Orientalism Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Orientalism - Movie Review Example In â€Å"Orientalism,† Edward Said, wanted to explain to the western world, especially the United States, some of the cultural and ideological differences between the â€Å"orient,† by which he means the Middle East, and the United States. Said’s â€Å"Orientalism† is divided into six sections, and in each section, he tackles one of the significant aspects of the relationship between the Middle East, representing the East, and the United States, representing the West. The five sections of â€Å"Orientalism† are designed under the titles: â€Å"The Repertory of orientalism,† â€Å"Orietalism and Empire,† â€Å"American orientalism,† â€Å"Orientalism Today : The Demonization of lslam in the News and Popular Culture,† â€Å"Oklahoma city Bombing,† and â€Å"Orientalism and Palestinian Question.† The dominating theme in the six sections is the notion that Orientalism constitutes a package of thoughts , beliefs, cultures, and traditions that are unique to the orient, and have to be adequately absorbed and understood by the East. According to Said, Orientalism does not connote a political or a social aspect alone. Rather, to understand the concept of Orientalis m according to Said, one has to develop deep understanding of many aspects that are unique to the orient. This idea is clearly expressed by Said when he introduces Orientalism as â€Å"a distribution of geopolitical awareness into aesthetic scholarly, economic, sociological, historical, and philological texts.† (Chapter 4) So, by using this set of â€Å"aspects,† Said approaches Orientalism as â€Å"a whole series of ‘interests’,† not a single entity. Among the various aspects of Orientalism, the cultural aspect remains the most distinguished and unique to the orient. The diversity of the cultures of the orient is stressed by Said, who believes that â€Å"cultural strength is not something we can discuss very easily.† Said declared that New York "plays an important role in the kind of

Java Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Java Technology - Essay Example Sun systems first released the language to the public in 1995, with a promise of portability to run anywhere without many modifications. From this instance, Java quickly developed and was incorporated into many web browsers. The main goal of the developers was a language that was high performing, dynamic, threaded, robust, secure, and neutral in architecture, simple, familiar and object oriented. Various existing types of Java today have been developed with time since the language was developed. They include; JDK (1.0 and 1.1), J2SE (1.2, 1.3, 1.4 and 5.0), Java SE (6, 7 and 8). Due to the diversity in functionality and the sense of portability that has allowed the language to be put into practice in most Operating Systems developers, the language is now incorporated into almost all systems. Due to the presence of the Java virtual machine, the language is currently the most applicable for development of most web-based software as it allows independence in platform usage (portability). Being a high-level language, Java is used to make applications that can store data, transmit information, play games, develop android applications and do a myriad of other things. The major concept of Java is "Object oriented Programming." It is, therefore, necessary to learn the concepts of OOP in order to learn Java more easily. Above the OOP concepts, learning C or C++ would make one learn Java easily, considering that the language was developed from these languages. The de facto standard for Java implementation today is Oracle Corporation, which is the current owner of Sun Microsystems. This implementation has been widely accepted across various platforms such as Windows, Linux, Mac and Solaris. The implementation, which is mainly based on the Java SE platform. contains a "Java Runtime Environment" for end users and a "Java Development Kit for developers." There was an initial problem with the compiler that made programs developed in this language to run slower than

The film of Step Mom by Gigi Levangie Essay Example for Free

The film of Step Mom by Gigi Levangie Essay A Comparison between my improvisation of Generation gap by us and the film of Step Mom by Gigi Levangie The two pieces of improvisation are good for a comparison because our improvisation is about two single parents one who lives with their mother moving in and how the children react to each other. Step mom is however slightly different as it is about parents who have just got divorced and are introducing the fathers new girlfriend in to the childrens lifes too. So our play is about the reaction towards the children and the film is about the reaction between the step mom. It is also very good from comparison as the family with the Grandmother in Generation gap previous relationship ended by death and in Step mom it ends with a death by the mother of the children dying from cancer. They are similar, as they are both sets in present day and shows how people react when introducing new members in to their lives. They may react snappy or just miserable around them and whether it is possible for them to change their feelings as in step mom the girl Anna was snappy and miserable at different times but by the end of the play she was able to accept the step mom. In our improvisation the teenager had similar symptoms but in each others presence they just argued and the younger boy would just wind the older sister but was upset as the sister was able to be mean to. So in this play the relations seem to worsen between the characters and it even affected the way the parents felt towards each other to some aspects as there children are more important to them and are likely to take their childs side and end up arguing. This also happened in the movie, as the mother would get annoyed when the step mom arrived late or did things wrong as she hasnt as much experience as her in being a mother. They both showed signs that the children meant more to them as they stick up for their child always and end up in argument in our play In Step Mom The father talks to the children and says relationships can change. The way he acts around his girlfriend suggests that it would be hard to make a choice as he loves both his girlfriend and children but you see that he would probably put his children first but this isnt certain. But they could be equal you dont know whether he means this or whether hes mocking the child in saying its impossible to stop loving your child. This is similar in both plays showing children is most important in keeping familys together.

