Thursday, October 31, 2019

The Church's View on Contraception Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Church's View on Contraception - Essay Example Based on the Scriptures, particularly in the Book of Genesis 38:8-10, the act of Onan spilling his seed – which is an equivalent of coitus interruptus – was condemned by God and the Jewish law. Based on the ancient Jewish law of fathering children, it was a duty of the brother to perform to his sister-in-law the role of husband if his brother dies. However, Onan changed his mind about fathering a child which was supposed to be his brother’s and thus â€Å"spilled the semen on the ground†¦And what he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord, and he slew him also† (Brom; Gen. 38:9-10). In Deuteronomy 25:7-10, it is stated that the man who does not give children to his sister-in-law in case his brother dies would naturally get punished with public humiliation. However, since God slew Onan, then the spilling of one’s semen – or more loosely, the concept of contraception – is obviously a more serious moral offense that simply not g iving one’s brother’s widow a child. Other books of the Bible also condemn contraception. In the New Testament, Paul’s Epistle to the Romans states, â€Å"God has given them over to shameful passions. ... These writings were after all based on the principles of the Bible and the natural law. Onanism, or the act of Onan spilling his semen, was echoed by several church fathers during the early years of the Church. One of the most prominent Church Fathers who condemned contraception in this way was Clement of Alexandria, who, in 195 AD, wrote in The Instructor of Children 2:10:91:2, â€Å"Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted† (Brom). Although the aforementioned statement of Clement of Alexandria somehow includes even acts like masturbation, it is still clear that the Church condemns contraception in whatever form that it can be carried out. The Protestant Reformer Martin Luther also expressed condemnation against onanism and referred to it as â€Å"the exceedingly foul deed of Onan† and that Onan â€Å"deserved to be killed by God† (Brom). Luther, therefo re, emphasizes, through Onan’s example, that the sinner deserves God’s punishment. John Calvin of the Calvinist Church echoed Luther’s condemnation by saying that the intentional spilling of semen is â€Å"a monstrous thing† (Brom). Moreover, John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, stated that onanism was â€Å"very displeasing to God† and was tantamount to the destruction of the soul (Brom). Contraceptives and methods to tighten the reproductive system have also long been condemned by the ancient Christian Church. Another Church Father in the name of Hippolytus of Rome indicated in his Refutation of All Heresies 9:12, in 255 AD, that â€Å"the so-called faithful [should not] use drugs of sterility or bid themselves tightly in order to expel a fetus which

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Management Accounting and Financial Accounting Essay Example for Free

Management Accounting and Financial Accounting Essay The differences between management accounting and financial accounting include:[1] 1. Management accounting provides information to people within an organization while financial accounting is mainly for those outside it, such as shareholders 2. Financial accounting is required by law while management accounting is not. Specific standards and formats may be required for statutory accounts such as in the I.A.S International Accounting Standard within Europe. 3. Financial accounting covers the entire organization while management accounting may be concerned with particular products or cost centres. Managerial accounting is used primarily by those within a company or organization. Reports can be generated for any period of time such as daily, weekly or monthly. Reports are considered to be future looking and have forecasting value to those within the company. Financial accounting is used primarily by those outside of a company or organization. Financial reports are usually created for a set period of time, such as a fiscal year or period. Financial reports are historically factual and have predictive value to those who wish to make financial decisions or investments in a company. Management Accounting is the branch of Accounting that deals primarily with confidential financial reports for the exclusive use of top management within an organization. These reports are prepared utilizing scientific and statistical methods to arrive at certain monetary values which are then used for decision making. Such reports may include: * Sales Forecasting reports * Budget analysis and comparative analysis * Feasibility studies * Merger and consolidation reports Financial Accounting, on the other hand, concentrates on the production of financial reports, including the basic reporting requirements of profitability, liquidity, solvency and stability. Reports of this nature can be accessed by internal and external users such as the shareholders, the banks and the creditors.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Types of Knowledge: Application to MDL

