Impact of Internet Usage on Academic Performance of the Student Essay

Correlation and regression techniques were used to find out the strength and direction of the relationship. Findings – Internet is one of the beneficial tools in this era of IT world not only for business but for academic point of view and enhances the skills and capabilities of students which assist them in studies and in professional life. Student with high CGPA use more internet for their studies and gain more knowledge and information across the world. Research limitations/implications – The self-report criteria are a limitation. Future research should employ more objective measures of internet use. Also, antecedents of internet use might be explored in other developing economies. I have chosen limited universities and disciplines from a single city Lahore. Practical implications – To encourage internet usage intentions, it appears worthwhile to create in potential users a sense that the technology is useful, easy to use, and that others have expectations regarding its usage. Keywords: Information Technology (IT), Internet, Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) Introduction Throughout the world, information and communications technologies (ICTs) are changing the face of education. It has been argued that the transformation of education may be the most important of the many practical revolutions sparked by computer technology. Just as computers are about to replace books (some would argue this has already happened) as our main source of information globally, computers will come to occupy the central position in education once occupied by books. The Internet was initially developed by the US Defense Department and was at one time only popular within the research community. Its ability to share information across organizations and to interact with people at low cost has gradually enticed other sectors to explore its use. Today, the Internet has an impact on every facet of our life including business operation, education, communication, entertainment, social activity, shopping, and so on. Many universities around the world are expanding their investment in information technology (IT), and specifically the Internet, and are actively promoting Internet use. From a student’s perspective, learning using online tools is multidimensional. It may entail a multitude of variables such as prior student knowledge of IT, experience in its usage, perceptions of IT usage, computer competencies, and background demographics. The Internet is one of the greatest recent advancement in the world of information technology and has become a useful instrument that has fostered the process of making the world a global village. The Internet provides several opportunities for the academia. It is a mechanism for information dissemination and a medium for collaborative interaction between individuals and their computers without regard for geographic limitation of space. The word Internet is derived from two words: â€Å"international† and â€Å"network†. The Internet therefore can be defined as an international computer network of information available to the public through modem links so internet is a worldwide system of linked computers networks. The Internet is the world’s largest and most widely used network. It is an international network of networks that is a collection of hundreds of thousands of private and public networks all over the world. There are rich and varied learning experiences available on the Internet that would have been inconceivable just a short while ago. The Internet has a range of capabilities that organizations are using to exchange information internally or to communicate externally with other organizations. The primary infrastructure for e-commerce, e-banking, e-business, e-learning and virtual library is provided by the Internet technology. The Internet provides several opportunities for all academia, business organizations, the employed and the unemployed, the young and the old. The Internet is a ‘live’ constantly ‘moving’, theoretically borderless, potentially infinite space for the production and circulation of information. The Internet might thus be described as a ‘sea of information’, containing texts which are not housed between library and bookshop walls and subject areas span across all fields of knowledge. The Internet can be used for other things besides email. One can listen to international radio station on research and education on the Internet, read national dailies of other countries, speaks to friends around the global, read books and other materials on the Internet. The list of things that can be done on the Internet is a very long one. The Internet contains more information than the world’s largest libraries with access to the Internet one can retrieve information from the world’s largest information database. Objectives of study A study of different disciplines was conducted to identify the intensity of internet usage by student who belongs to different disciples. The purpose of my studies is to evaluate weather is their any relationship between the usage of internet and students academics performance. To better understand the relationship how the Internet affects university students learning, the following questions should be answered. What are the benefits of using the Internet as part of a university education? What are the main factors affecting such use? What is the impact of such use on student learning? What does it take to encourage positive attitudes in students toward Internet use? This study tries to answer these questions by exploring the antecedents to, and the impacts of, Internet use in university education. The specific objectives were to: †¢Identify attitude of students toward IT. †¢ Determine the purpose of internet usage for students. †¢Find out the intensity of internet usage by students. Evaluate that whether the use of internet improve the academic performance of students or not. Significance of study This study could be beneficial for student as well as for institutions. The valuable feedback from 500 students should help student to realize the benefits of internet in their education. Institutes can invest more in internet facilities to enhance the performance of their students and produce better results. Based on Pakistan’s experience, international readers may take advantage from this study work. Literature review Advancement in technology brings major impacts on education.

Homosexuality in football Essay

Chapter One: Introduction: Addressing Homophobia in Football   Introduction should just give a brief idea of what work is going to be about so not much detail   Outline your argument – footballers affect society so a lack of homosexual players is also bound to affect the way it is portrayed   Talk about the problems surrounding football – i. e. racism, sexism. What is different about homophobia?   Why is homophobia a problem in football? Why is it taboo? Talk about programmes enforced to help combat it; i. e.just mention Stonewall, different programmes etc   Outline the different chapters you will be writing in the diss: i. e. I will be looking at (describe chapter 2) Only needs to be a page long, maybe a little longer. Basically outline your argument and refer back to your question, mention problems in football – why homophobia is taboo / big problem, talk about programmes (briefly) and then outline what you’ll be talking about in each chapter. FINALLY say at the end what you hope to conclude – i. e. homophobia is a big problem, it does affect society, what can be done? I intend to explore homosexuality within the footballing world, and how, if at all, its representative’s views on it affect those of societies. Football is Britain’s national sport, engrained into every aspect of our culture, and as such players are role models that transcend all classes, colours and creeds; so why do such a minute percentage feel it is a safe environment in which to be openly homosexual? Are the individuals involved simply inherently homophobic, or are there more deep-rooted explanations? I will be looking in chapter two at masculinity and where homosexuality lies within it, focusing particularly on the theories surrounding footballs role in reproducing a hegemonic masculine environment. Over the last 20-30 years it has become more fashionable to explore the varying moulds of masculinity, and I will observe footballs relationship with these developments. The differences on and off the pitch are also of relevance, and can be scrutinised easily due to the massive interest in, and thus coverage of, footballing culture. Chapter three explores possible reasons behind the lack of openly homosexual professional footballers today and throughout history, primarily using player interviews and concentrating on the case of Justin Fashanu, the first professional British player to reveal their homosexuality to the public. I will also discuss the issue as an international problem, which is not isolated to Britain and the Premier League. Finally, an evaluation of footballers as role models in our culture at present forms the basis of chapter four – how exactly do their views affect society’s’? ADD IN WHEN WRITTEN CHAPTER The industry has managed to overcome various other serious issues, such as racism and sexism, so what is it doing to combat homophobia? Since many efforts by the F. A. to address homophobia have been deemed superficial, does the F. A. even consider it as serious a problem as the aforementioned problems? The Stonewall organisation in particular has completed extensive research into the issues surrounding homophobia in football, interviewing players and fans alike, and even setting up the first gay football club. How successful has this been in drawing attention to the problem so clearly rife in the modern game, and what else can be done to encourage the changes so desperately required to come into fruition? I hope to discover through my research the extent to which homophobia runs in football, and by whom it is considered a problem. I am also intrigued to see how the public perceive the current situation, and how it alongside general footballing culture has influenced them, if at all.

Microsoft Network Operating System Essay

Windows server 2008 comes in different versions for the different users, not all users need all the same features. The versions are web edition, standard edition, enterprise edition, and datacenter edition. The significance of them are WE 1 OS Is permitted, 32-bit 4GB 64-bit 32GB, maximum number of CPUs 4. SE hyper-V included, plus 1 virtual instance, terminal server ,network access protection, and CALs. EE plus 4 virtual instance, 32-bit 32GB 64-bit 2TB, CPUs 8, cluster service yes 16 nodes per cluster. DE unlimited number of OS, CPUs 64, hot swap ram and cpus yes. Some of the new features or enhancements are the server manager, installation options, active directory, dns server role. Windows server 2008 differs from server 2003 with its new features like RODC, WDS,32and 64bit,and group policy editor. Some of the advantages of 64-bit architecture is more process address space, easily memory-mapped files over 4GB, and programs such as encoders, decoders, and encryption software benefit from 64-bit. Some of the new features of server 2008 are server core, PowerShell, and virtualization. Server core is a minimal installation option provides an environment for running the server roles. Some of the roles are DHCP server, DNS server, file services, and print server. The three ways you can benefit from the installation are by reducing the software maintenance required, reducing the management required, and reducing the attack surface. Virtualization provides software infrastructure and basic management tools that you can use to create and manage a virtualized server computing environment. This can help by Reduce the costs of operating and maintaining physical servers by increasing your hardware utilization, and Improve server availability without using as many physical computers. And PowerShell is Microsoft’s task automation framework, consists of command-line, and scripting language. It provides access to COM and WMI. Read-only domain controller is a new type of that organization can easily deploy a domain in locations where physical security cannot be guaranteed. RODC will improve security, faster logon time, and a more efficient access to resources on the network.

Autism 1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Autism 1 - Assignment Example Mostly, there are very many grey areas when it comes to applying ethics in corrective therapy for autistic students. The following discourse discusses the unethical nature of some of the techniques applied in schools to restrain autistic students. References are made to the video by Ross which was showcased on ABC News. The significant historical autism observation is that the disorder was unknown in ancient cultures. History has it that it impartially â€Å"appeared† approximately 65 years ago. It was observed that people with autism had difficulties in learning. In fact, such predicaments led to the establishment of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which was in 1975. The act was intended to foster equal educational opportunities for persons with disabilities. States within the nation have varying regulations on the techniques used to manage autistic learners. School administrators, for instance, occasionally go overboard in restraining autistic students. In the videos by ABC news titled Deadly Discipline, an insightful look at the fate of autistic students and Death at School: Parents Protest Dangerous Discipline for Autistic, Disabled Kids the fate of the students at the learning institutions is revealed (Ross). An example is Andre, a student, who is subjected to an unethical therapy because of his condition. The therapy is for his alleged misbehaviours. In brief, certain schools apply unethical means of controlling their students. For instance, they use seclusion rooms for autistic students and at times they even employ aggressive physical therapy. This is wrong and should be discouraged. Autistic learners need a conducive environment since they are normal human beings. The extreme methods currently used in schools are unethical. Skin shock therapy as seen in the case of Andre in the ABC video is unethical. It is not right to subject one to 60 volts as a therapy procedure. The video even reveals a student stuffed in a duffle

Canadas investment in the BRIC nations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Canadas investment in the BRIC nations - Essay Example The global competitive advantage is likely to shift from the west to east (Mpoyi 1-12), that is from Canada and other European countries to Latin America and Eastern Europe. This is due to the projections in Sach’s reports that the BRICs real exchange rate could appreciate annually by an average of 2.5%.For Canada to be on a safer economic side, it needs to consider expanding her investment and increasing its business operations in the BRIC nations. Additionally, if Canada doesn’t act on time it might be swept by the shift of global competitiveness from the west to the east, which is fast approaching.However, before Canada considers expanding its business and increasing her investment in any of the Golden BRICs nations, both the strengths and weaknesses of each of these countries need to be considered and evaluated as below.BrazilThere have been a lot of controversy whether Brazil deserves to be seen as an economic powerhouse as portrayed in the BRIC with its weak econo mic growth in question. According to Pereira (1), it is evident that Brazil’s weaknesses surpass its strengths by far. However, it would be premature to disqualify it from the BRICs nations due to her potential in growth in the near future.  WeaknessesPereira(1) notes that the rate of growth in Brazil was only 3% in 2013, which is quite low, compared to that of China and India which was approximately 8% and 6% respectively. Additionally, in the year 2011 and 2012, Brazil grew by 2.7% and less than 1% respectively (Pereira 1).

