Desdemona

I want you to go back in time many years ago, the 16th century in Shakespeare’s time where there was hardly any technology and the society was very different. Now If that’s hard to imagine that’s ok because I’m an actor in the 21st century hear to talk to you about Desdemona. Desdemona was a beautiful, young, white Venetian girl but also she disobeys her father’s expectations by marrying a black man, she also challenges the society that largely disapproves of intercultural marriages and also she gets abused by her husband. In this way, Desdemona’s relationship with Othello speaks to the play’s concerns with the 16th century attitudes about Lust, Defying social standards of the 16th century and also domestic violence. For example in the play it shows this by Othello saying â€Å"She loved me for the dangers I have passed, and I loved her, that she did pity them. † This is an example of a foreshadowing technique used to hint readers a certain plot development that will come later in the story. Also this quote is telling us that this is ardent admiration, which tells us that Desdemona is still not matured. To think about her future and what society’s expectations are. She admired the stories that Othello told about his brave journeys. In nowadays young teenagers are not drawn by personality but by looks and popularity. Also, Desdemona disobeys her father’s wish by refusing to marry any handsome, rich Venetian men and she goes for Othello an old black man, outside of the Venetian society. For example her farther says. â€Å"Look to her, Moor, if though hast eyes to see, She has deceived her farther, and may thee. † This shows that Desdemona is a disloyal character and may disobey her husband as well, she also goes against the societies expectations by defying standards such as not owing the duty to her farther and then a duty to her husband. Also Intercultural marriages where she marries a black man rather than a white man. In modern societies most young people disobey their parents and follow their own will due to their immaturity. Desdemona gets verbally and physically abused by Othello who slapped her and called her a whore in public towards the end of the play, when she was dying she still blames herself for othello’s physical and emotional abuses. In current situations people all around the world especially women get abused by men and usual, stand up for their husbands exactly what Desdemona did back then. Well, there you go even if this plays were written in the 16th century even in today’s time we still have the themes lust, domestic violence and societies expectations in today’s time. It’s easy for us to engage with the character’s in that timeframe due to the setting , the characters are realistic and believable and even this themes are considered in today’s society in different concepts.

Literary Anlysis of Jane Eyre – Victorian Era

Many themes, styles, genres, and modes of Victorian Literature are reflected in the works of the Bronte Sisters', especially that of Jane Eyre. Common themes of victorian literature are shared with Jane Eyre. Food was a reoccurring theme of throughout many Victorian novels because of the hunger that many people faced in this time period. This theme is reflected in the vivid description of under nourishment at Lowood School in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Another common theme was women's morality and sensuality.Before the publication of Jane Eyre, women were simple and genuine under the expectations of society, the â€Å"wife and mother from whom all morality sprang† (Lowes). After this novel was published, the â€Å"new woman† became predominant who was based off the main character, Jane, who was independent, strong, forward, and radical in the sense of marriage and contraception opinions. The theme of sex scandal goes along with women's morality and sensuality because it, also, went against the prior conservative social expectations and beliefs for women. This theme started to become common in victorian literature.An example of sex scandal is in Jane Eyre when Jane got involved with Rochester, her wealthy boss, and ended up marrying him. Jane Eyre is written in first-person from the point of view of Jane. The genre of Jane Eyre can be classified as many different types; Romance, Mystery, and Gothic Fiction. It can be considered a classic romantic novel because of the passionate relationship that Jane and Rochester form. It is a mystery in the sense that throughout the book, Jane suspects something about Rochester and his past based on the incident of Grace Pool accidently setting his bed on fire in a drunken state and not getting fired for it.She then discovers the secret of his past that he has a wife, Bertha, who has one mad and was the one who set his bed on fire. It is considered Gothic Fiction because of the supernatural and fantasy element s that Charlotte Bronte includes (http://www. shmoop. com/jane-eyre/literary-devices. html) Through Charlotte's unique writing style, she incorporates â€Å"fantasy elements in Jane Eyre through references to fairy tales, prophetic dreams, mythic imagery, and extraordinary plot twists,† (Shwingen).An example of the mythic imagery is shown through Charlotte's emphasis on the image of passion. Jane was always a passionate and emotional character since she was a child. Charlotte writes about Jane after her cousin hits her with the book, â€Å"my blood was still warm; the mood of the revolted slave was still bracing me with its bitter vigor. † The image of her warm blood and her intense anger compared to that of a revolted slave shows Jane's great emotion even as a child.This image is emphasized through imagery when Charlotte writes of Jane's feelings for Rochester as â€Å"fiery iron† and â€Å"blackness and burning†. These figurative images of a fire portra y to the reader the intense passion that Jane has for Rochester. Fire is another image that Charlotte writes about throughout the novel; â€Å"in the bedroom blaze which Jane saved Rochester from, in the language that both Rochester and Jane use in describing their emotions towards each other, and in the final fire that destroyed Thornfield Hall, crippled Rochester, and killed Bertha,† (Vaughon).In Vaughon's opinion, this imagery of fire and passion was Charlotte's way of emphasizing the unethical and sinful love that Jane and Rochester shared with each other based on the fire of hell. As said before, in Victorian times, this relationship would be considered scandalous not only based on the difference in their classes, but also because they believed in purity. Charlotte goes against the traditional beliefs with her imagery of passion and lust between Jane and Rochester. Charlotte's writing style is generally educated, complex, and emotion filled.Most of her sentences are cont ain numerous adjectives and sensual images. Her unique style may be overwhelming for some readers, but it's powerful and strong. The reader is able to identify with Jane Eyre as a character through the complex sentence structure that is filled with emotion and imagery. (http://reviewmaterials. tripod. com/english/jane_eyre. html) According to George P. Landow, Jane Eyre is divided into five distinct settings. The story starts off when Jane is a child living in her relative's, the Reed's, house in Gateshead Hall.Then she is sent to Lowood school and has many experiences there with Miss. Temple, Helen Burns, and Mr. Brocklehurst. After eight years in boarding school, she lives at Thornfield as a governess to Adele. This is where she falls in love with her boss, Rochester. Then she moves out after he discovery of Bertha, Rochester's mad wife. She is then taken into the Moor House by her cousins, the Rivers. In the end, she is reunited with Rochester at the Ferndean Manor. Each setting of the book has it's own unique mood in strong relation to the characters present at each place. For example,Robert B.Martin points out that the setting of Thornfield is much more personal than the two preceding settings at Gateshead and Lowood because of the connection Jane makes to Rochester and the connection Rochester has to Thornfield (George P. Landow). In chapter 11, Mrs. Fairfax first makes mention to Rochester when she says, â€Å"Great houses and fine grounds require the presence of the proprietor†. Because Mrs. Fairfax said this, Jane felt as though it was not alive unless Rochester was present which is strongly connected to how Jane felt lonely and down because when he was not there.This connection between character and setting reflects the complex mood of Thornfield depending on whether Rochester is there or not. When he is away on a trip, the mood is somber and desolate because the reader can understand and feel the longing that Jane has for Rochester and the lo neliness she feels in the huge, empty house. When he is there, the mood changes to exciting and intimate because of the strong feelings that Jane has toward him and the liveliness that she associates with the house. Charlotte Bronte does a great job with reflecting the characters in Jane Eyre to the reader through her writing.One very unique and interesting character is Bertha, Rochester's insane wife. The Victorians during the nineteenth century had a fascination with health, sometimes greater than that of politics, religion, and Darwinism. They believed â€Å"an interdependent mind-body connection gained strength, and many people saw physical and mental health as being interrelated rather than separate entities,† (Sonja Mayer). According to Mayer, these attitudes of the time are reflected in Bertha's character through her mental illness and the physical threat she puts on Rochester.Compared to Jane, Bertha is her opposite and portrayed to the reader as a monster. Rochester â€Å"describes her as having ‘red balls' for eyes, a ‘mask' instead of a face, and ‘bulk' instead of an attractive form like Jane,† (Sonja Mayer). Jane is strong in body and mind. She endured the unhealthy conditions at Lowood where many students had died and survived through cold and hunger when she had ran away from Thornfield and lived outside. Her mental strength is shown through her courage as a child with her evil aunt, bullying cousin, and hypocritical head master.She stayed true to herself and motivated to be successful as a woman in this time despite the difficult situations these people had created for her. In contrast, Bertha is portrayed by Rochester as having â€Å"gone mad†. The Victorians would view this as a lack of mental strength. She, also, poses a threat to Rochester physically by her acts such as setting his bed on fire while he was sleeping, lunging at him and Jane in the room, and actually succeeding in burning down the house a t the the end of the book. Rochester is depicted as the ideal hero of the Victorian times.He is very romantic and charming which adds to the gothic style of this novel (Lowes). Despite his charm, there was much controversy over Rochester's character in Victorian times. English law at the time said that a man whose wife became insane could not get a divorce. To deal with his problem, he put his wife into confinement, locked in a room with a servant to care for her. He then proceeded to almost partake in bigamy by marrying Jane. Many Victorians of the time questioned why Jane would ever go back to such a man. (http://reviewmaterials. tripod. om/english/jane_eyre. html) The character of Jane isn't the traditional heroine of the time. In many romantic novels of the Victorian era, the heroine was beautiful. Jane is described by Charlotte as â€Å"simple and plain†. She also differs from the traditional heroine in her strength as a woman. Charlotte created a woman character that wa s equal to the male character. Jane is not equal in status or class, but in emotional strength and maturity. This went against society's beliefs of the time because Victorians traditionally believed that women were not capable of strong.