Types of Knowledge: Application to MDL Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) define explicit knowledge that can be captured and shared and tacit knowledge evolving from interaction from practice. The isolation of explicit knowledge is that information can be replicated without any interaction with the original source. However, knowledge is the continuous dialogue of both means of tacit and explicit. A practice based epistemology therefore assumes that knowledge is acquired through socially constructed practice or routines that workers participate in. It also emphasis that tacit and explicit knowledge are inseparable and are a product of a mutually constructed dimensions. The sector that MDL participates in, there is an emphasis that knowledge is not fragmented but rather specialised and specific to the organisation which will inevitably have features of both tacit and explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is impossible or certainly hard to write down and, even if written down, does not express the knowledge adequately. Although engineers can articulate themselves explicitly, the knowledge expressed will always remain tacit. The knowledge of the workers, in the case of engineers, are acquired through formal education and furthermore sustained through a complex web of relationships among people, material artefacts and activities (Gherardi, 2001). The nature of knowledge within a culture is also a key factor, the small group of workers who have worked long term (30%) within the organisation have built up their knowledge over time and will only be partly able to explicitly articulate their knowledge. It is to be noted that different organisational culture has different way in which it formalises knowledge and that could determine the way information is articulated. MDL is a knowledge intensive firm where employees form a major part of the workforce requiring a high level of creativity and problem-solving skills with a constant push for innovation in a competitive market. The pressure towards deadlines makes it hard for workers to contribute to tacit knowledge and subsequently, without workers willing to share or codify tacit knowledge there is a limited success of knowledge management incentives to work.Trusson (2014) found that from a workers perspective that significance of a time pressured environment is a determinant for what knowledge is shared. The majority of the development engineers typically work longer than their contracted thirty-seven hours the argument of work overload being a factor can hinder tacit knowledge sharing. In addition, Qureshi and Evans (2015) are of the view that time and work pressure can make it difficult for the individuals in the organisations to allocate time to engage in knowledge-sharing activities outside of their work related activities. Therefore to understand why workers are not sharing knowledge should not be taken for granted. Consequently, there might a reduction in creativity in knowledge shared due to time pressure, as other senior engineers might view this approach as hoarding rather than intelligent contribution furthermore, lack of time can also constrain knowledge transfer (Leonard, 2014). The willingness to share knowledge plays a big role especially as MDL is operating within a competitive market. The main challenge is to motivate the workers from seeing the contribution not as giving away their expertise but rather facilitating them into seeing it as a mutual benefit for the organisation and a strong identification with the company. Team members may be unwilling to share knowledge and a perception that knowledge will be stolen and used by potential competitors. Since recruitment in MDL occurs annually, the concept of trust can define the degree of confidence of team members in one another this plays an important role in determining the sharing of knowledge. More specifically, trust was more closely related to sharing of tacit rather than explicit knowledge (Becerra et al. 2008). Lack of trust between individuals is likely to correlate to the willingness to share knowledge as it creates uncertainty and risk and additionally the concern that their contributed action will not be reciprocated. Furthermore, a lack of interpersonal trust can create uncertainty about knowledge sharing and can result in conflict within the organisation as study shows by Hsu Chang (2012), who correlated that having similar vision with interpersonal trust within the organisation leading to higher level of knowledge sharing. MDL is represented as a culture that is relatively open and informal and asking for advice is not frowned upon. However, culture difference can impact the outcome of such knowledge sharing activities as no one organisational climate is similar. MDL has 90 employees in total operating in China and furthermore worldwide, Hofstede (1984) explanation on organisations culture state that no one culture is the same, which influences the way knowledge sharing process is conducted. In a collectivist society there is an emphasis that individual does not exist independently but in a network of relationships called Guanxi. Which is embedded within the culture and emphasis trust which plays an important part in knowledge sharing, as discussed earlier. Chinese organisation culture retain more hierarchy structure and traditions than western culture, therefore due to this social belief, junior are expected to follow the advice of their seniors, this unequal knowledge sharing can create an unequal distribution of power, which will be discussed below. Power is defined as the ability of an agent to change or control the behaviour, attitudes and values of another agent (Rahim et al. 2001).The issue of power conflict is typically neglected in KM literature, although being interrelated (Hislop,2009) with knowledge sharing behaviours. Power is usually unequally distributed within organisations, which can create tension between workers and owners and subsequently the level of knowledge shared. A worker can have access to knowledge based power by simply possessing scarce resources and ideas. Therefore the legitimacy of power can influence the extent to which knowledge is perceived and consequently, sharing of knowledge, as power cannot be automatically deemed legitimate by workers. In relation to the engineers in MDL who work in significant fields dedicated to creativity and problem-solving skills, the transferof knowledge might be seen as inadequate due to the level of expertise and the perceived legitimacy from the workers. This can su bsequently amplify tension between workers and their employing organisations, although the workers are seen as a competitive advantage, there is a high (although industry standard) level of staff turnover (10-15%) in MDL. Scarborough and Carter (2000) suggested that its problematic to assume that organisations represent a harmonious environment where people are willing to share their knowledge and that the unequal distribution of power can have an impact on knowledge sharing within the organisations. The use of reward power is visible in MDL, as team members who complete projects on time or early are paid via financial bonuses, this Taylorism or carrot on a stick approach can be used for knowledge sharing behaviour in forms of direct powers. Employees are happier with superiors who possess expert knowledge and who are recognised for personally attractive attributes (Liao, 2008) in contrary to research evidence on managers reference and expert power on the climate of trust. The desirability of expert power is essential as employees look to managers for direction and guidance. Employees need to believe in the managers ability to set direction, give guidance and coordination to achieve good results. If there is a climate of trust demonstrated by managers within the organisation there is a willingness to share knowledge with team members. An organisation where power is only orientated towards reward can actually be detrimental, MDLs workers are a source of competitive advantage, there is no evidence of overtime pay and the bonus is relatively modest for finishing the task on time. Sharing intensive and innovative knowledge is valuable within MDL, and usually requires some levels of trust. The nature of knowledge sharing can also be a factor in the organisations culture, collectivist culture such as China (Hofstede, 1984), emphasise family and work groups above personal individual needs, therefore new employees within the company might hesitate to share knowledge as they are in a disadvantageous position and fear that they might lose face by contributing to an established work culture (Huang et al, 2008). Similarly, long-term employees might not share knowledge due to the fear of losing their experts status to the new comers. These two opposites can further manifest the likelihood of knowledge sharing within organisations as experts might seal themselves off into their own professional group in order to protect their domain of knowledge. The community of practice (CoP) is defined as a group of people informally bound by shared experience and identity (Brown Duguid, 2001) within an organisation. The high overlapping nature of the people within groups is highly dynamic and without the consideration of the difficulties and contradictions it entails could potentially lead to adverse effects within the community. Furthermore, with the acknowledgement of interpersonal trust, the cross-site difference can be more of a hindrance than an enhancement to the organisation. A CoP assumes a familiar territory, a sense of identity, engagement and at large accountability which translates into a form of competence within the organisation. In relation to Chinese collectivist culture, discussed previously, characterised by Guanxi which acts in the interest of the group and not necessarily of individuals can affect the CoP initiatives. Although a collective sense of identity and value within a member of the community can create a bond that facilitates trust, there are potential negative consequences if such bonds are too strong. As the bond can be a basis for exclusion which consequently could lead to new communities being ignored and having their knowledge not taken into importance to the existing community. Furthermore, it was also found that if employees could maintain good relationships without sharing their precious knowledge they tended not to share (Huang et al, 2008) especially in a collectivist culture. This inward looking community can create un-receptiveness within ideas generated outside the community (Brown Duguid, 1998), in this circumstances there might be ignorance to the ideas and shared beliefs transmitted from the headquarters in the UK. Subsequently this could also lead to group think behaviours within geographical diverse locations leading to lower quality in creativity and innovation. In a collectivist culture, a community of practice could potentially be limited rather than extensive leading to a community that is characterised as unwilling to incorporate new and external knowledge. In contrast, an individualist country, such as the UK, the emphasis is on self rather than the interest of the group, community member may succumb to narrow-mind thinking, which can act as brakes to knowledge management initiatives and consequently the relationship of social identity within such groups. Therefore, national culture can shape knowledge sharing across sites. The relationship between culture and knowledge reflects the value of the socialised group since, each site operates relatively autonomously with engineers never working across sites. This could lead to communication problems and furthermore the erosion of ideas across sites. People might therefore act opportunistic as the working environment does not facilitates their contribution to ideas. Therefore, the challenge identified for MDL is to increase shared identity beneficial to positive knowledge sharing and where people are not acting opportunistic or selfish. If a valuable employee leaves MDL, the new organisation will stand to gain an advantage and this will interfere with knowledge continuity within the existing organisation. Another source of conflict within cross-site is the contradictory nature of collective social practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991). Which suggests that while members of a community work together collectively and cooperatively, they are also simultaneously, to so me extent, competing with each other inside their organisations, for example for promotion opportunities. When newcomers arrive at the company, there will be pressure to forge a new identity to participate in existing community of practice. In this case, the newcomers are not exactly progressive as they do not necessarily seek to change the practice more than established members. There is no investment for the newcomer as they are not part of a workplace history thats already established. Therefore, to assume that old timer will facilities the new comers is and can be contradictory. The main challenge is to establish a link and connection that requires the existing members within MDL in helping to develop the knowledge of the newcomers who will, over time, take their place in the organisations. Therefore, the way in which these practices are conducted and continued depends on the characteristics and the organisational culture which is also affected by national culture. There is an influence towards culture attributed in collectivistic societies, of not losing face or wanting to contribute to outgroups, as this process of sharing knowledge might give an impression of bragging. Therefore the old timers might not fully consider the new members as being part of the group, although in the same company, this contradiction of where modesty can cause cultural restriction and reluctance for active participation just so that there is no impression of bragging. National forms of identity can affect the dynamics of the organisations, therefore KM initiatives need to be unique and cannot follow specific routes. Since the other sites are bound by culture distance this could reflect the amount of knowledge sharing that occurs. The emphasis should be focused on collaboration and interaction which leads to greater knowledge being shared. A culture that is open minded at the same time willing to collaborate could lead to knowledge management initiative being successful. Competitive and goal orientated cultures, where the emphasis focuses on striving high and the focus is on winning and success shows hesitancy to share knowledge (Wiewiora, 2012). In MDL there is an emphasis on project completion with an addition monetary incentive to motivate employees. In a high context culture, such as China, it is believed that money and success are interrelated (Chiu, 2002) their uncertainty avoidance culture furthermore reflects the lack of trust between employees and managers. The differences in business practices across cultures can create tension and ambiguity as practices might be difficult to follow in a culture which reflects a different sets of values. An example would be of a culture in UK, where imagination and creativity are encouraged (Hofstede, 1984) and people continue to work in the organisations because of such concepts. This rewarding nature of work makes them feel more committed and connected to the values of the organisation. In essence, money may provide a vehicle for motivation to some extent but this incentive will ultimately fail unless the underlying cultural climate exists that rewards, celebrates, and values knowledge application. A culture that emphasise individuality and acting in the interest of self will lead to knowledge hoarding behaviours (Long and Fahey, 2000). In comparison to a collectivist culture where group collaboration and being   part of a team will lead to members more willing to contribute (Politis, 2003), as there are more efforts toward maintaining good relationships with people around them. These cultures highly value learning, where people are willing and free to explore, and knowledge creation is encouraged, people do not feel that sharing knowledge will cost them their jobs or the potential to lose face. Another determinant for cross-site analysis is the impact of leadership style and its implication on organisational culture. Transformational leadership behaviours engender attitudes in subordinates leading to the adoption of new practices (Judge, 2004) therefore effective leadership can facilitate knowledge sharing, however, transformational leadership may not be the prime impetus within an organisations as the leaders active involvement could just be an activity rather than direct inspiration. Therefore the challenge lies in creating an equal playing field where leaders emphasis on meeting goals should be aligned with the capabilities of the creative workers in MDL. With senior managers having project teams of eight to ten staffs with a focus on day to day detail there must be a style of leadership that accommodates for the diversity of intensive knowledge workers. National culture perspective could assume that transformational leadership influence is more prominent in culture with high power distance such as China, where the relationship between subordinates and seniors are polarised. In contrast to culture with low power distance where managers rely on teams for their expertise. This conflict within leadership style could hinder KM initiative within the organisation. MDL HQ in the UK must be the starting point for which KM initiatives are implemented. It is not only concerned with creating an appropriate work climate and attitudes but also workers commitment and facilitating of workers loyalty towards knowledge sharing behaviour. A good leader, therefore, should provide their beliefs and set values as to how the groups should function. The senior leaders in MDL should promote in creating an atmosphere for where knowledge sharing activities are promoted. The trend and the shift in the power has changed the dynamic business organisations. For KM initiative to be effective the interests of the company and workers needs to be aligned, in a knowledge intensive firm transformational leaders can develop such working environment. Leaders also develop a culture based on knowledge sharing by highlighting the importance of working together and collaborating in a way that enhances the knowledge sharing capacity within organisations. Knowledge intensive ICT firms in the UK (Analoui, 2012) who engaged in diverse business functions found the effectiveness of transformational leaders for the long-term vision of the company where its primary goals are in the interest for the good of their organisation. Likewise, the workplace in MDL must see the workers as being decision makers within the organisation, allowing the workers to be actively participating and engaging in knowledge sharing activities. Integrating such form of leadership is geared towards motivating and developing plans to achieve organisational goals. Knowledge intensive firms in France (Bacha, 2014) who implemented transformational leadership style into existing practice changed the way employee perceived