Taxes and Policies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Taxes and Policies - Essay Example The PTC has provided a big impetus to the industry. Unfortunately, the PTC is going to expire at the end of 2013 and that is causing the ripples among developers. Hydropower industry has come a long way providing 8% of all power generation and remains the dominant industry among all renewable power generation facilities of the country. The US government did a stupendous job by formulating the PTC in their 2005 Energy Policy Act and since then the industry is on resurge. It is not out of place to mention here that 84,000 families have now access to the cleaner source of energy (Snyder 2012). It is strongly required that the PTC is provided a long-term extension to continue with the high growth that has been witnessed in these years. There is no doubt that our country has absolute advantage in harnessing hydropower and that is evident from the fact that taking advantage of the PTC, 23 states have increased their hydropower output by around 11% and more can be done in the years to come provided the government continues to grant their support as done in the past (Church

Strategic Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 3

Strategic Human Resource Management - Essay Example The discussion provides recommendations on how organizations should align their strategies to achieve excellence. Competitive advantage and Life cycle models explore the link between the set business strategy and the policies and practices within the human resource department. Comparing and contrasting lifecycle model and competitive advantage is essential in terms of their similarities and differences with respect to HRM. Competitive advantage model includes differentiation as a way of achieve unique feature that can be of valued to the buyers. The resources that give a firm a competitive advantage should have value. Life cycle model encompasses all the relevant stages demonstrate the growth or maturity stage of a firm. For the HRM to have a gain competitive advantage, the policies and practices must be in keeping with the development stage in the life cycle model (Rees and Smith, 2014). The viability of human resource depends on how well the differentiated products are in tandem with the industry demands (Johnson, Scholes, and Whittington, 2002). Therefore, competitive advantage and life-cycle models help to shape the HRM policies and practices in response to industry demands in different life cycle stages. Competitive advantage and life cycle models cannot be applied in isolation. A mature organization requires cost leadership and differentiation to survive in the industry. The viability of a firm to sustain competitive advantage stems from attaining maturity. Boxall and Purcell (2011) argue that a firm may set out to be the best in the industry by focusing on cost and product differentiation but it must have reached the maturity stage to position itself well in the market. The organization must be mindful of the lifecycle stages to initiate a change in the tactics used to approach the market. The HRM practices are geared towards reducing competition and offering products that are cost effective for all customers (Marchington and Wilkinson,

Ethical dilemma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Ethical dilemma - Essay Example The International labor Organization (ILO) 2007 statistics â€Å"there are about 218 million working children globally and accounting for about 20% of India’s GDP† (Gupta et.al 291). The annual cost of ending child labor includes the cost for providing income lost by the children and providing education. On the other hand, the benefit of eliminating child labor is more than seven times of that cost due to gains from increased human capital, fewer deaths from accidents and improved health (Gupta et.al 300). Therefore, child labor is a huge loss to the economy at large. The Kantianism principle would suggest all MNCs to apply strict child labor standards in all nations across the globe in order to eliminate overexploitation of children (Gupta et.al 301). The method used for acquiring the child labor such as kidnapping and buying children are harmful to the children. It results to health issues, compromising working and living conditions, underpayment, denies adults an opportunity for employment (Gupta et.al 291). The businesses with higher ethical standards have chance for long-term operations even though their income may not be very high. The consumers in host overseas countries expect MNCs to apply higher ethical standards than local companies (Gupta et.al 301) In conclusion, MNCs should set high child labor standards both in home country and overseas host countries to promote corporate social responsibility. The elimination of child labor will increase the productivity of the economy and eliminate exploitation of children. Gupta, Shruti; Pirsch, Julie & Girard, Tulay. An Empirical Examination of Multinational Ethical Dilemma: The Issue of Child Labor. â€Å"A Journal of Global Marketing, 23.† Taylor & Francis Group, LLC, (2010):

Organisational Behaviour AEGON Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Organisational Behaviour AEGON - Assignment Example This was carried out through a launch of new products in the UK that were innovative and they captured the different financial status of the customers. Every customer, therefore, had a product they could associate with and which they could afford. The brand promotion was also carried out through changing the name of their other companies to include the name AEGON in them such as was the case for AEGON Scottish Equitable. The brand promotion also involved endorsing a British female athlete as a way to create a closer association with the same people it was trying to promote their products to. Internal forces for change The most important internal forces of change that AEGON undertook were to develop its workforce. They developed the skills of its workers to match the needs of the customers. This way, the employees were well equipped to handle the customers’ needs as well as the new products that were developed. The organization in the other successful nations such as in the US is renowned for its employees that are experts, innovative and have good communication skills. This was what the organization wanted its UK-based employees to be renowned for as another way to attract more customers hence increasing their skills. AEGON could not expect to make any changes externally without having to change their culture which was making them fail to get established in the UK in the first place. Culture change involved the employees and managers changing their attitude, behavior, values as well as belief.

African Americans jazz Essay Example for Free

African Americans jazz Essay Many believe that jazz is a music that African Americans played together with the Creole musicians during the 19th century in New Orleans, Louisiana in United States that bind the race together, black and white Americans. This is also considered as the ancient and most distinguished musical genres in North America and known as â€Å"America’s classical music. † Based from the quote of Gerald Early, a lecturer and a writer of African – American studies, he emphasizes that America will be known from three things: in the Constitution, sports (baseball), and in jazz music, since these are the most captivating things that they developed. Jazz is a type of lyricism that reflects on the Great American promise and expresses hope for freedom in slavery. It is also illustrated by the exceptional attribute of collective improvisation and should be performed with the right feelings about it. According to Louis Armstrong if you will ask, you’ll never know. He discovers the secret behind the jazz music, that’s why he became known as one of the successful musicians and leading stars in the whole world. The early jazz musicians create a great impact to the life of many as they change their point of view towards music. Although, jazz music is originated from the black, who are considered outsider but living in America, wherein they use this as a passage to be accepted in the society, still America truly owns this music. I prove it accurate because the New Orleans jazz musicians improve, develop, and patronize this music until the whole world has known it. One more thing, jazz has a big role to the history of America. This music becomes the expression of freedom because way back in 1970, it played a major role in the life of African American culture. Their longing for freedom is emphasized as they sing. I also believe that jazz eliminates the discrimination between the white and black people, that’s why I strongly agree that jazz belongs to America because the whole history of this country is the song itself. The history of jazz is deeply rooted in America and until now the musical tradition lives here. Works Cited The Importance of Jazz in American Culture | Jazz More http://jazz. learnhub. com/lesson/6809-the-importance-of-jazz-in-american-culture#ixzz0ESyZePQVA The Importance of Jazz in American Culture http://jazz. learnhub. com/lesson/6809-the-importance-of-jazz-in-american- culture#ixzz0ET3vi6UcA A History of Jazz http://www. historyjazz. com/ The History of Jazz Music http://meltingpot. fortunecity. com/zaire/721/introframe. htm Jazz Music http://www. smallsjazz. com/

