How do you pronounce your name Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

How do you pronounce your name - Essay Example When I was younger, though, I never knew the kind of impact my name would have on me. In elementary school, I was not very fond of my name. I always complained to myself how one day I would change it to Heaven. It would be easier for people to pronounce, and I would be free of hearing that overused question on a daily basis. As I grew older and matured, the views I had on my name changed drastically. I began to like the uniqueness of my name, and whenever the pause came to read my name, I was more than happy to correct the pronunciation. As I grew older and I began to fully understand why my mother would give me this name, I realized that what I had was more than just I name. I had a story to go with it. Born two months early and weighing only two pounds, it was more than a blessing for me to be alive, especially when the doctor was sure that either my mom or I was going to die during the birth. My mom, happy that we both survived, decided to name me Heavyn’le. Given the miracle that occurred the day of my birth, nothing else seemed to fit. My mom also said, â€Å"My name is so common, and I just wish that someone would have spelled my name a little different.† Therefore, to add to the uniqueness of my name, she had to add some spice to it, to make it â€Å"different.† Not only is my name unique, but it has a story behind it that has finally made me proud to bear the name that my mother blessed me with. Now that I am older, I have come to realize that my name helped make me who I am. I am able to understand why I was named Heavyn’le, and that it had not been picked on a whim but for a reason - life. I am not afraid to be different. I am constantly being told how pretty my name is, and I have even been asked if my name could be used in a short story.  

A City On Civilizations

A City On Civilizations The purpose of this integration paper is to determine the impact of a city on civilizations. Cities have also been a changing factor during the course of time, and have improved the way we live today. When we compare the different types of cities, we can then determine the similarities and differences in various places and eras. Why are cities an essential part of civilization? Has urban life been the same in different civilizations over time? Why or why not? What accounts for the similarities and differences in various places and eras? To write a successful essay on these questions, you need to integrate material from each of the following chapters in our textbook: Chapters 3, 6, and 11. http://www.ancientcivilizations.co.uk/home_set.html Cities assumed the control and integration functions of the new political, economic, religious, and social systems. All cultural forms eventually became hierarchically organized. Class and caste societies based on political and religious status became the norm, replacing the older ranked societies of farming villages. Urbanization changed the way humans lived by going from a self sufficient village, to having jobs and becoming more industrialized. People started to leave villages and farms to live in cities.  Ã‚  A cause of this might have been the younger generation not having as much experience to start agriculture on their own, so they would rather obtain jobs in a more urbanized culture to gain the experience and then hopefully be able to maintain their own farm. The negative impacts that would arise from urbanization are increased costs over what the local working class receives in wages.  Ã‚  Laws were developed on how farms should be maintained, which in some instances would bankrupt farmers, because of high maintenance costs to abide by regulations.  Ã‚  This would cause people to have no choice but to end up as workers to support their household, meaning they might be required to move closer to the city to be near jobs, which would also add to the higher living expenses related to urbanization. When we think of urbanization, we can also relate it to archaeological traces of classical Athens and Rome, which did reveal some differences between what constitutes a city-state and an imperial capital city.   Reilly explains, big choices such as laws, decisions of war and peace, determination of how much money to collect and what to spend it on were determined by the mass assembly, which consisted of all citizens.   The town council was the one who prepared most of the issues, but the final judge was the assembly.   This seems to be the origin of politics, and development of a democratic society. Rome on the other hand was the opposite; it was considered a show place for power, according to Reilly.   The Greeks were more focused on attention to the quality of harbors and the fertility of the soil and occupied themselves with beauty and fortification, while the Romans concentrated on providing their cities with adequate water, streets, and sewers.   Most of these amenities were mainly for the rich though; everyone else had to figure out their own means of obtaining water, and utilizing sewage, which was mainly just tossing it out the window. Artwork and pictures also plays a role in the identity of a city, for example, pictures from classical Athens consisted of sculptors that were produced from ideal views, whereas the goal of Roman artifacts and pictures was to produce realistic portraits for decoration and symbolisms of power.   I found the pictures in the text book and the photos of ancient Athens in the lectures very telling.   The picture of Rome (Reilly p.142-143) shows a congested city and magnificent buildings.   Many of the buildings were built for entertainment purposes and could hold most of the people of Rome.   