Research Korner

Compare the marriage in A Doll’s House with that in “The Necklace”

Literature   Compare the marriage in A Doll’s House with that in “The Necklace”               The play “A Doll’s House” and the short story “The Necklace” have shown two different marriages of the two couples, the Helmer and the Loisel. Different lifestyle and different way of treating their marriage and each other.             The play “A Doll’s House,” Torvald and Nora Helmer lives a late nineteenth-century furnished comfortably and tastefully but not extravagantly house.  Wherein they have their pianoforte, porcelain stove, a couple of arm chair and rocking chair, and a carpet. There were engraving on the walls and a small bookcase filled with handsomely bound books. They have their maidservant and nurse for their three children. This just shows that the Helmers are well off family.             In contrast with that, in the short story “The Necklace,” Loisel and Mathilde suffer from poorness of their house, from its mean walls, worn chairs and ugly curtain. With their round table covered with a three days old cloth.             Torvald was appointed to be the manager of the bank and they earn heaps of money while Loisel is a clerk of the Ministry of Education.  Nora and Mathilde both are delighted with material wealth but the difference is that Nora is living in it while Mathilde is only imaging a life of wealth.             Nora was treated by his husband Torvald as a helpless child and relates her as like an object to be possessed. This is most evident when he refers Nora as his little “lark” and a “squirrel.” And he also repeatedly calls her as his “little one” or his “little girl” making his approach like a father and not as a husband, treating Nora like as child and not as his wife.   He does not view Nora as an equal but rather as a plaything or doll to be teased and admired. Generally, Torvald is overly concerned with his place and status in society, and he allows his emotions to be swayed heavily by the prospect of society’s respect and the fear of society’s scorn             Nora is so dependent with Torvald in almost everything. She was isolated from reality. She doesn’t care about the world she lived in. She relates the outer world primarily as material objects. She has to do whatever Torvald tells her to do even with his diet. What is forbidden is forbidden like in the case of macaroons. She even talks like a small boastful child when she told Mrs. Linde about her secret and even seems unable to understand and accept that what she thinks she does for love was illegal and wrong and refuses to believe that she is guilty just as Krogstad. Nora initially is like playful, naive child who lacks knowledge of the outside world. However, she does have some worldly experience and the small acts of rebellion, like eating macaroons and make loans without her husband’s knowledge, indicate that she is not as innocent or happy as she appears.             In contradict to their situation, Loisel has treated Mathilde as his wife and a partner in life. Mathilde always has a voice in their house. She can do what she wants and what she doesn’t. Her husband would do what she wants. One very good instance is when she wants to go to the party and she has no dress to wear and she ask her husband for four hundred francs for a dress and her husband give her the money even if he had kept it for a his own want.             In contrast with Nora, Mathilde is clearly aware that she was unhappy with his married. For Mathilde feels that in her married she would never belong to the women elegance. She always had longed to have beautiful clothes and jewels. She had always longed for glamour and charm. She is aware that she is miserable. In her way to show her grief, despair and misery, she would just weep.             In the situation of the Helmers, Nora was the one that has sacrifice. As she has quoted that “even though most men don’t sacrifice integrity, most women do”. She has hidden her loan because she was afraid that her husband would know and would be humiliated that her wife has saved his life. Even though she is economically advantage, still she has a difficult life because society dictates that Torvald should be the dominant in the marriage.               While in the situation of the Loisel, his husband is the one that sacrifice more. He sacrifices his own wants just to please her wife. He never mind what would the society says.             Even in the times of problems, the Helmers and the Loisel faced them differently. With the case of the Helmers, when Torvald then knows that Nora had loan money when he was dying, he condemned her. He never put the blame on himself instead he was more concern of what the society would say. But with Nora, it was an awakening to her. It just makes her open her eyes that she had been a doll to Torvald, someone whom he can control. It made her realize that her life with Torvald is just like a performance to please the society and make a good reputation for Torvald and she has not existed as a true being. With this conflict it just made her make a decision to just leave her husband and her children and find herself without Torvald or any men influence. The marriage of Torvald and Nora was dictated by the society and been ruin because of that.             With the Loisel, after they had realized that the diamond necklace of Madame Forestier, Mathilde’s husband did not condemn her instead he never even sleeps for the whole night just to look for the necklace.  The borrow money from almost every money lending institution just to buy the same diamond necklace as with Madame Forestier. He even risked his signature and mortgages his remaining existence. They solve their problem together. Mathilde also had been working just to pay the money they had lent. And after 10 years of working together, the Loisel finally had everything paid off.             These two stories showed that in every marriage, there are struggles on the way. It is just important that the couples should bear it together. Not how the society dictates it but in the way it should be done.

Compare the marriage in A Doll’s House with that in “The Necklace”

Literature Compare the marriage in A Doll’s House with that in “The Necklace” The play “A Doll’s House” and the ...

