes our mind, soul and body. According to the author here lies the greatness or importance of story telling and this code switching between the mortal and the immortal world is the true essence of life. According to Arthur, stories are informative and they inform us about life and death and sometimes life after death and with a commendable rhetorical description of the story of Gilgamesh, he describes this in his essay. To the narrator, the story of Gilgamesh is not merely an ancient story telling about the life of a king and people living in the land between Tigris and Euphrates, also it is not a parable of their lifestyle, myth and beliefs but much more. It is a story about something beyond our comprehension which author describes in his essay as â€Å"things we cannot fix†. These are the things which are beyond the day – to – day life of the people living in the second and third millennium BCE and worshiping a king called Gilgamesh, but by delving deep into the epic. One can find out, according to Arthur, the reconciliation between human and mortality. One must try to understand things beyond his perceptions and our reflections regarding story telling. Relat ing life with a story is the greatest work and to successfully fit into the scheme of a character’s action is the utmost transcendental phenomena in life, views Arthur. The title of the essay is aptly suitable for bearing the crown of being the

Public affair class source report 5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Public affair class source report 5 - Essay Example The information informs the agency on the economic significance of international students to U.S, U.K, and China. Gil, Natalie. â€Å"International students: a guide to social success.† The Guardian, 19 September 2014. Web. 30 November 2014. Summary: International students face huge challenges in integrating themselves into the social scene of a foreign nation. The international office and international student committee encourages international students to join culture and language societies that promote social interactions between cultural backgrounds. Relevance: The information is relevant to the department of international student U.S since it manifests how international offices and international student committees can help international students from integrating themselves into the U.S social scene. Konrad, Matt. â€Å"How U.S. Students Can Find College Scholarships to Study in Europe.† U.S. News & World Report LP, 30 October 2014. Web. 30 November 2014. Summary: The article confirms that U.S students who seek higher education in different countries across Europe suffer from financial aid complications than international students seeking higher education in U.S. U.K is the best destination for U.S students seeking higher education in Europe since it provides educational scholarships to students from U.S. Relevance: The information is relevant to the department of international student U.S since it manifests the financial challenges faced by U.S students and presents educational scholarships offered to U.S students by U.K. Lu, Yao. â€Å"3 Rules for International Students Using U.S. Social Media.† U.S. News & World Report LP, 9 Jan. 2014. Web. 30 November 2014.

Self evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Self evaluation - Essay Example ffective communication skills enhance the effectiveness of the professional training in human services thereby ensuring that I know how to communicate to specific audiences. I will have the concept and mechanism of communicating thereby develop reliable professional relationships. I am a respectful individual who will uphold the ethical values and the dignity of human life. I understand that I will work with vulnerable individuals in the society. My respectful personality that arises from the values I uphold will ensure that I maintain productive relationships both with the patients and colleagues thus improve the success of the programs. Furthermore, such a personality ensures that I endear to my clients who will in turn trust and open up to me thus making helping them easier (Dewane, 2005). Finally, I am a tolerant individual capable of tolerating people from various backgrounds. I maintain peace when interacting with people and strive to pay attention to their demands. I often speak after understanding the nature of my audience. Tolerance is an important feature in human services since the profession requires interacting and helping people from diverse backgrounds. The people often portray unique personalities and may behave different. As a tolerant individual, I have the ability to interact with such people and help win their trust thus help them appropriately. Unfortunately, I have a number of weakness key among which is my small physique, which may hamper the need to undertake strenuous activities in order to reach people especially in time of calamities (Neukrug, 2001). Despite such, I am a skilled driver, can operate a number of machinery, and will therefore prove helpful in a number of ways during such situations. I lack endurance to strenuous activities and companies. While I am a tolerant individual, I do not like engaging in strenuous activities that cause either physical or psychological exhaustion. The personality is a major impediment to work in

Administrative law theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Administrative law theories - Essay Example Administrative law deals with the decision-making of administrative units of government that are part of a state regulatory scheme in such areas as international trade, manufacturing, the environment, taxation, broadcasting, immigration and transport. Administrative law extended greatly during the twentieth century, as legislative bodies world-wide created more government agencies to regulate the increasingly complex social, economic and political spheres of human interaction (Administrative law, 2006).Most countries that follow the principles of common law have developed procedures for judicial review that limit the reviewability of decisions made by administrative law bodies. Often these procedures are joined with legislation or other common law doctrines that set up principles for proper rulemaking (Administrative law, 2006). Administrative law may also apply to review of decisions of so-called quasi-public bodies, such as non-profit corporations, disciplinary boards, and other de cision-making bodies that influence the legal rights of members of a particular group or entity (Administrative law, 2006).While administrative decision-making bodies are often controlled by larger governmental units, their decisions could be reviewed by a court of general jurisdiction under some principle of judicial review based upon due process (United States) or fundamental justice (Canada) (Administrative law, 2006).... traditional view of administrative law is that it should aim to reinforce the rule of law, and ensure the liability of Executive government to the will of Parliament and, at least indirectly, of the people. However, in practice the courts sometimes thwart the will of Parliament while professing to uphold it. The trend of judicial activism in immigration law cases during the late 1980s and early 1990s exemplifies a open-minded view by the courts of the rights of refugees and other visa applicants which was clearly in conflict with the bipartisan view of Federal Parliament that a more restrictive approach was required. Every time the courts handed down a pro-rights decision, Parliament effectively nullified it by amending the Migration Act (Administrative law theories, 2000). Green Light Theorists versus Red Light TheoristsThe green light theory and red light theory were analysed in Harlow and Rawlings (1984) Law and Administration, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London. The Red Light approach advocates a strong role for the courts to review administrative decisions. It considers that the function of law is to control the excesses of state. As Harlow and Rawlings put it: "Behind the formalist tradition, we can often discern a preference for a minimalist state. It is not surprising, therefore, to find many authors believing that the primary function of administrative law should be to control any excess of state power and subject it to legal and more especially judicial, control. It is this conception of administrative law that we have called 'red light theory' (Administrative law theories, 2000)." The Green Light approach considers that the function of administrative law is to make possible the operations of the state. It is based on

Business Market analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business Market analysis - Essay Example Footballers are one of the highly paid professionals in the world. In recent years, soccer industry has turned to internet marketing where they carry out their marketing deals. Almost all the famous clubs in the world have opened web sites where they conduct their business. These sites are visited by millions of fans each and every day. However there are professional bodies which have opened up web sites although they don't own any clubs. As has been mentioned this industry is highly organized. In the world, the industry is headed by an umbrella organization called FIFA. This is the umbrella body which sets out rules under which the industry is to operate. FIFA is an umbrella body of continental soccer bodies. Then each and every country has a body that regulate the sport in the individual country although these country bodies can be brought together to form a lager regional body. The organization that manages foot ball in each country holds tournament in the country. Some of these leagues or tournaments are famous all over the world. Premier League in England is perhaps one of the most famous leagues in the world that brings in billions of pounds in returns. The La Liga in Spain is also very famous and brings in more dollars. As has been mentioned there are two kinds of website which carry out soccer business on the internet. One there is the club website. All the major clubs in the world have opened websites from where they conduct their businesses. In this category soccer clubs in England have some of the sites that are visited mostly by people in the world. Then there are websites which are operated by tournament like Premier League website of La Liga Website. These are also famous and are visited by many people. There are also websites which are operated by individual bodies which manages the sport like UEFA website, FIFA website, and other sites which are run by bodies doing soccer business over the internet. Some of the sites which are visited regularly include the following: Club websites: - Manchester United website (Manchesterunited.com), Arsenal website (arsenal.com), Real Madrid website, Barcelona website, Chelsea website, and others Tournaments website: - UEFA website (Uefa.com), La Liga website, Premier league website (premierleague.com), and others Managing bodies' website: - FIFA website (FIFA.com), FA website (FA.com), and others Other soccer websites: - 365 Media website (365mediagroup.com), UKSOCCER SHOP (www.uksoccer.com), English Soccer net, and others. Individual player sites: Some players have developed their own sites or have been included in other sites. E.g. thiery-henry.net How the sites make money These clubs make a lot of money each and every day. Soccer websites are some of the most visited sites in the internet world today. They are mostly visited by youths who are fans of these clubs. It has been recorded that club websites are frequently visited on daily bases by the fans of those clubs who want to catch the recent results from the played games of catch up with the recent development in sports. The clubs have learned a way of keeping their fans glued to their sites by ensuring that they have a section where fans can interact with one another by posting their comments after every game. Apart from club websites, soccer tournaments