their jobs which led to enhanced job performance inductive to knowledge sharing. Furthermore, in the case of Alvan Sabet the biggest producer of textiles in the Middle East, through strengthening tolerance and being open minded to errors incurred, transformational leaders were better able to facilitate knowledge sharing within organisations (Gelard, 2014). A leader can also influence the perception of rewards, MDL current level of bonus pay is linked financially and distributed across project teams. Although financial incentive can encourage knowledge sharing it can also lead to knowledge hoarding behaviour, or at times, the unwillingness to share because the knowledge is perceived as being more superior. It is therefore recommended that leadership should not single out a team or an individual for financial incentive as this culture can lead to hoarding of knowledge. Chen (2011) identification of group based appraisal was found to support knowledge sharing. Group trust and a supportive climate for knowledge sharing were positively related to group knowledge sharing in 86 work groups in a high tech industry (Wu, 2016), by publicly praising groups, a group leader becomes a role model for employees to follow. Group based reward acts in the same way as individual reward which is based on performance except the target is set of group within the company. A bonus pool where performance is calculated by senior managers on each project could be reward at six-month intervals or this could be deferred for teams not reaching targets by moving the reward at the end of the year, which could improve the long term view of project in relation to innovation capabilities. Group scheme such as this can foster teamwork and a sense of community amongst workers within the organisation. Another difficulty identified was the lack of social identity and trust within MDL, a lack of identity can create difficulty in knowledge management initiatives. Employees who identify strongly within the organisation are more likely to share the knowledge as the interest and benefit retained are mutual. A good community of practice requires strong commitment from leaders to follow through the initiative and foster an organisational culture that see everyone as equal. MDL engineers are a pool of highly qualified professionals whose interest might be in protecting and sealing the domain of their knowledge. Mangers have the responsibility to cultivate groups of people, the emphasis of community of practice should be around giving independence while also managing through organisational support. Study on AlphaChemicals in Germany (Borzillo, 2011), found the effectiveness of having a step in and step out phase for cultivating such pratices. Rather than having a constant evlaution on proje cts, in MDL, the use of step in (every three months) where managers within sites define specific goals and employees discuss innovative startegies. Whereas with the step out phase, the independece of the group allows for radical innovation for development of smartphones. Hemre (2005), identified groups at Ericsson appointing a community leader to meet on regular basis, focusing on non- work related aspect which created a strong sense of community. In MDL, the senior manager managing the project team could facilitates such events. These events can create a sense of community between different sites, not just for the sense of working but finding a common ground for which team can enhance the level of trust and openness to business practices. Newell (2007), identified that the use of social interaction between Indian firms and US firms through building personal relationships where an environment for effective knowledge transfer was established. This suggest that just because practices are in place does not mean that the level of trust increases, its about finding the mutual ground where community see themselves and innovative enables. In line with this, is the implication of ICT, although information systems might be useful for younger generations, it also needs to facilitate older generations who might not be familiar with such systems. Therefore, mentoring can work both ways, for personal learning and providing encouragement to less experienced workers. Bryant (2005) found that the impact of mentoring in software firms, helped workers learn transferable skills. Furthermore, case study in Lebanese and Iranian bank (Karkoulian, 2008; Bidmeshgipour, 2012) showed that the use of informal mentoring was more effective. In MDL, informal mentoring with good mentors should be a way to bridge the gap in organisational learning and increasing social identities within diverse workgroups. Using informal means of mentoring can furthermore provide informal guidance within organisations such as explanation of unwritten rule within organisation which can also help build up group trust. MDL is geographically diverse, therefore, the use of boundary spanner with ICT can create a synergy to develop a link between sites to foster a virtual community. A strong communication within team members can correlate to creativity and innovation. Olaisen (2016) study on Scandinavian banks found that teams consisting of diverse multicultural professions using ICT online interaction worked very well. In MDL, internet-based channels, such as video conferencing (Skype), could be used to create a global virtual community. An affordable alternative to face to face, this would create a sense of social identity within MDL furthermore facilitating knowledge sharing and foster a culture of cooperation. In MDL the use of a broker (responsibility is taken by senior manager) can connect disconnected ideas by using job rotation across sites, therefore bridging the gap and crafting a common knowledge for mutual understanding. Through shared practices implementing job rotation can facilitate knowledge transfer and movement throughout the organisation, this is especially applicable when organisations possess technical skills. Food links in the field of sustainable food production and consumption, uses brokers as a means to shape group learning process and synthesise existing knowledge (Karner, 2011). Employees, therefore, engage throughout the company and engage in a broader content specific knowledge tasks. Enabling staff to work in different areas of the organisation through cross-functional job rotation can contribute to increased knowledge sharing and the likelihood of expert knowledge being shared throughout the organisation. MDL senior manager across the different geographical sites can act as a broker to sites in-between the face to face meeting conducted every six month with the aim to identify common themes, targets and future goals of similar interests across geographical sights. In contrast to the resource-based approach, Foucaults understanding of power is  fundamentally relational (Foucault, 1972, 1977,  1978,  1980). Foucault, a historian,  recognised that a key feature of the development of the modern state was a fundamental  shift in the nature of power relations. Foucault suggests that in contemporary society power  is no longer primarily a privilege that one might possess but rather operates within a  network of relations, constantly in tension, in activity (Foucault, 1977, pp. 26-27). Does Stop Motion Animation Have A Future In The Multimedia Era? Does Stop Motion Animation Have A Future In The Multimedia Era? This multimedia project will be to get an answer to this question does stop motion animation has a future in our new multimedia era? the aim of this dissertation is to determine whether traditional stop motion is going to be replaced by digital stop motion and if digital stop motion animation will be replaced by other means of digital animation techniques for example CGI (Computer Generated Images). The reason for choosing this topic as my research basis is because there was always a determination and attraction within myself for learning new thing and techniques about animation so the decision was set to one of the earliest animation forms and the one I admire the most. Application With the help of these case analyses as reference when necessary, I will move to the core part of me of my dissertation. I will put forward the research I made to determine whether stop motion animation has a future in our new multimedia era. Examples of newer technologies, techniques that are currently being used will be put forward and investigate why they seem to be overtaking or changing traditional stop motion. These will be supported by my research work. Discussion between older and newer techniques in the making and production of a film will also be made. A questioner will also be done in order to get a better view of how much people know about stop motion and there actual knowledge of it if they do have one. These will perhaps lead me to answer the question does stop motion animation has a future in our new multimedia era? I will support my argument and say why traditional stop motion is so nice to see almost magical and make everyone fill with joy while watching it, and also as an animator why it is so amazing while creating it actually. Then all descriptions , steps , minutes of discussion and every information that will be necessary will be set forward concerning the post production and production of the short stop motion animation that I will do from all the knowledge and piece of information that I will go through this dissertation. Post production chapter 1 FROM HUMAN HAND TO COMPUTER MOUSE, THE JOURNEY History of animation 1 In this section, a brief history of animation will be elaborated. Important dates will be included within the timeline of animation, leading to when stop motion was first created meaning the very first form of it and also the different techniques that was used. Some facts also will be presented, things that have been longer questioned before, like, the equipment used and why 24 frames per second are being used. Paul wells a Canadian journalist and pundit [Wikipedia Paul wells] later nominated as the director of animation, within the academicals institution [Southborough University school of Art and Design. 2010] talks about some early involvements in animations. He also discussed some equipments used how animation was discovered while experimenting for the cinematic moving image. He also told how since 1798 people have been inventing equipments than can project some drawn moving images. [Wells: A. 2004:88] The Phenakistoscope 1.1 The famous Phenakistoscope was one of Joseph Plateau revolutionary invention that will make a real change in the world of animation, created in 1832 the journey begins here even if this principal was first recognized by the Greek mathematician nuclide and was later experimented by Newton Joseph plateau was the one who further pushed this experiment and developed it. This device was an early form of optical toy that allowed one to see houses or acrobats moves. Luc Sanders, a freelance writer, animator and also a graphic designer with a background in computerized design and animation. He wrote on a website, how the device was made and how using wheel this device was able to create animation. The animation was done by a series of sequence image that was around the circumference of the wheel. This will be translated in nowadays terms as each individual frame used to create a film. Slits are made in the wheel and when this is placed in front a mirror, the device is spun and the animation occurs the picture starts to move. [Picture showman. 2004]Phenakistoscope_3g07690u.jpg The phenakistoscope also known as the phenakistiscope was famous for about only two years as due to this creation this gave great ideas to other invents that will be the future of animation at this time.[Wikipedia 2010] Zoetrope 1.2 Later a derivative of phenakistoscope was the zoetrope. Created around 130 AD by a Chinese inventor ting human and later developed by William George Horner around 1800, who almost received all the credit. zoetrope.jpg It was also called the daedal (ingenious wheel). It only became popular decades later when the French and American marketed it as a toy. Then the American developer, William Lincoln re-named the zoetrope (life turner). Working on the same principals as the fantascope, just that the pictures were drawn on a strip are set around the bottom third of a metal drum, the latter was mounted on a spindle so that it could be spun, and when viewers looked though the slits they could see cartoon strip from a single moving image. [Companion for the apprentice wizard by Oberon Zell- raven heart] Critics of a writer 1.3 Maureen Ruth Furness of president of the society for animation is a writer, animation historian, critic, animation theorist, professor and president of the society for animation studies. [Wikipedia. 2010]. In animation bible she made some analysis about the techniques of stop motion stating that the technique is to be achieved by manipulating objects in from of the camera. Frame by frame.[Furniss:A.2008:232] this book is really a pleasure to read I have received great knowledge from this book as Maureen furnish has been through great detail about the processes, techniques in the creation of animation, and also great examples are also given. The father of animation cartoon 1.4 From the reference to the website, pitureshowman, James Stuart blacktop is known as the father of animated cartoon and born in England Sheffield in 1875. 4064t.gif In 1906 he created the first animated film known as Humorous phases of funny faces, the very first cartoon ever made. The technique he used was stop motion; he drew the faces on a blackboard and filmed it. He then paused the filming and changed the faces and continue his filming repeating the same process to create a moving image. [Mosley. 2010] This technique set a revolution in the 1914th, Windsor McKay a prolific artist, pioneering early animated films far outshone the work of his contemporaries, and also set a standard followed by Walt Disney and others in later decades. By (1867-1934) he invented Gertie the dinosaur one of his best creation ever. [Absolute astronomy. 2010] Van Eatons website discuss how gentile the dinosaur was a little different to humors phases of funny faces, there was a certain interaction between the characters and the animator. For example gentile was instructed to do some tricks like bowing to audience. [Eaton. 2010]gertie_on_tour.gif Furniss theory 1.5 Being inspired by McKay, this technique was further developed and animators experimented with different materials to create 2d stop motion animation.furniss talked about the different types of 2d animation in animation bible [Furniss. 2004] explaining how 2d stop motion animation has many different forms how each technique used is unique. For example to create shadows, sand, salt, pins and cut out bits of paper and many more Medias. From Kuban leviers website, he made a web site on a famous scripter, artist, film director and animator Alexandra korejwo. Graduated from the academy if fine arts in Poznan (Poland), she has been the owner of many distinguished titles and awards. She made animation films in her very own style with the use of colored salt as media.aboutolaglowna.jpgShe then created an animation called Carmen habanera from the same technique and media. She made use of gouache watercolors to change the sands color and the allowed it to dry before to a black colored canvas an d use feathers to manipulate it. [Korejwo-art. 2010] 3D stop motion animation 1.6 Later all these inspiration drew animators to make use of 3d objects to create stop motion animations. From the same book mentioned in the above paragraph, furnish spoke also about 3d stop motion , her description was how 3d stop motion has get quite an advantage in field comparing to 2d stop motion as they were the result of animation such as morph , Wallace and grommet, which were both very popular and famous. In both animations the media use was clay and with the help of this media they made the characters and surroundings as well. makingof.jpg As an example of 3d animation, we can refer to the famous LEGO bricks; this technique is also called the brick film. The animators made use of the bricks of Lego to design an animate a magical world. Later on in 1989, an Australian animator called Lindsay flea that created an animation made from bricks of Lego this film was called the magic portal. This film was sixteen minutes long and took four and a half year complete it .[furniss:A:2008:243,244] More in deep on animation procedures 1.7 According to this book computer graphics multimedia and animation by pakhira, it says there are different types of animation possible, depending on the technique used for depicting animated frame sequences. For example: Cell animation: the most simple and widely used ones. This made use of the onion skinning process, that is animated objects are drawn manually and positioned by using an onionskin- like translucent sheet called a cell. The background is drawn only once and only the moving object is redrawn frame by frame. This concept is implemented as layers on the background. The principal is simple the background is kept fixed and the animated frames (cells) keep changing in between frames. Thus using a different layer for each different object. We also have key frame animation. Key frames are image frames that are designed to identify key positions of the object and mark significant changes and path in the animation sequence. In brief the beginning and ending frames are marked as key frames. This can vary for more complicated film there may be more key frames involved for example in between to introduce an important scene. These help to smoothen the movements of objects over complex trajectory. For linear motion, the frames in between are make using linear interpolation that is also called lerp over the time scale. Now for curvilinear trajectories the technique called spin interpolation is being used. This can be one by the b -spine interpolation, Bezier interpolation or LaGrange interpolation. [Pakhira. 2008:255] The rostrum camera secrets 1.8 Also Jeff golden make reference to the most recognized piece of equipment in the creation of 2d stop motion in his blog. He was talking about the rostrum camera. The rostrum camera is a camera which is pointed downwards, and is parallel to a board (that will be like a stage for the animation). The frames are shots individually while the objects are being manipulated under the camera. A bit similar to when James Stuart blacktop created the famous humorous phases of funny faces. The 3d stop motion process is not different from this one, the same principals are being apply here, however to demonstrate 3d effects and depth of the scene, the camera is positioned to the side of the object. [Golden. 2008] With the fast improvements and evolution of technologies, creating these same effects is now much easier with the help of computers. It gives the same feel like it has been crafted by hand. But does the fact that knowing it has been processed by computers decrease the feel and scenes of magic? Kit laybourne the chief creative officer for the whistle, (a cross media platform concentrating on kids and sports). [wikipedia.2010] says how digital animation uses the same processes as the traditional way but only the tools had changed. He also says how with the help of these new tools the work has become easier to produce. [Laybourne. 