The Relationship Between Philosophy And Education Religion Essay

The Relationship Between Philosophy And Education Religion Essay Children are born illiterate; the Empiricists would even go to the extreme of saying that we are born in a state of tabula rasa. Jean Jacques Rousseau in this regard says, We are born weak, we need strength; we are born totally unprovided, we need aid; we are born stupid, we need judgment.  [1]  Rousseau would argue that this ignorance can be overcome by teaching  [2]  ; the second oldest profession  [3]  . The domain of education, a fragment of the larger field of philosophy, incorporates the study of the purpose, process, nature and ideals of education. It comes without a surprise that it has attracted the attention of philosophers and thinkers from every generation. Plato, a leading giant in the field, who set the discussion in motion, through his works especially the Republic, together with Meno and the Laws, summed up the history of educational thought and of philosophy of education.  [4]  Together with Plato, one has to mention in the same respect other figures such as Aristotle, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Dewey and Immanuel Kant among others. In this assignment I aim to highlight the mutual relationship between Philosophy and Education. Moreover, I shall show how the two can only be separated merely for convenience sake and my ideas will be supported by the words of leading figures in the field. Something that is very particular to the study of philosophy is the study of what philosophers from different times thought. This methodology cannot be applied to other disciplines such as chemistry or maths. If a particular hypothesis is disproved, it is immediately discarded from its teaching and it only survives, as a historical curiosity. Philosophy is different and particularly unique since its study is, not in the ordinary sense of the phrase a body of knowledge but rather an activity of criticism or clarification.  [5]   Philosophy, again compared to science, does not give us as such new knowledge. Rather it gives a new view point, a different perspective of what we already know. Philosophy provides a comprehensive understanding of reality, and it can be helpful and I would say vital in making the best choices among goals, values and priorities. Sometimes philosophy is classified as being the critical eye. This should not be understood as a sort of intellective demolition; rather its role is more as, a sort of inspector or assayer who rejects those theories and arguments which can be shown to be faulty by the logical touchstone or gauges which are his stock in trade.  [6]  Philosophy can give more positive guidance to educational theorists and can therefore be more than placed in a very restricted scenario of being like a censorship. There are ways in which philosophy as a specialized discipline is predominantly relevant to education. Philosophical methods and findings can be of a particular service to educational theorists, just as for arguments sake being of the same service to other sciences. It can be of major help in sorting and analyzing concepts like cause, self, being; that play a major part in our scientific, moral and political thinking. Edward Alsworth Ross would continue to argue that, Philosophy and educatio n are like the sides of the same coin, present different views of the same thing and that one is implied by the other.  [7]   So what is exactly education, or Education theory? What is implied in the word education? Education theory according to D J OConnor is, an established hypothesis, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ a logically connected set of such hypotheses whose main function is to explain the subject matter.  [8]  A theory that, does not grow like Topsy, but rather comes from an attempt to understand various practices.  [9]  Education is more than just directing the students to draw on subjects such as reading, writing, mathematics, science or history. The word education, derived from the Latin word educare means, bring out, bring forth what is within the individual, and ducere, to lead  [10]  . Education refers to a set of skills and attitudes that impart knowledge. These techniques are provided with the backing of various theories which purport to explain or justify their use. After all, the whole system is derived from a set of values or ideas embodied and expressed in the purpose for which this knowledge, attitudes and modus operandi is imparted and should direct the training that is given. Education aspires to pave the way for living life; and life with a purpose. It must help the students (in organized education) to live not only by being placed in society and earn a living but live with a wider sense of life. Although the main age group, that are primarily concerned with education are children and young adults, education is a preparation; the foundation of a lifetime. It also concerns adults that wish to orient the directions of their lives. The basic intent of education nowadays, more than ever before, requires an educational method that shall be efficient as possible. It must help the individuals to accomplish the day-to-day working, which are compulsory skills and attitudes, which unfortunately for various reasons today children more than before, are no longer successfully achieving from their family. Education should also provide the learner with a vocational training that will enable them to live as useful members of their thrust society, to be more capable as much as possible to support oneself. Education involves the acquisition of a body of knowledge and understanding which surpasses mere skills, know-how or the collection of information. Such knowledge and understanding must involve the principles which underlie skills, procedural knowledge and information, and must transform the life of the person being educated both in terms of his general outlook and in terms of his becoming committed to the standards inherent in the areas of his education.  [11]   Education, just sharing the obvious, must awaken interest in knowledge; intelligence that can be achieved by various studies especially in involving oneself in the study of philosophy. Together with this, man as an individual should be aware and appreciate the cultural and moral achievements of mankind. The main characteristic of Homo-sapiens is the relay of their knowledge from one generation to another that kept not only the wheel turning but changed the spin in energy. It speaks of the facts that man managed to evolve in creating havens for himself to live life easier, more comfortable and nevertheless more meaningful. Bear in mind that the wonderful things that you learn in your schools are the work of many generations, produced by enthusiastic effort and infinite labour in every country of the world. All this is put into your hands as your inheritance in order that you may receive it, honour it, and add to it, and one day faithfully hand it on to your children. Thus do we mortals achieve immortality in the permanent things which we create in common. If you always keep that in mind you will find meaning in life and work and acquire the right attitude towards other nations and ages.  [12]   Albert Einstein talking to a group of school children, 1934 Non scholae, sed vitae discimus  [13]  (We do not learn for the school, but for life), is a particular catchphrase used remarkably in school learning environments that abridge the following point in my next discussion  [14]  . This ethos responds, more than ever, to the needs of the universal education in the industrial democracy we are living in this day and age. Todays children are being faced with the unknown, with situations that challenge all of our understanding, that make it particularly impossible for schooling to prepare adeptly for these influxes. The theory stems largely from arguably the most influential figure in educational Progressivism, John Dewey and continued by other Progressive educational thinkers that developed effectively the educational consequences of Deweys thought. Life adjustment education is basically, opening the doors of knowledge to help children organize and select facts and develop skills in ways in which these can be useful for life. Therefore it means that Educational theories must look at the constants -persistent situations of life, and our education leads to actions based on understanding and uses programs that minimize the artificial barriers between schooling and living. It must help in achieving the interests of individuals when confronted with problems arising from time to time in their communities. Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself  [15]  , would argue Dewey and therefore education for him, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living.  [16]   One of the wrong judgements with regards to this theory is that life adjustment education teaches children to adjust to the particular society without the stipulation of educating a change in society. However, the teaching that Life adjustment education tries to implement is not conformity or mediocrity but rather aims clearly to a forward movement towards a more complete realization of the goals of each society. The development of Education is determined by the social conditions of nations and epochs in history. Although there is a sense that educations telos can be summed up by all societies and ages, this is not completely accurate since the sum total of human skills and knowledge will certainly be greater with every generation. Further more in a brief overview of history one can realize this, and at the same time does not suppose that the teaching given in ancient times was much less than that of our present-day-schooling, different for sure but not necessarily todays education proves to be superior. Educations aims progress with the necessities of the particular culture. In societies distressed by constant attacks of enemies, the highlighted aims of education were to inculcate virtues, strict discipline, fearlessness, bodily powers, courage, patriotism, and a spirit of self sacrifice at the call of the state. Athenians society focus was a sense of appreciation for the objects of beauty especially the beauty of physique and of character. The Medieval times were characterized with the development of morality and building ones character. In the Modern period, emphasis is more on the development of the inherent qualities, aptitude and capacities of the children; influenced predominantly by the awakening studies in Psychology. The aim continues to develop particular focus on the development of the childs personality to the fullest extent. Hence the aims of education are in continuous change and the living of these aims change the outlook of life. Thus the shift in the philosophy of life changes like a spiral transformation the aims of education. This makes Education and Philosophy a dynamic sphere, changing continuously onto each other through diverse generations. Sir John Adams was particularly right when he supposed that, Education is the dynamic side of philosophy. It is the active aspect of philosophical belief.  [17]   Plato once said that Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous.  [18]  A good educational value should maintain moral concepts that can be explicit in terms of character traits. These desirable traits such as kindness, courage, friendship or fairness are known as virtues and should be cultivated through moral learning. The virtue theory is inspired mainly from Aristotle, especially in his best known work on ethics, Nicomachean Ethics. He argues that, Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.  [19]  Values achieved in doing the right habits are an essential part of what people think makes their lives worthwhile. The Virtue Theory was followed latterly by Alasdair MacIntyre, and maintains that children need to be educated on ethics initially through a process of training and subsequently through the increase of reflective practice. Freedom is one of the perennial goals of human civilization and one of the primary measures gauging cultural progress. Modern history emphasized this characteristic of mankind, by the growing recognition that liberty belongs not only to a small privileged class but to all men. Man is condemned to be free  [20]  . Freedom in a special relation to education is focused mainly on personal freedom that is the development of ones own peculiar talents. The real goal of achieving self-fulfilment, is not just through happiness in any small sense, but with a sense of social responsibility to arrive to the point of citizenship. Jean Paul Sartre would continue to state, To be free does not mean to obtain what one has wished but rather by oneself to determine oneself to wish  [21]  . The objective of my train of thought in this assignment was to give a snapshot of the interlock association of philosophy and education; the two sides of a priceless coin. Philosophy, is not so much a discrete discipline occupying a small niche of the intellectual life. It is rather a, terrain on which all forms of thought encounter their most profoundly formative and their most profoundly disruptive ideas.  [22]  An indication of the richness and complexity of the philosophical studies surrounding Education is the critical examination of our more deeply embedded assumptions of the big ideas which run across the wider intellectual culture. This is very briefly the base line of the relationship between Education and Philosophy.

