Bye Bye Brazil :: essays research papers

Summary I really enjoyed watching the film Bye, Bye Brazil. I found it to be amusing as well as heartbreaking. I loved Gypsy Lorde. His character had the charisma bordering that of a male chauvinist pig to that of a gentleman. I liked the way the director used symbolic images to get his point across to the audience. I think if I had not done research on the Internet for most of our assignments as well as reading the textbook, I would have found the movie very educational. I had no questions after watching the film. However, it did make me realize how the majority of cultures will assimilate during the process of change, losing a little if not the majority of their traditions that were establish decades ago. Bye, Bye Brazil (1980), a film by Carlos Diegues, tells a story about the struggle of two couples trying to find their dreams in a country, Brazil, that is being overcome by social changes and undergoing massive technological transformations. United by their dreams, the couples travel through the backlands of Brazil in a truck, to seek places where they can not only make a living, but also find their dreams. The insights gained in the course of the journey are insights of both acceptance and change. The main character, the accordionist Cico, starts by joining the Carnival Rolidei as means of breaking out of his suffocating town, and from his pre-determined course of life. The character Gypsy Lorde is portrayed as an ambitious and cynical manager without scruples who is reluctant to see the changes around him. Salome, Gypsy Lorde companion, is as cynical as he, but transmits an air of quiet resignation to the fact that things are changing, whether they like it or not. The fourth character Dasdo, Cico’s wife, is very plain looking compared to Salome, very quiet, and passive. Like Salome, Dasdo also quietly resigns to the fact things are changing but she also tries to give an array of hope that the Carnival will survive and prosper. Bye, Bye Brazil unites in its characters and situations the same elements, which are part of the many processes that are transforming Brazil. The carnival travels from poor town to another. You can see the surprise and disgust of the characters as they move from one part of Brazil to another. Finding that either the young have left behind their old for modernization or that the town people have been captivated by the magic and illusions presented by television.

Labor Relations Essay

In reviewing information pertaining to labor unions, there is a plethora of information about unions in the transportation industry. One of the most widely known unions is the teamster unions, which deals with truckers. Labor unions and issues with automotive industry are often seen in the media. The newest transportation industry in American history is the airline industry. As the newest transportation industry that is still vital to American comfort, convenience, and commercial, the airline industry is ripe for workers to organize and demand a greater piece of the profits from operations. In this essay, an effort will be made to review this company in regards to labor relations. Company’s stance toward Labor Delta Airlines was founded by C. E. Woolman, an agriculture extension agent (Anthony, Kacmar, & Perrewe, 2010). C. E Woolman was not a banker, venture capitalist or war pilot, as many of the competing airlines were. He didn’t have the aggressive military style that many of the other airline founders had. What C. E. Woolman instilled within the employees at all levels of the organization is that people matter and should be treated fairly and equitably. This philosophy led Delta Airlines to be the leader in customer service from the company’s inception through the many mergers over the years. Through the difficult financial times when other airlines were laying off employees and filing for bankruptcy, Delta continued to pay their people well and keep them employed. There was an exception during the Ronald Allen CEO era of 1987 thru 1997. Human relations took a significant down turn during his tenure as CEO, especially during 1993 and 1994, but Delta decided to part ways with Allen and began repairing those fragile relationships with its employees. Delta Airlines still focuses on the human relations factor and has been able to repair the relationship with its employees; they believe it is their key to success. Despite the corporate culture to take care of its employees, a number of Delta employee departments are unionizing. They feel as though that piece is not being distributed justly. Formulate a strategy for negotiating a labor agreement Human behavior dictates that there will be problems. As a company starts making money, there is always a desire by the employees to acquire more of the profit. On the other hand, management has a desire to retain as much of the profit to be provided to investors and to receive bonuses for their â€Å"supposedly† wise business practices. When one group wants more and another wants to retain, there will be conflict. And this is precisely what is happening at Delta Airline, as well as among many industries in the transportation arena. Employees, seeking to gain an upper hand threaten to strike; however, management must be willing to address the matter through negotiation. The Negotiation Process Fisher and Ury recommend conducting negotiations according to the process of â€Å"principled negotiation. † Their method has four main tenets: 1. Separate the people from the problem. The idea should be for both sides to work together to attack a problem, rather than attacking each other. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to overcome emotional responses and set aside egos. 2. Focus on interests rather than positions. The natural tendency in many negotiations—for example, dickering over the price to be paid for an antique—is for both sides to state a position and then move toward middle ground. Fisher and Ury warn against confusing people’s stated positions with their underlying interests, and claim that positions often tend to obscure what people truly hope to gain through negotiation. 3. Generate a variety of options before deciding what to do. The pressure involved in any type of negotiation tends to narrow people’s vision and inhibit their creativity, making it difficult to find optimal solutions to problems. Instead, Fisher and Ury suggest developing a wide range of possible solutions as part of the negotiating process. These possible solutions should attempt to advance shared interests and reconcile differences. 