Issues in cloud computing

The purpose of assignments Is be able to understand the various advantages and Issues of cloud computing. Research and analyses whether or not cloud computing Is the way forward for the chosen organization. Company of choice The type of company selected here is Higher Educationalists. The Higher Educationlnstituteprovides its services in different location through its branches. It may have thousands of students and staff and has lot of sensitive data e. G. Student staffs information, lectures notes and books, student's private and personal details.Higher Education Institutions financial status, its own business Lana and strategy and so on. While moving to the cloud, Higher Education Institute may face lot of issues like legal issues, ethical issues environmental issues, security issues and so on. This assignment triesprovldingprofesslonal solution to address these mentioned Issues. Introduction Cloud computing Is a style of computing where scalable and elastic IT-enabled capableness are provided ‘ as a services' to multiple external customers using internet technologies[l].In simple terms , cloud computing enables business of all sizes to quickly procure and use a wide range of enterprise-class IT systems on a pay per-use basis from anywhere at any time. Cloud computing services are divided into three classes, according to the abstraction level of the capability provided and the service model of providers. Namely (1) infrastructure as a service, (2) platform as a service, (3) Software as a Service and there are different types of cloud depending upon the network it cover they are (1) Public clouds, (2) Private Clouds (3) community clouds and (4) hybrid cloud.Each types of cloud and services provision has own characteristics, benefits and challenges and suits deferent business models and purposes however, all have similar legal Issues to consider. L] Benefits If Higher Education Institutes anticipating a huge upswing in computing need (or evening Education Institute surprised bay sudden demand), cloud computing can help institute to manage. Rather than having to buy,install, and configure new equipment,eliminates can buy additional CPU cycles or storage from third party.Since Institutions are based on consumption. Indians does not have to deal with unneeded equipment. Institute simply add or subtract based on its need. [ 1] Again, not having to buy and configure new equipment allows Institute and IT staff to eyesight to business. The cloud solution makes it possible to get application stereotypically, and It costs a fraction of what It would cost to implement an on- site solution. [ 3] The managerial and strategic level employer no needs to physically attend the Institute's site to get information.They can get Information from anywhere, which help to Increase the productivity of Institute [ 2] Legal issues: As moving tighter Distastefulness's data to the cloud, Outshoot need to comply with Data Protection act 1988. The eight principl e of Data Protection act are (1) Data should be fearfully and carefully processed. 2) Data should be processed for the specified purpose(3) The data collected should be adequate, relevant and not excessive. (4)The data should be up to date. (5) The data cannot be kept no longer than necessary. (6)The data should be processed in accordance with the individual rights. (7)The data should be kept Securely. 8)The data cannot be transferred and stored outside the European Economic Area (EYE)without adequate protection. [6] The Higher Educationlnstituteshould ensure that Cloud Service Provider has kept the data securely in order to preventatives unlawful processing, stolen, against accidental cost and damage. So while choosing the overnighter Educationlnstituteshould know how the cloud companies handles the personal and sensitive data. Higher Educationalists should need to consider whether or not the level of security which would be provided by Cloud Company will meet the both requirement of Higher Declassification's Data Protection Act. 6] The Data Protection Act clearly mentioned that personality should not be moved or transferred outside the European Economic Area unless there is an adequate leveler protection. Cloud provider might not always store the data in European Economic Arabesques to establish and maintain the data centre outside the European Economic Area might be cheap. Storing data outside the European Economic Area breaches the Data Protection Act. Compliance may beached busing EX. approved contract terms with cloud provider. [3] All the public authorities in the I-J have legal responsibilities to comply with Freedom of Information Act 2000.If Higher Educationlnstituteholds the information and if any request is made to the Higher Educationalists fortification then,Higher Educationalists should provide thrusters information to the requester within the 20 days. If suppose, by some reasons cloud computing server is failed and Higher Educationlnstitutecann ot able to access its stored information from the cloud then Higher Educationlnstitutewill face the problem. So while choosing the cloud computing service provider, it is necessary to assess their failure history of server, reputation, backup strategy and so on. 2] Intellectual property right are the right which is granted to owners of that intellectual creativity. Copyright, Patents,Database and Trademark are considered as Intellectual property. Generally, copyright protects and prevents the owner's work from copying ND reproducing. Copyright can be obtained on for example computer software program, textbook, film,teaching and research material and so on. [6] Higher Education Institute has also lot of intellectual property which need to be protected.The Higher Education Institute has the right to control its intellectual properties copyright, design and patents act (1988) necessarily in migration to the cloud. [6] Similarly, database right is another right which falls under intelle ctual property. It prevents the database from extraction, reuse of all or substantial part of the database without impressionists. 6]Higher Education Institute should prevent its own database example pay roll database, steadfastness and the database which is created by teacher or students for the learning purpose.Patent is the right to the owner which prevents others from making, using, manufacturing and selling the invented products and process without owner permission. Patents are only effective in the country where the right is granted. If the patents have been registered in the European Patents Office then it is protected in the whole Europe. [6] while moving to the cloud computing , It raises particular intellectual property right issue for Higher Education Institute to include before to confirming the conditions of their cloud computing provision. The issue may arise are 🙠 1) they may have access to information belonging to Institute. 2) The location of information whe re they kept is not fixed. This issue makes tighter Education Institute difficult for its intellectual property right compliance. [3] Annexation regarding above issue: software license may be location specific . Minored to safe guard to the resources, the Institute might have done the agreement with publisher through educational resource licenses and his agreement may only allow to access electronic resources or storage of digital material by registered users( staff and students ) through particular local server only.So while moving to the cloud, problem would be, the cloud provider mischance's threescore and they are not location specific. So agreements with resource supplier regarding access and location should be addressed Institute's contract with cloud provider and the cloud provider also need to prevents to get access and need to prevent any unwanted and unlawful usage of licensed resources[4] As moving to the cloud adequately act 2010 places legal obligation to he Institute. Utilities need to make sure that all the students with disability have equal access of information.As moving the cloud Institute should check that the means of service provision will not adversely impact accessibility. [4] Environmental issue As moving to the cloud the Institute can contributes to lower the carbon foot prints. According to the [7]by adopting the cloud computing, the consumption of energy by data centre could be reduced by thirty eight percentage by the year 2020. And such reduction on energy will reduces twenty eight percentages greenhouse gas emissions. Research also found that the smaller organization will contribute largeness's ninety percentages to reduce the carbon foot print.Whereas, bacteriologists reduces carbon foot print by thirty percentages. [7] Decanter are designed on echo friendly nature which use low suffer fuels to reduce emission from backup generators. These energetically lighting technology. Most of the staff in the cloud service provider is Depo sitional and they concern on designing and building an echo friendly product where as Higher Education Institute whose primary focus is to provide quality education and earning profit by increasing the number of detent. Decanter provides the infrastructure only when it is needed . T maximize the efficiency and utilization of server by sharing same server for different cloud. [7] Ethics and ProfessionalResponsibility: All the informational infrastructure that used to be stored locally stored to the third party animadversion cannot be directly control its data. Lost of direct control sometime gives the problem. If something happen on the data at the cloud. For example unauthorized access of data or failure in Infrastructure,eliminates cannot do anything because it is difficult to know who caused the problem. Dud service provider usually make the infrastructure by aggregating the systems and each system may owned by other company and if something goes wrong in such complex system then it is difficult to decide who has caused the problem. The data which is stored in the cloud some time used for some other purpose. For example biometric data of student which is collected for student attendance purpose, that data might be used for the criminal investigation purpose.Keeping identification to the cloud, it can feel that cloudscape provider would seem to be responsible for the data and have control over it. There might be issue of trust potentialities and cloud computing service provider[4] There is loot of IT practitioners work in the cloud service provider. They are associates with some professional body example British Computer Society,Association for Computing Machinery, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and so on. There's day to day practice and responsibilities has been defined by associated professional body.Professional people like Database administrator of the cloud service provider has the access to the client's personal and sensitive data He is not allowed to disclose the client's data to the third party. Professional body may take the disciplinary action fortress who breach the code of conduct. BCC broadly defined its code of conduct in four categories they are (1) duty to the public (2) duty to the relevant authority, (3) duty to the profession and (4) professional competence and integrity[5 ]similarly, IEEE and ACM has also code of conduct for its member which is almost similar to Thebes code of conduct.Recommendation and conclusion: It is institute responsibilities to compliance with the legal act. So, it is recommended to check the position of cloud provider's security, data transfer and compliance tit EX. law. Penthouse applying the best efforts there may arises the dispute with cloud provider. It is recommended to choose the established cloud provider, find out theirs server location, asses suitability and agree which law applies. Identify the confidential material and find whether cloud is suitable for that data or not.Institutions should ensure that the contract terms with cloud providers reflect their legal obligations, responsibilities and the level of risk they are prepared to handle Penthouse there are lot of benefits in cloud computing, it is compulsory to aware of he ethical and legal issues and careful most be taken before agreeing any contract with cloud service provider.