First-principles Calculations of Rare Earth Diffusivities

First-principles Calculations of Rare Earth Diffusivities First-principles calculations of rare earth (Y, La and Ce) diffusivities in bcc Fe ABSTRACT: The impurity diffusivities of rare earth elements, Y, La and Ce, in bcc Fe have been investigated by the first-principles calculations within nine-frequency model and semi-empirical corrections for magnetization. The microscopic parameters in the pre-factor and activation energy have been calculated. For the three elements, the solute-vacancy interactions are all attractive, and Y and La solute atoms more favorably bond to the vacancy. The solute-vacancy binding energy can be explained in terms of the combination of the distortion binding energy and the electronic binding energy, and the strain-relief effects accounts for larger portion of the binding energy for Y and La than that for Ce. The diffusion coefficients for Y and La are comparable, and predicted to be larger than that for Fe self-diffusion. Compared with Y and La, Ce shows large migration energy and weak solute-vacancy attractive interaction, which accounts for the lowest diffusivity of this element. Keywords: Diffusion; Rare earth; Bcc Fe; First-principles calculations 1. Introduction In the past years, the addition of rare earth (RE) elements has been regarded promising in steels [1-3]. A series of beneficial research for the development of Rare earth Addition have been focused on the purification and modification of inclusion, since RE elements are characterized by significant negative free energy changes for compound formations. RE doping also improve the high-temperature oxidation resistance of steels due to the reactive-element effect (REE) [4,5].In addition, the phase transformations, recrystallization behavior, and the corrosion resistance of steel can be improved by adding RE [6, 7]. Knowledge of all of these is essential to understand the influence of RE additions on the physical, chemical and various properties of steels. In spite of the progress so far in RE application, it is apparent that many questions still remain rather controversial. Data for the effects of rare earths on the surface and interfacial properties, surface tension, contact angle, etc., of steels, are unanswered, for the sake of precise solubilities of rare earths in iron and steels are still not available. Furthermore, accurate thermodynamic data are still unsatisfactory, to accurately predict these characteristics. Kinetic properties, in particular diffusion coefficients for RE, are necessary in understanding the underlying mechanism of RE’s above effects [8]. Therefore, the investigation of the diffusivity for these RE elements is expected to be useful in the context of developing RE steels. Although for diffusion in bcc Fe many data are available, nevertheless there is little experimental or calculated data for RE. For the three commonly used RE elements, Y, La and Ce, only the diffusion coefficient of Y has been reported [9].The purpose of the present work is to investigate the impurity diffusivities of rare earth elements, Y, La and Ce, in bcc Fe by the first-principles calculations within nine-frequency model and semi-empirical corrections for magnetization[10,11], calculate the associated solute-vacancy binding energies, migration energies, pre-factors and activation energies for these impurity diffusivities, as well as the self-diffusion coefficient of Fe, thus discuss the related factors of the diffusion coefficients. 2. Methodology The temperature dependence of diffusion coefficient D is expressed in the Arrhenius form D=D0exp(-Q/kBT). For bcc Fe, the Arrhenius plot of self-diffusion and solute diffusion in iron of the ferromagnetic state deviates downwards from the Arrhenius relationship extrapolated from the paramagnetic state [12]. This effect is attributed to the change of magnetization which affects the diffusion activation energy. The temperature dependent magnetization on the diffusion activation energy is well described by the following form [13]: QF(T)=QP[1+ÃŽ ±s(T)2] (1) where QF(T) and QP are the activation energies in the ferromagnetic and paramagnetic state, respectively; s(T) is the ratio of the magnetization of pure iron at a given temperature T to that at 0K, and has been experimentally measured [14,15]; the constant ÃŽ ± quantifies the extent of the influence of magnetic on activation energy. The measured value of ÃŽ ± for Fe self-diffusion is 0.074, in the case of the solute species investigated in this context that have no measured ÃŽ ± values available, the values can be estimated from a semi-empirical linear relationship with the induced change in local magnetization on Fe atoms in the first and second neighbor shells of a solute atom [16]. The first-principles calculations give direct access to the magnitude of the activation energy in the fully ordered ferromagnetic state (T=0K). Given the values of ÃŽ ± and s(T), we can compute QP through the relation , and QF(T) from Eq. (1). We based the diffusion calculations on the assumption that the mechanism of diffusion is primarily monovacancy mediated. For self-diffusion and solute diffusion on a bcc lattice, the diffusion coefficient can be expressed as following [10,17]: Dself=a2f0Cvw0 (2) Dsolute=a2f2Cvw2(-ΔGb/kBT) (3) where a is the bcc lattice constant, f0=0.727 is the self-diffusion correlation factor, f2 is the correlation factor for solute diffusion which depends on the relative jump rates for a vacancy to different sites neighboring the solute atom. Cv denotes the equilibrium vacancy concentration, can be written as Cv=exp(ΔSf /kB)exp(-ΔHf /kBT), where ΔSf and ΔHf are the vacancy formation enthalpy and entropy, respectively, the harmonic approximation makes these two become temperature-independent constants. and kB is Boltzmann’s constant. w0 and w2 are the vacancy hopping frequencies for Fe and solute atoms to exchange with a nearest-neighbor vacancy, respectively. Based on transition state theory (TST), the vacancy hopping frequency w is written as , where and are the phonon frequencies in the initial state and transition state, and the product in the denominator ignores the unstable mode; ΔHmig is the migration energy, gives the energy difference for the diffus ing atom located at its initial equilibrium lattice position and the saddle-point position. The solute-vacancy binding free energy ΔGb can be expressed as ΔGb =ΔHbTΔSb, where ΔHb and ΔSb are the binding enthalpy and entropy, respectively. The correlation factor f2 can be calculated using the nine-frequency model developed by Le Claire [11] which involves different jump frequencies of vacancies to their first neighbor position in the presence of the solute atoms, as illustrated in Fig. 1. In this model, the interaction of solute-vacancy is assumed up to second neighbor distance. The nine frequencies shown in Fig. 1 correspond to all of the distinct vacancy jumps, including the host Fe atom jump w0 without impurity. The detailed calculation procedures could be found in Ref. [10]. Fig. 1. Schematic illustration of the nine-frequency model for the bcc Fe crystalline with a solute atom. The arrows indicate the direction of the vacancy jumps. The numbers in the circle represent the neighboring site of the solute atom. For convenience, we can represent the self- and solute diffusion equations (Eqs.(2) and (3)) in Arrhenius form to obtain the pre-factor and activation energy of diffusion. By combining the above Eqs., the diffusion coefficient for Fe self-diffusion and solute diffusion can be expressed as: (4) For self-diffusion, the pre-factor is, and the activation energy in the fully ordered ferromagnetic state given as . Also, the solute diffusion coefficient can be expressed in an Arrhenius form with the pre-factor is, and. The first-principles calculations presented here are carried out using the Vienna Ab Initio Simulation Package(VASP) with the projector augmented wave(PAW) method and the generalized gradient approximation of Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof functional(GGA-PBE) [18]. The computations performed within a 4à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ´4à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ´4 supercell including 128 atoms. The binding, vacancy formation and migration energies were calculated with 300eV plane-wave cutoff and 12à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ´12à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ´12 k-point meshes. All calculations were performed spin polarized, with a ferromagnetic ordering of the Fe moments. The residual atomic forces in the relaxed configurations were lower than 0.01eV/Ã…. The transition states with the saddle point along the minimum energy diffusion path for vacancy migration were determined using nudged elastic band (NEB) method [19] as implemented in VASP. We adopt the harmonic approximation (HA) to consider the contribution of normal phonon frequencies to free en ergy. The normal phonon frequencies were calculated using the direct force-constant approach as implemented in the Alloy Theoretic Automated Toolkit (ATAT) [20] package. Similar cutoff energy, k-point mesh size and supercell size used for the total energies were used for the vibrational calculations. 3. Result and discussion Table 1 illustrates our calculated vacancy formation, migration and binding energies, as well as the constant ÃŽ ± for solute species, the associated activation energies for self- and solute-diffusion in the paramagnetic and fully ordered ferromagnetic state. For pure bcc Fe, the vacancy formation energy and migration energy obtained here are consistent with the reported range of values, ΔHf=2.16-2.23 eV and ΔHmig=0.55-0.64 eV [10,21,22]. For Y impurity in bcc Fe, the calculated vacancy binding energy and activation energy in full ordered ferromagnetic state also compare well with the previous first principles work [9,23], in which ΔHb=-0.73 eV and =2.26 eV. It can be seen that Y and La have smaller activation energy than that for Fe self-diffusion, while Ce is predicted to have a lager value of activation energy than that for Fe self-diffusion, in both the ordered ferromagnetic and paramagnetic state. Table 1 Vacancy formation energy ΔHf , solute-vacancy binding energy ΔHb, migration energy ΔHmig, the ferromagnetic activation energy and the paramagnetic activation energy QP; the variable dependence parameter of activation energy on magnetization ÃŽ ± (the value for Fe is taken from experimental measurements, while the values for Y, La and Ce have been estimated from first-principles calculations). Solute-vacancy binding energy plays a crucial role in understanding solute diffusion kinetics. From Table 1 it can be seen that referring to the nearest-neighbor solute-vacancy pairs, the binding energies are all negative, which implies the solute-vacancy pairs are favorable. Specifically, Y and La impurities are computed to have higher values of solute-vacancy binding energies -0.69 eV and -0.66 eV, respectively, while that for Ce is -0.43 eV. To obtain information on the origin of these attractive behaviors, we decompose the total binding energy into the distortion binding energyand the electronic binding energy as [24] . The distortion binding energy is the energy that can be gained by reducing the distortion in the bcc Fe matrix when a solute atom and a vacancy combine to form a solute-vacancy pair, and can be expressed as: (5) where and can be calculated as follows: after the supercell containing a solute-vacancy pair (or a substitutional atom) has been fully relaxed, the solute-vacancy pair (or the substitutional atom) is removed from the system, then the total energy can be calculated. denotes the total energy of pure bcc Fe supercell, and is the total energy of the supercell containing a vacancy. Then can be calculated from . The calculated energy decomposition for solute-vacancy binding is shown in Table 2. The distortion energies (-0.31 to -0.65 eV) for all solute elements(Y, La and Ce) are negative, and much bigger than their corresponding electronic binding energies (-0.04 to -0.12 eV). This implies that the distortion energy is the major part of the total binding energy, i.e. the strain relief effect contribute significantly to the interaction between the impurity atom and the vacancy, especially for the solute Y and La, which accounted for 94.2% and 97.0% of the total binding energy, respecti vely. Table 2 Decomposition of the total solute-vacancy binding energy into distortion binding energy and electronic binding energy. The correlation factor f2 is related to the probability of the reverse jump of a solute atom to its previous position [25]. Table 3 lists the calculated values of correlation factors for Y, La and Ce at representative temperatures of 850, 1000 and 1150K. The correlation factors for Ce is nearly a constant close to 1, while the Y and La diffusion correlation factors decrease with increasing temperature, corresponding to the weak solute-vacancy binding for Ce and the strong solute-vacancy binding for Y and La. Therefore, the Ce atom is the most difficult to return back to its original position in the temperature range of our investigation. Including the smallest binding energy, highest migration energy and correlation factor, provides an explanation for the low diffusivity of Ce atom. Table 3 Correlation factors (f2) for Y, La and Ce solute-diffusion at representative temperatures of 850, 1000 and 1150K. Table 4 lists the calculated diffusion activation energies and pre-factors for Fe self-diffusion and Y, La and Ce impurity diffusion. For pure bcc Fe, we find our calculated results are in good agreement with the published values. For Y impurity in bcc Fe, the calculated activation energy in full ordered ferromagnetic state also compare well with the previous first principles work, while the pre-factor is as much as two orders of magnitude lager than the reported value. The experimental or calculated diffusion coefficients of La and Ce are not available to the best of our knowledge. Fig. 2 presents a direct comparison between the calculated and published temperature dependent diffusion coefficients for Fe self-diffusion and Y solute diffusion. For Fe self-diffusion, the calculated values are in good agreement with Huang et al. [10] and Nitta et al.[24], but smaller than the measured data of Seeger [25], this discrepancy may be due to the impurity, defects and grain sizes of the testing materials, and instrumental accuracy. For Y solute diffusion, the diffusion coefficient values are higher by a factor of 4-5 than those due to Murali et al. [9], this discrepancy can be attributed to the harmonic vibration and the influence of the bulk magnetization on the activation energy. The temperature dependence of the solute diffusion coefficients for Y, La and Ce in bcc Fe matrix are plotted in Fig. 3, where the Fe self-diffusion coefficient is also included. It can be clearly seen that the diffusion coefficients for Y and La are higher than the self-diffusion in pure bcc Fe, while the diffusion coefficients for Ce are lower than that of Fe self-diffusion, over the entire temperature range below the ÃŽ ±-ÃŽ ³ phase transition. For the case of Ce solute diffusivity, the lowest value of diffusion coefficient originates from the largest migration energy and the smallest solute-vacancy binding energy. For the two faster diffusers, Y and Ce, which have the comparable diffusion coefficients, we can observe that the diffusion rate of La is higher than that of Y at temperatures below 930 K, but this relation reverses with temperature rising above 930 K. This is attributed to the effects of the diffusion pre-factors of these two elements. Therefore, the investigation for diffusion should also be based on detailed considerations of the diffusion pre-factor, including the contribution of the correlation factor, rather than the vacancy formation energy and migration energy. The diffusion properties of solute elements (Y, La and Ce) in bcc Fe matrix have been studied using DFT calculations in conjunction with the Le Claire nine-frequency model. Of the three impurities that we investigated, the diffusion coefficients for Y and La are comparable, and predicted to be larger than the Fe self-diffusion. In contrast, the calculated results indicate that Ce diffuse slower than Fe self-diffusion. The slowest diffusion rate of Ce originates from that the solute-vacancy binding energy for this element is lower than that of Y and La, and the former has higher migration energy as well. In the case of Y and La, the small direction deviation between the trends of the diffusion coefficients of these two impurities, mainly comes from the contribution of the diffusion correlation factor. The authors are grateful for the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51101083) and the Natural Science Foundation of Inner Mongolia (No.2013MS0813). References [1] M.F. Yan, C.S. Zhang, Z. Sun, Appl. Surf. Sci. 289 (2014) 370. [2] W. Hao, W.T. Geng, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. Phys. Res. B 280 (2012) 22. [3] Y.H. Yoo, Y.S. Choi, J.G Kim, Y.S. Park, Corros. Sci. 52 (2010) 1123. [4] S.K. Samanta, S.K. Mitra, T.K. Pal, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 430 (2006) 242. [5] R. Thanneeru,S. Patil,S. Deshpande,S. Seal, Acta Mater. 55 (2007) 3457. [6] S.T. Kim, S.H. Jeon, I.S. Lee, Y.S. Park, Corros. Sci. 52(2010) 1897. [7] H.Z. Li, H.T. Liu, Z.Y. Liu, G.D.Wang, Mater. Charact. 103 (2015) 101. [8] D. Simonovic, M.H.F. Sluiter, Phys. Rev. B 79 (2009) 054304. [9] D. Murali, B.K. Panigrahi , M.C. Valsakumar, C.S. Sundar, J. Nucl. Mater. 419 (2011) 208. [10] S.Y. Huang, D.L. Worthington, M. Asta, V. Ozolins, G. Ghosh, P. K. Liaw, Acta Mater. 58 (2010) 1982. [11] A.D. Le Claire, Philos. Mag. 21 (1970) 819. [12] S.Takemoto, H. Nitta, Y. ijima, Y.Yamazaki, Philos. Mag. 87 (2007) 1619. [13] L. Ruch, D.R. Sain, H.L. Yeh, L.A. Girifalco, J. Phys. Chem. Solids 37 (1976) 649. [14] H.H. Potter, Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 146 (1934) 362. [15] J. Crangle, G.M. Goodman, Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 321 (1971) 477. [16] S. Takemoto, H. Nitta, Y. Iijima, Y. Yamazaki, Philos. Mag. 87 (2007) 1619. [17] M. Mantina, Y. Wang, R. Arroyave, L.Q. Chen, Z.K. Liu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100 (2008) 215901. [18] G. Kresse, J. Hafner, Phys. Rev. B 47 (1993) 558. [19] G. Henkelman, H. Jonsson, J.Chem. Phys. 113 (2000)9978. [20] A. van de Walle,M. Asta,G. Ceder, Calphad 26 (2002) 539. [21] C. Zhang, J. Fu, R.H. Li, P.B. Zhang, J.J. Zhao, C. Dong, J. Nucl. Mater. 455 (2014) 354. [22] H. Ullmaier, Atomic Defects in Metals, Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, 1991. [23] O.I. Gorbatov, P.A. Korzhavyi, A.V. Ruban, B. Johansson, Yu.N. Gornostyrev, J. Nucl. Mater. 419 (2011) 248. [24] X.S. Kong, X.B. Wu, Y.W. You, C.S. Liu, Q.F. Fang, J.L. Chen, G.N. Luo, Z.G. Wang, Acta Mater. 66 (2014) 172. [25] M. Mantina, Y. Wang, L.Q. Chen, Z.K. Liu, C. Wolverton, Acta Mater. 57 (2009) 4102. [26] H. Nitta, T. Yamamoto, R. Kanno, K. Takasawa, T. Iida, Y. Yamazaki, S. Ogu, Y. Iijima, Acta Mater. 50 (2002) 4117. [27] A. Seeger, Phys. Status Solidi A 167 (1998) 289.