Fitbit: SWOT and PESTEL Analysis

Fitbit: SWOT and PESTEL Analysis Overview Fitbit was founded as Healthy Metrics Research, Inc. in 2007 by James Park and Eric Friedman. The first product by Fitbit was launched later in 2009—the Fitbit Tracker. It was a small black device that could be clipped onto clothing and tracked steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned, activity intensity, and sleep quality by combining an internal accelerometer with user data. A user could then upload their data to the Fitbit website, where they could see an overview of their physical activity, set and track specific goals, keep activity logs, and interact with friends. Initially, the Fitbit Tracker was only available online, but later was introduced into the retail store market through Best Buy.   Fitbit continued with the clip design type until later introducing the well-known wristband style commonly seen today which introduced even more features in 2013, and later introduced smartwatches beginning in 2015. By August 2015, Fitbit had two clippable activity trackers, four wristband-style trackers, and a smart scale on the market. Prices ranged from $99.95 to $249.95, depending on the product and its functions. By the time Fitbit went public in 2015, Fitbit led the U.S. fitness-tracker market with a share of 76 percent (globally with a share of 35 percent), and revenue had been growing every quarter since 2011. In the first half of 2015 alone, Fitbit generated $737 million of revenue with 8.3 million devices sold, with 80 percent of Fitbit orders being placed on Amazon or Fitbit’s official online shop. However, Fitbit was starting to face some strong competition, as more and more competitors began entering the market such as Garmin, Nike, Samsung, Xiaomi, and Apple. The most notable competitor’s product to enter the market was with the introduction of the Apple Watch in April 2015, which quickly captured the second largest global wearable device market share at 19.9 percent and caused Fitbit to fall from 35 percent to 24.3 percent global market share. Analysis   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In order to better understand the situation that Fitbit is in, a SWOT analysis will be performed and a Porter’s Five Forces model will be created. SWOT Analysis Strengths: As one of the early movers in the wearable device industry, Fitbit was able to capture a commanding size of market share while they built their brand and established a solid user-base. Fitbit also offers many choices to consumers with their different types of products—namely the wristbands and smartwatches—but they were able to offer them in different colors and functionality as to be able to offer a whole range of products at different price points in order to maximize customer reach. Fitbit has also partnered with insurance companies in order to offer programs that emphasize physical activity while providing individuals that take advantage of the programs lower insurance premiums. Weaknesses: Fitbit faces strong competition from competitors like Apple, Samsung, Nike, Garmin, and Xiaomi. As a relatively new company, Fitbit does not have the established customer base and brand loyalists like these other companies have, and as such are having to make up ground in order to effectively compete. Fitbit also only has one successful product line—their fitness tracking wearable devices—while the other companies have products like computers, phones, and apparel that lower their overall risk since they are much more diversified in their overall product mix as a company. Opportunities: As mentioned in the Strengths section, Fitbit has some existing partnerships with health insurance agencies, but there is a tremendous amount of growth left in this area. Partnerships could also be created with companies for services for their employees as well as hospitals for patient monitoring and physical therapy. In the era of big data, Fitbit has an opportunity to be able to sell collected health and behavior data to health insurance companies and universities, but consumer privacy is crucial. Threats: As mentioned in the Weaknesses section, Fitbit faces stiff competition in the wearables market. Apple has a cult-like following of people loyal to its brand, while Xiaomi has taken control of the Chinese market with a much lower priced alternative to Fitbit’s trackers. These all threaten Fitbit’s market position, and as such, Fitbit needs to stay on the cutting edge of technological offerings with its devices in order to maintain their industry leader status as the market continues to grow due to increased health awareness by consumers. Porter’s Five Forces Model Bargaining Power of Buyers: The bargaining power of buyers is at a high level, as there are many alternatives to Fitbit’s products which range anywhere from $34 to $850+, so switching costs are very low. This has forced Fitbit to drive innovation in their products in order to keep consumers engaged and for Fitbit to maintain their status as the leading brand in the industry. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: The bargaining power of suppliers is at a low level, since Fitbit mainly outsources their manufacturing to companies in China and also buy product from them in bulk. Fitbit also has the ability to switch between any number of suppliers in China, and the entire design of the product is intellectual property of Fitbit with the software being written to the device by Fitbit employees themselves. Threat of Substitutes: The threat of substitutes is at a high level, as smartphones are beginning to integrated many features of Fitbit’s wristbands and smartwatches. Smartwatches are also becoming more dominant in the wearables market, as they are also integrating features from Fitbit’s wristband product. Threat of New Entrants: The threat of new entrants is at a moderate level, there are many barriers to entry in the wearables market—namely significant capital investment, as the products need to be manufactured and distribution channels need to be established. Since competition is high, a lot of human and monetary capital is needed for research and development as well. Level of Competitive Rivalry in the Industry: The level of competitive rivalry in the industry is high. Fitbit has positioned itself as a premium brand in the industry, but other wearables offer much of the same functionality as Fitbit’s. Even though Fitbit has a tremendous advantage with being one of the first movers, Fitbit still needs to be able to differentiate itself from their competitors as the wearables market becomes more saturated. Overall: From the Porter’s Five Forces model, buyer power, competitive rivalry, and threat of substitutes are all at a high level, which can make it challenging in the fitness wearables industry to be successful and also sustain a competitive advantage. In order to do this, Fitbit must continue to drive innovation within the industry in order to retain its leadership status. Alternatives The following are strategic directions Fitbit could move in in order to capture more market share and/or increase profit. Expand Internationally As mentioned in the Overview, Fitbit in mid-2015 had a US market share of 76 percent, while their global market share was 24.3 percent. This shows that while Fitbit had a commanding lead here in the United States, it has tremendous potential for growth internationally. Marketing efforts may need to increase internationally in order to bring awareness to the brand, as Fitbit may not be as internationally recognized as their competitors since Fitbit is relatively young as a company. However, since Fitbit has positioned itself as a premium brand, they may need to adjust product offerings for other countries that have vastly different cultures and living standards compared to here in the United States. There is also potential here to increase the total potential market share for the industry as a whole and drive industry growth as a whole. Increase Brand and Product Awareness Since Fitbit is a relatively newer company, they do not have the brand recognition that their competitors like Apple, Garmin, Samsung, Nike, and Xiaomi have, at least on a global perspective. Here in the United States, Fitbit is very much a household name and is pretty much synonymous with fitness tracking, as can be seen by its commanding 76 percent market share (per the case as of mid-2015). Consumers may also not be aware of the range of products that Fitbit offers, so they may not know that a product may be available that fits their price and functionality needs. Even though Exhibit 7 in the case shows that Fitbit has double the next competitor’s percentage for consumers purchasing intentions for a wearable device within the next 12 months—42 percent compared with Apple’s 21 percent—it would be a good idea for Fitbit to be producing more surveys in order to better understand consumers’ preferences so that Fitbit can potentially better position itself within the market as well as understand how consumers view their brand and what features may increase usage. Add Features In this industry, there is high buyer power, competitive rivalry, and threat of substitutes as shown in the Porter’s Five Forces model. In order to overcome these, Fitbit must continue to invest in research and development and drive innovation in the industry if they wish to remain the market leader, so this means continually offering new and unique features to their products in order to create value and increase customers’ willingness to pay. Certain kinds of features, like a camera for instance, may necessitate being added to the smartwatch over the wristband in order to differentiate the products and offer multiple price points to consumers. Fitbit could also integrate their products more with social media like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter in order to potentially restore some consumer interest, since consumers may be able to better track their friends’ activity as well as share their own. Increase Focus on Health and Wellness   Fitbit has a tremendous opportunity to grow in the health and wellness space by potentially integrating their product into hospitals for them to use to assist patients with health monitoring like glucose, blood sugar, and the heart in activities like physical therapy sessions. Alerts could even be set up for medications. This information could then be linked back to their healthcare provider for analyzing long term trends in a patient’s health. This would be a completely new addition to the fitness tracking wearables industry and could drive high amounts of growth as Fitbit’s product transitions from that of a ‘want’ to more of a ‘need.’ This could also help Fitbit connect with older customers rather than just targeting and connecting with the young and fit customer segments.   Ã‚  The downside of this is it could potentially be very costly and require high levels of research and development in order to deliver products that healthcare providers would require. This would also be dependent on establishing partnerships with healthcare providers. Sell Data In the era of big data, Fitbit has the potential to profit from selling user activity data that is collected when uploaded to their website by the user. The data could then be used by health insurance companies and universities for research. Using machine learning, patterns could be detected from user behavior data that could improve product positioning and customer targeting for Fitbit, provide health and activity insights that may not have been previously known, and also help health insurance companies establish health programs that could lower premiums after studying how certain levels and types of physical activity affected an individual’s health risks. The key issue here, however, is customer privacy. According to the case, Fitbit announced that it was compliant with the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in September 2015, which indicates that Fitbit is already establishing protections for customers’ data and its security. Analysis and Discussion   This section will detail the recommended path for Fitbit, as well as discuss what I have personally learned about myself through the course. Recommendation Fitbit built its brand on providing a way for consumers to have a fun and engaging way to track their fitness goals, which also provides the background and experience needed to expand efforts into providing meaningful insights into an individual’s health. Fitbit has an incredible opportunity for long-term growth if they focus on what has made them into the market leader they are today, and focus their efforts on overall health and wellness by providing easier and more in depth ways for patients and healthcare providers to track an individual’s data. Fitbit’s style will also help to replace bulky devices that are not aesthetically pleasing. Fitbit will need to conduct market research to understand what patients and healthcare providers require in order to better develop the tools they need and know the data that needs tracking. This effort will also require Fitbit to invest in research and development to meet those needs. Partnerships could be created not only with healthcare providers, but with insurance companies and medical device companies as well. If Fitbit is able to integrate other medical devices into its app, then they would be able to gain a further edge over their competitors by offering more features and utility, which could be an incredible competitive advantage, especially with how high the competitive rivalry in the industry is as shown previously in the Porter’s Five Forces model. According to the case, corporate clients account for less than 10 percent of Fitbit’s business, so there is tremendous opportunity for growth there as well. Especially if there is a partnership formed between the corporation, Fitbit, and the insurance company to be able to provide cheaper insurance premiums for employees as well as cut health care costs for the corporation. This effort could also be combined with selling data uploaded through Fitbit’s app, and Fitbit is already showing they take data security seriously since they have become HIPAA compliant. If partnerships are being formed with insurance companies, they can use the data as mentioned previously to study how certain health habits can reduce certain health risks in order to form wellness programs that provide discounts to any consumer that uses a Fitbit device and willingly shares their health activity to earn the discounts. Ultimately, these efforts will help Fitbit to position itself and its products as the go-to for health and fitness tracking by transitioning its products from that of a ‘want’ to more of a ‘need,’ which will build their competitive advantage and further differentiate Fitbit from their competitors. Media Article Analysis: Effects of High Protein Diet Media Article Analysis: Effects of High Protein Diet Introduction Media claim from ‘The Telegraph’ that high ingestion of protein would be ‘as bad as smoking 20 cigarettes a day’ and ‘have as higher risk of developing cancer as smoking 20 cigarettes a day’ is misleading and misinterpreting to the readers of general public. The article itself is over simplified making the actual