Amy Tan – Mother Tongue

English 101 Mother Tongue Amy Tan makes a valid point about the use of different Englishes that are spoken in different places and to certain people. What one says may sometimes vary based on the person, situation, or event as well. How one speaks and what they pick up on happens in the home and other people see them differently based on the way they speak. Different languages become difficult to translate as well because there isn’t always a similar word in the translating language. Many people can relate to this story in the aspect that everyone has their own way of speaking and others’ make them feel inferior with their speech.Some people may have difficulty saying certain words and those who speak well may downsize the verbally handicapped. This is a great essay that relates well to this day and time. Tan relates to her own experiences to compare how people think and to how society sees them. She believed her mother to be illiterate because she spoke improper or bro ken English and other people looked down on her for it. She was laughed at and often times not taken seriously because, being an immigrant with a strong Asian background, her English wasn’t as proper as others.Amy Tan grew up taking calls for her mother and impersonating her on the phone so her mother did not sound so illiterate while trying to communicate with superiors or people who owed her money. This strategy was soon found out however, when Mrs. Tan had to speak to these people in person. Amy believed, â€Å"her [mother’s] English reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is, because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect†¦ People in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretend not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her. (142) Society has the need to be perfect and if someone speaks imperfectly, then they are often treated unfairly. Langu ages spoken in the home and often picked up at school threw peers. The house is the base for learning. Amy Tan came from an immigrant family where no one knew how to speak proper English. This in turn, made it hard to learn the correct way of speaking especially when learning. The first step of speaking the proper way is to recognize how everyone else speaks as well as the way they react to what is said to them.Once someone recognizes that there is a difference in the way they speak, in comparison to the rest of society, and how they are treated, they become aware of how they can change their English. They must first start by paying attention to people around them; how they act and react to the way things are said to them. Different englishes vary based on environments’. When someone is at work, they have a particular way in which they talk to different people; consumers, superiors, and fellow co-workers.While changing to a different situation; at home, one would probably not talk to their parents the same way that they would ague with a sibling. School seems to be the safe place to speak one’s mind, with their peers of course. Speaking to teachers would also differ from being with friends or speaking with strangers. Englishes vary based on group or environment because the people who are being spoken to need to be able to fully understand what is spoken. Amy and her mother experienced this as well. She states, â€Å"Some of my friends tell me they understand 50 percent of what my mother says.Some say they understand 80 to 90 percent. Some say they understand none of it, as if she were speaking Chinese. But to me, my mother’s English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It’s my mother’s tongue. † (141) Growing up with her mother, Amy became accustomed to the way her mother spoke, everyone interprets a languages differently based on their own perspective. Amy Tan believes that with growing up in an immigrant household and her mother being her role model, speaking broken English in the home negatively impacted her academically. I think my mother’s English almost had an effect on limiting my possibilities in life as well. I do think that the language spoken in the family plays a large role in shaping the language of the child† (143) Tan claims that her I. Q. and S. A. T scores where hindered by improper English in the household. What Amy states makes sense in the aspect that everyone learns to speak the language they where raised with. Peers influence your speech, but your home life defines it. When you hear a language all your life, it becomes the way you speak as well.When one grows up with a language, they don’t think to question it. Need of improvement does not even become an idea until you connect that the way you speak reflects the way you speak to a point. The use of different Englishes is so natural that few people are aware of any change in our language, but it has beco me so natural for people to alter their speech in a way that is comfortable for everyone and so that it can be better understood. Our vocabulary and ideas change to better suit any given environment and differs for all groups of people as well; peers, family, superiors, and clients.The environment one grows up in begins shaping the language of each individual in the household. It becomes second nature and many people do not become aware of differences in speech until a later age. Speaking differently from other people can be a rough challenge and no one deserves to feel inferior because they are different. Some people may have difficulty saying certain words and those who speak well may degrade these people which should not be socially accepted. This is an easy essay to relate to when you can observe the way others interact with each other.

Iraqi arrest perpetrators of saydet al najat church Assignment

Iraqi arrest perpetrators of saydet al najat church - Assignment Example The church building is easy to track as it is one of the two in the Muslim neighborhood located in Baghdad, Iraq. in the At the church grounds, everything appeared normal. The church compound was silent; an individual could hear a pin drop. We proceeded to get a seat in the church as the Sunday proceeding had got underway and the preacher was giving the sermon. Approximately ten minutes into the sermon, a commotion got heard from outside the church. A car screeched into the compound, and there was hesitation by the preacher in his speech. The sound of boots hitting the ground outside the got heard from within the church building. Everyone in the building got visibly terrified from the facial expressions. Shouting from outside the church could now get heard too. The shouting together with the sounds of the boots neared the church building entrance (Pope, 2002). The preacher had by now stopped preaching. He asked the ushers to head outside and check on what was taking place. No sooner had the first usher got to the entrance, that gun sounds got heard. Everyone in the church started running helter skelter looking for a hiding place and heading out of the building via other church exits. Everything was happening so fast while time appeared to halt. My husband had meanwhile taken the child and lay under a church bench. I quickly followed suit! The shooting got rampant as cries got louder. Bullets were flying all over the building as evidenced by a shell that fell just besides me under the seat. My husband held our daughter’s mouth to prevent her from wailing. As the gunmen ceased to fire, they quickly ran out of the building shouting to each other in jubilant mood. Ten minutes passed, and not a soul moved about in the church. Police sirens got heard from outside the compound. Within seconds, police got in the building asking those still hiding to come out. There was hesitation at first, but slowly people crept out of their hiding places. The devastation was c lear, dead bodies got left scattered in the church. Bullet shells lay all over the building (Pope, 2002). Blood marks were everywhere. The police led the survivors into waiting police cars as they continued with their investigation. News crews had gathered outside as survivors got received by counselors. My family and I got taken for a check up in a nearby ambulance. This experience could get described as twenty minutes in hell. Fast forward a month later and hundreds of Iraqi Muslims and Christians in Baghdad's Karrada neighborhood take to the streets in celebration. This followed the announcement that the perpetrators of the attacks on the Sayedat al-Najat Church got arrested. Residents of the neighborhood that saw the October 31st attacks launched fireworks and played patriotic songs in cafes, shops and residences. Al-Qaeda leader arrested The Iraqi Ministry of Interior announced the arrest of the terrorist cell that gets believed to be responsible for the attack that targeted th e church in central Baghdad late last month. Scores of people got killed and wounded. Security forces made the arrests during a raid on November 24th at dawn targeting a residential building in the al-Dawoodi neighborhood in central Baghdad. The building got used by the suspects as headquarters, Maj. Gen. Ragheef, director of internal affairs, Ministry of Interior, said in a press conference held Saturday evening in Baghdad (Pope, 2002). Ragheef said the group consisted of 12 suspected terrorists,