1998:65] Why 24 frames per second? 1.9 There one thing that is very important to know while creating an animation, that is the speed that is going to be used, also known as the frames per second. Very often I wondered why 24 frames per second were more commonly to be used by animators. John wyvern had discussed this in a very scientific manner; he said the reason for having 24 frames per second is simply so because the human brains read the images continuously thus giving a feeling that is was only one image that was continuously moving. He also stipulates: Ever since sir Isaac Newton, (1642-1727) scientists had discovered the common effects by the reaction that when the eyes stares a light and then looks away. With this little experiment, the deduction was that the retina retains a bright after-image, which quickly fades out. This is usually known as persistence of vision, this effects or reaction has been use by lots of historians to explain how the eye and brain tend to connect the strings of static images which are projected as a film, that also mentally create the feeling and impression of smooth movement. This information about these changes that are being done in the images are automatically being understood and recognized in a specific area of the brain that is separated from the principal acts of perception. So the result is as long as these images are being played at a speed below the perceptual threshold (film with 24 frames per second) they will be read as continuous by the brain. [Wyvern. 1989:10, 11] The persistence of vision the debate continues. 1.10 This argument and idea of persistence of vision was further explored on the media college website , they agreed with wyverns argument , there was a little controversy saying that these scientists ideas were accused of being false arguments in 1912,as there are no pertaining proof or evidence that this is the way our brain works. This website continues by informing that it is thought that the illusion of continuous motion is caused by unrelated phenomena such as beta movement (the brain assuming movement between two static images when shown in quick succession). [Wavelength Media. 2010] the use of 24 frames per second is also known as, full animation, where each frame is different and is commonly used once, due to accuracy. This is also discussed by furnish in her book called art of motion animation aesthetics. Shes also explored what is called limited animation to get a comparison with full animation. The difference is that it uses less frames and play lot on camera movements to cove r the gap in between the scenes (continuous frames) to form the animation. Furness explains that planning over the art work to create a good flow and sconce of motion if we are reducing the number of drawings. [Furniss: B. 2007:133,134] this would result in less production time also. Two great milestones 1.11 The latter also suggested comparing two different animations to help explain her thesis. She suggested watching Mickey mouse clock cleaners (1937)images.jpg And the birth of astro boy (1963)Astro Boy The Beginning DVD.jpg. The answer was clear after watching these two movies, one could feel as if there were missing parts(frames) in the first film but hereby one could understand the story though and it gives a feeling of heavy busy action that is the scene was too loaded and fast.jules angles, the one who is noted internationally for his great contributions to abstract animation and film,[Tobey cross. 2001] disagrees clearly with furnish thesis saying that there is no such thing as limited animation, only limited talent.. Each style of graphic and each kind of gesture has its own requirements for motion. [Furnish: 2007:136] to conclude both had their own reasons for their thesis. Production chapter 2 Literature review .2 Case analysis of Adam Elliot, cousin 2.1 Adam Elliot also qualified as an independent stop motion animation writer, Clamatorial and director. Born on the 2 of January 1972 in Berwick, with only five films he already participated in about six hundred film festivals and received about one hundred awards. [Wikipedia 2010] His entire great master piece was based on his family member for example, uncle (1996), cousin (1998) and brother (1999) accordingly. This little summary was on a website called Ezine articles. I will concentrate more on cousin, cousin as stated earlier is about Adams cousin, and his childhood friend who had suffered from a cerebral palsy. This tragedy is cruelly ended by some epic scene like liquorices smelling, toe-nail collects, one -armed cricket playing, super -hero costume wearing, and also cake baking and so on This continues when cousins parent was killed in a car crash and he is force to live in a group home  [i]  . [Ezine articles] According to a blog I found, [the animation blog] it says that this film was originally shot in a small storage unit in the outer suburb of moorabin in Melbourne at a facility owned by his father. For this time, Elliot made use of digital equipment called AVID in order to edit the film footage that was shooting on a 16mm film band. The result of his effort made him win his second AFI award for the best Australian animation. . In a biography by Melodrama Pictures, it is stated that, Adams films have connected with audiences through focusing on loneliness and difference with compassion, humor and pathos. [Melodrama Picture: A. 2007]. To define this film, the characters were basically made from from clay, manipulated by hand to produce a different result motion in each frame. This was originally a mute film and people had to rely only by the characters expressions and narration from William McInnis. This was indeed a good decision to allow McInnis to narrate that eventually helped a lot to understand the feeling of the history and the sadness moments as well as funny ones. The color of the film was perfect for this period of animation revolution if i can say, and with so bringing a good feel of the film. The of the color grey as primary and dominant color was excellently chosen as its a tragedy after all. Scott Iains stated concerning this thesis about color used and the narration perfectly matches the sad tales and the beautiful melancholia of William Mc Inness outstanding narration. [scott.2008] I do believe that this classic is the best in its traditional stop motion way. I am sure if this was done using CGI techniques; the feeling of sadness the mood and the traditional magic that non CGI can replace would be gone. I will also add to this, that this film should not be presented as a cartoon as it has a high degree of mature humor and tragedy. Case analysis of Pixars Monsters Inc 2.2 In this part of my dissertation, I will comment on a famous animation created by the use of CGI techniques, this film is known as Monsters Inc. I will also talk about the great Pixar animation studio that eventually created this film. The aim through this comment and analysis section is to be able to critically analyze this work to be able to give an answer to a specific question. That is there a future for stop motion animation? With the arrival of CGI technologies, this will just keep on lowering my cause. Nevertheless lets not get too shacked away. A brief description of this film will also be given. Peter Wisher, professor and also dean at the school of film and digital media, [Amazon.2004] had also written a book titled moving pixels: blockbuster animation, digital art and 3d modeling today. He says that Pixar studio of animation first started in 1986 and they first begin their career by first creating television advertisements. Also some of the most sophisticated software concerning CGI techniques were designs by Pixar, for example CAPS and Render Man. The revolution continues with the help of Pixar for doing the first fully CGI animated film in 1995 called Toy story. Later on this was continued and many CGI films were made including Monsters Inc which was realized in 2001. [Weisher.p 2004:112] Monsters Inc as guessed is based on monsters that have been fooled in to believe that children are dangerous and that in scaring them this may generate electricity out of their screams. There is a scream business that actually goes out in the film; the story main character sullies (Sullivan) and his one eyed friend Mick. They accidentally let a child came in their town, and soon after, they realized that boo (the child) was not dangerous at all. And those children in fact are not dangerous and that in fact laughter generates more electricity than screaming. This film is completely CGI generated. The reason why these characters look so realistic and are detailed. I could see each of their hair on the characters and more realistic when light reflects in the eyes of the characters. As said , there are 2,320,413 computer animated hairs on Sullivan, and Pixars technical team will tell you that animating all that hair and making it look real was no easy task'[ Pixar . 2010] Unlike in cousin it was not a numb film narrated by an author. But this one each character had their own line to say and in their own voice that give and advantage in realism compared to cousin. In doing so, this has allowed small children to understand the story and to enjoy it as well and elders. The excellent artistic job made in Monsters Inc is flawless. The colors, the background, the lightening and the frame work also the character design was done with perfection. Compared to cousin this can be called a movie for children and this will at the same time make the children less afraid of monsters. A very nice film though. Trial and error analysis 2.3 Stop motion test one 2.3.1 This was my very first stop motion realized after the end of my research work. To give a brief, the work is a white board stop motion. This is basically a numb animation with no voice sound etc This was an 11 photo work. A very short work indeed but that made me realizes lots of thing and mistake. Story line. The story is a little story that is a stick figure trying to go through a rail and puts all his effort in . Comments My comment about this work would be that this was a tough work, why, because to animate frame by frame and to draw it with the same lengths and characteristics with all the detail that was merely impossible for me. I was not even being able to create the effect of motion for this little film. The character was drawn the only part that was moving was the shaft that should be used to pull out the platform on which the animation stick figure was to be pulled on. It was really difficult for me to move more than one part in the work. The animation sticked to only one part of the stick figure to move. As to be able to draw the stick figure with his accessories was difficult as if I did so I would be drawing 50 t0 60 stick figure and there accessories. For this trial a normal camera was taken to shoot the small film. And a professional tripod was also used that why the image do not tremble while playing. White board as media. Working with white board as frame work and also media was very very difficult to manage. This media is so tangible its very flexible and though difficult to get straight lines and therefore accuracy in the drawing is very difficult. I had to erase and re do lots of parts many many times thus this was very time consuming. After late trials, I was very irritated and my sense of creativity has all went away. I was not able to draw and create or imagine anything. So I stopped here and animated it just to see the result. Movie maker as software. Windows movie maker is a very interesting software very simple to use and understandable. I firstly imported the photos and drag them to the story board. Then I selected all the photos and add and effect called speed up double . This made the frames become smaller and then the frames were viewed more rapidly. This is how we can achieve the famous concept of 24 frames per second. Unfortunately as i was not able to work with the media too much i only took 11 photos so its difficult to make an animation of 24 frames per second when we have only 11 frames (photo). Thus the animation was very dull and un-lively. There was less feeling of movement and also less graphic. Second stop motion trial 2.3.2 For my second stop motion trial, I will explore the effects of real stop motion. That is to make a person or living thing to be the subject and character of my stop motion film. This is a little trial movie done that is not very professional without even taking into account light , position, distance, proportion nor frames the work properly. Without using a tripod the work was shooting as far as possible. My main emphasis while doing this trial was to be able to make the person go from one place to another with stop motion technique and without any movement with the legs. Story line. The story or rather path, is to succeed in making my character move from 1 place to another and vice versa without any effort seen in the legs and be able to like slide to the other places, that is without giving the viewer any feeling that the person could had walk to go to this place. Comment. This work was executed more rapidly and smoothly than the first trial. Being a trial more emphasis were made on the main theme of creating movement. But the magic only occurs in a second when you mount everything on the software and you press play its then that those 24 frames per second look totally magical. It was a nice trial for me and gives me lots of practice and experience to do my third trial that will be an improvement of the first trial media and the second trial experience and tactics. To return with this trial, I as the cameraman had pretty much difficulty to shoot and maintain a specific frame work. This is surely shown in the film it trembles a lot. This was done purposely so as to see the difference and difficulties while doing that without the tripod. The animation as implemented on the same software windows movie maker. Final project description 2.3.3 Through this dissertation I will at the end design and mount a stop motion animation. The main reason behind is to actually get to know how much I have been reading and understanding the key fundamentals of stop motion animation. And this project will give support to my dissertation. Story. The story is mainly about a fancy world where the characters here are games, billiard balls and normal playing cards. These characters will do series of movement at the same time giving the audience a scene of magic movement. And will follow a specific track to end the video. Software. As my early trials the only software used through the whole project was windows movie maker. This is great software indeed. Difficulties. The difficulties Ive been through were mainly that the software always had bugs and was very slow to respond. For example after I have imported the pictures, I could wait 10 minutes before the program does any effects to the work. Advantages. The software is very easy to use to search commands. Its work space is very large giving much emphasis on the production rather than unnecessary literature. Anyone can after couples of trials generate a video out of images. Also we have been covering this software through our multimedia program at university o f Mauritius. Process. First of all I started with a great disadvantage. I didnt know that we were not able to take the tripod out of the faculty. So I had to shoot the whole final scene without a tripod and with the use my imagination as far as possible I tried to fix the camera on a cue (this a playing stick made of wood used to play pool and billiard) with great difficulty i started the work. Then I situated all my four main shooting frame position and marked them. After that, the background was the pool table itself with green color. And I started by first positioning the balls in the traditional way for playing pool. Then I manage to move little by little the objects that according to the story board needed to move. After what I changed frame position and introduce my second character the playing card deck. From them following his pattern it moved along the pool table and made couple of movements to finally join the billiard balls. After the entire photo was taken I can now move to the final phase that is the mounting phase. Mounting phase. With the help of windows movie maker, I mounted the work. First of all I imported all the photos I have taken about 250 photos was taken. I then reviewed one by one and erase those that was not ok and were out of frame after assuring that everything is ok I click on import pictures. And then after waiting a couple of minutes for the software to load all these photos, I adjusted the time space of each frames (photo) and also the time of transition. After I added the effect speed double that increased the video display allowing each frame supporting this effect move faster. After all these above steps, the title and the end screen were made. Then the video was saved. After I have viewed the small clip. Past production chapter 3 Chart .3 This is the result of my questionnaire presented bellow. The result is clear and straight forward. As you can see there are many people who dont know about stop motion animation, and if they do know they wrongly associate stop motion with other design animation. CONCLUSION 3.1 In this section I will put all the pieces of the puzzle together (research work case analysis) and try to give and answer to the question set in my introduction, does stop motion animation has a future in our new multimedia era? I will start by a personal feeling of this then I will use the research I have found to support my arguments. Personally, I will say that traditional stop motion will never die and there will always a crazy, ambitious animator designer that will surely make an animation that everyone will keep watching. The simple fact that we as mere human with the means of a camera can make a non living object move and do lots of incredible thing, make a clay get a character and convey a message to an audience, that whets the main talents and animator need to have and let me remind all this is done without any digital equipment like CGI. To support my thesis, Adam Elliot stated, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦audiences love seeing things on the big screen they know are not computer generated. When they see the fingerprints on the plasticize, they know that it hasnt been generated by a computer, and theres something magical about that. Thats why I think the art form is here to stay, and will never go away [Elliot. A 2009]. With the research work I have done for this dissertation, I would say that as man saw this extraordin ary means to control people in certain means. Every ambitious person was after some new amendments and invention to try to bring as much audience as possible for their films and inventions. A great example would be toy story created in 1995 which was only sixteen years ago. But the fact is what will happen in the next sixteen