Contract Acquisitions Contracting and the FAR Essay

Contract Acquisitions Contracting and the FAR - Essay Example Under such suits, those claiming received a percentage of the money recovered. The civil swindle inquiry, which was incited by a whistle-blower who had been an employee for the firm, was another severe humiliation for the Navy that is already grappling with a criminal analysis of its major ship contractor in the Pacific, Glenn Defense Marine Asia. The company’s owner,  Leonard Glenn Francis, was detained in September on accusation of conspiring to corrupt Navy officials with money, prostitutes, and trips in exchange. Those officials aided deflect ships to certain ports where Glenn Defense submitted exaggerated bills. 3 Navy officials were charged with crimes, and 4 others, together with 2 admirals, were suspended over relation with Mr. Francis (Grossman, 2003). Investigators accused Inchcape of a diverse plan: that it paid commissions to subcontractors ready to give great discounts, and then took the variation as a substitute of refunding it to the Navy. A national subpoena issued in March 2011 anticipated that Inchcape turned over its proceedings concerning Navy ships and any discounts or rebates from subcontractors since 2002. Report show that the marine Supply unit Command unmitigated Inchcape’s biggest contract 7 times since 2010, when the Justice unit began analyzing the whistle-blower’s allegations. The firm had won at least $257 million for exertion in the Middle East under the agreement. Since 2010, the Navy has given the company at least 8 other contracts, anticipated at more than $41 million, inclusive of three years. (Grossman, 2003). The FAR does not offer adequate protection to the American people because it was called for by the President to help the periodic appraisal of existing important set of laws, The FAR committee finalized its strategy to carry out a demonstration review of presented important set of laws. In May 2012, the

Ecosystem Succession Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ecosystem Succession Paper - Essay Example These areas are places that have been damaged by destructive events, such as fires, and have been cleared of existing vegetation, such as trees. 1b. Biotic components are the living things that form the environment, such as predators, while abiotic components are the non-living things in an organism’s environment, such as temperature and light. These components can change the equilibrium of the ecosystem in the sense that the ecosystem can only function as a whole, and not in parts (â€Å"Biotic†). The biotic components of an environment, whether they be prey or predator, factors into what organisms are currently dwelling in that area and which one is the dominating species. If a certain species were to become endangered or extinct, the ecosystem would be thrown off-balance as it would now be missing both a predator and a prey. Furthermore, if the abiotic factors change, damage can also be done to the ecosystem. If the temperature in a hot, dry area suddenly changes to cold and wet, the organisms that have grown accustomed to the hot climate will not be able to strive with the changes, as they were not created to tolerate it. These factors will greatly, and negatively, affect the biotic factors, throwing off the entire ecosystem. If the ecosystem is not balanced, it cannot survive. 2b. The natural cycle of progression in an ecosystem involves the need for things to grow and then die so that new life can feed off the old life (BioScience). The old organisms need to give way to allow new organisms – whether they are of the same species or not – to grow and to strive. Just as with any aspect of any life, life comes from death; it strives off of what was previously there and makes a new environment for itself. If a new organism appears, it can offer new environmental components to its surroundings. 3b. Some of the mechanisms that can help an ecosystem’s recovery from a

Decision making for business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Decision making for business - Essay Example These activities are equally impossible to achieve in-house and therefore the outsourcing proposal would be very efficient in consideration of this argument. In this company, anything that is not buying and selling is a potential candidate for outsourcing. The intended services to be outsourced include distribution, quality control, packaging, design, security and cleaning activities. Fleet also wants to abolish its information technology (IT) department and outsource the services for the same. The question which then arises is whether the outsourced activities would result in significant improvements for the company or not. If outsourcing is to be carried out, it should be to enhance the profitability of Fleet Ltd so as for it to make the same gains that it used to make in 1980s and 1990s or even much better. Any likelihood of the occurrence of a loss as a result of outsourcing should render the whole idea obsolete and other options put into considerations in order to avoid the financial crisis awaiting Fleet Ltd. Outsourcing of distribution would reflect in the reduction of the size of the distribution staff from 250 to 3. The financial effect of this is that Fleet Ltd will reduce the amount of money that it uses to pay the current distribution staff. This means that there will be enough money available after the retrenchment of the 247 employees. This money can be channeled towards investment for the company, something that will definitely result in profits for the company. The outsourcing of distribution will therefore give Fleet Ltd a financial gain rather than a financial loss. On this understanding, it is clear that outsourcing of distribution is an effective idea and it is for the profitability advantage of Fleet Ltd. However, the non-financial impact will be the creation of job insecurity for the distribution staff that is likely to be retrenched. Fleet Ltd intends to outsource its IT needs

The ethical problems of illegal immigration in the united states Essay

The ethical problems of illegal immigration in the united states - Essay Example al sovereignty and border protection can find themselves at odds with advocates for migration who see in it a cheap labor force and a means of preventing further outsourcing overseas. In similar fashion, ideologues of the Left can find themselves divided between those who support the interests and needs of American workers (industrial and agricultural) and those according to whom the human rights of immigrants deserve to be recognized and protected. Illegal immigration as an issue is not, however, simply a political one. It also presents a host of complex and not easily answered ethical questions. As both a nation of immigrants and one whose founding was greatly influenced by Enlightenment ideas of universal rights and dignity, the United States is sometimes hard pressed to reconcile some of its historic-philosophical values with its more immediate and typical needs regarding its national sovereignty and the rule of law. Furthermore, as a country for whom the Christian religion has long been an influential belief system, Christ’s message of â€Å"treat thy neighbor as thyself† (Leviticus 19:18) presents certain difficulties for resolving and, even more fraught with conflict, prosecuting illegal immigration. The American Constitution guarantees certain rights to all United States citizens. Included is the Thirteenth Amendment which grants citizenship to all persons born within the borders of the country. When illegal immigrants come to the United States and have a child, that child is automatically an American citizen with rights to education, health care, Social Security, and other legal protections. These services all cost money. Though this area might represent a â€Å"loophole† in the law, until changed, these newborns deserve the same treatment as anyone else born here in America. Technically the child’s parents are still illegal and have no true legal claim to any benefits or services. It would hardly be ethical or moral, however, to separate the

Analyse the iconography, conventions and audience expectations (Grant, Essay

Analyse the iconography, conventions and audience expectations (Grant, 2007) of one film genre & access how (and if) they have c - Essay Example Genre tends to make the consumption of a film to be less disordered by providing the audience with a guide on certain films thus providing satisfaction when the guidance rules are followed. Most producers mainly use this approach to attract a certain audience as well as capitalising on past successes by repeating the various generic elements. With regards to the generic conventions they mainly offer the director of the film a framework to work on. Therefore, a genre based approach is best suited for carrying out film analysis (Grant, 2007, p. 43). There are several types of film genres but the focus in this paper will be on Musical/Dance film genre. Musical/Dance films are referred to as cinematic forms which mainly emphasize song and dance practices in a significant manner or full scale scores (Feuer, 1993, p.39). They are mainly films which are centred on the combinations of dance, music, choreography or song. The musical/Dance genre has been regarded as the most unrealistic form o f cinema. Despite this it is a genre that is enjoyable due to the fantastical departures that it exhibits. The act of actually singing in the middle of pouring rain while twirling an umbrella and tapping cannot be regarded as a daily occurrence (Schatz, 1981, p. 34). This according to Gene Kelly in the Singing in the rain film is as normal and as natural as the act of breathing. Another scene is that of Fred Astaire in the Band Wagon when he engages himself in performing an impromptu dance at the shoe shine station. Musical/Dance usually aim at persuading the audience in thinking that what they are viewing on the screen is simply the representation of the characters feelings at that moment as well as what they may do in reality. Musical usually portray the dancing and singing of the characters as their natural inclinations of the character though the audience usually know that in reality this will never happen as it is just a result of events that are choreographed and rehearsed. Wh en it comes to musical conventions the narratives usually halts for the production numbers and the characters break into dance and song. The characters usually perform for the camera after listening to a song that usually comes up abruptly (Grant, 2003, p. 85). The use of the musical/Dance genre is unique in the film industry. The mass persuasion of this genre may look like it will not be able to last for a long period in the America society due to the fact that people are mainly taught to question the superiors and not to follow the leader. Even in the early thirties people had the same tendency of questioning almost everything: their parents, their clergy and even their government. The question that still remains a mystery is the fact that society did not sought to question Hollywood. People spent a lot of money days after days and later on it resulted into the creation of the film industry (Schatz, 1981, p.64). It is the public audience that created and boosted the genres that th ey went to see and not an effort was given by Hollywood. Maybe it can be assumed that it is the musical nature of the films that made them so popular that people all ways went back for more action. People practically took time to go watch the movies so as to get away from the ordinary everyday

Personal Interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Personal Interview - Essay Example The first question for Anne was about how women get respect and break through the glass ceiling. Confidently, she believes that education is the key to getting respect from the industry aside from experience and training. Although she has observed that nowadays, more women are given better jobs but access to top managerial jobs still remains â€Å"severely restricted†. Anne also related how much she enjoys doing her job although other people label her as â€Å"bulldog†. The reason for that is her ability to see things transparently, detect risks as well as weaknesses that makes them vulnerable. However, the labeling does not affect her at all since she knows that in the end, her suggestions would do good once a project is finished. Anne also shares her positive experience in the online courses and seminars that her company is constantly providing to its employees. The classes and seminars helps Anne to be more effective although she has already gained a reputable experience in the industry. It seems that Anne is never too old to learn and humble enough to accept new thoughts which is a good indication of an innovator. ...Well let’s see, I go to a department I know nothing about, I sit down with the manger analyze their controls and their day to day work flow. I then asked at the end of the day how do you know you have covered everything you are suppose to do, they would look at me with a blank face, and I would say do you have a checklist, and their response as always would be no. After a couple of these meetings I would have them coming up to me asking Anne how you think I can implement procedures to mitigate my risks. She admits that she does not know anything about the certain department and that her expertise is Risk Management. But because of her exposure to different positions in the industry ( Operations Control, Trading Assistant, Equity Market Risk Management, Credit Risk Management) Anne is

Assesment 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Assesment 2 - Essay Example In the health care setting for example, there are numerous forms of predicaments and this includes health care fraud. The sapping of financial resources in the health care system, along with several other consequences, problems associated with personnel development plans and shortage of competent staff are just few of the magnified issues. The concerns on fraud and abuse greatly affected the everyday life of health care personnel particularly the nurse practitioners; since these professionals are the â€Å"front liners† in terms of delivery of care. Nurse practitioners (NPs) can hardly go away from working in clinical environments; and this expose them further to fiscal issues of billing, reimbursement and revenue production issues. In other words, the described situation is somewhat stressful for them. Fraud is actually described as â€Å"any act, omission, expression, or concealment calculated to delude another individual,† Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Law stated. Medicare and other government funded health benefit programs are usually the targets of these schemes. Billing for needless or the double billing schemes, unperformed tests, and kickbacks are few of the most common fraudulent activity that burden most patients;this is reported by the Social Security Act, Section 1128C reiterates that (a) of the designed the Health Care Fraud as well as Program for Abuse Control Program (Department of Justice, 2000). There are several approaches to address concerns in an organization. One very important is the evaluation of the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, as well as opportunities. If limitations in the human and/or financial resources are identified, it may be a necessity to provide attention to the organizations opportunities through the use of phased approach. On the other hand, based on the Economic and Social Research Council Strategic Plan, (2009; p 5-7). Extensive consultations are very necessary to identify areas of strategic