Communication and mediated communication

Communication             Communications have been described and defined in many ways. Communication is the transmission of thoughts, messages, information and feelings through speech, writing, signals and behaviour. Devito (1986) viewed communication as transmission. He defined communication as the process or act of transmitting a message from a sender to a receiver, through a channel and with the interference of noise; the actual message or messages sent and received; the study of the process involved in the sending and receiving of messages (p. 61). Gerbner (1967) who took an interaction view of communication defined it as interaction through messages. He considers messages as formally coded symbolic and representational events of some shared significance in a culture, produced for the purpose of evoking significance (p. 430). Devito generally defined communication as the transmission of ideas and information. Gerbner on the other hand saw communication in the light of stimulus-response paradigm, in which a message (stimulus) has meaning based on the interpretations (response) others make of it (Heath and Bryant 2000). Also taking the interaction paradigm, Cronen et al (1982) defined communication as a process through which persons create, maintain, and alter social order, relationships and identities (pp. 85-86).               According to Craig and Muller (2007), theorists use different points of view in defining what communication is. Theorists from different disciplines and fields like cultural studies, economics, ethnography, film studies, linguistics, philosophy, political science, organizational studies, psychology and sociology (Watson 2003, p. 2). Craig (1999) encapsulated these theories by dividing the field of communication into seven traditions of thoughts. These are: <ul style='margin-top:0in' type=square> <li class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:200%;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list .5in'>Rhetorical Tradition – the rhetorical theory was first proposed by the ancient Greek sophists. Based on the rhetorical theory, communication is a practical art of discourse (p. 135). </li> <li class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:200%;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list .5in'>Semiotic Tradition – the semiotic tradition, like the rhetorical tradition has a long history. In the semiotic tradition, communication is viewed as intersubjective mediation by signs (p. 136). </li> <li class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:200%;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list .5in'>Phenomological Tradition – theories based on the phenomological tradition see communication as dialogue or experience of otherness (p.138).</li> <li class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:200%;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list .5in'>Cybernetic Tradition – the cybernetic tradition covers areas such as systems and information science, cognitive science and artificial intelligence. Communication is viewed through the cybernetic tradition as information processing (p. 141). </li> <li class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:200%;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list .5in'>Sociopsychological Tradition – communication as viewed by sociopsychological theorists is a process of expression, interaction, and influence (p. 143).</li> <li class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:200%;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list .5in'>Sociocultural Tradition – the sociocultural tradition proposes theories that view communication as a symbolic process that produces and reproduces shared sociocultural patterns (p. 144).</li> <li class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:200%;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list .5in'>Critical Tradition – the critical tradition theorists think that communication occurs in a process of discursive reflection (p.147).</li> </ul>                         Throughout the history of humankind, many studies have been conducted on communication. These studies yielded numerous theories. Communication studies were mainly focused on interpersonal communication. There has been a shift of focus when mass media technologies were introduced. The term ‘mass media’ was first used in 1920 along with the birth of the radio and mass-circulation newspapers (Laughey 2007). There are several differences between interpersonal communication and mass communication. The differences seem to boil down to quantity. In interpersonal communication, according to Cassata and Asante (1979), the source is usually concerned with one other person or a small group, whereas in mass communication the message is widely and rapidly distributed. In the broadest sense, mass communication refers to communication activities that involve large numbers of people. Traditionally, mass communication has been conceptualized as a process involving messages that are sent to general groups of people (Perry 1996). A ‘mass’ according to Blumer (1946) is consist of a very loosely organized group of people who come from all walks of life, who remain anonymous with each other, and who interact very little among themselves. According to Perry (1996) much of the research conducted on mass communication were focused on the scientific and humanistic study of the communication media and their audiences. These media include magazines, motion pictures, newspapers, radio, television, and a variety of new communication technologies (p. 4).             Lasswell (1948) proposed a model of communication that focuses on mass communication. According to Lasswell, the processes of mass communication can be understood if the stages of communication. The stages of communication according to Lasswell’s model are: <ul style='margin-top:0in' type=square> <li class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:200%;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops:list .5in'>Who</li> <li class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:200%;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops:list .5in'>Says what</li> <li class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:200%;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops:list .5in'>In which channel</li> <li class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:200%;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops:list .5in'>To whom</li> <li class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:200%;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops:list .5in'>With what effect</li> </ul>             Lasswell’s model sees communication as the transmission of messages: it raises the issue of ‘effect rather than meaning. ‘Effect’ implies an observable and measurable change in the receiver that is caused by identifiable elements in the process. Most mass communication research has wholly followed Lasswell’s model (Fiske 1990). Harold Innis (1951) argued that different media, using different materials, had diverse consequences for the human, social control of time and space. This idea is called ‘the bias of communication’. Innis noted the importance of written technologies in ancient civilizations such as the Roman empire. He observed that written systems played an important role in the administration, coordination and regulation of a vast emporium. Written systems were thus required in the recording of decisions and formulation of laws and their communication throughout the empire. McLuhan (1964) applied Innis’ ideas to modern societies. McLuhan made a fundamental distinction between ‘oral’ and ‘written’ cultures. He furthered his study with the comparison of print cultures with the newer electronic cultures of modern media, especially radio and television. Innis and McLuhan provide a fascinating way of identifying the impact and effect of media of communication on human societies by focusing on them as technologies that extend the scope and scale of human, social activity (Scannell 2002).              One of the most notable theories of communication was Shannon and Weaver’s (1949) Mathematical Theory. Shannon and Weaver developed their theory while working in the Bell Telephone Laboratories in the United States during the Second World War. Their aim was to discover how the channels of communication could be employed in the most efficient manner. They considered the telephone cable and the radio wave as the main channels (Fiske 1990, p. 6).             Shannon and Weaver’s model is broadly understandable at first glance. They identified three levels of problems in the study of communication. These are: §  Level A (Technical Problems) – deals with the question of accuracy in the transmission of symbols of communication §  Level B (Semantic Problems) – deals with the question of precision in the transmission of the desired meanings of symbols §  Level C (Effectiveness Problems) – deals with the question of the effectiveness of the received meaning in affecting conduct     Fig. 1: Shannon and Weaver’s (1949) Model               In Shannon and Weaver’s model, the source is seen as the decision maker. The source decides which message to send or he selects one out of a set of possible messages. This selected message is then transformed by the transmitter into a signal which is sent through the channel to the receiver. For a telephone the channel is a wire, the signal an electrical current in it, and the transmitter and receiver are the telephone handsets (Fiske 1990, pp. 7-8).             Another notable thought was presented by Schramm (1945). Schramm presented a variant of Shannon and Weaver’s pioneering diagram (see figure 2). Schramm has added a major difficulty in practical human communication: the problem of understanding as a function of shared experience. The senders as well as the receiver of a message have a field of experience, which influence their understanding. Additionally, Schramm has pointed out the importance of feedback.   Fig. 2: Schramm’s Model (1954)             Schramm contributed substantially to the understanding of the communication process by noting that communicators simultaneously send and receive. In this way, he fostered the trend toward an interaction paradigm for communication. His model could explain that while one person is speaking, the other is listening (Heath and Bryant 2000, p. 66).               