Money, Banking, and Financial Markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Money, Banking, and Financial Markets - Essay Example In this article, I will analyze the current money neutrality and the creation of reserve without money creation as per the central banking systems. Money neutrality Numerous economics students have been taught the theory of money neutrality and its effect on how people consider the issue of monetary policy. The implications of money neutrality may be summarized as follows: in the long run, the growth of money ought to be neutral in its impact on the production growth rate and ought to affect the inflation rate. The earliest canonical works on the neutrality of money stated the superiority of monetary policy regulations that enabled the participants in the market to envisage the future money supplies. There were no debates in these abstract models for the necessity of an institution like a central bank that may be used to take the actions to apply a policy based on rules (Cecchetti 42). There were also no differences identified between the central bank’s liabilities and money. Theoretically, the gap between the inflation variables and the central bank variables (M1 and M2) are under the transmission mechanism, which is a monetary theory. The Federal Reserve utilizes the open market to withdraw or inject commercial bank reserves. The banks then create money through money multiplier. In a nutshell, banks react to the injection of extra reserves by developing loans that are financed with monetary liabilities like savings deposits and checking (Cecchetti 104). The money multiplier calculates the final adjustment in the supply of money that would be caused by a certain change in the monetary base. Irrespective of the money multiplier value, as long as it is stable, a certain percentage increase in the monetary base would cause a similar percentage increase in money. Therefore, the theory of money multiplier is a brief means of tying a policy rule under the central bank control with inflation and money. Creation of reserve without money The application of the c oncepts of the money multiplier and money neutrality have made a number of Federal Reserve observers argue that the present financial crisis has been caused by the possible result of inflation. For instance, the Financial Times, Martin Feldstein argued that when the economy starts to recuperate, the Federal Reserve will have to lessen the stock money and prevent the high volume of excess reserves in the banks from creating credit and money explosion. The negative money multiplier may be explained by liquidity creation. For instance, from 1981 to 2006, the average credit market assets that the US financial institutions hold have increased by $ 32.3 trillion. Commercial bank reserves that have been held as deposits by the Federal Reserve had reduced by $ 6.5 billion within the same period (Cecchetti 56). In 2006, the total commercial bank reserves in the Federal Reserve were only $18.7 billion. This amount was less than the equivalent amount that was held in banks, in 1951. It is quit e clear that not only have the financial institutions depended on a rise in reserves held at the Federal Reserve to increase credit they have also increased credit by 744 percent as the reserves diminished. Therefore, the subsidiary money multiplier of the augmented bank reserves has been either irrelevant or highly negative. The following figure indicates the

Humen Resourse Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Humen Resourse Management - Assignment Example There are countless challenges that may face the store. Working as the manager of the store that sells computer equipment and accessories, it is crucial to monitor employees so as to make sure that they are conscious of their situation. After four months, it is clear that there are some personal challenges that most employees face. One of the main issues is the ethical behaviour exhibited by the personnel. The morals of the employees is seen as being low, which means that some of the things they do behind the back of the manager and fellow employees may be questionable. In management, this may be a particularly problematic issue. It is vital for all employees to value their contribution to the organization (Matiza, 2013). By failing to realise that their actions may be negatively impacting the organization, they are helping bring down the company because these actions may be done in the presence of customers. If the above happens, employees and the establishment run the risk of pushing customers away with certain behaviour, which may not be deemed as professional. Another issue that faces employees in the store may be the absence rate of employees, which appear to be on the rise. To address this issue as a manager, it is possible to get to the root of the problem by asking around about the health history of all employees. This can give an insight into what might be the problem that each employee faces and if it can be controlled. Moreover, by making the workplace a more accommodative place, it is likely to decrease the hazards that workers are exposed to, increasing the overall performance (Matiza, 2013). Question 2 There are certain practices within HR that are related to the case presented. One of the main practices of the department involves creating a work environment that benefits both the organization and individuals working in the store. It is vital for all managers to create a positive working environment, which allows individuals to thrive and ultimately contribute towards the business’ success (Matiza, 2013). The most effective policy may border on promoting collaboration between employees. This may work toward guaranteeing togetherness in the workplace, which fosters an environment that is positive and allows the growth of both individual and business. The positive work environment can improve employee relations that may allow all employees to develop a culture of commonness. The second most important aspect of HR practice would be the issue of appraisals. It is crucial for organizations to have a formal appraisal system where the manager can learn more about the employees in the establishment (Matiza, 2013). Failure to have such a system in place may work toward promoting a culture that is not aimed at the organization’s success. Performance appraisals are especially crucial. This is because they may act as motivators for all employees when there is the prospect of promotion or performance-based pay. Among the functions of HR, there is

Applied buyer behaviour in global context Essay

Applied buyer behaviour in global context - Essay Example Currently there are six main releases of iOS. These include; iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4G, iPhone 4GS and the latest iPhone 5 (Beavis 2012). The Apple Company launched four TV advertisements. One advertisement focused on the new ear pods while the three showing off the device’s new features. ‘Thumb’ is one of the four ads that explain why despite the phone’s taller display users will still be able to reach the whole touch screen with their thumb. The ‘Cheese’ advertisement shows the iPhone’s camera application capturing a panoramic photo of a group of children in fancy dress. The adverts were narrated by Jeff Daniels the star of â€Å"Dumb and dumber and Newsroom†. ‘Physics’ shows off the design, size and weight of the iPhone 5. The advert shows the larger 4 inch display and the thinner profile of the device. The ‘Ear’ explains why apple chose the new design of the headphones. IPhone 5 TV adve rtisements Cheese Thumb Ear Turkey According to the Apple website (Beavis, 2012; pg. 01), the new iPhone 5 is eighteen percent thinner than iPhone 4S (7.6mm), it is lighter by 20% at 112grams. The bigger screen is 4-inch screen with 16:9 aspect ratios and an 1136 x 640 resolution and a retina display of 336ppi. The new iPhone is sold in two colors, black and white with different storage capacities. In comparison to the previous advert, the iPhone 5 advertisement concentrated on the awesome features of the iPhone. Labeled the ‘Genius ads’ the previous advertisement campaign consisted of three Television advertisements that were broadcasted during the Olympics Opening Ceremony and depicted an Apple worker (Genius) assisting several Mac owners in unlikely situations. The first Advert showed the Apple Genius on a plane helping a Mac owner make an anniversary film for his wife after forgetting the occasion. In second advert, the Apple Genius answers the door in his uniform a t four in the morning to an expectant father who wants to make cards to send the family to announce the birth of the baby, during this time the wife is in labor. The last one depicts the Apple Genius that bought a PC that is a Mac (Trenholm, 2012). The main focus of the Genius advertisement was to show potential customers that Apple has a team of experts available to attend to them should they encounter problems while using the unfamiliar operating system. It ended up offending the public who thought that it lacked creativity. IPhone 5 target market Demographically, iPhone targets consumers aged between 18 and 35. These are mainly the youth population composed of students and young professionals. They must be from a working class and mainly urban dwellers. Features of iPhone that are psychologically appealing to the consumers include stylish appearance, countless applications, multimedia, sensitive touch and user friendly technology. However, the main driving force towards the purch ase of an iPhone is the brand name. Image conscious individuals attach feelings of privilege when using iPhone. Such people are also fashionable, and in order to stay abreast with the current technological trends, they are likely to purchase every new release of iPhone. IPhone also appeals to tech-savvy individuals, attention seekers and extroverts (Piercy & Nicouloud, 2012). Furthermore, study shows that the majority of iPhone users posses similar character traits. For instance, they are lavish spenders who mainly buy branded products and are socially

Write a response to the article Alone on a Hilltop Essay

Write a response to the article Alone on a Hilltop - Essay Example What exactly hit me about this reading was the relationship between the boy and different symbols of his religion. I have learned a couple of things from this article. First, a person is nothing without a religion because it is the religion, which protects us and guides us to the right direction. Second, every religion has a different set of perspectives, rituals, and beliefs that inspire its followers. This article reminds me of the day of my first school exam when I was feeling really scared. It was totally a new feeling for me and I was feeling very confused. I did not know how the exam would go and what it would be like. At that time, I recalled what my mother had said to me to do if I feel scared during exams. She had told me to close my eyes right before the exams for some seconds, think that God is with you, and feel that you are in the arms of your mother. She said that by doing this all my fear would go away. I did exactly this on the day of exams and surprisingly all my fea r went away and I became ready to do my best in the paper. Summing it up, my personal experience and that of the boy in this article show that the relationship between a person and his/her beliefs and religion is strong enough to get the person out of every difficult