The buildings and entertainment were enough to blind you from the poorly built and cramped housing.   The photos in the lecture of ancient Athens and the Agora (www.stoa.org/athens) showed the importance placed on having a gathering place for all of societys functions.   Buying and selling commodities, and discussing politics, business and current events. The enduring architecture, engineering, and writings from the classical period of both civilizations work to reveal drastic differences in the political, social, and economic aspects of life between the cultures.   One is provided with insight into how the different peoples viewed different matters in varying respects. The enduring architecture of the great city-state of Athens is the primary indication of the participatory nature of the Greek city-state itself.   The remains of the acropolis, the agora, and the amphitheater are signs of a culture whose goal was the enrichment of human life, [which was made possible] by the polis (Reilly, 1997, p. 133).   The acropolis, which was the home of the Greek gods provided for religious relief; the agora served as the primary meeting place and market place of the people; and the amphitheater was the principal form of entertainment for Athenians.   Each form of architecture simply emphasizes the importance of citizen participation in every aspect of political, social, and economic Athenian life.   The engineering systems, water aqueducts, and the remnants of the Coliseum of the Roman imperial capital city are the primary indications of the non-participatory nature of the imperial capital city.   The luxury of the baths, palaces, and efficient sewage systems that were offered to the ruling classes were a far cry from the dirty, crowded, and disease-rampant tenements that characterized the lives of the Roman poor.   Moreover, the emphasis on gladiatorial violence, which took part in the Coliseum and the Circus Maximus, revealed that when a citys inhabitants no longer have any control over the life of the city, they must be entertained (Reilly, 1997, p. 144).   Clearly, Roman citizens had no participation in the running of the city, and thus, were kept entertained through violent games. There is definitely a difference between the city-state of Athens and the imperial capital city of Rome.   Ancient Athens was viewed as a democracy, where power was distributed to a larger population of the city.   Kevin Reilly states, In terms of technology, comforts, physical layout, and the lives of the inhabitants, Athens was not very far removed from the peasant village (Reilly p.130).   They led simple lives and had ample leisure time.   The Athenian amphitheatre was where hundreds of plays were watched, and even participated in, by members of the audience.   The Greek tragedies displayed human foibles, political policy and the eternal dramas of human life on stage for all to see (Reilly p.131).   The city-state made possible a relatively peaceful and fulfilling way of life.   The democratic nature of the polis was a key aspect of leading this good life. Although we may underestimate the houses of ancient Athens, they were built similar to each other and provided a decent living.   R.E. Wycherley states, Classical Greek houses were unpretentious, at least from the outside; they were hardly expected to make much contribution to the architectural beauty of the city (How the Greeks Built Cities, R.E. Wycherley 1949).   In contrast, ancient Rome put their efforts into elaborate Coliseums and amphitheatres and made no attempt to build decent housing for the less fortunate. Ancient Rome was the opposite of life in ancient Athens.   Rome was built with the intention only the wealthy would have a comfortable living.   The great sewer system did not extend to the houses of the poor, thus they were left to live with the stench of excrement.   The housing was cramped and congested which led to epidemic infestation and spontaneous combustion.   Romans were not offered participation in community affairs.   There was also a large separation between rich and poor.   Reilly contends, Class divisions between rich and poor, powerful and weak, were radically accelerated in the capital city, especially Rome (Reilly p.141).   The city had many diversions to ease the reality of life.   Romans would watch extravagant circuss (Circus Maximus) or head to the Coliseum for brutal gladiatorial exhibitions.   Romans were blood thirsty and hungry for entertainment.   This entertainment was the only way for most citizens to forget about their daily lives and the horrible living conditions.   Although the city had many engineering and technological marvels for this period, it was designed for the rich and powerful to enjoy. The main differences I have noticed between a city-state and an imperial capital city is how it is socially governed.   A city-state is controlled by the citizens, where decisions and laws are voted on by a mass assembly.   An imperial capital city, such as Rome, is controlled by an emperor or dictator, where the only decision made was by him; even though the emperor had a senate, they were only in place to advise the emperor. Kevin Reilly and the photographic archives both worked to reveal the key difference between the city-state and the imperial capital city of the classical world.   While the city-states were citizen-based and democratic, the imperial capital cities were more entertaining and economically focused. Overall the social changes that were taking place were not all negative, most societies benefited from urbanization, as far as profits that were being made.  Ã‚  It also leads to a more modernized way of living due to urban growth, and improved opportunities for jobs, housing, and transportation.