TAKE HOME FINAL Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

TAKE HOME FINAL - Essay Example In chapter 10, page 191, There is a tendency when reading critical accounts of communication and culture to slip into â€Å"What’s the point of all these?† Or, better yet, â€Å"if this is true, then the problem is too big and we are all doomed.† One’s language will influence their view of the world and how they perceive their surroundings, the environment and even how the think; this is culture. In chapter one page 7 â€Å"Culture is a system of shared meanings and assumptions that draw people together within a social context of shared power.† The above definition points to the fact that culture is reflected in one’s language and reflects on how the particular people perceive the world (Warren & Deanna, 2011). The other point of view is that Culture is reflected in language. Cultural is reflected in language. Cultural requirements do not determine structure of language, but influence how, but influence how it is used. Human beings do not liv e in isolation but with other human beings. This living together brings in the urge to communicate with one another and pass information from one person to another. It is this communication that leads to the development of language. Language is therefore considered a means for communication mostly through verbal means. It is only logical that people who live close to another have a higher urge to communicate to one another and thus higher likely hood of having similar words in their language. It is also likely that the people who live close to one another often share a lot. For instance, they are likely to be living in the same vicinity and thus experience the same climatic conditions. This means if they are farmers, they are likely to engage in farming of similar crops, the same goes to pastoralists, traders, e.t.c. this leads to a particular way of doing things within the given area, hence culture. They tend to have a similar way of living and going about their daily activities. P eople of the same culture are often under the same umbrella of power. They share the same geographical space and as such are likely to be under the same authority. The language therefore that is most likely to emanate from this kind of people is likely to be related if not one. The information they are to communicate is mostly identical. In page 8 chapter one, â€Å"Power is a productive resulting from our different locations within culture (Warren & Deanna, 2011). By productive tension, we mean that our heightened awareness of power in our relationship with one another can be instructive- it can teach us about ourselves and each other, and communication.† The above therefore answers the question on how power, language, and culture is related. The relationship between culture and language is however more compound than the relationship between language and culture (Talk, 2008). In page 197, chapter one, â€Å"the power of communication is just that: power. If we can see the w orld through the lens of constructive theories of communication, if we understand the relationship between communication and culture as important and meaningful (and not just coincidental or easy), then we are faced with the most fundamental, hopeful bottom line: If the world is communicatively constructed, then none of the inequalities or violations or oppressions is given or inevitable and, because this is true we can always create the change we desire.†

Sustainability Of Residential Housing And Commercial Building Case Study

Sustainability Of Residential Housing And Commercial Building - Case Study Example Homo sapiens emerged victorious in their quest for enhanced comfort levels in all the avenues of life. All the points discussed in the previous paragraph speak volumes about the rapidity of development attained by mankind. But this scenario is not without an unpleasant side to it! In this rapid progress that is being made on the path towards material development, Mother Nature was totally ignored! As a matter of fact, it can also be stated that she has been subjected to abuse, and there was a point beyond which she (Mother Nature) could not endure the ill-treatment that was being meted out to it. Consequently, she gradually started showing her wrath and human beings began to feel the resultant effects in the form of global warming, the rise in the incidence of natural disasters, and jeopardized the health of people, among others. After witnessing all this, it did not take long for people to press the panic button and to start initiating the corrective measures to counter their own misdeeds. It is at this juncture that the aspect of â€Å"Sustainability† comes into play. Sustainability refers to the act of abiding by only those practices and procedures, related to various development activities, which are environmentally friendly, and show high levels of regard for nature and natural resources. Along with all other areas of activity, the issue of sustainability is holding high relevance even in the sector of building construction, which includes constructions of both residential and also commercial usage. Here, it would be worthwhile to examine the aspect of sustainability, with regard to this sector (building construction). Over the past few years, the issue of sustainability has been accorded topmost priority while developing residential housings.