Friday, October 25, 2019

Imprisonment and Social Control Essay -- Prison Justice

Imprisonment is one of the primary ways in which social control may be achieved; the Sage Dictionary of Criminology defines social control as a concept used to describe all the ways in which conformity may be achieved. Throughout time imprisonment and its ideas around social control have varied. Imprisonment has not always been used for punishment, nor has it always thought about the prisoners themselves. However when looking at imprisonment it is important to consider the new penology. Therefore, it needs to be clear what the new penology is. The new penology is said, not to be about punishing individuals or about rehabilitating them, but about identifying and managing unruly groups in society. It is concerned with the managerial processes, not the individual’s behaviour or even community organisation. All in all, its goal is to make crime tolerable, not to eliminate it entirely. (Feeley, M and Simon, J). Therefore the New Penology is not about the reform of individuals but the control of populations as a whole, with imprisonment focusing on particular offenders who are defined as ‘persistent’ or ‘high rate’. In light of this, the history of imprisonment, the purposes of imprisonment and indeed the question of whether it works as a form of social control or not all need to be addressed, as well as looking into the critics of the new penology. Imprisonment has a number of purposes, the first being punishment, which brings with it the idea of retribution and revenge. The second purpose is incapacitation, this looks at the protection of society and the length of time the individual must serve in prison. Deterrence is the third purpose; it attempts to prevent the individual committing any future crime and goes some way to deter ... ...ology. Devon: Willan Publishing, pp 684-713. Sampson, R, and Laub, J. (1933), ‘Individual Factors in Crime’, in Newburn, T. Criminology. Devon: Willan Publishing, pp. 843. Shichor, D. (1997) ‘Three Strikes as a Public Policy: The Convergence of the New Penology and the McDonaldization of Punishment’, Crime Delinquency, (43), pp. 470-492. Spelman, W. (2000) ‘What Recent Studies Do (and Dont) Tell Us About Imprisonment and Crime’. In Michael, T. Crime and Justice: A Review of Research. (3). Chicargo: University of Chicargo Press. Wilson, D. (2006) ‘Social Control’, The Sage Dictionary of Criminology: 391-392. London: Sage Publications. Woolfe, H. And Tumim, S. (1991). ‘Official Aims of Imprisonment’, in Cavadino, M. and Dignan, J. The Penal System: An Introduction. London: Sage Publications. Zedner, L (2004). Criminal Justice. New York, USA: Oxford University.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Anger, a Deadly Sin