4. Base the result on objective criteria. No one will be happy with the result of a negotiation if they feel that they have been taken advantage of. The solution is to find and apply some fair standard to the problem in order to guarantee a mutually beneficial result. Fisher and Ury’s principles provide a good overall guide for the actual negotiation process. In his book, Nierenberg offered a number of other tips and strategies that may be effective in promoting successful negotiations. For example, it may be helpful to ask questions in order to form a better understanding of the needs and interests of the other side. The questions must be phrased diplomatically and timed correctly in order to avoid an antagonistic response. The idea is to gain information and uncover basic assumptions without immediately taking positions. Nierenberg stressed the importance of listening carefully to the other side’s responses, as well as studying their facial expressions and body language, in order to gain quality information. Nierenberg noted that good negotiators will employ a variety of means to accomplish their objectives. Small business owners should be aware of some of the more common strategies and techniques that they may see others apply or may wish to apply themselves. One common strategy is forbearance, or â€Å"patience pays,† which covers any sort of wait or delay in negotiations. If one side wishes to confer in private, or adjourn briefly, they are employing a strategy of forbearance. Another common strategy is to present a fait accompli, or come to a final offer and leave it up to the other side to decide whether to accept it. In a simple example, a small business owner may scratch out one provision in a contract that he or she finds unacceptable, then sign it and send it back. The other party to the contract then must decide whether to accept the revised agreement. Nierenberg warns that this strategy can be risky, and encourages those who employ it to carefully appraise the consequences first. Another possible negotiating strategy is reversal, which involves taking a position that seems opposed to the original one. Similarly, feinting involves apparently moving in one direction in order to ivert attention from the true goal. For example, a negotiator may give in on a point that is not very important in order to make the real objective more attainable. Another strategy involves setting limits on the negotiation, whether with regards to time, the people involved, or other factors. It is also possible to change the participation in the negotiation if it seems to be at an impasse. For example, a neutral third party may be enlisted to help, or one or two people from each side may be sent off to continue the negotiation separately. It may also be helpful to break down the problem into small pieces and tackle them one by one. Another strategy might be to trade sides for a short time and try to view the situation from each other’s perspective. All of these techniques may be applied either to gain advantage or to push forward a negotiation that has apparently reached an impasse. Analyze the principle economic and administrative issues The airline industry is a fast growing sector demonstrating a very strong growth rate. It is associated with a number of social and economic benefits and is a growing contributor to the global inventory (Whitelegg, 2000). Business cycles have a wide reaching impact on the airline industry; during recession, air travel was considered a luxury and therefore spending is cut which leads to reduced prices. The industry creates its impact not just by providing direct employment, but also through the creation of opportunities throughout the travel and hospitality sector of the economy. Jobs in hotels, resorts, restaurants and car rental agencies are all impacted by the airline industry (Global Airline Industry Program, 2011). The airline industry itself is a major economic force, both in terms of its own operations and its impacts on related industries such as aircraft manufacturing and tourism. There are few industries that create the amount and intensity of attention that airlines receive, not only among its participants but from government policy makers and the media as well. The crucial issues on the table vary depending on whether the person is in management or is a worker. For management, the key to retain as much money as possible, while for the workers the goal is to obtain more of the profit. Thus, in management, the argument would be made to show how much money is used to provide employee insurances and benefits, reinvest in equipment and aircraft, general property and liability. On top of that, investors must be repaid. For the employee or worker, this is a stressful environment where the employee needs to be compensated for his work-related stress. Employee paid benefits continues to decrease, and the employee is forced to pay a disproportionate share. Thus, the employee needs more money just to live at a sustainable level. Recommend policies and procedures to administer a labor contract and resolve disputes. It is of utmost importance to resolve conflict expeditiously and justly for all parties involved. Thus, I would recommend the following policies as a means to resolve disputes: When a team oversteps the mark of healthy difference of opinion, resolving conflict requires respect and patience. The human experience of conflict involves our emotions, perceptions, and actions; we experience it on all three levels, and we need to address all three levels to resolve it. We must replace the negative experiences with positive ones. Acknowledge the conflict – The conflict has to be acknowledged before it can be managed and resolved. The tendency is for people to ignore the first signs of conflict, perhaps as it seems trivial, or is difficult to differentiate from the normal, healthy debate that teams can thrive on. If you are concerned about the conflict in your team, discuss it with other members. Once the team recognizes the issue, it can start the process of resolution. †¢ Discuss the impact – As a team, discuss the impact the conflict is having on team dynamics and performance. Agree to a cooperative process – Everyone involved must agree to cooperate in to resolve the conflict. This means putting the team first, and may involve setting aside your opinion or ideas for the time being. If someone wants to win more than he or she wants to resolve the conflict, you may find yourself at a stalemate. †¢ Agree to communicate – The most important thing throughout the resolution process is for everyone to keep communications open. The people involved need to talk about the issue and discuss their strong feelings. Active listening is essential here because to move on you eed to really understand where the other person is coming from. Determine the most likely interest dispute and determine how you could leverage economic pressure to help resolve that dispute. â€Å"There is no way to overstate the role â€Å"leverage† plays when it comes to achieving favorable settlements. Leverage is defined as: â€Å"positional advantage; the power to act effectively; strategic advantage†. Stated more simply, your leverage is whatever power you have† (Cory, 2011). Leverage is usually more about situational advantage than objective strength or power. For example, a single individual or small business may have few resources relative to a large corporation but still have situational advantage by virtue of being able to compel the larger corporation to appear and answer in a favorable venue. Likewise even when there is a legitimate claim which could result in a significant loss to the defendant, if the plaintiff does not have the resources or the fortitude to stay the course, then the defendant has the situational advantage by virtue of being able to delay and wait the plaintiff out. Leverage can be real or imagined. Your actual leverage at any point in time is based only on the other side’s perception of your leverage (which can obviously differ significantly from the actual facts). There are obviously situations where you have an information advantage, such as when you know about a weakness in your case that is not yet known by the other side. In such a situation you will, perhaps only briefly, appear to have more leverage than you actually do. Likewise, you can be at an information disadvantage such as when you mistakenly think that the other side has a stronger case than they actually do. There are also situations where you mistakenly think that your case is stronger than it actually is which occurs when for one reason or another you don’t have all the facts, or when the facts have not been accurately relayed to you. But regardless of your actual leverage, if there is no fear on the other side, you have little if any effective leverage (Cory, 2011).