Integrity and honest like integral traits Essay Example for Free

Integrity and honest like integral traits Essay Integrity and honest are integral traits in an academic process and as such students must be ethical and honest at all times in their pursuit of their academic goals in line Honest Academic Conduct. A student found in contravention of this policy will receive a grade â€Å"F† for the cheated in assignment and/or a grade â€Å"F† in the course. Indeed, as certain as death and the effects of death could be certain. Certainly, death may have different and diverse effects on different people in the community and society. Indeed, death creates an environment of desperation and decay. In the Rashomon story, the different effects that death may have on different people are brought to light. The story descriptively covers the story of a black servant thrust by fate and death into desperation to survive after losing a job. Interwoven with the black servant’s fate, the effects of death are observed through the fates of the senile woman and the deceased young woman. To begin with, huge numbers of deaths reported at a place may strike as a catastrophe making people flee. For instance, the rampant deaths in Kyoto made people leave town and hence â€Å"the Rashomon sheltered at least a few others† from the impounding rain (Iglesias, Michael and Linda, 1). A few people in the town are explained by ‘one calamity†¦In recent years’ (Iglesias, Michael and Linda, 1). As a result, the Kyoto city registered massive decay following the exodus. The city also ran into a state of desperation, decay and decline. For instance, ‘people [smashed] Buddhist statues’ and piled them along the road tucked in ‘silver and gold foils and paint flecks’ selling them as firewood. Indeed, the story further expresses the turmoil that the whole city experienced, yet ‘no one bothered’ to care for the Rashomon. Worse still, rampant cases of death coupled with city decay attract wild animals and other scavengers. For instance, the exodus resulted to dilapidated structures that offered an ideal abode for badgers and foxes. Thieves also took cover in the city’s backstreets and dilapidated structures. Wanton social decay in the Kyoto city inspired the living to litter and dump ‘corpses in the upper story’ (Iglesias, Michael and Linda, 1). As a result, the entire neighbourhood became â€Å"an eerie place everyone avoided after† sunset (Iglesias, Michael and Linda, 1). This also attracted crows that â€Å"flocked in great numbers† (Iglesias, Michael and Linda, 1). The scavengers created a petrifying and grotesque scene with their pecking of the dead flesh while their white droppings created an ugly scene. Notwithstanding, rampant deaths coupled with human migration render others unemployed. For instance, the black servant sheltered from the impounding rain at the Rashomon, â€Å"had been dismissed from service some days earlier† (Iglesias, Michael and Linda, 4). Regrettably, his master had dismissed him after serving dutifully for several years. Therefore, unemployment represents â€Å"one small consequence† of the wanton deaths in Kyoto city (Boer, and Donald, 14). Besides, the black servant sat idly at the Rashomon â€Å"waiting for the rain to end† unawares of what to do once the rain stopped. He was desperate to survive and find a place to sleep without the prying eyes. Indeed, â€Å"he was determined to find a way to remain alive for an extra day† by doing all that he could (4). As the adage goes, idle minds bleed evil thoughts and hence, the black servant thought of thievery to survive. Although thievery was against his believes, and â€Å"he could not find the courage† to decide to go into thieving. Death inflicts both bodily and mental torture. The black servant confronted evil minds and ideas, but he concludes the same. The freezing evening chill was harsh against his body and he had to â€Å"drag himself to his feet† (Iglesias, Michael and Linda, 5). Worse still, the blowing evening wind was unmerciful to the freezing black servant. Constant cases of death at a decaying city as Kyoto result to careless dumping of human corpses. Often, the corpses are piled at a segregated place. True, a place with piled up decomposing human corpses is not a haven or paradise. Therefore, it is scary and unorthodox to scour through the piles plucking off their hair. The image of a â€Å"scrawny old woman, white haired and monkey-like† scouring through rotting human corpse is also pathetic and weary. However, the black servant inspired by the need to remain alive and curiosity weathered the petrifying smell and flight and approached the woman. Incessant deaths throw people into a state of panic and desperation. The scrawny old woman endured plucking human hair to survive. She plucked the hairs to make a wig perhaps to weather the harsh weather or sell and make a living. The constant desperation in the city wore on her heavily and her faced wrinkled, her eyes reddened and became predatorily sharp while she cawed like a crow in her voice. It is obvious that the perpetual deaths had hardened her body, spirit and soul alike. She was contented with plucking off and unaffectedly arguing that the corpses deserved her wrath. Through the old woman’s anecdote, readers learn that desperation as a result of the deaths drove people into different, diverse and complicated business trades. For instance, in her justification, the scrawny old woman reasoned that the young woman â€Å"cut snakes into four inch pieces† and sold them â€Å"like fish at the palace guardhouse† (Iglesias, Michael and Linda, 8). The old woman further reveals that the â€Å"fish† was a delicacy and the guards â€Å"bought it for every meal† (8). Therefore, death intervention was a necessary evil to the young woman because she stopped selling snakes. The act inspired the black servant to strike and strip the old woman robbing her of her robe despite the cold. In the event of death, a trail of human anguish, torment and desperation ensues. Constant and perpetual deaths results into social decay, ruin and migration. As a result, grotesque, ugly and petrifying scenes occasion every corner. Thieves compete with wild animals and scavengers for structures and corpses to feed. Above all, human’s humane sense disappears and selfishness settles all as a result of death. References Boer, Jelle, and Donald Theodore Sanders. Volcanoes in human history: the far-reaching effects of major eruptions. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2002. Print. Iglesias, Luis A., Michael Mays, and Linda M. Pierce Allen. Global crossroads: a world literature reader. Revised edition ed. Southlake, TX: Fountainhead Press, 2008. Print. Source document

Applying Resource Based View to Strategic Human Resource Essay Example for Free

Applying Resource Based View to Strategic Human Resource Essay What is Resource Based View in Strategic Management? Almost all business management courses have a module that includes study of  strategic management. Our homework helps experts have expertise in the field of strategic management. There are different perspectives and approaches to field of strategic management. This blog post would discuss in detail what resource based view of strategic management is. This perspective stresses and based on the perspective that resources of the company whether tangible or intangible like brand name, assets, cash, customer loyalty, research and development capabilities are an important and main aspect while forming or pursuing a unique strategic position for a company. This concept of strategic management rather than being driven by the environment is internally resource driven and in this perspective of strategic management the organization is viewed as a collection of capabilities and competences. Organizations leverage new actives from its existing core competencies. According to Barney (1991) analysis of the impact of a firm’s environment on its competitive position is based on two assumptions. First, firms within an industry or a strategic group are identical in terms of strategic relevant sources they control and the strategies they pursue and second, these models assume that should resources heterogeneity develop in an industry or group will be very short lived because the resources that firms use to implement their strategies are highly mobile i. e. they can be bought or sold in factor markets (Barney, 1991). Resource based view assumes that companies within an industry or group may be heterogeneous with respect to the strategic resources they control and these are not perfectly mobile, thus heterogeneity can be long lasting (Barney, 1991). Simply, it is suggested that firm resources may be heterogeneous and immobile. According to Daft (1983), firm resources include all assets, capabilities, organisational processes, firm attributes, information, knowledge, etc. controlled by a firm that enable the firm to conceive of and implement strategies that improve its efficiency and effectiveness. According to Barney (1991), firm resources that hold the potential for sustained competitive advantage must have four attributes which are valuable, rare, In-imitable, and non-substitutable. So in resource based view of the firm, strategy of the firm is basically dependent on firms’ resources. This view again as the market based view is focus on some important aspects but at the same time ignores some other basic aspects of strategy formulation for a company. So resource based view of the firm is also not a balanced view. We hope that this blog post is useful for the students and practitioners of the field ofstrategic management. Please email us [emailprotected] com  if you need any  strategic management  helpregarding the module of strategic management. The Resource Based View (RBV), argued by some to be at the foundation of modern HRM,[13]  focusses on the internal resources of the organisation and how they contribute to competitive advantage. The uniqueness of these resources is preferred to homogeneity and HRM has a central role in developing human resources that are valuable, rare, difficult to copy or substitute and that are effectively organized. Overall, the theory of HRM argues that the goal of human resource management is to help an organization to meet strategic goals by attracting, and maintaining employees and also to manage them effectively. The key word here perhaps is fit, i. e. a HRM approach seeks to ensure a fit between the management of an organizations employees, and the overall strategic direction of the company (Miller, 1989). The resource-based view to strategic human resource management (SHRM) focuses on the costly to copy attributes of the firm as the fundamental drivers of performance and competitive advantage (Cooner 1991). Linking to the understanding of the resource based view of the firm; Barney (1991) described competitive advantage as â€Å"when a firm is implementing a value creating strategy not simultaneously being implemented by any current or potential competitors†. The task is to maintain this competitive advantage in such a way that competitors’ efforts to replicate that advantage are frustrated and eventually cease. The resource-based view focuses on the promotion of sustained competitive advantage through the development of the human capital rather than merely aligning human resources to current strategic goals (Torrington et al 2002). This essay will show various ways on how the resource-based view of SHRM in organisations can contribute to enhanced organisational performance. Human resources can provide competitive advantage for the business, as long as they are unique and can not be copied or substituted for by competing organisations, competitive success not coming from simply making choices in the present, but from building up distinctive capabilities over significant periods of time (Boxall 1996).