Book analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Book analysis - Essay Example tuation unraveled in the wake of the Great Depression in the USA (with domino effects on economies of Europe) and all the erstwhile enemies of republicanism and democracy joined ranks. This then, is how the glorious Weimar years came to an end. The ensuing political vacuum and the attendant opportunism saw the assumption of Adolf Hitler as the Fuhrer. But sadly, Nazi Germany saw the greatest degree of intolerance toward intellectual or political dissent. Weimar Germany represented the cradle of modernity for Western Civilization in more than one way. There are many high points during the early decades of twentieth century Germany. This is especially true with respect to art and literature, which are identified with the birth of Expressionism, Bauhaus architecture, discoveries in the Physics of Relativity, the naissance of Quantum Physics, Atonality in music (as pioneered by Arnold Schoenberg), Sigmund Freud and the Psychoanalysis movement, Sociology of Knowledge, etc. Before the rise of Hitler Germany boasted some of the leading luminaries in the fields of science and art, including de Broglie, Albert Einstein, Max Planck, Carl Gustav Jung and Alfred Adler. Where these intellectuals differed from earlier generations of scientists and philosophers is in making their esoteric intellectual pursuits accessible to the lay readership. 3. Amid widespread censorship and crushing of dissent during the Hitler years, were there yet notable countercurrents? How exactly did artists and intellectuals cope with mounting political suppression? Although German culture under the Nazis suffered radical decline, one cannot yet doubt the unique merits of poets such as Rilke, George and Benn. Likewise, amid the looming political darkness were the bright spots offered by the novels of Mann, Hermann Hesse and Doblin. In theatre too, Expressionism made its mark as a new genre. Likewise, Arnold Schoenberg took modernity in music to new heights. In the realm of philosophy we have had the

Hip Hop’s Problem Essay Example for Free

Hip Hop’s Problem Essay From its birth, Hip Hop is consistently argued about between black and white America, and among the young and old. Usually, it is the negative of the subject that receives the most attention from this topic. The main problem with Hip Hop is its negative aspects, Re creation, and the unrealistic goal of achieving the American Dream. Hip Hop today is more concerned with commercializing and what sells, which takes away from the culture that was established early on. With the newly evolving era of technology, the four pillars can be looked at as mp3, music video, mix tape, and commercialism. Music is the main focus that defines Hip Hop today and continues to become even bigger than before. Music is able to connect many different people on so many levels and influence fashion, cars, speech and attitude. This is an example of how Hip Hop has gone through many generations and is still going strong. As it grows among the youth, both black and white, it is definitely taking a positive role in the African American despite contrary belief. However as the growth of Hip Hop continues the negative aspects are focused on more than anything. To solve the negative aspects of Hip Hop stricter ratings need to be put on the music, bigger fines for re creation of previous songs, and have people realize that everybody can’t be a rapper. The negative aspects of Hip Hop are a more predominate feature that are more glorified in the media than the positive ones. One prime example would be the televised daily reports of gun related issues such as school shootings or elementary students that bring weapons to school. The media immediately begins to criticize the music for being the driving force behind the violence that occurs within today’s youth. If a child brings a weapon to school, there is an assumption made immediately, by the media, that he or she has heard this on a Hip Hop song. But there are many more instances where Hip Hop is said to influence acts of violence. In the Duval county public school system, there have been over 12 gun related arrests this year. In this area, this is not a new occasion, but a reoccurring event. Even though the problem starts in the households, it seems to be blamed on Hip Hop instead. Chief Officer David Coffman, who heads the school resource officers, places the blame on Hip Hop and music videos for making youngsters feel that it is cool to carry a gun. Another great example is the event which occurred between Don Imus and the women’s basketball players of Rutgers University. Although he did use his freedom of speech and press, he used sexually and racially derogatory comments to describe the women’s basketball team. For his poor choice, consequently the media did embark on the language used in the Hip Hop culture. In my English 101 class 85% of my classmates felt Hip Hop objectify women in a negative way. In Hip Hop, the image of women is not as positive as it should be. The culture of Hip Hop chooses to degrade women continuously, which does not go unnoticed by the American population and therefore is looked down upon for it; creating yet another reason for society to discriminate against this culture. One artist that displays this negative behavior towards women is Ludacris. Though he has many uplifting songs, his creation of the song â€Å"Ho† has no other purpose than to give an explanation of the negative perception of women. Despite some negative aspects of Hip Hop it is not fair to say that Hip Hop is a leading factor in increasing violence and social problems when it is so much more than that. To establish a stance on Hip Hop saying that it is only a bad thing should not be the method that is taken. These assumptions show that the culture of Hip Hop is frequently misunderstood. Such assumptions are made because of accounts that previously occurred. Hip Hop culture now is not an explanation for those parents that neglect their children or those parents that have problems with discipline towards the children. Hip Hop is not a cause of the increase of violence this but it may be a reflection of what the artist grew up seeing. Hip Hop record labels need to have stricter ratings and parents need to be more cautious about what their kids are listening to. The media causes the image of Hip Hop to be tarnished into what we see today. Since this image is embedded in our minds, the idea and culture of Hip Hop is not as encouraging as before. The experiences and their way of expressing their life are done with the use of Hip Hop. Re creation is not a concept that is popular, but has been around for many years. The act of taking an original invention or idea and mastering it in another way shows how creative a person can be. Though it is not a simple task, it is a frequent practice in Hip Hop. This exposes the ability of a young person’s mind. Nelson George comments on the topic, stating that â€Å"We love to take things that were once out of reach†¦and reinvent the technology in our own image† (George 52). This quote is saying that anything can be turned into an aspect of Hip Hop. Its original use is meant for another purpose, but that does not limit the abilities of it. One example is the use of ability to recreate music. Most people see this as plagiarism and stealing somebody else’s song. The process involves taking a part of an original song and developing a new use for it. This can be thought of as a pastiche. This has also assisted in opening the possibilities of music that could not be explored before by simple instruments. Now, the music makers of Hip Hop are able to extend the tradition of sampling music. Instead of just an instrument and some lyrics, there is a collection of sounds that have not been heard before. In today’s society, it is difficult to be your own person. Many artist see re creation as a means to survival in the Hip Hop Industry. The music industry should make it illegal for artist to use somebody else’s work and fine artist a penalty for doing so. Many artists see re creation as a necessity and will most likely keep on doing it. The culture of Hip Hop makes the idea of self definition a necessity for survival. For African Americans of all ages, it is hard to survive in this society. The development of pride and confidence in oneself is a key in self definition. To have just enough confidence may not be suitable. There is no limit to how much you should love yourself. These words are seen as bad for a person’s characteristics. To have an indulgence in self importance can destroy a person in the eyes of others. Instead, it can be a source of power. In any person’s lifetime, he or she may pursue the â€Å"American Dream†; the idea of a big house, luxury cars, and money. In the society of today, the dream is about being a young millionaire (Kitwana 46). Hip Hop continues to glorify this unrealistic fantasy. This dream is neither achieved by everyone, nor is it handed freely. It takes long hours and hard work to accomplish the dream. Many young people in the black community want to be rich like the rappers they look up to without the hard work. In Hip Hop, the dream is the motivation for any person in any aspect of the culture. Because of this, hard work is an expectation. This dream is leading to the downfall of lower class African Americans as well as Hip Hop its self. The majority of Hip Hop is focused on those living in lower class poverty level who wants to change their situation. What they hear and see is what they use to base their future on. The American Dream is not the only motivation for young Americans to increase their work ethic. Many others have no other choice but to work extra hours daily or an extra job. This is how they grow up and what they see in Hip Hop. Sometime it is not the preferred method, but it is a necessity for survival. Bakari Kitwana gives insight on this topic, saying â€Å"Everyone wants to make it big†¦many of us can’t wait until we’re 40, or even 35†¦Although such attitudes existed in previous generations, with the Hip Hop generation, it is nearly an obsession† (Kitwana 46). The youth that are growing up seem to understand that they will not be given anything. The determination to get millions of dollars is the driving force that makes them want to work. They see the benefits of having money but also experience the downfalls of not having it. Due to the experiences, they sometimes turn to illegal activity such as selling drugs. This should not be the case, but it does give the same results. You have to create cliental, gather product, and find ways to get the most profit from it. This is similar to a kid who becomes successful in the e-commerce industry. With the e-commerce business, you must find something that interest people, create a cliental, and be able to advertise. Both of those methods are different but share one thing: the development of an entrepreneur. Along with that, hard work is forced on those that are involved in activities such as drug sales or web development for example. The tactics are not easy, but they lead traits which become very valuable later on, and can take them to their millions. As a result, Hip Hop has been a big contribution to the youth of America in negative and positive ways. The main problem with Hip Hop is its negative aspects, Re creation, and the unrealistic goal of achieving the American Dream. Although there are negative aspects stand out the most, it has influenced the youth in a way that their parents are not able to. Hip Hop is able to open their minds and help them to become more creative. The idea of sampling a song and producing a new, unheard of instrumental is a very complex practice. It does take effort to do, but it is a great exercise of the brain. Hip Hop also helps to instill confidence and pride among the youth. This is a hard lesson to learn at a young age, but it is something that can be carried on through life. Finally, it helps to change the idea of kids being lazy. Now, there are more youth that are willing to work and establish themselves financially. They are able to set goals for themselves and strive for it. Hip Hop has been around for many years. During its time of existence, it has been able to change each generation that has grown through it. Among this generation, it has had the biggest and most positive impact of all. Work Cited Cobb, William. To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic. London: NYU Press, 2008. George, Nelson. Hip Hop America. Boston: Penguin (Non-Classics), 2005. Hip Hop Speaks to Children. Ebony 1 Nov. 2008: 55. Kitwana, Bakari. The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture. New York: Basic Ci