Lee Iacocca :: Essays Papers

Lee Iacocca Lee Iacocca grew up in Allentown Pennsylvania, very close to my hometown of Boyertown Pa. My geographic connection with Iacocca is one of the reasons I chose to read his autobiography. We are both very interested in automobiles and automotive history, which connected me even further with Iacocca . Iacocca believes that you can become and achieve anything in life as long as you have strong determination and motivation. I too share this belief. Lee Iacocca did not focus his life on goals that others set for him; he followed his heart and his dreams, which someday is something I hope to be able to say about myself. Iacocca, the son of Italian immigrants grew up in an upper middle class family. His father started out with nothing and over many years, he managed to build a successful chain of hotdog restaurants in Pennsylvania. Because of his father's success and strong beliefs in the value of education, Iacocca grew up attending private schools and eventually found his way into Lehigh University. While attending, Lehigh Iacocca earned a degree in Mechanical engineering. Upon his graduation, he landed a very prestigious job with Ford Motor Company. In August 1946, Iacocca began his work in the engineering department of Ford. After a year of engineering Iacocca discovered that it was not what he wanted to do with his life, he wanted to be in sales. Ford agreed, which was the start of a very successful venture for Iacocca and the Ford Motor Company. Through many years of hard work, Iacocca was promoted to top management. This is where he found himself living his dream. He never wanted to leave work at the end of the day and could not wait to go back the next morning. Although Iacocca was doing very well and could not be happier, the Ford Motor Company was going through hard times. General Motors was really hurting Ford in sales and in innovations. In the late 50's and early 60's Ford produced cars that were just not selling and were real failures in the industry. Iacacco knew something had to be done, and he convinced president and CEO Henry Ford Jr. that he was the man to do it. Through many months of close arduous work with Ford's design team, Iaccoca came up with the Idea of the Mustang .

3d Animation, Its Effect on Mass Communication Essay

Introduction 3d animation is a form of Computer graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images. 3d is a type of graphics in which its images look like they are real world images i. e. omputer games and animated movies are the common examples of 3d, 3d graphics are modeled or originated by a process known as 3d modeling, this process is done by a software having 3d modeling tools by engineers or artists, either they import real world images and then transform them into 3d animation or they originate their own ideas and compose them through the help of the tools, 3d animation[1] is the process of taking a 3D object and getting it to move in this process u create 3d objects and combine them to make an animation this includes importing motion capture data and applying it to a character or making the objects to follow the artist’s/engineer’s own curves. Texturing is a phase in which the ready 3d animation is textured or colored to make it look like more effective in its role because colors and textures play an important role in making the animation look more realistic and effective to the viewer. Rendering is the last phase in which the animation is finally exported to a format or copy that can be viewed easily by the viewers, it is an important part of 3d animation process, as more efficient and good rendering will result in good looking and effective 3d animation. A good 3d animation is based upon Visual Communication, Good Design, and Aesthetics, if these 3 features are kept in mind while creating 3d’s they can have good results as expected. 3d animation has totally changed today’s market, people are giving more attention to 3d because of its realistic look, 3d movies are commonly being viewed in cinema houses, 3d games are much popular in today’s era. Uses in Mass Communication 3d animation is widely being used in today’s era like computer games that are made in 3d are more popular than the older ones, Movies in 3d are greatly being viewed in cinema houses and especially 3d animated cartoon movies are grabbing the attention of people greatly, field of mass communication is having a very good effect of 3d animation i. e. Advertisement is a major part of mass communication in which products are advertised in different ways so the buyer and seller meet their needs, Now a day’s all advertisements are majorly being produced in 3d because of the cost effectiveness and unique look of 3d animation, viewers are more attracted towards 3d advertisements as compared to the adds that are shot and produced in 2d, Digital 3d Advertising a new media to focus the viewers sight on when composing a shot, they count on a powerful instrument the closeness of the objects. Before, the creators needed to direct the viewer’s sight using the 2d composition. Now, we can use deepness to accentuate the element we want to emphasize. Higher tendency of the viewer to receive the messages this media requires the usage of glasses. When a viewer puts such elements on, there is a higher tendency of the viewer to receive the messages. The viewer is receptive to see the