Gender Roles and Marriage

The representation of gender roles and marriage has always been a controversial issue. However, much can be learned about unhappy marriages when examining the roles of both females and males within the marriage. The examination of gender roles and marriage are seen through the following short stories The Story of an Hour, The Necklace, and Country Lovers, along with scholarly articles based on gender role and marriage. Evaluation of these literary works shows quite clearly that social and economic class affects choice in marriage. Gardiner’s County Lovers presents its fairly clear theme right from the beginning of the story. Yes, there is a theme of race, but if you look even deeper you can see the underlying idea of marriage and gender roles. There is a love between two people but it is forbidden due them being a part of two separate classes. In the marriage that takes place between Njabulo and Thebedi there is an absence of love. Thebedi agrees to marry Njabulo because it is what is expected of her, but this does not constitute what many see as a proper marriage. There are some prevalent gender roles expressed in this story. There is are not many females described in the story other than Thebedi, but those who are discussed always have the role of being silent, and that of a domestic worker. Thebedi is often described as being the primary care giver of her children, whereas Njabulo and Paulus are often described as holding careers outside the home. The gender roles in this story are very stereotypical. Thebedi is portrayed as being weak and helpless and she stands outside her hut while Paulus is alone with the child. She knowingly left her child alone with Paulus after he strongly expressed his dislike of the situation of her having his child. The author portrays her as being helpless and innocent but the death of her child could have been prevented if she wanted it. The point of view of this story is that of a third-person. The narrator was not involved as a character in the story, which made it harder to get involved in the story emotionally. There was little connection to the inner thoughts of Thebedi and Paulus. This made theory very limited, in that the narrator knew of the events but not of their experiences. This objective view could have been improved by connecting the reader more to the thoughts and feelings of Paulus, Thebedi and Njabulo. In the end of the, Njabulo decides to stay with his wife and continue living as a family with their new born child. There is little said about how he felt about the whole situation, when in fact the decision he made was a very big one, but would have taken a lot of thought and contradictory feelings. The tone reflected by the author was very somber and solemn. From the begging there was much negatively expressed towards the thoughts of love and marriage. There is a verbal ironic one use when all evidence persuades the reader to think that Thebedi and Paulus will be in trouble or their actions, but in the end their relationship was not acknowledged and they are both able to walk away and live their lives freely. The language used by the author also suggests gender inequality. As Thebedi is 18 years old and Njabulo is 19, Thebedi is still being called a â€Å"girl† and Njubulo is considered a â€Å"man†. Within the story The Necklace the theme of changing gender roles within the married couples is prevalent. Madame Loisel did not marry for love, but rather married because it was expected of her. She married a man who worked in the Ministry of Education and had little money. Mr. Loisel, however, did marry for love and was very satisfied with their life together. Mathilde Loisel did not respect her husband due to him not making as much money as she would like, and she is portrayed as always wanting more. Her husband tGries hard to do anything to please her and makes sacrifices to keep her happy. Mathilde uses her innocence to gain sympathy, which leads to her getting the possessions that she desires. She is presented as being a weak and needy wife who cannot care for herself, relying on her husband to survive. When the Loisel’s had to earn more money to pay off their debts, Mr. Loisel takes on a second job working outside of them home while Mrs. Loisel works in the home cooking, cleaning, and taking on the care giver role. In the begging of the story it seemed as though Mathilde held most of the power in their marriage, but once conflict arose the power shifted back to Mr. Loisel, as Mathilde continued to do exactly what he said without questioning. This story is also told from a third-person point of view. The narrator is not part of the story and presents the action to the reader from on outside view. The reader is able to see everything through the eyes or the narrator, but the reliability is questionable in that the information coming from a third party. The style of writing is very fluent and easy to follow, which makes for a very enjoyable read. deMauppassant uses situation irony in a creative way to give the story an humorous twist; when Mathilde finds out the diamond she and her husband have been working so hard to pay off, was actually imitation. This discrepancy allows the author to add humor, giving the story a light and playful tone. The use of satire exists towards the end of the story in the form of a farce. Subtle humor and hilarity is developed through improbable situations and exaggeration. In this situation the probability of Mr. And Mrs. Loisel going through ten years of misery and poverty just to find out the diamond was fake, is very low, which is why it makes the story so humorous Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour also displays a theme of an unhappy marriage. When Mrs. Mallard received the news about her dead husband she began to weep uncontrollably, only to figure out she was weeping out of joy not sadness. Mrs. Mallards journey thorugh her thoughts help her to realize just how unhappy she was in her marriage, and how much better off she will be living for herself, and only herself. Although this story is mostly about Mrs. Mallard, it still gives a sense of the stereotypical gender role. An early mention of Mr. Mallard sates that Mrs. Mallard was repressed by him in their marriage life. Mrs. Mallard’s constant joy (after hearing about her husband’s death) suggests that she wanted to leave her husband but did not have the bravery to do so. Also, men are portrayed as the stronger sex as Josephine comforts her sister as she cries in her arms, while Richard stands by and watches. The female takes on the role of the nurturer and comforter as the male takes on the role of the strong, silent type. The narrator, although a third-person point of view, does a great job of providing an in depth description of Mrs. Mallard’s feelings toward the whole situation. The action is presented through an outside view, displaying the characters thoughts and feelings toward the death of Mr. Ballard. Although most events are sensed through the eyes or the narrator, they do a great job of getting in touch with Mrs. Mallard’s feelings, so the reader can connect better with her, and how she is reacting to the situation. The narrator’s omniscient view is very refreshing and informative. Chopin uses a combination of verbal and situation irony to add humor to the situation. Throughout the story, it is explicitly expressed how each character feels about the unfortunate death of Mr. Mallard. As Mrs. Mallard chants â€Å"free, free, free! † to her in the bathroom, it leads the reader to believe that the deal of Mr. Mallard is accurate and Mrs. Mallard is ready to move on with her life. When Mrs. Mallard finally comes out of the bedroom, feeling quite positive about the situation, shock arrives on everyone’s faces as they find out Mr. Ballard was not on the train, and is therefore still alive. Although this story does not directly speak of social class, Mr. Mallard taking the train does suggest this family within the middle class category. Joan Kahn that during since the 70’s healthy adults are starting to face new challenges unrelated to their career. These activities are productive and provide new opportunities. Some of these activities include part time employment, volunteer, and informal support to family in friends. Kahn noted the gender difference between men and women’s behaviors and relationships. While men tend to work more, while achieving outside the home, women on the other hand are more nurturing in the home. Her studies have focused on age and gender differences in housework and have shown husbands to do less housework than wives which tends to increase with age. Findings on the gender gap in forms of unpaid labor have showed that women did more work for both kin and non kin than did men. Also men showed to be happier in their marriages than women. Also, her study illustrated that women were consistently more likely than men to assist their children in some capacity, as well as those who had living parents. William Wilcox demonstrates the profound changes in the functions and stability of marriage. The rise in women’s social and economic interest has drastically increased. He states, in the from the 18th century and onwards women became more concerned about marrying for social status, than marrying for love. The emotional functions and character of marriage have and marital happiness has become less important. Marital stability; home production, childbearing, and division of labor have been determined predominantly by the stereotypes of what is expected by either gender. Wilcox states, in his gender model of marriage, that men and women are invested in doing that their gender suggests they embrace. They are raised to live up to their gender role ideology. He believes women and men are socialized to hold on to their gender typical patterns of behavior. Jonathan Vespa describes children as a changing factor on gender ideology. When married couples have children, the couples are more likely to agree that a women’s duty is care giving. The effect of employment on gender ideology also depends on life experience and economic status. Working men with an employed wife their family suffered, where as working men with a stay-at-home wife reported their family was stable. Gayle Kaufman believes gender ideology has changed greatly during the last few decades. She also believes it is important to examine the relationship between ideology and marital happiness. There is a strong connection between gender attitudes in terms of expected roles for men and women and power relations. The traditional attitudes focus on men as breadwinners and women as homemakers, with both holding different amounts of power. Nontraditional attitudes focus on sharing economic and caring tasks which divides power more equally, but this is not the majority of most marriages. Much can be learned about unhappy marriages when examining the roles of both females and males within the marriage. Throughout this paper, the effects of social and economic class have shown to have a great impact on marriage. There are many common themes within the three literary works, including the unhappiness of wives in their marriages, as none of them married for love. The examination of gender roles and marriage are seen through the following short stories The Story of an Hour, The Necklace, and Country Lovers, along with scholarly articles based on gender role and marriage. Evaluation of these literary works shows quite clearly that social and economic class affects choice in marriage. Gender Roles and Marriage The representation of gender roles and marriage has always been a controversial issue. However, much can be learned about unhappy marriages when examining the roles of both females and males within the marriage. The examination of gender roles and marriage are seen through the following short stories The Story of an Hour, The Necklace, and Country Lovers, along with scholarly articles based on gender role and marriage. Evaluation of these literary works shows quite clearly that social and economic class affects choice in marriage. Gardiner’s County Lovers presents its fairly clear theme right from the beginning of the story. Yes, there is a theme of race, but if you look even deeper you can see the underlying idea of marriage and gender roles. There is a love between two people but it is forbidden due them being a part of two separate classes. In the marriage that takes place between Njabulo and Thebedi there is an absence of love. Thebedi agrees to marry Njabulo because it is what is expected of her, but this does not constitute what many see as a proper marriage. There are some prevalent gender roles expressed in this story. There is are not many females described in the story other than Thebedi, but those who are discussed always have the role of being silent, and that of a domestic worker. Thebedi is often described as being the primary care giver of her children, whereas Njabulo and Paulus are often described as holding careers outside the home. The gender roles in this story are very stereotypical. Thebedi is portrayed as being weak and helpless and she stands outside her hut while Paulus is alone with the child. She knowingly left her child alone with Paulus after he strongly expressed his dislike of the situation of her having his child. The author portrays her as being helpless and innocent but the death of her child could have been prevented if she wanted it. The point of view of this story is that of a third-person. The narrator was not involved as a character in the story, which made it harder to get involved in the story emotionally. There was little connection to the inner thoughts of Thebedi and Paulus. This made theory very limited, in that the narrator knew of the events but not of their experiences. This objective view could have been improved by connecting the reader more to the thoughts and feelings of Paulus, Thebedi and Njabulo. In the end of the, Njabulo decides to stay with his wife and continue living as a family with their new born child. There is little said about how he felt about the whole situation, when in fact the decision he made was a very big one, but would have taken a lot of thought and contradictory feelings. The tone reflected by the author was very somber and solemn. From the begging there was much negatively expressed towards the thoughts of love and marriage. There is a verbal ironic one use when all evidence persuades the reader to think that Thebedi and Paulus will be in trouble or their actions, but in the end their relationship was not acknowledged and they are both able to walk away and live their lives freely. The language used by the author also suggests gender inequality. As Thebedi is 18 years old and Njabulo is 19, Thebedi is still being called a â€Å"girl† and Njubulo is considered a â€Å"man†. Within the story The Necklace the theme of changing gender roles within the married couples is prevalent. Madame Loisel did not marry for love, but rather married because it was expected of her. She married a man who worked in the Ministry of Education and had little money. Mr. Loisel, however, did marry for love and was very satisfied with their life together. Mathilde Loisel did not respect her husband due to him not making as much money as she would like, and she is portrayed as always wanting more. Her husband tGries hard to do anything to please her and makes sacrifices to keep her happy. Mathilde uses her innocence to gain sympathy, which leads to her getting the possessions that she desires. She is presented as being a weak and needy wife who cannot care for herself, relying on her husband to survive. When the Loisel’s had to earn more money to pay off their debts, Mr. Loisel takes on a second job working outside of them home while Mrs. Loisel works in the home cooking, cleaning, and taking on the care giver role. In the begging of the story it seemed as though Mathilde held most of the power in their marriage, but once conflict arose the power shifted back to Mr. Loisel, as Mathilde continued to do exactly what he said without questioning. This story is also told from a third-person point of view. The narrator is not part of the story and presents the action to the reader from on outside view. The reader is able to see everything through the eyes or the narrator, but the reliability is questionable in that the information coming from a third party. The style of writing is very fluent and easy to follow, which makes for a very enjoyable read. deMauppassant uses situation irony in a creative way to give the story an humorous twist; when Mathilde finds out the diamond she and her husband have been working so hard to pay off, was actually imitation. This discrepancy allows the author to add humor, giving the story a light and playful tone. The use of satire exists towards the end of the story in the form of a farce. Subtle humor and hilarity is developed through improbable situations and exaggeration. In this situation the probability of Mr. And Mrs. Loisel going through ten years of misery and poverty just to find out the diamond was fake, is very low, which is why it makes the story so humorous Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour also displays a theme of an unhappy marriage. When Mrs. Mallard received the news about her dead husband she began to weep uncontrollably, only to figure out she was weeping out of joy not sadness. Mrs. Mallards journey thorugh her thoughts help her to realize just how unhappy she was in her marriage, and how much better off she will be living for herself, and only herself. Although this story is mostly about Mrs. Mallard, it still gives a sense of the stereotypical gender role. An early mention of Mr. Mallard sates that Mrs. Mallard was repressed by him in their marriage life. Mrs. Mallard’s constant joy (after hearing about her husband’s death) suggests that she wanted to leave her husband but did not have the bravery to do so. Also, men are portrayed as the stronger sex as Josephine comforts her sister as she cries in her arms, while Richard stands by and watches. The female takes on the role of the nurturer and comforter as the male takes on the role of the strong, silent type. The narrator, although a third-person point of view, does a great job of providing an in depth description of Mrs. Mallard’s feelings toward the whole situation. The action is presented through an outside view, displaying the characters thoughts and feelings toward the death of Mr. Ballard. Although most events are sensed through the eyes or the narrator, they do a great job of getting in touch with Mrs. Mallard’s feelings, so the reader can connect better with her, and how she is reacting to the situation. The narrator’s omniscient view is very refreshing and informative. Chopin uses a combination of verbal and situation irony to add humor to the situation. Throughout the story, it is explicitly expressed how each character feels about the unfortunate death of Mr. Mallard. As Mrs. Mallard chants â€Å"free, free, free! † to her in the bathroom, it leads the reader to believe that the deal of Mr. Mallard is accurate and Mrs. Mallard is ready to move on with her life. When Mrs. Mallard finally comes out of the bedroom, feeling quite positive about the situation, shock arrives on everyone’s faces as they find out Mr. Ballard was not on the train, and is therefore still alive. Although this story does not directly speak of social class, Mr. Mallard taking the train does suggest this family within the middle class category. Joan Kahn that during since the 70’s healthy adults are starting to face new challenges unrelated to their career. These activities are productive and provide new opportunities. Some of these activities include part time employment, volunteer, and informal support to family in friends. Kahn noted the gender difference between men and women’s behaviors and relationships. While men tend to work more, while achieving outside the home, women on the other hand are more nurturing in the home. Her studies have focused on age and gender differences in housework and have shown husbands to do less housework than wives which tends to increase with age. Findings on the gender gap in forms of unpaid labor have showed that women did more work for both kin and non kin than did men. Also men showed to be happier in their marriages than women. Also, her study illustrated that women were consistently more likely than men to assist their children in some capacity, as well as those who had living parents. William Wilcox demonstrates the profound changes in the functions and stability of marriage. The rise in women’s social and economic interest has drastically increased. He states, in the from the 18th century and onwards women became more concerned about marrying for social status, than marrying for love. The emotional functions and character of marriage have and marital happiness has become less important. Marital stability; home production, childbearing, and division of labor have been determined predominantly by the stereotypes of what is expected by either gender. Wilcox states, in his gender model of marriage, that men and women are invested in doing that their gender suggests they embrace. They are raised to live up to their gender role ideology. He believes women and men are socialized to hold on to their gender typical patterns of behavior. Jonathan Vespa describes children as a changing factor on gender ideology. When married couples have children, the couples are more likely to agree that a women’s duty is care giving. The effect of employment on gender ideology also depends on life experience and economic status. Working men with an employed wife their family suffered, where as working men with a stay-at-home wife reported their family was stable. Gayle Kaufman believes gender ideology has changed greatly during the last few decades. She also believes it is important to examine the relationship between ideology and marital happiness. There is a strong connection between gender attitudes in terms of expected roles for men and women and power relations. The traditional attitudes focus on men as breadwinners and women as homemakers, with both holding different amounts of power. Nontraditional attitudes focus on sharing economic and caring tasks which divides power more equally, but this is not the majority of most marriages. Much can be learned about unhappy marriages when examining the roles of both females and males within the marriage. Throughout this paper, the effects of social and economic class have shown to have a great impact on marriage. There are many common themes within the three literary works, including the unhappiness of wives in their marriages, as none of them married for love. The examination of gender roles and marriage are seen through the following short stories The Story of an Hour, The Necklace, and Country Lovers, along with scholarly articles based on gender role and marriage. Evaluation of these literary works shows quite clearly that social and economic class affects choice in marriage.