The Struggle for Self-Definition in Boys and Girls by Alice Munro Essay

The Struggle for Self-Definition in Boys and Girls  Ã‚   When we are adolescents we see the world through our parents' eyes.   We struggle to define ourselves within their world, or to even break away from their world.   Often, the birth of our "self" is defined in a moment of truth or a moment of heightened self-awareness that is the culmination of a group of events or the result of a life crisis or struggle.   In literature we refer to this birth of "self" as an epiphany.   Alice Munro writes in "Boys and Girls" about her own battle to define herself.   She is torn between the "inside" world of her mother and the "outside" world of her father.   In the beginning her father's world prevails, but by the finale, her mother's world invades her heart. Although the transformation is not complete, she begins to understand and define her "self-hood." Alice Munro's "Boys and Girls" immerses us into the rural country-side of Jubilee, Ontario, Canada, and into the life of an eleven year-old tom-boy.   The story unfolds how she struggles to become herself while growing up on her parents' farm.   Her father raises silver foxes for the family's meager source of income as her mother cares for their home.   Let us first look at the world she is enthralled with at the start of her narrative. Initially, Father is her world.   As she helps him care for the foxes, she does not call him Daddy; she calls him Father.   The name Father commands respect and formality.   Munro writes, ". . . I was shy of him and would never ask him questions.   Nevertheless I worked willing under his eyes, and with a feeling of pride" (112).   Although eager and happy to spend time with her father, Munro reveals here that she does not have a close relationship with her fath... ...earning from her mother, she will define herself as well.   Indeed, it is not easy growing up.   It is painfully hard to defy the person that you most admire, in this case her father.   But at some point in our young lives we must break free from the conformity of our parents' world in order to give birth to our "self."   This is what Alice Munro shows us through "Boys and Girls." Works Cited and Consulted Carscallen, James. The Other Country: Patterns in the Writing of Alice Munro. Toronto: ecw 1993 Heble, Ajay. The Tumble of Reason: Alice Munro's Discourse of Absence. Toronto: University of Toronto Press 1994 Munro, Alice. "Boys and Girls." The Norton Introduction to Literature. Eds. Carl E. Bain, Jerome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter. 6th ed. New York: Norton, 1995. Martin, W.R. Alice Munro: Paradox and Parallel. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press 1987

Sunset Blvd. Essay -- essays research papers

The Thematic Intentions of Sunset Boulevard   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The film Sunset Boulevard directed by Billy Wilder and staring the main characters of Norma Desmond, Joe Gillis, and Max Von Mayerling is ideal example of how important film making techniques help depict a movie’s core theme intentions with vivid clarity. Classic Hollywood is the first thing that comes to mind when one speaks about this film’s style. This signature category combined with the visual style of realism and it’s continuity editing; detailed mise-en-scene and all of its characteristics; and lastly the use of reoccurring motifs with formalistic qualities make the audience grasp the central theme of just how vicious the actual motion industry can be to the individuals that keep its alive. I hope to convey all of this through a detailed explanation involving and about specific scenes included in the film and a direct tie-in of how the precise attributes above play such an important role in expressing that theme. The first scene that will be analyzed is that of opening credits and just how exactly this begins to set the stage for the main theme. In the very first frame, which also becomes the establishing shot, we come to a high angle shot that is zoomed in close on the words â€Å"Sunset Blvd† painted on a street curb as the image is also flooded with dramatic nondiegetic music. This becomes very important because the curb is also the gutter. Here, not even ten seconds into the movie, do we get our first glimpse of what the film is about; the mise-en-scene here involving a symbolic visual correlation to the central theme an this gutter frame is depicted through this entire establishing shot. Along with this we get more connection through the voice over actually describing, in an almost a sarcastic manner which should not be the case at all, about a murder on this high class, high status block. It’s almost as if this is a clear depiction of the true chaos tied in with how this H ollywood life can and will be to the people involved with it. As the film zooms out to a long shot of Sunset, we see the police brigade come and wiz by through a very quick pan shot. The next thing is a cross cut to the actual mansion where more commotion is viewed at an obvious murder scene. Bottom line is that the mise-en-scene involved here does an excellent job setting up the movie’s thematic intentions.... ... truly thinks is going to be another film. The whole scene in its’ entirety depicts that once again the â€Å"dream† can be destroyed just as her life has done the same. The final integration of this motif comes in the very last frame as the movie fades out; only this is not a normal fade out. Instead Wilder chooses to blur the fade into an eerie white, which gives us a sense that the dream is now finally over. In conclusion I hoped to have demonstrated just how the all the specific film making techniques used throughout the film help to define the central theme as it is intertwined with the action. As I have conveyed, realism is just one of the very important aspects that help the production of this film come to the close of its’ solid final cut. I think that this being the ultimate visual style of the picture it is what made this movie so great. It got the point across and it definitely had an influence on the way films were shot after it. In a way, it becomes sort of ironic. A film created in Hollywood that molds a horrid model of how messed up its own surroundings can be, actually end up shaping the industry it finds itself in. That in my opinion is, in itself, supreme filmmaking.

