What Is Documentary Film

Matthew Foster Intro to Documentary Film Midterm Paper What Is Documentary Film? I once heard a quote from an unknown man who said, â€Å"Words are only words until you invest some meaning into them. † I didn't fully comprehend what he meant by this statement. Surely every word has its own definition, giving it some type of meaning. So why would they being meaningless without me? Not until I entered this class and focused on documentary film did I re evaluate this statement.What the man meant was we can all see the same sentence and read it for its literal translation. But when you apply your unique perspective to the words, they take on a greater meaning, resulting in a unique significance and new perspective on the sentence. Thats what I think documentary film is. An unique outlook of a common ground. Documentary film is the creative manipulation of real historical events to present a certain perspective or point of view. It is a representation of our real world through the eyes of a particular person or party.Many theorists have stated that the true essence of documentary is the actuality, recording life as is with real social actors on real world locations. Actualities, predecessor to documentary, dealt with footage from real events, places, and things without any structure or arrangement into a argument or coherent whole. This gave an stance of objectivity, being free of point of view, relating it more to newspapers in its approach. Without this element of arrangement, recorded content would be just that, a record of historical events.For if we define documentary as â€Å"objective† or as a â€Å"record,† we set an unreachable standard for the genre, and limit our understanding of the ways in which actual documentary films function. (Plantinga, 41) Neither a fictional invention nor a factual reproduction, documentary draws on and refers to historical reality while representing it from a distinct perspective. Documentary films speak abo ut actual situations or events and honor known facts; they do not introduce new, unverifiable ones. They speak directly about the historical world rather than allegorically. Nichols, 7) This is where they differ from non fictional cinema. Documentaries represent the real world, the world that it is depicting. The images and people shown in documentaries are that of the same one we share. The fictional narratives of Hollywood create one world to stand for another, generating a second meaning which we use in turn to help understand the real world we live in. This perspective of historical reality is shaped through the documentaries voice. The voice of a documentary is each films specific way of expressing its way of seeing the world (Nichols, 68).Although history is looked at as being objective, documentaries are not necessarily. While the world being shown in a documentary is shared by the viewer, the voice of the documentary establishes a perspective of a certain individual of the w orld that we share. Documentaries are not necessarily objective. Neither do they imitate or re-present reality. Documentaries are fundamentally rhetorical, expressive constructs which make assertions and implications about reality through their images and sounds, and which express and consider claims about a subject (Platinga, 47).Voice is constructed through the creative manipulation of the documentary process. This manipulation of raw footage employs style and conventions to develop a works perspective and produce particular meanings and effects. Documentary manipulation and interpretation of reality is expressed through representational styles and conventions and forms of argument and narrative which together work to produce a realistic and authoritative representation of the socio-historical world. (Beattie, 14)With the creative manipulation of raw footage, it has been a debate in the cinematic world if the depiction of the socio-historical world is factual and truthful. Documen tary can be defined, generally, as a work or text which implicitly claims to truthfully represent the world, whether it is to accurately represent events or issues or to assert that the subject of the work are ‘real people' (Beattie, 10). This truth claim rest on a contract of trust between filmmaker and viewer.Producers of these documentary films and filmmakers adhere to a list of mandates handed down by governing authorities and associations, having extensive research guidelines and reporting of of witnesses, as well as its structured conventions to shape the audiences perception and interpretation of what is viewed to be an accurate depiction of the world. In conclusion, documentaries would lack to be documentaries if not for the creative manipulation of its content. Without a voice, a subject, meaning, it would merely be records of what happened, much like the guy from Exit Through the Gift Shop.We would have boxes and boxes of raw footage, but with no purpose or direction . We still see the common world we share, just from a different perspective. Works Cited Nichols, Bill. â€Å"How Can We Define Documentary Film? † Introduction to Documentary. Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 2001. N. pag. Print. Platinga, Carl. â€Å"The Mirror Framed: A Case For Expression in Documentary. † Wide Angle 13 (1991): 41-42. Web. Beattie, Keith. â€Å"Believe Me, I'm of the World: Documentary Representation† E. S. Bird Library. Syracuse, NY (2010): 10-14. Web.

Wealthy and Lower Socioeconomic Communities Differences

There exists an achievement gap among wealthy and lower socio economic communities. Students who come from schools within lower socioeconomic communities do not often receive the same education or services from wealthier districts. New Jersey has responded to this inequitable situation with the Abbot funding process. Recently two local communities, Long Branch and Neptune, have been threatened with the loss of their Abbott status; as a result of additional mandates from the federal No Child Left Behind Act, many such schools are being threatened with the loss of their funding if they fail to meet minimum academic achievement standards. To determine the impact of this potential loss, this paper will provide insights into local concerns in Long Branch to identify how this loss would affect the academic achievement gap. This discussion will be followed by a report on two areas where it is believed equity will be lost to the district. In their Abbott vs. Burke decision, the New Jersey Supreme Court mandated additional assistance for the state's 30 poorest districts, including Long Branch and Neptune (Quinn, 2003). According to an Asbury Park Press survey of enrollment data for Monmouth County found that minorities comprise the majority of the school population in Asbury Park, Red Bank, Neptune, Freehold, Long Branch and Lakewood; of these, the survey found that only Red Bank's poverty rate does not exceed the state's rate (Quinn, 2003). Furthermore, fully 20 percent of the Hispanic students in Monmouth County attend the Long Branch school system (Quinn, 2003). If the additional funding promised by the Abbott decision is halted or reduced, all of the low-income communities will undoubtedly experience further declines in the academic performance levels that are already precipitously low in many cases, with the thrust of this reduction in funding creating two fundamental problems: 1) adversely affect literary rates; and 2) further exacerbate the segregation of low-income and minority citizens into pockets of poverty. As to the first issue, Strickland and Alvermann (2004) reviewed the issues concerning the achievement gap in the U. S. and found that literacy demands of the middle grades are exacerbated when the students come from low income and minority homes; in particular, these issues assumed critical levels when the students are members of low-income and minority families. These students are already likely to attend schools characterized by high mobility rates, inadequate resources and facilities, and large numbers of young students with challenging learning needs (Strickland & Alvermann, 2004). Comparable trends are also apparent in the State of New Jersey as well. According to Lattimer and Strickland (2004), the results from the Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA) from 2000-2002 identified consistent differences in partially proficient, proficient, and advanced proficient between District Factor Groups (DFG's) and race/ethnicity. In addition, the differences in academic achievement between special needs districts such as Long Branch and non-special needs districts found similar trends to the 2002 GEPA (Lattimer & Strickland, 2004). In fact, a 35-percentage point difference existed in the total number of students scoring proficient and advanced proficient in Language Arts Literacy in 2002; the authors point out that the District Factor Group is an indicator of the socioeconomic status of citizens in each district and has been useful for the comparative reporting of test results from New Jersey's statewide testing programs in the past (Lattimer & Strickland, 2004). Concerning the second issue of further segregating low-income and minority citizens into â€Å"pockets of poverty,† the school superintendent for Long Branch reported that although minorities tend to live in segregated communities, this was the result of a â€Å"social trend† rather than segregation; notwithstanding these assertions, though, these high concentration of low-income minority members in their own communities has created â€Å"have† and â€Å"have-not† districts, with the Long Branch district representing one of the hardest-hit in the state (Quinn, 2003). Clearly, if the Abbott funding is halted, parents will be faced with a dual-edged dilemma of being unable to provide their children with an adequate education by virtue of substandard schools while being forced to remain in these low-income districts out of sheer necessity. The people of New Jersey in general and the citizens of these low-income regions deserve the quality education that is their American birthright; unfortunately, the promise has not lived up to its legacy in many of these cities, and Long Branch continues to be threatened with even more academic and social miseries if its Abbott funding is stopped.