A Timeless Art Essay

The Black-Figure Neck Amphora was attributed to the Affecter in Athens, Greece about 530 B. C. , made of terracotta, with dimension of 5 ? x 10 1/8 inches (The Getty, On-line) This amphora, which used to hold wine and water in ancient times, was found in a Southern Italy grave site but because of its distinctive figures and style, it was regarded as one of Athenian masterpieces. Like most artists, the real name of Affecter is unknown but he left a style of his own. In those years, he worked as potter and vase painter and may have learned his craft from the Amasis Painter, but deviate his approach in the conventional way of potting and painting. During the times when Athenian vase-painters emphasized on the narrative content of their work, the Affecter focused on purely decorative aspects that suit the Etruscan artistic taste. (The Getty On-line). The amphora was molded on a pottery wheel and dried. The maker painted on a glaze and carved designs on its surface and used the red-figure painting method, wherein, after it was fired in a wood furnace, the glaze turned to black and covered the amphora in glaze then erasing parts of it to create finer details. (St. Petersburg Times, On-line) The portrayal of the vase is bizarre but remarkable for Athenian potter of that time. Like any others Athenian masterpieces, this vase is made of attic clay with distinguished red and black color. For years, historians never decipher the narrative story behind its illustrated body but this suits the style of the Affecter who concentrated on ornamental look rather than history behind its times. The vase, though, shows Herakles, now known as Hercules, waving his club, pursuing a centaur, a mythological half horse half human figure. At the back of the vase, Theseus combats with Minotaur. The Affecter also used the old fashioned neck amphora form wherein the neck is highly defined as Protoattic and ovoid in shape (The Beazley Archive On-line). The Affecter modified the vessel, separating the neck and the body by raised rings. Ancient and old fashioned as it is, the Black Figure Neck Amphora is extraordinary with timeless beauty. Its exquisiteness lies on its color and creativity. It is a major consideration that out of clay, two colors will distinguish amphora like this, red and black. And with poise and commitment, the Affecter gave justice to its craft. Using both old fashioned style in creating amphora and adding touch of its modern days, evidenced by adding rings on it, the Affecter is not confined with the conventional way but used his imaginations and skills to enhance its designs. The maker, giving emphasis with Herkales and Theseus greatness rather than detailed information of their winnings over battles with barbarians, is a magnificent touch of this artistic craft. It only shows patriotism more than one time glory. It depicts the maker’s love to its civilization and commemorates it with his trade. It is the prime reason why this kind of amphora is timeless. Presently, it cannot be used as water or wine pot, instead an ornament that would house the beauty of Athens, its rich civilizations, its artistic splendor and its two distinguished heroes. REFERENCES â€Å"The Getty†. The J. Paul Getty Trust. 21 August 2008 http://www. getty. edu â€Å"Tampabay. com†. St. Petersburg Times. 21 August 2008 http://www. tampabay. com â€Å"The Beazly Archive Classical Art Research Center â€Å". 28 February 2008. University of Oxford. 21 August 2008 http://www. beazley. ox. ac. uk/index. htm

Issues and Controversies

Position Paper Garrett Kaufmann ISSUES AND CONTROVERSIES ON FILE Citizenship 2nd Period â€Å"Gun Control† Due 1/14/2013 May 29, 1998 Pages 225-233 I strongly believe that our right to keep and bear arms that was given to us as American citizens in the second amendment of the constitution should be upheld and gun control is not the answer to stopping gun violence.A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. – The Second Amendment. Our nations’ forefathers gave us this right when they signed the constitution of the United States of America September 17, 1787. Although there has been debate over the wording of the amendment and whether it actually means every individual person or only people who belong to a state-regulated militia.I think it is obvious that they meant each individual person. In a December 1989 article in the Yale Law Journal, titled ‘The Embarra ssing second amendment’ by scholar Sanford Levinson, a liberal democrat who supports gun control said that â€Å"The second amendment was clearly written to give all citizens, not merely trained soldiers belonging to a militia the right to keep firearms†. Other scholars agreed and noted that in 1792 congress actually passed a militia low to mandate every able-bodied man to arm himself with a musket.The Brady Act is a controversial law which was signed by President Clinton in 1993 and that took effect in 1994 (named for President Reagan’s press secretary who was paralyzed when shot in a 1981 assassination attempt on the president) which requires prospective gun buyers to wait 5 days before they can buy a gun while local law enforcement officials do a background check to make sure anyone who is prohibited from owning a firearm such as convicted felons, minors, druggies or illegal immigrants can’t buy a gun.Although gun control advocates say that laws such a s this one are responsible for a drop in gun fatalities and violent crime Tania Metaska , executive director for the National Rifle Association (NRA) rejects this claim and says violent crime began to decline before 1993 and that the background checks and waiting periods are â€Å"Irrelevant to criminals since the vast majority of felons obtain firearms on the black market or through theft, not through dealers affected by the Brady law†.The Supreme Court agreed that the Brady Bill wasn’t the answer when they overturned major portions of the law in the 1997 case â€Å"Printz vs US† when they said the law infringed on state sovereignity rights and it put an unfair burden on local officials. The NRA and other gun-rights groups contend that it is not the Brady law that has helped to spark a nationwide decline in crime but ‘Right to Carry’ or the passing of concealed weapons laws in many states. Florida began the national trend towards more permissive co ncealed weapon laws in 1987 and since then 30 other states have followed.Florida’s â€Å"Shall Issue† law requires law enforcement officials to immediately issue permits to any eligible applicant, eligible meaning that they don’t have a criminal record or history of serious mental illness. Gun-right advocates say these types of laws are necessary because people need to be able to protect themselves from a high crime rate, a legal system that can’t deep criminals in jail and the lack of resources or manpower of law enforcement to protect them.In surveys of convicted felons, criminals admit that they target victims that they believe to be unarmed and avoid those who might have weapons. A study done between 1977 and 1994 by two researchers at the University of Chicago found much lower crime rates in Illinois counties that allowed concealed weapons, and that murder rates dropped 8. 5%, rapes 5% and aggravated assaults by 7%. In May 1998 15 year old Kip Kinkle fatally shot both his parents then took 3 guns to Thurston High School in Springfield, OR. here he shot 24 students, killing 2 of them. One Month later in Jonesboro, Arkansas two boys were arrested for fatally shooting 5 people and wounding 10 others. Then of course there was the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary just this last December when 20 year old Adam Lanza shot his mom dead then went to the school and shot and killed 26 people, most of them little kids. School shootings are a horrible tragedy and they only give gun-control groups more ‘ammunition’ for their argument.I guess I can see their point but I agree with the gun rights advocates when they say it is a mistake to blame guns for all the school shooting. I agree with the saying ‘Guns don’t kill people- people kill people’. I think the people that do these things are sick in the head and that they need mental help and would still probably find a way to hurt people even if they didnâ€℠¢t have access to guns. I’m sure it’s gone up some since this article was written but studies have shown that violence in our nations’ schools is actually pretty rare.A March 1998 White House study found only 10% of all schools reported serious violence. I don’t really feel that I need to carry a gun to protect myself here where I live but if I did live in a big city I would definitely what to have the right to carry a gun to protect myself and my family. But I do love to hunt and I own 5 guns for that purpose. My dad has taught me about gun safety since I was a little kid. I have been through required gun safety training which I think is a good thing.The article states that in many rural areas of our country guns are not regarded by many as an evil, but simply as part of a way of life. In those regions, hunting is a popular sport and learning how to use a gun is often a rite of passage for many young boys and girls. Guns are treated with pride and respec t and gun safety is a paramount concern. Because many young people in those regions are exposed to guns at an early age and trained to use them safely, they are much more likely to understand the risks of guns and treat them properly.