Why African Metallurgy Is Important History Essay

Why African Metallurgy Is Important History Essay Metallurgy is the study of metalworking from all of its aspects. In other words, it is the art of working metals (Darvill 2008, 278). Geologically, Africa is known for its promising supplies of metals. Various kinds of metals, such as copper, iron, gold, tin, uranium, manganese, cobalt, bauxite, and the likes are found almost everywhere throughout the African continent in many different settings geographically (Holl 2000,1). Generally, the study of African metallurgy is important as metalworking has brought about the greatest significance that some of the African continents have ever experienced in terms of their cultural and social development. African metallurgy was said to have later given life to the Industrial Revolution around 1,500 to 2,000 years ago when the Africans living on the Western shores of Lake Victoria, in Tanzania, produced carbon steel (http://www.africaresource.com/rasta/sesostris-the-great-the-egyptian-hercules/african-metallurgy-by-nordine-aka-storm/). In the past, some of the metals in Africa were exploited which then resulted in the rise of some of the most impressive indigenous African states, while others have been utilized only recently, as participants in the modernization and industrialization of a handful of countries at the southern end of the continent (Holl 2000, 1). An example of exploitation in metals found during the pre-colonial times in Africa can be seen in the Shaba province of the Congo where copper belt was intensively worked, and also in the adjacent district of Zambia, along with the gold fields of South Africa and Zimbabwe (Holl 2000, 1). In eastern Cameroon and the western Centr al African Republic as well as in the Poura region in Burkina-Faso (Kiethega 1983), traditional gold mining was carried out. On the Bauchi plateau, tin mining was set up. Eventually, the renowned Nok Culture was discovered as a result of the reopening of these mines (Holl 2000, 1). During the periods of Pharaonic, Kushite and later, exploitations were seen at the gold mines from the Red Sea hills and Nubia. In the west at Bure, Galam, Sanakalan, and Bambuk, the gold mines were the key to prosperity of the Ghana and Mali kings. The rise of the Zambezian states in the early second millennium A.D was the result of the early gold mining and trade as well as the changing patterns of production in Zimbabwe (Holl 2000, 1). Both iron and copper working provided a more widespread evidence of African metallurgy. These particular types of metalworking is suggested to be found almost everywhere in the western, central, eastern and southern parts of the continents. Archaeological, historical and ethno-historical information all suggest that the exploitation of these metals was an integral part of the fabric of African societies in the past (Holl 2000, 1-2). Archaeological investigations was carried out throughout inter-tropical Africa over the past three decades and it has resulted in the unearthing of a varied and extensive evidence of early iron production (Holl 2000, 2). The introduction of iron working was said to be an important turning point in Old World history, and this applies specifically in sub-Saharan Africa (Barros 2000, 147). The reason for this was because, in sub-Saharan Africa, iron working (as well as copper working) technology or tools obtained through trade (Miller and van der Merwe 1994, 1) had brought many stone-using cultures directly into the Metal Age (Barros 2000, 147). As scholars have suggested, this had led to the increase in food production through more efficient bush clearance, weeding and harvesting, causing higher population densities; larger and more stable village communities; increased specialization, trade, and social differentiation; and the appearance of a settlement hierarchy and more complex forms of political organization (Barros 2000, 147). The origins of African iron metallurgy have always been an issue that is often a dispute amongst archaeologists. It was known that the vast scale of the African continents as well as the barriers in the politics and cultures had aroused difficulties in the findings of a good evidence database to dissolve the dispute. Iron was believed to have been the first metal to appear in the archaeological records (Childs and Killick 1993, 320). Radiocarbon dates has shown that the iron smelting furnaces dated to the interval 500-1000 cal. BC in Nigeria, Niger, Tanzania and Rwanda (Childs and Killick 1993, 320). However, these dates were known to have created a further debate on the origins of African ironworking. A few oppositional voices had argued that ironworking has been invented independently in sub-Saharan Africa (Andah 1979; Schmidt and Avery 1983) (Childs et al. 2005, 278). It might be possible as the process had originated from the smelting methods which are already in used in Africa to make copper. Iron oxides were said to have been used as a soldering aid in the process of smelting copper and with some experimentation, the process then accidentally resulted in iron production, which then developed into iron smelting. In some regions, copper was found to have been smelted first but evidence of it appears to be relatively low, where only the remaining slag was found. This may be due to the inefficient methods of production. Some archaeologists had argued that the iron working techniques might have been brought by the surrounding countries into the continent through diffusion (Okafor 1993, 432). The routes used for this process was suggested to be either running south to west from Meroe on the Nubian Isle (Childs et al. 2005, 278). There are also some which was believed to have come from Egypt and then the methods scattered from the north to the sub-Saharan Africa. Iron production took quite a period of time to spread due to the massive size of the African continent which has an extreme geographical context. This resulted in the suggestions that iron had a various place of birth. The wide distribution of iron ores geologically had meant that the raw materials were readily available resulting in great potential for multiple origins of production. Archaeological evidence, including production methods used in present Africa, it seemed unlikely that the traditions and techniques could be so diversified for i t has all began from one place and one technique (Holl 2000, 9). An example can be seen from a site called the Termit Mountains, in eastern Niger. Copper and iron artefacts were found and they dated back to as far as ca. 1500 BC and the smelting furnaces dated to ca. 800 BC (Childs et al. 2005, 278). There is still an ongoing debate on whether these evidences had suggested that the community had imported these objects before producing it themselves, or, it was simply because the earlier furnaces did not survive the archaeological record instead the artefacts did (Childs et al. 2005, 278). It is also important to bring into consideration that iron working techniques were kept closely guarded secrets as this factor may influence the period it took for the Africans to be able to require the technique. Iron artefacts found in the field are often the basic evidence of iron production in the archaeological records. These artefacts are often in a corroded condition and at times could be unidentifiable. It is often unreliable to base the origin of the context to that of the artefact as where it has been made might be completely different from where it was made, a possibility that it might be imported. Concrete evidence which are often found for iron production are the used bowl of furnaces, and tuyeres and slag from the furnace or forging processes. Bloom and bellows are rare finds. Traces of mining and beneficiation of iron ore can also be used as archaeological evidence. However, these evidence could only be used if after the beneficiation, the ore has proceed to the next production level; and mining evidence are often lost as a result of recent iron ore mining. Slag analysis and radiocarbon dating the charcoal which were used to fire up the furnace was used for dating. Metallography and petrographic analysis are carried out on slag and charcoal samples in order to help understand the processes within the furnace (Kense and Okoro 1993, 449-450). Reconstruction of the iron smelting technology has been made by archaeologists as part of an important process in understanding the running of the ancient technology and to stimulate confidence that their impression of the methods used are correct. Apart from iron, copper and brass were the other metals which were widely utilized in Africa. The more widespread of iron over both copper and brass must have meant that iron had more favourable properties for different uses. The durability of iron over copper had meant that it was used to make various tools for farming pieces to weaponry. It was also used for enhancement in jewelleries, instruments and impressive pieces of artwork. Coins and currencies of multiple forms were made out of iron, such as the Kisi pennies, a traditional form of iron currency used in West Africa for trading. Kisi pennies are twisted iron rods which range from 30cm to 2m in length. They are suggested to be used in various forms of either marital transactions or simply conveniently shaped for transportation, melting down and reshaping it into another desired object. Africa has many different kinds of iron currencies, often regionally with varying shapes and values. In terms of quantity of use and production , iron had achieved a significantly high figure by comparison to other metals, but, it did not replace other materials such as stone and wooden tools. Figure 1 shows a 20th century iron West African Kisi Penny excavated from Kenema, Sierra Leone (Source: http://www.bmagic.org.uk/objects/1995C107) Iron production was recognized as having a great influence over Africa in great regional variation both culturally in trade and expansion, and socially in beliefs and rituals. Evidence for the cultural significance can be seen today as it is still carried out by the present varying African cultures. Ethnographical information has been most useful in the reconstruction of the past events surrounding iron production, but these reconstructions maybe become altered overtime and further influenced by anthropology. In Africa, the Iron Age was mainly based around the agricultural revolution which was driven by the use of iron tools. These iron tools had resulted in high efficient productions on a much larger scales. Fishing hooks, arrow heads and spears were used for hunting. Iron weapons also post effects on warfare. The productions of these items in line with the other iron goods had helped in stimulating economic activities, and led to the rise of both chiefdoms and states. The processes of producing iron were often controlled by the ironworkers personally, or a central power in larger societies such as states or kingdoms (Barros 2000, 154). Individuals in some societies had resulted as smelters or smiths, who specialize in just one particular skill from the many necessary to the production processes as a result of the demands for iron trade. This may also be possible to have resulted in some tradesmen specializing in iron transportation and trade (Barros 2000, 152). However, the iron product ion industries did not benefited every African region as some have suffered from environmental problems due to the massive deforestation needed for supplying charcoal for fuelling the smelting furnaces (Muhammed 1993, 466). An example of this can be seen from the ecological crisis of the Mema Region (Holl 2000, 48). Different social status distributes amongst iron smelters and smiths depending on their culture (Radimilahy 1993, 478-483). Some were having low status in the society as a result of the aspects of manual labour and associations with witchcrafts. These can be seen in the Maasai and Tuareg (Childs et al. 2005, 288). Whereas in other cultures, the skills are often hierarchical in the families and these individuals often held higher social status in the community. The communities often depended on these produced materials due to their powerful knowledge of iron working. They were believed to have strong supernatural powers in some communities as they were seen as highly as the king of chief. An example can be seen from the excavation in Great Lakes, Eastern Africa at the royal tomb of King Rugira, where two iron anvils were place at his head, suggesting importance and powerful significance (Childs et al. 2005, 288). According to some cultures, there are myths built up around the iron sme lter who emphasized their god like significance. As iron production developed widely across the African continent, it had significantly influenced the social rites in terms of beliefs and, particularly, rituals. The process of smelting was often done in isolation, away from the rest of the community. Ironworkers were ritually experts in encouraging good productions and to warn off bad spirits with songs and prayers, giving medicines as well as making sacrifices. The latter are often put in or buried underneath the furnace. An example of this can be seen during the early Iron Age in Tanzania and Rwanda (Schmidt 1997). Some cultures had used iron production as sexual symbolism. Smelting is suggested to be integrated with the fertility of the society, similar to the natural reproduction, production of bloom represented birth and conception. Many strict taboos were known to surround the process. Smelting processes were entirely carried out away from the village by the men. As for the women, any activities of touching of the materials or simply just being present could risk successful production. Having the men away from the fertile women had been suggested to have reduced the temptations which could otherwise depreciate the smelts productivity. The furnaces are often exaggeratedly decorated to represent an image of a woman, or the mother of the bloom (Collett 1993, 507). According to the late C. S. Smith (Smith 1981), the founder of historical metallurgy, has always insisted on the fact that metallurgy is above all an intellectual and social activity (Childs and Killick 1993, 33). The African community had used metals and various other materials such as glass, cloth and wood to express their views of the structure of nature and society, in ways as complex and diverse as the beliefs themselves; even the technology of smelting, constrained as it is by the invariant laws of thermodynamics, offers ample scope for the expression of beliefs about the order of things (Childs and Killick 1993, 33). Numerous African metallurgy scholars have been at the forefront of viewing technology as social process. Technology is not a monolithic force that is somehow separate from people, but is the product of complex ideology, careful negotiations and manipulations, and the vagaries of local resources (Childs and Killick 1993, 33). As a conclusion, African metallurgy, maybe considered to be of important to study because, not only does it include a comprehensive range of study of iron production across the African continent, but it also gives an understanding of how it influenced the aspects of archaeology in Africa. Iron production had given birth to extraordinary diversity in Africa which then had created advanced farming methods through tools, deadly warfare and trading of valuable items; and then on influenced the life of the Africans socially, culturally and politically. (2, 791 words)