Mediated Communication             Mediated communication according to Wood and Smith (2005) separates the communicators through some technology – from the simplest types like paper to the most sophisticated kind of computer devices like a wireless Web unit (p. 6). The field of Computer-mediated communication (CMC) studies how human behaviors are maintained or altered by exchange of communication through machines (Wood and Smith 2005, p. 4).               Gidden’s (1984) theory of structuration is based on the duality of structures: humans both draw on the rules and resources that compose social structure (a feature of interaction called production) and manifest structural rules and resources that exist as consequences of the interaction (a feature called reproduction). Giddens identifies two forms of interaction – social integration and system integration. Social integration according to Giddens is reciprocal face-to-face interaction of individuals. System integration on the other hand is the reciprocity among actors or groups across extended space or time, mediated by writing or in diverse ways (McPhee 1998). According to Giddens, the distanciation of time and space is a medium of modern power and relations. Social life and social systems are being stretched by different mediums. The emergence of electronic communication technologies has led to the disengagement of time and space. Through the use of electronic communication technologies, transmission of information or symbolic forms over space is possible even without the physical transportation of objects. Media forms according to Giddens (1984) extend presence availability beyond contexts of physical proximity and the immediate physical limits of the body (p. 122).             Goffman (1979) describes social life using the metaphor of drama. According to Goffman, everyone plays a multiplicity of roles on different social stages. For each ‘audience’, one offers a somewhat different version of his self. For Goffman, the performance of any social role is literally a performance. In performing a social role, one displays selected behavior that cannot go on continuously and which must, to some extent, consciously or unconsciously, be planned and rehearsed. Just like in a play, performing our social roles require a properly set stage, careful control of actions and the separation of one role from another. In keeping with the metaphor of drama, Goffman moved to dividing an individual’s behavior into two. One is backstage behavior and the other is the onstage behavior. Onstage, the performers are in the presence of their ‘audience’ for a particular role, and they play a relatively ideal conception of a social role. The backstage is where the role performer’s ‘teammates’ relax, rehearse, develop strategies for future performances, and joke about their behaviors onstage (cited in Meyrowitz 1985).             Meyrowitz (1985) adopted Goffman’s belief that social life as a kind of multi-staged drama in which everyone performs different roles in different social arenas, depending on the nature of the situation, one’s particular role in it, and the make up of the audience. According to Meyrowitz, the media creates a ‘middle region’ (between Goffman’s backstage and onstage categories of behavior). According to Meyrowitz media blur the line between the backstage and frontstage behaviors. He added that media tear down unique places that contained specific behaviors. Media create the basis for new group identities (p. 157). According to Meyrowitz (1985) electronic media affect people not mainly through their content. Rather electronic media affect people by changing the situational geography of social life. According to Meyrowitz, the birth of ‘electronic society’ has paved the way for ‘placelessness’. His main argument is that social roles and hierarchies that dictate the ‘place’ of an individual in the society are being altered as electronically mediated communication surpasses the boundaries of physical settings, making these boundaries more penetrable.             Thompson (1994) identified three types of interaction. He named the first type as the ‘face-to-face’ communication. Face-to-face communication happens in a situation where there is co-presence. The flow of information in face-to-face communication is two-way and each participant perform alternate roles. Different symbolic cues can be used by the participants in a face-to-face communication. Thompson identified the next type as the mediated interaction. The mediated interaction makes use of a technical medium like the telephone. In mediated communication the participants are remote in space, in rime or in both. The third type of interaction is what Thompson called as the mediated quasi-interaction. mediated quasi-interaction takes place in mass communication media. It is oriented towards an indefinite range of potential recipients. Mediated quasi-interaction is monological in character and the communication flow in a unidirectional manner. Mediated quasi-interaction creates a particular social situation in which individuals are linked together in a process of communication and symbolic exchange. As a result, the media may be said to have altered the ‘interaction mix’ of social life. Once symbolic forms gain extended availability across time and space the traditional boundary between public and private may be transformed; hence the private domestic setting has become a principal site of mediated publicness (p. 243). The media according to Thompson (1994) open up the possibility of the desequestration of experience, revealing portrayals of experience to which people would not other wise have access in their day-to-day lives. The media, Thompson added, produce a continuous intermingling of different forms of experience, an intermingling that makes the day-to-day lives of most individuals today quite different from the lives of previous generations (p. 227).             Blumer’s (1969) theory of symbolic interactionism focuses on the importance of meaning and interpretation as essential human processes. People create shared meanings through their interactions and those meanings become their reality. Blumer articulated identified three most important arguments as fundamental to symbolic interactionism: <ul style='margin-top:0in' type=square> <li class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:200%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3; tab-stops:list .5in'>Human beings act toward stimuli on the basis of the meanings that these stimuli have for them</li> <li class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:200%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3; tab-stops:list .5in'>The meanings attributed to stimuli arise out of social interactions individuals maintain with members of his or her social world</li> <li class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:200%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3; tab-stops:list .5in'>The meanings attached to the stimuli that the individual encounters are interpreted</li> </ul>       According to interactionism theory, people act individually or in groups in relation to others in specific social environments. In the interactionism theory, the media is seen to contain ‘significant symbols’ that carry meaning. These meanings are not self-evident so they must be learned. Therefore, the individual has a role to play in deciphering media. Each person is at once actor and acted upon.   References   Blumer, H 1946, ‘Elementary collective groupings’, in A. M. Lee (ed.), New       outline of the principles of sociology (pp. 178-198), Barnes & Noble, New   York.   Blumer, H 1969, Symbolic interaction, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.   Cassata, M B & Asante, M K 1979, Mass Communication: Principles and       Practices, Macmillan, New York.   Craig, R T 1999, ‘Communication Theory as a Field’, Communication Theory,       vol. 9, no. 2, p. 132.   Cronen, V E, Pearce, W B and Harris, L M 1982, ‘The Coordinated       Management of Meaning: A Theory of Communication’, in F E X Dance   (ed.), Human Communication Theory: Comparative Essays (pp. 61-89).            Harper & Row, New York.   Devito, J A 1986, The Communication Handbook: A Dictionary, Harper and       Row, New York.   Fiske, J 1990, Introduction to Communication Studies, Routledge, London.   Gerbner, G 1967, ‘An Institutional Approach to Mass Communications       Research’, in L Thayer (ed.), Communication: Theory and Research (pp.    429-445). Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, IL.   Giddens A 1984, The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of       structuration, University of California Press, Berkeley.   Heath, R L & Bryant J 2000, Human Communication Theory and Research.       Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ.   Innis, H A 1951, The Bias of Communication, University of Toronto Press,       Toronto.   Lasswell, H 1948, ‘The structure and function of communication in society’, in       Bryson, L (ed.), The Communication of Ideas, Institute for Religious and    Social Studies, New York; also in Schramm, W , (ed.), 1960, Mass          Communications, University of Illinois Press, Illinois.    McLuhan, M 1964, Understanding Media, McGraw-Hill, New York.   McPhee, R D 1998, ‘Giddens’ Conception of Personal Relationship and Its       Relevance to Communication Theory’, in R L Conville and L E Rogers      (eds.), The Meaning of “Relationship” in Interpersonal Communication (pp            83-106), Prager, Westport, Connecticut.   Meyrowitz J 1985, No sense of place: The impact of electronic media on       social behavior, Oxford University Press, New York.   Perry, D K 1996, Theory and Research in Mass Communication: Contexts       and Consequences, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ.     Scannell, P 2002, ‘History, Media, Communication’, in K B Jensen (ed.), A       Handbook of Media and Communication Research: Qualitative and             Quantitative Methodologies (pp. 191-205), Routledge, London.   Thompson, J 1994, ‘Social Theory and the Media’, in D Crowley & D Mitchell       (eds.), Communication Theory Today, Polity Press, Cambridge.       Wood, A F & Smith, M J 2005, Online Communication, Linking technology,            Identity, and Culture, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ.