How to Sell Bargains and Add Value Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

How to Sell Bargains and Add Value - Essay Example Understanding of the customer decision making is quite important in ensuring that businesses make value. If a business loses customers, its value deteriorates significantly because the business value is directly affected by the customer base (Nobel, 2014). The market research is quite imperative in ensuring that a business makes some value. Some of the ways in which understanding customer behavior influences the value of a business is as illustrated below.Customers relate the brands to the experience they get. For businesses that create greater customer experience are likely to make large sales per unit time compared to other businesses that do not create such experience to their customers. For instance, Apple gives priority to the customers, and they respond accordingly. It is very vital to know that one negative unresolved issue in a business environment can adversely affect the customer experience and can make a business to lose a customer forever. The business environment is very competitive nowadays, and the customers are less tolerant to awkward encounter than before. Thus, treating customers with a high degree of dignity is quite important in satisfying them and creating bigger value of the business.A bad customer experience is hard to be forgotten. A statistic did on Americans it was found that an average of nine individuals would talk about the good experience, and sixteen will mention the bad customers’ experience. The other worst thing is having an average experience on customers.

What are the marketing strategies of Amazon Research Paper

What are the marketing strategies of Amazon - Research Paper Example Political environment is slightly unfavourable for Amazon as several political parties in several countries opposing FDI due to several political interests. These oppositions may affect the global business expansion strategy of Amazon. Economic environment is unfavourable for Amazon. Recent financial crisis and global economic recession affected the economic condition of common people. Low disposable income and limited purchasing power are the major consequences of this economic crunch. People trying to save more rather than consumption. This may affect the business performance of Amazon. Social environment is favourable for Amazon. People are trying to consume products through internet and web-sources due to increase in the number of internet and social media users. This favourable socio-cultural aspect can help the organisation to maintain its business growth. Technological environment is favourable for Amazon. The business operation of Amazon requires effective support of advanced technological applications and web sources. Recent technological revolution is helping Amazon to enhance effective business operation activities. Legal environment is slightly unfavourable for Amazon. It is a multinational organisation. Therefore, the organisation has to follow different legal policies in different countries. Sometime, it affects the communication process among the employees and employers within the organisation in different market places. Government of each and every country is developing environmental sustainability policy in order to reduce the level of carbon foot print and carbon emission. The management and officials of Amazon are trying to follow the policy by integrating sustainable business approaches in business operation process. Government is supporting the initiatives that have been taken by the

Homicide - Black males age 17-25 Research Paper

Homicide - Black males age 17-25 - Research Paper Example In history, premeditated or deliberate killing of an individual by another was termed as Felonious homicide which is related to murder. The biggest percentage of homicide committed in the United States is done by victims’ intimate partners. In the recent years, the overall rate of homicide in the US has been reported to remain constant. However the there has been an increased homicide among young black males aged between 17 and 25. Generally between 1999 and 2005 homicides rate in the US remained at around six deaths per one million people as suggested by Anderton, Barrett and Bogue (1997). However there was an increase in 2001 as a result of terrorist attacks which happened during this period. Homicide committed by the use of the gun occurred mostly around metropolitan areas. Homicide rates increased in the past one decade in most of the US cities with some experiencing around one thousand homicide per one million people. This situation was experienced in Richmond and Washing ton in 1994 among the black males aged between 18 and 24. In the subsequent years the homicide levels in the same age range in Washington, Richmond and New Orleans were twice those of other cities. The prevalence of homicide in metropolitan areas of the US in 2005 was twice that in non-metropolitan areas. ... Trait Theory Trait theory is a theory which explains matters of crime with regard to the individual. It was developed by Lonnie Athens explaining how parents or peer brutalization in childhood results to violent crimes later in life. In trait theory, the psychological perspective focuses on behavioral, personality and cognitive processes related to homicide. Individuals at the o age of 17-25 are associated with a lot of emotions which account a lot to their behavior and decision making. In United States this can be seen in the black males at this age group and it is attributed to their increased incidence of homicide. Personality disorders may result from brutality in adulthood and according to trait theory. This is because such disorders affect the way the individual perceives others in the society and above all how to react in pressure. For instance a child brought up in a society where there is a lot of crime he may end up committing crimes. This dictates why black males at the ag e of 17-25 in the United States due are likely to engage in homicide. This is associated with terrorist incidences which have affected the country leading to young individuals engaged in war. Trait theory also upholds homicide especially in United States, due to the children’s early age exposure to guns according to Levinson (2002). In United States due to development, possessing a gun it is not big deal which perceived as an item for solving conflicts. In connection with this, at the age of 17 to 25 individuals are said to be anxious in facing reality. As a result, as learned in childhood individuals at this age especially male as they are said to be more aggressive may engage homicides in solving conflicts. Personal traits such as social isolation and aggression also commuting to

Monopoly Market and Monopolistic Competitive Market Essay

Monopoly Market and Monopolistic Competitive Market - Essay Example Each potato chip market type has its own benefits and peculiarities. Monopoly A monopoly, including the Wonks monopoly, occurs if there are no competitors. There is only one seller of a certain product type or brand in the community. Likewise, monopoly occurs when there is only one product that serves a specific need or want. Monopoly crops up when new entrants are prohibited or cannot topple the obstacles to entering a market occupied by only one seller. For example, the school allows only the school’s own bookstore to sell the students’ required textbooks. The community’s only electric power company is a monopoly. States normally admit only one tap water entity to supply the community’s water needs (King, 2011, p. 355). Under a monopoly, there are significant hindrances to entrants to the monopoly market, especially with the potato chip industry monopoly. For example, legal barriers prevent competitors from entering the monopoly market. For example, the government only allows one company the license to operate within the community, city, or state. Some states offer a monopoly license to one company to serve the water, sewer, natural gas, and electric power needs of the constituents. In other states, the government operates monopoly liquor stores and lotteries. Likewise, the United States Postal Services has a monopoly license to deliver first class mail. ... The government can ensure more accurate collection of taxes. The government has to monitor only one company supplying the water, electricity, gas, mail, and other needs of the community. The government’s tax collection efforts will be easier. The businesses have to transact with only one company in a specific market segments. The business entity has to only contact one water supply company, one mail delivery agency, or one electricity provider, for their water, mail, and electricity needs. The consumers can easily locate the only entity responsible for the supply of water, electricity, and mail services. The stakeholders will have lesser time and difficulty finding and transacting with the monopoly company serving the needs and wants of the community. Pricing under the monopoly differs from the monopolized competitive market. The monopoly company can raise its selling prices without losing its current customer base. The customers have no other alternative but to pay the higher prices. The government can step in and set limits to the monopoly company’s price increases. The government can interfere when the monopoly company’s price increases borders on abuse of the customers. Government interference is required when the price increase does not equate to the improvement of the company’s current unfavorable service (Dudey, 1996). In terms of production, the monopoly enjoys exclusive rights to sell its products and services to the current and prospective customers. Microsoft is the exclusive seller of Microsoft computer software products (Gisser, 2001, p. 211). Microsoft is the sole seller of Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows NT software. The company’s monopoly of the Microsoft office software forces all computer users to buy

Abortion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 18

Abortion - Essay Example According to Peter Singer’s argument, human beings have a certain property that makes it morally wrong to kill them. The inherent property possessed by human beings increases their value and arguably overcomes any decision aimed at terminating life. However, infants do not possess the same property. Therefore, the fact that the properties are not evident in infants, Singer deduces that this does not make it morally wrong to kill them. He conversely considers the fact that some people who may have valued the infant may feel wronged. Such bestowing of value to infants by a section of the society emanates due to diversity in thoughts and believe. From the analysis this argument as presented by Singer, it is clear that it is based on the fact that he is of the opinion that killing an infant is less serious compared to killing a person. Therefore, it is correct inference that according to Singer, infants are less human and do not possess the same fundamental rights enjoyed by human beings (Lodp, 2013). Singer also advances the notion that infants who are rejected because they are physically handicapped are better off dead. Critical analysis of this sentiment shows that Singer believes that unwanted infants should not be subjected to the suffering that comes along with being raised in a hostile society or family. Instead of being discriminated on the basis of their physical appearance, abortion is a better remedy to the problem of infants being physically disabled. Therefore, Singer fundamentally supports his arguments by referring to the contemporary plight of human beings. From his illustrations on the development of the fetus during the early stages of pregnancy development, Singer tries to prove that the fetus cannot be harmed by not being brought into existence. His assumption is that, during the early stages of development, the fetus is not a fully grown life form or human being that can feel the pain of being killed. Singer has

Journal 10 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Journal 10 - Essay Example However, Berniece had her reasons for opposing this sale, as the piano is the only piece of heirloom, which they both inherited. Piano was close to her heart because her great grandparents engraved their history on it, they were traded for it and also their father died over it (74-75, Bogumil). She declines Willie’s idea to sell it because piano was a reminder of their ancestors and especially of their father. And selling it would mean they would be selling their identity and heritage; this time by them self. Wilson weaved death and suffering with the piano and the siblings inherited both. Piano reminded them of their loss and deficient identity, but also was the only heirloom (though painful) left of the family. Boy Willie and Berniece’s great grandparents (slaves) engraved their history on it, but since it was not their property (Sutter’s) they were traded over it. Their father died after taking it from Sutter’s residence and piano was the last thing Berniece could relate to. However, she never played on it since it used to make her sad and Willie wanted to sell this heritage because it existed on the life (sacrifice) of his family and has been a reminder of slavery. Wilson has depicted music worth dying for and this is evident in the play. I would like to hire Will Smith as Boy Willie and Halle Berry as Berniece because both actors can convincingly transform them self into the assigned characters and can do justice with their characters. If it’s a theatrical play I would like to transform the stage into 1930 era, when the transition (from slavery to a free nation) was taking place for African Americans. My characters will dress up according to the 1930’s dressing criteria and the Piano will be staged in the front corner so its existence can be noticed. From time to time, I would like the piano to be played by the good