A Triple Bottom Line Analysis of Malta Essay

1.Introduction The Republic of Malta is located in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an independent country, which includes the islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino, covering an area of 316 square kilometres. The Republic of Malta has a population of 417,617 (National Statistics, Demographic Review 2010) most of who live on the island of Malta. Appendix 1 shows that tourism in Malta started to grow in the late 1960’s with visitor numbers increasing from 47,804 in 1965 to 334,519 by 1975. By 1980 visitors numbers were up to 728,732, with the tourism industry aimed at attracting the mass market. (Lockhart, 1997) The latest tourist numbers stand at 1.3 million. (National Statistics, Tourist Departures, 2010) As with many Mediterranean islands Malta’s tourism has been historically focused on mass tourism, sun, sea and sand package holidays resulting in the neglect of historical cultural and environmental impacts. (Dodds, 2007) The rapid development of tourism in Malta combined with the high number of seasonal visitors has lead to number of impacts. These impacts can be accessed using the triple bottom line approach developed by John Elkington in reference to the economic, social and environmental impacts. (Elkington, 1997) 2.Issues When identifying the issues that Malta is facing, the principles of the Cape Town Declaration, Agenda 21 and the context of Responsible Tourism have been used as point of reference as well as a number of official reports, including the State of the Environment Reports (2002, 1998 and 2005 and Malta’s National Report to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002). On the basis of this research the following issues have been identified. 2.1Economic Issues 2.1.1Pressure on the island infrastructure The rapid development of the tourism industry in Malta has resulted in insufficient consideration and planning being given to the country’s infrastructure. Malta is a small island, yet its infrastructure, as previously mentioned now has to support its own population and the 1.3 million tourists. Despite the growing numbers of tourists, inadequate investment into the country’s infrastructure is still not in place. This is a common issue in many resorts; infrastructures are unable to cope with the intensity of tourist visitation at peak periods of the year (Mathieson and Wall 1982) Malta’s roads are of poor condition. With congestion, noise and air pollution being an issue. The water supply, waste management, beaches and visitor attractions are stretched to capacity in the summer months each year when visitor numbers are at their peak. 2.1.2Seasonality of visitors Tourism in Malta is very seasonal, with the majority of incoming tourists arriving in the May to October period. In 2005, 68.4% of tourists arrived during these months, with 47.8% arriving during the months of July and September. (Appendix 2 shows Malta’s Tourist Departures 2001-2005) This shows that tourist densities in Malta are very high during the peak season. In recent years the total number of tourists amounted to almost three times as much as the resident population. (Briguglio and Briguglio, 1996) 2.2Social Issues 2.2.1Employment Malta’s tourism industry operates 12 months of the year; the seasonality causes issues for the Maltese citizens as employment within the tourism sector in not full time. High tourist densities As previously mentioned, Malta has a densely populated country. The influx of visitors who arrive during the busy peak season, cause overcrowding and congestion, putting increased pressure on the already strained infrastructure. This creates discomfort for the local residents. (Briguglio and Briguglio, 1996) as they are unable to use the local transport, visit places of interest or go to the beach. Damage to historical places is caused through frequent visitor numbers with many of the important locations being in a state of decay 2.3Environmental Issues 2.3.1Rapid increase in building work Building of tourist accommodation in Malta has increased at a very rapid rate as a result of intensive development in certain areas (Briguglio and Briguglio, 1996). High rise concrete hotels have replaced the traditional Maltese houses, losing local culture and character. The increased construction work and development of the tourism industry as had a negative impact on the environment, as not enough commitment has been shown to the protection of the important habitats. The quarrying itself has an environmental impact, land degradation and dust pollution. The waste products left after construction, such as rubble, are not currently recycled, and are often dumped. (A Sustainable Development Strategy for the Maltese Islands, 2006) Also most of the buildings are not energy efficient, causing wasted energy and increased co2. Renewable energy has not been incorporated into many of the properties. 2.3.2Waste The sewage network in Malta is heavily taxed by the native population alone. (Briguglio and Briguglio, 1996). The high number of tourists increases this problem. This has had several knock-on effects including foul smells; bays having to be closed for swimming due to sewage pollution, degradation of flora and fauna as well as damage to the coastal and marine life. Certain areas of Malta remain characterised by high levels of littering and dumping. (www.mepa.org.mt/ter08-resources+waste). 2.3.3Water Freshwater remains a scare national resource in Malta, particularly during the peak summer months due to the increased population density and arid climate. (www.mepa.org.mt/ter08-freshwater). Hotels use large amounts of water for swimming pools and watering gardens, which adds further pressure to the limited supply. Malta has a high dependence on desalinated water, which is expensive to produce both from an economic and environmental point of view. Leakages from the distribution network are a problem as is the quality of the drinking water. 3Priorities The main issues identified by the triple bottom line analysis of Malta are with the rapid development of the mass tourism sun, sea and sand market, consideration was not given to the country’s infrastructure. Future planning had not been put in place as to how the country would deal with high numbers of visitors during the summer months, and what environmental effects this would have on the country. The priorities focus on the issues which need to be addressed. 3.1 Investment in infrastructure Tourism is important to Malta’s economy, it is therefore of the upmost importance that the infrastructure is improved, so that it is able to handle growing visitor numbers. Upgrade of the roads is necessary; if the roads were in improved, it would reduce the congestion and noise problem, making the visitor experience better as well as being a much needed improvement for the local people. 3.2 Development of tourism product during the off peak season Malta currently depends heavily on the summer mass-tourism sun, sea and sand market. During the summer its visitor numbers are reaching capacity. Attention needs to be given to reducing seasonality through further development, education and marketing of the other facilities and attractions that Malta have to offer, encouraging existing summer visitors and potential new visitors to stay during off-peak season. This would benefit the local economy and the local people through full time employment, if the visitor numbers are spread throughout the year, local people would also not have the issue with overcrowding of local attractions. Finally the natural resources would also be better off if demand during the summer was less. 3.3 Water and waste improvements Water supply and waste management systems need to be addressed The sewerage system needs to be addressed, currently most of effluents into the marine environment, which continues to have a detrimental effect on the environment as well as health threats to people using the sea. Littering, noise, clean water, lack of greenery and open spaces are among the factors that have an impact of Malta’s natural heritage and negatively influence the competitiveness of the overall Maltese product. If these matters are improved the experience for the tourist would be enhanced and the quality of life of the Maltese people would be enriched.  Both are essential to sustain the current tourism industry, and looking forward, these systems need to be invested in, if the tourism industry is to continue to grow. 4.Conclusion Mass tourism cannot continue in Malta, as it has in other Mediterranean destinations, who have more space and resources to support such visitor numbers. Maltese Tourism must find a balance between increased tourism numbers with the needs of the local residents and the environment, so going forward it becomes more sustainable. Creating better places for people to live in and for people to visit. (The Cape Town Declaration, 2002).

Changing Self Essay

The texts studied in the Area of Study have been very significant in shaping my understanding of the concept of Changing Self. The novel Willow Tree and Olive, written by Irini Savvides, the short film Be My Brother (directed by Genevieve Clay, 2009) and the film About A Boy (directed by Paul and Chris Weitz, 2002), while different in form and cultural contexts, have both affirmed and challenged a range of ideas about Changing Self. One significant that these texts explore reflecting the complexity of changing self is that a change in self can involve a shift whether physical, emotional, social or intellectual change.Further, the texts explore the idea that a change in self can be facilitated by an external catalyst. The novel â€Å"Willow Tree and Olive† by Irini Savvides explores the idea that changing self can involve a shift whether physical, emotional, and social or an intellectual change. Initially, Olive has experienced some trauma in her past, and only has brief recoll ections of it. She feels different from others and is detached from her family and friends because of the trauma. This is presented through the nightmares she recalls from the night of her rape: â€Å"It’s a memory – like a flashback, and I’m in it. The use of the simile reflects the event that took place upon her and recalls what happens. Later throughout the novel, Olive has a new appreciation for her family and friends. This is reflected through, â€Å"Dance. Watch people. Go for walks. Write poetry in my head. And I fall in love. With my people and their passion for life, and their acceptance of me, even though I am different. † Here, Olive comes to the realisation that the people, who she loves, support her even throughout the horror and change she has experienced because of her past.Thus, a change in self can involve a shift and is clearly demonstrated through the novel â€Å"Willow Tree and Olive† by Irini Savvides. Likewise, the film †Å"About A Boy† (Paul and Chris Weitz, 2002) similarly explores the idea of changing self-involving a shift through a social and intellectual change. The main character, Will Freeman, is a rich, childfree and irresponsible 38-year-old slacker who, in search of available women, invents an imaginary son and starts attending single parent meetings.Initially, Will is a self-centred person who is unable to connect with people and being scared by commitment and love. Through cinematography, the montage of scenes of women Will has been out on a date with and also a connection with sentences convey the personality Will has, â€Å"I’m sorry, you’re breaking up with me? You, self-centred bastard, I can’t believe I have wasted all this time with you, you useless superficial loser. † On the contrary, as Will meets Marcus, an awkward 12-year-old boy his view on life changes through a series of events. Once you open your door to one person, anyone can come in. â⠂¬  This conveys that as he has let Marcus come into his life, more people are invited and he begins to make friends and have a closer bond with each of them. In addition, he has changed his view towards people which demonstrates social change. As a result, the film, â€Å"About A Boy† directed by Paul and Chris Weitz demonstrates that a change in self involves a shift, particularly a social and intellectual change. Another idea explored in the novel Willow Tree and Olive is that an external catalyst can facilitate a change in self.The catalyst of Olive is Kerry who is her mentor in helping her through the trauma she has suffered. Initially, Olive is afraid of what Kerry will say if she told her about her traumatic past and if she will have a different view about Olive. She attempts to trust Kerry by telling her: â€Å"I CAN’T BELIEVE I SAID IT. WHAT IF KERRY NEVER SPEAKS TO ME AGAIN†¦ BUT IT IS THE TRUTH. † Through the use of capitalisation, it shows that Olive is conscious and anxious about what she has told Kerry. She also is reflecting upon what she has said and in disbelief about how and why she had told her.Later in the novel, Olive begins to trust her friend Kerry that is shown through: â€Å"I wouldn’t have made it without your love. † Olive shows an appreciation for her friend Kerry and it is evidence of Kerry’s support for Olive through her past trauma through her affection towards Olive. Thus, it is evident that an external catalyst can facilitate a change in self. Similarly the short film â€Å"Be My Brother† (Genevieve Clay, 2009) explores the idea of changing self being facilitated by an external catalyst. Initially, Amanda is in insularity and has a disconnection with Richard because she acts negatively towards him through body language.Amanda’s posture is averted away from Richard and her facial expression with discomfort. In addition, Amanda and Richard are framed singularly and the proximity of their seating; Richard is on far left hand side of the seat and Amanda in the opposite. Later in the film, her previous assumptions about Richard’s intellect have been challenged and proven incorrect. This is characterised through the juxtaposition of Richard and Amanda in the same frame as well as the change in Amanda’s body language; her facial expression is positive as she is miling and she is facing Richard as they both converse. Thus, the short film, â€Å"Be My Brother† directed by Genevieve Clay, 2009 clearly demonstrates the idea of changing self being facilitated by an external catalyst. In conclusion, the range of texts I have studied have been influential in shaping my understanding about the concept of changing self, emphasising that changing self is a complex process that is highly individual and shaped by many factors which can be both internal and external.The texts, â€Å"Willow Tree and Olive† by Irini Savvides, â€Å"Be My Brother† directed by Genevieve Clay, 2009 and â€Å"About A Boy† directed by Paul and Chris Weitz, 2002 explore a range of ideas such as a change in self can be facilitated by an external catalyst and it can also involve a shift whether physical, emotional, social or intellectual. The texts have assisted me to appreciate that there are various methods, which may be complex, that allow an individual to change self.

Components of civic education Essay

The core meaning of civic education is that it is a subject that promotes civic knowledge, civic skills, civic values and civic dispositions. Civic knowledge is concerned with the content or what citizens out to know, it is thorough familiarization with what civic life constitutes. It is having an understanding about basic principles of democracy, politics, elections, institutions. Having the understanding of the rights and responsibilities, knowledge of what rights and responsibilities our political leaders have. Social relationships in the community entails levels of civic knowledge, an understanding that their different cultures. It is about having an understanding of current issues, the functionality of institutions and sustainable development. Civic skills, with regard to the three positions given on the meaning of civic education it promotes practical skills meaning service learning and common awareness hence for people to discharge their responsibilities and exercise their rig hts as citizens, the need for skills, participatory and intellectual capabilities becomes paramount. Intellectual skills in civics and government are inseparable from content, these skills are sometimes called thinking skills. The National Standards of Civics and Government categorize these skills as identifying and describing; explaining and analyzing; and evaluating, taking and defending positions in public affairs. A good civic education enables one to identify or give the meaning or significance of things that are tangible such as the flag, national monuments or civics and political events. It also enables one to give the meaning or significance of intangibles, such as ideals or concepts including patriotism, majority and minority rights, civil society, and constitutionalism. Civic disposition’s refers to the traits of private and public character essential to maintenance and improvement of constitutional democracy. Civic dispositions develop slowly as a result of what one learns and experiences in the home, school, community and organization of civil society. These experiences include understanding that democracy requires the responsible self governance of each individual; one cannot exist without the other. Traits of private character, such as moral responsibility, self discipline, and respect for the worth and human dignity of every individual are imperative. Traits of public character are public spiritedness, civility, respect for the rule of law, crucial/ critical mindedness and  willingness to listen, negotiate and compromise are inseparable to democracy’s success. These bring about the intention to be active in the community, to participate in civil society as well as in particular political community. The importance of civic dispositions, or the â€Å"habits of the heart† as Alexis de Tocqueville called them, can scarcely be overemphasized.