SAT Testing Essay Example for Free

SAT Testing Essay SAT, as a basis for college admission, is still relevant. However, the value of SAT should be limited in its use in evaluating students who took the test individually. Ranking based on SAT results are not a reliable measure of the quality of schools. They only determine the quality of the students who took the test. (â€Å"Are SAT Scores†) The results may be swayed by controlling the number of students allowed to take the test and ensuring that these students have good academic standing. In fact, research shows that most of the schools in the top ten send very few students mostly coming from the top 10% of their class, while schools ranking at the bottom 10 send more than half of their students with diverse academic standing. Moreover, most of the students in top ten schools come from more economically well-to-do families than those from the bottom 10 schools. (See â€Å"Are SAT Scores†) Moreover, this policy of ranking schools may be oppressive to students from lower economic brackets. Most students who are bright and talented, but came from poorer families will not afford to go to schools that normally rank high in SAT’s. Giving school ranking very high regard will put these people in a more disadvantage position with respect to their opportunity to get good quality college education. Even if it be assumed that SAT results are reliable, there will be several students from those schools that deserve to have college education, but will negatively affected by the SAT ranking of his or her school. School admission should be based on individual student merit, not on the reputation of the school from which the students attended. Examination results to the individuals who took them. Examination should be given only to those who are interested in pursuing college education. While ranking may still be made, a high rank will give a school nothing more than bragging rights. It should not be conclusive as regards the admission of students. It is the students that will be admitted to college, not the schools from where they get their high school diploma. Therefore, it is the students’ individual performances that should be given more importance and not the reputation and ranking of their high schools. Reference Are SAT scores worse than meaningless? Testing state ranking Brief Article Statistical Data Included. USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education). Dec 2001. FindArticles.com. Retrieved July 19, 2007, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_2679_130/ai_81110769

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Different OS Computer Science Essay

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Different OS Computer Science Essay An operating System is a program or you can say its software that manage and handles all the software and hardware resources of any computer. It controls our computer system. Operating system is the first software that loaded in a computer memory. Without an operating system user cant open the computer system that means he cant turn on his system. Actually an operating system is a program which design for only to run the other programs on a system. Operating system is the most important program for any computer system. The controls and memory of a computer depends upon the operating system. LINUX is also an operating system like Windows, Mac etc., which enables applications and users to access the device. It was created by the student at university of Helsinki, Finland. Its developed after UNIX. Linux is actually a developed form of UNIX operating system which behaves like UNIX. Linux was released around 1991. It is available in source code as well as in binary form. Linux have lots of standard UNIX features like networking, multitasking and multiuser. It became famous for mainly server. You can say it mainly use on server due to its high security. LINUX is actually technically advanced than other operating system. If we consider about its user interface then you can say its something difficult for the new users in comparison of windows and other operating system. Security is the one of the most best and important features of LINUX. Due to this reason it is widely use on server. Advantages of LINUX There are so many advantages of LINUX operating system. I am going to describe some important advantages or features: Cost: The one of the most important advantage of LINUX is its cost. User can obtain this without paying any fee. While Microsoft products are highly rated. Microsoft licences are generally allowed for a single computer while LINUX can be installed in so many computer systems without paying any amount. So obviously you can say LINUX is free of cost. Security: This is the greatest feature of this operating system. LINUX became most famous due to its high security. Due to this reason it mainly used on server. The one more thing is you dont need to spend so much money on antivirus for virus protection. LINUX is very secure in comparison of windows. It has so many features that protect our system to unauthorized users. That means you cant do anything without permission. No viruses can affect the LINUX. So you can say its virus free operating system. Hardware: LINUX operating system is very useful for those who have old computers. It can be installed in low configuration system and it will work really fine. Software: Some software like word, power point, excel DVD burner etc. are inbuilt in LINUX operating system. So you can say there are so many important features in LINUX operating system. Disadvantages of LINUX Understanding: The user interface of LINUX is difficult for the new users. That means you can say it is not familiar operating system like windows. If anybody want to use LINUX operating system then first of all ha has to learn about LINUX. While in windows you dont need to do that. So it will take some time to learn. Compatibility: The one of the main problem of LINUX is that is not compatible with all hardware. LINUX doesnt work very well with the new and latest hardware. So you cant try it with the latest hardware. Where is LINUX? Today LINUX be used in varieties of technical and electronic equipment. Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and 12 Garmin Nuvi 860, 880, and 5000 Google Android Dev Phone 1 HP Mini 1000 Lenovo IdeaPad S9 Motorola MotoRokr EM35 Phone One Laptop Per Child XO2 Sony Bravia Television Sony Reader TiVo Digital Video Recorder Yamaha Motif Keyboard These are the some examples where LINUX be using. So you can say LINUX be using worldwide. Apart from that LINUX be used in defence department of US. Even Google search also run on LINUX. LINUX VS Windows LINUX and Windows both are the successful operating system in worldwide. There are so many advantages and disadvantages in both operating systems. If we consider about cost then absolutely LINUX is totally free of cost for user but not windows. Windows operating systems are highly rated. Microsoft Windows are most popular than LINUX because its user interface is so friendly for user. If any new user wants to operate LINUX then first he will have to learn about it. LINUX dont need high configuration of computer. It will work very well with the old computer systems. The most important and the best thing about LINUX is security. Its security is so high. No viruses can affect the LINUX. Thats why it mainly used on server. LINUX has always been a very secure operating system. So if you are using LINUX then you dont need to spend so much money on anti-virus. You can say LINUX is virus free operating system. Windows is very friendly in compare of LINUX. In the whole world most of user use windows. LINUX has some useful inbuilt software like excel, power-point, word; CD/DVD burner etc. without permission unauthorized user cant use the LINUX operating system. So finally you can say LINUX and Microsoft Windows both have some own features and as well as disadvantages. LINUX Gaming LINUX Gaming means the games which develop for LINUX operating system. There are lots of games available in the market for LINUX operating system. This is fact that Windows have a very huge collection of games in comparison of LINUX operating system. Here I am going to describe some LINUX games: Neverball: Actually Neverball is a puzzle game with lots of fun. You have to use mouse or keyboard to move the ball and you have to collect coins. If you will not collect the coins then you can never go in the next level. So the main goal of the game is to collects the coins. The graphics quality of the game is so nice; especially the stage of the game seems very pretty. There are total 75 levels in the game. Its very tough to win in one sitting. This game is also available for windows. Frets on Fire: It is just like a Guitar Hero game. You can say it just a remake of this game. The best features of the game are that you can edit your own song and play the game. This game is totally based on the music flow and user can also download so many songs for this game. The game already comes with some preloaded tone. This is mainly single player game which is developed by Unreal Voodoo around August 2006. The game is developed on Python programing. It is also available for Microsoft Windows and Mac operating system. A Fret on Fire X is one of the famous versions of the game. If user wants to change his track then he can. The best part of the game is audio because its upon you. There are lots of modes of this game that you can download from net. You can change your gameplay and also overall looking of the game. FlightGear: This is one of the most popular games of LINUX operating system. FlightGear is a flight based game developed by the FlightGear project during 1997. The game is mostly written in c++ language. This game is available for Windows, LINUX and Mac. There are so many version of the game is available for user. The most recent version is 2.0.0 that came in 2010. The game has a large collection of aircraft and locations. The graphics of the game is not so well, but overall it seems good. Texture of the hills, clouds, runway, rivers, and road are pretty well. The game is all about flying. You can also add scenery in game from the net. Adding scenery and aircraft is very simple. The gameplay of the game is very realistic and interesting. The game provides so many options to the user, even you can also create a model and you can use that in the game. Americas Army: This is a multiplayer first person shooting game published by Ubisoft in 2002. The game is also available for Windows and Mac operating system. As the name, game is totally based on US military. Americas Army 3 is the latest version of the game. The game used Unreal Engine 3. The game looks very fantastic and realistic. All the characters, weapons, locations etc. seems very nice. The graphics and the sound quality of the game is really awesome. The sound effects of the weapons are very nicely done. The game starts from training session which takes a long time. After than you have to complete the mission one by one. You can say this game is the combination of teamwork, strategy and patience. The online play is more interesting and popular because it is so well done. The game has lots of challenging situations and you will enjoy.

Corporate Governance Mechanisms Essay -- Business Administration

INTRODUCTION The relationship between the owners of a company and those who run the company is classified as an agent/principal relationship. In most cases this kind of relationship gives rise to a potential problem called the agency problem. This agency problem usually will occur where there is a conflict of interest between the desires of the principal and that of the agent. This is not a rare occurrence. It has been predominantly found to occur in companies where the directors are the agent and the shareholders who are the owners of the company is the principal. It is not unusual for managers to sometimes want to pursue their own interests at the expense of the company to whom they have a duty to act in its best interest. Certain decision-taking may not be in the interest of the company for example, excessive risk taking without foresight of the long term consequences. Most times the action and inactions of management may have dire consequences on the company which may in the long run stigmatize a company as an underperforming one. Consequently, managers who pursue their own interests rather than that of the company may underperform its duties. The following corporate governance mechanisms can play a major role in preventing managers from engaging in activities that lower firm value thereby incentivizing management to perform excellently. This essay will briefly consider three of those mechanisms that gear management towards excellent performances. Board Composition: This is a principal mechanism through which the shareholders can check managerial performance. If a management team is not performing well, the shareholders could direct the board of directors to fire the incumbent team and replace them with better perfor... ...eves that it â€Å"has changed the attitudes and practices of U.S managers†, stating that â€Å"it represents the most effective check on management autonomy ever devised. And it is breathing new life into the public corporations†. Works Cited Scharfstein David, ‘the Disciplinary role of Takeovers’ [1988] 55 the review of economic studies 185 accessed 27 November 2009 p 185. Julian Franks, Collin Mayer, ‘Hostile takeovers and the correction of managerial failure’ [1996] 40 Journal of Financial Economics 163 accessed 27 November 2009 p163. Ibid

The Evolution of Piracy :: Economy

The Evolution of Piracy The protection of trade in general has always been considered as essential to the defense of the commonwealth, and, upon that account, a necessary part of the duty of the executive power. INTRODUCTION Adam Smith lived in a turbulent and unpredictable world. Indeed Britain was an affluent nation at the time, but that does not over-ride the sometimes-barbaric notions of its citizens. Piracy was rampant in the Eighteenth Century reaching its peak in 1724 when trade almost came to a complete stop due to the constant threat of encountering pirates while at sea. The property-seeking vagabonds would hijack a ship, take what they wanted and either leave the crew to their own means in a damaged vessel or alternatively, enslave them and possibly use them for bartering later. Adam Smith when writing, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, was all too aware of the threat that pirates were still having on trade in 1776. Smith was logical in his assumption that the state should strive to protect the trade industry whenever possible, especially since in those days the sun never set on the British flag and England ruled the seas. Although Britain cannot be blamed though for lack of trying, piracy still exists today. Yet, because the act continues at sea often far from land, it gains little media attention, and therefore less action from governments. China, despite being a number one producer of pirates, continues to deny that there is a problem while at the same time often pardoning those who are caught. Countries such as Indonesia and Philippines, which have been hardest hit in the past few years by pirates, are looking for international assistance. The West is, of course, looked to for solutions yet choose seemingly chooses to turn a blind eye, perhaps in the name of diplomacy. When the world is ready to combat the perpetual problem of piracy, it may discover that by intertwining tougher policies aimed at dealing with piracy with current or future trade negotiations, productive steps can be taken to initiate plans to curtail modern day sea wolves who prey on the helpless. The suggestion of ‘Piracy Cha rters’ will be discussed further as the means of which to add the topic of to multilateral agreements. BODY Piracy is not something, which developed recently. The young Julius Caesar was kidnapped by pirates in 78 BC on a voyage to Rhodes and held for ransom.