The seven deadly sins include Pride, Greed, Envy, Anger, Lust, Gluttony, and Sloth. One of the seven deadly sins that I have suffered from is Anger. Anger is termed as being deeply resentful indignation and may include being impatient with the faults of others. Both of these come into play in the events that unraveled that one night in Charlotte, N. C. The following events occurred late on a Thursday night, whilst there was still a LOL autumn breeze blowing the leaves from their initial resting place, in downtown Charlotte.As I approached the epicenter, the main nightlife area in Charlotte, I could taste the crispness in the air and knew that tonight would indeed be memorable. I went to the door of one of the popular local drinking holes and proceeded inside with my friends close behind. Soon after we entered you could tell that the crisp air was left outside and replaced with a rather uncomfortably humid haze. As we headed peer into the building the haze became natural and the influ x of people around us seemed unimportant.We walked up to the bar counter and ordered our drinks. We then continued to walk around and converse with the rest of the people inside. As the night progressed the effects of alcohol were taking its toll on some of the other people in the bar. Just as I was walking outside to get some fresh air someone bumped into me and spilt their drink all over my shirt and pants. This was the point that I couldn't control myself and broke one of the sins. I then pushed the other guy over and he fell down on the floor.I stormed off to the bathroom to dry off the stain that would of other wised been noticeable to everyone in the bar. We continued to catch glimpses of each other as the night progressed. I'd keep catching him looking in my direction and finally proceeded to confront him about the situation. Words were then exchanged and tempers began to flare. I don't know what overcame me but I began to go into a fit of rage. After making a scene we were t hen kicked out of the bar. This outcome was negative because it led to an early end to the night.It also led to further fits of rage on our way back home afterwards. I began to get heated with the same friends that had come with me. The consequences for my actions were few but it did lead to my enlightenment on how to control my temper. Once I realized that I needed to take steps to develop self-control I looked up different ways to relax and relive stress. Some of the steps that I began to use were sticking to a firm workout schedule and having times of the day Just to relax.There were no lingering implications following the event due to the fact that once I got kicked out no one else became involved. I was unfortunately consumed by the deadly sin of Anger. As the term states I was overcome with deep resentful indignation and it all started with the fault by the other man in the bar. After all that occurred suffering from the sin of Anger only led the need for self-control. The mor al of this story is that it is better to handle situations in a peaceful manner rather than being overtaken by anger.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Passive Voice What is Passive Voice How to Improve it with Examples

Passive Voice What is Passive Voice How to Improve it with Examples Passive Voice: What Is Passive Voice How to Improve It with Examples Passive voice has its purposes. It really does. In fact, it can be the politically correct way to phrase something.Imagine†¦The setting: a public school libraryThe players: a librarian (OK, I’m the librarian) and 15 first gradersThe scene: The librarian is reading aloud nonfiction books about sharks.The question: â€Å"Why do sharks _______________?† (some intriguing behavior too complex or gory for me to explain or possibly even understand)The passive voice answer that keeps me employed in a public school: â€Å"That’s the way they were made.†The active voice answer that I would tell my grandchildren: â€Å"God made them that way.†Heres what youll learn about passive voice:What is passive voice?How much passive voice can you use?How to choose to use passive or active voiceActive voice examplesHow to vary your sentence varietyHow to find your percent of passive voiceNOTE: We cover everything in this blog post and much more about the writing, ma rketing, and publishing process in our VIP Selfs:ACTIVE: I love reading.PASSIVE: Reading is loved by me.ACTIVE: AC/DC Thunder won the game easily.PASSIVE: The game was won easily by AC/DC Thunder.With students, the focus is on active voice; with a professional writer like yourself, you will most likely have a blend of both active and passive sentences, but active should still far outweigh passive.Active VS Passive Voice with ExamplesFrom Billboards â€Å"The Biggest Hits of All: The Hot 100s All-Time Top 100 Songs† I selected songs that used active voice in their titles. (WHO selected them? I selected them. That’s another easy example of active voice.)Here are song titles along with a rewrite in passive voice:â€Å"I Love Rock ‘N Roll† * Rock ‘N Roll Is Loved by Meâ€Å"I Gotta Feeling† * A Feeling Was Gotten by Meâ€Å"You Light Up My Life† * My Life Was Lit Up by You†Ã¢â‚¬Å"We Found Love† * Love Was Found by Usâ€Å"I Wan t to Hold Your Hand† * Your Hand Is What I Want to Holdâ€Å"Another One Bites the Dust† * The Dust Was Bitten by Another Oneâ€Å"I Will Always Love You† * You Will Always Be Loved by Meâ€Å"I Heard It Through the Grapevine† * It Was Heard Through the Grapevine by MeSentences with the understood subject (you) have an imperative active voice which is much more authoritative than passive tense:(You)† Un-Break My Heart† * My Heart Should Be Unbroken by You(You) â€Å"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree† * A Yellow Ribbon Should Be Tied Round the Ole Oak Tree by You(You) â€Å"Let the Sunshine In† * The Sunshine Should Be Let In by You(You) â€Å"Play That Funky Music† * That Funky Music Should Be Played by YouConversely, this next song title has a passive voice that works: â€Å"That’s What Friends Are For† (better than Friends Are for That).With the rewrites changing active voice to passive, did you dis cern a pattern where many of them ended with a prepositional phrase containing the person doing the action?Think of gossip. People want to know who is doing what! (They really did that? You’re kidding!) Put the subject right at the beginning so everyone knows whom you’re talking (writing) about and what they did!How to Vary Your Sentence Variety Using Passive Voice and Active VoiceIf you have the same subject over and over and if the object is more of the point anyway, passive voice allows for sentence variety.Furthermore, if it doesn’t matter who did the action because the result is the point, passive voice works.The chairs in the old high school library were refinished and moved to the new library weeks before the tables were moved. Temporary chairs were in the high school library. I needed the tables from the old elementary library to sort the genre boxes, so students had chairs, but no tables for a while. The elementary students enjoyed sitting at the  "invisible† tables and joked how they didn’t have to push in their chairs when they left.After class, a first grader told his teacher very sincerely, â€Å"The tables really are invisible!†I smile whenever I think of his endearing comment.Passive voice rationale: It didn’t matter who had refinished and moved the chairs or who had put temporary chairs in the high school library. I hadn’t done those things, and those details would not have added to the book. Nonetheless, I had completed the genrefication project (where the library was totally reorganized by book genres). I didn’t want to start almost every sentence with â€Å"I + action verb + direct object.† It would sound awkward to repeatedly start sentences with â€Å"I did this, I did that, I, I, I†¦.†Passive Voice Checker How to Determine Your Percent of Passive VoiceBeyond the basic spelling and grammar check (which can be helpful with tools like Grammarly or even Hem ingway Editor) is Word’s readability feature.It tells you various details about your writing, including the percentage of passive sentences, the Flesch Reading Ease, and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level. For example, the segment about the chairs and the invisible tables scored an 8.8 Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level, which means it was written at a reading level where an 8th grader in the 8th month of school should be able to comprehend the text.Many teen and adult fiction books are written at 4th 6th-grade reading levels (based on Accelerated Reader scoring) because the writing flows at those levels for recreational reading compared to reading to learn new information. Newspapers may rank more at a 10th-grade reading level, depending on the complexity of the information.If you are using Word and would like to know your percentage of passive sentences and readability scores, here’s what you do:Go to Review at the top of Word.Select Spelling Grammar from the top left.Select Op tions from the pop-up.Select Settings at the bottom of the next pop up (next to Writing style:)Then scroll down until you see Passive Voice and check the boxSelect OK and youll now be able to check your passive voice in WordIn case you were wondering (and even if you weren’t), this article was written at a 6.7 reading level with 6% sentences being passive.Now check some of your writing and see if you agree with your results. By the way, I just took my own advice here and checked my children’s picture book, The Flower Fairies Meet the Talking Rainbow Rocks. It contains 4% passive sentences (acceptable to me) but has a 4.1 reading level, which is higher than I would have guessed and higher than I had planned for a picture book.My book’s science-related terms increased the reading level. Word’s readability tool actively helps with various writing considerations beyond passive voice. You may use it purely for passive voice, but it will tell you even more.Acti ve writing is lively writing. It is aggressive in the most positive sense. It burrows in there and zooms straight to the point. Stay active with your writing, and stay active in your writing.Are you ready to write a bestseller?Together we can take your writing up a notch and you can self-publish a book that becomes the next bestseller!