Applied Financial Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Applied Financial Management - Essay Example The financial statements provided a favourable picture of the organization which was not true as a result the trust of the shareholders was affected with the exposure of the accounting frauds and with the collapse of the company all the stakeholder of the company were hugely affected. Another major corporate collapse was the fall of HIH Insurance which also fell due to the non transparent financial statements. The fall of a company affects not only its members but to every stakeholders which includes the economy too. The two major collapses indicated the importance of the corporate governance. Every country follow one or the other system of corporate governance but with the increase of operation of companies in different countries, should the different system of corporate governance should be converged or not is a matter of question. In this project the concept of corporate governance including the different systems of corporate governance has been discussed. With the era of globaliz ation were different companies are operating around the globe; the topic of convergence of the different system of corporate governance has also been discussed. ... Corporate governance provides a basic structure to the organisation on how it should be operated. It contains the ethical standards which should be followed by the organisation. Corporate governance contains the process which the company follows, the customs and the policies which are adopted by the company. The corporate governance specifies the company’s accountability to the different stakeholders of the organisation. It establishes the relationship between the various stakeholders of the organisation. The stakeholders include the shareholders, suppliers, fund providers, customers, government and the society in which the business is operating. The stakeholders also include the internal members of the organisation like the management, board of directors, employees etc. Corporate governance is also related with the corporate social responsibility of the company. The corporate scandals and the collapse of the two different corporate giant as mentioned in the above part signifi ed the importance of adequate corporate governance. Every person whose interest lies on the operation of the company, directly or indirectly, is associated with the corporate governance. This makes the employees of the organisation also a member of corporate governance as they receive salary and other benefits for working in the company. The other members associated with the corporate governance are board of directors, managers, other company officials, auditors, shareholders, customers, suppliers and lenders. All these members are affected by the financial performance of the company. The corporate governance directs the management on the internal and the external factors of the organisation. The internal factors range from the remuneration, power, process of internal control

Obseity, a 21st century epidemic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Obseity, a 21st century epidemic - Essay Example vations and recommendations of the Health People 2010, the people of the developed countries in particular the United States have been victimized by two coherent concerns, i.e. the declination of the physical activities, and the record increase in the overweight. The World Health Organization has concluded that physical activity and overweight are the number one and two health indicators (NEHA, 2001). A phenomenal increase in the epidemic has been recorded, the survey conducted by the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth concluded that the all racial groups experienced increasing rates of obesity. According to the survey, the participation of the African American and half Caucasian into the physical activity has declined rapidly, and around hundred percent and fifty six percent declination has been observed respectively. The obesity has been responsible for the adolescents grapple with autonomy, issues of self-control, readiness to change, and their relationships with parents and ot her authority figures. The obesity is also a cause for the interference of the process of understanding identity which incorporates self-esteem and self-concept i.e. considered to be a major developmental issue in adolescence. Obesity has been dominant among the adolescent, and such developed characteristics has been inherited by the off spring respectively. The lack of physical activity is the primary factor which has to be undertaken by current generation, and such factor needs to be discarded to avoid obesity. Obesity is not primarily caused by prolong and excessive eating, rather the lack of physical activities also cause obesity. The epidemic has to be resolved through comprehensive, community-based approach, the epidemic has been integrated with the other social issues, and an understanding has been formulated in accordance to which it is civic engagement, physical health, vocational readiness and success, educational attainment, and social and emotional health (NEHA, 2001) ar e

The Day the Earth Stood Still Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Day the Earth Stood Still - Essay Example ajor argument in this regard is that there are a number of cold war period themes in the 1951 classic film â€Å"The Day the Earth Stood Still† that are still relevant in the contemporary post 9/11 American society Pardon has significantly employed a number of depictions in the movie to highlight some of his arguments in the movie. For example to support his argument that the post 9/11 global society is still faced with threats and fears just as during the 1950s cold war periods, the author has used the irrationality of some politicians and leaders such as Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush just as was mentioned by Klaatu in the 1951 classic film. In this context, the argument is that bad leaders are slowly destroying humanity and the universe just as were in the 1950s. As opposed to original 1951 movie which largely carried anti-nuclear message, there are a number of incidences in the movie â€Å"The Day the Earth Stood Still† which talks about the effects of our current environmental ignorance such as the current global warming as well as the fact that human beings can still change their ways for the betterment of our planet (Pardon, 145). In my opinion, the article â€Å"Revisiting a science fiction classic† demonstrates a number of strengths which have effectively helped the author to support his arguments throughout the article. For example by enacting fantasy using an alien as a champion for environmental conservation, the article highlights the urgent need for behavioral change for all the members of the contemporary society with regard to environmental conservation just as it was in the past with regard to the peaceful use of nuclear technology. The Author has also revisited the fear mongering depictions in the 1951 original classic movie in its environmental advocacy. For example, in the classic film, there are instances where the world is held ransom by the aliens unless everyone adopts the peaceful use of nuclear technology. Similarly the contemporary post

Organisational and leadership management Case Study - 1

Organisational and leadership management - Case Study Example Their major aim is to highlight themselves in the middle and lower strata of the population to gain maximum market penetration and market share. Going into the history of the organization, it was founded in 1965 in West Yorkshire England, and it is there only that their headquarters are present. The major products that they are offering their vast customer base are grocery, general merchandize and financial services; a domain that is different from their focal business. Associated Dairies and Farms Stores Limited was formed in 1949; the company ASDA was formed after a merger agreement with three supermarket chains in 1965. After a lot of changes in the product base, coupled with mergers, acquisitions and diversifications, they started their focused approach towards extending their food retailers vision forward. This was done in 1989, by buying huge stores of Rivals, Gateway Superstores for a whopping some of 750 million pounds. Problem of selling too many products arose, which are encountered by raising capital from shareholders twice. The journey of then coupling themselves with the American giant Wal-Mart started where the CEO of the company even sent people to the organization in order to access the marketing and technology base that their international rivals were using. The takeover of this British organization by the US giant Wal-Mart, took place on 26th July, 1999; this was when the organization was planning to take over Kingfisher plc. (ASD A, 2009) The organization is basically boasting to provide product and service both to its values customers. It is more of less in the middle of the product-service continuum, sliding more towards to product end. This is because the organization has built a brand name in providing quality service in terms of retail housing to its customers. This requires high quality of product. On the other hand, due to their sound brand name, they have this aspect of after sales service that is being associated with the organization, the customers are satisfied that their queries would be met with. The element we will be focusing on in the assignment is the product orientation of the organization. It is a publically owned organization where shares are being traded on different stock exchanges. The company boasts of an income of 638 million pounds and is currently employing over 143 thousand in its organization, serving the whole of the United Kingdom. They have been known for their marketing campaigns based of fair/low price products that have kept the competition alive in the retailer market. ANALYSIS OF THE ORGANIZATION The organization provides retail to its customers. Apart from the basic grocery products and retail chains that it is providing its customers, the company has also diversified and moved into the financial sector market. They also provide financial services to the customers with the help of the subsidiary organizations. However, the focus of the analysis is the retailer section of the organization's product line. There are several factors for choosing the General Merchandize and grocery sector, in short the retailer business, of the company. One of the most prominent and important one is that this sector has been developed over a large period of time. The

International Law Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

International Law - Article Example Development with its unfathomable vaults and bounds has always been oriented towards the amalgamation of men and women in the pursuit of common accepted objectives. Law is simply an aspect that binds the members of the community jointly in their observance to approved standards and customaries. Law is tolerant or laissez faire in that it allows persons to establish their own legal relations with rights and duties, as in the creation of contracts, and compels as it castigates those who would want to contravene its directives. Law comprises of a sequence of rules modifiable performance, and shimmering, to some extent, the ideas as well as obsessions of the community within which it purposes. The guiding ethical standards that define international law are national states and not individual citizens. There exits many disparities flanking the law within a country as well as the law that functions beyond the precincts and between nationalities, international originations as well as in part icular cases, persons. International law is clustered into variance of laws. The former is more concern with those cases, inside a fastidious legal configuration, in which foreign elements obtrude, raising queries as to the functionalities of alien law or the position of overseas, Rodriguez-Orellana, Manuel (1994). For instance, supposing two English make a contract in France to sell goods that are in Paris, an English court employs French edict as regards the legitimacy of that indenture. By distinction, public international law is not simply an adjunct of a lawful order, instead a separate structure jointly. Unrestricted international decree covers between nationalities in all their innumerable forms, from combats to satellites and controls the functionalities of the numerous international edifices. These laws can be widespread or wide-ranging, in which cases the stipulated rules bind all the states or regional, whereby a group of states associated demographically or philosophically may recognize special rules applying to them for instance, the performance of diplomatic sanctuary that has urbanized to its furthermost extent in Latin America. The policies of transnational edict must be differentiated from what is known as international comity, or traditions such as addressing the flags of for eign warships at sea, which are exclusively employed through civility and are not observed as lawfully obligatory. Correspondingly, the inaccuracy of bewildering international edict with transnational integrity must be precluded. Although thy may convene at various summits, the previous restraint is a permissible one both as regards its content and its form, while the impression of transnational morality is a division of moral code. The implicit here is that international edict can not be alienated from its principles Harhoff Frederik (1994). Law and politics in the world community The first question to be fronted should be the permissible eminence of the transnational edict. Each divide of the transnational argument will probably claim legal justification for its actions and within the international configuration there is no disconnect body that has the ability to resolve the issue and grant a concluding verdict. Practically, everyone that starts reading about transnational edict does so having cultured or acquired about the principled features of regular or conjugal law. Such recognizing smudges incorporate the existence of a recognized body to legislate or create

Sex and Violence in Popular Culture Research Paper

Sex and Violence in Popular Culture - Research Paper Example The paper focuses on the influence of popular culture on the controversial societal issues like sex and violence. Before going on the discussion, the terms sex, violence and popular culture will be defined first as the meanings contribute to the understanding of the subject matter. Sex is usually equaled to gender as they are interchangeably used in everyday conversations. In reality, sex and gender are different. The former relates to physiological characteristic as the latter is a social concept. Sex is also an act that shows physical contact for procreation. Gender depends upon sets of social norms affected by culture and tradition that set apart males from females (Wilson 1-2). The other term to define is violence. Violence responds to conflict as harm is afflicted physically, emotionally or mentally on other people as a result of human action. Violence includes social injustices such as racism and poverty (Daoust 290). Both of them are linked to popular culture. Popular culture deals with the everyday living of people as the theme reflects the lives of the common people (Browne 5). The study deals with the negative effects of the prevailing images shown by the popular culture to the increasing cases of sex and violence as the two societal problems occur in the recent years in response to what the majority people believe. As people throughout their lives seek for learning about the world and its meanings, interactions happen as the humans in the society share experiences. People have roles to play in their lives as the society dictates as standards and acceptable behavior. The roles do not have strict and rigid boundaries as people can have various roles that show flexibility. People can take charge of their lives and choose particular roles to play. Play is important in socialization and building of the personalities of people as personalities affect the roles that people play. In terms of personality traits, the gender is also affected. Nowadays the avail ability of television programs and video games are widely used by people for information and relaxation. Such popular media affect the roles of women as the video games portray women maintaining beauty and men protecting women even with the use of violence (Dietz 425-426). The portrayals in videogames become very blatant as more people, the young and the old make use of the high technology games for their relaxation. Video games pose hazards in the view and existence of sex and violence as they portray women as sex objects and men as aggressive in nature. The games also show some gender inequality as women are underrepresented in games according to several video game magazines used in the studies done by Dill and Thill. Both the magazines and the games featured there make use of stereotypes in portraying masculinity and femininity like scanty clothes for female characters and brutal weapons for male characters (Dill and Thill 858-859). Stereotypes generalize the categories for showi ng what men and women must be and what they must be not. In reality, it would be impossible to make use of those stereotypes as people are different from one another. Violence and sex were also seen in a particular videogame called Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as the protagonist or the controllable in-game character is an African-American who encounters racism, violence, sex and all other societal problems on his way home. Black males were