Communication and mediated communication

Communication Communications have been described and defined in many ways. Communication is the transmission of thoughts...

Why there is need to study Intercultural Communication and European Studies

Dear Sir: It is important to understand culture especially one that has intercultural implications. When one addresses the topic human, one has to speak of culture, the unique characteristic that separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom or world of living things. Whereas most animals learn and create, the human animal has taken such ability to a level achieved by none other. Culture is the basis for the vast majority of human thought and behavior, along with whatever is produced from these. Culture distinguishes and helps to define the human, just as the wings of the bird or the fins of the fish serve to separate and distinguish these animals. Whereas for other members of the animal world adaptations or adjustments to the physical environment are, for the most part, the result of biological adaptation and inherited physical characteristics, adaptation for humans goes well beyond their biological inheritance. Humans create, learn, and use culture to respond to environment, control it, and even change it. Culture represents that unique ability of the species to gain significant control over aspects of the natural environment and even their own biology, within which the cultural capacity is grounded. Culture is used by people to create the socio cultural environment, to which they must also adjust or adapt. This socio cultural environment can overlie the natural environment (Banks, 1996).   Culture exists in the natural environment, creates the socio cultural environment, and is also used to adapt to both those environments (Ali, 2003). It is used by humans as the mitigating factor between themselves and the environment, to respond to the limitations or problems imposed by the environment that directly affect their survival. No other animal has this capability, and no other animal has created culture. Regardless of where they may be located, all humans have culture. This means that at least on one level, all humans are basically the same not necessarily equal but similar in that they all create and use culture for the same basic purpose. At the same time that culture can be used to characterize humans as a group distinct from other animals, it is also used to differentiate between groups of humans. Because culture represents the primary means by which people live and adjust to the problems and conditions of their environments, it also represents the end result of choices made by them from among all the alternatives that are available to solve their problems, given the particular circumstances in which they find, or create for, themselves (Naylor, 1996). In the context of adapting to particular environments, culture is inextricably tied to change. Within all cultures there must be some provision for coping with, or adjusting or adapting to, new conditions or problems that arise in the natural and socio cultural environments, both of which are always in a state of flux. The ability to change is an essential process if a culture and the people who share it are to survive. Human groups unable to meet the challenges, problems, or pressures of new circumstances are not likely to survive, nor will their cultures (Darder, 1995).    Change has always been an aspect of human culture, but now it means very different things than it did in the past: in the kinds of changes experienced, the circumstances by which change is made necessary, and its scale. In the earlier periods of human history and prehistory, change was not always as apparent as it may be today. In some periods, it appeared to come about very slowly, even imperceptibly in some cases. But as culture developed, and as humans increasingly affected the physical and socio cultural environments through their activities and accomplishments, change became much more extensive and occurred with greater frequency (Weedon, 2004). As populations grew and as civilization made its appearance, things became even more complicated. With increased contacts among groups of people, the scale and speed of change has shifted even more dramatically. With the development of trade, improved transportation and communications, the world of humans became a dependent one. This emphasizes the relationship among change, culture, and contact as never before. To speak of change is to recognize the culture context from which humans function, for although change can come from a great many different sources and address many things, humans deal with it, respond to it, and occasion it based on their cultures. People are different from each other and people do belong to distinct cultural groups which promote distinctive capacities and characteristics. If this were not a reality then there would be no such thing as culture and there would be no need to study intercultural communication. The point is that in intercultural communication it is wise not to impose categories to which one ascribes a person as belonging when one has minimal evidence for this (Davis et al., 2004). Understanding culture will be greatly emphasized by attending the program Intercultural Communication and European Studies. By attending such program one could learn about a different culture. Through the intercultural aspect the attendant would have multiple ideas on culture and this would make him/her more knowledgeable to world affairs.   Sincerely yours, References Ali, S. (2003). Mixed-race, post-race: Gender, new ethnicities,      and cultural practices. New York: Berg.   Banks, M. (1996). Ethnicity: Anthropological constructions.      London: Routledge.   Darder, A. (Eds.). (1995). Culture and difference: Critical perspectives on the bicultural experience in the United States.  Westport, CT:  Bergin & Garvey.   Davis, G.V., Delrez, M., Ledent, B. & Marsden, P.H. (2004). Towards a transcultural future: Literature and society in a post-colonial world. Amsterdam: Rodopi.   Naylor, L.L. (1996). Culture and change: An introduction.      Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey.   Weedon, C. (2004). Identity and culture. Maidenhead, England: Open University Press.

