Impact of Warfare, Religion, and Social Stratification on City-Building

Impact of Warfare, Religion, and Social Stratification on City-Building In both ancient and contemporary human societies, one can witness the cultural creations of warfare, religion, and social stratification interacting to help form and perpetuate the existence of each other. In addition, these cultural factors have lent themselves to help produce, regulate, and justify specific technologies. These technologies may be either destructive or beneficial to human societies economically and/or environmentally, and can have a very wide range of function. Technologies can in turn influence warfare, religion, and social stratification so as to increase the importance of these aspects of culture in society. In this paper, I seek to explore the relationships between warfare, religion, and social stratification, and their important influences on city-building in ancient times and today. As early societies began to group together and form conglomerations of people that eventually became towns and cities, they discovered a ‘need’ for warfare in order to protect and expand their territories, resources, and populations. In the words of Ehrlich, it is important to remember that â€Å"(c)onnecting ‘genes for aggression’†¦to the actions of warring governments is a bit of a stretch, just as would be connecting genes for conciliations to the deployment of United Nations peacemakers (Ehrlich 260).† Basically, Ehrlich wants us to realize that there are no â€Å"war† or â€Å"peace† genes, but that cultural micro- and macro-evolutionary conditions (that is, societal or environmental conditions) may drive a group of people to be either warring or peaceful. With the development of warfare came the development of religion. A causative relationship is... ...a, especially slaves, would have been the people who would have physically labored to build the cities. In this way, social stratification played a major role in the rise of ancient Greek cities. In conclusion, the cultural components of warfare, religion, and social stratification have not only interacted to help create and perpetuate each other, but they have also heavily influenced technologies such as city-building in ancient Greece. Though the emphasis on the different factors changes with evolving cultural and environmental climates, they are still present to some degree in Western culture today. Works Cited Chant, Colin. Pre-Industrial Cities and Technology. London: Routledge, 1999. Ehrlich, Paul. Human Natures. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2000 Southwick, Charles. Human Impacts on Planet Earth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Multicorporate structure

As early as the 1980’s there has been significant effort to create management practices in the industry that parallel business strategies because of the realization of the need for sustainability as much as quality services (Alexander et al, 1988). The advocacy is now influencing current health administrators to adopt these practices on a structural level: organization are being reengineered operationally and to accommodate non-traditional and non-medical specific functions such as marketing, public relations and organizational development (Griffith & White, 2006). Healthcare organizations that have multicorporate structures consider themselves not only healthcare providers but as an organization that has to be professionally productive socially responsive and operationally independent. This is not to infer that traditional healthcare organizations preclude these characteristics only rather that multicorporate structured healthcare organization follow more closely the structure of an enterprise Going Multicorporate Structured Technology, communication, culture and politics have changed perceptions regarding the industry and thus are changing the means of delivering services. For example, in evaluating accounting and financial management (A/FM) performance, the adaptation of performance benchmarking principles have allowed for early threshold performance measurements of health programs (Griffith & White, 2006, pp. 455-456). In an effort to measure productivity levels of technology programs the Australia’s health and social services, the Australian Government Productivity Commission (2006) considered the marginal effectiveness propensity of the inclusion of technology in medical procedures as well as sensitivity analyses and compared them to the influence of technology in other government services to determine the impact to health services. This effort supports Griffith and White’s view of the need for sophisticated surveillance and forecasting activity in multicorporate structured organizations (pp. 564-565). In a similar effort, the United Kingdom based Democratic Health Network (2006) established community support and communication networks to support and monitors health awareness and delivery of services. The effort has developed significant funding for community-based health activities as well for the Democratic Health Network itself, greater participation in programs and higher satisfaction rating of health services. According to Griffith and White, these efforts