The Concept of Alien Life on Other Planets Essay

The Concept of Alien Life on Other Planets - Essay Example I am sure people have had some pre-conceived notions of life on other planets from news reports, movies like E.T., Aliens, or Men in Black. I, too, believe that aliens do exist. According to an article on NASA, â€Å"the US space agency has spoken for the first time in life on other planets and they are certain it DOES exist†. From the exploration of the universe and planets using highly sophisticated probes and technology, scientists have begun to discover signs that life on other planets is indeed possible to exist. One of the chief scientists at NASA, Ellen Stofan, was reported to have quipped that â€Å"humanity is on the verge of discovering alien life† (Wall 1). A remarkable sign that was discovered and documented was the presence of water. As asserted, â€Å"where there’s water, there’s hope†. In addition, there were proofs of a dragon particle which allegedly evidently showed that biological entities from outer space originated from other pl anets. The current technology enhanced capabilities for proving and discovering signs for life to exist on other planets. What is more remarkable is that the information is immediately shared with a wide range of audience through the online medium. As such, readers are accorded, not only with the most appraised information from NASA but more importantly, photos and proofs of potential life existence have also been documented and shared. I am not surprised that anytime soon in the near future, the concept of alien life on other planets would truly be confirmed.

Purpose statment Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Purpose statment - Personal Statement Example My experiences with my family members had a profound impact upon my thinking. One day my cousin and I were walking on the road. Suddenly, a car approached from behind, and my deaf cousin failed to hear it. I had to push him to the side, in order to save his life. This experience had a profound effect upon me. As such, right from a very young age, I have been exposed to individuals with defective senses. Thus, I had been associated with the hearing impaired, as well as people who experienced great difficulty in speaking normally. Among my family members, there were several people with major hearing defects. Being so proximate, these defects in hearing had a major impact upon my tender psyche. It is necessary to understand that there are several people, of varying age, who are afflicted by defective senses. As a consequence, there are individuals who are blind, deaf, dumb or with other physical shortcomings. As such, in several of these instances, adequate training can be provided to help these impaired persons to develop the skills to manage their day-to-day affairs. Upon encountering a physically impaired person, people tend to behave in a sympathetic manner towards them. This is not what that person desires. Providing such persons with the skills to address their daily problems and to get on with their life is truly beneficial for such people. Thus, I have developed a keen interest in speech-language pathology. It is my honest and humble aim to master this field of knowledge, in order to provide assistance to the individuals with these afflictions. I am keenly interested in helping individuals with defective hearing, residing in the villages of my great nation. This task has proved to be daunting, primarily due to the absence of a master program in speech language pathology. Such academic and professional competence is indispensable for providing outstanding relief to the people with defective hearing. I have been extremely active in

Fra Angelico and di Lorenzo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Fra Angelico and di Lorenzo - Essay Example To start with, the setting of the painting plays important role in understanding of the artwork context. In case of Fra Angelico, the most part of the space takes a porch with visible garden on the background. In his artistic vision, the act of telling Virgin Mary the good tidings takes place outdoor in the porch. On the contrary, the setting in The Annunciation in di Lorenzo’s version takes place in the limited space of closed room. Spectators can easily recognize the walls, columns, and the pieces of furniture. Because of these surroundings, it is relevant to state that that the selected two paintings are mostly different. At the same time, this opposition reveals similarities, if to look closer to the details. In particular, the pillars appear in both cases of Annunciation imaging. In the painting di Lorenzo, he inserted pillars into the front view of his room. In detail, their function in the artwork is to divide the overall image in two registers. In the setting of Fra An gelico’s The Annunciation, six pillars bear the porch where postures sit. In the same manner, he uses three pillars to draw the line between angel Gabriel and Virgin Mary. Moreover, the appearance of the columns is similar. In this context, both Fra Angelico and di Lorenzo supplemented the columns with Corinthian capitals. At the same time, differences between two paintings appear in the scape and function of the above-mentioned pillars. In the painting of di Lorenzo, scape of pillars has three visible lines that form the chief linear dimension.

Media law and ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Media law and ethics - Essay Example In today’s modern world where there is the rule of information, Media holds a huge responsibility in the aspect of State politics, culture and economics. The role of media cannot be separated from masses living out in a multi-cultural system. In UK, where media holds a distinctive position, have a close relationship with customs of the State. Media which exercise the right of freedom of speech, uncovers all the special events taking place in the general public, in the parliament or in the secretariat office (Kieran, 1998). It automatically becomes the responsibility of journalism and journalists to deliver the right message and right information to the public, in order to avoid any misinterpretation or create big misunderstandings. The role of media in UK has always remained under criticism, as there had been events in the past which portrayed the negative image of journalism and journalist’s rule in the region. There had been stories which brought curiosity into the pu blic (Kieran, 1998). Princess Diana before her death had been a continuous target for media intrusion in her life to which she confronted to the British press that she wanted privacy in her private life of her sons and herself. The press was anxious to take pictures of Princess Diana with Dodi Fayed who was the son of Mohammad Fayed, a wealthy owner of Harrods. Princess of Wales had claimed before that she had been harassed by freelance photographers who would sell photographs to media and then they would leak their picture which was clear intrusion in her private life. Even after the divorce from Prince of Wales, Princess Diana did that entire she could do to appeal from journalist to leave her and her children alone to get along with their lives. Princess Diana was so irritated with journalists’ intrusion that she jumped out of the car and took the ignition key from the journalist bike from preventing them from following. Even in the night when Princess Diana died, the reas on for her death was the chasing of the media journalist of her car. The presence of Paparazzi in the place of the incident and tried to take photographs of Princes Diana raised concerns over privacy laws and freedom for press in Great Britain (Crook, 2010). The case of Milly Dowler, a thirteen year old girl, who got kidnapped and murdered, is one of the main incidents which can never be forgotten. The story raises a lot of questions that never had been answered by the journalism’s community in the true essence (Peck, 2010). An investigation made by the Surrey police in 2002, reported strict involvements of journalists in the murder of the 13 year old girl, Milly Dowler. After Dowler’s disappearance, her phone got hacked, and nobody knew where the girl was and she was not even answering the phone (Leigh, 2012). News of the World Journalists became part of the story, when Surrey Police identified them as distracters of the ongoing investigation. There were many journali sts who were found guilty on the hacking of Dowler’s phone and the deletion of instant voicemail messages (Get Surrey, 2012). It brought a serious questioning on the face of media of that time and still today has been set as a weird example for the rest of the journalism community (Leigh, 2012). The deliverance of

Logistics Management. Supplier Evaluation at EADS Company Case Study

Logistics Management. Supplier Evaluation at EADS Company - Case Study Example The company recorded a sales volume of approximately â‚ ¬30 billion, a figure only dwarfed by its biggest competitor in the aerospace market, which recorded approximately â‚ ¬40 billion worth of sales. Other competitors followed closely with sales averaging between â‚ ¬10 billion to â‚ ¬20 billion. Most of the company’s sales came from Europe and North America and therefore the company intended on making adjustments to improve sales in the Asian and South American regions. The company’s main clientele comprised of major airlines around the globe. These airlines employed the business strategy of increasing purchases in order to get price reductions based on traded volumes. The nature of the aerospace industry was such that value addition on merchandise was capped at between 25%-35%. Therefore, the organizations that were tasked with supplying these products formed an integral part in developing competitive advantages for EADS and other companies in the industry. They additionally became a potential advantage for reducing expenses and risk besides enhancing revenues. Suppliers in the Aerospace Industry The nature of the aerospace industry demanded that suppliers provide goods and merchandise of the highest quality. The goods needed to be durable, and had to meet some specific quality requirements.

Audie Murphy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Audie Murphy - Essay Example The leadership style of Audie Murphy made him the most decorated American Soldier of the Second World War. Audie Murphy had a small body size, which made the Marines, Navy and paratroopers to reject him. When the United States entered the Second World War, Murphy had an expectation of being enlisted. However, the Marines, the Navy and the paratroopers reject him on the ground of his small size and youthful appearance (Rosenberg, 1955). In most cases, people relate the size of the body to the strength of the soldiers, which enables them to defeat their enemies. Finally Murphy is reluctantly accepted by the Army as an ordinary infantryman. After Murphy had acquired basic and infantry training, he was shipped out to the Third Infantry Division located in North Africa mainly as a replacement. In the first unit, third Infantry Division 15th Regiment, Murphy had difficulty of being in the line unit. The Commander thought that it was a mistake for Murphy to be the line unit due to the fact that his path health was not good. Lieutenant Manning noted the physical deficiencies of Manning thus recommending that he be resigned (Rosenberg, 1955). However, Audie Murphy stood up for himself explaining that he had an interest in the Army and that is all he wants to do. Even though Murphy had not been promoted to the rank of leadership, he showed some qualities of a good leader. Later Manning changed his mind after Audie had insisted upon fighting and signed up for every educational course. After Murphy had convinced his commander to allow him stay, he demonstrated his loyalty and pride. In his first unit, Murphy could try very hard to enable him to improve. Murphy also learned to be tactically and technically proficient, which could enhance his career. This showed his fellow soldiers that he had the characters and capabilities of leadership. A leader is expected to hold the top position thus charged with the responsibility of issuing directives in order to achieve a common goa l (Mangi et al., 2011). Therefore, the leader should be tactically and technically proficient in order to realize the achievement of the goal. Murphy had an interest in the Army because it is all he wanted and after convincing the Commander to allow him stay, he soon proves himself in a battle. Due to the good qualities observed in Audie Murphy during the battle, he steadily gets promotion even though it was against his will at first. Murphy was promoted as a battlefield commission to the rank of second lieutenant. A leader should treat his people equally showing love to all of them (Mangi et al., 2011). Audie Murphy displayed the qualities of a good leader by showing respect and love to his fellow soldiers. During the many battles that occurred in Italy, France and Sicily, Audie Murphy takes the lead and this makes him gains the respect of his men thus enabling him to be close to his fellow soldiers. During the battles, Murphy perceives himself as part of the unit and he believes t hat everything he performs is meant to benefit the unit and not individually. Murphy acknowledges the fact that every activity he performs will enable the unit advance as a whole and not individually. This shows the quality of a good leader. As a leader, one should focus on achieving the goals that benefit the whole group rather than individual persons. A leader does not emphasize on achieving individual goals but