Identity in House Made of Dawn Essay -- House Made of Dawn Essays

Identity in House Made of Dawn       In 1969 N. Scott Momaday won the Pulitzer Prize for his phenomenal work, House Made of Dawn.   The novel addresses the issue of identity, how it can be lost as well as recovered.   Momaday offers insightful methods of recovering or attaining one's identity. Momaday once made the following now famous statement:    We are what we imagine.   Our very existence consists in our imagination of ourselves.   Our best destiny is to imagine, at least, completely, who and what, and that we are.   The greatest tragedy that can befall us is to go unimagined (Owens, 93).    For Momaday, imagination is the key to identity, and it is this key that Momaday offers as a solution to the problem of identity in House Made of Dawn.   Momaday's protagonist, Abel, cannot imagine who he is.   In chronicling Abel's effort to regain his ability to imagine, Momaday offers inextricably intertwined methods to regain one's 'imagination'.      Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The prologue of House Made of Dawn begins with the word 'Dypaloh'. This word signals a shift into the Native American oral tradition. Traditionally, storytelling have definite responsibilities.   According to Louis Owens in Other Destinies, the responsibilities are:   "to tell us who we are and where we come from, make us whole and heal us, to integrate us fully within the world in which we live and make that world inhabitable, to compel order and reality" (93).   In defining the responsibilities of storytelling, Owens also gives a description of the 'identified individual', one who has a strong sense of identity and is fully self-imagined.   The identified individual knows were he is from and where he is going.   He is not fragmented, and k... ...motion.   Running is perseverance.   Running is believing that identity can be recovered.   If Abel did not believe it possible to find his proper place, he would already by lost, stagnant, still waiting.   Running is action.   Stories are also action.   They are inherently active in passing on crucial knowledge.   A story that is not told, that is not related, can have no meaning.   Stories show the proper order of reality.   Both running and stories are crucial elements in Abel's recovering his identity.   The things they represent, motion, perseverance, order, and knowledge, are crucial in anyone's quest for identity, not just Native peoples, but the people of the human race. Works Cited: Momaday, N. Scott.   House Made of Dawn. New York: Harper and Row, 1968. Owens, Louis.   Other Destinies. Univ. of Oklahoma Press: Norman and London, 1992

James Fenimore Cooper :: Essays Papers

James Fenimore Cooper James Fenimore Cooper was born in Burlington, New Jersey on September 15, 1789 to William and Elizabeth Cooper. He was born the eleventh of twelve children. When James was one year old the family moved to the frontier of Lake Otsego, New York, and his father established the settlement of Cooperstown at the head of the Susquehanna River. Cooper attended a private prep school in Albany, New York, and was then admitted to Yale in 1803. He was expelled during his junior year because of a prank. His family allowed him to join the navy, but he soon found that more discipline was present in the Navy than at Yale. In 1810 Cooper took a furlough, and never returned to active duty. James Fenimore Cooper married Susan De Lancy in 1811, and for the next ten years he lived as a country gentleman. However, after the death of all five of his elder brothers he became responsible for supporting their widows and paying their debts. He then found out that his father's estate had not been worth as much as originally thought. In 1820 Cooper published his first fiction, Precaution, on a challenge from his wife. This novel was largely unsuccessful. In 1821 he published his second book, The Spy, which was modeled after Sir Walter Scott's "Waverly" novels, except it was set during the American Revolution. The Spy brought Cooper international fame and a certain amount of wealth. Cooper's third book, The Pioneers, was the first of five novels that made up the Leatherstocking Tales. These were immensely popular frontier novels featuring a frontiersman by the name of Natty Bumpo, or Hawkeye. The Pioneers is generally considered to be the first truly American novel. The five novels of the series were not written in their narrative order, and were produced over a period of eighteen years. Cooper and his wife had five children, and they lived in Europe from 1826 until 1833 for the education of their children. When Cooper returned to America in 1833 he found he was rather unpopular due to his works Notions of the Americans and Letter to General Lafayette, which he had written while living in Europe.