Thinking Through Religions 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Thinking Through Religions 2 - Essay Example These have been seen to define superstition as essentially being a disease that primarily depends on an excess of religious sentiment. The affected person is often seen to frequently have an unreasonable level of credulity. Superstitions were employed in ancient times so as to thwart evil by using a number of rituals that were thought to bring good luck (Superstitions, 2000).Cunningham and Kelsay (76), define rituals as essentially being a series of repeated stylized gestures or ceremonial acts that are used for some certain given specific occasions. Human life is seen to be filled with quite a number of these gestures ranging from the simple custom of shaking hands to some gestures such as standing so as to shake someone’s hand. The rituals have progressively become so familiar that they are now frequently overlooked and their importance is only highlighted in the event that one fails to observe them, an example of which might include someone refusing to shake another personà ¢â‚¬â„¢s hand. It is these refusals and failures that cause us to become acutely aware of the relative importance of these rituals that would otherwise be severely obscured by the mundane ordinariness of customary rituals. Superstitions and rituals are seen to have an intrinsic relationship as superstitions require an individual to perform some certain rituals so as to encourage or avoid an occurrence. One of the rituals that I often perform that is closely linked to superstition is to essentially avoid black cats from crossing my path. In the event that a black cat happens to cross my path, my normal ritual is to try and walk around the area crossed by the cat or in some instances use a different route. The superstitious belief that is tied in with this ritual is that black cats tend to cause bad luck in the event that they cross one’s path. Why are Human Beings Superstitious? It can generally be observed that often at times, after having encountered seemingly knotty problem s, man tends to try and explain away or avoid the given situation by using superstitions. By inventing various superstitious fabrications, man is able to effectively understand and explain a number of mysteries. It is often always as a last resort that man will opt to eventually turn to himself to provide an explanation and even so, he does not turn to his true self but instead turns to some foreign particle or blemish that absolves him and causes him to not be responsible (Berry 228-229). One of the more frequently used scape goats in this respect is the concept of original sin that had been invented by the ancients. (Berry 230) argues that the chief virtue of this theory is that it effectively heaps all the blame on the serpent, an animal that man has never really had much use for. Man is also perceived to be superstitious as a result of his relatively conservative nature that causes him to obstinately try to hold on to a number of old trinkets, ideas and customs even after he has learned better and the original purpose of these has been forgotten. Although man has made a number of developments in science and knowledge, civilized life to him is seen to still be largely precarious, insecure and uncertain and hence man has opted to result to superstition to tackle these challenges. Why Can Superstitions be Dangerous The adverse effects of superstition can result in fear, suspicions, a general reduction in the quality of life and even death as seen in an incident related by Berry (11). In this incident, in the year 1656, a young woman named Eunice Goody was suspected by her fellow New Hampshire town’

Connecting assets and choosing your community Research Paper

Connecting assets and choosing your community - Research Paper Example Firstly, research findings indicate that sedentary lifestyles predispose children to obesity (Ogden et al., 2014). As such, open spaces and play areas are critical to increasing physical activity. Secondly, effective obesity prevention initiatives require a multidisciplinary approach by various healthcare professions (Saxe, 2011). Therefore, healthcare expertise will bring together physicians, psychologists, dieticians and other support staff. Thirdly, high-calorie foods contribute largely to the risks of childhood obesity. High-calorie foods are more appealing to low-income houses because they are less expensive (Ogden et al., 2014). Consequently, holistic and sustainable food policies will increase access to both affordable and healthy foods. In the same vein, the policies will also increase opportunities for physical activity. For example, the city planning department can formulate policies that will require residential developers to provide playgrounds and gym facilities. Fourthly, childhood obesity predisposes children to the risk of chronic diseases, which include Type 2 diabetes and blood pressure (Ogden et al., 2014). Diagnostic tools for blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes will ensure early diagnosis and management. Furthermore, Body Mass Index (BMI) charts will be necessary to identify the risk level among children. Finally, health education is a critical nursing intervention in the sense that it gives individuals greater control over their health and well-being (Saxe, 2011). Conference facilities are thus required to educate parents and family members about healthy lifestyles. One partner does not own the identified assets. Accordingly, the nursing plan will incorporate assets from different partners. Potential partners will include the mayor of the city, health providers within the community, community-based organizations, religious leaders, and parents. All theses