The 18th dynasty Egypt Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The 18th dynasty Egypt - Research Paper Example He established the 18th dynasty that ruled Egypt. During the rule of Ahmose the First, Egypt reached new heights of wealth and power. The regions ruled by the Pharaohs extended to new frontiers in The South, East and West. The kings of Egypt built palaces and temples, which were melting pots for Egyptian art. Territorial expansion was a response to previous threats that Egypt had experienced. Before the 18th dynast gained power, several kingdoms had invaded Egypt and weakened the region (Gardner and Fred 34). As a result, Egyptians were not able to participate in artistic works because the economy was ruined by the invasions. As a response, the Egyptian empire stretched from Syria to the regions of the Horn of Africa. This opened up new avenues for practicing art and economic activities. The economy focused on building and arts. New kingdom art differed from the art of preceding ages. The art showed a range of the Egyptian arts style. The art form of this period suffered normal surfa ce changes because of the progress of the Pharaonic art. This occurred during a homogeneous cultural period that provided a platform for an evolutional artistic development. Some of the artistic pieces of the period include the statuette of Nefert-iti and Teti-sheri. Paintings included the tomb of Amen-em-het and the palace of Amarna (Gardner et al, 42). This paper seeks to study the art of Ahmose the First who built the only loyal pyramid in Abydos. Ahmose the First was an artist who built the pyramid of Ahmose. The pyramid was not built as a tomb, but as a cenotaph for Ahmose the First (Gardner et al, 47). This pyramid was the royal pyramid that was built in Abydos. Ahmose the First used rubble and sand with limestone casing to build the pyramid. These construction materials were used to keep the pyramid in shape. The pyramid did not have any chamber for burials. Ahmose renewed royal support for the construction of artistic and monumental buildings with the re-unification of Egypt . He devoted a huge amount of his productive output towards the worship and service of the traditional Egyptian gods and reviving numerous monumental constructions and arts (Aldred 16). Though his building program did not last for more than seven year, he managed to leave a lasting arts legacy. Work from Ahmose the First reign was made of fine materials. However, artisanship during this period does not march the artisanship of the previous kingdoms. Control over the Nubian and Delta region gave access to resources that are required for artwork. Silver and Gold came from Nubia and cedar fro Byblos (Aldred 23). Though the relationship between Crete and Egypt was not certain, some of the artwork of this dynasty had designs from Crete. For instance, the Minoan designs were found in objects from the period. Most importantly, Ahmose re-commissioned the Tura Limestone quarries that provided stones for the construction of monuments. Asiatic cattle were used to haul stones from the quarry. T he pyramid of Ahmose raises a number of questions. For instance, most of the Egyptian pyramids were constructed in Cairo. However, the pyramid of Ahmose is located in Abydos, which is further south of Egypt. In my opinion, Ahmose set out to worship and appease the Egyptian traditional gods (Aldred 27). As a result, he built the pyramid to the south in order to appease the god Osiris. It is vital to note that the pyramid was not

Assess the impact by 1939 of Nazi Essay Example for Free

Assess the impact by 1939 of Nazi Essay The National Socialist Party came to power through a series of swift, ruthless and devastating actions which firmly established Germany as a fascist state. The centralisation of power in Germany, known as co-ordination (Gleichschaltung), was initiated on the day of the election and was carried out with such clinical efficiency, that the German state was completely transformed within a matter of months. Hitlers Gleichschaltung was extremely successful in altering the cultural and economic landscape of Germany in the years between 1933 and the commencement of the Second World War in 1939. National Socialism touched every aspect of life; youth culture, the role of women, education, the economy and the effect it had on employment, the working class, as well as religion in the domination of the Christian Church. As this essay will explain, each of these individual developments in German society, which were initiated by the Nazi regime, came together to precipitate a complete cultural transformation for the lives of German people by 1939. Nazi Seduction of the German People The attraction of the Third Reich was compelling for the German people and strong feelings of national pride were instilled in the mass population. Germans were moved by wave after wave of brilliantly staged nationalistic promptings in the form of spectacular public rallies and stirring speeches. The totalitarian state model, which was so important to the Nazi Partys grip on its people, was achieved through a mix of persuasion, motivation and discrimination. Individualism was quickly replaced by a way of life steeped in collective gestures and symbols; mass rallies, uniforms, public commemorations and in particular, the gesture synonymous with the Nazi era the Heil Hitler salute. Although these public messages became tiresome to many Germans, they were a constant theme throughout the Nazi era, and were therefore inescapable. They were successful in convincing the German masses of the power of the Third Reich as an all conquering, superior phenomenon. Youth The mobilisation of German youth was a vital cog in the National Socialist propaganda machine. The drive towards creating a fiercely dependent and loyal German youth was formed on the basis of a rejection of the old bourgeois world in favour idealistic notions of a new and more egalitarian society.The lengths to which the Nazis went, in order to harness the loyalty of the German youth were great and centred on the creation of a rival organisation to the formal education system called the Hitler Youth (Hitler Jugend). When Hitler came to power in 1933, the Hitler Youth organisation had only 107,956 members. By the end of 1933 however, under the leadership of Baldur von Schirach, most youth movements were under the influence of the Nazis and the few remaining nonconformists such as Catholic organisations were feeling the Nazi influence. Two laws, which came into effect in December 1936 and March 1939 made participation in the Hitler Youth (HJ) mandatory, driving up membership of the organisation to 8,870,000 at the beginning of 1939. The Hitler Youth indoctrinated young Germans with Nazi concepts of race, discipline and obedience. Summer camps were set up, in which political ideological teachings, physical fitness, rifle practice, endurance and team-building games were core activities. The aim was to breed a new type of German, one which was loyal to National Socialism and would thus ensure the future existence and expansion of Germany as a Nazi state. The Family The family was an institution of supreme importance to the Nazis, being regarded as crucial to the future success of The Third Reich. Much was done to raise the popularity of marriage and increase birth-rate, as mothers who stayed at home to bring up large families were put on a pedestal and treated with utmost respect. On 12 August the birthday of Hitlers mother every mother who had given birth to a large number of children was awarded a Mothers Cross. Rewards for raising large families were also financial, as special welfare benefits were awarded to encourage marriage and motherhood.  Newly married couples were offered a 1,000 mark loan, repayable at three per cent interest, which was reduced by 25 per cent after the birth of each child. This loan effectively turned into a free gift from the state following the birth of four healthy children. Women The role of women in Nazi Germany was clearly defined, encouraging them to embrace their natural role as mothers. As already mentioned, women were the focus of the Nazi drive to boost birth rate, and were ushered away from the idea of a full-time career in favour of starting or extending a family. Furthermore, within education, girls would be directed away from developing their academic ability and independence, in favour of training for future maternal roles through compulsory courses in domestic science and biology. Upon reaching adulthood, the indoctrination of Nazi ideals continued through membership of three womens organisations, all created by the Nazi party the German Womans Enterprise, the National Socialist Womanhood and the Reich Mothers Service. By March 1939, over 1.7 million German women had attended one of these Nazi organised courses. The Working Class In its crusade to win over the working class, the Nazis offered a vast array of publicly funded leisure activities. The Nazi Kraft durch Freude (KdF) (Strength through Joy) organisation was officially founded to promote the physical prowess of the individual, although in reality its essential purpose was to educate and socialise the German population into National Socialism. The Nazi leisure policy was initiated with the hidden intention of rallying the German people towards active voluntary participation in National Socialist Germany. An active, thriving leisure movement it was believed would contribute to the thrust of National Socialism as a whole, enhancing the vitality and all round commitment to the German cause. The Economy The economic success of the Nazi regime is remembered most for its remarkable success in reducing unemployment. The cornerstone of this recovery was the implementation of the many work programmes, which created jobs for the phenomenal number of unemployed Germans at the beginning of Hitlers reign. German economists had recognised that the abandonment of narrow fiscalism in favour of counter-cyclical strategies based upon investment in the infrastructure and public housing was essential in order to reduce levels of unemployment. Job creation schemes, such as the construction of the Autobahn the major motorway network and house building schemes resulted in a fall in unemployment from 34% in January 1933 to 13.5% in July 1934. Religion Upon coming to power, Hitler embarked on a crusade to eradicate Christianity, as he believed it to be a product of Jewish culture a religion he perceived as a corrosive influence on the German population. The process of gradually reducing the influence and presence of the church in Nazi Germany was achieved in a number of ways. The establishment of the Reich Church, the German Christians organisation and the German Faith movement introduced a new Christian religion based on the core ideals and beliefs of National Socialism. This was yet another example of the iron grip with which the Nazis sought to control the German population. Conclusion Nazi economic and social policy had a phenomenal effect on the German mass population by 1939. The levels of propaganda used to capture the loyalty of the German people were deeply influential, effectively brainwashing the population. The focus on the future strength and solidarity of The Third Reich as a totalitarian state saw key aspects of the German lifestyle subjected to significant changes between 1933 and 1939. The effect that Nazi social and economic policies had were seen most significantly in their effect on women, youth, education, the economy with regards to employment, the motivation of the working class, and religion. Nazi propaganda went further than this in its influence on the German way of life, as the press,  industry, art and culture, and all forms of entertainment were transformed into mere puppets of the Nazi regime. The gradual erosion of individualism and devotion to The Third Reich amongst German people could not have been achieved without the changes imple mented in these fundamental aspects of daily life.