Roman Technology And Inventions Of The Roman Century

Roman Technologies and Inventions Joe Schwabacher Mr. L. 10/26/15 History Outline for Roman Technology - Joe Schwabacher I. Introduction II. Background III. Roman Technologies A. Roman Technology in Health B. Roman Technology in Architecture 1. New Ways to Build 2. New Things to Build 3. What an Average Home Might Look Like a) Homes for the Rich b) Homes for the Less Rich C. Roman Technology in Business 1. Technologies in Trading 2. Technologies in the Production of Crafts D. Roman Technology in the Arts 1. Music 2. Art E. Roman Technology in Agriculture F. Roman Technology in War 1. Roman War Strategy 2. Instruments of War IV. Daily Life A. The daily life of merchants B. The daily life of farmers C. The daily life of the rich D. The daily life of the poor V. How Roman Technology Changed Everyday Life A. Differences for Romans (what could they do which was new?) B. Long-Lasting Effects on Society VI. Conclusion Thesis: Although Roman innovations were very groundbreaking, they still had the ability to affect small parts of everyday life. The Roman Empire lasted for about four hundred years, ranging from around 27BCE to 396CE. During this time they made many revolutionary advancements in technology. Over said length of time, many improvements were utilized in architecture, math, trading/business, tools and medicine, just to name a few practices. The Romans not only built off of previous knowledge they received from their ancestors, but alsoShow MoreRelatedThe Roman Empire And Modern Technology1476 Words   |  6 PagesThe Roman Empire left a legacy that still continues to affect people with modern technology. The Romans’ technology might have not been as advanced as modern technology today, but they still managed to caused great impact over the ancient people. The Roman Empire’s inventions and innovations such as indoor plumbing, aqueducts, and construction of roads and buildings with their fast drying will always be notable attention because they managed to acquire extensive progress without modern met hods. HoweverRead MoreImportant Inventions Of Ancient History915 Words   |  4 Pageslook at important inventions in ancient history. We will explore their impact and see what kind of consequences they have had on the people around them. !!!Technology and Inventions When you and I hear about technology, we usually think about things like computers and phones. But did you know that technology has existed since the beginning of history? __Technology__ is simply using knowledge for practical purposes. Technology means using knowledge to make a task easier. Inventions are important piecesRead MoreHow Did The Technology Of Roman Empire Impact It?1741 Words   |  7 Pagesand the Roman Empire started to gain strength. They broke treaties and conquered neighboring countries. They revised battle tactics, weapons, legions, but mostly technology to emerge as an undisputed leader of the Mediterranean. The Roman Empire was eager to find new ways, new technology, to help the empire grow beyond imaginable. Arches, military weapons, and basic technology were all created by the Empire. However, the question trying to be answered is, â€Å"How did the technology of Roman Empire impactRead MoreHan And Roman Attitudes Towards Technology1411 Words   |  6 Page sThe Han and Romans attitudes towards technology resembled each other in a variety of ways like how both empires allowed non-government workers to practice engineering and other crafts that dealt with technology. However, during the first century of B.C.E the Han and Roman empires had many differences with their attitudes towards technology. For example, the Roman empire was against engineering and advancements in technology as it had government officials speak out against engineering and being aRead MoreTechnological Advancements Of Ancient Rome1703 Words   |  7 Pagesof Ancient Rome The Romans were extraordinary builders and professional civil engineers, and their flourishing civilization formed developments in technology, culture and architecture that endured for centuries. Ancient Rome had several qualities that made their civilization successful but most importantly through the advancements of technology and innovations that flourished throughout the ages that are still used in today’s society. The legacy lives through the inventions of the aqueducts, concreteRead MoreThe Technology And Advancements Of Middle Ages886 Words   |  4 PagesThe technology and advancements of Middle Ages have often been misrepresented throughout the years. The excruciating amount of effort to create a book that skillfully describes the aforementioned innovations could overwhelm any author. However, renowned historians and authors, Frances and Joseph Gies, a dynamic couple, successfully collaborated on several books on the medieval history, including the book, Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel, which is the subject of discussion and review. Within theRead MoreRome: Engineering an Empire812 Words   |  4 Pagesthe unrivalled power of technology to make the Roman Empire span across three continents and many centuries. While the contributions of ambition, conquest and other political and militaristic factors remain important for the Roman Republic to transform into an Empire, none of this could have been possible without the immense contribution of engineering and technology. In this essay, we shall look into three engineering feats that I believe were crucial in building the Roman Empire. We shall be makingRead MoreContributions Of African And World Civilizations Essay980 Words   |  4 PagesArmy. He took over at the age of 26. Some of the tactics that he used that were so successful and are used today are taking out and surrounding the enemy with a combined forced of infantry and cavalry. His most famous battle was at Cannae and the Romans lost 5 0,000 to 70,000 people while Hannibal only lost about 4,000 men. He is also studied for his leadership throughout his reign. He had great strategic and tactical ideas that allowed him to win but he also knew how to lead people. His wins allowedRead MoreIf Rome Never Fell2888 Words   |  