Monday, October 21, 2019

Free Essays on In Edgar Allan Poe

In Edgar Allan Poe’s poems he writes about death and darkness. Throughout his poems, â€Å"The Raven† and â€Å"The Bells†, Poe writes of death, darkness, and evil. Many say he writes about this because of his childhood problems. (Slovey p. 15) As you continue to read, it will show how others feel about his writings and his desire to write about death. In Edgar Allen Poe’s poem, The Bells, Poe tells how bells can play a part throughout death and this causes readers to dislike the poem but it also has a positive effect on readers when Poe tells of bells being used as symbols of love. For example, some feel that Poe’s desire for death makes the poem less interesting. W.M. Auden tells how the Bells was less interesting but was more successful because the subject is nothing but an excuse for onomatopoeic efforts. Also, some feel that Poe writes about death and darkness because of his drinking problems he had. (Slovey p. 22) Anthony Caputi feels that thi s poem marks the high tide of Poe’s ineffectuality and also bears testimony to his immense gift for poetic conception and thereby confronts us with the peculiar problem of Poe. (Poetry Criticism). In addition, some feel this poem has a sense of good and beauty to it. Floyd Stovall writes how Poe defined poetry as music combined with a pleasurable idea and the poets truth is an excitement of the soul and it is the product of the contemplation of beauty. So in Poe’s poem, The Bells, he writes of death and evil but also of good and love that leaves a positive and a negative effect on readers. In Edgar Allen Poe’s ,The Raven, Poe uses a sense of darkness and evil throughout the poem by using the black bird as a symbol of evil. Some readers cannot understand how this poem has became so popular considering the evil that was used throughout the poem. Allen Tate says he can add very little to criticism of The Raven written in many passages that are wonders how it can be a great poem and how... Free Essays on In Edgar Allan Poe Free Essays on In Edgar Allan Poe In Edgar Allan Poe’s poems he writes about death and darkness. Throughout his poems, â€Å"The Raven† and â€Å"The Bells†, Poe writes of death, darkness, and evil. Many say he writes about this because of his childhood problems. (Slovey p. 15) As you continue to read, it will show how others feel about his writings and his desire to write about death. In Edgar Allen Poe’s poem, The Bells, Poe tells how bells can play a part throughout death and this causes readers to dislike the poem but it also has a positive effect on readers when Poe tells of bells being used as symbols of love. For example, some feel that Poe’s desire for death makes the poem less interesting. W.M. Auden tells how the Bells was less interesting but was more successful because the subject is nothing but an excuse for onomatopoeic efforts. Also, some feel that Poe writes about death and darkness because of his drinking problems he had. (Slovey p. 22) Anthony Caputi feels that thi s poem marks the high tide of Poe’s ineffectuality and also bears testimony to his immense gift for poetic conception and thereby confronts us with the peculiar problem of Poe. (Poetry Criticism). In addition, some feel this poem has a sense of good and beauty to it. Floyd Stovall writes how Poe defined poetry as music combined with a pleasurable idea and the poets truth is an excitement of the soul and it is the product of the contemplation of beauty. So in Poe’s poem, The Bells, he writes of death and evil but also of good and love that leaves a positive and a negative effect on readers. In Edgar Allen Poe’s ,The Raven, Poe uses a sense of darkness and evil throughout the poem by using the black bird as a symbol of evil. Some readers cannot understand how this poem has became so popular considering the evil that was used throughout the poem. Allen Tate says he can add very little to criticism of The Raven written in many passages that are wonders how it can be a great poem and how...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Canadians, Mexicans, and Usonians

Canadians, Mexicans, and Usonians Canadians, Mexicans, and Usonians Canadians, Mexicans, and Usonians By Maeve Maddox I have the good fortune to live within a thirty-minute drive of Crystal Bridges, one of the world’s few major art museums to specialize in American art. Or should I say, â€Å"Usonian art†? Usonian is a new word to me. It does not appear in either the OED or M-W. I read it for the first time in a news story announcing the acquisition of a Usonian house that is being dismantled in New Jersey to be transported and reassembled on the 120-acre grounds of Crystal Bridges. American/Usonian architect Frank Lloyd Wright used the word to refer to his vision for New World architecture that would be free of previous architectural conventions. Wright’s first use of the word was in 1927: But why this term America has become representative as the name of these United States at home and abroad is past recall. Samuel Butler fitted us with a good name. He called us Usonians, and our Nation of combined States, Usonia. Wright misattributed the term Usonian to Samuel Butler. In fact, the word’s first appearance was in 1903, in the writings of James Duff Law. He proposed the term as an adjective to describe the residents of the United States: †We of the United States, in justice to Canadians and Mexicans, have no right to use the title Americans when referring to matters pertaining exclusively to ourselves.† L.L. Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto, had similar ideas. The Esperanto word for the United States–first used in a speech at the 1910 World Congress of Esperanto in Washington, D.C., is Usono; the Esperanto word for an inhabitant of the U.S. is Usonano, and the adjective is usona. Wright’s â€Å"Usonian homes† were designed to be affordable to middle-income families; they were small, single-story dwellings without a garage or much storage. Wright coined the word carport to describe the covered unenclosed space in which to park the family car. Jacobs House, thought to have been the first of about sixty Usonian homes designed by Wright, was built in Madison, Wisconsin in 1937. The buyer, Herbert Jacobs, challenged Wright to design and build a home for $5,000. Using recycled bricks, Wright kept construction costs to $5,500. Note: In 1937, the average annual wage in the U.S. was $1,788; the average cost of a new house, $4,100; the average price of a new car, $760, and annual tuition at Harvard University, $420. Perhaps speakers in the United States who wish to avoid offending the other inhabitants of North and South America by using the word American to refer to themselves alone could soothe their consciences by adopting the word Usonian. To try it out, I played around with some movie titles: A Usonian Werewolf in London Captain Usonia Usonian Beauty Usonian Graffiti Usonian Pie Usonian Psycho Usonian Reunion Usonian Hustle The change would take some getting used to. But then, since so many people are complaining nowadays that the country is not what it once was, maybe it’s time to adopt a new demonym. Note: Demonym is another word that hasn’t made it into the OED or M-W yet. From the Greek word for â€Å"populace,† a demonym is the name applied to a person according to country of origin. For example, French, Latvian, Canadian. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:The Royal Order of Adjectives Ten Yiddish Expressions You Should Know30 Nautical Expressions

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Strategic Management Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Strategic Management - Coursework Example â€Å"Performance consensus† according to the journal is a neutral factor that is crucial to both strategic approaches. The size of the firm, influence of the CEO and uncertain operational environment of the company restrain strategy making approach of the firm. Before settling on any particular strategy, it is important to conduct a cost-benefit-analysis so as to determine the combined possible benefits of both rather than focus on one strategy. Dynamic business world demands that organizations utilize emergent strategy, which makes performance consensus a significant success driver in the implementation thereof. In concurrence with the journal, it is true that utilizing the relevant strategy ensures flexibility of managers. The article facilitates the process of strategy formulation in firms by providing adequate information needed for the entire process. Mintzberg, H 1990, â€Å"The design school: reconsidering the basic premises of strategic management,† Strategic M anagement Journal, Vol. 11, PP 171-195. ... The author critically examines the design school model exposing its strengths and weakness. According to this design, leadership in an organization has the responsibility of determining organizational goals and essential tasks that must be undertaken to achieve the desired position of the firm. In this school of thought, the following premises hold: strategy formulation should be a managed and cognizant process. Second, the main strategist is the CEO, the model used must be straightforward, the strategy should be exclusive, the strategies should be communicated and they become implemented after complete formulation. The authors argue that the design school model is riddled with false assumptions and is often out of context. Both relevant structure and strategy determine organizational success. Despite many criticisms about the design school model, it still remains popular with many organisations and provides useful understanding into managerial concepts and practices. However, it is most likely to be outdated, particularly concerning modern business application. Ansoff, H 1991, â€Å"Critique of Henry Mintzberg's 'The design school: reconsidering the basic premises of strategic management’,† Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 12, PP 449-461. Ansoff in 1991 assessed Mintzberg’s (1990) critique of the ‘design school’ of strategic management based on two conditions: procedural reliability and factual authenticity. In his work, Mintzberg critique lacks both criteria. His own suggestion for the fundamental philosophy of strategic management falls in the same analytical criteria. According to Ansoff, Mintzberg’s clarification lacks methodology and his descriptive as well as prescriptive affirmations are contradictory to the contemporary management practices.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 60

Assignment Example Markus & Moya implied that race is not genetically determined through the conversation, â€Å"Race Is in Our DNA†. The authors found the inaccuracy in genetic-based argument about race by arguing that biology or unchanged cultural characteristics cannot determine the race of a person (Stanford Humanities). In addition, they described race as a product of society and history because people would interact among themselves in different settings to make up the world they are living presently. Research findings then conflicted with the authors by finding out that human genome determines race, and it has been approved by many Americans. The conversation held that race is a much more complex subject that the inherent qualities of an individual or groups of people. The argument holds true for African-Americans commonly referred to as black Americans. Blacks arose because of the slave trade in South America and its neighborhood. Markus & Moya found another troubling misconception about race and ethnicity under the conversation they called â€Å"That’s just identity politics.† The two scholars found out that people turn to such interjections when the political movement of the day does not favor their race or ethnic community (Stanford Humanities). The authors identified people who treat race and ethnicity as irrelevant and use such comments as a scapegoat from critical universal concerns. The professors underline that race or ethnicity does not define or result in consequences that people face in history or political contexts. The authors argued that the people who draw attention through the lens of race or ethnicity are weak and fight for a lost course. The proponents of identity politics in the 1990s used connotation PC police to sustain or end conversations that were directed towards a disadvantaged group of people. The right wing politicians in search of academic and