Distinct Characterization in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar Essay

William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar works convincingly for audiences today not only because of its truth historically, but because of its truth of character, historically.   As with the rest of the English bard’s canon, it is the character driven aspect of the writing that continually reminds you of the play’s purpose.   Because the characters are so fantastically dissimilar, in behavior and language, the play comes alive.   In Julius Caesar, two aspects come alive most: the world of aristocracy in the Roman Empire, and most especially the distinct characters themselves that populate this play’s vision of that aristocracy. Primarily the world of Roman aristocrats is presented by the representation of the complete world of governance through three aspects.   They complete the triumvirate behind the triumvirate, so to speak.   Shakespeare creates this world by showing us the rulers at the top (after Caesar’s death), the senators who provide or take away power from the rulers in the new post dictator rule, and the conspirators who provide or take away power from all behind the scenes.   Had Shakespeare shown the Roman aristocracy without these three elements, we would have been left with little understanding of how the empire got to where it did at the time of Julius Caesar. This is his awesome creative power.   The playwright didn’t just give lines to players to tell the history, and he didn’t rely upon narrative choruses.   Instead, he created the world for us by putting the whole picture in front of us; all of the power aspects are there on the stage.   Naturally, behind the instruments of power are found powerful characters, each with distinct qualities that bring the story to life.   I will rely upon one character from each area above to examine just how they are treated – what manages to give them memorable traits and believable motives. William Shakespeare utilized language and behavior to motivate his characters.   Julius Caesar works because of this.   Marcus Antonius is a fine example of this.   Shakespeare provided him with the lines and actions to show him to be a manipulative instrument of power.   He is truly a favorite of audiences.   Antonius is ready to say anything and do anything to keep his place in the world, to preserve his power.   When the conspirators realize their plans to kill Caesar, it is Antonius that encourages the accomplices, and convinces them that he is on their side.   In other words, he is saying that ‘I will preserve your power if you preserve mine.’ This is the meaning behind his words to Brutus and accomplices:   â€Å"Friends am I with you all and love you all, upon this hope, that you shall give me reasons why and wherein Caesar was dangerous† (III.i.219) and then, â€Å"That’s all I seek† (227) when he receives an answer which is not exactly satisfactory at all.   The complete vision of this self serving future ruler of Rome is provided only moments later, when Shakespeare reminds us of the duplicity of Antonius when we see he did not act in accord with his heart, but with his advantage seeking.   â€Å"O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, that I am meek and gentle with these butchers!† (255). The next example comes from the senators – Cicero specifically.   How does Shakespeare impart a distinct character in him that sets him apart from both the rulers and the conspirators?   This is perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of how Shakespeare can imbue qualities into characters.   It is also one of the most convincing tools he possesses to bring the audience into participation with this history of his.   The senators are important to Julius Caesar because they represent blind and timid bureaucracy.   They are there merely to maintain the status quo and to enter into the political realm without actually entering into politics.   Shakespeare is in this play explaining that power rests either within the current ruler (such as Caesar or one of the triumvirate), or within the conspirators who would oust the ruler, through any means necessary.   Between the two groups are the people who hold very little power themselves.   They are the rank and file ru ling class; in this case the senators. Notice how Cicero does not even have any lines?   How then does he represent so much to the play?   How can we understand the Roman aristocracy so clearly in him, then?   Of him we have no lines, but an awareness.   He is an orator.   He is skilled in rhetoric.   And yet, what does he actually convey through his words?   Nothing.   He is a rhetorical, political blowhard.   Concerning his speech during Caesar’s triumphant parade, consider this dialogue between Cassius and Casca: Cassius: â€Å"Did Cicero say anything?† Casca: â€Å"Ay, he spoke Greek.† Cassius: â€Å"To what effect?† Casca: â€Å"†¦for mine own part, it was Greek to me.† (I.ii.281-284) In other words, it was just words.   The senators are not to be understood.   Therefore they are not a threat to emperor, conspirators or the common man.   They play the part of the aristocracy that simply stands for aristocracy.   By withholding lines from the most loquacious senator, Shakespeare creates a distinct vision of both Cicero and the part of the Roman aristocracy which he serves. The final character that serves great importance to Julius Caesar, of course, would be Brutus.   He comes from the conspirator caste and is such a powerfully rendered character that he has become a virtual stereotypical vision of bloody revenge and betrayal.   When audience think traitor, they inevitably think Brutus.   What is special about him in Shakespeare’s hand?   It is the absolute single mindedness of this villain (or hero as the case may be).   He does not waver as does Antonius.   He does not shrink back like Cicero.   He is Brutus.   His lines and his actions represent someone who is an ideologue.   He has fiercely held ideals and he has fiercely held ways of acting those out.   Nothing will get in his way.   That is the vision of this aspect of Roman aristocracy.   It is the power outside of the powerful.   This line from Brutus sums up this chief trait of his, and compels us to see it this way. â€Å"We at the height are ready to decline. There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures. (IV.iii.218–224) These may not be the most well known of Brutus.   However, they make the point clear about how Shakespeare imbues the distinctiveness of character into him.   It is this set of lines that speaks the most about his place as a character and about his place within the world of Roman aristocracy.   We can see just how much power the conspirators wield.   They turn out to be much more powerful than the Senate, and perhaps even more powerful than the rulers, whether Caesar or one of the triumvirate.   It is because, Shakespeare says, that Brutus and his companions can afford to be single minded and focused on their ideals and tasks at hand.   It is what makes the success of the plans visible from the outset. The question then of just how William Shakespeare creates the world of Roman aristocracy and gives each player the distinct character that is so important to Julius Caesar is answered by the same fashion.   The two are irrevocably intertwined.   It is a concurrent twofold plan.   First, Shakespeare creates convincing facets of the historical world; in this case the facets are the different aspects of Roman aristocracy as seen through the rulers, the senators and the conspirators.   Next, and simultaneously, he populates these aspects with their stereotypical, archetypical characters.   Because they fully belong to their separate classes, the very descriptions of them seen through their lines and actions fulfill the historical picture and provide every bit of drama that a contemporary audience needs.

Influence in Politeness

Influence in politeness -Culture †¢Politeness id considered a desirable characteristic in most cultures. However, cultures are different in how they define the politeness. Example: the English speakers showing consideration for others and presenting the confidence and polish as their politeness; on the other hand, the Japanese showing respect and presenting their selves with modesty as their politeness. †¢Cultures differ in the rules for expressing politeness or impoliteness and also in the punishments for the violation of the accepted rules.Example: in the Asian cultures, people who emphasize more politeness are often singled out when interview for a job; on the other hand, they will also receive harsher punishment for violation than the western cultures. †¢Politeness is recognized as an important part of interpersonal interactions in the business world. The rudeness in the workplace, it is been argued, reduces the performance effectiveness, hurts creativity, and lead s to increase the worker turnover. Example: because of her boss’ bad temper, my sister did not want to stay any longer in her previous company and search for a new job. Personality and professional training †¢Your personality and personal training will also influence your degree of politeness and the way you express the politeness besides cultures. Example: my degree of politeness is different when I interact with my classmates and interact with the lecturers. This condition depends on my personality in how I think of them. Another example: when I do the presentation, I speaks in formal language to show my respect to the audiences, and it will be different if I just attend the generally class. Politeness in Inclusion and Exclusion Inclusive messages include all people present and acknowledge the relevance of others and normally considered polite. Example: using English language in this university. When we discuss our homework, we will use English language to adjust to th e foreigners and respect them. oExclusive messages shut out specific people or entire cultural groups and are normally considered impolite. Example: when I talked to my family on the phone, I usually used my native language in order that the surrounding people could not understand what I said.