can be considered as part of the healthcare organization’s marketing strategy because the efforts create awareness, reinforces the significance of the organization to the public, and at the same time allows for insights that can be developed to strategic advantages (pp. 610-613). Conclusion Considering the demands on healthcare today, there is need to develop effective channels for services, streamline operations and maximize resources. According to Leatherman (2001), there has been a recognized need in the health care industry to reevaluate its social roles and the social developments affecting the nature of current health care needs. This can only be accomplished if an organizations structure is able to respond to healthcare professionals and the public effectively, which can only be possible if the organization’s structure allows for the development of such competencies. The need for multicorporate structures does not invalidate the social mandate of healthcare institutions but only endeavors to make a strategy-based and sustainable enterprise. The adoption of corporate practices in healthcare is an effort to institute administrative and competitive competencies in healthcare organizations. References Alexander, J. A., Morlock, L. L. and Gifford, B. D. (1988). The effects of corporate restructuring on hospital policymaking. Health Serv Res   June; 23(2): 311–337. Griffith, John R. and White Kenneth R. (2006). The Well-Managed Healthcare Organization, Sixth Edition. Chicago, IL: American College of Healthcare Executives Leatherman, S. (2001) Measuring up: Performance indicators for better healthcare. OECD Observer No. 229 Australian Government Productivity Commission (2006). Impacts of Advances in Medical Technology in Australia. Retrieved August 11, 2007, from Democratic Health Network (2006). Accountability of the Health Service. Retrieved August 11, 2007   

Crime Today Essay

We can all see some logic in this type of action as â€Å"money† can cause a lot of mayhem, and it’s especially bad for people who don’t have any. Many people can recognize being poor and yearning for a better life. However, most of us do not act out in criminal ways in order to get ourselves out of financial hardship. In contrast, think about the guy who just last week went into that school and killed 20 children and 5 adults for really no reason at all. Nobody can grasp any reason at all why someone would or even could do something so gruesome and evil. It just doesn’t make sense. So why is it that crime seems so bad today than in the past. Well, I would have to say heavy population increases don’t help. All of the technological advancements only make it easier for us to see all the bad news. I think that some people knowing that the media is going to shout out their names all over the newspapers and televisions is an incentive to criminals who want to be, I guess you could say â€Å"known† for something. Crime has always existed, since the beginning of time. It’s almost like it’s human nature. Nevertheless, is America falling into a trap where crime is normal? As our prison systems grow, are we allowing crime to grow to fill the gaps, or is it the other way around? My personal opinion is that we in fact are. Did you know that when America’s crime rates declined steadily for about a decade and a half, that  the United States still had the most car thefts, the most rapes and the most murders in the world the United States still had the most car thefts, the most rapes and the most murders in the world (Economic Collapse, 2012). What does that say about us? In addition, even though the United States has the largest prison systems in the entire world (and we win by a large margin), we can see that there are still thousands or criminals reaching havoc on the streets of America every day. There are some places that are still showing a slight decline in crime rates; however, others are showing an alarming rate of crime increases. What is the answer to all of this? I’m not sure if anybody really knows. In addition to all of this, is this recent economic downturn going to turn more people into criminals? Probably so, and we don’t know how to fix it. We can only build so many prisons, and we can only afford so many police officers. Billions are spent in America and around the world each year combating crime, building prisons, paying for police and legal costs involved with crime, delinquency and other related problems, but the problem continues. It’s a never ending battle. Another thing is that a myriad of excuses and justifications for criminal behavior have replaced the principle that everyone, including the criminal, is fully responsible for his actions. Every criminal has a reason why â€Å"they† did what they did. Well, my parents abused me when I was little; I have psychological issues, etc. When does it end? Although, I do agree with this point a little bit. I do believe that poverty does increase crime. Now I’m by no means saying that just because people grow up poor that gives them the right to act out in criminal behavior, or that just because someone grew up wealthy means that they won’t resort to crime. I am just saying that I can see how the way we were brought up and the things we have experienced can create different reactions to things in life. After all, it’s our experiences in life that shape who we are as a person. There are so many different aspects or crime and crime control that I can get into, from a no-fault society to gun control. However, none of this stuff seems to really make a difference, so maybe it’s time to get together and come up with a different plan. Obviously, what we are doing as a country is not working. References The Economic Collapse. (2012). Is Crime Making a Comeback? Retrieved from: http://theeconomiccollapseblog. com/archives/is-crime-making-a-comeback-12-crime-statistics-that-make-you-wonder-what-is-happening-to-america/