study that the article was based upon, over exaggerated and misleading. Dangers of reading this claim would suggest eating less foods containing protein in middle-age individuals. Proteins are one of the major components to sustain a healthy lifestyle through all ages. () Proteins are large biological molecules consisting of one or more chains of amino acid. Main functions of protein within living organism are to replicate DNA, responding to stimuli, transporting molecules and catalysing metabolic reactions. (†¦) Although the alternative claims are found further down the article suggesting it is not as crucial to eat protein rich diet and maintaining healthy diet regardless of age, the article written suggesting that protein rich diet may be as bad as smoking 20 cigarettes a day through developing cancerous cells was written in the first few sentences. This may suggest to the public readers that they might need to change their diet. By posting this statement on the first few paragraphs the reader might only pick out the points that they are interested in and not continuing reading the article where most of the alternative suggestions are made by different professors and doctors. Describe media claim ‘High-protein diet ‘as bad as smoking’ published by ‘The Telegraph’ on 14th March 2014, written by Sarah Knapton was published to give the readers the idea of how high protein diet has the same effect of developing cancer as smoking 20 cigarettes a day. Researchers tracked thousands of adults for 20 years and found that consumption of high protein diet may have ‘The risk is nearly as high as the danger of developing cancer by smoking 20 cigarettes each day’. Dr Valter Longo of University of Southern California stated: â€Å"we provide convincing evidence that a high-protein diet – particularly if the proteins are derived from animals – is nearly as bad as smoking for your health’. Other comments from Dr Eileen Crimmins stated that with low protein diet the overall mortality longevity may be increased plus increasing an overall prevention of developing cancer in the middle-age individuals. With that in mind another proposition was made that older-aged individuals may need to avoid low-protein diets to allow maintenance of healthy weight and protection from frailty. In the article it is also stated other perspectives of low and high intakes of proteins. Dr Gunter Kuhnle and Prof Naveed Saattar stated that the results may come from a ‘survival bais’ plus public view on the article stating: â€Å"The smoker thinks: why bother quitting smoking if my cheese and ham sandwich is just as bad for me?’à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ° What is claim based on? Media has written this claim based up on ‘Low Protein Intake Is Associated with a Major Reduction in IGF-1, Cancer, and Overall Mortality in the 65 and Younger but Not Older Population’ study by several study groups from USA, Italy and Ecuador. The report was published by cell metabolism. The aim was to find if low protein intake associated with reduction in IGF-1, Cancer and overall mortality in adults ages 50 and over. Recommendations made: Reduction of protein intake may prevent development of cancer cells from 50+ individuals Reduction in red meat intake What is mechanism/theory to support claim? Somatomedin C also known as insulin-like grown factor 1(IGF-1), is a protein encoded within humans by the IGF-1 gene, consisting of 70 amino acids in a single chain with three iramolecular bisulfide bridges.(†¦) In 1970’s its effects were termed as nonsuppressible insulin-like activity (NSILA). It’s a hormone that has similar molecular structure compare to insulin.(†¦) IGF-1 has important roles through childhood growth to adulthood anabolic effects.(†¦) Cancer is an abnormal mass, resulted in dividing cells within tissues cell infrastructure. Cancer cells divide and uncontrollably grow, forming malignant tumorous growth, invading close part within the body. (†¦) Cancerous cells may also spread through the blood stream or lymphatic system, resulting in invading distant parts within body infrastructure. There are 200 different type of cancers that affect human body, over 60 different organs where cancerous tumours may develop. (†¦)Some of the tumours within the body are not cancerous, benignit tumours do spread within the cell but does not infiltrate neighbouring tissues nor do they spread throughout the body.