Educational psychology Essay Example for Free

Educational psychology Essay Introduction Welcome to the study of another important subject in the Bachelor of Education Curriculum. By the end of this course the student will be able to: 1. Define, sociology and sociological foundations in education. 2. Identify any five important points about the relevance of Sociological foundations in education. 3. Examine indigenous Ghanaian Education System and its influence on Western Formal Education. 4. Draw a distinction between educational sociology and sociology of education. 5. Analyze the dichotomy between rural and urban education delivery. 6. Discuss the dynamics and import of culture. 7. Define socialization and its relevance to Western Formal Education. Definition of Sociology and Sociological Foundations in Education 1. Vander Zanden sees Sociology as the scientific study of human organization. 2. Agyeman (1992, p. 47), sees â€Å"Sociology† as â€Å" a discipline which studies the nature and functions of human societies and the changes that take place within them. † He believes that sociology is largely concerned with understanding the relationships that exist between people which ultimately govern their behavior within the society. 3. Metta Spencer considers Sociology as the study of human group life. The question is, what is human group life? Human group life refers to the life of people in an institution. Such people are governed by conventions (unwritten constitution, or unwritten rules and regulations), with aims and purposes for gluing them together within a particular location. 4. Sociology as a discipline is interested in what makes human group life, possible, within a given society. 5. What is society? The term society refers to the entire complex network of the social world. It may refer to social life in the abstract, without reference to a specific place, but more often, it refers to a country, a nation or a state like Ghana, Nigeria, Gambia, etc. What is Educational Sociology? Bhattacharya (2003, 2006, p. 1. , in Brown 1947), defined Educational Sociology as the application of Sociology to educational problems. Educational Sociology is particularly interested in finding out how to manipulate the educational process to achieve better social and personality development. Educational Sociology asks the question what problems or influence does society bring to the school. What is Sociology of Education? Sociology of Education on the other hand emphasizes on the nature of human relations within the school and the social structure within which the school operates in the Community. In other words, Sociology of Education is concerned with what problems or influence the school brings to or /has on the society. Corollary: Educational Sociology—the influence of society on education. Sociology of education—the influence of education on society. Sociological foundations in education Now that we understand sociology of education and educational sociology, we can apply the concepts to identify what the course, sociological foundations in a education seeks to achieve. This course is like a hermaphrodite. Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines hermaphrodite as a person, an animal or a flower that has both male and female sexual organs and characteristics. The Course considers the influence of society on education, and also that of education on society. These two themes run though the course like a thread that holds a number of beads together. Chapter Two How societies thrive Societies last long, because they meet the following characteristics: Each society has a a. geographical location, b. culture and population. c. Specific needs. d. In –built mechanisms to achieve these needs. Ghana as a country for instance, needs to reproduce to replenish her population; she does this by †¢educating her citizens, †¢producing goods and services to meet the social life and status of her population, †¢governing her people that so there could be law and order, her people becoming good citizens, †¢ meeting their emotional aspirations such as, the quest for religion, and †¢assisting her citizens to meet their recreational and physical needs through health services. From the foregoing indications about how families thrive, it may be stated that societal needs are provided by social institutions within a country. Peil (1977, p.17) defines a social institution as â€Å"an enduring complex of norms, roles, values and sanctions which embrace a distinct segment of inter-human life. † According to Peil, Social Institutions are specially organized and arranged social networks of the members who constitute the society. Humans are therefore noted to have the ability to interact with each other in their daily encounter; and by so doing achieve their needs and their continuity across generations (Agyeman 1992, p. 47). Society thus, thrives in four major institutions: 1. Marriage and the family 2. Economic institutions 3. Political organizations 4. Religious groups/Religious institutions. 1. Marriage and the Family When a child is born, it is brought up in a family, through a process called socialization. Authorities have defined socialization. A few of such definitions are as follows, though much of it would be examined in lesson ten. Socialization is a process of learning to relate to, and interact with others; a process of adopting the behavior patterns of the surrounding culture; an act of establishing oneself according to the principles of socialism; the act of meeting for social purposes, and participating in social activities. .(http://www. babylon. com/definition/socialization/Latvian, retrieved January 31 2012). Socialization is also a term used by sociologists, social psychologists, anthropologists, politicians and educationists to refer to the process of inheriting norms, customs and ideologies. It may provide the individual with the skills and habits necessary for participating in activities within their own society. A society itself is formed through a plurality of shared norms, customs, values, traditions, social roles, symbols and languages. Socialization is thus ‘the means by which social and cultural continuity are attained. ’ (http://www. babylon. com/definition/socialization/Latvian January 31 2012). Thus the processes of socialization determine the main agenda of marriage as an institution; a few functions of marriage are as follows: a. Procreating: bringing children into being to play various roles in society. b. Meeting the physical needs of each other: the Lord God had stated; â€Å"it is not good that the man should live alone, I will make him a help meet for him† Genesis 2:18 KJV). In other words, God Himself observed that man needed a companion to help him cope with life’s labors, for he (Adam, the first to be created), had been assigned to dress and keep the garden of Eden, a task that needed a helping hand. Much could however be said about meeting the physical needs of humankind through the marriage institutions, but it may be summed up in this popular proverb: â€Å"two heads are better than one. † After all, when the couple collaborate, they can achieve their life goals, better. c. Another big role the marriage institution plays in helping societies to thrive, and within the context of socialization is found in one of the most important functions of the married couples—raising up children in the fear of the Lord. We are to train our children the right way so that they can become good citizens when they grow (Proverbs 22:6). It is a known fact in every society today that single parenting is not the best way to raise children. True Christians therefore believe that God underscored the importance of child nurture through the cooperation of couples when He queried couples in the prophecy of Jeremiah, â€Å"Lift up your eyes and behold them that come from the north, where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock? † (Jeremiah 13:20 KJV). My favourite author had noted: The reason there are so many hardhearted men and women in our world is that true affection has been regarded as weakness and has been discouraged and repressed. The better part of the nature of persons of this class was perverted and dwarfed in childhood, and unless rays of divine light melt away their coldness and hardhearted selfishness, the happiness of such is buried forever (E. G. White, Adventist Home, p. 108, emphasis mine). In her book Child Guidance, the same author made the following observation. â€Å"To the mother and father the right training of their children is the most important work of their life† (E. G White, Child Guidance, p. 556). To sum up the role marriage plays in the process of socialization, and how it helps societies to thrive, one may realize that marriage is a very indispensable institution when it comes to life on earth. It takes couples collaborative efforts in marriage to procreate, or bring forth offspring. And when couple bear children, these kids need to be nurtured to play various roles in societies. It has been identified that as these couples cooperate to meet each other’s physical, emotional and psychological needs, they can also help train children in the fear of the Lord for the benefit of society. 2. Economic Institutions: Many physical and material needs of society are provided by economic institutions. Industries, banks, companies, all collaborate to meet the needs of people in a society. However provision of needs by these economic institutions could be disrupted by disorder of one kind or another. Peace is therefore needed in every society. To obtain peace in societies, we need political institutions. 3. Political Institutions: These exist to maintain peace and stability within a country or society, namely; chieftaincy, national governance, the police service, the army, etc. Without these services, no society can obtain peace and her economic needs. Think of a nation without any peace keeping force and the upsurge of armed robbery! Your conclusion shall be as true as mine. 4. Religious Institutions and groups: Every society has religious institutions that help to meet the emotional and psychological needs of her members. Specifically every society has people who are prone to seek answers to explain the unknown, the metaphysical world, etc. It is the religious institution that help people to gain answers to questions that bother them. However, because people have unique characteristics, and needs, religious groups are many. This is because there have been different approaches to obtain emotional satisfaction by people at various levels in their life. Four religious groups may be identified presently: a. Monotheism b. Pantheism c. Theism d. Atheism Monotheism: believers who hold this faith worship one God, eg. Judaism, Islam, Christianity. Pantheism: pantheistic believers consider God as present in nature Theism: Believers in Theism think God exists. Atheism: Those who believe in Atheism argue that there is no God. Conclusion In this lesson we have defined sociology of education and educational sociology. We are told that sociology of education considers the influence of education on society, and that of educational sociology also considers the influence of society on education. Sociology itself has been defined as the scientific study of human group life. We are also told that every society has four characteristics, namely, a) a geographical location, b) culture and a population, c) specific needs, d) and inbuilt mechanisms to meet these needs. It is interesting to note that all societies thrive within four institutions, namely; marriage, economic, political and religious groups. An understanding of the harmonious functions of these four institutions is required by every teacher. Even though this course is not a detailed study of the named institutions, yet it is important that teachers read around them. Chapter Three Role of community and the school in African Education The concepts Sociology of education and educational Sociology spell out the fundamental mutual roles the community and school play interdependently. We have established that Sociology of education examines the influence of the school on society. Educational sociology on the other hand deals with the influence society has on education. Role of the Community in African Education In this lesson we will take a look at the role of the community in general, in traditional education in Ghana. Traditional Education (TE) is also known as informal education. The role of the community on African education is similar to the influence of society on formal education. However the context is quite different; ten roles the community plays in African education may be identified presently: 1. Livelihood Skills: One of the major roles of the community in Traditional Education is the training of the youth to acquire livelihood skills. Carpentry, Masonry, blacksmithing and farming are some of the livelihood skills the community teaches in African education. Families identify people with these special trades within the community and send their wards to them for training in the context of apprenticeship. Only three of the many ways livelihood skills are taught by the community are recounted here: a. My son or daughter could learn the trade that I have when she is born. Better still I can encourage my child to learn a trade outside my home, with someone in the community whose trade is beneficial. b. All children in the traditional community undergo communal labour of one kind or another. By so doing they learn interdependence or co-operation skills that underpin the rationale behind international trade. No one can survive by living as a hermit or as a misanthrope. In other words, only few people can live meaningful lives by living alone without recourse to anybody in times of crisis. We need each other in a mutual context. c. Sometimes the community members discipline children who may go wayward. However, no community member with a questionable character was allowed to discipline any child in the society. Chinua Achebe had said that, the voice of the cock at dawn benefits everyone in the community; nevertheless, it belongs to its owner. This adage of Achebe is true in traditional societies. Children are known to belong to everyone though they have individual parents. As children are corrected from time to time by the disciplined elders in the community, they grow to internalize these disciplinary skills, and practice same when they grow to become matured men and women whose tremendous support to the community cannot be overemphasized. Thus, learning existing trade in one’s community, engaging the youth in communal labour and the way the elderly in the community disciplined every child in traditional African communities; depict the major role these communities play in maintaining the survival and continuity of society. By this, the traditional African education system, is thus impacted by the community in general. 2. Role Modeling: The members of a community in general serve as role models. The good life some community elders live is copied by the growing youth, as well as that of their parents. While children have not grown to enter organized school system the life of the people they see in their community serves as a guide and inspiration for their future life. 3. The spirit of nationalism: The community instills in their youth the spirit of nationalism and civic governance. How is this done? Antwi (1992, p. 208) has this to say: â€Å"It has been observed by eminent comparative educationist that what goes on outside the schools matters even more than what goes on inside them. † This renowned educationist further argued that although traditional education is informal, yet it focuses on the survival and transmission of ideas, cherished at the time to ensure continuity of society and its members in and through many socio- cultural practices. No society can continue to exist without a form of organization of its members into corporate groups with rules and regulations to govern them. That is why Antwi (1992) was very much concerned about what goes on outside the school. It is socio –cultural practices that bind people together to ensure the continuity of society, and the survival of nations. It is therefore right to state that the spirit of nationalism is instilled in children outside the classroom, precisely through the efforts of the community at large. 4. Team spirit: The team spirit popularly known as the â€Å"Nnoboa† system in traditional communities impacts the growing youth in a tremendous way: Children and the youth are engaged in diverse ways when it comes to the traditional Nnoboa system: a. Children are sent on errands to deliver messages about an impending task in the Nnoboa system. b. Some of them carry prepared food and water to farms where the Nnoboa task is being executed. c. They are made to carry various implements to the various task grounds. d. Some of the youth are engaged to carry out specific tasks. The role everyone plays during communal labour and the â€Å"Nnoboa† system enhances and fortifies team spirit among members of the community. 5. Family Life Lessons: Another way by which the community influences traditional education is through family life lessons, especially cultural obligations like the performance of puberty rites. Before the child enters the formal education system, it had learnt a lot, including the value of chastity. Parents inculcate this value into their children, and so does the community at large. 6. Hardship and endurance lessons: Household chores, labour on farms, carrying firewood and load from farm and bush; all strengthen the youth to grow to face adult problems with full alacrity. Question: will children of today give a helping hand to the old lady or man, coming from somewhere with heavy load? Will they do so not for reward but for service? Perhaps a few may do that but not many children. Communities in traditional African Societies inculcate in the growing youth the spirit of sacrifice in carrying out various tasks to aid adults and significant others without seeking reward of any kind. Volunteerism is a legacy from traditional African communities to the traditional education system. 7. Relationship Building: The community also helps children to build good interpersonal relationships. This is achieved as children witness social gatherings where arbitration and other cultural displays take place. Through cultural festivities, children learn to love one another. Also on such festive occasions disputes in families are settled, annual plans for development of the communities formulated. (1) 8. Intellectual Training: Intellectual training through the running of errands is another important legacy the community imparts to the traditional education system, and the growing child. In traditional societies, every child learns to execute errands with due accuracy. Children are required to be honest and true, mincing no words about what needs to be relayed. By keeping in memory information to transmit, children develop sharp memories. Witty sayings and riddles of the elders trigger critical thinking and help children to develop analytical thinking skills. 9. Health Lessons: Traditional African communities have very laudable health rules and regulations that are more or less conventional, because there is no record on them. These health principles are passed on to the Traditional African Education system, by oral tradition. Categories of health principles include: a. Exercise, through walking to deliver errands, sometimes long distant walks; local African games like Ampe for girls; farming or gardening, etc. , are part of the life style of the traditional youth and adults. b. Treatment of diseases through herbs. In those days the sick in traditional African societies were healed through herbs and other preventive measures. c. Meals were made up largely of fruits and vegetables. d. Positive thinking: petty squabbles, bickering and animosity were prohibited. Should any occur, the elders met over it and settled such cases promptly. e. Promiscuity was very rare. In typical traditional African Societies, sex was only for adults, and even here, within married homes. Teenage pregnancy was very uncommon within African Communities. 10. Moral Values: Stealing, adultery, lies, etc. , were frowned upon in traditional communities, and these prohibitions were passed to into the traditional education system. Role of the School in African Education If the community has so many roles to play in African Education, then formal education has also a role to play to help make informal education, meaningful. Of the many roles the schools have to play to make informal education meaningful, only five of them may be identified presently: 1. Teachers are to be role models. When children copy worthwhile values, they move into the traditional homes with such knowledge and consequently instruct parents†¦ â€Å"Teacher says that†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Let me cite an example: Methods of purifying water like boiling and decantation are sent to traditional homes by pupils who took their science lessons serious, and wisely transmitted such information to ignorant parents. Having acquired such knowledge, parents pass them on to those to be born. 2. In Lokko Parentis: Teachers are to be surrogates. A surrogate mother or father is one who plays the role of the real parent. Surrogacy is the practice of giving birth to a baby for another woman who is unable to have babies herself. The woman who cannot produce children could get a baby from one who is fertile. Then she is expected to treat the child as a real mother will treat her son or daughter with love and affection. Such a child will feel secure, confident and happy. Surrogate parents are true parents in replicate. It is only when the child in a traditional home finds the classroom teacher as a second parent, will it learn with due confidence. 3. Modern Technology: People in traditional societies see the school as indispensable. Some traditional people now know that it is through schooling that the world is now a global community, especially with the advent of the computer and internet. With the coming of emails, the traditional post office transactions have reduced tremendously. Children in traditional homes are so influenced by Information Technology (IT) that they can now manipulate face books, Linked in; Twitter, to mention just a few. However the popular SAKAWA is becoming a notorious practice, for it is associated using knowledge in IT to siphon people’s money in bank deposits. 4. Scholarship: When it comes to scholarship, the school plays a tremendous role in traditional African Education system. Parents are glad to see their children gain funding to study abroad to come down to their society as big men and women. In fact, the knowledge and status these children gain from scholarships tend to enhance the progress of society and the communities to which they belong. This is especially true when it comes to political governance. 5. Agriculture: It is believed that when traditional farmers learn modern techniques of crop production, they become better farmers than when they used the traditional methods. Just as knowledge from the traditional education system impacts formal education, so it is that, knowledge from the school help traditional education. Question: Discuss the role of the school and the community in traditional African Education system. Chapter Four Indigenous Ghanaian Education Western Formal Education compared In this chapter, we will compare indigenous Ghanaian education with Western formal education system. Indigenous Ghanaian Education (IGE) is that kind of non-literate education that equips the individual with all the knowledge and skills needed, in order to live meaningfully with other human beings. The main purpose of IGE is to integrate individuals into society. On the other hand Western formal education is that type of education that takes place in the classroom, with teachers, curriculum, infrastructure, etc. How IGE takes place: 1. It is informal and takes place anywhere, home, street, playground, etc. 2. There is no fixed time for instruction in IGE. It takes place from dusk to dawn. 3. Mode of teaching: There are no specific teaching syllabi, nor are there specially employed teachers, with classrooms, tables, chairs and stationery as we have in the Western formal education. a. Inappropriate behavior is corrected on the spot, by anyone who is deemed responsible in the community. However, anyone with a questionable character was disallowed from instructing the young ones. b. Though there is no formal training, some professions like chieftaincy, herbal medicine, hunting, carving, drumming, etc. , call for special training before practice. Would- be- professionals in the named fields, leave their homes to stay in various locations and study to become professionals. Here, teaching is basically by modeling and example. 4. Learning: In IGE learning is practical oriented. Students see and do. To become professionals in some fields like herbal medicine, students stay with the chief professionals for not less than five years, or even more! Characteristics of IGE Indigenous Ghanaian Education (IGE) has four characteristics: 1. Informal 2. Non-Literate 3. Utilitarian 4. Multivalent Informal From how IGE takes place we learnt that there are no classrooms nor paid teachers. There is no curriculum, no teachers, no research facilities, no libraries. Non-literate In IGE, there is no reading and writing, so there are no records for reference purposes. Important information is therefore lost to posterity. However knowledge gained is preserved through oral tradition. Information is passed on to offspring. The probability of such information becoming distorted or adulterated is very high. Utilitarian A major characteristic of IGE is its utilitarian nature. This term has to do with the occupation of people in IGE. None is unemployed. As children are born into various homes, they learn the type of occupation of their parents. The shepherd raises children who learn to care for sheep, goats or cattle; the blacksmith, farmer, fetish priest, etc. , also raise children who take to their occupation. Everyone in IGE is meaningfully occupied. Under IGE no one is jobless. The training and nurture in IGE is so comprehensive that everyone who trains becomes a responsible adult. The reason is due to the multivalent nature of IGE. Multivalent IGE is multivalent in the sense that it has many parts. Learners in IGE are trained Physically, Morally, Socially, emotionally and intellectually. a. Physical training: When we were discussing the role of the school and community in African Education, we noted that learners in IGE could exercise a lot, due to their involvement in running errands of varied kinds to various places, sometimes on long distances. The involvement of learners in traditional drumming and dancing assists body building, stretching and enhancing of muscles for efficient circulation of blood. b. Social dimension: Correct use of language is taught, communal labour is encouraged. The youth are heavily involved. Failure to attend communal labour attracted sanctions. Attending social functions to become acquainted with societal norms and values is also encouraged. c. Intellectual dimension: In discussing the role of the community in African education it was noted that running errands with delivery of accurate messages enhanced the intellect of learners. Besides, calendars were calculated without any mistake though there were no calendar records. Wise sayings and proverbs of the adults were tools to enhance memory power. Strong points in IGE IGE had many strong points, but only a few are recounted below: 1. Cost effectiveness: There is hardly any investment in IGE that went wasted. Every child born grew to inherit an occupational legacy. As mentioned earlier, there was no unemployment in IGE. 2. Instructors: Unlike Western formal education where learners had to be taught by paid teachers, IGE had instructors who were more or less voluntary. The siblings or friends on the street, the father or mother, and any significant other taught free of charge. There were no books to buy, no infrastructure to build; IGE was absolutely free! 3. Intellectual Development: Under IGE, learners’ memory was improved because every information had to be kept in memory. Weak points in IGE 1. There were no written records in IGE, so potential facts and information were either lost or distorted. 2. Information on treatment of certain diseases were hidden or lost to posterity. There were no materials for future reference. 3. Research was not carried out to prove the authenticity of theories: for example, women who grew beard were classified as witches. In some traditional societies, convulsion is attributed to the work of witches and wizards. Such beliefs slow down the progress of society. Similarities between IGE and formal education: 1. Both IGE and formal education have trained personnel. Priests, herbalists and apprenticeship needed special training to function meaningfully. 2. In formal education and IGE, character transformation and development are common objectives. 3. Intellectual development is paramount in formal education and IGE, and especially in the latter. Chapter Five Rural -Urban dichotomy Current educational system and distribution of educational resources appear to favour urban than rural areas. The B. Ed. teacher needs to understand challenges in both urban and rural areas within the Ghana Education Service. The table below depicts the 12 major criteria for comparison of education delivery of urban and rural areas, in Ghana. URBAN AREA RURAL AREA 1. Infrastructure is available. Learners have limited infrastructure and sometimes learn under trees. 2. Enrolment in urban schools is teeming, even over. Very limited enrolment, and in some villages classes are combined. 3. Teachers are available for both sexes in urban areas. However, over staffing is sometimes found in some urban schools. Teachers are scarce in rural areas especially the female counterpart. 4. Learners in urban areas could benefit from distant learning facilities, such as TV, radio, etc. In some rural areas there are no facilities for distance learning; even news papers, radio and TV are unavailable. 5. In urban areas sources of good drinking water are many. For example we have pure drinking water, packaged in sachets; then we have pipe borne water, and bore holes. In rural areas, sources of drinking water include bore holes, rivers, streams, and ponds. Bore holes could be safe; so are some river waters. However ponds and streams might need purification before consumption. Bad drinking water however scares teachers from accepting posting to rural areas. 6. Distance to school may not be a problem in Urban areas because, means of transport is available except the cost involved. In rural areas, distance to school is always a problem. Learners have to travel miles to school; they get exhausted by the time they reach school. This could affect learning progress. 7. School logistics are available in urban areas. In rural areas, school logistics are scarce. Teachers have to improvise sometimes, to meet learning needs. 8. Food is in urban areas, so learners are fed if only their parents give them money. Food is unavailable for students in rural areas, however, some carry cooked food to school. Others go to school on empty stomach leading to poor performance. 9. Students could be punctual to school. Students may be late for school. 10. Parents and teachers’ association (PTA) could be organized easily. It is difficult to organize PTA in rural areas. 11. It is easy to elicit funding for school infrastructure in urban areas. It is difficult to get funding for school infrastructure, in rural areas. 12. It is believed that urban students hardly become innovators. It has been discovered that great innovators, educators and philosophers attended school in rural areas. Problems in rural and urban education delivery and suggested solutions 1. Infrastructure: Whether in the rural or urban areas, when ever infrastructure problem is identified, organizing and soliciting PTA support will be very meaningful. Non-governmental organizations could also be invited to help. 2. Enrolment drive: When there is a problem in over or under enrolment, the teacher must make time to seek solution for it. First, if it is over enrolment, the ideal is to arrange with the school head or administrators to split the classes. This will however call for class accommodation and extra teachers.