Socio-Economic and Environmental Impacts of Land Use Change

SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF LAND USE CHANGE: THE CASE OF CALAMBA CITY, LAGUNA A Research Proposal I. INTRODUCTION A. Significance of the Study Land and its uses are essential to all human communities. Every person is shaped in a range of ways by the landscape in which they live, and the products and resources produced on the land. Land and its uses are particularly important for rural communities, where many people are directly dependent on land for their livelihood, and the way land is used has a central role in defining the identity of an area and its community.Land as defined by FAO (1976) is â€Å"an area of earth’s surface, the characteristics which embrace all reasonably stable or predictably cyclic attributes of the biosphere vertically above and below this area, including those of the atmosphere, the soil, the underlying geology, the hydrology, the plant and animal population and the results of the past and present human activity, to the extent that th ese attributes influence on the present and future use of the land†.Land is an important element on earth that is involved in every human activity. This refers to land use. Land use defined in this way establishes a direct link between land cover and the actions of people in their environment (Di Gregorio & Jansen, 1998). In restrictive terms, it refers to those activities of man on, in, over and under the earth’s surface that tend to change the natural state of the land (Serote, 2004). Land use change is a general term for the human modification of Earth's terrestrial surface.Though humans have been modifying land to obtain food and other essentials for thousands of years, current rates, extents and intensities of land use change are far greater than ever in history, driving unprecedented changes in ecosystems and environmental processes at local, regional and global scales. These changes encompass the greatest environmental concerns of human populations today, includi ng  climate change,  biodiversity  loss and the pollution of water, soils and air (Williams et al. , 2008).Land use change can either be by natural cause or man induced. Land use changes made in land imply impact both on human and environment. In socioeconomic terms, land is one of three major factors of production in classical economics (along with labor and capital) and an essential input for housing and food production. Thus, land use is the backbone of agricultural economies and it provides substantial economic and social benefits. Land use conversion is necessary and essential for economic development and social progress.This land use conversion results to land use change. Environmentally speaking, land–use changes are arguably the most pervasive socioeconomic force driving changes and degradation of ecosystems. Deforestation, urban development, agriculture, and other human activities have substantially altered the Earth’s landscape. Such disturbance of the land affects important ecosystem processes and services, which can have wide–ranging and long–term consequences.There are already studies that have been conducted to determine the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of land use changes in their own respective localities or area of interest. It has been one of the major issues today. According to Sala et al. , (2000) land-use changes are so pervasive that, when aggregated globally, they significantly affect key aspects of Earth System functioning. They directly impact biotic diversity worldwide contribute to local and regional climate change (Chase et al. , 1999) as well as to global climate warming (Houghton et al. 1999); are the primary source of soil degradation (Tolba et al. , 1992); and, by altering ecosystem services, affect the ability of biological systems to support human needs (as cited by Lambin et al. , 2001). Calamba, as a fast growing city in Laguna had made different land use changes in its locality. Land use changes here occur due to different conversion of agricultural based lands into industrial and commercial uses. Different natural phenomenon like flooding contributed also it the changes in land in Calamba. With this development, there are many impacts that took place.In this study, it would primarily focus on the impacts of land-use change in ten different barangays of Calamba City, Laguna. Identifying the impacts of land-use change would help the local government unit to make necessary actions to either improve positive or prevent