History Technology 20th Century Essay Example for Free

History Technology 20th Century Essay The role of technology played a huge part in developing our way of life today as we exist. The technology field developed quickly in the span of the 20th century. We had communication technology, transportation technology and the technology that contributed to the advancement of modern science. These all contributed to a better way of living and enhancing our quality of life throughout the 20th century and it continues today. Communications technology played an important part in our evolving culture in the 20th century. Radio, radar, and early sound recording were key technologies that paved the way for the development of the telephone, fax machine and the storage of data. The way we communicate with others is a great tool for our society to evolve and communicate with one another. This helped with the way we developed our relationships with our countries as well by providing a quick way to speak to someone or find someone that is a half way around the world. This technology also helped our economy by providing an important avenue for the way we can do business. We can hold conference calls with multiple parties that were not thought of before. The personal computer was developed in the 1980’s as well as cell phones. The public use Internet was introduced in the 1990’s. With these technologies it gave businesses a chance to enhance productivity and increase our economy and provide us a better quality of life. Transportation technology had a significant impact on our quality of life and the way we become mobile. The combination of the ability to travel by air and automobile allowed people to have unprecedented personal mobility that they did not have before. One of the most notable technologies in the area of transportation came with the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. This gave a peaceful outlet for political and military tensions of the Cold War. This lead to the first human spaceflight with the Soviet Union’s mission in 1961 and man’s first landing on the moon in 1969. The first space station was launched by the Soviet space program. The United States developed the first reusable spacecraft system with the Space Shuttle program. It was first launched in 1981. The technology that lead to the evolution of the space program for human space travel also allowed for orbiting space probes that have been developed to work with our communication technologies to not only protect us but provide further exploration in the future. The advancement of medicine has allowed us to live longer more productive lives. Antibiotics was developed that drastically reduced mortality from bacterial diseases. Vaccines were developed to protect us from epidemics that caused death. X-rays became a powerful tool to diagnose diseases and broken bones. Imaging was developed to help doctors find better ways to treat individuals. All of the medical advancements from the 20th century have provided our morality to increase not only in adults but young people who did not have the chance at life as they do today. Vietnam War Outcome/Results The war that I choose to discuss is the Vietnam War. This war was a prolonged struggle between nationalist’s forces that were attempting to unify the country of Vietnam under a communist government. The United States was trying to prevent the spread of communism. Many people viewed this war as a no win war. The United States leaders had lost the American public’s support for the war. What many people did not realize is that there had been fighting in Vietnam long before the Vietnam War began. The Vietnamese people had suffered under French colonial rule for over six decades. Japan had invaded many parts of Vietnam which brought the Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh back to his country after traveling around the world. He established the Viet Minh. Their goal was to get rid of the French and Japanese people that occupied their land. The French were not willing to give up their colony and fought back. Ho Chi Minh had tried for years to get the United States to support him against the French. He even supplied the United States with military intelligence about the Japanese during World War II. The United States decided to help the French for fear that the country would become a communist country. Viet Cong was established by communist sympathizers in South Vietnam to use guerilla warfare against the South Vietnamese. The United States sent advisors to South Vietnam but the North Vietnamese fired directly upon two U. S. Ships in international waters. This resulted in a resolution that the Congress issued that gave the President authority to escalate the United States involvement in Vietnam. The President’s goal was not for the United States to win but to bolster South Vietnam’s defenses until South Vietnam could take over. Because the United States entered into this war without a goal, President Johnson set the stage for the public and troop disappointment when the United States was in a stalemate with the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. The U. S. troops fought the war in the jungle where the Viet Cong were very well supplied and set booby traps for the U. S. troops. This became a difficult war to fight for the Americans. The U.S. troops became frustrated at the conditions they were forced to be in that many became angry and some used drugs to cope. The surprise attack that the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong organized against the South Vietnamese cities and towns was the turning point. This proved to the Americans that the enemy was stronger and organized better than they thought. As news spread to the U. S., the American public was unhappy so the President decided that he would not escalate the war any longer. Newly appointed President Nixon wanted nothing more than to end the war. He began the process of withdrawing troops in 1969 and expanded the war to other countries. This move created protests throughout America. The President worked toward a peaceful solution and peace talks began. The cease fire did not happen until 1973 and the last U. S. troops left Vietnam in March 1973. Even though the United States had withdrawn it’s troops, the fighting continued in Vietnam. Finally, South Vietnam officially surrendered to North Vietnam on April 30, 1975. The United States was trying to prevent the spread of communism when ultimately; Vietnam was reunited as a communist country in 1976. This was a war the United States should have never been involved in but the government thought otherwise. [Insert Paper Title Here] [Insert introductory text here] Paper should be printed on 8.5 X 11 inch white paper. Entire paper should be double-spaced. The paper should be clean. The printer should produce letters that are dark enough and clear enough to be easily read. Margins should be 1 inch at the top, bottom, left, and right of every page. Do not justify the right margin, instead leave it ragged by using left justify. Use Times Roman using font size of 12. Type no more than 27 lines of text on each page (not counting the header at the top of the page). References