Chapter 8 Flight of the Fat Lady

In no time at all, Defense Against the Dark Arts had become most people's favorite class. Only Draco Malfoy and his gang of Slytherins had anything bad to say about Professor Lupin. â€Å"Look at the state of his robes,† Malfoy would say in a loud whisper as Professor Lupin passed. â€Å"He dresses like our old house elf.† But no one else cared that Professor Lupin's robes were patched and frayed. His next few lessons were just as interesting as the first. After Boggarts, they studied Red Caps, nasty little goblin-like creatures that lurked wherever there had been bloodshed: in the dungeons of castles and the potholes of deserted battlefields, waiting to bludgeon those who had gotten lost. From Red Caps they moved on to Kappas, creepy. water-dwellers that looked like scaly monkeys, with webbed hands itching to strangle unwitting waders in their ponds. Harry only wished he was as happy with some of his other classes. Worst of all was Potions. Snape was in a particularly vindictive mood these days, and no one was in any doubt why. The story of the Boggart assuming Snape's shape, and the way that Neville had dressed it in his grandmother's clothes, had traveled through the school like wildfire. Snape didn't seem to find it funny. His eyes flashed menacingly at the very mention of Professor Lupin's name, and he was bullying Neville worse than ever. Harry was also growing to dread the hours he spent in Professor Trelawney's stifling tower room, deciphering lopsided shapes and symbols, trying to ignore the way Professor Trelawney's enormous eyes filled with tears every time she looked at him. He couldn't like Professor Trelawney, even though she was treated with respect bordering on reverence by many of the class. Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown had taken to haunting Professor Trelawney's tower room at lunch times, and always returned with annoyingly superior looks on their faces, as though they knew things the others didn't. They had also started using hushed voices whenever they spoke to Harry, as though he were on his deathbed. Nobody really liked Care of Magical Creatures, which, after the action-packed first class, had become extremely dull. Hagrid seemed to have lost his confidence. They were now spending lesson after lesson learning how to look after flobberworms, which had to be some of the most boring creatures in existence. â€Å"Why would anyone bother looking after them?† said Ron, after yet another hour of poking shredded lettuce down the flobberworms' throats. At the start of October, however, Harry had something else to occupy him, something so enjoyable it more than made up for his unsatisfactory classes. The Quidditch season was approaching, and O1iver Wood, Captain of the Gryffindor team, called a meeting on Thursday evening to discuss tactics for the new season. There were seven people on a Quidditch team: three Chasers, whose job it was to score goals by putting the Quaffle (a red, soccer-sized ball) through one of the fifty-foot-high hoops at each end of the field; two Beaters, who were equipped with heavy bats to repel the Bludgers (two heavy black balls that zoomed around trying to attack the players); a Keeper, who defended the goal posts, and the Seeker, who had the hardest job of all, that of catching the Golden Snitch, a tiny, winged, walnut-sized ball, whose capture ended the game and earned the Seeker's team an extra one hundred and fifty points. Oliver Wood was a burly seventeen-year-old, now in his seventh and final year at Hogwarts. There was a quiet sort of desperation in his voice as he addressed his six fellow team members in the chilly locker rooms on the edge of the darkening Quidditch field. â€Å"This is our last chance — my last chance — to win the Quidditch Cup,† he told them, striding up and down in front of them. â€Å"I'll be leaving at the end of this year. I'll never get another shot at it.† â€Å"Gryffindor hasn't won for seven years now. Okay, so we've had the worst luck in the world — injuries — then the tournament getting called off last year.† Wood swallowed, as though the memory still brought a lump to his throat. â€Å"But we also know we've got the best — ruddy — team — in — the — school,† he said, punching a fist into his other hand, the old manic glint back in his eye. â€Å"We've got three superb Chasers.† Wood pointed at Alicia Spinner, Angelina Johnson, and Katie Bell. â€Å"We've got two unbeatable Beaters.† â€Å"Stop it, Oliver, you're embarrassing us,† said Fred and George Weasley together, pretending to blush. â€Å"And we've got a Seeker who has never failed to win us a match!† Wood rumbled, glaring at Harry with a kind of furious pride. â€Å"And me,† he added as an afterthought. â€Å"We think you're very good too, Oliver,† said George. â€Å"Spanking good Keeper,† said Fred. â€Å"The point is,† Wood went on, resuming his pacing, â€Å"the Quidditch Cup should have had our name on it these last two years. Ever since Harry joined the team, I've thought the thing was in the bag. But we haven't got it, and this year's the last chance we'll get to finally see our name on the thing†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Wood spoke so dejectedly that even Fred and George looked sympathetic. â€Å"Oliver, this year's our year,† said Fred. â€Å"We'll do it, Oliver!† said Angelina. â€Å"Definitely,† said Harry. Full of determination, the team started training sessions, three evenings a week. The weather was getting colder and wetter, the nights darker, but no amount of mud, wind, or rain could tarnish Harry's wonderful vision of finally winning the huge, silver Quidditch Cup. Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room one evening after training, cold and stiff but pleased with the way practice had gone, to find the room buzzing excitedly. â€Å"What's happened?†, he asked Ron and Hermione, who were sitting in two of the best chairs by the fireside and completing some star charts for Astronomy. â€Å"First Hogsmeade weekend,† said Ron, pointing at a notice that had appeared on the battered old bulletin board. â€Å"End of October. Halloween.† â€Å"Excellent,† said Fred, who had followed Harry through the portrait hole. â€Å"I need to visit Zonko's. I'm nearly out of Stink Pellets.† Harry threw himself into a chair beside Ron, his high spirits ebbing away. Hermione seemed to read his mind. â€Å"Harry, I'm sure you'll be able to go next time,† she said. â€Å"They're bound to catch Black soon. He's been sighted once already.† â€Å"Black's not fool enough to try anything in Hogsmeade,† said Ron. â€Å"Ask McGonagall if you can go this time, Harry. The next one might not be for ages –â€Å" â€Å"Ron!† said Hermione. â€Å"Harry's supposed to stay in school –â€Å" â€Å"He can't be the only third year left behind,† said Ron. â€Å"Ask McGonagall, go on, Harry –â€Å" â€Å"Yeah, I think I will,† said Harry, making up his mind. Hermione opened her mouth to argue, but at that moment Crookshanks leapt lightly onto her lap. A large, dead spider was dangling from his mouth. â€Å"Does he have to eat that in front of us?† said Ron, scowling. â€Å"Clever Crookshanks, did you catch that all by yourself?† said Hermione. Crookshanks; slowly chewed up the spider, his yellow eyes fixed insolently on Ron. â€Å"Just keep him over there, that's all,† said Ron irritably, turning back to his star chart. â€Å"I've got Scabbers asleep in my bag.† Harry yawned. He really wanted to go to bed, but he still had his own star chart to complete. He pulled his bag toward him, took out parchment, ink, and quill, and started work. â€Å"You can copy mine, if you like,† said Ron, labeling his last star with a flourish and shoving the chart toward Harry. Hermione, who disapproved of copying, pursed her lips but didn't say anything. Crookshanks was still staring unblinkingly at Ron, flicking the end of his bushy tail. Then, without warning, he pounced. â€Å"OY!† Ron roared, seizing his bag as Crookshanks sank four sets of claws deep inside it and began tearing ferociously. â€Å"GET OFF, YOU STUPID ANIMAL!† Ron tried to pull the bag away from Crookshanks, but Crookshanks clung on, spitting and slashing. â€Å"Ron, don't hurt him!† squealed Hermione; the whole common room was watching; Ron whirled the bag around, Crookshanks still clinging to it, and Scabbers came flying out of the top — â€Å"CATCH THAT CAT!† Ron yelled as Crookshanks freed himself from the remnants of the bag, sprang over the table, and chased after the terrified Scabbers. George Weasley made a lunge for Crookshanks but missed; Scabbers streaked through twenty pairs of legs and shot beneath an old chest of drawers. Crookshanks skidded to a halt, crouched low on his bandy legs, and started making furious swipes beneath it with his front paw. Ron and Hermione hurried over; Hermione grabbed Crookshanks around the middle and heaved him away; Ron threw himself onto his stomach and, with great difficulty, pulled Scabbers out by the tail. â€Å"Look at him!† he said furiously to Hermione, dangling Scabbers in front of her. â€Å"He's skin and bone! You keep that cat away from him!† â€Å"Crookshanks doesn't understand it's wrong!† said Hermione, her voice shaking. â€Å"All cats chase rats, Ron!† â€Å"There's something funny about that animal!† said Ron, who was trying to persuade a frantically wiggling Scabbers back into his pocket. â€Å"It heard me say that Scabbers was in my bag!† â€Å"Oh, what rubbish,† said Hermione impatiently. â€Å"Crookshanks could smell him, Ron, how else d'you think –â€Å" â€Å"That cat's got it in for Scabbers!† said Ron, ignoring the people around him, who were starting to giggle. â€Å"And Scabbers was here first, and he's ill!† Ron marched through the common room and out of sight up the stairs to the boys' dormitories. * ****** Ron was still in a bad mood with Hermione next day. He barely talked to her all through Herbology, even though he, Harry, and Hermione were working together on the same Puffapod. â€Å"How's Scabbers?† Hermione asked timidly as they stripped fat pink pods from the plants and emptied the shining beans into a wooden pail. â€Å"He's hiding at the bottom of my bed, shaking,† said Ron angrily, missing the pail and scattering beans over the greenhouse floor. â€Å"Careful, Weasley, careful!† cried Professor Sprout as the beans burst into bloom before their very eyes. They had Transfiguration next. Harry, who had resolved to ask Professor McGonagall after the lesson whether he could go into Hogsmeade with the rest, joined the line outside the class trying to decide how he was going to argue his case. He was distracted, however, by a disturbance at the front of the line. Lavender Brown seemed to be crying. Parvati had her arm around her and was explaining something to Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, who were looking very serious. â€Å"What's the matter, Lavender?† said Hermione anxiously as she, Harry, and Ron went to join the group. â€Å"She got a letter from home this morning,† Parvati whispered. â€Å"It's her rabbit, Binky. He's been killed by a fox.† â€Å"Oh,† said Hermione, â€Å"I'm sorry, Lavender.† â€Å"I should have known!† said Lavender tragically. â€Å"You know what day it is?† â€Å"Er –â€Å" â€Å"The sixteenth of October! ‘That thing you're dreading, it will happen on the sixteenth of October!' Remember? She was right, she was right!† The whole class was gathered around Lavender now. Seamus shook his head seriously. Hermione hesitated; then she said, â€Å"You — you were dreading Binky being killed by a fox?† â€Å"Well, not necessarily by a fox,† said Lavender, looking up at Hermione with streaming eyes, â€Å"but I was obviously dreading him dying, wasn't I?† â€Å"Oh,† said Hermione. She paused again. Then — â€Å"Was Binky an old rabbit?† â€Å"N — no!† sobbed Lavender. â€Å"H — he was only a baby!† Parvati tightened her arm around Lavender's shoulders. â€Å"But then, why would you dread him dying?† said Hermione. Parvati glared at her. â€Å"Well, look at it logically,† said Hermione, turning to the rest of the group. â€Å"I mean, Binky didn't even die today, did he? Lavender just got the news today –† Lavender wailed loudly. â€Å"?C and she can't have been dreading it, because it's come as a real shock –â€Å" â€Å"Don't mind Hermione, Lavender,† said Ron loudly, â€Å"she doesn't think other people's pets matter very much.† Professor McGonagall opened the classroom door at that moment, which was perhaps lucky; Hermione and Ron were looking daggers at each other, and when they got into class, they seated themselves on either side of Harry and didn't talk to each other for the whole class. Harry still hadn't decided what he was going to say to Professor McGonagall when the bell rang at the end of the lesson, but it was she who brought up the subject of Hogsmeade first. â€Å"One moment, please!† she called as the class made to leave. â€Å"As you're all in my House, you should hand Hogsmeade permission forms to me before Halloween. No form, no visiting the village, so don't forget!† Neville put up his hand. â€Å"Please, Professor, I — I think I've lost –â€Å" â€Å"Your grandmother sent yours to me directly, Longbottom,† said Professor McGonagall. â€Å"She seemed to think it was safer. Well, that's all, you may leave.† â€Å"Ask her now,† Ron hissed at Harry. â€Å"Oh. but –† Hermione began. â€Å"Go for it, Harry,† said Ron stubbornly. Harry waited for the rest of the class to disappear, then headed nervously for Professor McGonagall's desk. â€Å"Yes, Potter?† Harry took a deep breath. â€Å"Professor, my aunt and uncle — er — forgot to sign my form,† he said. Professor McGonagall looked over her square spectacles at him but didn't say anything. â€Å"So — er — d'you think it would be all right mean, will It be okay if I — if I go to Hogsmeade?† Professor McGonagall looked down and began shuffling papers on her desk. â€Å"I'm afraid not, Potter,† she said. â€Å"You heard what I said. No form, no visiting the village. That's the rule.† â€Å"But — Professor, my aunt and uncle — you know, they're Muggles, they don't really understand about — about Hogwarts forms and stuff,† Harry said, while Ron egged him on with vigorous nods. â€Å"If you said I could go –â€Å" â€Å"But I don't say so,† said Professor McGonagall, standing up and piling her papers neatly into a drawer. â€Å"The form clearly states that the parent or guardian must give permission.† She turned to look at him, with an odd expression on her face. Was it pity? â€Å"I'm sorry, Potter, but that's my final word. You had better hurry, or you'll be late for your next lesson.† ****** There was nothing to be done. Ron called Professor McGonagall a lot of names that greatly annoyed Hermione; Hermione assumed an ‘all-for-the-best' expression that made Ron even angrier, and Harry had to endure everyone in the class talking loudly and happily about what they were going to do first, once they got into Hogsmeade. â€Å"There's always the feast,† said Ron, in an effort to cheer Harry up. â€Å"You know, the Halloween feast, in the evening.† â€Å"Yeah,† said Harry gloomily, â€Å"great.