Happy Endings Margaret Atwood Essay

‘Happy Endings’ is one of Margaret Atwood’s most frequently-anthologized stories because it is so unusual. In form, it isn’t so much a story as an instruction manual on how to write one. In content, it is a powerful observation on life. The story is broken up into six possible life scenarios plus some concluding remarks. In scenario A, John meets Mary and they have a perfect life, living together devotedly until they die. In scenario B, John sleeps with Mary, whom he doesn’t love; he treats her abysmally, she commits suicide, and he marries Madge, whom he does love, and ‘everything continues as in A.’ In scenario C, Mary sleeps with John, who is married to Madge, who has become boring. Mary only sleeps with John because she pities him, and she is really in love with James, who rides a motorcycle. John discovers Mary and James in bed together and shoots them before turning the gun on himself. Madge goes on to marry a nice man named Fred, and we continue as in A. In scenario D, Fred and Madge have no interpersonal problems at all, but their house is swept away by a tidal wave. They emerge ‘wet and dripping and grateful, and continue as in A.’ In scenario E, Fred is found to have heart problems. Madge nurses him until he dies, after which she selflessly devotes herself to volunteer work for the rest of her life. It is in this scenario, incidentally, that Atwood begins to break down this encapsulated version of ‘fifty ways to write a story.’ Maybe it’s not Fred with the heart problems, she suggests; maybe it’s Madge who has cancer. Maybe she’s not kind and understanding; maybe she’s guilty and confused. Or maybe Fred is. Maybe Fred, after Madge’s death, devotes himself to bird watching rather than volunteer work. We are obviously getting the point that none of this really matters. In scenario F, Atwood hammers this point home. ‘If you think this is all too bourgeois, make John a revolutionary and Mary a counterespionage agent and see how far that gets you. . . . You’ll still end up with A.’ What is the common denominator between all these scenarios? In case you missed it, Atwood sums it up in her concluding remarks. ‘John and Mary die. John and Mary die. John and Mary die.’ As in ‘The Age of Lead,’ ‘Happy Endings’  forces us to question the point of life. Every story, carried to its ultimate logical conclusion, has the same ending, because all lives have the same ending. We may die in the heat of battle; we may die in our sleep. We may die in infancy, in a gang war, in a nursing home. But we’re going to die. The story isn’t in the ending — it’s in what we do on the way there. Margaret Atwood Happy Endings So you may have found that this week’s reading left you with quite a few questions, such as, â€Å"What did I just read?† Margaret Atwood’s â€Å"Happy Endings† is not a typical short story. In fact, we could even raise the question of whether it actually is a short story or not. â€Å"Happy Endings† is an example of metafiction. You may want to think of metafiction this way: it is a writer writing about writing. To clarify, in metafiction, an author writes a story in order make the reader think about the nature of a story. With metafiction, the author becomes self-reflective about the act of writing. Did you notice those moments in â€Å"Happy Endings† when Atwood comments on the story she is writing? (For example, in plot C, the voice of the author mentions, â€Å"†¦this is the thin part of the plot, but it can be dealt with later† [767].) Atwood’s goal is for the reader to contemplate what is the essence of a story. â₠¬Å"If you want a happy ending, try A.† â€Å"Happy Endings† primarily consists of 6 different bare-bone plots stemming from the very basic catalyst: â€Å"John and Mary meet.† Plot A – the one recommended it we want a â€Å"happy ending† – presents the ideal married life of Mary and John: they enjoy well-paying, fulfilling careers;the value of their house skyrockets, their children â€Å"turn out well;† they go one vacation;and even get to retire. (Heck, their sex-life together doesn’t even fade!) Atwood offers Plot A as the stereotypical, cliched â€Å"happy ending.† The problem with Plot A, at least as far as storytelling goes, there’s no drama. Here the couple does not face any conflict, crisis, or tension. Without crisis, there’s no character development. John and Mary become merely empty names; there’s no reason to care for them. While a â€Å"happy ending,† Plot A falls completely flat. (Plot A reminds me of a quotation from Leo Tols toy: â€Å"All families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its  own way.†) Plots B through F test out different directions that events can go after â€Å"John and Mary meet.† Each of these plots are remarkably predictable, mainly since they are based on cliched, stock characters. Plot B places Mary in the role of the unrequited lover, just hoping that John, the insensitive male, will come to see how much she truly cares for him. (The terms that Mary’s friends use to describe John – â€Å"a rat, a pig, a dog† – are unimaginative.) In Plot C, John takes on the part of the insecure, middle-aged man seeking assurance from a much younger woman, Mary. Plot D is the well recognizable disaster story, like last year’s film â€Å"The Impossible†. If you are a fan of Nicholas Sparks’ â€Å"The Notebook,† you are already familiar with Plot E. Finally, Plot F resembles that of the story of lovers caught up in the political turmoils of their time. However, whatever the plot maybe, we always end with Plot A. The names of the characters may change and â€Å"in between you may get a lustful, brawling saga of passionate involvement, a chronicle of our times, sort of† but the ending to the story will always be the s ame (767). Is this because, according to Atwood, readers will only accept this idealized ending for tales of romance? Could Atwood be commenting on readers’ expectations for how the story will end when two lovers meet? Moreover, is Atwood claiming there is something false about Plot A? Atwood emphatically states near the end of â€Å"Happy Endings† is that â€Å"the only authentic ending† is: â€Å"John and May die. John and Mary die. John and Mary die.† Adopting a bleak outlook, Atwood argues that the one ending that we all will share in and so rings true is death. Now rather than leave us on that depressing note, Atwood offers a bit of hope, â€Å"So much for endings. Beginnings are always more fun† (676). If you consider this statement, Atwood is right. Generally, romantic tales don’t open with the couple being married, with a home and children. Instead, the story of a couple centers on how they get together – what are the obstacles, the emotional turmoil, they face to reach their Plot A? From William Shakespeare to Jane Austen to Nicholas Sparks, marriage is a conclusion not a beginning. The drama lies in everything the lovers have to do to reach that p oint. â€Å"Now try How and Why† In the final three paragraphs, Atwood identifies where the essence of a story lies. No surprise at all that she dismisses plot as formulaic, just a mere  sequence of events – â€Å"a what and a what and a what† (676). Looking back on over Plots A through F, that is all she gives us. John and Mary’s characters are left undeveloped; again, we could interchange their names with those of Madge and Fred, while leaving the plot the same. We don’t care about John and Mary because we don’t have the chance to get to know them. Also, at the end of each plot Atwood leaves us with the question of what is the point of the story. There’s an emptiness felt after reading each plot. Why tell us the story? Generally, we, as readers, look for authors through their writings to give us some insight into our world. Stories have themes, morals, profound messages that go beyond just the bones of the plot. Consider some of the short stories that we have read so far this term. Is it just that Chopin gives us the story of Louise Mallard’s dying after learning her husband is still alive? Is the importance of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† limited to just Gilman’s narrator’s going mad through seeing a woman trapped within the wallpaper? Why does the story of Emily Grierson’s keeping the body of her murder lover in bed with her matter? For Atwood, the plot becomes the vehicle for the author to shows us a new truth. †¦ Happy Endings Margaret Atwood Analysis This detailed literature summary also contains Further Reading on Happy Endings by Margaret Atwood. Margaret Atwood’s â€Å"Happy Endings† first appeared in the 1983 Canadian collection, Murder in the Dark, and it was published in 1994 for American audiences in Good Bones and Simple Murders. Subtitled â€Å"Short Fiction and Prose Poems,† Murder in the Dark featured four types of works: autobiographical sketches, travel notes, experimental pieces addressing the nature of writing, and short pieces dealing with typical Atwood themes, notably the relationship between the sexes. â€Å"Happy Endings,† which is essentially a self-referential story framework, falls into the third category. In several thumbnail sketches of different marriages, all of which achieve a traditional â€Å"happy ending,† Atwood references both the mechanics of writing, most particularly plot, and the effects of gender stereotyping. In earlier works, including the novel Bodily Harm, as well as speeches, Atwood discusses the writer’s relationship to society. She defined the artist, in part, as â€Å"the guardian of the moral and ethical sense of the community.† In â€Å"Happy Endings,† Atwood fulfills this role with a challenge  that she throws out to those writers who rely on the stereotypical characterization of men and women and to the reader who accepts such gender typing. At the same time, she challenges other writers to more closely examine typical literary convention. Theme the â€Å"happy† couple in â€Å"Happy Endings,† whether comprised of John and Mary, John and Madge, or Madge and Fred, enjoys the trappings of middle-class values and represents this element of society. The husband and wife hold professional jobs, earn good money, and make sound investments that afford them some of life’s luxuries, such as nice vacations and a relaxing retirement. Even in the more troublesome aspects of these stories, the couples manifest their middle-class values. In version C, John’s marital crisis is brought on by the fact that he feels his life is settled and dull. This mid-life angst drives him to attempt to boost his self-esteem through an affair with a much-younger woman. Despite the middle-class values that permeate the piece, only in version F does Atwood frankly address them. Style â€Å"Happy Endings† is satirical in the way that it makes fun of the naive conception that a person’s, or a couple’s, life can have a simple happy ending. In version A, John and Mary build a life based on their nice home, rewarding jobs, beloved children, enjoyable vacations, and post-retirement hobbies. They experience one success after another. No problems or difficulties—major let alone minor— are mentioned; as such, their life is completely unreal. Such unreality is emphasized by the events of version B. While John and Mary do not achieve this happy ending, John does achieve it—but with Madge. And in yet another version, Madge achieves this happy ending with Fred. Although all the individuals bring to their relationships a unique past and set of experiences, each couple eventually achieves the exact same ending described in version A. †¦ Margaret Atwood uses her short story Happy Endings to show that it is not the end of a story that is important it is the middle. She seems to say that the endings are all clichÃÆ' © that the middle is the part that is unique. This holds true with literature versus a beach novel although a beach novel and piece of literature may end the same way it is the rest of the book that  makes one different from the other. As she says the true ending is â€Å"John and Mary die† the only guarantee in life is death. So since the ending is already known why does it have the tendency to â€Å"steal† the spotlight from the rest of the story? Sure in some cases people can guess the middle of a story from the ending, if they find someone died in an electric chair they can assume he committed a crime. However if someone dies from heart failure no one can know anything about his life, they may guess the person ate too much junk food, or drank too much but if they don’t know any thing else they can’t guess the middle. However if someone knows the middle they can guess the ending, if they are told that person â€Å"A† had to have triple bypass surgery and that person â€Å"B† murdered a few people they can make an educated guess how each story ends. But even the middle of the story is only part of a greater whole, without the beginning of the story no one can tell why certain events happened and what lead to person â€Å"A† to doing â€Å"action z†. Atwood also says that what happens is not all-important but how it happens and why it happens. According to Atwood, all the whats are just the plot, one thing that happens after another, however the how and the whys are what really make a story more than a story. This is the important part, the hows and the whys are what makes a story literature with out them it makes no difference if the prose is expertly laid out or not it is all still a story nothing more. The step from story to literature is a gray line and is based on pe rsonal taste, as Justice Stewart said â€Å"I know it when I see it† although he was referring to obscenity it is just as applicable here. The use of story like this to portray the differences in opinion on what makes a story is pure genius on the part of Atwood, what is even more interesting is the fact that it is also considered literature. The main theme in most literature that divides it from the rest of the stories is that literature tries to make a specific point, and in doing so forces the reader to think about the point that the author is trying to make. In this way it is easy to decide what is literature and what is not, if at the end of a story if the reader’s only thought is â€Å"Gee, what a nice story† then it is most definitely not literature, but if instead if the thought is more along the lines of â€Å"The author said A, B and C but were they really trying to make a point about D?† it is literature. Although even this test has it’s holes because literature for one person is just a nice story for someone else. As Flannery  O’Connor said, â€Å"[if you don’t ge t the enlightenment] just sit back and enjoy the story.† What Does Happy Ending Mean â€Å"Happy Endings† is a short story by Margaret Atwood. It was first published in a 1983 Canadian collection, Murder in the Dark. It includes six stories in one, each ending with death. The author believes that this is the only sure ending to anything. The stories are all inter-related, containing the same characters and similar actions. Behind the obvious meaning of these seemingly pointless stories lies multiple deeper and more profound meanings; exploring, for example, themes of domesticity, welfare, and success. It all ends up with John and Mary dying at the end of the story. Characters John – He is one of the main characters of the short story. In A, he is in love with Mary and is happily married to her. In B, he doesn’t feel the same way Mary does for him as he only uses her for her body. He eventually takes a woman named Madge to a restaurant. In the end, he marries her. In C, he is a middle-aged man married to Madge but is in love with twenty-two year old Mary. One day he sees Mary with another man and shoots both of them before shooting himself. Mary – She is the main character of the short story. In A, she is happily married to John and had children with him. In B, Mary is in love with John but is saddened with the fact that he doesn’t love her. In C, she is a twenty-two-year old who is in love with James. She is shot by John. James – He is a twenty-two year old whom Mary has feelings for. He isn’t ready to settle down and prefers to ride his motorcycle. He wants to be free while he’s still young. One day, he an d Mary have sex. He is shot by John towards the end. He doesn’t appear anywhere else. Madge – In B, Madge is John’s love interest. She is taken to a restaurant and eventually, they get married. In C, she is John’s wife. In D, she meets a man named Fred. Fred – He is the man Madge meets. In her short story â€Å"Happy Endings†, Margaret Atwood simultaneously displays her feelings about not only the art of creative writing, but also the equally artistic act of living one’s life to the fullest. The story, if it  can really be called a â€Å"story† in the traditional sense of the word, immediately breaks the thin wall of author/audience by presenting a completely unique structure: that of an outline or a jumbled notebook. By asking the reader, â€Å"If you want a happy ending, try A,† Atwood is seemingly giving the reader a choice. Since A must be the happy ending, it implies that there are other, more sinister endings yet to be discovered. Appropriately, after the happy ending has completed, there follows five more endings, all of which seem to be quite depressing, but nevertheless end in â€Å"everything continues as in A.† Why would Atwood do this? In each of her scenarios, she creates two main characters, John and Mary appropriat ely boring names for characters that are so underdeveloped and stereotyped as to be almost comedic. It would be possible to call them each protagonists, but they are the very definition of flat characters: dull and undeveloped. In fact, the reader is informed of their personality traits not because Atwood shows them through a conflict or a plot rather, she simply tells them. Lines such as, â€Å"She sleeps with him even though she’s not in love with him,† present the type of stock character that Mary or John will assume for said scenario without any mystery involved. By creating such flat characters that differ between scenarios, but still coming back with â€Å"everything continues as in A,† Atwood brings up an interesting point: it’s not the destination that matters it’s all the same for everyone it’s the journey. In fact, after presenting all of her mock scenarios for the characters, Atwood abruptly changes tone to tell the reader an important fact: â€Å"The only authentic ending is the one presented here: John and Mary die. John and M ary die. John and Mary die.† After all, at the end of every person’s life, regardless of how they lived it or what they experienced, they will encounter death. This essay has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work written by our professional essay writers. Order a custom essay on Happy Endings by Margaret Atwood written by an expert online.    Atwood notices that people tend to not think quite like this, if only because it is not the most comforting of thoughts, and she uses â€Å"Happy Endings† to allow people a chance to be a bit introspective. â€Å"So much for endings. Beginnings are always more fun. True connoisseurs, however, are known to favor the stretch in between, since it’s the hardest to do anything with.† Such is true for writing; such is true for life. With her unconventional structure, caricatures for characters, and sometimes sarcastic tone, Atwood manages to convey one of the most important concepts about life of all. Do not let life become â€Å"a what and a what and a what.†Ã‚  Learn to favor the stretch between beginning and end, and then, perhaps, you can make your own happy ending. Sources Margaret Atwood Official   website Happy Endings Reviews Happy Endings Wiki