12 Pagestimes. Roman achievements such as aqueducts, thermal spas, roads, and the use of concrete are often highlighted to show how advanced technologically Rome was. Think of the film Gladiator and its depiction of the advanced coliseum. But imagine if Rome had never fallen. Would modern society be more advanced today? Quite the contrary would be true. It is actually medieval technology and society that progressed more rapidly than that of Rome, and if it weren’t for the fall of Rome, technology would haveRead MoreThe Great Differences Between Ancient Greece And Rome And Modern Life1200 Words   |  5 PagesMax Swan Dr. D World Civ F Block 6/8/15 Civ Talk Civilizations have always been shaped by their technological advances. Whether it was the invention of the printing press or the creation of the personal computer, technology has had a massive impact on the development of mankind. Technology has brought us the ability to educate, heal, and radically improve the lives of the average person. But, if we strip away our cars and planes, our cell phones and our computers, are we that different than

Personal Narrative My Fathers Death Essay - 730 Words

My father passed away in 1991, two weeks before Christmas. I was 25 at the time but until then I had not grown up. I was still an ignorant youth that only cared about finding the next party. My role model was now gone, forcing me to reevaluate the direction my life was heading. I needed to reexamine some of the lessons he taught me through the years. One of the earliest memories I have of my father is when he would take me to the park and we would play baseball. My father was eager to teach me everything he knew about the game, and I was eager to learn. He took it easy on me at first, allowing me to overcome my fear of being hit by the ball. Each time we went back to the park he would throw the ball a little harder. It was not long†¦show more content†¦I began to rebel and grades were no longer as important to me as they were to my father. My grades slipped to a C average, and that was not good enough. Instead of getting upset, my father encouraged me to apply myself. It too k a couple of years, but he made me realize the importance of school, and that I only had one shot at doing it right. I graduated high school in the top ten percent of my class, thanks to my father. As I entered my teen years, my father expected more out of me than just being a good student. Dad always seemed to have projects going on around the house, and I became his helper. It did not matter what the project was, he always seemed to need my help and I was not happy about that. I had better things to do than wasting a weekend working around the house. Somehow my dad knew how to do everything and felt it was his job to teach all of it to me. I was a teenager and had all of the knowledge I would ever need, so I thought. As it turned out, most of the skills I obtained helping my father led me to a rather lucrative career in manufacturing a few years later. Dad was a very stable man, holding the same job at an office furniture retailer for 25 years. In 1985 he decided to take a chan ce and open his own furniture business, a retail store that competed for sales with the very store where he spent most of his life working. It did not take long to make the new venture a success. Most of my father’s customers from hisShow MoreRelatedEssay about Baldwins Notes to a Native Son1712 Words   |  7 PagesJames Arthur Baldwin helps to bring about one of the main points of his essay, â€Å"Notes of a Native Son.† Baldwin’s composition was published in 1955, and based mostly around the World War II era. This essay was written about a decade after his father’s death, and it reflected back on his relationship with his father. At points in the essay, Baldwin expressed hatred, love, contempt, and pride for his father, and Baldwin broke down this truly complex relationship in his analysis. In order to do thisRead MoreSandra Cisneros And Reyna Grande’S Representation Of Their1220 Words   |  5 Pagesdo not recognize transnational identit ies. To begin, in the jigsaw autobiography A House of My Own (2015) Cisneros mediates between her experience of growing up in Chicago, excavating into her Mexican father’s family history, being perceived as a gringa in Mexico and as working class writer. In â€Å"An Ofrenda for My Father on Day of the Dead† Cisneros stresses the fundamental contributions that her father’s Mexican lineage added to her identity formation. Her father was a Mexican by birth and afterRead MoreAn Analysis Of The Boat By Alistair Macleod1343 Words   |  6 Pagesexcited, with the narrator commenting that â€Å"They repeated ‘the boat’ at the end of all their questions and I knew it must be very important to everyone† (Macleod 263). This begins the narrator’s dawning realization that he is expected to follow in his father’s footsteps or risk disappointing those who matter to him most. As time goes on, the narrator and his sisters realize that their tru e passions involve receiving a higher education and attending a university outside of their small fishing communityRead MoreAnalysis Of H Is For Hawk By Helen Macdonald1053 Words   |  5 Pagesby Helen MacDonald. In her novel, MacDonald interweaves the information she researched about falconry and TH White, with the story of her struggling to cope with the death of her father. I found it interesting how she clearly connected three seemingly very different topics, her personal narrative of dealing with her father’s death, information on falconry, and a biographical account of TH White’s life.. When discussing a memory of spending the day with her father when she was nine years old, MacDonaldRead MoreEssay about Baldwins Writing Style in Notes to a Native Son1507 Words   |  7 PagesRegrettable James Baldwin is known to be one of the best essay writers in the twentieth century who wrote on a few topics including race, discrimination, sexuality and most of all his personal experiences. In â€Å"Notes of a Native Son†, he uses two main strategies to get his point across. First, he likes to tell a story in a narrative view. Following is normally his analysis of the event. He