Future Trends in Operations Management

Future Trends in Operations Management A key feature of the current business environment is the idea that supply chains compete, not companies It has become commonly recognized that a companys survival is primarily a question of its competitiveness. At the heart of it is the constant need to rapidly grow and capture the leading market positions. Modern economic conditions force businesses to provide the highest level of customer satisfaction by performing perfect consumer service, delivering a wide variety of quality products in shorter lead time and at a reasonable cost. This creates incredible opportunities for individual consumers and puts great pressures on companies to seek for the new ways to appeal consumers. Other that that, contemporary business environment brings a huge level of uncertainty to managers of all levels and urges them to be able to sense all the changes and implement the right and timely measures to be successful. This uncertainty may come from government decisions, customers and consumers, shareholders that demand increased return from what they invest into business. This is how Dennis McCarthy and D r. Nick Rich describe current business situation in their book on business-led changes called Lean TPM: The new competitive conditions are far removed from those of the past and challenge strategies such that we can no longer assume that: Past business success is a guarantee of future survival; Product patens will protect a manufacturer from competition; Buying the latest technology will provide a means of defense against competition. Technology or products by themselves are not enough to guarantee survival (McCarthy and Rich, 2004). Clearly, as a result of the new trends and new economic realities managing operations and supply chain has become extremely complex and challenging. We believe that the list of the key pressures that these authors outline in their book to describe modern economic conditions not only perfectly well describes challenges facing the world today, but also gives a good insight into how these may effect supply chain in particular, including its design, management and future business integration. According to McCarthy and Rich they include: 1. New and emerging manufacturing economies with low labour costs are  attracted to mature Western markets where they can exploit their cost  advantage. The power of the internet in purchasing materials and components on a global scale and therefore access to alternative suppliers has increased exponentially. As such, power has shifted to the customer/consumer. Deregulation of world markets has resulted from international trading agreements and this has liberated trade and increased competition for manufacturers. Corporations have the ability to switch production. Pressure groups and lobbyists seeking to lower prices or convince the manufacturer to improve their performance in areas such as environmental management. Shareholders who expect a year on year improvement in the returns on their money invested and constantly compare these returns with what their money could earn elsewhere. Customers expect product variety, continuously improving quality levels, lead time reduction and want their stocks reduced (McCarthy and Rich, 2004). Benita M. Beamon also adds to this list extreme climate change as one of the essential factors that will also effect future world business configuration since its change would threaten transportation infrastructures, natural resources supply including the constrained supply of natural energy and raw materials as such, and would change overall human behavior patterns which as a result will drastically influence the ability to supply worldwide (Beamon, 2008). Although operations and supply chain management is often seen as merely routine activities, it is indeed very sensitive to almost all business changes and, therefore, fairy regarded now as one of the critical business concerns and has the priority in managing the organization. This is why we chose to reflect on the above mentioned trends to study their effect on the supply chain and operations and, thus, track current and future challenges in this area. 1. It is now obvious that the world economy has faced large structural changes in recent years on the way to bring businesses to more international basis. There can hardly be found now any operation that does not sell to or buy from foreign markets. Globalization of businesses has significantly accelerated, resulting in new challenges for companies on the global market. Sixth annual survey performed by PRTM Management Consultants showed that respondents consistently rank acceleration of supply chain globalization as a top priority over the next several years concluding that the primary shift of manufacturing and assembly operations has been to low cost country destinations including China, India and Eastern Europe (2008). It can be summarized that expansion of operations supply chain to cover the whole world still stays number one trend due to its cost reduction opportunities and, therefore, puts additional challenges to cope with these increased pressures. With that in mind, product quality and safety as well as supply chain delivery and security become the main concern for organizations globalizing their supply chains, thus, providing additional business risks. 2. Number two trend logically follows from the business expansion to improve global performance and flexibility companies seek for the alternative ways to control operations, fasten processes, and simplify procedures. Increased pressures are also put on them to improve coordination and achieve overall integration with suppliers and customers. Internet, e-commerce, e-procurement and other web-based applications offer major cost savings and advantages. Simon R. Croom studied the positive effects of e-business strategy implementation on supply chain management. In his research Supply Chain Management in the E-Business Era the following advantages were outlined: New e-business infrastructures offer a wider range of activities within supply chain, e.g. electronic marketplaces including larger numbers of buyers and sellers; Increased use of electronic methods for searching and sourcing which reduces coordination costs and increase the proportion of economic activities coordinated by markets, companies are encouraged to use more out-sourcing, low coordination costs will also enable companies to buy goods and services less expensively; Information processing is reduced; Additional opportunities provided by the use of E-procurement. Its advantages include: greater visibility of the procurement process, improved management of maintenance, repair and operating supplies, improved stock management, better information for purchasing decision-making, supply base reduction followed by the change of the supply chains structure, significant efficiency gains with the attention to the role and development of purchasing as a core capability of the organization, it also provides a powerful platform from which to exploit the organizations strategic leverage and undertake major total supply chain cost improvements (Croom, 2001). 3. Number three trend, we believe, is another logical result of the two mentioned above rapid growth of new information technologies raised the issue of accumulated information and knowledge management. Accumulation of knowledge relates to both customer relationship formation and product innovation process. At the heart of this concept is the recognition of the fact that knowledge is the key driver of the value-adding processes. It has been fairly noted by the theorists of operations management that the way in which products or services were created was not random; they were the product of a whole collection of decisions and actions based on an even larger collection of knowledge (Slack, Chambers, Johnston, 2007). So, it is obvious that the concept of knowledge management will significantly influence the future development of operations and supply chain management as it provides the expertise that underpins companys competitive advantage. 4. Trend number four, that needs to be discussed in more detail, from our point of view, and should be grouped into a separate trend is that of the future integration of the supply chain and future development in such areas as business-to-business, business-to-customer and customer-to-customer relationships. It is indeed evident now, in the new era that the supply chain has become more connected and integrated that ever before due to the rapid growth of new information technologies, web-based applications and other alternative communication means. Companies constantly seek for developing new creative ways to communicate with suppliers, customers and consumers. It especially relates to service-based and product-based supply chain. On-line ordering, availability 24 hours a day, seven days a week, great variety of products and services, no issues with transportation and so on, all this has drastically improved the efficiency of the supply chain. Customers are also encouraged to communic ate with each other by means of widespread social networks: blogs, forums, portals which allows instant information sharing. All this, we believe, will keep on changing the way in which the supply chain operates towards increased capacities and efficiencies of the supply chain. 5. Another trend that can not be mentioned with all reflected earlier is the problem of environmental responsibility and sustainability or green supply chain. Opinions of researchers differ here in weather it will be the result of the state legislation compliance and customer requirements or it will be one of the effective ways to improve companys image and reputation. Our consideration is that it will be both. No need to deny that the pressures from the legislation are increasing which urges almost all companies to put in place relevant environmental management. The concept of waste management has also gained popularity in recent years as it implies waste reduction that in all its forms significantly saves cost for the organization which conventionally coincides here with environmental responsibility. We can already see that companies have started large campaigns towards recyclable materials application, new product design to consider their life cycle beyond their traditional shelf- life to extract more value from precious natural resources, reduction of energy and water consumption, use of alternative fuels and many other. It is obvious that the concept of environmental responsibility will take the key role in day-to-day operations management decisions and every day practices due to its great economic potential for the firm. We think that this list can be continued with more and more trends and business challenges, however, from our point of view these 5 give the fullest picture of what to expect from the environment in which we exist. It reflects the key processes that both companies and each of us as a consumer is involved on the daily basis. We have identified some of the challenges and complexities that are characteristic of operations and supply chain today and have attempted to analyze these to possibly see their future development. It is obvious that uncertainty and complexity will still be the main characteristics of the global business environment in the future. However, managers will have the advantage of the emerging information and communication technologies that will provide real time data to support operational decision-making and will help to improve efficiency of processes in the area of the use of resources, materials handling and product design. Question 2 In the second part of the assignment I will compare the company that I work for with the performed literature review and based on this comparison will outline its main competitive advantages. I have been working for Nestlà © for 6 years, starting from the small water factory just acquired by the Company. I worked as an Interpreter then, being heavily involved in the translation of the Group policies, specifications, guidelines and instructions, which the factory was going to implement to meet worldwide Nestlà © standards. I believe it is an excellent example that reflects all challenges and perplexities of the modern business conditions. With its headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland Nestlà © was founded in 1866 by Henri Nestlà © and is today the worlds leading nutrition, health and wellness  company. It employs around 280  000 people and have factories or operations in almost every country in the world. The list of products includes over 127000 items of different types and sizes. This complexity, therefore, is the main characteristic of its supply chain. Managing thousands of supply chains in many countries, controlling invoicing of customers and collecting payments, predicting demand and tracking stocks all this at some point put the Company in a very risky situation which required such a solution that would put order in all this variety. So, the Company, had undertaken steps towards the implementation of GLOBE, or the Global Business Excellence model aimed at creating a single system to simplify and unify the way to manage supply chain and operate such functions, like purchasing and invoicing. The imp lementation of this model has provided not only an excellent tool to optimize operational cost, but also has served as a key driver for generating business value by creating a culture of continuous excellence, collaboration and support both cross functionally and between various operations worldwide. It is indeed true that the implementation of GLOBE taught the Company to operate as a global market player. Another thing that the Company claims that has helped it to sustain in the times of turbulence and uncertainty is its strict compliance with the Company Corporate Business Principles that say: Nestlà ©s existing products grow through innovation and renovation while maintaining a balance in geographic activities and product lines. Long-term potential is never sacrificed for short-term performance. The Companys priority is to bring the best and most relevant products to people, wherever they are, whatever their needs, throughout their lives (Appendix, 4). It is always stressed, however, that the Companys main business principle is the conviction that to have long-term success for their shareholders, all the operations not only have to comply with all applicable legal requirements and ensure that all the activities are sustainable, but additionally have to create significant valu e for society(Appendix, 2). Other things that the Company claims to be the basis of its culture and is considered to be the essential part of its long-term established reputation are of course its quality assurance and product safety. The quality policy says: Nestlà © strives to create value that can be sustained over the long term by meeting consumer needs for nutrition, enjoyment and Quality they can trust (Appendix, 7). This is achieved through no waste attitude and continuous improvement of the quality standards delivered to consumers. Adequate recourses, equipment, procedures and systems, trainings and teamwork play the major role in the implementation of high standards and achievement of excellence and competitiveness. All functions across the Value Chain are fully responsible for observing mandatory principles, norms and instructions, for maintaining agreed Quality standards and for constantly improving them is another essential postulate of the Quality Policy (Appendix, 7). Consumer communication is also considered within the Company as the key indicator of all ongoing activities. All opinions, complaints and shortcomings are analyzed and serve as a tool for immediate correction and improvement if needed. Nestlà © Consumer Communications Principles state the Companys commitment to responsible, reliable consumer communication that empowers consumers to exercise their right to informed choice and promotes healthier diets (Appendix, 3). It is fair to note that supplier and consumer relations are an important part of the Companys vision on creating shared value. Doing business in the way that requires from the Companys contractors, subcontractors and their employees to demonstrate honesty, integrity and fairness; in the same way that the Company itself is demonstrating its commitment to its consumers. Supplier Code specifies these principles and helps their implementation within all suppliers and their community. By accepting these, suppliers take the responsibility of being compliant with the core principles of business integrity, sustainability, labor standards, safety and health, environment and other. Implementation of the vendor data base has helped to track and manage its suppliers in accordance with the Company principles and values. One other concept that has been in focus in recent years is that of environmental management and sustainability aimed at improvement of environmental performance, operations activities in this area, risk and cost reduction, long-term availability of raw materials and water. In its Environmental Policy the Company states: At all stages of the product life cycle we strive to use natural resources efficiently, favour the use of sustainably-managed renewable resources, and target zero waste(Appendix, 6). Target areas for improvement initiatives include: application of a life cycle approach with systematic assessments of all activities across the Value Chain, effective water resources management to provide a common mythology to measure water footprint of products, processes and organizations, reduction of gas omissions from its operations through proper energy consumption management, switching to renewable sources and transport and distribution initiatives with focus on green fleet and op timization of the distributions schemes and packaging, elimination of wastes in all operations through the Value Chain with the goal of zero waste and full recovery of unavoidable by products (Appendix, 6). The list of initiatives that Nestlà © has undertaken can be much longer that these. However, we believe that these are the main ones that reflect the Companys vision on doing business and on the way it adds value to all its activities to finally sustain and prosper in times of uncertainty and risk. As it is seen from our study it closely coincides with the literature review that we performed to define the major challenges and future trends in operations and supply chain management. This study proves the fact that constant development and applications of advanced information and communication technologies, focus on the development of relationships with both consumers and suppliers, expansion of the social responsibility with attention to environmental issues, social activities will be the main value-adding factors and efficient tools against business risks and uncertainties. REFERENCES Beamon B.M.(2008). Sustainability and the Future of Supply Chain Management. Industrial Engineering, University of Washington. Christopher M. (1992) Logistics and Supply Chain Management. First edition. London: Financial Times Croom S.R. (2001) Supply Chain Management in the E-Business Era. An investigation into Supply Chain Strategies, Practices and Progress in E-Business Adoption. McCarthy D., Rich N. (2004) Lean TPM. Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann Sixth Annual Survey (2008). Global Supply Chain Trends 2008-2010. Driving Global Supply Chain Flexibility through Innovation. Available at http://www.prtm.com (Accessed: September 2010). Slack N., Chambers S., Johnston. (2007) Operations Management. Fifth edition. Pearson Education Limited. Steinert-Threlkeld T. (2006) Nestlà © Pieces Together Its Global Supply Chain. Available at http://www.baselinemag.com (Accessed: December 8, 2010)