Metaphors :: Argumentative Philosophy Argument Papers

Metaphors With the possible exception of completely formal exercises in logic, philosophy is thoroughly metaphorical and largely conditional. Moreover, the purposes served by metaphors and conditionals in it are similar. Metaphors ask us to imagine the world in a new way, while conditionals may ask to imagine a new world. Yet some conditionals and metaphors are incompatible. There are limits to how metaphors can occur in conditionals, and how conditionals can themselves be metaphors. Specifically, only certain kinds of metaphors can be accommodated in the antecedents of conditionals, and even then only within a restricted class of conditionals. This paper focuses on the linguistic tension between metaphors and conditionals. I argue that this echoes a tension at the heart of philosophy between two modes of philosophizing: a speculative-revisionary mode that is metaphorical and an analytic-explanatory mode that is conditional. The tasks are generally complementary so that the difference can be i gnored with impunity. However, if we do not respect that difference, we may find ourselves analyzing metaphors and seeing logical analyses as metaphorical, and thus missing the point on both fronts. Life is not really a bowl of cherries, and kangaroos do have tails. We know this full well, and yet are willing to entertain their negations in one way or another--the former as metaphor, the latter as counterfactual hypothesis. These are common moves to make in trying to understand the world — indeed, characteristically philosophical moves — but they are very different in kind. Their similarities, differences, and conflicted interaction reveal something about metaphors and conditionals, but mostly about philosophy itself. Specifically: (1) "Philosophy" is a term that covers an extraordinary array of discourses, but with the possible exception of completely formal exercises in logic, philosophy is thoroughly metaphorical and largely conditional. (2) Some conditionals and metaphors, however, are incompatible. There are limits to how metaphors can occur in conditionals, and how conditionals can themselves be metaphors. Thus, (3) there is a tension at the heart of philosophy between two moments to philosophy or modes of philosophizing, a speculative, radical-revisionary mode that is metaphorical, and an analytic-explanatory mode that is conditional. Philosophers have special reason not to mix their metaphors (at least not with their conditionals). In this paper, I will focus on that linguistic tension. Â §1. Metaphors in Philosophy: Metaphors are invitations to see things in a new way — Communism as a spectre haunting Europe, philosophy as a series of footnotes to Plato, or all the world as a stage.

Reflective Paper Organisational Dialogue

Huhtamaki – Reflective Paper During the interview, the Chief Executive Officer (Brad) and plant manager (Simon) devoted a considerable amount of time to our communication analysis of their plant. I hadn’t expected two executives to become so involved with a University case study, and to discuss their credo, mission statements, strategies, and—of critical importance to me—internal communication strategy, in so much detail. Gerard & Ellinor (2001) stress that authentic leaders need to practise and execute dialogue, and to me, this was what Brad and Simon were doing: showing their authentic leadership through dialogue.I thought this may have been purely for our benefit, but after four hours, beginning with introductory meetings and followed by interviews and a shop floor tour, it became apparent that management was striving to develop a learning culture. I began to understand that management is about creating an environment to communicate through different me diums: verbal and visual in varying forums; formal meetings, face-to-face meetings, and graphical representations of key messages on the shop floor and around the offices.This essay will reflect my case study experience of the role of dialogue as a tool within Huhtamaki for fostering dialogic communication and developing a learning culture within the organisation. Furthermore, I will highlight the limitations associated with dialogue and with resistive employees who refuse to engage. I had a preconceived idea that management would have a top-down hierarchal structure, with a ‘closed door’ communication policy based on research from Swink & Way (1995), Downs & Adrian (2004) and Clarke (2006).On the contrary, I found management offered an ‘open door’ policy. For example, Brad and Simon understand that organisational effectiveness is dependent upon communication across subcultural boundaries. Therefore, they offer an open door policy, where any employee could approach them to discuss any issues without consequences. Given the traditional hierarchal structure of a typical manufacturing plant with leading hands, supervisors and union delegates, I thought allowing shop floor employees to communicate directly with management an unconventional approach.Schein (1993) states that dialogue begins with creating a sense of equality, and this is what Brad and Simon are striving to achieve within their organisation. According to my understanding, they are creating an environment where employees feel comfortable in communicating, and moving away from the erstwhile problems associated with communication via union delegates, which has often caused industrial disputes and created subcultural differences between management and shop floor employees. Amy (2008) states in her research study that management needs to adopt an informal and approachable communication style.I found it interesting that this is the strategy that Brad and Simon have adopted to aid in changing the organisational culture. In order to move away from a ‘them and us’ attitude, they focused on creating an open, trusting environment which fosters learning. Simon in particular encourages employees to be upfront, and to discuss problems or issues. However, he does not merely provide solutions: he fosters dialogic communication by engaging the employees with questions until they come to realise the answers themselves. I thought this might create awkward situations if the employees could not find answers.But my concern was dismissed; Simon coaches and mentors employees to think about issues or mistakes, and ensures they develop a solution for themselves, thus creating a learning environment. Management’s ‘open door’ policy was not the only means for communication. Management scheduled a daily team meeting, weekly production meetings, and monthly ‘tool box’ meetings, where organisational issues were discussed in more detail. My first impression was that there were too many meetings. When would employees have time to get any work done, if they were continually involved in meetings with colleagues from different departments?I soon learned that this was a necessary step, as not all employees have access to email. Management has to rely on face-to-face verbal communication to ensure that messages are communicated, received, and most importantly, understood. Furthermore, to communicate with employees with no access to email, management used the hallway between the cafeteria and shop floor as a ‘communication corridor,’ posting organisational information alongside safety, quality, production efficacy and operational information.I recall seeing very detailed graphs, charts and statistics, and wondered whether the average shop floor employee would be able to interpret and analyse this data. Simon stated that it was necessary to communicate the same messages continuously in order to engage employees , both verbally in meetings and visually around the work place. I discovered that during most meetings, unless an employee was directly involved in the conversation, he or she would not engage in dialogue. This concerned me; as Schein (1993) states, leaders need to motivate to engage, as employees may not volunteer to engage in dialogue.I now struggled to understand why was it so difficult to engage the employees in dialogue. They would not engage in dialogue during formal meetings and relied on informal face-to-face meetings, where quite often, they needed to be coached to engage in a two-way conversation to find solutions. I felt that management was providing every possible opportunity for employees to be able to communicate with employees, but nonetheless, a communication culture had not successfully been created.Gerard & Ellinor (2001) state that dialogue is not something that can be forced upon employees; they need to participate willingly, and if dialogue is introduced into a hostile environment, it can fail. I could see that management was creating a safe environment in which to communicate, but soon realised that other parts of the workplace provided a different type of ambience. Part of our communication analysis was a tour around the shop floor, and one of the first things I noticed was the difference in body language between various employees.It was very evident as we walked past their workstations that some employees were open and approached management, while others ignored our presence, creating a feeling of tension. It was obvious that although management was trying to dilute the ‘them and us’ attitude, some employees were still bitter from past experiences of management. I now started to fully comprehend the views put forward by Gerard & Ellinor (2001): that dialogue is a tool that requires time and knowledge of the working process. It needs to grow within the organisation.Although Brad and Simon have created a safe environment, the y now need to focus on educating their employees in the process of dialogue and the benefits of dialogue in order to create a learning culture. Furthermore, I support the recommendations of Dixon (1998) for management to engage employees and involve them in the decision-making process. I would expect the employees to thereby see their input as valid and valued; consequently, they would have a personal interest in creating a greater understanding of issues and solutions.In consideration of the fact that Simon has had some success with the ‘open door’ policy, and that Brown & Isaacs (1997) propose that learning is not happening during scheduled meetings or organised forums, but in less formal places, I still recommend developing dialogue during formal scheduled meetings. Management needs to focus on encouraging honest dialogue and transparency within formal meetings, as per Mazutis & Slawski (2009). I feel this is a valid point, as face-to-face meetings are limited to cer tain employees with whom management has good rapport.Employees who are resistive to change and still foster a ‘them and us’ attitude will simply not approach management. I came to believe that Brad and Simon are authentic leaders, and have the capabilities to shape the culture of their organisation through dialogic communication. Reference List Amy H. Amy, 2008, ‘Leaders as facilitators of individual and organizational learning', Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 212? 234. Brown, J. & Isaacs, D. 1997, ‘Conversation as a core business process', The Systems Thinker, vol. , no. 10, pp. 1? 6. Clarke, S. 2006, ‘Safety climate in an automobile manufacturing plant: the effects of work environment, job communication and safety attitudes on accidents and unsafe behaviour’, Personnel Review, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 413? 430. Dixon, N. M. 1998, Dialogue at Work. Making Talk Developmental for People and Organizations, Center for Creative Leadership, London. Downs, C. W. & Adrian, A. D. 2004, Assessing organizational communication audits, Guilford Press, New York. Gerard, G. & Ellinor, L. 001, Dialogue at Work: Skills for Leveraging Collective Understanding, Pegasus Communications, Waltham, MA. Mazutis, D. & Slawinski, N. 2008, ‘Leading organisational learning through authentic dialogue', Management Learning, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 437? 456. Schein, E. 1993, ‘On Dialogue, Culture and organizational learning', Organizational Dynamics, vol. 22, pp. 40? 51. Swink, M. & Way, W. 1995, ‘Manufacturing strategy: propositions, current research, renewed directions’, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 15, no. 7, pp. 4? 26.