Student Sport and Fitness

Table of Contents 1. Introduction3 2. Key literature review3 3. Methodology5 4. Presentation of findings7 4. 1. Quantitative data7 4. 2. Qualitative data12 5. Data analysis14 5. 1. Perception of NTU’s Master Students towards sport and fitness14 5. 2. Do NTU Master Students maintain their health by participating in sport and physical activities? 15 6. Reflections on the Collection and Utilisation of Data17 6. 1. Reflective Observation18 6. 1. 1. Collection Data18 6. 1. 2. Utilisation of Data19 6. 2. Abstract Conceptualisation20 6. 3. Active Experimentation20 7. Conclusion21 References22 Appendices24 ? 1.Introduction Nowadays, Sport and Fitness is becoming more and more important in life of every people all over the world. According to Euro barometer (2010), it is because people are being aware of the vital of doing sport and physical activity to improving health both in physical and mental. However, due to the lack of information in connection with university student in the UK, this report investigates the perception and action of students towards sport and fitness of students in Nottingham Trent University (NTU). The data which is utilised in this study was acquired through quantitative and qualitative research.Questionnaire and interview are respectively conducted on 50 and 10 NTU’s Management Master Students of September course of the academic year 2011/2012. The respond rate is 100% for both types of researches. 2. Key literature review There are numerous studies of sport and fitness which illustrating vast benefits of sport participant. Sport and PA are constituents of enhancing health and enriching the social interconnection to support a meaningful life to people all over the world (GRANT, 2001; COLLINS and KAY, 2003:28; RENFROW et al, 2011).Nevertheless, International Olympic Committee (2011) emphasised the risk of insufficient sport and physical activities (PA) in adolescents which lead negative affect to health physically and mentally. Lav erie (1998) suggests the most significant reasons encourage participants are have fun, learn new skills, make friends, social group. However, despite the recognition of sport’s vitality, not everyone participate in sport and PA, due to the differences of a number of factors.The table following illustrates two main factors which affect sport participation the most: age and gender. There are also some studies about other factors such as availability of green space and family culture. AUTHORSMain StudyAgeGenderOther factors VAN TUYCKOM, et al. (2010)Gender and age differences in regular sport participation across 25 European Countries. The level of participation in regular sporting activities varies among young adults, middle-aged adults, and older adults age categories. In general, men participate in regular sporting activities than women.COOMBES (2010)The relationship of PA and overweight which measured by accessibility and utilisation of green spacePeople tend to be more acti ve and participate in sport and PA when being surrounded with more green spaces RENFROW, M. S. , et al (2011)â€Å"The relationship between sports participation and health-related physical fitness in middle school and high school. †Increase in male participant will increase health-related physical fitness, but not females due to the difference in kind of sport chosen. BIRCHWOOD, D. et al. (2008) WHEELER, S. 2012)Family culture has substantial affect to sport participation. Living in the family which parents invest a considerable amount in sport will influence children’s sporting participation in the future. In this research, the word â€Å"sport† is used not only for activities which require specific skills and fixed rules to compete against other individuals or teams in specific areas. It also involves leisured physical activities which do not require competition but also result health’s benefit such as going to exercise at gymnasium.In other words, it i s called informal activities (L'AOUSTET and GRIFFET, 2001). BOREHAM and RIDDOCH (2001) mention that playing organised sports either formally or informally results healthy body for older children. Furthermore, people now participate in physical activities not only follow sport organisations but also on their own ways in the streets or in a park based on the need in expanding green spaces or downtown park for informal activities (Coombes, 2010, L'AOUSTET and GRIFFET, 2001). It is significant evidence demonstrating the benefit of sport and PA.The whole world understands the important of sport and PA in life and there are an increasing number of organisations with several policies to incite participant in sport and PA to maintain health and fitness such as Sport England. However, the main subject is mostly children, young adult, athletic student and older people. That is the reason to carry out this report. 3. Methodology In this research study, primary research was conducted with the p urpose of collecting qualitative and quantitative data through questionnaire and one-to-one interview.Quantitative research was conducted on the sample of 50 management master students of Nottingham Trent University. The questionnaire was developed to examine the perception and action of students for participating in sports. The questionnaires with 14 questions (see more in appendix A) were given out to 50 management master students with the respond rate is 100%. The research attempted to focus on equally gender among respondents, yet the reality is 29 male and 21 female with a variety of age (Table 1) Table 1: Frequency of respondents on the basis of ages FrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative Percent Valid1812. 02. 02. 0 2012. 02. 4. 0 2112. 02. 06. 0 22510. 010. 016. 0 23612. 012. 028. 0 241428. 028. 056. 0 251428. 028. 084. 0 2624. 04. 088. 0 2724. 04. 092. 0 3024. 04. 096. 0 3212. 02. 098. 0 3612. 02. 0100. 0 Total50100. 0100. 0 Qualitative research was conducted on 10 student s. Each interviewee was asked eight questions within 8 minutes duration in average (see more in Appendix C). All interviews were recoded under permission of interviewees and consequently were coded in order to be used in this study. Before carrying out the research, questionnaire and interview questions are piloted by all members in group 5-cohort D. 4. Presentation of findings 4. 1.Quantitative data Fortuitously, the ratio of students which place sport in priority position in their daily life is equally with 50% do and another 50% do not. There is an assumption that sport which was ranked as 1st, 2nd or 3rd is considered as important in their daily routine. The result illustrates only 22 respondents (44%) who ranked sport as important in their daily routine. Among those, there are 6 respondents who are female (Table 2). Fourth is the most popular ranking for importance of sport in women’s daily routine with 12 respondents. In any case, respondents completely agree that sport is benefit to maintain physical health.Table 2: The important of sport in daily routine on the basis of gender (1 as the most important, and 6 as the least important) GenderTotalCumulative Total MaleFemale How is important of sport in your daily routine? 1Count5166 % within How is important of sport in your daily routine? 83. 3%16. 7%100. 0% 2Count43713 % within How is important of sport in your daily routine? 57. 1%42. 9%100. 0% 3Count72922 % within How is important of sport in your daily routine? 77. 8%22. 2%100. 0% 4Count5121739 % within How is important of sport in your daily routine? 29. 4%70. 6%100. 0% 5Count62847 % within How is important of sport in your daily routine? 5. 0%25. 0%100. 0% 6Count21350 % within How is important of sport in your daily routine? 66. 7%33. 3%100. 0% TotalCount292150 % within How is important of sport in your daily routine? 58. 0%42. 0%100. 0% According to Figure 1, respondents who considered sport as important in daily life are scattered from age 18th to age 30th. The middle line represents the median of the sample which means the middle value of entire age sample; in this case, it is age 24th. The box size represents the distribution of the sample; in this case, the sample mainly distributed among those respondents whose ages are between 24th and 25th.Two little circles on the graph represented two values (18th age and 30th age) which extremely departed from the rest of sample. Figure 1: Box plots of ages among respondents who rated sport as most important. In addition to those 44% of above respondents, in term of sport, mostly they are spending on fees (sport club or gym club fees) (24% in 44%); following is equipment and others with 16% and 4% respectively (Table 3). Table 3: Frequency of respondents on the basis of which is spent most. FrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative Percent Valid2856. 056. 056. 0 Equipment816. 016. 072. 0 Fees1224. 24. 096. 0 Others24. 04. 0100. 0 Total50100. 0100. 0 However, on the basis of gen der, half of male (8 respondents) spend the most on equipment, 6 of the remainder spend on fees. On the other hands, 100% female merely spend on fees (Figure 2). Figure 2: What is the most spent on by male and female? In related to the frequency of sport participation, result signified 17 respondents doing sport 2 or 3 days per week which take 34% which is demonstrated on figure 3. Following right after are weekly and occasionally with 28% (14 respondents) evenly. Figure 3: Frequency of participating in sport and PARegarding the attitude and action towards doing sport, sport playing in casual way is enjoyed the most according to 34 selections from respondents. The next most enjoyed is gymnastic activities in casual way with 15 selections. Following is doing sport and gymnastic activities in formal way with 13 and 4 selections respectively. Conversely, the most popular way that respondents really do is doing gymnastic activities in formal way with 26 selections. Follow formally work out at gymnasium are doing gymnastic activities in casual way, doing sport casually and doing sport formally with 23, 20, 18 selections correspondingly (figure 4).Figure 4: Differences between attitude and action towards doing sport. Regarding the place students choose the most for doing sport; sport clubs, gymnasium and parks are the priority choices (Figure 5). University ground is the least choice with only 4 selections. Figure 5: Where students choose to do sport the most. Result revealed only 24% (12 respondents) have joined sport clubs with major reasons are keep fit and having fun (included their self and with friends).There is an open format question which asked for reason why people in general joining sport clubs, results indicated involved for healthier, enjoyment and fitness, with the most popular reason is healthier (11 given) (Figure 6). It is noticed that only two-third of total respondents provide reasons. Figure 6: Most popular reasons for students joining sport club s Laziness was the majority reason (34 selections) for miscarry out sport and PA of master students in NTU. Workload and time constraint respectively followed by with 15 and 13 selections (Figure 7) Figure 7: Most popular reasons for students to fail to participate in sport 4. . Qualitative data Research attained 7 out of 10 respondents have hobby which related to sport and physical activities (Table 4). Only one of them is doing sport formally that is defined as trainings with adequate facilities and coaches. Regardless of some respondents do not have sport hobby, everyone suggested sport is indispensable in life. They find it is healthier compare between before and after doing sport. Table 4: Common hobby which related to sport and physical activities cited by respondents R1R2R3R4R5R6R7R8R9R10 _Play badminton and tennis or sometime go to gym.Doing sport activities, especially training boxing. Playing basketball with friends. _Playing sport generally. â€Å"Going to gym†Ã¢â‚ ¬Å"Play football, swimming, badminton†_â€Å"Love swimming and skating† (Note: R is interpreted as Respondent) Despite of the similar sporting hobby, the reason for some respondents to participant in sport and PA is totally different (table 6). It is noticed not every respondents mention this in their answers. Laziness is the reason that every respondents (100%) suggested for unsuccessful in participating in sport and PA. Table 6: Reasons for respondents’ participation in sport and PA R1R2R3R4R5R6R7R8R9R10 N/ATo get ability to compete in matchesTo have fun with friends. Also it is better for health_N/Aâ€Å"I am not kind of sport person, but want to fit my body†To be healthy_N/A Result discovered the difference in participation in sport and PA of several respondents who are international students (R1, R2 and R3) between in their home country and in the UK (Table 7) Table 7: Different in attitude of respondents R1In India: go to gym twice or thrice per week In the UK: no involvement in any sporting activities R2In India: playing badminton, tennis In the UK: go to gym only R4In Vietnam: swimming, play basketball everydayIn the UK: playing basketball, but not very frequency. Regarding the awareness of doing sport whether in formal or informal way, moderately, respondents are aware of so many opportunities to exercise around them, yet, not all of students take that. Conversely, in some cases, students are not aware that they are doing exercise by taking those opportunities. 