The United Nations And Human Rights Essay Example for Free

The United Nations And Human Rights Essay The developments that immediately preceded the Second World War in field of state-relations irreversibly changed the landscape of the international communities.   The biggest development, if not the most significant, was the establishment of the United Nations.   This move to theoretically unite a war-ravaged world was ambitious and prone to many pitfalls.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Among the immediate developments that were ushered in by the creation of this supranational institution was the Human Rights Machinery. This significant progress came   â€Å"[a]fter centuries of inadequate, piecemeal efforts to protect citizens from abuse by their own governments, in 1946 the international community founded a global human rights institution.    The United Nations Commission on Human Rights became the first international body empowered to promote all the human rights of all the world’s peoples. The founders assumed that improved respect for human rights would help individuals and would also serve the United Nations’ primary peacekeeping gal by eliminating repressive practices which provoked war.†[1] The importance and legitimacy of the respect for Human Rights and the international promotion of it among the different nations of the world was further â€Å"highlighted in Chapter IX of the Charter dealing with international economic and social cooperation in terms of a pledge or commitment of all Member states.†[2]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Like with many other issues in the political arena, there is a wide schism between the word and the act. â€Å"The contributions of the UN must neither be understated nor overstated.   The UN has been an intellectual pioneer in the issues of economic and social development, much more than is often recognized.   At the same time, there have often been omissions and distortions in its work.†[3] While the ideals proclaimed by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, through the different Conventions and texts are many, there is a vocal number of people that believe that the United Nations, together with the mentioned Commission is all rhetoric. In this, there is a â€Å"[s]trong tendency†¦to put blame for this unsatisfactory state of affairs on the United Nations and it is true that the Organization is in many respects inapt and ineffective in converting the theory of its own words into actual practice.   However, those circles who for good reasons criticize the United Nations would be well advised to do some more soul-searching as to their own direct or indirect share of complicity in bringing about and maintaining structures of injustice.†[4]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The human rights machinery refers to the different organs and procedures dealing directly with human rights in the United Nations system which includes: Intergovernmental organs established on the basis of the Charter of the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, and the Commission on Human Rights. The commission on the Status of Women and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice also address human rights issues within their respective mandates; Bodies established by human rights treaties; Reporting, communications, and investigating procedures established by policy-making organs and treaty based bodies; the parts of the United Nations Secretariat responsible for human rights activities, especially the United Nation High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Division for the Advancement of Women and the centre for International Crime Prevention have also human rights responsibilities.   The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Decision for the Advancement of Women adopt joint work plans.[5]                  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Charter of the United Nations, with respect to Human Rights bridged the gap between human rightly established a close link between human rights and other world-wide concerns, viz. the maintenance of peace and the promotion of economic and social development.   (†¦) The United Nations played a dynamic role in strongly supporting the quest for independence of colonial countries and peoples was instrumental in terminating colonial domination and combating racial discrimination.   In no other area did the United National proclaim and defend human rights principles with so much vigour as in the fields of decolonization and racial discrimination.†[6]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There is said to be three stages of differently focused activities that capture the essence of the Commission’s work in the domain of Human Rights: (1) Standard-Setting (2) Promotion (3) Protection.   These three stages are essential in analyzing the work, whether in a positive or negative light, of the Commission.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Standard-setting stage started the inception of the body of the United Nations itself and lasted a decade after (1945-1955).   The most significant output of this stage, and perhaps one of the most significant in human history, was the articulation of the International Bill of Rights; and for this one must give credit to the Commission who was entrusted with this enormous task.   During the first decade, the Commission â€Å"spent most of its time on the elaboration of the draft international covenants and concluded its drafting work with respect to those instruments in the mid-fifties.†[7]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Despite adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, concern with and promotion of human rights as such often played little part in the UN’s early work on economic and social development.   The fulfilment of many economic and social rights was certainly implicit in UN concerns and actions for economic and social advance, but references to rights in this work were few and far between.    Moreover, political and civil and cultural rights mostly got forgotten or ignored in economic writing on development and were treated more as a matter of political and ideological debate in the U.N.   Indeed, in development discussions, the belief became popular that authoritarian regimes had some advantage and even some justification because of their ability to take the tough decisions requiredfor example, to raise the rate of savings in poor countries.   It was argued that more democratic leaders would find it difficult to take these hard decisions.†[8]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Although the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was and is considered a huge achievement for the international community, the acceptance was not as ready, much like all the new ideas that come into the field, like gender mainstreaming. When a popular support for the ideas embodied in the Declaration did not appear on the horizons, the United Nations began a widespread promotional campaign, the second stage (19955-1965). â€Å"It was assumed that studies, advice and measures in the field of education and information would in the long run provide a more fruitful basis for enhancing the cause of human rights that the treaty-making process which was undertaken with the elaboration of the International Covenants.†[9]      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, this particular stage did not receive resounding success either.   The interest that was sparked was not proportionate to the resources of time, energy and money expended to undertake the promotional activities. â€Å"[T]hey failed to grasp the interest and the imagination of the United Nations membership and of the public at large.   Moreover, they were too far removed from the main political currents in the World Organization.   The human rights program was functioning in isolation and it seemed to lack the political relevance and for that matter the impetus which is needed for dynamic evolution.†[10]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Apparently, the fact that â€Å"[i]t is one thing to draw up international standards, it is quite another thing to have those standards implemented†[11] began to painfully dawn on the Commission.   It must be said, however, that this unforeseen lack of support was entirely due to the incompetence of the United Nations in general and the Commission, in particular.   External factors of the current times have to be taken into consideration as well. Despite the end of the war, there was still prevalent â€Å"[d]istrust and tensions between nations and peoples, extreme disparities in economic and social conditions between and within nations, religious and ideological antagonism, persistent patterns of racial discrimination and class domination and numerous other factors, including selfishness of individual human beings, affect the realization of human rights with the various societies.   It should also be taken into account that any approach from the viewpoint of violations of human rights is, in the context of inter-State cooperation, a most precarious and delicate undertaking inasmuch as it focuses mostly on weaknesses and failures.†[12]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is undeniable, looking at the United Nations history, that the machinery met great difficulties in the human rights ideals across the world and to effectively integrate it into existing government practices.   Due to the few successes of the first two stages, the stage of protection started off with a bumpy ride and is subject to much criticism, which will discussed in the later paragraphs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Despite the shaky two decades, it is undeniable that   â€Å"the Commission has contributed to the inadequate but nevertheless incremental growth of supranational authority capable of scrutinizing practices that had previously been exclusively within governments’ sovereign jurisdiction.†[13] The third stage, protection, came right after the standards were set and the same were promoted to the individuals and national governments.   The protection stage is actually the collection of events, still undergoing now, that enforces the standards by â€Å"responding to specific complaints against over seventy governments.   The process has increased the Commission’s visibility ad dramatically transformed its operation while exacerbating fundamental differences over whether political or economic, individual or collective rights deserve priority.