Why there is need to study Intercultural Communication and European Studies

Dear Sir: It is important to understand culture especially one that has intercultural implications. When one addresses the topic human, o...

DIET AND NUTRITION CASE STUDY

DIET AND NUTRITION CASE STUDY   Introduction Mary Browning is 54 year old part-time teaching assistant in a local primary school. She lives at home with her husband  and two cats. She is premenopausal and consults her doctor about feeling tired recently. Clinically the doctor suspected that Mary is a little anemic and arranged some blood tests. Physical examination of Mary Browning revealed nutritional deficiencies and excesses in addition to weight changes. Premenopausal women are at risk of developing iron deficiency anemia. According to one report, 10% of women in their reproductive years have iron deficiencies, and between 2% and 5% have iron levels low enough to cause anemia. The laboratory tests provide an objective data to the nutritional assessments, but because many factors can influence these tests, no single test specifically predicts nutritional risks or measures the presence or degree of nutritional problem. The tests most commonly used are serum proteins, urinary urea nitrogen and creatinine, and total lymphocyte count.   Problem Description According to the diagnosis and results produced by the patient’s doctor, Mary Browning has been diagnosed with anemia, and test results show that she is suffering from iron deficiency anaemia.  This patient is at risk of osteoporosis, due to lower intake of calcium. She really needs to increase potassium (K) and calcium (Ca) intake either by diet and nutrition or medication. The patient’s cholesterol was also high, suggesting glucose intolerance, as well as low density liver protein (LDL) and triglycerol (Trg). This means that she could be heading to Type II diabetes. Therefore, Mary Browning needs to change her diet to a very healthy one, and she needs to cut down on coffee a lot, as well as wine, chocolate and biscuits. Iron deficiency is the most common cause of anaemia, and may be due to increased iron requirement, diminished iron absorption, or both. Iron is essential to the synthesis of hemoglobin. The iron balance in normal individuals is maintained by absorption of the amount of iron that is physiologically lost on a daily basis ( 2004). The first stage of iron deficiency anaemia is iron depletion, in which the loss of iron exceeds the gain and in which storage iron is progressively depleted but haemoglobin and plasma iron remain normal. As storage iron decreases, there is a compensatory increase in absorption of dietary iron and in the level of transferring ( 1998). In the second stage, the stores are exhausted and the available iron is insufficient to meet the needs of the erythoid marrow. The plasma iron level drops progressively and the plasma transferring level continues to increase. The decreasing plasma iron level leads to a progressive decrease in marrow sideroblasts (1998). In the third stage, anaemia begins to develop because of an insufficient supply of iron to the marrow, but there is no discernible change in the peripheral smear or RBC indices despite mild anaemia. In the fourth stage, hypochromic-microcytic changes appear. Microcytosis precedes hypochromia. Finally, in the fifth stage, symptoms and signs of tissue iron deficiency develop ( 1998).             Secondary Osteoporosis results from chronic conditions that contribute significantly to accelerated bone loss. These chronic conditions include endogenous and exogenous thyroxine excess, hyperparathyroidism, malignancies, gastrointestinal diseases, medications, renal failure and connective tissue diseases. Osteoporosis is a common complication of long-term glucocorticoid therapy and is responsive to bisphosphonates in this setting (2001).             Risk factors for osteoporosis includes advanced age, high caffeine intake, being female, low dietary intake of calcium, family history of osteoporosis, smoking, early menopause, estrogen deficiency and lack of exercise or sedentary lifestyle.   Possible Solutions The best way to prevent iron deficiency is to educate oneself about their iron needs and the best iron sources, and to use this knowledge to make sure dietary intake keeps pace with their body's demands. Recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) for men over the age of 19 and women over the age of 51 are 8 mg per day; for women ages 19 to 50, the RDA is 18 mg per day. Mary Browning should be provided the proper diet and support in order to best modify her anemic condition. This diet has to be in line with the nutrients that she needs to take and the ones that she needs to avoid. Along with the right diet, she also has to take medications that will help her fight iron deficiency anemia. Health care personnel made Mary Browning a day to day normal meal schedule. This includes toast with butter, 2-5 cups of coffee in a day, chocolate biscuits, salad sandwich, a cup of tea, lasagne, salad, garlic bread, several glasses of red wine in a day, white wine, cake, digestive biscuits, steak, potatoes, carrots, peas, broccoli, pizza, prawn crackers and some others. The foods that are being ordered for Mary Browning are foods high in specific nutrients required such as iron, calcium, and potassium. Foods that are rich in iron include brown rice, whole wheat bread, potatoes, broccoli, and pizza among others.  Foods that are rich in calcium include broccoli, almonds, canned sardines, and cabbage among many others. Foods that are good sources of potassium include fish such as salmon, cod, flounder, and sardines. Various other meats also contain potassium. Iron is provided by ferrous sulphate or ferrous gluconate. Oral iron is safer than parenteral iron; the rate of response is the same with either route. Parenteral iron should be reserved for patients who do not tolerate or will not take oral iron, or for patients who lose large amounts of blood steadily due to disorders. Mary Browning was advised to take ASA 75 mg od and Bendrofluazide 2.5 mg od as medications. Increasing the milk intake of adolescents has been shown to improve bone mineralization. However, because other nutrients besides calcium are essential for bone health, calcium alone may be insufficient to combat osteoporosis. Unquestionably, adolescents must maintain a dietary balance among calcium, protein, other calorie sources and phosphorus. For example, phosphorus is a substantial component of carbonated drinks, and high phosphorus intake compromises calcium uptake by bone, thereby promoting decreased bone mass ( 2001).             Milk intake of Mary Browning has to be encouraged in order to help improve bone mineralization. As also stated in the previous paragraph, Mary Browning also must maintain a dietary balance among calcium, protein, other calorie sources and phosphorus. Uptake of coke, which is a carbonated drink, can somehow help combat osteoporosis.             Treatment for osteoporosis is actually supportive and specific. Specific treatment is empiric since the exact cause of the disease is unknown. Oral calcium supplements and sex hormones decrease bone resorption and arrest or decrease progression of the disease, but these effects may be partly negated by secondary decrease in bone formation after long term treatment.   Conclusion             Mary Browning’s condition is some sort of a normal response to her premenopause state. This is not a serious illness and can be modified and treated by proper education and eating the right foods. With constant monitoring and proper eating, Mary Browning can overcome her anemic state.