Biosynthesis of Nanocomposites Using Leaf Extract

Biosynthesis of Nanocomposites Using Leaf Extract ABSTRACT Various nanoparticles and nanocomposites have been synthesized using leaf extract and evaluated for their antibacterial activity. This review intends to present biosynthesis of nanocomposites using leaf extract. Here, I have discussed biosynthesis methods of polymer nanocomposites using leaf extract. The potential of nanotechnology and biological science together is enormous. There are many potential antibacterial applications of nanocomposites such as in antimicrobial textiles, food preservation, surface disinfection, burn dressings, safe cosmetics, medical devices, drug carriers, dental fillers and adhesives, water treatment etc. In recent years nanocomposite films have been studied for wound dressing. I have discussed a bionanocomposite film and hydrogel that have application in wound dressing. CHAPTER 1:  INTRODUCTION 1.1 Nanotechnology Nanotechnology is a branch of science and technology that deals with matter of size 1-100nm. Since then there has been lot of advancement in nanotechnology. Nanotechnology has applications in almost every field such as electronics, medicine, biomaterials, energy production etc. When a macroscopic material changes to nanomaterials, properties such as electrical, mechanical, optical, catalytic, medicinal, biological etc change. Gold which does not react with other chemicals easily at normal scales acts as a good catalyst when converted to nanoscale. 1.2 Nanoscale materials Nanoscale materials include materials which posses at least one dimension in the nanometer range i.e. 1-100nm. The key characteristics defining the potential applications of nanoscale materials include the following: Higher surface area Higher chemical reactivity Better catalytic properties Better adsorption Variety of chemical synthesis routes. Natural and synthetic strategies 1.3 Nanocomposites Nanocomposites are materials made from two or more individual components with properties different from each other, which when combined produce a material with properties completely different from the individual materials. A nanocomposite consists of two or more phases where one phase is monolithic (single crystal) into which the reinforcement are embedded. The monolithic material is known as a matrix. Reinforcement, in a nanocomposite is a nanosized materials embedded into the parent material called matrix. Nanocomposites are broadly classified into three types a) ceramic-matrix nanocomposites b) metal-matrix nanocomposites c) polymer-matrix nanocomposites d) inter metallic matrix nanocomposites. CHAPTER 2:  BIOSYNTHESIS OF NANOCOMPOSITE USING LEAF EXTRACT Nanoparticles are being used in many sectors of the economy and it is important to consider the biological and environmental safety of their production. The main methods for nanoparticle synthesis are chemical and physical approaches and these approaches are often expensive and potentially harmful to the environment. Green synthesis approach has been pursued in recent years as an alternative, inexpensive, efficient, and environmentally safe method for synthesizing nanoparticles with specific properties. The main focus is on the role of the natural plant (leaf) extracts involved in the bioreduction and capping of metal salts during the nanocomposite synthesis. Many researchers have reported the biosynthesis of nanoparticles by leaf extracts and their potential applications in various fields. 2.1 Commonly used leaf extracts for synthesis of nanocomposites Binomial name: Murraya koenigii Common Name: Curry Tree Family Name: Rutaceae Description: Curry tree is native to India and Sri Lanka. The leaves ofMurraya koenigiiare used as an  herb  in  Ayurvedic medicine because of its antioxidant, anti-diabetic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti- hypercholesterolemic properties. Curry leaves recently been found to be as a potent antioxidant due to high concentrations of carbazoles, a water soluble heterocyclic compound. Carbazoles found in leaf extract may be responsible for the reduction and stabilization of metal ions. Further research is necessary to explain and extend the reduction mechanism of Murraya koenigii leaf extract for further application. Binomial Name: Tridax procumbens Common Name: Coat buttons or Tridax Daisy Family Name: Asteraceae Description: Tridax procumbens is a widespread weed and pest plant native to America. The plant has various medicinal properties. Tridax procumbens is rich in alkaloids, flavanoids, carotenoids and tannins. It is used in nanoparticle synthesis as it has high amounts of ketones, amines, phenols, lactones and alkanes which are capable of reducing metal ions. Binomial Name : Ficus benghalensis Common Name: Banyan Tree Family: Moraceae Description: Banyan tree is a deciduous tree found throughout the forest tract of India, in sub-Himalayan region. Ficus benghalensis is widely used for its medicinal properties. Ficus benghalensis leaf extract has proteins/enzymes which reduce the metal ions and it also contains reducing sugars such as flavanones which provide stability to the nanoparticles. Binomial Name: Calotropis gigantean Common Name: Crown Flower Family Name: Apocynaceae Description: Calotropis gigantean is a large shrub rich in metabolites responsible for reduction metal ions. Organic compounds like alkaloids, polyphenols, and proteins present in plant extracts are capable of reducing and capping nanoparticles. Binomial Name: Catharanthus roseus Common Name: Madagascar periwinkle Family Name: Apocynaceae Description: Catharanthus roseus is a medicinal subshurb. Catharanthus roseus contains more than 70 alkaloids. 2.3 Nanocomposites synthesized using leaf extract A broad spectrum of leaf extracts can be utilized for the biosynthesis of nanoparticles. In this section I have briefly discussed synthesis of two polymer-matrix nanocomposites using leaf extract. In both the examples, reinforcement is silver nanoparticle and the matrix of the nanocomposite is a polymer. 2.3.1 Ag impregnated Microcrystalline Cellulose Bionanocomposite film Silver nanoparticles are impregnated into microcrystalline cellulose to form a nanocomposite. Curry leaf extract is used for the bioreduction and capping of silver nanoparticles. First 0.001M silver nitrate solution is prepared in 1000 mL of deionised water. 10 g of microcrystalline cellulose is added to the silver nitrate solution and sonicated for 10 minutes. 50 mL of curry leaf broth is added to the mixture and the mixture is stirred for 6 hours. Silver ions are reduced to silver by curry leaf extract. Reduced silver nucleates in to the silver nanoparticles on the microcrystalline fibrils. After 6 hours the mixture is allowed to settle down and excess reaction mixture is decanted. The silver nanoparticles impregnated microcrystalline cellulose is washed with deionized water and ethanol and then dried in oven at 55ËÅ ¡C over night. The formation of silver nanoparticles is confirmed by UV-vis spectra as the peak is observed at 430 nm. The colour of microcrystalline cellulose is white and after impregnation of silver on it, it changes to yellowish brown. 0.5 g of polylactic acid is dissolved in 20 mL of chloroform with moderate heating and constant stirring for 30 minutes. The dried silver nanoparticle coated microcrystalline powder is added in 5%, 10% and 20% w/w concentration to separate samples. The polylactic acid is stirred with silver impregnated microcrystalline cellulose for a day to allow for dispersion. The mixture is poured to glass Petri dish and left to evaporate. When the chloroform evaporates, the plastic film is removed and collected from Petri dish. Silver impregnated microcrystalline bionanocomposite film is obtained. [6] 2.3.2 Silver/Starch-co-polyacrylamide hydrogel nanocomposite Gelatinized starch solution is prepared by mixing a known amount of starch powder in 10 mL of deionized water and 1 mL of 0.5 mL of 0.5 M sodium hydroxide solution. The mixture is heated at 90ËÅ ¡C for 10 minutes in a water bath with continuous stirring. A predetermined amount of maleic acid is then added to the gelatinized starch solution. The mixture of gelatinized starch and maleic acid is further heated at 80ËÅ ¡C in a water bath for 4 hours. Then acrylamide is added and stirred for 30 minutes at 50ËÅ ¡C. After that initiator (potassium persulfate or KPS) and crosslinker (methylenebisacrylamide or MBA) is added. Finally, an aqueous solution of tetramethylenediamide (TEMED) is added to the solution and for another 10 minutes same temperature is maintained. The synthesized co-polymeric hydrogel is taken out after the completion of free radical polymerization. Then the synthesized co-polymeric hydrogel is immersed in double distilled water at room temperature for a da y to remove excess of unreacted reagents and monomers present in hydrogel network. To remove the residue effectively the double distilled water is refreshed for every 12 hours. At last the hydrogel is dried at ambient temperature for 48 hours. Precisely weighed dried starch-co-polyacrylamide hydrogel is equilibrated with double distilled water for 48 hours and instantly transferred to a beaker containing 100 mL of 0.005 M silver nitrate solution and then equilibrated for 24 hours. During this process the silver ions are exchanged from solution into free network spaces of co-polymeric hydrogel. To a beaker containing 50 ml Tridax procumbens leaf extract, hydrogel with absorbed silver ions is added and kept for 24 hours. Reduction of silver ions into silver nanoparticles occurs and hydrogel turns into brown colour. The brown colour confirms the formation of silver nanoparticles in hydrogel matrix. [7] CHAPTER 3:  ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF NANOCOMPOSITES SYNTHESIZED USING LEAF EXTRACT Due to the rising concerns of bacterial infections, there is a growing need to develop new and powerful antibacterial agents. Mainly, nanoparticles have been applied in burn dressings, cosmetics, food preservation, medical devices, water treatment etc. There is a wide bioapplication of nanoparticles. It has been recognized that the bactericidal effect of nanoparticles is dependent on their size, size distribution, shape, morphology, surface functionalization, and their stability. Additionally, the use of inorganic nanoparticles as antimicrobial agents has numerous benefits such as enhanced stability and safety in contrast with the organic antimicrobial agents. Green synthesis and functionalization of nanoparticles enhances their antibacterial activity and improves their stability. In this section antibacterial activity of silver/polymer film and hydrogel is discussed. So the antibacterial activity of nanocomposites is enhanced. 3.1 Antibacterial activity of Ag impregnated Microcrystalline Cellulose Bionanocomposite film The PLA/MCC sample was tested for antimicrobial activity using Charm disk assay. Firstly an agar plate was seeded with Bacillus stearothermophilus. Then small circular pieces of the films were placed on the seeded agar and incubated. Indicators are present in agar which signifies the status of microbial growth. Yellow colour indicates the microbial growth and purple indicates the inhibition. The initial analysis shows that the film exhibits considerable antibacterial properties. [6] 3.2 Antibacterial activity of Silver/Starch-co-polyacrylamide hydrogel nanocomposite The antibacterial activity of SNCH was evaluated by disc diffusion technique against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria such as Bacillus and Escherichia coli. Firstly, nutrient agar medium was prepared by mixing beef extract (3 g), peptone (5 g) and sodium chloride (5 g) in 1000 mL distilled water. The pH of the medium was adjusted to 7. Finally agar (15 g) was added to the prepared solution and then medium was sterilized in an autoclave at a pressure of 15 lbs for 30 minutes at 121ËÅ ¡C. This medium was then transferred into a sterilized glass Petri dish in a laminar air flow chamber. After the media solidified, Escherichia coli and Bacillus culture (50à °Ã‚ Ã…“†¡L) was spread on the solid surface of the media. Paper discs (6mm diameter) were soaked in the test compounds (20mg/20mL) overnight. Then these discs were loaded on culture plates. The plates were incubated for 24 hours at 37à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã‹Å"C. The inhibition zone appears around the disc which shows the anti bacterial effect of SNCH. [7] Pure hydrogels are generally inefficient for antibacterial activity. It is seen that smaller the size of silver nanoparticle greater is the antibacterial activity. .The SNCH having low silver nanoparticles concentration still showed excellent antibacterial activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bactericide. This results into inhibition of bacterial cell growth. So SNCH nanocomposites can be used as successful antibacterial agents such as wound-dressing materials. [7] Modern wound dressing theory, suggests promoting dynamic equilibrium between exudate absorption and optimal surface moisture at the wound surface. In addition, it should be able to exchange gas to provide the wound with adequate oxygen tension. 3.3 Mechanism of antibacterial activity of nanoparticles Antibacterial activity is a property due to which compounds are capable to kill or slow down the bacterial growth, without causing toxicity to host cells. Such agents are classified as a) bactericidal, which kill bacteria, 2) bacteriostatic, which slow down the bacterial growth. The exact mechanism of nanoparticle toxicity against various types of bacteria is not completely evaluated yet. It is proposed that nanoparticles attach themselves to bacterial membrane by electrostatic interaction and disrupt its integrity. Nanotoxicity is triggered by the initiation of oxidative stress by free radical formation, i.e. ROS, followed by the administration of nanoparticles. The nanoparticle toxicity depends on composition, intrinsic properties, surface modification of the bacterial species and the physical and chemical properties of nanoparticles, indicating the mechanisms to be highly complex. The antibacterial mechanisms of nanomaterials is not fully elucidated, but the existing concept suggests various combinations of processes that can occur (1) ions are released which is followed by cellular uptake and a cascade of intracellular reactions, (2) extracellular and intracellular generation of ROS and (3) direct interactions between nanoparticles and cell membrane. At sub-micromolar concentrations, ions are internalized and they react with the thiol groups of cellular proteins, which lead to uncoupling of ATP synthesis from respiration, loss of proton motive force, and interference with the phosphate efflux system. At millimolar levels, nanoparticles induce detachment of the cell wall from the cytoplasm, possibly releasing the intracellular content, DNA condensation and loss of replication ability. ROS produces oxidative stress which results in lipid membrane and DNA damage. Finally, nanoparticles increase the cell membrane permeability and, subsequently, penetrate inside c ells to induce any one or the entire cascade of effects mentioned above. [9] CONCLUSION The most important objective of nanobioscience involves application of nanotools to relevant biological and medical problems and refining these applications. The use of microorganisms and plants for synthesis of metal nanoparticles is of great interest. In contrast to chemical and physical synthesis methods, biological processes for synthesizing nanomaterials can be achieved in aqueous phase in gentle and environment friendly conditions. This approach has become attractive focus in current green nanotechnology. With the help of this approach we can synthesize nanomaterials in less toxic way as it replaces toxic chemical reducing and capping agents. Inorganic nanoparticles naturally possess bacteria-killing properties, but by modifying the inorganic nanoparticles i.e. forming nanocomposites, these properties can be enhanced. In the biomedical field, a synthesis of nanocomposite films and hydrogels by a green process was developed to enhance the inactivation of bacteria in wounds. Ther e are also other potential antibacterial applications of nanocomposites such as in antimicrobial textiles, food preservation, surface disinfection, burn dressings, safe cosmetics, medical devices, drug carriers, dental fillers and adhesives, water treatment etc. Further research on nanocomposites capable of antibacterial activity is necessary for large scale commercial application