describes the event and then gives his theory on the matter. By doing this, he grants the reader a chance to decipherRead More Narrative and Opinion in Notes of a Native Son Essay1912 Words   |  8 Pagesis most often cited is his ability to interweave narrative and opinion seamlessly into his essays. One example of this ability is in his â€Å"Notes of a Native Son† essay. He interweaves narrative of his father and his death with his opinions about the relationship between blacks and whites at that time. James Baldwin uses contrasting ideas such as public vs. private, father vs. son, and p ast vs. present to switch back and forth between the narrative and his opinions. The major contrastingRead MoreBeing Raised As Slaves By Harriet Jacobs And Frederick Douglass953 Words   |  4 PagesDouglass devoted their professional life for telling their true story based on their own experience. As a matter of fact, their works â€Å"Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl† (1861) and â€Å"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave† (1845) are considered the most important works in the genre of slave narrative or of enslavement. Thus, this paper will compare and contrast between Jacobs and Douglass in terms of the aforementioned works. Losing their mothers and realizing their status asRead MoreRomulus My Father and Comparison Text1246 Words   |  5 Pagesarrived in a foreign land. In Romulus my father we are repeatedly forced to read about various people in the book who suffer from mental illnesses such as depression, this depression motif is used to emphasis the feeling of loneliness, desolation and non-belonging because of the migrant experience and even Romulus himself goes through states of madness during his life because of the migrant experience. Dell’oso uses the suitcase motif to represent her narrative story but, unlike Gaitia, she uses thisRead MoreEssay on Racial Hatred in Notes of a Native Son1630 Words   |  7 Pagessentences that state the events going on around him at the time of his father’s death. The atmosphere is tense and solemn as the funeral procession moves through a barren wasteland of destruction on the way to the cemetery. Only the bare facts are written and Baldwin deli berately avoids using any colorful descriptions or interesting phrases in order to recreate the mood at this particular moment in his life. With this stripped down narrative passage, Baldwin sets an overall tone of bleakness, harshness andRead MoreWhat We Are Who We Should Be: Literary Realism1132 Words   |  5 Pagesbut provide a practical solution. More often than not though, realists will leave it up to their reader to formulate a cure. In A Rose for Emily, Faulkner looks back on the relationships of an aging southern belle, using third and second person narrative to comment on the happenings of the story. The title character of the story, Miss Emily Grierson, has two main relationships in her lifetime. The first, the relationship she had with her father, is described as controlling: â€Å"†¦ that quality of her

Essay on Milkman’s Search for Identity in Song of Solomon

Milkman’s Search for Identity in Song of Solomon Song of Solomon tells the story of Deads unwitting search for identity. Milkman appears to be destined for a life of self-alienation and isolation because of his commitment to the materialism and the linear conception of time that are part of the legacy he receives from his father, Macon Dead. However, during a trip to his ancestral home, â€Å"Milkman comes to understand his place in a cultural and familial community and to appreciate the value of conceiving of time as a cyclical process†(Smith 58). The Deads exemplify the patriarchal, nuclear family that has traditionally been a stable and critical feature not only of American society but of Western civilization in†¦show more content†¦Pilate Dead, Macons younger sister, provides a marked contrast to her brother and his family. While Macons love of property and money determines the nature and quality of his relationships, Pilates sheer disregard for status, occupation, hygiene, and manners is accompanied by an ability to affirm spiritual values such as compassion, respect, loyalty, and generosity. Pilate introduces a quality of enchantment into the novel. The circumstances of her birth make her a character of supernatural proportions. She delivered herself at birth and was born without a navel. Her smooth stomach isolates her from society. Moreover, her physical condition symbolizes her lack of dependence on others. Her self-sufficiency and isolation prevent her from being trapped or destroyed by the extremely decaying values that threaten her brothers life. Before Milkman leaves his home in Michigan, he perceives the world in materialistic, unyielding terms that recall his fathers behavior. Indeed, the search for gold that sends him to Virginia reveals his perception that escaping from his past and his responsibilities and finding material treasure will guarantee him a sense of his own identity. Milkmans assumption that his trip south holds the key to his liberation is correct, although it is not gold that saves him. In his ancestors world, communal and mythical values prevail over individualism and materialism; when heShow MoreRelatedEssay on Song of Solomon: A Bildungsroman of Milkman 1092 Words   |  5 PagesIt can be said that Song of Solomon is bildungsroman which is defined by The Encyclopedia Britannica as â€Å"a class of novel that deals with the [coming-of-age or] formative years of an individual†. Furthermore, in a bildungsroman, a main protagonist usually undergoes some transformation after seeking truth or philosophical enlightenment. In Morrison’s novel, the plot follows the main protagonist Milkman as he matures within his community while developing relationships with others and discovering hisRead MoreReview Of Charlotte Bronte s Jane Eyre 10879 Words   |  44 Pagesmorning...I looked neither to rising sun, nor smiling sky, nor wakening nat ure† (369). The calm and clear weather parallels Jane’s mind after she decides to do what is best for her. When Jane arrives at Moor House, the storm represents her desperate search to find food and shelter. Characters (adjectives, quotes) Bertha Mason Insane â€Å"The honeymoon over, I learned my mistake; she was only mad, and shut up in a lunatic asylum† (352). Beautiful â€Å"My father said nothing about her money; but he told me Miss