Spiritual Growth through Various Spiritual Disciplines

From time immemorial, spiritual growth has strengthened the faith of believers and has helped them become closer and made them believe more in their religious dogma. This is also evident in Christianity. From the time of Jerusalem’s height, discipline has always found a part in Christian beliefs and in strengthening the faith of the congregation. Over the years, people have learned that particular kinds of disciplines when practiced help them keep the connection between God and themselves open and help keep alive their passion towards God.It is worth noting early on that these spiritual disciplines are not the surest way to heaven and that there is no concrete account that they can even make you a holy person. On the other hand, being able to practice spiritual discipline can heighten your desire, awareness, and love of God by stripping down the barriers that you put up within yourself and other barriers that others have created for you that hinder you from being closer to God (Benner, 2002). A practice or activity can be considered a spiritual discipline when it takes a specific part of your way of life and turns it toward God.A spiritual discipline is, when practiced faithfully and regularly, a habit or regular pattern in your life that repeatedly provides you the opportunity to become closer to God, opens the practitioner’s heart to God and makes one malleable and open to spiritual guidance and opinion. Christian devotional practice is centered primarily on the holy trinity – Jesus Christ, God the Father and the Holy Spirit (Foster, 1998). In this study, we put special attention on a comprehensive analysis of spiritual growth through the practice of six kinds of discipline and how these are able to contribute to spiritual growth.In the succeeding parts of the paper, we will focus our study on spiritual disciplines such as meditation, prayer, fasting, study, service and simplicity. We will also provide a discussion of these particular dis ciplines and how they are able to make people grow closer to a perfection of relationship with Christ. The first part of the study is dedicated to a discussion of spiritual growth thru meditation. Essentially, meditation is subdivided into three parts: Concentration, Meditation and Contemplation. The first part of meditation is concentration.Concentration is being able to take special attention on a certain point, topic or area. It entails 100% of taking special attention on a single thought, in our case 100% focus to God. Meditation can be achieved by being able to clear one’s mind of unnecessary opinions and distractions as this can make it easier for people to be more connected to God. Concentration brings people to another level of consciousness that promotes for clearer thought and a heightened sense of feelings. This precursor must be achieved in order for people to become in a meditative state. The second stage of meditation is actually meditation itself.The uninterrup ted flow of one’s Attention, then, is Meditation. By being fixated in a single object, a person’s thought is totally focused on that object. This is the clearest and most important aspect of meditation. With this, the purest opinions and feelings are released between the person and God. Through meditation, God has a true and clear connection with the person that helps provide a clear and uninterrupted line of communication. Spiritual meditation creates for a very clear communication between God and the person, which promotes for better understanding of God and a first hand experience of God’s presence.This is also evident in order religious orders such as Buddhism that takes special attention on intense meditation to cleanse the mind and body of evil and wrongdoing. Through continuous Meditation, one becomes one with the object of one’s Concentration. The third level is contemplation. By means of meditation one is able to acquire a lot of pure experiences that has to reflect on and analyzed. Contemplation is a method that helps people clearly explain and analyze the events that had transpired during meditation.Contemplation often takes more time than the meditation itself, as it is important to clearly understand what the Lord has communicated to the person (Keating n. d. ). This can be in form of a group with a facilitator or contemplating alone. At any case, what is important is the resulting decision made that is important, regardless of contemplative medium. One can meditate by means of study. In studying, one is in a meditative state that is focused on the holy scriptures of God. With study, we are encapsulated within the scriptures of God’s word.In studying the word of God, we are led to deeper meditative state and we can gain more knowledge and be closer to God through his word (Beers, 2006). It has been said that pure existence can only be experienced when the mind becomes purely at ease with the environment he/she is in. In order for us to be truly one with God, we have to imbibe into our daily routine a portion of meditation in order to experience, even a little at the very least, pure existence and a unbroken line of communication with God in order to further develop our spirituality and relationship with God.With pure meditation, it is really hard to understand the words of God. Our opinions and speculations are like a veil covering our true Nature. In addition to this, a most serious problem is when we identify with a certain mind-structure, the personality or ego, and the body. But even with so much of this demystifying our meditative state, meditation is used to unveil our true Nature and relationship with the Lord, we might still continue to cling to this false personality and fear its dissolution (Foster, 1978).Since we cannot simply order the mind to be still, we give it something to hang on to. This is to facilitate effective meditation that would help us greatly in opening a pure lin e of communication with the Lord. Words designed for that purpose are called mantras. In Christianity’s case, a mantra can be of the form of a prayer or Christian ritual. The application of mantras during meditation is called transcendental meditation. Mantras are repeated mentally for the sole purpose to calm the mind, remove inhibitions and clear out any unnecessary opinions (Beers, 2006).By continually driving out unnecessary thought can the mind be completely â€Å"silent† and only when the mind comes to a complete standstill are we enabled to identify with the silent observer. Spiritual meditation is essentially a mental exercise that drives the mind to take special attention on the Lord in order to remove all opinions not relevant to the Lord and create a connection between him for effective communication and to further our relationship with the Lord. The next kind of spiritual discipline that is closely linked to meditation is prayer. The second discipline is pr ayer.Spiritual discipline is not spiritual discipline if there is no prayer, of course, is much more than a spiritual discipline; it is a way of life. However it should be noted that prayer, as with all spiritual disciplines, should never be taken only as a discipline and nothing more. It would be a rather low-voltage spiritual life in which prayer was chiefly undertaken as a discipline. On one hand, prayer is a very potent practice for opening our lives to God (Catechism of the Catholic Church n. d. ). In present times, it is very important to practice prayer as a discipline.In our culture today, a considerable margin of Christians’ attention span is severely impaired. In prayer we attend our minds to God, and all too often that attention lasts for a few seconds. We may be starting off with professing our faith by means of saying the Lord’s Prayer but it is not long before our minds tend to wander off and we start to forget who we had addressed in the first place (Tho mpson 2005). It is for this reason that we must undertake prayer as a spiritual discipline in order to enable ourselves to attain the single-mindedness necessary to attend to the God-who-is-present.It is also vital for us to understand that prayer, just as every other discipline, is a learning process. We will find ourselves distracted. We will notice our minds wandering among the countless concerns of the