DIET AND NUTRITION CASE STUDY

DIET AND NUTRITION CASE STUDY Introduction Mary Browning is 54 year old part-time teaching assistant in a local primary school. Sh...

Am I getting lucky tonight?”

Am I getting lucky tonight?”

He Says: “I don’t want the night to end. Want to hang out some more?” He Means: “Let’s cut to the chase. Am I getting lucky ...

Management Accounting in the Public Sector

Government accounting has three purposes. Its basic purpose is to safeguard the public treasury by preventing and detecting graft and corruption. The intermediate purpose of government accounting is to facilitate sound financial management. Financial management includes activities such as collecting taxes and other revenues, paying bills, borrowing and repaying debts. In a well-run government, these activities are budgeted or otherwise planned. Their execution through duly authorized transactions is recorded in the financial accounting system. The advanced purpose of government accounting is to help government discharge its public accountability. Public accountability exists in three levels of principal-agent relationship: accountability of the bureaucracy to the chief executive, of the executive to the legislature, and of the government to the people. In order to achieve the three identified purposes, financial accounting and management accounting cannot be so neatly compartmentalized in the public sector, where management accounting refers to budgeting and control, rather than accounting solely in the service of managers. The budge is an expression of public policy and political preferences. It is an instrument of fiscal policy on revenue and spending to achieve macroeconomic objectives. Given their close relationship, it is often difficult to tell where budgeting ends and accounting begins. They reinforce each other in demonstrating and discharging fiscal accountability to the government’s stakeholders, who are more numerous and diverse than the owners of a firm. The absence of ownership in government makes it problematic to apply the accounting equation (assets= liabilities + owners’ equity) and its corollary (profit = revenues – expenses) to the public sector. Unfortunately, the assets and liabilities of the national government of a sovereign state are difficult to identify and harder still to measure in financial terms.Traditionally, the objectives of accounting in the public sector are:·         to provide a financial summary·         to enable detailed comparisons of spending to be made with the budget·         to allow the identification of spending to ensure it complies with the law and other legal authorities·         to provide the basis for the next budgetOver the years, the objectives of accounting in the public sector have evolved and now it is used to accomplish the following:·         to inform the stakeholders bout the financial situation of the government·         to provide possible investors with information about credit worthiness·         to aid management decision making·         to identify assets and liabilities ·         to facilitate democratic transparency

Management Accounting in the Public Sector

Government accounting has three purposes. Its basic purpose is to safeguard the public treasury by preventing and detecting gra...

Assignment exercises essay instructions

Assignment 1 Due date: 6th September 2007 Represents: 25% of assessment Requirements Nature: Individual or Group (no more than 2) assignment. Format: Topic Specific exercises Word length: No more than 2,000 words for individual assignments and 4,000 words for group assignments. That is no more than 1,000 words per exercise. Diagrams are not part of the word count.. Submission: This assignment must be submitted electronically on DSO by on-campus and offcampus students by 11:59pm on the due date (please refer to unit guide). In addition, on-campus students must submit a hard copy to the Deakin Business School assignment box located in the Toorak campus by the due date. Since the DBS office closes at 5pm , submissions after 5pm and before 9am the next morning will still be accepted. Topic Specific Exercises: There are 4 exercises set out below. Students who are submitting individual assignments must complete questions 1and 2 while those submitting group assignments (groups of 2) must complete questions 1-4. Use diagrams wherever possible in your answers. Exercise 1 The price-quantity data in the following table will graph a straight line demand curve. Use both the elasticity measure and the total revenue curve to determine the elasticity of demand for each price change. What can you conclude about the relationship between the slope of the demand curve and its elasticity ? Answer the question using both numerical and graphical methods. Product Price ($) Quantity Demanded Total Revenue($) 7 0 6 1 5 2 4 3 3 3 2 4 1 5 Exercise 2 The demand curve for a monopolist is: P= 490 –2Q Thus marginal revenue (MR) is : MR= 490 - 4Q and total cost (TC) is TC=20+10Q +2Q2 Thus marginal cost (MC) is MC= 10 +4Q a) Solve for the profit maximizing level of output and price for the monopolist. Calculate the profit b) Draw a graph labeling the profit-maximizing level of output and price. Label profit on the graph as well. Exercise 3 The demand for automobiles in a certain country is given by D = 15,000 – 200P where P is the price of a car. Supply by domestic automobile producers is S = 5,000+ 50 P. a)Assuming that the economy is closed, find the equilibrium price and production of automobiles b) The economy opens to trade. The world price of automobiles is 30. Find the domestic quantities demanded and supplied and the quantity of imports or exports. Who wil1 favour the opening of the automobile market to trade, and who will oppose it? c) The government imposes a tariff of 5 units per car. Find the effects on domestic 'quantities demanded and supplied and on the quantity of import or export. Also find the revenue raised by the tariff. Who wil1 favour the imposition of the tariff, and who wil1 oppose it? Exercise 4. Consider the following game. Assume it is played one time and one time only. The game represents the collusive agreements of two countries who agree to fix the output of oil. Payoffs to the two countries ( i.e. profit to Country A and profit to Country B) are represented as follows: Country B Country A Collude: limit output Defect: increase output Collude: limit output ( 900 , 600) (700, 800) Defect: increase output (1100 , 300) (800, 400) Payoff Order: (A, B) i.e. in each cell the first number belongs to Country A and the second number belongs to Country B. Answer the following questions: a) Does Country B have a dominant strategy? If so, to do what? Does Country A have a dominant strategy? If so, to do what? b) Solve for the Nash Equilibrium of the game. c) Is this game a prisoner’s dilemma? Explain why or why not?

Assignment exercises essay instructions

Assignment 1 Due date: 6 th September 2007 Represents: 25% of assessment Requirements Nature: Individual or Group (no more than 2)...