negative impacts in the said locality. Proper policy actions can be developed, too. The results of the study will provide information to researchers, planners and decision makers for better comprehensive land use planning. B. Review of Literature This section has literature related to the research study.Different books, journal articles reports were investigated to conceptualize and explore knowledge gap in the study of land use change at the lo cal context Land-use and land-cover change induced by both human activities and natural feedbacks have converted large proportion of the planet’s land surface (Shi, 2008). Land Use and Land Use Change Every parcel of land on the Earth’s surface is unique in the cover it possesses. Land use and land cover are distinct yet closely linked characteristics of the Earth’s surface. Land use is the manner in which human beings employ the land and its resources.Examples of land use include agriculture, urban development, grazing, logging, and mining. In contrast, land cover describes the physical state of the land surface. Land cover categories include cropland, forests, wetlands, pasture, roads, and urban areas. The term land cover originally referred to the kind and state of vegetation, such as forest or grass cover, but it has broadened in subsequent usage to include human structures such as buildings or pavement and other aspects of the natural environment, such as s oil type, biodiversity, and surface and groundwater (Meyer, 1995).Land use affects land cover and changes in land cover affect land use. A change in either, however, is not necessarily the product of the other. Changes in land cover by land use do not necessarily imply a degradation of the land. However, many shifting land use patterns, driven by a variety of social causes, result in land cover changes that affect biodiversity, water and radiation budgets, trace gas emissions and other processes that, cumulatively, affect global climate and biosphere (Riebsame, Meyer, & Turner, 1994).Land cover can be altered by forces other than anthropogenic. Natural events such as weather, flooding, fire, climate fluctuations, and ecosystem dynamics may also initiate modifications upon land cover. Globally, land cover today is altered principally by direct human use: by agriculture and livestock raising, forest harvesting and management, and urban and suburban construction and development. There are also incidental impacts on land cover from other human activities such as forests and lakes damaged by acid rain from fossil fuel combustion (Meyer, 1995).Changes in land cover driven by land use can be categorized into two types: modification and conversion. Modification is a change of condition within a cover type; for example, unmanaged forest modified to a forest managed by selective cutting. Significant modifications of land cover can occur within these patterns of land cover change. Conversion is a change from one cover type to another, such as deforestation to create cropland or pasture.Conversion land cover changes such as deforestation have been the focus of many global change research agendas (Riebsame, Meyer and Turner, 1994). Serote in 2004 stated that conversion of land on the other hand can be classified into irreversible and reversible conversion. It is reversible if the soil cover and landforms are not substantially changed and therefore present a variety of opti ons for future reuse (for example croplands can be converted to pastures and reverted to croplands again as the need arises).Irreversible conversion occurs when the original character of the land is changed to such a degree that the reversal to its former use or condition becomes very difficult if not impossible. Example of this is open pit mining and quarrying. The loss of rainforests throughout the tropical regions of the world as a result of deforestation for timber resources and conversion to agricultural lands has become a topic of global attention with the aid of widespread media coverage. Research specialists such as Skole and Tucker (1993), Skole et al. (1994), and Kummer and Turner (1994) perform extensive studies in an attempt to bring further attention to this situation by focusing on the social implications and the environmental degradation associated with tropical deforestation in the Amazon of South America and in Southeast Asia. Yet, with all the research, awareness, and attention of the world, this potentially devastating phenomenon continues. Modeling land use change In a research study made by Lim, Pijanowski and Engel in 2005, they employed a land use model called Land Transformation Model (LTM).The LTM model is designed to forecast land use change over large regions. It relies on GIS, artificial neural network routines (ANNs), remote sensing and customized geospatial tools. The driving variables include a variety of social, political and environmental factors, such as distance to transportation, proximity to amenities (such as rivers, lakes, and recreational site), density of surrounding agriculture, exclusive zones, and population growth. Information derived from an historical analysis of land use change is used to conduct forecast studies.The model is a desk top computer application, and