spot, just because of the immersion format of its exhibition. Greater detail in the volume and shape of the objects How many times we have heard it is not the same to see, for example, a car on television and personally, this revolution has made 3d much popular among people, new television’s supporting 3d view are being launched in market in a great number by leading companies like Sony, JVC and Samsung etc. Mass media organizations are using 3d widely in their programs and advertisements, there are properly established studio’s in which 3d modeling/designing is being done for these purposes, Artificial Rides are also common i. e. n which viewers experience real life scenes of a roller coaster ride in an artificial 3d environment that looks so realistic,3d Movies are much popular in today’s era and are widely being watched all over the world that has increase the number of 3d cinema houses. 3d technology is widely being used in Movies and short films to achieve the results which were not possible in old times, before this technology film makers used to have stunt Mans and proper training and a high budget to perform action and horror scene’s for the movies that consumed more time, more money and sometimes dangerous stunt’s took life’s of many stunt men, but now it is easy to have these scenes designed and animated in 3d environment which gives more enjoyable look to the viewer’s because now acial structure’s and real life scene’s can easily be regenerated in 3d environment more efficiently because of new 3d technology human, animal or any facial expressions can easily be recreated and animated according to the needs After generation of 3d face model next important stage is the proper recreation of human expressions. One of the ways of achieving realism is modeling of facial expressions and animation on synthesized human face. However, this task was complicated to achieve in a way that everyone has his own style of expressing so one model can’t fulfill the requirements but the new way proposed by Narendra Patel & Mukesh Zaveri in reference paper [1],study of this research show a new method of re creating the facial expressions of 3d models that is more effective and realistic in 3d world especially for its use in animation like movies etc Other than these usages 3d is now being used in medical fields also i. e. He therapy of mentally injured people[2],in this process patient is subjected to a 3d environment where a virtual therapist is used to treat the patient this reduces cost of the therapy system’s and rehabilitates the condition of the patients faster, Patients see a clone of them and a therapist in this environment, what he sees is known as virtual reality, in which he sees his wrist moving faster than the actual movement done by him by doing so, he will activate the coupling between the perceptive and motor circuits hence improving the recovery, Virtual reality helps in improving the condition of patient in such a way that it makes him realize that he is progressing slightly more than the normal condition so this results in faster rehabilitation, this is helping the medical specialists as they have a laboratory controlled 3d environment so they can change it according to the recovery needs of the patient. Virtual reality technology has been used for several decades for a varie ty of psychosocial applications. 0 The most widely used feature is to create realistic simulations for the patients according to the therapist’s need for example(HDM)[2] Head mounted display in which patient see’s what the therapist wants to make him see, other visions are blocked in this case. This helps in curing diseases like cognitive disorders, attention disorders etc. Another form of disease caused by a cerebral vascular accident CVA is also being cured by the use of 3d animation technology, in this disease brain functionality is lost temporarily or permanently depending upon which areas of the brain have been affected some of them get paralyzed. This kind of stroke can affect their ability of reading writing even swallowing, These type of problems are common in western countries, by the use of 3d technology it has been discovered that patients are recovering more fastly as compared to older treatments 5-10% of them recovered a fully functional upper limb however 80% of them recover their complete ability to walk

Flexible Workers Essay

The term flexible working means Flexible working’ is a phrase that describes any working pattern adapted to suit workers needs. Flexibility is the The ability of an organisation to adapt the size, composition, responsiveness and cost of the people inputs required to achieve organisational objectives (Pilbeam and Corbridge, 2010). There are different forms of flexibility which are numerical flexibility, functional flexibility, financial flexibility, locational flexibility and temporal flexibility. Numerical flexibility is where employers can change the size of their workforce as their labour requirements change. Functional flexibility is the ability of an organization to move employees to other duties or responsibilities within the company. Locational flexibility is that employees can work from home instead of coming to the office. Types of temporal flexibility are Part time working, home working, job Sharing, term time working, annual Hours Zero hours, 9 day fortnight/compressed hours. The table below shows that