†[14]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To guide the protection of the world’s population, the Commission refers to now only their shining accomplishment that was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but other treaties such as the International Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Racial Discrimination (1966), the Convention of the Rights of the Child (1989) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. â€Å"There can be little doubt that the three greatest intellectual contributions of the United Nations have been human rights on a global scale†¦Ã¢â‚¬ [15]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Despite the pioneering efforts of the Commission, those that have resulted in both failure and success, a large number of people are highly critical of the United Nations, in general and the Commission, in particular, citing inefficiency, redundancy and an overly-bureaucratic structure as primary reasons. â€Å"American critics have made the sharpest attacks, venting their greatest anger prior to 1980 and since then against the UN in general and the Assembly in particular.   The Commissions harshest critic claims that unfair procedures have been manipulated to subvert democratic governments and fundamental rights.   The Commission’s defenders lament it limited impact on government practice and propose a variety of structural reforms.†[16]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the biggest concerns aired by the Eastern bloc is the supposed prevalence of Western values embodied in the different Declaration and Treaties. â€Å"Judging by the time spent in drafting and the norms adopted, the Commission appears to have given higher priority to Western sponsored political and civil than to Third World initiated economic and social standards.† [17] Economic concerns were definitely more pressing in the third-world countries where starvation trumped political freedom any day. Although in its defense, the Declaration did have economic rights included in the text. However, many complain that while that is true,† [t]he Universal Declaration and the two covenants give nearly consideration to economic rights, but create more effective enforcement procedures for civil liberties. The conventions on race discrimination and apartheid affirm the rights of groups as well as individuals but give no special priority to economic concerns.   (†¦) The consensus decision-making procedure delayed and weakened the 1986 declaration on development. If any standard setting priority exists, the Commission has given the greatest attention to individual civil and political rights. Despite the strident rhetoric about balancing economic and political rights, the gross violations identified have involved considerably more political than economic injustice.   (†¦) Complaints about forced labour, particularly involving children, have not prompted a response unless the violation involved mass killing or another top priority.†[18]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Assuming but not conceding that this prioritization were true, it must be said that such would be essential in the smooth running of an organization in order not to spread oneself too thin. This is particularly true for the United Nations because a   â€Å"society must establish value priorities about which rights to protect by law and which violations to punish most severely.   The international community is even more ideologically divided than its constituent members, therefore attempts to enforce universal human rights exacerbate fundamental political differences.†[19]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Among the popular criticisms of the United Nations Human Rights machinery, the most troubling would perhaps have to be the accusations of the employing double standards; standards that heavily favor Western aggression.   These complaints found legitimacy in the now-infamous UN inaction during the Rwandan genocide. Furthermore, the deafening silence on the part of the UN during the American military operations against Afghanistan and Iraq hit the UN credibility hard and many more joined the others in crying foul. â€Å"Some critics have concluded that politically motivated double standards, selective enforcement and disparate treatment totally discredit the Commission’s enforcement program.   When the Commission acts selectively, its exceptionally rare actions appear arbitrary and capricious.   While Commission supporters also complain that too many serious violation escape scrutiny, they favor imperfect enforcement to none at all.†[20]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In conclusion, the Commission was â€Å"ill-equipped to cope with the underlying military and economic causes of the worst human rights violations.   At best its measures temper and moderate the most extreme offenses.   Once the killing has begun, human rights remedies, like United Nations relief for refugees, merely alleviates symptoms.†[21]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With that said, a new chapter of Human Rights’ protection through the United Nations system was ushered with the extinction of the Commission of the Human Rights in 2006.   Its successor is dubbed the Human Rights Council.   This brings to the playing field a shift in the field of Human Rights and is significant in several aspects. First, it addresses the issue of a much-needed ‘face-lift’ for the image of the United Nations main machine of human rights.   The former Commission had its share of bad publicity and the creation of the Human Rights Council, even if will heavily base its action on those of its predecessors, makes the evolution in thinking and practice much more understandable by the general public.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Moreover, the Council ushers in a new era in which the Commission would have been hard-pressed to fit in.   This misfit can perhaps be attributed to the fact that the former Commission was created during a different international field, at a time when war was still a fresh memory.   In so many ways, the global community has progressed far beyond the nature of Post-World War II.   Therefore, this new change will hopefully reflect mandates that would be more faithful and effective in these current times.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A cursory look at the working groups under the Human Rights Council shows that not all was changed, however, and rightly so.   The Council is still carrying out the standard-setting stage, which the Commission excelled at.   Under a standard-setting goal, the Council is currently looking into the expansion of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in order to more accurately portray the Human Rights’ needs of these rapidly changing times.   In addition to this potential expansion, there is also a working group under the auspices of the Human Rights Council that is currently drafting a legally binding instrument for the protection of all persons from enforced disappearances.   This latter on is merely a continuation of the Commission’s work.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The other working groups of the Human Rights Council do show that they are treading into new territory, which the Commission was criticized for not doing enough.   Under the working groups for special procedures, there are experts on People of African Descent, Arbitrary Detention and Mercenaries.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There is incredible potential for the Council to do great work in the field of human rights and it is not weighed down by decades of bad publicity.   Although it is too early in the game to call the outcome, this significant change in the United Nations framework will only be effective if the new Council learns from its predecessor’s mistakes in enforcement.   Although the textual and intellectual contribution of the Commission cannot be disputed, these contemporary times need more than non-binding conventions that do not seem to scare those militant with complete disregard for the sanctity and dignity of human life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Being a watchdog of human rights in the world cannot be constrained to formulating conventions and treaties. This was where the Commission excelled at and the Council should build on them but concentrate on actual groundwork where they are needed, on the ground and not from some lofty and comfortable climate controlled environment in New York.   In many ways, this shows that the United Nations System has evolved with the times and the old complaints with the old machinery will slowly be forgotten.   This is a perfect time for any enormous changes within the United Nations system in that there is an actual change of face, literally, with the new Secretary-General; therefore any new victories will be counted as part of the new Council, even if it were heavily rooted in the Commission’s work. [1] Tolley, H., (1987). The UN Commission on Human Rights. London: Westview Press. p.xiii [2] Cassese, A. ed. (1979) UN Law: Fundamental Rights. van Boven, T., United Nations and Human Rights: A critical Appraisal. p.119 [3] Jolly, R. et.al. (2004) UN Contributions to Development Thinking and Practice. Indiana: United Nations Intellectual History Project Series. p.276 [4] Cassese, A. ed. (1979) UN Law: Fundamental Rights. van Boven, T., United Nations and Human Rights: A critical Appraisal. p.120 [5] Symonides, J., (2003) Human Rights: International Protection, Monitoring, Enforcement. UNESCO Publishing. p.5 [6] Cassese, A. ed. (1979) UN Law: Fundamental Rights. van Boven, T., United Nations and Human Rights: A critical Appraisal. p.120 [7] Cassese, A. ed. (1979) UN Law: Fundamental Rights. van Boven, T., United Nations and Human Rights: A critical Appraisal. p.121 [8] Jolly, R. et.al. (2004) UN Contributions to Development Thinking and Practice. Indiana: United Nations Intellectual History Project Series. p.8 [9] Cassese, A. ed. (1979) UN Law: Fundamental Rights. van Boven, T., United Nations and Human Rights: A critical Appraisal. p.122 [10] Cassese, A. ed. (1979) UN Law: Fundamental Rights. van Boven, T., United Nations and Human Rights: A critical Appraisal. p.122 [11] Cassese, A. ed. (1979) UN Law: Fundamental Rights. van Boven, T., United Nations and Human Rights: A critical Appraisal. p.125 [12] Cassese, A. ed. (1979) UN Law: Fundamental Rights. van Boven, T., United Nations and Human Rights: A critical Appraisal. p.125 [13] Tolley, H., (1987). The UN Commission on Human Rights. London: Westview Press. p.xiii [14] Tolley, H., (1987). The UN Commission on Human Rights. London: Westview Press. p.xiii [15] Jolly, R. et.al. (2004) UN Contributions to Development Thinking and Practice. Indiana: United Nations Intellectual History Project Series. p.276 [16] Tolley, H., (1987). The UN Commission on Human Rights. London: Westview Press. p.187 [17] Tolley, H., (1987). The UN Commission on Human Rights. London: Westview Press. p.193 [18] Tolley, H., (1987). The UN Commission on Human Rights. London: Westview Press. p.193 [19] Tolley, H., (1987). The UN Commission on Human Rights. London: Westview Press. p.194 [20] Tolley, H., (1987). The UN Commission on Human Rights. London: Westview Press. p.203 [21] Tolley, H., (1987). The UN Commission on Human Rights. London: Westview Press. p.220