it mainly follows four sequential steps: (1) processing/coding of data to create spatial layers of predictor variables; (2) applying spatial rules that r elate predictor variables to land use transitions for each location in an area; the resultant layers contain input variables values in grid format; (3) integrating all input grids using one of the three techniques, including multi-criteria evaluation, ANNs, and logistic regression; and (4) temporally scaling the amount of transitions in the study area in order to create a time series of possible future land uses.Detailed descriptions of the LTM can be found elsewhere (Pijanowski et al. , 2000) The LTM model has been applied and validated in a variety of locations around the world to help understand what factors are most important to land use changes and to simulate land use change in the past, present and future (Pijanowski et al. , 2000). It also offers the ability to link changes in land use to ecological process models, such as groundwater flow and solute transport (Boutt et al. , 2001) and forest cover change (Brown et al. , 2000). Urbanization and Land Use ChangeAt least two br oad urbanization pathways lead to different impacts on rural landscapes. In the developed world, large-scale urban agglomerations and extended peri-urban settlements fragment the landscapes of such large areas that various ecosystem processes are threatened. Ecosystem fragmentation, however, in peri-urban areas may be offset by urban-led demands for conservation and recreational land uses (Sack, 1992). Urbanization affects land change elsewhere through the transformation of urban-rural linkages. Urbanization in the less-developed world outbids all other uses for land adjacent to the city, including prime croplands.Cities attract a significant proportion of the rural population by way of permanent and circulatory migration, and the wages earned in the city are often remitted by migrants to rural homelands, in some cases transforming the use of croplands and creating ‘‘remittance landscapes’’. Perhaps most importantly, this urbanization changes ways of life u ltimately E. F. Lambin et al. , (2001) associated with demographic transitions, increasing expectations about consumption, and potentially a weakened understanding of production–consumption relationships noted for the well-developed world.Rapid land-use changes often coincide with the incorporation of a region into an expanding world economy (Lambin, et al. , 2001). Remote Sensing In the broadest sense, remote sensing is the measurement or acquisition of information of an object or phenomenon, by a recording device that is not in physical or intimate contact with the object. It is the utilization at a distance (as from aircraft, spacecraft, satellite, or ship) of any device for gathering information about the environment. The technique can make use of devices such as a camera, laser, radar, sonar, seismograph or a gravimeter.Modern remote sensing normally includes digital processes but can be done as well with non-digital methods. While all astronomy could be considered remot e sensing (in fact, extremely remote sensing) the term â€Å"remote sensing† is normally only applied to terrestrial observations. Examples of remote sensing are very numerous. For example: a. Topographic maps were often produced from stereographic pairs of aerial photographs. Trained personnel would then trace the shape of the land into maps. b.Earthquakes are located (after the fact) by comparing seismograms taken at different locations; the relative intensity and precise timing yield information about the location and nature. c. Digital elevation maps can be produced by interferometric synthetic aperture radar, a process in which an aircraft, spacecraft or satellite passes over the target area while emitting a series of radar pulses. Combining the data from these pulses yields a detailed map containing information about ground cover and possibly elevation or movement on a scale of centimeters.The data usually covers a many kilometers wide (Gupta & Parakash 1998). Profile o f the City Calamba City is a first class city in the province of Laguna, Philippines. Situated only 54 kilometers south of Manila, about an hour by chartered bus, Calamba City is a popular tourist destination with its hot spring resorts. It also an important modern industrial center in CALABARZON region as shown by the larger number of industrial parks and business estates that are located in the city. According to 2006 census, it has a population of 360,281 inhabitants. CLUP, 2010-2015) It is reported that this city is among the fastest growing urban centers in the Region. Calamba city is famous for its historical tribute as the hometown of our national hero. According to the NAMRIA in 1999, residential sector takes up 48% of the total land area, while 44% is allotted for Industrial use. The commercial sector only consumes 3% of the total land area – the other 5% consist of other land uses. C. Objectives of the Study The general objective of this study is to determine the so cio-economic and environmental impacts of land-use conversion at the local level.Specifically, this study endeavors; 1) To map out the current land use situation