Using Hustle As A Cogent Business Strategy Business Essay

Using Hustle As A Cogent Business Strategy Business Essay Amar Bhides article, Hustle as Strategy (1986) describes how in industries where competitive advantage can be quickly imitated, the importance is placed on superior execution rather than superior planning. This is demonstrated throughout the article in the financial services industry. This essay firstly explores how Hustle as Strategy fits into the strategy debate, as well as considering the underlying assumptions the author makes about organisations and the environment. It provides an analysis of the article and the emergent approach to strategy. The field of strategy, particularly the prescriptive approach was formed due to the perceived need to reduce uncertainty in organisations (Downs et al 2003:81). Prescriptive strategy is discussed as long term planning, creating clear, articulated intentions and then endeavouring to implement them (Faulkner, 2002). Porter (1979) wrote that organisations should position themselves in the market by evaluating their external environment and creating competitive advantage by differentiating from competitors. However, as the business environment becomes more competitive and unpredictable, a new emergent approach to strategy formed (Figure 1). Accepting that uncertainty is here to stay, Eisenhardt and Brown (1998, p.787) suggest that strategy becomes successfully navigating at the edge of chaos and anarchy. Bhide (1986) uses the example of the financial services industry to demonstrate the need for emergent strategy over fixed plans. The article focuses on the financial industry but includes strategic comparisons with industries such as motoring. Chaffee (1985, p.202) comments that strategies must be situational and accordingly it will vary by industry. Eisenhardt and Brown (1998:787) suggest that in many industries, change is happening too fast for static strategy to be effective. Therefore, strategy formulation has become an exercise of trial, experimentation and discussion (Downs et al, 2003:5) with the emphasis on action rather than planning. Bhide (1986:61) agrees with this by suggesting that financial services companies have to earn their wings everyday because a successful strategy today may not work tomorrow (Eisenhardt and Brown, 1998:787). The author dismisses the traditional, prescriptive school of thought for this industry by explaining that due to the infungible nature of the financial products, they can be quickly imitated. It is suggested there is no steady stream of new opportunities available and so companies should focus doing their best to minimise failure. Bhide (1986:62) suggests that strategy should be like a game of poker, not chess, where financial companies focus on tactics and execution rather than erecting massive barriers to competitors (p.59). Bhide (1986:60) quotes Warren Buffett in saying that major sustainable competitive advantages are almost non-existent in the field of financial services. Financial services companies do not have a monopoly on good product ideas; therefore they need to secure customers by executing ideas better than their competitors. However, Porter (1996) disagrees by suggesting that having operational effectiveness is not enough for organisations and that these tactics result in some companies outlasting others, but provide no real advantage in the market. Bhide (1986) recognises that financial services companies need to implement a review system in order to not be irresponsible. He writes that financial companies need to review their performance and continually assess the risks. Whittington (2001:24) supports this idea by suggesting that organisations with an emergent strategy need to have enough structure to allow patterns to emerge, but not so much that it causes inflexibility and cost. It can be said that emergent strategy is not about the absence of authority, it is about finding better ways of doing things. It is the job of management to bolt together the daily actions of the organisation to provide a direction for the organisation rather than to provide a rigid plan of expectations. Hustle as Strategy is underpinned by several assumptions about the environment and organisations. These assumptions are formed based of the authors acceptance of the world as a chaotic and uncertain place. Due to the unpredictable nature of the environment the assumption is that new opportunities open up for organisations. A key assumption of the article is that organisations are able to adapt quickly to take advantage of the new opportunities. Bhide (1986:62) assumes this by writing that in order to consistently win in the market, a company must be able to quickly vary tactics to suit conditions. This is supported by Noe et al (2003, as cited in Downs et al 2003:7) who discuss how emergent strategies rely on the ability of an organisation to learn. Mintzberg (1978) suggests that a strategy emerges by developing patterns in actions over time, this could be said to be a form of organisational learning. A learning organisation is described by Johnson et al (2005) as one that has the continual capability to regenerate from the variety of knowledge, experience and individual skills within the culture. This process is said to occur from within the organisation and therefore the strategies emerge from within. It is said that the organisation should unlock the knowledge of individuals by sharing information and allowing them to become more sensitive to changes occurring around them. This assumption is also supported by Stacey (1996:188) who discusses the view of organisations as complex adaptive systems. It is suggested that organisations learn their way into an open- ended evolutionary space that can create their futures. Stacey also suggests that individuals in the organisation are agents in the system; therefore their behaviour in the system can ultimately impact the ability of the organisation to adapt. This leads to the second assumption of the article. Bhide (1986:60) assumes that their employees will quickly be able to adjust their tactics by suggesting that a financial institutions employees are a potentially versatile resource. The author writes that employees working in operations play a pivotal role in the success of other areas of the business. Therefore, the process of recruiting hustlers is an important activity. Organisations with emergent strategy are looking for employees that can revolutionise processes and therefore must encourage a culture that embraces change. This emphasis on human capital can be likened to the resource-based theory of strategy where the focus in put on the application of the valuable resources at the firms disposal (Barney, 1991). It can be argued when companies have similar resources to hand, but differing performance, that one company is utilising its resources better than the others. In a knowledge-based economy, the knowledge and skills of the workforce are an intangible resource that is difficult to be imitated by competitors. Prahalad and Hamel (1990) argue that they help to create core competencies that in turn gain competitive advantage. As a result, if employees have to adjust their tactics and become more flexible then the assumption is that management are willing to give their employees more responsibility for decision making. The organisation needs to be de-centralised; otherwise the speed of change is hindered by levels of bureaucracy. Allowing employees more responsibility means that those closest to the customers are more likely to develop practical and realistic ideas for success. It is possible to find strengths and weaknesses of the article and the wider debate of emergent strategy. Firstly, considering Hustle as Strategy, it is a strong example of emergent strategy in a prominent industry. It provides an insight into how strategy is formulated by organisations and has useful comparisons with alternative industries in order to clearly demonstrate the support for this strategy debate. It uses examples and quotes from successful organisations; however it does not detail how organisations may approach this kind of strategy unsuccessfully. A second strength of the article is that the authors assumptions are based on already widely discussed and generally accepted ideas about organisations and the environment. There is a wealth of theory available to back up claims and assumptions made. However, a weakness of the article is that the article focuses entirely on the emergent strategy. It has been argued by strategists that in fact, organisations are not perfectly prescriptive or perfectly emergent, but usually somewhere in between (Moncrieff, 1999). A strength of emergent strategy is that it allows organisations to act in real time. Organisations realise they cannot know everything and therefore act as reality evolves before them. This type of strategy allows senior management to let go of some of the organisational control by understanding that the employees are seeing the everyday activities and are better equipped to shape strategy than a traditional top down approach (Faulkner, 2002). However, an emergent strategy will not work in every context. This is especially so in industries where a large amount of capital has to be invested up front into a business activity, with the motoring industry as an example. A farther weakness of emergent strategy is related to the assumption that management will give up decision making and responsibility to their subordinates, in order to be more adaptable. However, in practice, managers find this threatening and therefore not become as flexible and adaptable as they could be. Also, it can be argued that management would need to create a clear vision and culture for the organisation, in order to create a suitable environment for employees to feel they have purpose and objectives. In conclusion, Bhide (1986) has successfully demonstrated the need for emergent strategy in financial services organisations by logically dismissing the alternative prescriptive approach. In an industry where competitive advantage is said to be non-existent due to low barriers to entry and imitable products, financial institutions have found a way to be different, in their execution. The assumptions of the article are realistic as strategists have long concurred that the business environment is fast-paced and organisations must learn to adapt to it. Overall, Bhide (1986) argues that financial services organisations should select the best hustlers to constantly challenge the vision of the organisation by finding new and better ways of doing things. The organisation must allow this change to occur in order to learn and evolve, without this they will become static and uncompetitive.