â€Å"Between 2006 and 2011 there was a general increase across all modes of flexible working (Table 2). Teleworking (TN0910050S) saw the greatest rise, being offered by 14% of employers in 2006 and 59% in 2011. This echoes trends in flexible working observed in the UK as well as the rest of Europe (EU1101011D). The popularity of teleworking has been boosted by improvements in information communication technologies (ICT) and its attractiveness to the smallest companies (69% offer this form of flexible working)†. (ewco 2011) Source: CBI/Harvey Nash (2011) â€Å"The Third Work-Life Balance Employer Survey found that the vast majority (92 per cent) of employers would consider a request to change a working pattern from any employee despite legislation only requiring employers to do so from some employees. Amongst those employers where a request had been made in the previous 12 months, just nine per cent said they had turned down any requests. The survey reported that employers continue to hold predominantly positive attitudes towards work-life balance and to perceive its benefits for employees and workplaces alike, although it is clear that most employers feel that the implementation of flexible working practices is not always easy, and should not be expected by employees where it would cause disruption to the business (Family Friendly Working Hours Taskforce 2008). The Atkinson’s Flexible Firm Model is a technique used by the managers of a company to organize the work place with the help of different forms of flexibility to efficiently make full use of its work force. The model is based on the principle of dividing the work force into core and peripheral groups. The core group consists of workers that are vital to the company, the work force is functionally flexible and are very difficult to replace because of some special skills, knowledge about a product or market and experience in the field. The peripheral group consists of workers who are numerically flexible. This because of the worker in this group can be replaced easily, the supply in labour market is high, they were only needed for a specific task or they might be only needed in the peak time of a business. For a worker it is better to be of the core than the periphery as they would have job security, improved conditions of work and a better pay rate as they cannot be replaced easily. The model also shows how important can the external workers be for the business. For example sub contracted workers like the cleaning staff of an airline are not core part of the company but they are important in running of the business (oxford human resource management). According to BT Case study,† BT demonstrates the power of flexible working as it has adapted the way it manages people and the way they work to stay competitive and responsive. The company has what is believed to be one of the largest flexible working projects in Europe – the BT Work style project. Flexible working is available to almost everyone in BT, and BT now has over 70,000 flexible workers ,from senior managers to contact centre staff. At BT, flexible working is business as usual. Already seven out of 10 people work flexibly and nearly 10% are home based. It has saved the company millions in terms of increased productivity and cut costs. It has also motivated our people and released more potential. † Sir Christopher Bland, Chairman, BT Group (BT group). Flexible working both meets the needs of employees and improves companies’ capacity to serve customers – to optimise communications, reduce response times, improve service and support, and contribute to the overall customer experience – and, in doing so, it secures competitive advantage. See figure 1 below This clearly shows that BT has used flexible working and gained a lot from it, BT used compressed hours to lengthen engineers’ days which led to high level of job completion & customer satisfaction and engineers enjoyed half day off a week which creates motivation among the employees. : British gas has been using flexible working for a long time and it has been their key element in business strategy. British gas offers its employees different types of flexible working which has enabled the company to offer 24 hour service for its customers. British gas flexible working provisions include allowing university students to study, letting people work longer or shorter hours, part-time and full-time roles, flexible hours to allow for childcare, and remote working and they also support home working for some employees. Benefits of offering flexible working for British Gas are that they want to attract and retain the best talent, regardless of background and responsibilities and they want a diverse workforce that reflects community and customer base. Offering flexible working increases employee’s loyalty the brand and provides a better environment to work. British Gas has been chosen as one of the Top 50 Great Places to Work for the 3rd year running rising four places to number 26 in the list (British Gas 2012). Marks and spencer revised their working in February 2010 to give greater emphasis to the requirement for line managers to give all formal flexible working requests due consideration, and agree those requests that are beneficial to both company and the employee. Marks and spencer currently supports these types of flexible working, part-time working, job-sharing, term-time