† The Halloween feast was always good, but it would taste a lot better if he was coming to it after a day in Hogsmeade with everyone else. Nothing anyone said made him feel any better about being left behind. Dean Thomas, who was good with a quill, had offered to forge Uncle Vernon's signature on the form, but as Harry had already told Professor McGonagall he hadn't had it signed, that was no good. Ron halfheartedly suggested the Invisibility Cloak, but Hermione stamped on that one, reminding Ron what Dumbledore had told them about the Dementors being able to see through them. Percy had what were possibly the least helpful words of comfort. â€Å"They make a fuss about Hogsmeade, but I assure you, Harry, it's not all it's cracked up to be,† he said seriously. â€Å"All right, the sweetshop's rather good, and Zonko's Joke Shop's frankly dangerous, and yes, the Shrieking Shack's always worth a visit, but really, Harry, apart from that, you're not missing anything.† ****** On Halloween morning, Harry awoke with the rest and went down to breakfast, feeling thoroughly depressed, though doing his best to act normally. â€Å"We'll bring you lots of sweets back from Honeydukes,† said Hermione, looking desperately sorry for him. â€Å"Yeah, loads,† said Ron. He and Hermione had finally forgotten their squabble about Crookshanks in the face of Harry's difficulties. â€Å"Don't worry about me,† said Harry, in what he hoped was at, offhand voice, â€Å"I'll see you at the feast. Have a good time.† He accompanied them to the entrance hall, where Filch, the caretaker, was standing inside the front doors, checking off names against a long list, peering suspiciously into every face, and making sure that no one was sneaking out who shouldn't be going. â€Å"Staying here, Potter?† shouted Malfoy, who was standing in line with Crabbe and Goyle. â€Å"Scared of passing the Dementors?† Harry ignored him and made his solitary way up the marble staircase, through the deserted corridors, and back to Gryffindor Tower. â€Å"Password?† said the Fat Lady, jerking out of a doze. â€Å"Fortuna Major,† said Harry listlessly. The portrait swung open and he climbed through the hole into the common room. It was full of chattering first-and second-years, and a few older students, who had obviously visited Hogsmeade so often the novelty had worn off. â€Å"Harry! Harry! Hi, Harry!† It was Colin Creevey, a second year who was deeply in awe of Harry and never missed an opportunity to speak to him. â€Å"Aren't you going to Hogsmeade, Harry? Why not? Hey –† Colin looked eagerly around at his friends — â€Å"you can come and sit with us, if you like, Harry!† â€Å"Er — no, thanks, Colin,† said Harry, who wasn't in the mood to have a lot of people staring avidly at the scar on his forehead. â€Å"I — I've got to go to the library, got to get some work done.† After that, he had no choice but to turn right around and head back out of the portrait hole again. â€Å"What was the point of waking me up?† the Fat Lady called grumpily after him as he walked away. Harry wandered dispiritedly toward the library, but halfway there he changed his mind; he didn't feel like working. He turned around and came face-to-face with Filch, who had obviously just seen off the last of the Hogsmeade visitors. â€Å"What are you doing?† Filch snarled suspiciously. â€Å"Nothing,† said Harry truthfully. â€Å"Nothing!† spat Filch, his jowls quivering unpleasantly. â€Å"A likely story! Sneaking around on your own — why aren't you in Hogsmeade buying Stink Pellets and Belch Powder and Whizzing Worms like the rest of your nasty little friends?† Harry shrugged. â€Å"Well, get back to your common room where you belong!† snapped Filch, and he stood glaring until Harry had passed out of sight. But Harry didn't go back to the common room; he climbed a staircase, thinking vaguely of visiting the Owlery to see Hedwig, and was walking along another corridor when a voice from inside one of the rooms said, â€Å"Harry?† Harry doubled back to see who had spoken and met Professor Lupin, looking around his office door. â€Å"What are you doing?† said Lupin, though in a very different voice from Filch. â€Å"Where are Ron and Hermione?† â€Å"Hogsmeade,† said Harry, in a would-be casual voice. â€Å"Ah,† said Lupin. He considered Harry for a moment. â€Å"Why don't you come in? I've just taken delivery of a Grindylow for our next lesson.† â€Å"A what?† said Harry. He followed Lupin into his office. In the corner stood a very large tank of water. A sickly green creature with sharp little horns had its face pressed against the glass, pulling faces and flexing its long, spindly fingers. â€Å"Water demon,† said Lupin, surveying the Grindylow thoughtfully. â€Å"We shouldn't have much difficulty with him, not after the Kappas. The trick is to break his grip. You notice the abnormally long fingers? Strong, but very brittle.† The Grindylow bared its green teeth and then buried itself in a tangle of weeds in a corner. â€Å"Cup of tea?† Lupin said, looking around for his kettle. â€Å"I was just thinking of making one.† â€Å"All right,† said Harry awkwardly. Lupin tapped the kettle with his wand and a blast of steam issued suddenly from the spout. â€Å"Sit down,† said Lupin, taking the lid off a dusty tin. â€Å"I've only got teabags, I'm afraid — but I daresay you've had enough of tea leaves?† Harry looked at him. Lupin's eyes were twinkling. â€Å"How did you know about that?† Harry asked. â€Å"Professor McGonagall told me,† said Lupin, passing Harry a chipped mug of tea. â€Å"You're not worried, are you?† â€Å"No,† said Harry. He thought for a moment of telling Lupin about the dog he'd seen in Magnolia Crescent but decided not to. He didn't want Lupin to think he was a coward, especially since Lupin already seemed to think he couldn't cope with a Boggart. Something of Harry's thoughts seemed to have shown on his face, because Lupin said, â€Å"Anything worrying you, Harry?† â€Å"No,† Harry lied. He drank a bit of tea and watched the Grindylow brandishing a fist at him. â€Å"Yes,† he said suddenly, putting his tea down on Lupin's desk. â€Å"You know that day we fought the Boggart?† â€Å"Yes,† said Lupin slowly. â€Å"Why didn't you let me fight it?† said Harry abruptly. Lupin raised his eyebrows. â€Å"I would have thought that was obvious, Harry,† he said, sounding surprised. Harry, who had expected Lupin to deny that he'd done any such thing, was taken aback. â€Å"Why?† he said again. â€Å"Well,† said Lupin, frowning slightly, â€Å"I assumed that if the Boggart faced you, it would assume the shape of Lord Voldemort.† Harry stared. Not only was this the last answer he'd expected, but Lupin had said Voldemort's name. The only person Harry had ever heard say the name aloud (apart from himself) was Professor Dumbledore. â€Å"Clearly, I was wrong,† said Lupin, still frowning at Harry. â€Å"But I didn't think it a good idea for Lord Voldemort to materialize in the staffroom. I imagined that people would panic.† â€Å"I didn't think of Voldemort,† said Harry honestly. â€Å"I — I remembered those Dementors.† â€Å"I see,† said Lupin thoughtfully. â€Å"Well, well†¦I'm impressed.† He smiled slightly at the look of surprise on Harry's face. â€Å"That suggests that what you fear most of all is — fear. Very wise, Harry.† Harry didn't know what to say to that, so he drank some more tea. â€Å"So you've been thinking that I didn't believe you capable of fighting the Boggart?† said Lupin shrewdly. â€Å"Well†¦yeah,† said Harry. He was suddenly feeling a lot happier. â€Å"Professor Lupin, you know the Dementors –â€Å" He was interrupted by a knock on the door. â€Å"Come in,† called Lupin. The door opened, and in came Snape. He was carrying a goblet, which was smoking faintly, and stopped at the sight of Harry, his black eyes narrowing. â€Å"Ah, Severus,† said Lupin, smiling. â€Å"Thanks very much. Could you leave it here on the desk for me?† Snape set down the smoking goblet, his eyes wandering between Harry and Lupin. â€Å"I was just showing Harry my Grindylow,† said Lupin pleasantly, pointing at the tank. â€Å"Fascinating,† said Snape, without looking at it. â€Å"You should drink that directly, Lupin.† â€Å"Yes, Yes, I will,† said Lupin. â€Å"I made an entire cauldronful,† Snape continued. â€Å"If you need more.† â€Å"I should probably have some again tomorrow. Thanks very much, Severus.† â€Å"Not at all,† said Snape, but there was a look in his eye Harry didn't like. He backed out of the room, unsmiling and watchful. Harry looked curiously at the goblet. Lupin smiled. â€Å"Professor Snape has very kindly concocted a potion for me,† he said. â€Å"I have never been much of a potion-brewer and this one is particularly complex.† He picked up the goblet and sniffed it. â€Å"Pity sugar makes it useless,† he added, taking a sip and shuddering. â€Å"Why –?† Harry began. Lupin looked at him and answered the unfinished question. â€Å"I've been feeling a bit off-color,† he said. â€Å"This potion is the only thing that helps. I am very lucky to be working alongside Professor Snape; there aren't many wizards who are up to making it.† Professor Lupin took another sip and Harry had a crazy urge to knock the goblet out of his hands. â€Å"Professor Snape's very interested in the Dark Arts,† he blurted out. â€Å"Really?† said Lupin, looking only mildly interested as he took another gulp of potion. â€Å"Some people reckon –† Harry hesitated, then plunged recklessly on, â€Å"some people reckon he'd do anything to get the Defense Against the Dark Arts job.† Lupin drained the goblet and pulled a face. â€Å"Disgusting,† he said. â€Å"Well, Harry, I'd better get back to work. See you at the feast later.† â€Å"Right,† said Harry, putting down his empty teacup. The empty goblet was still smoking. ******** â€Å"There you go,† said Ron. â€Å"We got as much as we could carry.† A shower of brilliantly colored sweets fell into Harry's lap. It was dusk, and Ron and Hermione had just turned up in the common room, pink-faced from the cold wind and looking as though they'd had the time of their lives. â€Å"Thanks,† said Harry, picking up a packet of tiny black Pepper Imps. â€Å"What's Hogsmeade like? Where did you go?† By the sound of it — everywhere. Dervish and Banges, the wizarding equipment shop, Zonko's Joke Shop, into the Three Broomsticks for foaming mugs of hot butterbeer, and many places besides. â€Å"The post office, Harry! About two hundred owls, all sitting on shelves, all color-coded depending on how fast you want your letter to get there!† â€Å"Honeydukes has got a new kind of fudge; they were giving out free samples, there's a bit, look –â€Å" â€Å"We think we saw an ogre, honestly, they get all sorts at the Three Broomsticks –â€Å" â€Å"Wish we could have brought you some butterbeer, really warms you up –â€Å" â€Å"What did you do?† said Hermione, looking anxious. â€Å"Did you get any work done?† â€Å"No,† said Harry. â€Å"Lupin made me a cup of tea in his office. And then Snape came in†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He told them all about the goblet. Ron's mouth fell open. â€Å"Lupin drank it?† he gasped. â€Å"Is he mad?† Hermione checked her watch. â€Å"We'd better go down, you know, the feast'll be starting in five minutes They hurried through the portrait hole and into the crowd, still discussing Snape. â€Å"But if he — you know –† Hermione dropped her voice, glancing nervously around, â€Å"if he was trying to — to poison Lupin — he wouldn't have done it in front of Harry.† â€Å"Yeah, maybe,† said Harry as they reached the entrance hall and crossed into the Great Hall. It had been decorated with hundreds and hundreds of candle-filled pumpkins, a cloud of fluttering live bats, and many flaming orange streamers, which were swimming lazily across the stormy ceiling like brilliant watersnakes. The food was delicious; even Hermione and Ron, who were full to bursting with Honeydukes sweets, managed second helpings of everything. Harry kept glancing at the staff table. Professor Lupin looked cheerful and as well as he ever did; he was talking animatedly to tiny little Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher. Harry moved his eyes along the table, to the place where Snape sat. Was he imagining it, or were Snape's eyes flickering toward Lupin more often than was natural? The feast finished with an entertainment provided by the Hogwarts ghosts. They popped out of the walls and tables to do a bit of formation gliding; Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, had a great success with a reenactment of his own botched beheading. It had been such a pleasant evening that Harry's good mood couldn't even be spoiled by Malfoy, who shouted through the crowd as they all left the hall, â€Å"The Dementors send their love, Potter!† Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed the rest of the Gryffindors along the usual path to Gryffindor Tower, but when they reached the corridor that ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady, they found it jammed with students. â€Å"Why isn't anyone going in?† said Ron curiously. Harry peered over the heads in front of him. The portrait seemed to be closed. â€Å"Let me through, please,† came Percy's voice, and he came bustling importantly through the crowd. â€Å"What's the holdup here? You can't all have forgotten the password — excuse me, I'm Head Boy –â€Å" And then a silence fell over the crowd, from the front first, so that a chill seemed to spread down the corridor. They heard Percy say, in a suddenly sharp voice, â€Å"Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick.† People's heads turned; those at the back were standing on tiptoe. â€Å"What's going on?† said Ginny, who had just arrived. A moment later, Professor Dumbledore was there, sweeping toward the portrait; the Gryffindors squeezed together to let him through, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione moved closer to see what the trouble was. â€Å"Oh, my –† Hermione grabbed Harry's arm. The Fat Lady had vanished from her portrait, which had been slashed so viciously that strips of canvas littered the floor; great chunks of it had been torn away completely. Dumbledore took one quick look at the ruined painting and turned, his eyes somber, to see Professors McGonagall, Lupin, and Snape hurrying toward him. â€Å"We need to find her,† said Dumbledore. â€Å"Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr. Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady.† â€Å"You'll be lucky!† said a cackling voice. It was Peeves the Poltergeist, bobbing over the crowd and looking delighted, as he always did, at the sight of wreckage or worry. â€Å"What do you mean, Peeves?† said Dumbledore calmly, and Peeves's grin faded a little. He didn't dare taunt Dumbledore. Instead he adopted an oily voice that was no better than his cackle. â€Å"Ashamed, Your Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape up on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful,† he said happily. â€Å"Poor thing.† he added unconvincingly. â€Å"Did she say who did it?† said Dumbledore quietly. â€Å"Oh yes, Professorhead,† said Peeves, with the air of one cradling a large bombshell in his arms. â€Å"He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see.† Peeves flipped over and grinned at Dumbledore from between his own legs. â€Å"Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black.†