5. Data analysis 5. 1. Perception of NTU’s Master Students towards sport and fitness The objective of this research question is to clarify there is a tight relationship between sport and fitness regardless formal or informal form.Besides, it also examines the most important issue that students join sport and PA for. At a glance, from both quantitative and qualitative data, NTU students agreed sport and physical activities has a relationship to fitness. In other words, they are helpful to maintain their health not only in physical but also in mental side. Obviously, the result reflected equivalent points with key literature review. Research also realised NTU Master Students neither lean towards informal nor formal sport and PA. The fact is 43 students want benefit from sport and gym in casual way and 44 students want them in formal way (Figure 3).In other words, it can be said quite a lot of students actually do both formal and informal sport and PA. However, doing sport casually is the way they most enjoy. Related to qualitative data, most of respondents (exclude respondent 3) prefer casual way doing sport mainly due to laziness and time constraint. For example, respondent 7 perceived sport in his daily routine completely casually. His exercise mainly are walking on the street or going to gym and exercise on his way. Also according to figure 3, the outcome reflected the difference in students’ attitude towards participating in spor ts and the action they really do.Indeed, 34 respondents enjoy playing sport casually; however, only 20 students actually do that. Surprisingly, sport clubs where people can do sport formally is still the most popular place for NTU Master Students involving in sport and PA. With respect to which is spent on more in term of supporting participants, sport/gym club fees are spent on the most regardless the gender. Additionally, equipment is spent on predominantly by male. It is easily perceived that, female are more likely to get involve in sport and PA which is provided with convenience such as joining club to get full facilities and assistance from trainer.On the contrary, male students not only invest in fees but also in equipment and others which are able to offer substantial support to participants. Related to other study, findings indicated the most significant reasons which encourage NTU’s students join sport clubs are to be healthier, enjoyment and fitness. By means of th at, it clearly proved NTU Master Student are truthfully concerned about their health. In contrast, when asking respondents whose hobby related to sport activities for participating reasons, 3 out of 4 respondents answered not related to health benefit. Competition, have fun with friends and body fit were the answers.Essentially, sport brings so many benefits in general; however, the benefits vary among different students. Whatsoever the benefits students want, health factor always exists. Indeed, doing sport require a large volume of movements including muscle groups used, hence, providing more strength, flexible and endured body and health (BOREHAM and RIDDOCH, 2001) In brief, NTU Master Students believe a relationship between sport and fitness regardless the way of acting neither formally or informally. There is a difference in students’ attitude towards doing sport and their real action.Health is the most concern issue for them to joining sport and PA. 5. 2. Do NTU Master Students maintain their health by participating in sport and physical activities? The objective of this research question is to find out whether students maintain their health by participating in sport and PA; and also expose factors influence students’ participating in sport and PA. From the sections above it is straightforwardly seen that, even though students recognise the important of sport in life and really care about their health, not every of them participating in sport and PA.Only 44% respondents considered sport as important in their daily routine. However, there is not matching with other figure. In fact, up to 50% respondents stated sport is priority in their daily routine. The reason of bias might due to not reflect carefully before ranking the importance of daily activities of some respondents (question 3, see more in Appendix 1). In term of learning the frequency of participating in sport and PA of NTU Master Students, playing sport 2-3 days per week was chosen by more than two third of the sample size. Unpredictably, exercising everyday was the fewest choice with only 2 selections.Both quantitative and qualitative data reflected that laziness is the most considerable reason causing unsuccessful in doing sport and PA of NTU’s student. Through interviews, in addition to laziness, almost agreed they felt on joining in sport and PA because they are busy with their study which can be considered as the combination of workload and time constraint options in quantitative data. It is vital to understand the most considerable factors affect students concerning their involvement in sport. For NTU’s Master Students, gender reflected the significant difference in their attitude towards sport and PA.Indeed, among 44% respondents above, 72% of them are male, only 28% are female. This result reflected the issue about factors which affect people’s participation in sport and PA in Van Tuyckom’s study (2010). However, only parti al issue corrected as age tend to not have so much influence on NTU students’ participation (Figure 1). The reason is probably due to the limited on chosen sample which only master students. 24th and 25th are the most popular ages in this research due to the fact that normally, master students’ ages vary mostly between ages 22nd to age 25th.Therefore, it is understandable why respondents in 44% above mainly dispensed in those two ages. Added into the above, qualitative research discovered culture also played important role in term of influence NTU’s student in joining sport and PA. In more details, it is due to the differences in their social life and environment between their home countries and the UK. Respondent 2 expressed after coming to UK for study, she usually does not have so much time to exercise, therefore, going to gym and work out by her way in a short time is her solution for keeping fitness.Besides, respondent 4 who is influence to participate in s port by his friends stated due to lack of friends in the UK, he feel lack of motivation to do sport, therefore, he rather stay at home and play his favourite computer games than involving in sport. Despite participating in sport and PA in clubs, gyms or exercise on one self’s way to keep fit and healthy; there are tons of opportunities to exercise offered everywhere such as not taking a lift to go up but using a stair. Through qualitative research, when being asked for the awareness of opportunities to exercise of people in general, the outcome was moderately balanced.A number of respondents supposed people recognise opportunities to exercise during normal activities in life. Some of others expressed the disagreement. Respondent 4 said: â€Å"Almost my friends like to play computer games; we usually play games, so I don’t think they know what the opportunity to exercise is. † Regarding whether people take opportunities to exercise or not, the results depend on t heir attitude towards sport and fitness, and the situation is. Respondent 3 answered because he does not really count on fitness; thus, he takes lift when he feels lazy.Some respondents are happy to walk from home to school and vice versa as they enjoy exercising and also enjoy the fresh air. On the other hands, some people do not recognise themselves are exercising through their daily activities. Respondent 6 mentioned for generally female extremely love shopping, and that can be considered as an opportunity to exercise, but not everyone know it. Concisely, NTU Master Students do participating in sport and PA to maintain their health, yet, not everyone does. Research also figured out gender and culture have influence the rate of involvement.Besides, people understand there are so many opportunities to exercise around them; however, not all of them do. 6. Reflections on the Collection and Utilisation of Data Reflection is necessary in learning, which requires look back on what were been done, carefully think about it, learn from it to achieve more effective performance (Moon, 1999). In this section, Kolb’s learning cycle (1984) is used to facilitate the reflection of this report (Figure 7). I might start from reflection point forwards because concrete experience was what I have been doing from the beginning to the end of this report.Figure 7: Kolb’s Learning Cycle (Source: Kolb, 1984: p. 23) 6. 1. Reflective Observation 6. 1. 1. Collection Data At the beginning, we only concentrated to other core modules and underestimated the important of research method module. Therefore, we received almost negative feedback for formative presentation which was the chance for us to demonstrate our understanding of the given topic as well as research questions. After the leading from module tutor, we understood what we must focus on to draw appropriate research questions for our given topic.After our research questions were clear, learned from previous experienc e, we put a lot of effort to design questionnaire and interview questions from the starting point. Once again, we received a lot of negative feedback due to the lack of experience in designing questions. It was not because the questions did not support our research but the way of asking which were quite ambiguous and direct. As, those kinds of questions might cause difficulties for respondents when trying to answer them (Bryman and Bell, 2003).We learned from negative feedback, and redesigned them till reaching the most appropriate and supportive questions (see more in appendices A and C). Our group included five members had to conduct 50 questionnaires and 10 interviews. Consent form is attached to every single questionnaires and interviews for respondents to read, understand and sign in which could ensure respondents’ confidence. The works were divided equally to each member. Thanks to the support of the university, we could complete our mission within one week.Also, the fo cused sample was our university fellows who did exactly the same as we had to do. Therefore, they ready helped us to fill in questionnaires as well as were being so enthusiastic to answer our interviews. Despite of that, there were some limitations when collecting data. Firstly, we totally overlooked the gender factor in our sample involved due to our somewhat hasty when sending out questionnaires and delivering interviews which affected the final result. The fact, gender element did not affect so much on questionnaire analysis as luckily the ifferent ratio between female and male (0. 