SUPERIOR SUBORDINATION RELATIONSHIP

Superior subordination relationship   Proposed Title: Superior Subordinate Relationship: A Research Study On Management and Organization Leadership   This research will proposal will have specific aims as well as objectives, for the aims, research will need to focus on management and organization leadership essay integrating superior subordinate relationships forming in specific example scenarios as found in the organization through which leadership is valued upon. This research will provide good research materials to several business executives and managers as well as to the readers of the piece.   Research rationale The rationale can be to conceptualize and test alternative perspectives of superior-subordinate relationships by means of incorporating levels of analysis in research assimilation and vigor. It can be that, superior-subordinate relationships characterize leadership driven organizations as responsible for the work functions as well as its related accountability. The subordinates must face their feelings of dependency and vulnerability in order to create successful organization centered relationship. Thus, some ideal parameters of influence and responsibility is useful for effective superior-subordinate relationships, from within successful organization duly integrating business culture values.   The objectives are: To be able to recognize and analysis literature resources pertaining to the topic and to be able to do imperative research investigation with specific case situations from such chosen organizations, and the need to give in practical generalizations and recommendations as deemed important to achieve research relevance and spontaneity.   Research Questions can deal with superior relationships determination and acceptance of the phenomenon  <li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%"> What does superior-subordinate relationship mean in leadership organizations?</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%"> How is it analyzed, applied and realized to form effective management process?</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%">  What are some of the advantages as well as disadvantages?</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%"> How to positively execute superior-subordinate relationships in the organization? Discuss and explore</li>   Literature Overview Ideally, proponents  (1983) have “analyze the superior-subordinate relationship as an exchange to which each party brings different needs and resources. They point out that this type of relationship can be productive and satisfying into the organization”. There was then a checklist for analyzing how the superior-subordinate relationship operates as an exchange and how the resources fail to mesh. Furthermore,  (1983) have suggested several steps for managing the superior relationship  as there moves from certain change, it can be recognizing that the relationship is an exchange as well as identifying clear organization needs also, the understanding of how the subordinate's and boss's needs fit together and recognizing that the relationship is likely to assume change further, there can be understanding of constraints, boss does operate and the establishing of better feedback and evaluation process for the assessment of the relationship ways. Methodology The core methodology can be utilizing qualitative narrative approach supporting in case study analysis as well as unstructured interviews towards the organization managers or head it can be sets of interview indirectly asked to the respondents comprising of at least ten respondents to arrive at simple response interpretations. Moreover, even if superior-subordinate relationship is complex, it might be filled with case opportunities evaluating meaningful and productive subordinate relationships. Thus, the superior as well as the subordinate's understanding of the complexity of authority lays the groundwork for reflective inquiry by superiors and risk taking by subordinates. Truly, it is a fact that without both good superiors and good subordinates’ organization leadership and management stance will suffer rapidly. Therefore, there is ample importance to acknowledge that this type of relationship will amiably require careful leadership and management competencies in recognizing relationship foundation and success.  (1983), : managing the superior/subordinate relationship.     11(4):46-64.

SUPERIOR SUBORDINATION RELATIONSHIP

Superior subordination relationship Proposed Title: Superior Subordinate Relationship: A Research Study On Management and Organizati...