day. However, as we continue in the paths of prayer, our meanders will be shorter and less frequent. Prayer is conversation or communication with God. It involves both speaking and listening. So often we pray as if it were a monologue. But prayer is so much more than a one-way communication towards God.As a matter of fact, the most diligent person that practices the discipline of prayer knows that prayer is more about just listening towards God rather than talking to him. In addition, prayer is also about being open to God for change. Prayer is recognition that God is God and we a re not, and so in prayer we yield our desires to God's. As much as people might say it is, prayer is not at all complicated. Prayer is not just about saying the right combination of words and thought but it is the right orientation of our outlook towards God.In addition, prayers do not need to be flowery. Those kinds of prayers are either said in order to impress others or just to manipulate God. A prayer is not something that is done during mealtime, in times of church service or in times of distress. It is not just about bowing our heads, clasping our hands together, and closing our eyes. If we really consider the definition of prayer as something that is really paying attention to God, we really can conduct the discipline of prayer without actually stopping.What is important is that in whatever thing we do, we do it with the awareness that God is always there beside us (Thompson 2005). With that in mind, we can take special attention all of what we do and offer it to him. To pray without ceasing means that wherever we go and in whatever we are doing, we go and do with the awareness that God is always watching whatever we do. We listen through prayer and meditation for his opinion on everything that we do in our lives. We look at others and ourselves through His eyes.We ask God to show us the right path and the right decision for whatever we do. In prayer God invites us to join him in his community and wants us to lead our lives in his ways. The third part of the spiritual discipline is fasting. Biblically, fasting is abstaining from food, drink, sleep or sex to take special attention on a period of spiritual growth. Specifically, we humbly deny something of the flesh to glorify God, enhance our spirit, and go deeper in our prayer life. Christian fasting isn't some kind of a â€Å"work† that's commanded by Christ or required by Scripture.On the other hand, it doesn’t imply that fasting isn't suggested to be part of our spiritual growth. Fasting is often linked to prayer and meditation as well. Too often, the focus of fasting is on the lack of food. On the other hand, the purpose of fasting is to take our eyes off the things of this world and instead take special attention on God. Fasting is a way to demonstrate to God and to ourselves that we are serious about our relationship with Him. Although fasting in Scripture is almost always a fasting from food, there are other ways to fast.It can actually be as easy as giving up something temporarily so that you can better focus on God can actually be considered fasting. It is recommended that fasting be limited to a given period of time, more so when food is part of the fasting. It is important to note that fasting is never intended to punish the flesh but to let we take special attention on God (Catechism of the Catholic Church n. d. ). In addition, fasting according to scripture is not a prerequisite. However it is highly recommended. The only reason indicated within Holy Scri pture to fast is to develop a deeper relationship with God.Christian fasting is more than just not letting ourselves eat or deny ourselves of some kind of passion or thing that we crave for but it is a sacrifice of something that we hold dear in order to offer it to the Lord. Fasting imbibes humility and loosens us from the chains of worldly materials and needs. This concept of fasting is not a one-day thing – it is a lifestyle of servant living for God and others. The next kind of spiritual discipline that is the focus of our study is simplicity. Simplicity, as many people would have it, is not merely having less stress in life and having more fun and recreation.But, simplicity is a spiritual discipline that when practiced moves us closer to God and removes us from the chains of worldly possessions. Some people turn to God in order to simplify their lives. In some cases, this can happen but this would entirely depend on what God’s plans for you (Boa, 2001). But all to o often, God makes our lives more complicated. God continually tests us in order to determine our faith and love in him. As we are continually tested, God’s love then calls us to act. Part of what makes a Christian spirituality ‘simple' is that is has a single attention: Christ.All else radiates from there or is to be set aside. Spiritual discipline trains us to stay on course when our lives are rocked out of normality. But if we do not stay steady and stay the course, we lose our connection and ourselves to God. Christian spirituality helps make life simpler and happy to live. When we chase a wealthy life style, we thread a very difficult and often unholy affair: the standards keep on changing day in and day out, and our anxiety never ceases. That is why Christian contemplatives and mystics speak so often of detachment.By taking away the direction on acquiring and amassing wealth, we have more of ourselves made free in order to direct ourselves to take special attentio n on learning to love correctly, to meditate towards God, to provide the necessary aid to those that need it, to learn more about our Lord through scripture or learning how to depend on the Spirit. Simplicity guides to so many other spiritual disciplines such as giving time to others – service. By means of simplicity, you are actually attuned more to the needs of others and can actually help them, as you are not preoccupied with other material things in life.Service can also be a form of simplicity as you provide help to others. With service, you are closer to God as you fulfill one of the very tenets of Christianity, and that is not to just be closer to God but more importantly be closer and be in a communal relationship with the people around you (Ortberg 2004). In life, you cannot have everything. You always have to choose between something. You can't follow Christ and chase wealth. Most of the time these two paths go in extremely opposite directions. The simple life, the contented life, means that we have learned to trust God rather than worldly possessions.People currently worry so much about money that they forget the essential things in life. We think that money will take away all our worries but in reality money will only produce more and more worries. Take for instance the people that win the lottery and just go bankrupt. Riches and abundance are like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. They come in reeling in the bait, they are clad as sheep’s clothing pretending to be security against anxieties and they then become the object of anxiety that in the first place they try to remove.Worldly possessions not only take away our concentration towards God but also make us closer to evil (Mcknight 2004). In conclusion, prayer, meditation, study of the holy scripture, service to one’s fellow men, simplicity and fasting all guide people who do these spiritual disciplines closer to God. Each on its own can contribute to making this person clo ser to God. It is also evident that each spiritual discipline leads to the other; moreover, everything is intertwined and every part of each spiritual discipline is founded on another kind of discipline.This is strongly apparent in existing studies and prescriptions that it is important to practice not just only one but many of these spiritual disciplines if one were to aspire to become closer to God. As a concluding remark, these disciplines are not made in order to be just followed and it will logically guide to being saved from eternal damnation. Instead, these are carried out in order to be a guide for us to be ever closer to God. We use these disciplines as tools to make us closer to God but inevitably, it will all redound to the choice we make whether or not we would want to authentically accept God in our lives.