42:0. 5) among questionnaire sample was not significant. However, it did not repeat with interview sample (0. 3:0. 5). Therefore, in final result where related to gender, I could not compare and reflect the outcome between qualitative and quantitative data. Knowing that university created favourable conditions to help us working smoothly, so we tried to collect all quantitative data in only a few hours . That is why we could not control the quality of each form and consequently led to a number of bias data.Therefore, the results were considered as moderately convincing. Even though the questionnaire form was designed and piloted before sending out to respondents, there were a few mistakes which we did not recognise until the collecting and analysing data process had finished. For example, in questionnaire form, still there is a leading question (question 14) which â€Å"appear to lead respondents in a particular direction† (Bryman and Bell, 2003). Moreover, such question did not provide respondents space to express their view completely.Question 5 was quite ambiguous that made few people confused to answer and therefore led to unexpected result. Our questionnaire involved a couple of open questions. Although answers required more time in coding but it also brought wider knowledge to us. Yet, the respond rate could not achieve 100% for those questions because it required gre ater effort from respondents and normally many of them did not write expansively in questionnaires. Furthermore, question 9 and 10 was likely unhelpful to research questions. 6. 1. 2. Utilisation of DataWe agreed to use Microsoft Excel as a first place where quantitative data are put together. Similarly, after interviewing, each member has a duty to write down transcripts of their interviews. Our leader was responsible for putting all data together and would send it to every member with purpose of ensuring same set of data is used. After receiving all data, SPSS and Excel were used at the same time to assist me analyse quantitative data in this report. On the other hands, interview data was coded with purpose of using in qualitative analysis.Two set of data subsequently were compared and contrasted to each other to find differences and similarities. I believe our data are moderately reliable and valid. Firstly, our selected sample was current NTU Master Students therefore; the resul ts are repeatable for those studies with same kind of sample. Even though only 85% quantitative data was used due to some of asking questions did not relevant to research questions; the remaining data was helpful to deliver meaningful information which directly answered our research questions.However, it is undeniable the limitation in utilising data, due to unachievable 100% respond rate in a couple of questions and the lack of designing questions. Indeed, there were too little options for respondents to choose in some questions. For example Question 13 actually had a wide range of answers, yet, we only provided 4 options included â€Å"other options†. 6. 2. Abstract Conceptualisation Bryman and Bell (2003:36) emphasise the vital role of research questions in implementing a research. Therefore, it is necessary and fundamental to draw appropriate research questions clearly from the starting point of a research.Consequently, qualitative and quantitative research must be design ed under research questions in order to collect data that helpful in providing meaningful final results. In term of designing questions, sample size and gender ratio must be noticed to enable to gather supportive data. Testing questionnaire on some of our friends before sending out to ensure all questions are useful and enable to avoiding such as leading, ambiguous questions. Besides, put more effort during collecting period to avoid randomly answer from respondents.Throughout the researching period, we experienced not only academic works but also team working. Even though this is not our first time working together, yet the first time working together for such a long time. We understand that effectiveness of the whole group brings huge positive effect to our results. Meeting on time, responsibility and enthusiasm are found as important in order to achieve the most effective result. 6. 3. Active Experimentation If I had to do this report again, I would try out what I have learnt fro m experiences.Firstly and also the most important thing is I would put highly concentration from the very beginning. I would improve my designing questions skills through reading more books before starting designing. That would save my time as well as increasing the effectiveness of the questions in particular and for whole research in general. When collecting data, I would be more concerned on choosing sample in order to get more reliable and validity data. When analysing data, analyse skills are extremely essential to be able to get the best out of the data.With the purpose of getting better research, I would improve my analyse skills and get better help from computer assisted such as SPSS for quantitative data or NVivo for qualitative data. Last but not least, when working with team, I would make sure that the group would follow three elements above to work as the most effective manner. 7. Conclusion Throughout this research, the research questions raised at the beginning are abl e to be answered. Regarding sport and fitness topic, research found out the difference between attitude and action of NTU Master Students.Furthermore, differences due to gender, culture are also discovered. In addition to sport, although students are able to recognise opportunities to exercise in their daily life, they are not likely to engage in. A number of reasons were spotted concerning the failure in involving in sport and exercise. In general, it would bring highly effect to several health issues such as obesity which is extremely alert to not only developed countries but also developing countries. References ALAN, B. 1. , and BRYMAN, A. , 1947-, 2003. Business research methods. Oxford: Oxford : Oxford University Press.BIRCHWOOD, D. , ROBERTS, K. and POLLOCK, G. , 2008. Explaining differences in sport participation rates among young adults: Evidence from the South Caucasus. European Physical Education Review, 14 (3), 283-298. BOREHAM, C. , and RIDDOCH, C. , 2001. The physical activity, fitness and health of children. Journal of Sports Sciences, 19 (12), 915-929. COLLINS, M. F. , and KAY, T. , 2003. Sport and social exclusion. Psychology Press. COOMBES, E. , JONES, A. P. and HILLSDON, M. , 2010. The relationship of physical activity and overweight to objectively measured green space accessibility and use.Social Science & Medicine, 70 (6), 816-822. EUROBAROMETER, 2010. Sport and Physical Activity [pdf] Available at: http://ec. europa. eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_334_en. pdf [Accessed 11/04/12] GRANT, B. C. , 2001. ‘You're never too old’: beliefs about physical activity and playing sport in later life. Ageing and Society, 21 (6), 777-798. International Olympic Committee consensus statement on the health and fitness of young people through physical activity and sport. 2011. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 45 (11), 839-848. KOLB, D. A. , and KOLB, D. A. 1984. Experiential learning : experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, N. J. ; London: Englewood Cliffs, N. J. ; London : Prentice-Hall. L'AOUSTET, O. , and GRIFFET, J. , 2001. The Experience of Teenagers at Marseilles' Skate Park: Emergence and Evaluation of an Urban Sports Site. Cities, 18 (6), 413-418. MOON, J. A. , and MOON, J. A. , 1999. Reflection in learning and professional development : theory and practice. London: London : Kogan Page. RENFROW, M. S. , CAPUTO, J. L. , OTTO, S. M. , FARLEY, R. R. and EVELAND-SAYERS, B. , 2011.The Relationship between Sports Participation and Health-Related Physical Fitness in Middle School and High School Students. Physical Educator, 68 (3), 118-123. VAN TUYCKOM, ,CHARLOTTE, SCHEERDER, J. and BRACKE, P. , 2010. Gender and age inequalities in regular sports participation: A cross-national study of 25 European countries. Journal of Sports Sciences, 28 (10), 1077-1084. WHEELER, S. , 2012. The significance of family culture for sports participation. International Review for the Sociology of Sport , 47 (2), 235-252. Appendices Appendix A: The questionnaire utilised to collect dataSTUDENT SPORTS AND FITNESS This questionnaire is designed as part of our research project which relating to Sport and Fitness among NTU Master Students. Please note that your participation is voluntary and that your data are anonymous and confidential. 1)Age: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 2)Gender: ? Male ? Female 3)Please rate the following options based on the activities you carry out in your daily routine: (Rank on the scale of 1-6, 1 being more time allocated and 6 being least time allocated). ? Sport or exercise ? University work ? Home ? Job (Part-time/full-time) ? Social life Others If you rank out sports/exercise between 1 to 3 than answer 4th question 4)Which of the followings do you spend more on (in term of sport): ? Fees (club/gym membership) ? Equipment ? Other 5)In what ways and for what reasons you choose to do sport/exercise (Se lect with v) EnjoyWant Benefits Casual PlaySport Formal Play Casual PlayGym Formal Play 6)How often do you play? ? Everyday ? 2-3 days per week ? Weekly ? Monthly ? Occasionally 7) Does sports/exercise take the priority position in your daily routine? ? Yes? No 8) Where do you usually play sport? ? Sport clubs Parks ? University grounds ? Street ? Gymnastic ? Other options 9)Are you aware of the different sports clubs available in the university? ? Yes? No 10)Have you join a sport club? ? Yes (go to Q11)? No (go to Q12) 11)Why did you join? (Give 1 or 2 reasons) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 12)Why do other students join sport clubs? (Give 1 or 2 reasons) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 13)Think of your friends who do not â€Å"do† sport.Why? ? Laziness ? Workload ? Time constraint ? Other reasons 14)Do you think sports are helpful in maintaining physical health? ? Yes? No Thank you for your precious time. We would be glad to have your name and email address if you wish to be interviewed about this phenomenon. Name: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Email address: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Appendix B: Completed questionnaire Appendix C: The interview questions utilised to collect data Question 1: What hobbies/activities you like doing in your spare time?Question 2: How people perceive about sports in their daily routine? Question 3: Do you think there is a relationship between sport and fitness? Question 4: What difference do you feel before and after doing sports? Question 5: Why people engage themselves in sports? Question 6: Do people recognise opportunities to exercise? (Did you take that? Or what reason for not taking that? ) Appendix D: Observation sheet that other group member has performed on my interview Appendix E: Observation sheet that I have performed on my group member’s interview