Characterization Technique for Chocolate

Characterization Technique for Chocolate   Introduction             Due to the strong competition among industries today, many business organizations and producers focus and come up with strategies and innovations, which would improve and develop their products. Such products include food and dairy products, and chocolate among others. The high demand of consumers for chocolate and other sweet products enable manufacturers and producers to come up with innovative ways on improving quality control and the character of chocolates. With this, this paper discusses a specific technique in improving the characterization of chocolate, which would be useful in enhancing its quality control.     Technique Chosen: Terahertz Time Domain Spectroscopy              (2006) reports that quality inspection gains more and more importance in food industry, particularly in chocolate production, and with this process, contamination from different sources are being detected using metal detectors. However, the use of metal detectors is not very efficient, for its spatial resolution is not very high. Because of this, many chocolate products are being wasted, rejected and discarded, as only a number are contaminated and some are not. With this problem, it was pointed out that the goal of lowering the high rejection rates could be accomplished in using a higher spatial resolution, which could even detect non-metallic contaminations, such as stones that come from natural products, or glass particles (2006).   With this problem at hand, many industries expressed the belief of using terahertz or THz waves, which may be used in collaboration with other techniques to determine chocolate contamination. Terahertz or THz waves, specifically, the process of terahertz time domain spectroscopy can be used because it can obtain images of samples, which are opaque in the visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum (2006). This process can be used to identify chocolate contamination because chocolate is has high absorbance and thick, which would make THz radiation applicable (2006). In addition, because the consistency and physical characteristics of chocolate, such as its color and viscosity, would make contamination invisible, THz time domain spectroscopy would be a possible solution for detection, with the use of the radiation it emits. In this way, the quality control of such products will be improved, to further meet the demands and expectations of its consumers.     Basis for Chosen Technique, Advantages and Disadvantages             Due the presence of contamination in the chocolate products, detection must be improved to ensure the high standard quality of the chocolates. In addition, because of the inefficiency and waste brought about by the use of the present detection methods, the use of terahertz radiation for the Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy or THz TDS was applied.  (2006) reports that Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy is an original technique in the field of non-destructive and contact less testing, wherein short electromagnetic pulses with a frequency content between 50 GHz and 2.5 THz are employed to characterize different sample materials. In addition, an optoelectronic approach is used to generate THz radiation, wherein short optical pulses from a femtosecond laser excite photoconductive dipole antennas, and on the emitter side a short current pulse is generated, which radiates according to Maxwell’s equations of an electromagnetic wave, producing the THz pulse. The THz waveform is scanned by delaying the two laser pulses in the emitter and detector arm with respect to each other, and every position of the delay line provides a certain time delay that gives one single point of the THz waveform, which would enable THz pulses to be obtained. Moreover, contamination of the chocolate samples can be measured using the THz images, which contains time-domain data including the temporal shift of the pulse maximum or frequency-domain data such as the integrated intensity in a certain frequency interval, and in this way, THz imaging measurement yields many images with different information. Using THz pulses, contamination can be detected, for the graph or pulses can show the differences between the composition of the chocolate samples (2006).             This process or technique is beneficial or advantageous because primarily, THz radiation is not ionizing due to its low photon energy and is therefore completely harmless (2006). Unlike other X-rays, THz radiation is safe for biological tissues, and images formed with it can have relatively good resolution, being less than 1 millimeter (2006). This means the use of this kind of radiation poses no threat or effect on the chocolate products, therefore, will not affect human consumption. It also suggests that the images formed using the process will be essential in quality control, manufacturing, packaging and process monitoring. Secondly, chocolate bars are relatively transparent for THz radiation, since they contain mostly fat with only a very low content of water, and contaminations including small stones, screws or glass splinters act as scattering objects in terms of the wavelength and change the shape of the measured pulse (2006). As mentioned, due to the color, viscosity and opaqueness of chocolate, it would be difficult to detect contaminations easily, so with the use of the process, detection would be possible without contact. In line with this is the last advantage, wherein due to the pulsed nature of the radiation, one can draw comparisons to ultrasound, for compared to conventional metal-detectors and ultrasound techniques, terahertz time-domain spectroscopy is able to sense non-metallic items without contact ( 2006).             However, despite its advantages are the disadvantages or limitations, which may largely affect the result of the process. First, the process depends on the alignment and positioning of the emitters and detector arms, so slight misalignment will significantly shift the relative phase of the electric field components ( 2005). Another disadvantage is that the collection of data depends on time, so without proper timing, the efficiency of detection might be lessened. With these limitations, the use of the process should be carefully evaluated to ensure the gathering of reliable results.         Other Techniques Used             Another useful technique capable of characterization of chocolate is Differential Scanning Calorimetry or DSC, which is a complex program with multiple heating, cooling and isothermal steps that can be easily constructed and utilized to simulate real-life processing conditions (2000). The power compensated DSC gives a number of advantages in chocolate analysis, as the design of the sample and reference low mass furnaces yields very close control over the sample environment, which allows the DSC to produce specific and accurate thermal treatments for reliable material comparison or to investigate effects of changes in processing conditions. In addition, its sensitivity to small changes makes it an ideal tool to identify sample characteristics or processing changes ( 2000). With Differential Scanning Calorimetry, detection of unnecessary objects in the products can be obtained, for the melting point of chocolate is lower than solid contaminations.               Another characterization technique used is Size Exclusion Chromatography, which is a well-established characterization technique for products with high viscosity even at low concentration, such as chocolate. Through this technique, along with low angle light scattering, refractive index and viscometer detectors, several aspects can be measured, including molecular weight distribution, viscosity, molecular size, molecular architecture and cumulative weight fraction ( 2007). Using Size Exclusion Chromatography, contamination will be detected, as each particle present will be known, and if ever, unnecessary particles will be present, the molecular weight, viscosity, and concentration of the product will be altered. The alteration of the chocolate sample will be the indicator of the presence of contaminations in the products.       Performance of Technique based on the Micro Structure of Product             Results of the technique show that metal, stone, or glass contaminations can be detected in chocolate bars with a spatial resolution of less than 1 millimeter, where the transmitted intensity for glass and stone contaminations is lower due to higher absorption and scattering losses. Metal, on the other hand, reflects all THz radiation, which decreases the transmitted intensity, and even if the chocolate is measured in its own original plastic package, the contamination is clearly visible. Plastic foil is nearly transparent to THz radiation, while aluminum foil reflects all THz radiation and thus cannot be investigated using the process (2006). Through the process, manufacturers will be able to examine and improve quality control of their products, given the speed and efficiency in producing the data and the scanning of the products. This process would help many chocolate manufacturers in detecting solid contaminations and reducing wastes. This would also improve the quality of products, as each chocolate bars or samples will have consistency in terms of content, weight and quality.             Moreover, results of the data show that if there are any contaminations inside the chocolate bar, like a stone or a glass splinter on the scale of millimeters, the THz pulses produce a different shape, where two smaller pulses appear close to each other, which are generated by two portions of the main THz pulse. One part of the pulse travels aside the contamination, and the second part travels through the contamination, which experiences a time delay due to the higher refractive index of the glass splinter or the small stone. Since the first THz pulse is smaller than the main one, a dip occurs in the sum of two line scans indicating the contamination ( 2006). Based on the results of the pulse, contamination will be detected effectively and efficiently because as the products pass through the detectors, quality control personnel will be able to detect the presence of unnecessary items in the products using the reading of the pulse. In this way, wastes will be lessened and quality of the products will be improved simultaneously.   Effect of Microstructure of Chocolate on its Quality              (2000) reports that the microstructure of the sucrose in the chocolate was considered critical, for it determines many of the physical properties of the material, such that the microstructure of cocoa butter and other fats have fractal dimensions from both rheological data and image analysis taken using polarized-light microscopy, which measures the spatial distribution of crystals in the chocolate. This fractal dimension of the crystal network is an indicator of hardness in relation to heat flow. Making chocolate, thus, involves precise control of the temperature, time, and shear history of material in a tempering process, such that when it is heated too high, and not cooled in a correct way, it will set in an untempered form. In addition, tempering or the process of controlled crystallization is a crucial step in chocolate production, such that tempered chocolate shrinks on cooling and comes away readily from the mold, while untempered chocolate does not ( 2000). With this, manufacturers depend on the microstructure and temperature in making chocolate for it largely affects chocolate quality. The untempered form of chocolate is not attractive to consumers, being spotted and marked due to strong fat bloom, has a coarse taste, and the melting point of some of the crystals is above the temperature of the mouth, making its mouth-feel less pleasant. On the other hand, tempered chocolate is glossy to the eye, and melts in the mouth (2000).   Conclusion             The use of the Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy is one helpful technique in determining the contaminants in chocolate products. The use of this technique must be developed further to help lessen wastage and improve the quality control of chocolate manufacturing companies. In this way, they can meet the standards and focus on the satisfaction and loyalty of their customers.

Characterization Technique for Chocolate

Characterization Technique for Chocolate Introduction Due to the strong competition among industries today, many busi...