Evolution Of Speaker Manufacturing English Language Essay

Evolution Of Speaker Manufacturing English Language Essay A speaker is an electrical device that converts electrical signals to mechanical motion in order to create sound waves. A transducer, which is another name for a speaker, is a device that converts one form of energy to another. The speaker moves in accordance with the variations of an electrical signal and causes sound waves to propagate through a medium such as air or water. The first electrical speaker, patented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, was for the earpiece of the telephone. This design was later improved upon by Ernst Siemens and Nicola Tesla in 1877 and 1881 respectively. Siemens and Tesla used a metal horn driven by a membrane attached to a stylus to create the design of what would be the basis for the modern speaker. Thomas Edison was working on a design at this time using compressed air as the amplifying mechanism. He quickly found this was not the most effective way to create the mechanical waves that produce sound. He quickly withdrew his application for a patent an d settled on the metal horn design. The metal horn speaker is a speaker which can be found on antique record players. Metal Horn Speaker Moving Coil Speaker The modern design of the moving coil driver was established by Oliver Lodge in 1898. Lodge was a British physicist and writer that was involved in many key patents involving wireless telegraphy. In 1915, Magnavox emerged as the first public company to produce a loudspeaker. This design was the first practiced use of the moving coil drivers in a loudspeaker. Magnavox was started in that same year by Edwin Pridham and Peter L. Jensen. The companys focus was on developing consumer electronics. They would later go on to be the first to develop a phonograph loudspeaker. Today Magnavox is owned by one of the world leaders in electronics, Phillips. In 1924, Chester W. Rice and Edward W. Kellogg received the first patent on the moving-coil principle, direct radiator, and loudspeaker. Their patent was different from the previous attempts because of the adjustment of mechanical parameters in their design. The fundamental resonance of the moving system takes place at a lower frequency than that at which the cones radiation impedance becomes uniform. In 1926, Rice and Kellogg sold the loudspeaker, Radiola which was superior to anything else previously invented because it decreased sound distortion and improved audio quality for the buyer. These speakers used electromagnets instead of large powerful magnets in their design. The electro magnets were used because larger, more powerful magnets were not available at a cheap enough price at the time. In the 1930s, manufactures began placing two or three band passes worth of drivers in their speakers, which allowed for increased quality, sound pressure levels, and frequency response. Many of the components involved in the production of modern speakers have been improved upon from their initial designs. The biggest improvements have occurred mainly in the makeup of the materials in the speaker and in the enclosure design. The diaphragm materials and permanent magnet materials are some of the other speaker components which have improved throughout the years. With the advent of computer aided design and increased accuracy in measuring techniques, the development of the speaker and quality of sound have grown exponentially in recent years. The modern loudspeaker has a similar makeup to that of earlier designs, but some of the basic ideas behind the design have changed to give us the speaker we have today. The Modern Speaker Modern speakers use a permanent magnet and an electromagnet to induce the reciprocating motion of the diaphragm. The alternating current going through the electromagnet constantly reverses the magnetic polarity of the coil thus reversing the forces between the voice coil and the permanent magnet. This causes a rapid back and forth motion of the coil resembling that of a piston. When the coil moves it causes the diaphragm to vibrate the air in front of the speaker, creating sound waves. The frequency and amplitude of the electrical audio signal dictates the rate and distance that the voice coil moves thus determining the frequency and amplitude of the sound waves produced by the diaphragm. Drivers are only able to create sound in a given range of frequencies, thus many different types of drivers must be manufactured to account for the wide range of possible frequencies. The main components of the modern speaker are the diaphragm, permanent magnet, suspension, voice coil, and basket with three other important features being coaxial drivers, speaker enclosures, and audio amplifiers. In the following sections we will break down each component and investigate the improvements of each component including those in the material selection and the manufacturing process. Diaphragm One of the main components of a speaker is the diaphragm, sometimes called a speaker cone. The diaphragm can also be referred to as the diaphragm and its surrounding assembly including the suspension and the basket. However for our purposes the suspension and the basket will be individually discussed in later sections. Movement of the diaphragm causes sound waves to propagate from the speaker thus producing the noise we hear. The ideal properties of a diaphragm are minimal acoustical breakup of the diaphragm, minimal standing wave patterns in the diaphragm, and linearity of the surrounds force-deflection curve. The diaphragm stiffness and damping qualities plus the surrounds linearity and damping play a crucial role in reproducing the voice coil signal waveform. Eighty five percent of the diaphragms sold worldwide are made of cellulose fibers because they can be easily modified by chemical or mechanical means to giving it a practical manufacturing advantage not found in other common diaphragm materials, although reproducibility can be a problem. The lack of reproducibility can affect imaging, depending on the precision and quality of production. Cellulose is also advantageous over other diaphragm materials because of its low cost to produce. Although Cellulose works well as a diaphragm, new synthetic materials are emerging that are more lightweight, allowing for better audio quality, reduced distortion, and increased vibration and shock durability. These materials include polypropylene, polycarbonate, Mylar, silk, fiberglass, carbon-fiber, titanium, aluminum, aluminum-magnesium alloy, and beryllium. Polypropylene is the most common plastic material used in a diaphragm. The polypropylene is normally mixed with a filler, such as Kevlar, to reduce the manufacturing costs or it can be to alter the mechanical properties of the diaphragm. Polypropylene diaphragms have been increasingly more popular with the advancements in modern adhesive technology. Although with all plastic materials present, the material tends to have a viscoelastic creep, which is the materials tendency to slowly deform and stretch when under repetitive stresses. However, polypropylene diaphragms are still a popular choice for high performance speakers due to their consistent performance. Research is presently underway in attempts to create new plastic based materials such as TPX, HD-A, HD-I, Neoflex, and Bextrene for diaphragms. These materials generally have the same characteristics as polypropylene so the manufacturing costs cannot be justified for full production. Another option for low-frequency applications are woven fiber diaphragms. The woven fibers such as carbon fiber, fiberglass, and Kevlar are bonded together with a resin. When the high tensile strength of the woven fibers mixes with the adhesive and bonding characteristics of the resin it results in an incredibly stiff material. This stiffness results in a great low-frequency diaphragm, however the stiffness causes rough high-frequency responses. There have been numerous attempts to improve the high-frequency problems of woven fiber diaphragms such as using two thin layers of Kevlar fabric bonded together with a resin and silica microball combination and another attempt employed a sandwich structure of materials with a honeycomb Nomex core. But again, as with the advanced plastic materials, the cost of manufacturing versus the performance of the material cannot yet be justified. The final modern practical material for diaphragms is metal. Metals worst downfall is its terrible damping attributes which causes extreme high-frequency distortion. The most common metal of choice are aluminum and magnesium alloys. Due to the lack of technological advances in damping agents to add to these alloys, metal diaphragms are very rarely used in high-frequency applications. However, these alloys have been commonly used in lower end frequencies with great success. Permanent Magnet Modern driver magnets have become predominately permanent magnets. Historically this function was filled by the use of electrically powered field coils. When high-strength permanent magnets became available, they eliminated the need for the additional power supply that drove the coils. When this happened, Alnico magnets became popular. Alnico magnets are created from alloying aluminum, nickel, and cobalt. Until about 1980 Alnico magnets were primarily used but because of their tendency to become demagnetized, permanent magnets have since been made of ceramic and ferrite materials. Ferrite magnets are constructed by mixing iron oxide with strontium and then milling the compound into a very fine powder. The powder is then mixed with a ceramic binder and closed in a metal die. The die is then placed in a furnace and sintered to bond the mixture together. Sintering is the process in which the particles of the powder are welded together by applying pressure and heating it to a temperature below its melting point. Although the magnetic strength to weight ratio of ferrite magnets is lower than Alnico, it is considerably less expensive, allowing designers to use larger yet more economical magnets to reach a desired performance. In manufacturing, the most significant technical innovation of the speaker is due to the use of neodymium magnets. Currently neodymium magnets are the strongest permanent magnets known to man. For this reason neodymium magnets significantly help in producing smaller, lighter devices and improve speaker performance due to their great capacity for generating strong magnetic fields in the air-gap. A neodymium magnet is an alloy of neodymium, iron, and boron to form the molecule Nd2Fe14B. The molecular structure of this molecule is a tetragonal crystalline structure. Important properties in a magnet are the strength of the magnetic field, the materials resistance to becoming demagnetized, the density of magnetic energy, and the temperature at which the material loses its magnetism. Neodymium magnets have much higher values for all of these properties than other magnetic materials except that it loses its magnetism at low temperatures. For this reason it is sometimes alloyed with terbium and dysprosium in order to maintain its magnetic properties at higher temperatures. Suspension Another critical element in speakers is the suspension. The purpose of a suspension system is to provide lateral stability and make the speaker components return to a neutral point after moving. A typical suspension system includes two major components, the spider and the surround. The spider connects the voice coil to the frame of the speaker and provides the majority of the restoring force. The surround connects the top of the diaphragm to the frame of the speaker and helps center the diaphragm and voice coil with respect to the frame. Both components work together to make sure the diaphragm and coil assembly move strictly linearly and in line with the center of the permanent magnet. The spider is usually made of a corrugated fabric disk, impregnated with a stiffening resin. The name comes from the shape of early suspensions, which were two concentric rings of Bakelite material, joined by six or eight curved legs. The surround may be resin treated cloth, resin treated non-wovens, polymeric foams, or thermoplastic elastomers that are molded onto the cone body. An ideal surround has sufficient damping to fully absorb vibration transmissions from the cone to surround interface, and the durability to hold out against long term fatigue caused by prolonged vibration. Advancements in suspension manufacturing have come from innovations in synthetic suspension materials. The use of synthetic materials like kevlar or konex instead of cotton, has made todays speakers much more stable than those made as recent as ten years ago. A more durable suspension means that a speakers sound quality can remain unaltered for a longer period of time. This is especially a concern for speakers that generally operate at low frequencies since lower frequency sounds are created by larger diaphragm travel and larger diaphragm travel must be supported by more suspension travel. Voice Coil The wire in a voice coil is usually made of copper, though rarely aluminum and silver may be used. Voice coil wire cross sections can be circular, rectangular, or hexagonal, giving varying amounts of wire volume coverage in the magnetic gap space. The coil is oriented co-axially inside the gap; it moves back and forth within a small circular volume (a hole, slot, or groove) in the magnetic structure. The gap establishes a concentrated magnetic field between the two poles of a permanent magnet, the outside of the gap being one pole, and the center post (called the pole piece) being the other. The pole piece and backplate are often a single piece, called the poleplate or yoke. This magnetic field induces a reaction with the permanent magnet causing the diaphragm to move thus producing the sounds we hear. Voice coils can either be overhung, longer than the magnetic gap, or underhung, shorter than the magnetic gap, depending on its application. Most voice coils are overhung thus preventi ng the coil from being overdriven, a problem that causes the coil to produce significant distortion and removes the heat-sinking benefits of steel causing the speaker to heat rapidly. The most important characteristic of a voice coil is that it be able to withstand large amounts of mechanical stresses and also be able to dissipate heat to its surroundings without causing damage to the speakers other components. In early loudspeakers the voice coil was wound onto paper bobbins to remove heat from the system. At the time this was enough to cool the system at average power levels but as larger amplifiers became available allowing for higher power levels new technologies had to emerge. To cope with the increasing power inputs the use of alloy 1145 aluminum foil was widely used as a substitute for the paper bobbins. Aluminum was popular to industry due to its low cost to manufacture, its structural strength, and it was easy to bond to the voice coil. However, problems with the foil emerged over extended use at increased power levels. The first problem was the foil tended to transfer heat from the voice coil into the adhesives used inside the speaker causing them to thermally degrade or even burn. The second problem was the motion of the aluminum foil inside the magnetic gap created currents that actually increased the temperature of the voice coil, thus causing long-term reliability issues. In 1955 a new material was developed called Kapton, a polyimide plastic film, to replace the aluminum foil. Kapton solved all the problems that were associated with the aluminum foil however Kapton or even its improved cousin Kaneka Apical, were not perfect. Both high-tech materials were costly to manufacture and had a tendency to soften when heated. Although Kapton and Kaneka Apical had their downfalls they became the most widely used coating for voice coils until 