A Case of Mistreatment Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

A Case of Mistreatment - Term Paper Example Moreover, I will also look at the long-term effects of gender differences to the way they handle new situations and environments. The various new situations and environment that I have decided to discuss are new workplace, new residential place, new social places, and new schooling environments. As shown by my previous paper genders differ in various aspects. There are either psychological differences, social differences or even biological differences. Psychological difference includes gender stereotype, the size of memory, activities they engage, physical activeness, vulnerability, degree of anxiety and degree of empathy (Sigelman and Rider 1). According to Worell (281), Gender stereotype is the psychological traits believed to be more characteristic in one sex than the other and can include verbal skills, mathematical ability and technological ability. Social differences on the other hand include gender roles and their interaction ability. As Parke and Clarke-Stewart (333) states, the biological differences between males and females result due to genetic factors, evolution differences, differences in hormonal functions and differences in their brain functioning. As my previous work show, different aspects of life shape differences. Most of them result from our cultural bel ieves and society’s values. These two plays a very big role in determining how people of a specific gender should behave and how their other counterpart should behave in certain situations. Culture also defines the responsibility of a specific gender and draws gender boundaries. As my previous paper also shows, another factor that molds gender behavior thus resulting to gender differences is the orientation of the person. During their upbringing boy and girls are brought up differently thus making them to differ in term of their reactions to situation and other aspects of life. Some of the results of gender differences as indicated by my previous work are a difference in behavior patterns, choice of actions, preference professions and emotions handling and expression. Another difference is revealed by how the two groups create and maintain relationships. Because of this, the challenges encountered by females differ greatly from the challenges encountered by their male counter parts. This also makes the life strategies used by individual in the either side of the divide very different and in addition makes the adaptability ability to differ from one gender to another. This is what made me conclude in my previous paper that there is a significant difference in term of how males and females reacts and handles different aspects of life. However, my previous work contained some limitations since the research was done to a particular age group of people to achieve a generalized conclusion. In my previous work, I used children aged between 6 years and 13 years whose characteristics might differ greatly from that of their adult counterparts. There were also intra gender differences that showed to bring significant effect to my findings like the personal identity and age of a person. Throughout life, different people encounter different new environments. The first new environment is encountered as a child when one starts going to school or when one is transferred to a new school. Moreover, as the curriculum requires, you have to move to new schools as you advance in education thus encountering new environments. The process of encountering new environments does not end with childhood. As an adult, after completing your education you start to work. That company or organization that you start your career in is definitely a new environment. This is not the sole place that

Climate Change Debate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Climate Change Debate - Essay Example Debating on the natural and human actions which affect the climate of a particular region it can be inferred that natural actions takes resort of all the above mentioned factors while as regards to human activities the climatic changes are rendered through the generation of atmospheric and topographic changes. Another set of natural factors which also govern the climatic changes though in an internal way are alterations in the oceanic and atmospheric conditions which in turn emit a lot of energy into the outer atmosphere causing climatic changes. Owing to the intricate relationship of the variables involved the event of climatic change takes a debating turn as to the nature factors viz. human and natural. [1] Causes of Climate Change: The climatic changes in the modern periods have become the potential contributor to the event of global warming. The heating up of the climatic temperatures by the turn of the twentieth century are attributed to a number of natural factors. Many natural events like the happening of the El Nino factor, which has its emergence with the change in the oceanic currents, happen to affect the external atmosphere. Similarly the topography of the earth is also affected by events like volcanic activity and earthquakes, which also result considerable heat and energy to the earth’s atmosphere causing changes in climatic temperatures. The atmosphere of the earth also gets directly affected owing to changes in the flow of radiations emanating from the solar surface, which is also accountable for climatic changes. Further the huge amount of volcanic eruptions on the earth’s surface emits an abundance of harmful gases and chemicals along with heavy dust and ashes into the atmosphere. Some of the gases emitted directly affect the Ozone layer of the atmosphere, which henceforth becomes responsible for climatic changes. Like the host of natural factors mentioned above which contribute to the event of climate change and rising temperatu res the planet’s climatic system is also affected by various manmade activities. The human beings on the earth’s surface from time immemorial have contributed to the burning down of trees and other fossilized energy sources like petrol, which also emit lot of harmful gases and other substances into the atmosphere. Thus both natural and human factors are responsible for the environmental degradation and change in climatic temperatures. Further research conducted shows that the growth of human activities related to the burning of fossil fuels and the spread of the industrialization along with several scientific experiments have caused a great impact in altering the climatic conditions of the summer and winter seasons. It is found that owing to the growth of anthropogenic activities the days of the winter season have been considerably reduced while the summer days have got extended. The incidence of such factors has reduced the effect of the winter season while on the con trary the summer season has obtained a further impetus. Again the effect of the growth of manmade activities have led to such climatic changes that some regions are experiencing more amount of heat waves while other regions are getting considerably colder. The gaseous emissions from both the volcanic eruptions on the earth’s surface and as well as from large nature of human activities are also studied to affect changes in the oceanic temperatures causing it get much cooler than earlier. [2]; [3] Further studies conducted on the manmade factors which render an impact on the climatic temperat

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Extreme measures movie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Extreme measures movie - Essay Example While he is curious, his superiors at the hospital tell him to drop the matter. When he does not stop asking questions, his life starts to unravel around him. His house is ransacked and when the police arrive they discover cocaine in his bedroom which Luthan claims was not his. He is charged and convicted which leads him to lose his medical license and he becomes friendless as he is thought to be a drug user. Desperate for answers that can get him his life back, he manages to talk to some homeless people who lead him to an organization governed by Dr. Myrick (Gene Hackman) who is performing dangerous experiments on homeless people without their consent. Further, Luthan finds out that all of the subjects of these experiments have died. Luthan himself experiences the pain and misery of those who suffer from paralysis when he is led to believe that an injury to his spinal column has left him paralyzed from the neck down. However, he discovers that to be untrue and regains use of his limbs. He manages to find out where the experiments are being conducted through the help of the ‘moles’ who have an uneasy co-existence with the homeless people and finally confronts Dr. Myrick. Dr. Myrick tries to bring Luthan into the organisaiton and wants him to join his team of doctors. However, Luthan refuses since he does not believe that taking the life of an individual, no matter how worthless that life is, is the right thing to do. The confrontation ends with an FBI Agent accidentally shooting Dr. Myrick and the whole scheme is laid bare. Some time on in the future, the wife of Dr. Myrick meets with Dr. Luthan who is practicing medicine again and she hands him a package containing the tapes and the documents Dr. Myrick was working on. It is unclear if Dr. Luthan would use the research done by Dr. Myrick but he certainly seemed interested in it. The message contained within the film is simply, truth triumphs over evil and

EDLE 639 - Assignment 2 - Take 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

EDLE 639 - Assignment 2 - Take 2 - Essay Example Mary’s and other schools in the diocese adhere to the guiding principles, as well as terms of reference that govern Catholic schools (Duncan & Duncan, 1997). The primary aim behind the examination of the governance model of the school and diocese is to appreciate the inherent difficulties that encounter the organization. Some of the most marked issues, in the diocese, with regard to governance include diminishing numbers of priests; concerns concerning the growing legal obligations of priests, boards and other administrators of Catholic primary schools; and the need for increased accountability on the part of school administrators (Cheney, 2013). This examination also aims at meeting the need for a sound knowledge base regarding the governance model of Catholic primary schools in the Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes so as to inform further research and debate concerning the nature of primary school governance in the county of New South Wales and in the entire nation. As a consequen ce, this examination aims at describing, as well as analysing, the present practices and issues concerning governance of St. Mary’s Primary School and the larger Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes (CEO Wilcannia-Forbes, 2013). ... Schools under the Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes are united in their reverence for tradition. The schools, including St. Mary’s Primary School endeavour to provide excellent education opportunities for children under their care (Cheney, 2013). This is guaranteed by working collaboratively with all stakeholders, including parents, boards, priests and principals, thereby enabling the education of the entire individual (Duncan & Duncan, 1997). It is through this collaboration that the organization engages with the challenges of modern day, particularly the ethical and moral contradictions of today (Jordan, 2008). Since they are linked in both purpose and mission, Catholic primary schools in the Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes form authentic communities of faith, which source their inspiration and justification from Jesus Christ. At the centre of the mission of the Catholic Church is the functionality of school education. The successfulness of this mission is largely contingent on key co mponents of effective governance that offer a sense of direction, leadership and authority, which in turn guarantees effective school operations (Hofman, Hofman & Guldemond, 2002) sch. Governance and leadership of Catholic schools can be considered in the context of a mission whose function is to protect and promote the rights and duties of the entire school community. Leadership and governance centred on the practices and principles of excellence play a significant role in advancing the Catholic identity, the school’s operational vitality and overall academic excellence (ACPP, 2005a). While governance models are variable depending on the sponsorship of a school, individuals who serve on the leadership team