(†¦) There are different studies in which ingestion of low protein diet have been found to be of benefit in the mid-age individuals, plus study’s that comply of ingestion of high protein may develop cancerous cells or speed up the growth of the tumour through IGF-1. (†¦) The growth hormone (IGF-1) not only encourages growth of healthy cells, but also provides sources in increasing cancer cell growth. (†¦) study suggested that increasing 10ng/ml of IGF-1 with the high protein diet have 9% higher chance of developing and dying of cancer compare to low-protein diet. But the proteins that the studies were analysing two-thirds of the protein resurces came from animal produce. When the study was performed on mice, they have found that from animal source proteins tend to have an effect on the growth of cancerous cells, whereas plant derivatives seemed to considered to be more of a ‘safer’ option. (†¦) What evidence is there to support/refute claim? Many studies were performed on low consumption of proteins and relationship between decreasing the development of cancerous cells. From the Cell metabolism article et al 2014, that this media article was based on suggested that from performing experiments on mice and monitoring human population of 50-65 and 65+ year old groups found that there is a correlation between consumption of high-protein diet and development of cancerous cell. But the article also suggested to look into 65+ year old group as instead of providing low-protein diet may have an opposite effect, promoting muscular atrophy and weight loss. Moreover, elder generations turn beneficial effects of protein restriction on mortality, into negative. Another study by Gyrd-Hansen et al 2004 proposed that ‘Heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) promotes cancer cell viability by safeguarding lysosomal integrity’. The study came to a conclusion that Hsp70 has provided a platform for further investigation in alteration in cancerous cells, decreasing stability of lysosomes. So by finding this protein and deplete it from the cancerous cell it will destabilise lysosomal membrane which will then result in cancer cell depletion. On the other hand study from USA suggested that Mitrogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) provided strong correlation that inhibitors of signal-regulated kinase (ERK) MAPK will provide effective antiseptic agents for treating wild range of human cancerous cells.( P JRoberts et al 2007) Summary The media article did provide some good evidence towards the end from different professors and doctors from both sides supporting the study that high-protein diets may have an effect of cancer development and others saying that more research need to be done to provide more of a valid proposal on high-protein ingestion and development of cancerous cells within the body. Conclusion The media article claim was over simplified and suggested false claim at the beginning of the article to the general public. Although the study which this article was based up on did provide information on low protein intake has effect on reducing the risk of developing cancerous cells, the claim that is made by the newspaper was falsely advertised, misleading general public in thinking that protein foods such as ‘meats’ may be harmful to their health. But in actual fact proteins have to be a part of healthy lifestyle.

Mourning and Grief Essay -- Psychology

Sigmund Freud, born on May 8th, 1856, was the founder of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysts believed that human behavior, experience, and cognition were largely determined by irrational drives which were mostly unconscious. Freud further developed the mechanisms of repression and established a clinical method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and their respective psychoanalyst. Though psychoanalysts are not very common in our current day, other forms of psychotherapy have developed that employs diverging ideas, originating from Freud’s original thoughts and approach to studying the mind (Boeree). Freud went on to later synthesize a theory of what he believed happened during grief. According to his theory, we become emotionally attached to our loved ones by investing libido, or physical energy, in them. When these loved ones pass, we have a sense that we lost this energy, which he believes accounts for changes in our sensitivity. Under Freud’s theory, grieving consists of severing these emotional attachments by withdrawing our energetic investments (Watson). Though Freud’s view on death was fashioned centuries ago, it can still be clearly seen in various aspects/locations in modern time. Freud’s ideas which have become the backbone to the ‘six reconciliation needs for mourning’ are currently used as the basis for ritualistic tendencies of funerals, self-help books that are utilized within Hospice units in Hospitals, and self-help groups. The initial need to help the family acknowledge the reality of the death of a loved one is commonly carried out by funeral homes. Typically, death is acknowledged in two phases, the first dealing with acceptance in our mind and then within our hearts. Sigmund Freud b... ...e are supposed to do. Self-help groups attempt to fill bereaved ones lives with activities that may interest them in the hopes that these activates will either get their mind off the recent death or aid in helping the individual reinvent themselves. Works Cited Boeree, C. George. "Sigmund Freud." My Webspace Files. 2009. Web. . Smith, Melinda, and Jeanne Segal. "Supporting a Grieving Person." : Helping Others Through Grief and Loss. Jan. 2012. Web. . Watson, Donald E. "Apperception Theory of Grieving." Don Watson's Home Page. 12 Feb. 2005. Web. . Wolfelt, Alan D. "Why Is the Funeral Ritual Important?" 2007. Web.