of Calamba City using GIS (to see the historical land use situation of the said locality); 2) To identify both the positive and negative impacts of land-use conversion in six barangays of Calamba City; 3) To identify causes of land-use conversions and land use change; 4) To assess the existing policy and mitigation strategies to the impacts of land use conversion; and 5) To propose recommendations on comprehensive land use planning of Calamba City.D. Date and Place of Study The survey and other data gathering method (Key informant interviews and focus group discussion) will be conducted from June, 2012 to August, 2012 in selected barangays in Calamba City. Analysis and interpretation of data will be done from September, 2012 to November 2012. The researcher aims to finish the study by January, 2013. II. MATERIALS AND METHOD OLOGY A. Materials Secondary Maps of 1:50,000 scale (Topographic, Land Use/Land Cover, Political boundary) †¢ Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) of Calamba City †¢ Satellite Imagery (30 meters resolution Terralook ASTER image) †¢ Geographic Information System (GIS) Software (ArcInfo Desktop) †¢ Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver †¢ Semi-structured questionnaires B. Methodology Secondary data collection Secondary data will be gathered primarily from the City of Calamba, Laguna to serve as baseline information for the study area.These shall include the CLUP report of Calamba City, secondary baseline maps in digital and print format (Topographic, Land Use/Land Cover, Political boundary). Other pertinent information (demographic, economic) shall be likewise collected and consolidated from other government agencies (National Statistics Coordination Board, Department of Interior and Local Government etc. ). Primary data collection The freely downloadable 30 meters resolution satellite imagery will be requested from United State Geological Society (USGS) website (http://glovis. usgs. gov). This shall be utilized in the generation of p-to-date land use map of the study area. ArcInfo Desktop GIS software shall be utilized in the generation of the baseline maps, spatial analyses and land use classification. All GIS maps shall have Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) North Zone 51 format projection and WGS1984 datum. Unsupervised image classification. An unsupervised image classification will be done for aster satellite imagery. This image classification will serve as the basis for the supervised classification. These classifications will be validated thru ground truthing and high-resolution satellite imagery of google earth.Supervised classification. The training units or signatures of the different land uses will be prepared in ArcInfo Desktop by digitizing at least 100 polygons for each land uses. Supervised image classification will pro ceed using maximum likelihood method for the final landuse maps. Household survey, Key Informant Interview and Focus Group Discussions (FGD). Key Informant Interview (KII) will be conducted to selected LGU officials of the City of Calamba with emphasis on the issues and concerns related to land use, as well as the perceived socio-economic impacts of land use in their locality.Similarly, a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) will be done to gather relevant information base on the consensus of randomly selected barangay officials and residents of the City of Calamba. A random household survey will also be conducted using semi-structured questionnaire to gather basic household demographic information, as well as knowledge and perception on the socio-economic impacts of land use change. III. BUDGETARY REQUIREMENTS |Particulars |Estimated Cost |Remarks | |I.Data Gathering | |   | |A. Travel |Php 9,000. 00 |Includes ground truthing and validation | |B. Supplies and Materials |4,000. 00 |   | |C. Sundries | |   | |1.Contractual services (field guide, enumerators) |12,000. 00 |Hiring of field guides and enumerator | |2. Photocopying |1,000. 00 |   | |II. Writing of Thesis | |   | |A. Computerization/Typing |4,000. 00 |   | |III.Reproduction/Printing |6,000. 00 |   | |TOTAL |Php36,000. 00 |   | REFERENCES Food and Agiculture Organization. 1976. Land quality indicators: aspects of land use, land, soil and plant nutrients. Rome, Italy (Retrieved from http://www. fao. org/docrep/W4745E/w4745e0b. htm) Gupta, R. P. , & Prakash, A. 998, Reflection aureoles associated with thermal anomalies due to subsurface mine fires in the Jharia Coalfield, India. International Journal of Remote Sensing, pp. 2619-2622. Lambin, E. F. , Turner II, B. L. , Geist, H. J. , Agbola, S. B. , Angelsen, A. , Bruce, J. W. , et al. , 2001. The causes of land-use and land-cover change: moving beyond the myths. Global Environmental Change 11 (4), 261–269. Meyer, W. B. 1995. Past and Present Land-use and Land-cover in the U. S. A. (Retrieved from http://www. gsdi. rg/gsdiconf/gsdi10/papers/TS48. 1paper. pdf) Serote, E. M. 2004. Property, patrimony, and territory: Foundations of Land Use planning in the Philippines. School of Urban and Regional Planning, DIliman Quezon City. Shi, W. Z. 2008. Spatial Data Transformation in Urban Geographic Information Systems,  Technologies and Applications in Urban Geographical Information Systems. Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House, 1996, pp. 59-69. Skole,D. L. & Tucker, C. J. 1993. :Tropical deforestation and habitat fragmentation in the Amazon. Retrieved from http://www. ciesin. org/docs/002-115/002-115. html) Turner, B. L. & Meyer, W. B. 1991. Land use and land cover in global environmental change: Considerations for study. International Social Sciences Journal 130, 669–667 Williams, M. Richardson, D. , Reichstein, M. , Stoy, P. C. , Peylin, P. , et al. ,2008. Improving land surface models with Fluxnet data. Published in Biogeosciences. (Retrieved from http://www. geos. ed. ac. uk/homes/pstoy/WilliamsBG09. pdf) ———————– C. Detailed Schedule of Activities