Closed Head Injury free essay sample

Thailand studying electrical engineering at the university. He was ejected from a moving vehicle, which was traveling 70 mph. His injuries included a severe closed head injury with an occipital hematoma, bilateral wrist fractures, and a right pneumothorax. During his neurologic intensive care unit (NICU) stay, Y. W. was intubated and placed on mechanical ventilation, had a feeding tube inserted and was placed on tube feedings, had a Foley catheter to down drain (DD), and had multiple IVs inserted. He developed pneumonia 1 month after admission. Closed head injuries result from a blow to the head as occurs, for example, in a car accident when the head strikes the windshield or dashboard. These injuries cause two types of brain damage. 1. Define the term primary head injury. A primary head injury (or primary impact) is also known as a â€Å"coup injury. † The injury occurs under the site of impact with an object such as a hammer or a rock. We will write a custom essay sample on Closed Head Injury or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The brain strikes the skull after the head strikes the object of impact (Lewis, et al, Fig 57-14). This is the site of the direct impact of the brain on the skull. Often there is edema around the site of impact. 2. Define the term secondary head injury. The secondary head injury is also known as contrecoup injury occurs on the side opposite the area that was impacted. These injuries tend to be more severe and overall patient prognosis depends on the amount of bleeding around the contusion site (Lewis, et al, 1425). Often it is the secondary brain injuries that show few initial symptoms and then have serious side effects days to weeks later. 3. What is normal intracranial pressure (ICP), and why is increased ICP so clinically important? Normal intracranial pressure ranges from 5 to 15 mm Hg. A sustained pressure above the upper limit is considered abnormal. Pressure changes in the brain effect the brain’s compliance. Compliance is the â€Å"expandability of the brain† With low compliance, small changes in volume occur and result in greater increases in pressure. Elevated intracranial pressure is clinically significant because â€Å"it diminishes CPP, increases risks of brain ischemia and infarction, and is associated with a poor prognosis†.

Japanese American Learning Styles free essay sample

As educators began to realize that the growing diversity of the country would eventually mean that the dominant white culture would itself become a minority, perhaps by as soon as the generation after the next, the conclusions of studies comparing the academic performance of various ethnic groups with one another would create all manner of controversy and conflict, as various interests competed to define the strategies and course of action to be undertaken to improve the American educational system. In determining some of these strategies, certain ethnic groups were assigned the label â€Å"at risk,† as the evidence used to measure their educational success showed that they lagged behind other ethnic groups in terms of measurements of their cognitive and intellectual abilities, with the various explanations as to why these deficits existed generating the most intense conflict and disagreement. The most insidious explanations came from social scientists who proposed that the condition of these at-risk groups was actually hereditary, and that their lower intelligence was â€Å"no fault of their own,† being â€Å"due to inherent shortcomings about which little can be done. We will write a custom essay sample on Japanese American Learning Styles or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page † Interestingly enough, when certain ethnic groups scored higher on IQ testing than the dominant Euro-American class, these same sociologists did not credit hereditary advantage for their success, but rather chalked these results up to differences in cultural backgrounds and child-rearing practices. From this school of thought emerged the term â€Å"model minority,† used to describe Asian-American students who outperformed white students in measures of educational achievement. The term â€Å"model minority† was first deployed in an article that appeared in The New York Times Magazine in 1966, entitled â€Å"A Success Story, Japanese-American Style. The article begins by praising the subject family for having risen above â€Å"color prejudice,† and in so doing avoiding the characteristics of those groups that the article refers to as â€Å"problem minorit(ies)†, a label used to categorize the experience of other ethnic groups at this point in history, notable primarily for the emergence of the Civil Rights movement. The political implications of such a label are described by writer Malcolm Yeung, â€Å"Asians were being used as a tool to quiet the cries of the enraged minorities (specifically African-Americans) and, on a much more subtle level, used to assuage the guilt of a white America whose system was†¦clearly not working for non-whites†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Nonetheless, the term â€Å"model minority† would grab hold of the country’s collective consciousness, and as any ethnic stereotype is bound to do, inflict damage on both its subjects (Asian-Americans, among them Japanese-Americans) and those who would view them through this narrow prism. Growing out of and emerging alongside the theories of multicultural education changing the American academic system in the second half of the twentieth century, educators would also focus their efforts to improve student performance on research which would yield more promising inventories of ways to understand and educate the growing diversity of ethnic groups comprising American classrooms, the development of learning style theories, or what educator Rita Dunn calls â€Å"instructional delivery systems responsive to how diverse students learn. In