International Style Essay examples -- essays papers

International Style International style is an architectural style that developed in Europe and the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. This style became the dominant tendency for western architecture in the later twentieth century. Common characteristics of International style buildings are rectangular forms that have been completely stripped of applied ornamentation and decoration, visually weightless qualities, open interior spaces, and an overwhelming association with geometry. Glass, steel, and reinforced concrete are the characteristic materials of construction. The International style grew from three phenomena that architects had to deal with; An incorporating mix of decorative elements from different architectual periods that had little or no relation to the building’s functions, the development and use of iron, steel, glass, and reinforced concrete, and the economical creation of large numbers of office buildings. These three phenomena basically outlined the search for an economica l utilitarian architecture, an architecture that would use the new materials and still appeal to aesthetic taste. Technology was key in this transition from tradition. The availability of cheap mass-produced iron and steel ultimately rendered masonry construction obsolete. â€Å"The International Style was thus formed under the dictates that modern buildings’form and appearance should naturally grow out of and express the potentialities of their materials and structural engineering. A harmony between artistic expression, function, and technology would thus be established in an austere and disciplined new architecture.† The International Style grew from a small group of brilliant and original architects who went on to achieve greatness in their field. The major figures include Walter Gropius, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe of Germany. Gropius and Mies were best known for their structures containing glass curtain walls spanning steel girders that would form the skeleton of the building. Walter Gropius (1883-1969) was in 1919 appointed to director of the Grand Ducal Saxon School of Arts and Crafts, Academy of Arts, and School of Arts which were immediately joined as the Staatliches Bauhaus Weimar (â€Å"Public Bauhaus Weimar†). It was at this school that Gropius taught design principles. He saw architecture as ever changing, related to the contemporary world.... ...roblems. From the Greeks use of pillars for support and decoration (which have influenced architectural style since that time), to the medieval construction of castles (which saw the problems with masonry and brick solved). With the advent of steel and cast-iron a new architectural age became. With lighter, larger, and taller capabilities, the way our society looked, would never be the same. As American architects learned the principles of the new architecture, the name International Style was formed as a European-American hybrid. The name came in turn from a book called International Architecture by Walter Gropius. The underlying principles of the International style, sheerness, being plain, and flatness are filled with difficulties. Maintenance and weathering make it difficult to create an ideal, yet buildings that fit this description are seen in cities throughout the United States and world. â€Å"In postmodern architecture classical orders have been reintroduced as o ne of a number of contrasting design methods, so that the late 20th century architecture attempted to include historical references in its design and approach and was characterized by a new aesthetic pluralism.†

Reflection Paper – Wagner Self Concept

What is Self-concept? According to Wagner, self-concept is that image or mental picture of our invisible self, a feeling of being a person, sense of somebody or of being nobody (p. 5). There are three functional aspects of self concept: appearance, performance and status. It is noteworthy that our feeling of identity of being somebody is derived from feelings when rated by others (p. 13). I could identify with these three aspects of self-concept. Several years ago, when I left my job to be a stay home mum, I struggled with redefining my self-concept.What am I? Why is Self-concept important? While I subsequently found my significance in Christ, I am further enlightened by Wagner’s discussion on of self-concept and its importance. An adequate self-concept is a precious possession that enable one live a useful and productive life, he is emotionally secure and functions from inner resources in a crisis. He accepts his appearance and views his shortcomings as problems to be overcom e and not judge himself as a bad person. He functions because he knows he is and not always trying to become.A person with inadequate self-concept tends to focus his energy and efforts to establish his self-identity, to measure up, his mind is divided into coping with his rectifying this inadequacy and normal living (p. x, 15) What Make Up Self-concept? Wagner paints a picture depicting the cycle of how inadequate self-concept is developed. The feelings of belonging, worthiness and competence form the essential elements of self-concept, they blended together like musical chords (p. 17). When one’s sense of being somebody is threatened, he reacts negatively with hostility, guilt or fear.When he tries to force the situation to change through his hostility, he loses his sense of belonging. When he forces himself to change because he is feeling