working and home working on a part-time basis depending on the job, flexible retirement options and career leave of up to nine unpaid months to study. Marks and spencer are committed to employee engagement and believe that flexible working contributes to their levels of engagement. Other benefits include attraction of the best talent, retention of our existing talent, and productivity across the business, motivation to give great service increased morale. All these factors lead to better quality service being offered to its customers. (Marks and Spencer plc 2013). Accenture offers the following flexible working provisions flexible hours’ reconfiguration of existing hours over contractual number of days, part-time working, and job-sharing, home-enabled working leave of absence policy: allowing employees to take unpaid leave to pursue activities outside of the working environment. The company also makes full use of multiple flexible working arrangements simultaneously, and any type of flexible working is available to each level f employees. (CIPD 2012) Accenture has seven business reasons to create a more flexible, supportive work environment which are to attract and retain a broad range of talented people, to raise morale and increase job satisfaction, to increase productivity and improve business results to enhance commitment and engagement and to cut health care costs and last to attract investors. More than 80% of Accenture e mployees say that achieving work–life balance is important. Fifty-two per cent of Accenture UK employees also said they are already working flexibly at Accenture and these 52% show increased levels of engagement (2013 Accenture). Companies offer flexibility to its workers as they are benefited from it but there are some draw backs as well like some employers that offer flexible working are doing it on case by case basis rather than making it general work practice, an employee that needs flexible working can come to the employer but it is up to the employer to agree or disagree. When the employer approves or disapproves the employees request it creates internal conflict among employees. If an employee finds it unfair that some employees can work flexibly and some cannot, they feel that some workers are preferred more over them which creates conflict and it leads to de-motivated workers causing the standard of work done by them to be less efficient. Although companies with flextime often use core hours to encourage teamwork, employees that work inconsistent schedules cannot spend as much time in collaboration with co-workers as employees that work the same hours. Employees may only have a few hours a day for this collaboration. In some workplaces, work team communication takes place in an ongoing and spontaneous fashion that is hard to limit to just a few hours. Flextime can slow down the pace of work team production because of this restricted collaboration (Kokemuller 2013). The costs involved in administering flexible are also high which restricts small businesses to adapt it. Employees will not be in work at certain times and therefore it may not be suitable for organisations where continuous cover is necessary. Another disadvantage is that if the offices are open for a longer period, it may lead to increased costs for lighting and heating. Following are the barriers that businesses have to face to create a flexible working condition for its employees Operational pressures, customer/service requirements, line managers’ ability to effectively manage flexible workers, line management attitudes, accommodating employee requests for flexibility and financial constraints. Operational pressures: one of the drawbacks is operational pressure which causes stress (CIPD, 2012).? Communication problems: communication problems can hinder productivity with flexible working because relevant information doesn’t get to the employee (CIPD, 2012). Customer and service requirement: when there is high service requirement where staff need to deal with customers it makes flexibility almost impossible (CIPD, 2006). Flexible working is an important aspect in business as there are many benefits. Flexible working is now being practiced by large companies and it has increased significantly. We have seen that how companies like British Gas, Marks and Spencer and Accenture have used flexible working to define its business. Companies have benefited by getting efficient staff, increased productivity and higher levels of motivation of its workers. There are some barriers and one of the main reasons is operational pressure. Thus today use of flexible working is very important for a company’s success. However there are some drawbacks as well like companies have to face increased costs which restrict small businesses to adapt to flexible working. oth employee and employer are benefited from it, advantages of flexible working to employees are Opportunity to achieve a work life balance, increased satisfaction and higher motivation levels. Whereas the benefits to employers are higher productivity, along with improved customer service, reduced absenteeism, lower staff turnover, improved recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce, raised motivation/engagement and enhanc ed employer branding as employer of choice. Thus we can see that the benefits of working flexibly can benefit the company and it is also good for its workers.