The Influence of Impressionism within the Textile Arts Coursework

The Influence of Impressionism within the Textile Arts - Coursework Example The paper "The Influence of Impressionism within the Textile Arts" explores Impressionism in the context of textile arts. The familiarity of domestic intimacies within Japanese pictorial content, and flat, un-modeled color areas offered much in terms of broad perspective; something that Europeans were greatly attracted to as interests in abstracted intellectual pursuits such as science and philosophy came into vogue as leisure activities for an emergent industrial class of bourgeois. Demand for art in all realms of life, prompted a new market of decorative arts and fashion once reserved only for the elite. Translation of impressionist art into everyday objects was perhaps most readily achieved through the industrial manufacture of textiles and secondary products, in the fashion and domestic design industries. The world of spontaneous ‘now’ within the presence of impressionistic painting became even more precise in the post impressionist period, ‘in favor of a measu red painting technique grounded in science and the study of optics’. The transition from pre impressionism to post impressionism was relatively brief yet lasting, both in terms of aesthetic break with the rationale of modern realist of thought, and retention of class interests in the area of decorative arts. Everyday luxuries from exotic locales in the marketplace obtained through longstanding trade with Asia and elsewhere, provided a dense resource for reiterations of aesthetic beauty now transferred to mass production through factory fabrication. Situated in the context of Karl Marx's industrial England, contemporaneous socialist thinkers contributed to the field of philosophical proscription through alternative responses to capitalization of the national economy, and the attendant shifts within social life associated with the development of the industrial complex. In his book Utopia, Sir. Thomas More (1893) crafted one such response in direct confrontation with what he perceived to be the harshness of industrialism, and solution in the pastoral vision of a future gone back to nature. Following the utopian socialist work of Marx and More, William Morris (1890) News From Nowhere substantiates the ideological tenets of his political thought, and influence on the Arts & Crafts movement in the decorative arts through his portfolio of design and textile applications to book covers, furniture and wallpapers. It is in this landscape of popular thought that the Asian silk motif is put into new relation with European decorative arts. With the advent of optical technologies in the textile manufacturing industry, incorporation of painterly concepts from the burgeoning Impressionist School enabled textile manufacturers to replicate Japanese style and other related content derived from the School's tenets; an aesthetic of elegance for the masses. Query into the relationship between art and mass production is perhaps most noted in Walter Benjamin's (1992) incursions on the topic in his work, Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Here, Art is work, Art is Ideologue, and Art is replication of self and society for mass consumption. In the industrial age, through public art, and more specifically the architecture of the World Exhibition, fin-de-secle capitalism implodes into a third formation whereby base meets superstructure as utopian dream space. Prompted by use of steel and industrial

How did Syria got impacted the Middle-East and especially Turkey Research Paper

How did Syria got impacted the Middle-East and especially Turkey - Research Paper Example The World Food Programme offers monthly food donations to about 4 million people who are victims of the civil conflict in the region (â€Å"World Food Programme† 1). Moreover, other humanitarian agencies offers clean drinking water to about 1.1 million people in Syria (â€Å"Government of Canada† 1). Notably, most of the countries in the Middle East region are downstream riparian states and have scarce water resources and hence the continued debate and conflict on water issues in this region (â€Å"The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs† 1). Ideally, agriculture accounted for about 25 percent of gross domestic product in this region and hence the water shortage is hindering efforts to maintain economic growth in this region (Williams 1). The water conflict is