guilty, he compromises his worthiness. In fear or anxiety tries to protect himself from the threat, his competence is lost. The elements of self-concept are all weakened and emotional insecurity increases and these negatives reactions block empathy and he cannot sense love or show love. Therefore in attempting to correct the threat, his hostility, guilt and fears interfere with the remedy (p. 28).This is very illuminating to me, it enables me to have a good understanding of the causes and effects of emotions in self-concept, which is so crucial if I will be a counselor in future. How did Self-concept come from? Wagner believed that one’s self-concept is accumulated from memories from the day he is born, from basic need of feeding, teething and toilet training and later discipline. The needs and emotions of these growing up activities all affected his emotions of belonging, worthiness, and competence and ultimately his sense of being somebody or nobody.If he is raised with love and correct discipline, these beneficial influences will develop in good self-concept. However if his critical emotional needs are not met, the child is often angry and manipulative of his parents and parental love is given conditional on his performance, the child will develop an inadequate self-concept. While I am no expert in this area, I had some reservations about this. Childhood experiences while important cannot be the sole contributory factor in development of self-concept. Too much blame is apportioned to ineffective parenting.Many of our parents’ love are not ideal and somewhat lacking. In the sixties where I grew up, economies were bad, families were large. Parents spend much of their time stressed out trying to put food on the table. Love if existent was non expressive and unfelt. Disciplines were strict and severe. But a whole generation has grown into adults; many are well adjusted individuals with adequate self concept and functioning properly. My personal opinion is that, what is past is passed; there is no point in examining too much what happened during childhood.We should instead focus on remedy and healing and what can be done. Having said that, I would agree with Wagner that love for our children must not be conditional upon his performance or behavior. As far as possible we must love our children with an unrelenting and voluntary love (p. 47). In disciplining our children, care must be taken not to do so in anger or humiliate him. We must not be overly strict but allow the child space to explore and experiment (p. 63). What Self-concept is not – False Security and Self Verification False security is caused by repression of unwanted feelings and keeping hese out of awareness, when hostility, guilt and fear is repressed, insecurities developed. When the nobody is repressed, the person proves to himself through his appearance, performance or status that he is not a nobody. This process is called self-verification and relate to three basic desires: being wanted (belonging), being good (worthiness) and being adequate (competence) (pp. 95- 96). Self verification gives temporary feelings of being somebody, but the need for this process keep recurring, therefore it is self-perpetuating.I felt that this is good insight why insecure people worked so hard to look good, and to succeed. Unfortunately self verifications do not work, as evidenced by King Solomon’s conclusion in Ecclesiastes 1:2 â€Å"Meaningless! Meaningless! . . . Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless† Many people climb those ladders to success, only to discover when they reach the top that they are leaning against the wrong wall! The only identity equation that works is me +GOD = ME. What is secure self-concept? Secure self-concept must be based on unconditional love which is found only in God’s love.God is the only reliable source of true love as God is love (1 John4:8). God loves us because we are somebody to Him. We have intrinsic value. He did not love us because we love Him, His love cannot be manipulated, He is someone in authority who is always honest and fair and does not hide the truth about us (p. 104). When we come to God in faith we come into a relationship with him, we are firstly justified and healed with a restored sense of being somebody, a sense of awareness as a whole person which in turn give have hope in God and incite obedience to God (pp. 10-113). However, we still need to grow in our ability to move from relatives to absolutes are as God is Holy and good (absolutes) and overcome self-verification. This means that we can accept ourselves as being bad, a nobody because God can accept us in so doing, we are free to move towards being godly, applying ourselves to do God’s will (p. 129). This is so liberating and refreshing. Wagner said that in relating to God as a Father who accepts us as we are, validates our sense of belonging. God is pleased to acknowledge us as sons (Rom 8:15-17).In relating to Jesus, our sins are forgiven, there is no more guilt and condemnations, our worthiness are validated. In r elating to the Holy Spirit, we are comforted and enabled therefore competent. These thoughts are indeed very re-affirming and reassuring. What next? In coming to faith, our self concept is settled, this allows us to love God and others as commanded in Matthew 22:37-39. We may be faced with antagonistic situations that threaten our sense of being somebody. We therefore need to grow in our Christian life through reading God’s Word, prayer and fellowship with other Christians.