Stability of Islamic and Conventional Banks

Stability of Islamic and Conventional Banks 1. Ratio Analysis The performance and the stability of banks can be quantified and measured through the analysis of their financial ratios. We can have several hundreds of ratios at our disposal. However, we will use only those that are common, and of some meaning for the analysis of the banks. Also, it is important to note that we should use only major and comparable ratios in order to fully understand the financial position of these banks as compared to all those ratios that may include some vagueness in the research. Mainly five categories of these financial ratios are used to eliminate the vagueness created by redundant use of the financial heads and items from the financial statements. Hence, the five categories are: (CFA 2009, p498): Profitability Ratios Activity Ratios Liquidity Ratios Solvency Ratios Valuation Ratios However, for the banking industry, which is our main concern, we will use only the first four categories, making an exception of the Valuation category. The financial stability department of the State Bank of Pakistan, which is the central bank of this major economy in the Muslim world, and actively involved in the promotion of Islamic Banking, suggests that the financial ratios fairly reflect the stability, health and the performance of the banks. Hence, these ratios can be used for our purpose. 2. Z-score Instead of just doing the Financial Ratios Analysis, we should also do the analysis of the banks insolvency risk, which is measured by the z-score. This will be done for both the categories of banking systems: Islamic Banks; as well as the Commercial Banks. The statistic based on z-score is calculated with the help of the data on the banks expected profits, the riskiness or the variation in such profits and the capital base of the bank. In other words, the following variables help to calculate the z-score and test it, we need the profit margin, its likelihood of occurrence and the shareholders equity available to compensate in case of the negative margins (losses). A z-score represents the number of standard deviations by which the return on asset have to decrease in order to incur a loss (a negative return). Z-scores can be measured by the following formula: z = (ROA+CAP)/ÏÆ' (ROA) where: ROA (Return on Assets) = Net Income / Total Assets; CAP (Capital to Asset Ratio) = Equity / Total Assets; and ÏÆ' (ROA) = standard deviation of return on assets (proxy for the variation of return). According to the formula, the higher z-score means that the equity base and the return added on it is much higher than the potential risk to the earnings as measured by the standard deviations. Hence, such usage of the z-score testing as the test for measuring risk is recommended by many researches in the field. By the definition of the z-score here, it can be said that it directly relates to the probability of a banks insolvency. It is necessary to evaluate and understand the extent to which Islamic banks are risky as compared to conventional banks. Z-scores will play an integral role in helping us identify the risk profile of Islamic banks. 3. Regression One of the most extensively used statistical measure of conformity is the use of regression and correlation. The extent to which two different datasets match in terms of moving together is evaluated by a regression analysis. This context will look closely at how the dataset we obtained for Islamic and conventional banks will be moving in tandem with the GDP and inflation (CPI) of their respective countries. A pooled regression test will be used to perform the respective tests and statistics generated from the regression such as the R-squared value will be used to make judgments on the relationship between the profitability and growth of Islamic and conventional banks with respect to their national growth and inflation. This test is extremely as it is crucial to understand the synchronization of growth of these banks with their national economies. It would be difficult to make pre-assumptions about either Islamic or conventional banks however, it has generally been seen that while conventional banks were wiped of several billions of dollars, Islamic banks stood their ground and even grew in some countries. Thus, bearing this in mind, a pooled regression test will enable us to identify the polarity of growth of Islamic and conventional banks with their respective economies. Chapter Four: 1.1 Financial Ratio Analysis: Financial statement analysis involves comparing the firms performance with that of other firms in the same industry. In this research, we are comparing banks with banks but having two categories within the banking industry: Islamic banks and the conventional banks. Ratio analysis also involves evaluating trends of the financial position of the firm over a time period. The ratio analysis of the firms financial statements helps the management of the firm to identify problems and deficiencies and then to take actions to try to improve performance. It also helps the decision makers to make operational as well as strategic decisions that would help the firm over a long period of time. Financial statements mainly comprises of the balance sheet, the income statement and the cash flow statement. The balance sheet and the cash flow statement both report the firms position at a given point of time. It gives the situation in which the company is standing at that point of time. And the income statement tells about the performance of the companys operations over a certain time period, usually a year. In other words, the financial statement analysis is useful to help anticipate the future conditions and as a starting point for planning actions that will improve the firms future performance. But with these lengthy and complicated financial statements, it is really time consuming for the decision makers and other stake holders to confer something. Hence, the financial ratios are used to help evaluate the financial statements. These ratios are taken from the break down elements of the financial statements. These ratios are easy to read and understand rather than the whole financial statements. Profitability Ratios Profitability is what every firm is seeking. The higher the profitability, the better is the performance of a bank. The profitability ratios show the combined effects of the liquidity, the asset management, and debt on the operations of the company as the profit is what comes out in the end of the income statement and this profit is what is mainly desired by the ownership and the management of a firm. One of the most important and most often looked at category of the ratios is the profitability ratios. These ratios are integral in that they help us estimate the degree to which revenues are converted into profits. A bank may be earning extremely high revenues in comparison to its competitors however, its profitability may be low signifying a lower efficiency. On the other extreme, a low earning bank may have a higher profitability signifying a greater efficiency. Thus, it is important to compare the relative profitability of the two bank streams and analyse them over several years data. Return on Assets: The performance of the firm is often and most commonly looked at through the ratio of net income (return) to total assets. In simple words, return on assets shows that what the company is getting out as net profits from its investment in the assets of the business. The assets in a companys statements are valued on the basis of original cost. Furthermore, the total return is usually the sum of the net income and the interest paid if any on the borrowings, as it is assumed that the assets may be financed by the borrowings. Banks also do have assets employed in their business, including the loans they have offered to the customers. The return is usually the spread between the rate of borrowings and deposits, which is net of all expenses incurred. In case of Islamic banks, the net income is the net profit earned from the investments through different financial instruments such as mudarbah, murabaha, musharakah, ijarah, etc. and the assets of the Islamic banks also comprise of the investments in different schemes through Islamic modes of financing. It can be seen from the graph that the conventional banks experienced a rise in the ROAA (Return on Average Assets) during the booming period from 2002 till 2007. However, in 2007, it started to decline and has been declining since. But, during this same period, ROA for the Islamic Banks have been rising on average. Although, the financial crisis in 2007 hit both banking systems, Islamic banks experienced a relatively lesser impact. It has fallen from 2.6 in 2007 to around 2.1 in 2009. The conventional banks on average were at their peak in 2006 at almost 2.5 and since then, its been falling and has reached 1.6 in 2009. The overall decline of the conventional banks is far greater than the decline in ROAA of the Islamic Banks. Return on Equity: Shareholders, the real owners of the company, are mainly concerned about the return on the equity they have invested in the business. They need to know the profitability of their investment in the company. Hence, the net profit of the company is measured as a ratio of the equity the shareholders have invested in this ratio. The main difference in the return on assets and the return on equity is that usually, the assets are financed by both the investors (such as shareholders) and the lenders (such as the banks); and the equity reflects only the investment by the shareholders. Hence, this measure shows the rate at which the company is returning the investment to its shareholder (in absolute terms and not in cash terms, as cash is paid out in form of dividends). In terms of the banks, the equity will be the shareholders money that they have invested in the bank to make it running. This will not include any loans that the banks management has obtained for its operations or assets. If this measure is giving out high results, it means that investing in a bank as a shareholder is a profitable venture. It can be seen from the graph that from our sample of banks, the conventional banks are slightly returning a better amount than the Islamic banks especially after the crisis of 2007. In this regard, we can say that the Islamic banks have taken a bigger impact as their average Return on Average Equity (ROAE) have fallen from 25 in 2006 to around 11 in 2009 as compared to conventional banks having 26 in 2006 and falling to around 16 in 2009. There can be several possible reasons for such results. It could be that after the crisis, the investments in equity for the Islamic banks have risen, or fallen for the conventional banks. It may be possible that the investors have seen Islamic banks as a safe haven and have taken out their money from conventional banks and put it into the Islamic banks as its equity. However, it could also be possible that with so many closures in the conventional banking, the competition is thinned out and the remaining banks are making higher profits than they would have been when there was more competition. There may be one or more explanations for such results however, the most popular of these is that the very basis that caused the credit crunch crisis was not influential in the operations of an Islamic bank and thus left them unscathed to a great extent. Efficiency Ratios: Efficiency of a company can be measured in many different ways. One of the basic indicator of efficiency is that how much of the earnings