equally a source of tension as many countries including Syria seek to increase its political dominance where it competes for the water resources with Turkey, Iraq, and Israel. Analysis shows that Turkey is likely to face water shortages in the near future although it presently has significant water resources (â€Å"The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs† 2). As a result, of the crisis there have been continued debates and efforts geared towards addressing the Syrian crisis. In the meantime, many Syrians fled the violence in their country and took refuge in Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, and Iraq (â€Å"World Food Programme† 1). Indeed, about 2.2 million Syrians are refugees in these countries, which further strain the infrastructure, food security, and water supply in this region. Additionally, more countries including the U.S are still offering the refugees agencies a leeway to settle more refugees and conflict victims in Syria thus influencing the social and economic aspects in Syria. However, as we expect the need for humanitarian aid to increase in Syria over the next few years, there is international pressure on the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, to remove bar riers to the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Syria (Cumming-Bruce 1). Saudi Arabia has been opposing the Syrian government and continuously calls for action against Syrian President Assad (â€Å"BBC NEWS† 1). On the other hand, Iran has been supporting Syria and criticizes any international action on the current crisis in Syria. Nevertheless, although Iraq is less significant to Syria, it opposes any US military action in Syria and hosts a significant number of refugees from Syria. Conversely, Israel does not offer its public opinion on the Syrian crisis but warns other nations into dragging Israel into the conflict and assert its readiness to deal with the crisis if the civil war extends to Israel (â€Å"BBC NEWS† 1). Additionally, Qatar supports the proposed military action on Syria while Egypt opposes any military action without the authorization of the UN (â€Å"BBC NEWS† 1). Jordan supports limited military action in Syria upon proving the use of che mical weapons in Syria by the US Congress (â€Å"BBC NEWS† 1). Indeed, Jordan hosts refugees from Syria and therefore opposes any international intervention that would cause civilian casualties. The Jordan government advocates for a political settlement to the Syrian crisis (â€Å"BBC NEWS† 1). Nevertheless, some people believe that in 2013, Jordan facilitated the supply of weapons to rebel fighters in southern Syria (â€Å"

An analytical understanding of the operational situation of Tesco Coursework

An analytical understanding of the operational situation of Tesco - Coursework Example Center of discussion in this paper is Tesco in United Kingdom that has transformed its business operation in order to gain hold of a larger market share in the retail market of the region. Furthermore the company with the help of its organisational structure and scientific way of operations has earned the potential in gaining a strong foothold in United Kingdom. The following paper conducts a thorough analysis of the above parameters and presents the situational advantages of Tesco amidst its various competitors operating in the United Kingdom market. The process of business transformation in the supermarket giant, Tesco operating in United Kingdom gains momentum through a clear cut planning activity aimed at providing value addition to the existing set of supply chain activities. Effective planning helped in rendering dynamism to the existing supply chain network of the concern and thereby also helped the company to operate across international borders. Moreover the business process of the company operating in the home market also went a huge transformation through the introduction of loyalty schemes and also through operating via the online sphere. Both these activities helped in the enhancement of brand awareness of the company in the regional markets and also in augmenting the brand equity for the concern. Tesco operating via the online sphere gained hold of a larger market share and through the loyalty card schemes gained a niche group of loyal consumers in every region. Business transformation in Tesco was not only brought about by bringing effective modifications in the supply chain mechanism but also through the modification brought about in the existing formats. Further the company also revised its business and distribution process through the opening up of several local stores in the different regions they focused to conduct business upon. Working on another set of business strategy in reducing the price of products sold while operating through a numb er of business outlets, Tesco aimed at gaining a larger pie of the consumer markets both in the home country and in the international zones. In the supply chain activities the company management worked in bring about close monitoring activities through introduction of periodical audits. Further the supplier groups were also called by the company management to be rendered training on issues like enhancement and sustenance of product quality