1992 when a material called Hisco P450 was developed. Hisco P450 is a thermoset composite created by using a thin film of fiber glass cloth and impregnating it with a polyimide resin. This combination allowed for necessary mechanical strength and endurance of the polyimide and necessary temperature resistance and stiffness of fiberglass. Hisco P450 was able to withstand the grueling temperature requirements of professional speakers while also maintaining enough rigidity to withstand the mechanical stresses associated with long-term, high-frequency motions. In recent years the copper wire that is almost always used as the voice coil has been replaced sparingly with aluminum wire in extra sensitive, high-frequency applications. The aluminum wire is lighter than the copper wire and has about two thirds of the electrical conductivity allowing the wire to move at higher frequencies inside the magnetic gap. Variations of the aluminum wire include copper-clad aluminum and anodized aluminum. Copper-clad aluminum allows for easier winding along with an even more reduced mass. The anodized aluminum is effectively insulated against shorting which removed the concerns of dielectric breakdown. Aluminum wires are great lightweight, low-inductance choices for voice coils however, they do have their downfalls. The thermal characteristics of aluminum causes power limitations with the coil. If too much power is passed through the aluminum coil it can cause the adhesive bonds between the wire and the bobbin, or the bobbin to the spider and coil to weaken or even burn. To cope with the ever increasing power demands on the voice coil in addition to wrapping the coil in some high-tech material to increase its thermal properties, the voice coil has also been submerged in a ferrofluid, an oil that is used to conduct heat away from the voice coil and also creates a small magnetic field thus increasing the power handling capacity of the voice coil. Basket The basket or frame (as seen below) is the fixture used to hold the diaphragm, voice coil, and magnet in the proper place. The rigidity of this part is extremely important to prevent rubbing of the voice coil and prevent random movements that could cause problems with the permanent magnet. The three most common types of modern baskets are cast metal baskets, rigid baskets made out of stamped steel or aluminum, and cast plastic baskets. Each type of basket offers different advantages and disadvantages; these will be discussed in the flowing paragraphs. The stronger the basket the more power the speaker can handle before failure occurs. A well made basket should have a high power rating, be lightweight, and be able to conduct heat away from the voice coil to prevent physical changes or even possible demagnetization of the permanent magnets. Cast metal (above right) baskets are the most rigid of the three in all directions, but they are the most expensive to make. Cast metal baskets are made by melting down the desired metal to liquid form. The scorching hot liquid metal is then poured into a mold and once the liquid metal dries inside the mold, the mold is removed revealing a cast metal basket. Cast metal baskets although more expensive than the other two options, usually are more rigid thus preventing motion. They also have better damping characteristics, and they are also more easily manufactured allowing for more intricate shapes. Cast metal baskets are usually the preferred basket choice for higher quality speakers. A less expensive and yet less rigid basket can be made out of stamped steel. The stamped steel or aluminum sheets arrive to the manufacturer preformed. The sheets are then drilled using a hydraulic press to cut holes in the sheet to allow air flow to and from the diaphragm. The sheet is then pressed using another hydraulic press using a die to form the desired shape. Stamped metal baskets tend to be weaker than their cast metal counterparts. This weakness could cause the basket to flex if the speaker is being used at high volumes. The final option, which is even less expensive, is a cast plastic basket. Cast plastic baskets are made by using the liquid plastic and pouring it into the desired shaped mold. When the liquid plastic dries the mold is removed revealing a cast plastic basket. Just like cast metal baskets, cast plastic baskets are easily manufactured allowing for intricate shapes. The lightweight characteristics of the plastic would also make the speaker lighter allowing for smaller power consumption. However, as with most engineering decisions, the performance of the part proportionally decreases as the cost to produce the part decreases. The decreased cost of production of the plastic basket means that it is a weaker basket. This weaker, plastic basket will allow for the most flexing as compared to cast metal and stamped steel baskets. The power rating of the speaker would also be less than that of the metal baskets, both cast and stamped, due to the weaker strength characteristics of plastic in com parison with metal. Coaxial Drivers Coaxial drivers are the components of a speaker that radiates sound from the same point or axis. This is done by placing a high-frequency driver in the center of a low-frequency driver so that they produce sound waves from a single point in a loudspeaker system rather than separate locations. This allows for a more beneficial design over having the low and high frequency drivers separate. There are many different types of drivers and each driver produces sound within a limited frequency range. Subwoofers, woofers, mid-range drivers, and tweeters are all driver types capable of emitting different ranges of sound. A coaxial driver takes one of these higher frequency drivers and places it within a lower frequency driver. For example, a tweeter, the high frequency unit, could be placed in the center of a woofer, the low frequency unit, so that both drivers emit sound from the same point. This example can be seen in the images below. This design, which improves sound quality, was first de signed by Altec Lansing in the 1940s. Although it has many advantages, it is still an uncommon practice in the manufacturing of speakers due to technical and budgetary considerations. Enclosures The enclosure of a loudspeaker serves three functions and is made with a specific design that helps improve the quality of the sound produced by the speaker. The first function the enclosure performs is separation of the sound waves. It accomplishes this by preventing sound waves generated at the back of the speaker from interacting destructively with sound waves generated at the front of the speaker. The enclosure is intended to reduce distortion created because the waves that emanate from the front of the speaker are out of phase with the waves emanating from the rear of the speaker. If the front and rear waves were to overlap with one another it would result in wave interference. The second function the enclosure serves is to stop any echo and reverberation that would be created from the two differing sound source locations on the speaker. Because waves are created at the front and rear of the speaker, the two different sets of waves travel through the air differently as a result of their relative locations, and arrive at the person listening at different times. The third function the enclosure serves is to deal with the vibrations produced by the driver and to deal with the heat produced by the electronic components. Enclosures did not always have the fully enclosed container design that they now commonly have. Although present day practices say that enclosures need to have a back, before the 1950s they lacked one due to the cooling functions of an open container. Sealed enclosures, the most common type of enclosure, is completely sealed so no air can escape. With this type of enclosure the forward wave travels outward into the surroundings, while the backward wave is limited to only fill the enclosure. With a virtually airtight enclosure, the internal air pressure is constantly changing; when the driver retracts, the pressure increases and when the driver moves out, the pressure decreases. Both movements create pressure differences between the air inside the enclosure and the air outside the enclosure. Because of this, the driver motion always has to fight the pressure differences caused. These enclosures are less efficient than other designs because the amplifier has to boost the electrical signal to overcome the force of air pressure. The force due to air pressure does, however, provide an additional form of driver suspension since it acts like a spring to keep the diaphragm in the neutral position. This makes for tighter, more precise soun d production. Enclosure designs range from very simple, rectangular particle-board boxes (above left) to very complex cabinets made of composite materials (above right). The simplest enclosures are made to prevent destructive interference caused by overlapping of the front and rear sound waves from the speaker. The most complex enclosures contain acoustic insulation and internal baffles, which prevent interference. Solid materials such as heavy wood, are typically used when building enclosures in order to absorb the vibration caused by the speaker driver. This vibration dampening is extremely important. A speakers sound output would be drowned out by the drivers vibrations if there were not an enclosure incorporated into the design. Since the beginning of the production of enclosures, the most advantageous properties required for minimal energy loss through the enclosure walls have remained unchanged. Different strategies employed to reduce energy losses are to use thicker enclosure walls, denser hardwood plys and sturdier bracing. The downside to these methods is that they all add significant weight to the enclosure. However, with the production of newer materials that possess an increased stiffness-to-mass ratio this is changing. These new materials can improve performance and reduce weight, while also reducing the cabinets resonance. The end result is that a greater amount of the speakers en ergy is delivered in the intended direction rather than into mechanical vibrations which are wasted and produce a decrease in sound quality. A recent alternative to heavy wood construction of enclosures is the use of composite materials. It was for the aerospace industry that composite materials such as carbon-fiber were originally developed. Carbon-fiber was a success because of the high demand for a material with increased strength and rigidity. Speaker applications, such as enclosures use carbon-fiber materials to create a product with a vastly decreased weight and increased strength and rigidity. Enclosures built with carbon-fiber can weigh less than half as much as enclosures built from heavy wood. These enclosures which limit the speaker resonance can provide as much as 3 dB more output than the same speaker would have otherwise had in a heavy wood enclosure. Furthermore, carbon-fiber enclosures are extremely durable adding quality to the final product and they require almost no maintenance. Even though carbon-fiber enclosures cost around twice as much to produce as traditional enclosures, the lighter weight and ext ra output offer two very advantageous tradeoffs. Amplifier An amplifier is any device that increases or decreases the amplitude of a signal. An audio amplifier increases low-power audio signals to a suitable level for loudspeakers. When dealing with a speaker there are a many audio amplifiers involved. These amplifiers are responsible for pre-amplification, equalization, tone control, and mixing effects followed by a higher power amplifier which creates the final amplification for suitable levels of sound output. Amplifiers are found in wireless receivers and transmitters, CD players, acoustic pickups, and hi-fi audio equipment. Amplifiers are used for high-quality sound production, and depending upon the quality of the amplifier, they may cause distortion, which the speaker enclosures are meant to deal with. Distortion in amplifiers is caused by difference in phases of the output waveform and the input waveform. The smaller the difference in between the output and input waveforms the greater the quality of final sound. Audio amplifiers cons ist of resistors, capacitors, power sources, wires, semiconductors, and stereo jacks all combined on an electronic work board to produce the type of amplifier needed. Types of Speakers Woofers are loudspeaker drivers designed to produce sounds of low frequency from around 40 hertz up to around 1000 hertz. The most common design for a woofer is the electro-dynamic driver, using a stiff paper cone driven by a voice coil. Woofers are important to allow for a range of frequency that will hit a low level. Effective woofer designs efficiently convert low frequency signals to mechanical vibrations. The vibration of the air out from the cone creates concentric sound waves that travel through the air. If this process can be done effectively, many of the other problems speakers run into will be greatly reduced such as linear excursion. For most speakers the enclosure and the woofer must be designed to work hand in hand. Usually the enclosure is designed around the woofer, but in some rarer cases the enclosure design can actually dictate the woofer design. The enclosure is made to reflect the sounds at the right distance, so that they will not be wave cancelling reflections. Below you can see an example of a common woofer. A subwoofer is a woofer with a diameter between 8 and 21s. Subwoofers are made up of one or more woofers. They can be arranged in many different configurations to produce the best quality of sound. Subwoofers usually play frequencies between 20 hertz and 200 hertz, well within the range of human auditory levels. The first subwoofer was created in the 1960s and added to the home stereo to create bass for sound reinforcement. Up until this point the only form of audio player which contained bass was a phonograph player which was created by Magnavox. This allowed for a more accurate array of music. Subwoofers are used in all sound systems today such as in cinemas, cars, stereos, and for general sound reinforcement. A mid-range speaker is a loudspeaker driver that produces sound between 300 hertz and 5000 hertz. These are less commonly known as squawkers. Midrange drivers can be found as cone speakers, dome speakers, or compression horn drivers. Mid-range speakers usually resemble small woofers. The most common material the cone is made out of for a mid-range is paper although they can be found to be coated or impregnated with polymers or resins to improve vibration dampening. Much of the rest of the mid-range speaker is made from plastic polymers. Mid-range speakers which employ the dome set up usually only use 90 degrees of the sphere as the radiating surface. These can be made from cloth, metal or plastic film. The voice coil in this design is set at the outer edge of the dome. Mid-range drivers are most commonly used for professional concerts and are compression drivers coupled with horn drivers. Rarely mid-range speakers can be found as electrostatic drivers. Mid-range speakers handle the most prominent part of the human-audible sound spectrum. This is the region where most sound emitted by musical instruments lie. This is also where the human voice falls in the audible spectrum. Most television sets and small radios only contain a single mid-range driver. Tweeters are a loudspeaker designed to produce frequencies from 2,000 to 20,000 hertz. Some tweeters on the market today can produce sounds of up to 45000 hertz. The human ear can generally only hear up to about 20000 hertz. The name tweeter comes from the extremely high pitch it can create. Modern tweeters are different from older tweeters because older tweeters were smaller versions of woofers. As tweeter technology has advanced, differen