Marketing strategies Essay

Types of strategies Marketing strategies may differ depending on the unique situation of the individual business. However there are a number of ways of categorizing some generic strategies. A brief description of the most common categorizing schemes is presented below: Strategies based on market dominance – In this scheme, firms are classified based on their market share or dominance of an industry. Typically there are four types of market dominance strategies: Leader Challenger Follower Nicher According to Shaw, Eric (2012). Marketing Strategy: From the Origin of the Concept to the Development of a Conceptual Framework. Journal of Historical Research in Marketing., there is a framework for marketing strategies. Market introduction strategies â€Å"At introduction, the marketing strategist has two principle strategies to choose from: penetration or niche† (47). Market growth strategies  Ã¢â‚¬Å"In the early growth stage, the marketing manager may choose from two additional strategic alternatives: segment expansion (Smith, Ansoff) or brand expansion (Borden, Ansoff, Kerin and Peterson, 1978)† (48). Market maturity strategies â€Å"In maturity, sales growth slows, stabilizes and starts to decline. In early  maturity, it is common to employ a maintenance strategy (BCG), where the firm maintains or holds a stable marketing mix† (48). Market decline strategies At some point the decline in sales approaches and then begins to exceed costs. And not just accounting costs, there are hidden costs as well; as Kotler (1965, p. 109) observed: ‘No financial accounting can adequately convey all the hidden costs.’ At some point, with declining sales and rising costs, a harvesting strategy becomes unprofitable and a divesting strategy necessary† (49). Early marketing strategy concepts were: Borden’s â€Å"marketing mix†Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"In his classic Harvard Business Review (HBR) article of the marketing mix, Borden (1964) credits James Culliton in 1948 with describing the marketing executive as a ‘decider’ and a ‘mixer of ingredients.’ This led Borden, in the early 1950s, to the insight that what this mixer of ingredients was deciding upon was a ‘marketing mix'† (34). Smith’s â€Å"differentiation and segmentation strategies† â€Å"In product differentiation, according to Smith (1956, p. 5), a firm tries ‘bending the will of demand to the will of supply.’ That is, distinguishing or differentiating some aspect(s) of its marketing mix from those of competitors, in a mass market or large segment, where customer preferences are relatively homogeneous (or heterogeneity is ignored, Hunt, 2011, p. 80), in an attempt to shift its aggregate demand curve to the left (greater quantity sold for a given price) and make it more inelastic (less amenable to substitutes). With segmentation, a firm recognizes that it faces multiple demand curves, because customer preferences are heterogeneous, and focuses on serving one or more specific target segments within the overall market† (35). Dean’s â€Å"skimming and penetration strategies† â€Å"With skimming, a firm introduces a product with a high price and after milking the least price sensitive segment, gradually reduces price, in a stepwise fashion, tapping effective demand at each price level. With penetration pricing a firm continues its initial low price from introduction  to rapidly capture sales and market share, but with lower profit margins than skimming† (37). Forrester’s â€Å"product life cycle (PLC)† â€Å"The PLC does not offer marketing strategies, per se; rather it provides an overarching framework from which to choose among various strategic alternatives† (38). There are also corporate strategy concepts like: Andrews’ â€Å"SWOT analysis† â€Å"Although widely used in marketing strategy, SWOT (also known as TOWS) Analysis originated in corporate strategy. The SWOT concept, if not the acronym, is the work of Kenneth R. Andrews who is credited with writing the text portion of the classic: Business Policy: Text and Cases (Learned et al., 1965)† (41). Ansoff’s â€Å"growth strategies† â€Å"The most well-known, and least often attributed, aspect of Igor Ansoff’s Growth Strategies in the marketing literature is the term ‘product-market.’ The product-market concept results from Ansoff juxtaposing new and existing products with new and existing markets in a two by two matrix† (41-42). Porter’s â€Å"generic strategies† Porter generic strategies – strategy on the dimensions of strategic scope and strategic strength. Strategic scope refers to the market penetration while strategic strength refers to the firm’s sustainable competitive advantage. The generic strategy framework (porter 1984) comprises two alternatives each with two alternative scopes. These are Differentiation and low-cost leadership each with a dimension of Focus-broad or narrow. ** Product differentiation ** Cost leadership ** Market segmentation * Innovation strategies — This deals with the firm’s rate of the new product development and business model innovation. It asks whether the company is on the cutting edge of technology and business innovation. There are three types: ** Pioneers ** Close followers ** Late followers * Growth strategies — In this scheme we ask the question, â€Å"How should the firm grow?†. There are a number of different ways of answering that question, but the most common gives four answers: Horizontal integration Vertical integration Diversification Intensification These ways of growth are termed as organic growth. Horizontal growth is whereby a firm grows towards acquiring other businesses that are in the same line of business for example a clothing retail outlet acquiring a food outlet. The two are in the retail establishments and their integration lead to expansion. Vertical integration can be forward or backward. Forward integration is whereby a firm grows towards its customers for example a food manufacturing firm acquiring a food outlet. Backward integration is whereby a firm grows towards its source of supply for example a food outlet acquiring a food manufacturing outlet. A more detailed scheme uses the categoriesMiles, Raymond (2003). Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4840-3.: Prospector Analyzer Defender Reactor Marketing warfare strategies – This scheme draws parallels between marketing strategies and military strategies. BCG’s â€Å"growth-share portfolio matrix† â€Å"Based on his work with experience curves (that also provides the rationale for Porter’s low cost leadership strategy), the growth-share matrix was originally created by Bruce D. Henderson, CEO of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in 1968 (according to BCG history). Throughout the 1970s, Henderson expanded upon the concept in a series of short (one to three page) articles in the BCG newsletter titled Perspectives (Henderson, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1976a, b). Tremendously popular among large multi-product firms, the BCG portfolio matrix was popularized in the marketing literature by Day (1977)† (45).