the case of â€Å"at-risk† populations, a certain urgency helped guide the development of such strategies to improve their academic performance, as the successful and effective application of an approach predicated on tailoring learning styles to address the needs of various ethnic groups could help put to rest the notion that their deficits were hereditary. In the case of Asian-Americans, who outperformed even the dominant white cu lture in America’s schools, however, there was little if any urgency involved in efforts to uncover the reasons behind these statistical outcomes. What interest and attention that was devoted to the phenomenon of Asian-American success in the American educational system at this time only served to reinforce the myth of the model minority, now a prevalent stereotype, and a deeper exploration of the â€Å"mechanisms† behind their superior performance collided with the notion that, as Grace Kao put it, â€Å"the success of Asian(-Americans) was not a problem in need of a solution. This does not and should not mean that exploring ways to improve the American educational experience for students of Japanese-American descent should be given less priority or consideration than studying, applying, and improving learning styles for students of any other ethnicity or cultural background. Indeed, given their success in the current form of that educational system, investigating and understanding more fully the role that their ethnicity plays in determining the learning style most conducive to their own academic success may be of ben efit to other students. Studying the learning styles of Japanese-Americans will not only help us to understand their unique ethnic identities as students in our own American educational system, but could help to answer the many questions that arise when studying any of the diverse ethnic populations that make up our classrooms. One such question was posed in a study done by researcher Heather Tehani Fuchigami, who asked, â€Å"Do Japanese immigrants and the learning styles representative of their cultural attributes assimilate to the prevalent ‘American’ cultural learning style by continuation in the country through second, third, and subsequent generations? Many of the assumptions and beliefs that inform American educators’ understanding of Japanese-American learning styles have most likely been designed for first-generation American immigrants or their children and may not be applicable to the generations after them, whose lives have undergone various degrees of transformation and may bear little if any resemblance to the immigrant experiences that informed their acclimation to a new country. Her study of multigenerational Japanese-Americans is of particular interest, for it is one of the very few to have examined the evolution of learning styles over many generations. Indeed, as Nellie Tran and Dina Birman tell us, â€Å"Because so many of the studies reviewed†¦have compared predominantly immigrant Asian-American subsamples to predominantly third-generation or beyond subsamples of Whites, they have confounded immigrant status with ethnicity and perhaps even overemphasized Asian immigrant experiences. † Tran and Birman warn that, â€Å"This large body of work may have created an undifferentiated and often erroneous impression that Asian Americans outperform Whites. In addition to generational status, it is important to distinguish studies of specifically Japanese-American learning styles and educational outcomes from studies of â€Å"Asian-Americans,† a category which Tran and Birman note â€Å"consist(s) of at least 30 different ethnic groups. † They warn that, â€Å"not examining the specific ethnicity of those in the Asian-American group can mask important heterogeneity among them. In particular, the lower performance of some groups (e. g. , Southeast Asians, Pacific Islanders) may be concealed when they are grouped with higher-performing groups (e. . , South Asians, Japanese, Chinese). † There is some consensus in the studies about the traits which characterize the learning styles of first-generation Japanese immigrants in America, and the available literature describes it as a methodical way of learning that includes a precision-oriented preference for repetition, sequential learning, routines, and accuracy. In Heather Fuchigami’s study, she compares the cultural characteristics of Japanese immigrants to America to the traditional traits that are used to describe the American cultural learning style in the following table: JapaneseAmerican InterdependentIndependent ReservedOutspoken CautiousImpulsive ReflectiveActive HolisticSegmented ConcreteAbstract CircuitousDirect SensitiveIndifferent PreciseInterpretive This table provides some insight into the assumptions and even stereotypes by which educators often categorize Japanese-Americans, and Fuchigami notes that school systems made brochures and literature available to teachers that described their Japanese-American students in these terms. When using assessment tools specifically designed to elicit and measure learning styles in their native countries, further distinctions were found between American students and Japanese students in their native countries. In the area of decision-making, American students were found to display impersonal, individualistic, and rational tendencies, while the Japanese place value on interpersonal traits and prefer group harmony. Americans place greater value on being time-efficient and getting right to the point when sorting out differences of opinion, with the focus rarely straying from the argument t issue, while the Japanese would take time to build relationships and seek a consensus before making changes, noting that trust between parties is as important to them as the specific terms of any contract. An experiment involving American and Japanese kindergartners shows these distinctions put into practice: The children were asked to draw a picture of their family. American students imme diately set to work on the assignment, while the Japanese children waited until everyone had been given a sheet of paper and checked in with their neighbor before beginning to draw. When they finished, the Japanese students would wait until everyone else finished before turning the papers in. From this picture, we see how Japanese students are more reflective, introverted, and cooperative, and Americans are more impulsive, individualistic, and competitive. Perhaps most interesting about examples like this is that even though the Japanese students take the longest amount of time to finish assigned tasks, they also produce the fewest mistakes. In Japan, the focus of the educational system is on effort, whereas Americans tend to believe more in the strength of natural ability. Japan has had one set of standards by which all students are measured, with no special education services. There are no report cards and no retention or promotion by grade level; students are simply expected to live up to the established standards of the Ministry of Education. Many credit their perseverance and dedication to effort (known as ganbaru) for the success of their country’s educational system, in which, â€Å"Illiteracy has been almost completely eliminated,† and in which, â€Å"The average score of the lowest-scoring native Japanese classroom [is] above that of the highest-scoring American classroom. Interestingly enough, this educational system is said to be patterned upon the systems used in America and Europe in the late-1800’s. Two non-Western strategies employed in Japan are their own unique form of repetitive learning, in which students continually rewrite or recite difficult Chinese characters or passages until mastered, and â€Å"sticky prob ing,† which employs a form of the Socratic method of discussing an issue or problem while a teacher looks on and judges the results of the discussion. In her study of the evolution of the learning styles of multiple generations of Japanese-American students, Heather Fuchigami posed the hypothesis that, â€Å"It is expected that while Japanese-American students will also have acclimated many of their learning traits to traditional Western practices, pieces of their cultural heritage will still be apparent†¦and will therefore continue to manifest in their learning style. She also posits that a propensity for intermarrying with non-Asians, as well as changing times and social pressures, will contribute to the evolution of the learning style over multiple generations. The study identified the native Japanese learning style by the term â€Å"Diverger,† and the traditional Caucasian American style as the â€Å"Converger,† and administered a series of learning style assessments to first, second, third, fourth, and fifth-generation Japanese-American students. The results of the study yielded some very interesting result s. As stated by Ms. Fuchigami, â€Å"It was surprising to see that at no time did a majority of students of Japanese descent ever pull towards [the Converger] learning style, particularly because the overlying school structure was assumed to be Anglo-American, and therefore a dominating factor in the acculturation of students into the prevalent European-American learning style. † She notes that the Diverger learning style did manage to prevail throughout all generations studied, remaining as the preferred learning style of a quarter of the fifth-generation participants in the study. A new predominant learning style, however, would emerge by this fifth generation, identified by over half of the study participants. As Ms. Fuchigami describes it, â€Å"Rather than acculturating to the American ways of teaching and learning†¦at least a fourth of the population do remain true to their native descriptors of reserved, reflective, and precise, while the majority of Japanese-American students have truly evolved into a new type of learner altogether. She identifies this learning style by the term â€Å"Accommodator,† and forecasts a future in which, â€Å"†¦educators will witness the evolution of a truly distinct Japanese-slash-American culture that falls somewhere between the two native factions. † She also makes recommendations for those educators regarding how to best address this emerging population of learners, â€Å"General assumptions made about the assimilation of native cultures to the prevalent Caucasian-American culture are not true, a nd therefore should not be used as standard up on which to base curriculum design. † Finally, it is important to clarify this new learning style, identified as the preferred learning style by over 55% of one sample of fifth-generation Japanese-American students. Concrete experience and active experimentation are the foundations of this learning style, with these students drawn to leadership roles in which they can use trial-and-error and hands-on methods to accomplish tasks. These learners enjoy problem-solving and are both flexible and adaptable in the face of challenges. Being goal-oriented, they prefer to work cooperatively on assigned tasks, and prefer that new information be presented in terms of its applications in real life. Given these basic preferences, it is best to create a purposeful and organized environment for these learners, in which the educator can utilize practice and drill and demonstration strategies. A product-based emphasis should be employed, as they work with their senses and prefer that this work incorporate tangible objects rather than ideas only. Again, real world application is important to them, for unless the practical application of the subject being taught is conveyed to them, they see little reason to learn new concepts. They rely on intuition and risk-taking to solve problems, preferring to demonstrate mastery of new skills in a competitive forum. They prefer an organized classroom in which the rules and procedures are made clear, so that they can keep busy and know what is expected of them. This new learning style is characterized by a preference for questions with a right or wrong answer, rather than subjective answers that are open to interpretation. They value accuracy over creativity, and they prefer feedback on their work in those terms as well. Traditional school methods, such as worksheets, repetition, memorization, fact recall, and other work that can be easily scored, were designed for these kinds of learners.