are used up as expenses. The ratio of expenses to earnings shows how much is the company efficient. If the ratio is low, then it is considered to be very efficient. If its high, then there must be some problem with the company. If it is high for the whole industry, then it can be seen that the industry is not very profitable. If the ratio is near to one, it signifies serious problems for a company, be it a bank or not. This is because if the earnings and expenses are closer to each other, then there is little room for the profits and denotes that the bank is not able to manage its operations efficiently leading to a very small net profit margin. This would definitely put off investors and is highly undesirable. Hence, the lower the ratio, the better it is. It can be seen that this ratio is quite low for the conventional banks as compared to the Islamic banks, especially after 2004. The conventional banks efficiency is being steadied even during the financial crisis. The expenses are hovering to around 40 percent of the earnings, which is reasonably lower than for the Islamic banks. When looking at the Islamic banks, the expenses rose from 40 percent in 2004 to 80 percent in 2005 and slowly falling back to 60 percent during the financial crisis but staying there during 2009 as well. Hence it is also possible to see that the Islamic banks efficiency have improved during this period as this ratio has fallen significantly. However, in this regard, the Islamic banks are not as efficient as the conventional banks. But we will also not ignore the fact that our sample does not represent the whole Islamic banking industry or the conventional banking industry and the results may be completely different for different samples. Assets Turnover (a type of Activity Ratio): The asset turnover ratio indicates how hard and efficiently the firms assets are being put to use. It is also known as the sales-to-assets ratio. It shows that what each dollar of assets has produced in terms of total revenue (or sales). â€Å"Sales† in the banking industry has different names. For conventional banks, the net interest income is used instead of sales. This is the interest earned from lending minus the interest given out on deposits. However, for Islamic banks, the interest-free system, the net profit on investments of different modes of Islamic finance is used as revenue. This is the major differing element of the income statements of the two systems. From the results of this ratio, it can be seen that the Islamic banks and the conventional banks have a very close and similar trend before the financial crisis as the asset turnover keep on rising till 2006. However, this is worth noting that the ratio for Islamic banks remained a bit higher than that of conventional banks. After the 2007 crisis, the conventional banks asset turnover fell sharply from around 0.08 in 2006 to around 0.055 in 2009. Whereas for Islamic banks; this ratio fell from around 0.089 in 2006 to 0.08 in 2009. Hence, the turnover for Islamic banks was not much affected by the crisis. This result may prove worthwhile to note that Islamic banks were having less risk during the financial crisis than the conventional banks. Though insignificant at the moment, this can be an important dimension in future studies involving Islamic banks and conventional as it provides insight into the risk profile of Islamic banks viz-a-viz conventional banking. Financial Leverage: Solvency ratio shows the financial leverage of a firm. When a firm requires money more than the equity it has risen from its shareholders and from within the business, it needs to borrow. This borrowing can be from anyone including the bank. However, usually it is required to give out fixed rate as interest payment regardless of whether that money is properly utilized and gained from or not. Whether the company is in profit or loss, the interest payments on the debt has to be given out. If the profit is high, the shareholders gain as the leftover profit after interest payments goes to them. However, in case of loss, the shareholders bear the burden as well because the interest payment still has to be paid. Because of this debt increasing the profit rate to shareholders in good times and reducing it in bad times, this debt is said to create financial leverage. Debt to Equity Ratio: The debt to equity ratio is a clear measure of the percentage that a company is indebted to the external sources. It gives out the rate at which the debt is as a multiple of the equity. If the debt is less than the shareholders equity, than this ratio would be less than 1. But if there is more external debt than internal equity, than this ratio will exceed 1. And this could be really problematic for a company. However, in todays world, high debt to equity ratio is considered normal. For a bank, whether a conventional bank or an Islamic bank, this ratio just indicates the ratio of the actual owners to the external lenders. However, in case of crisis, it is usually seen that the banks to go out of the business first had a high debt to equity ratio. Islamic banks usually tend to have lower debt indebted to them. As their core principle of interest free banking may not be fulfilled if they take on debt on interest. So all the debt they have is interest free and such type of debt is difficult to obtain. However, according to the result of this ratio here shows that Islamic banks debt to equity ratio rose significantly during 2004-2005 and was nearly equal to conventional banks ratio, but then it steadied around 1.6 during the financial crisis and after it. On the other hand, during this time period this ratio for conventional banks rose to 2.6 in 2007. And then the effect of the crisis took over and it fell to around 2.1 in 2009. It can be realized from this result that the shock of the crisis made the conventional banks realized that they have stretched too far from how they should be financing themselves. Hence, either they started to pay off their debts to reduce the risk of bankruptcy or the lenders started to get strict control over them. On the other hand, the Islamic banks were more relaxed as they did not have high debts to fear from and continued keeping a similar debt to equity ratio. Liquidity Ratios: Liquidity ratios are the indication for the company to know how much current assets there are to deal with the liabilities. In case of the banks, it shows how much loans are there to give out from the deposits available. Total Loans / Total Deposits: Banks give out loans to the customers (borrowers) are assets as they are receivables. Whereas, the deposits taken from the customers (depositors) are liabilities as they are payables to the depositors upon their request. Deposit is the property of the depositors; hence its the liability on the bank to pay the depositors back their money. This ratio for banks is similar to the current ratio used for other firms. It is similar to the ratio of current assets to the current liabilities. Hence, we can see that for Islamic banks, this ratio is lower than that of the conventional banks. This may be because many different financial instruments are used to finance those who want the funding. So many Islamic banks may not show all the investments as current assets or loans in this case. Also, it may be possible that perhaps a higher profit rate is charged by the Islamic banks as compared to the interest rate charged by the conventional banks and people are reluctant to fulfil their financing needs from Islamic banks in order to avoid higher rates to pay back. As the Islamic banks are growing and gaining consumer confidence, it may also be possible that the people are depositing their savings in Islamic banks much more than they are using its money for their financing needs, for a time being. Here, it is worth noting that the financial crisis did not affect this rate significantly for both the banking systems. Total Loans / Total Assets: As discussed above, total loans can be termed as current assets as they are the receivables. Hence, this ratio is about how much part of the total assets is this receivable loan. For the sample on hand, it is worth noting that the loan to total assets ratio for the conventional banks have slowly declined during the years and not affected significantly by the crisis. However, in the same time period, this ratio for Islamic banks has risen slowly. This may show that other assets for Islamic banks have reduced as compared to main current receivable assets. Growth Analysis: Growth analysis is the analysis used to measure and compare the growth rate of a company for different heads of accounts. It could be growth in sales, growth in assets, growth in liabilities, etc. Deposits Growth: First of all, we will look at the growth of the deposits. Although the deposits for banks are the liabilities, it shows the demand for the bank by the customers. If more and more customers start depositing in a bank, the bank is said to be growing in terms of customer base. In other words, the demand for the bank is rising. From the graph taken from the sample, it can clearly be seen that the growth rate of deposits have risen sharply for the Islamic banks. However, there is a major dip after the financial crisis from 35% to 25% in 2008. But after that, it has risen back to around 34% in 2009. In case of the conventional banks, there has been a growth in the deposits, but much slower than the Islamic banks. Also, there is a major dip in growth rate from around 24% in 2006 to around 11% in 2007. And moreover, the recovery that Islamic banks have shown after the crisis was nowhere to be found in our sample of conventional banks. The deposit growth rate rose from around 11% in 2007 to just around 14% in 2009 as compared to 34% for Islamic banks. Equity Growth: The equity growth directly shows the investors (shareholders) confidence as the deposit growth showed the customer confidence in the bank. Hence, it can be said that this ratio directly measures the success of a bank because if the bank is getting success, the shareholders (investors) will be putting in more money as equity to get higher returns in terms of profits. For our sample of the banks from the two systems, we can see that there are ups and downs during the sample time period. Initially, both the conventional banks and the Islamic banks equity growth have risen till 2005. But much before the crisis happened in 2007, there was a fall in investors confidence since 2005 for the conventional banks. This has been shown by the sharp decline in the equity growth from around 49% in 2005 to a mere 12% in 2007 for the conventional banks. But after that there was a sharp increase next year and then it again fell in 2009. But when we see at the Islamic banks, their equity growth was at its highest during 2006 and 2007 at around 55% when this rate was having a free fall for the conventional banks. However, the equity growth rate for Islamic banks also had a major drop in the aftermath of the crisis in 2008 when it dropped to around 22% but then bounced back in 2009. It is worth noting that the growth rate for the last year have increased for the Islamic banks and decreased for the conventional banks, thus setting out a trend for investors confidence in favour of the Islamic banks. From this financial ratio analysis, it can be observed that the Islamic banks were affected lesser than the conventional banks. 1.2 Z-Scores In this case, z-score is the test for financial stability of the two systems. Conven z-score Islamic z-score Overall Avg z-score 2002 7.046525 11.84681784 9.446672 2003 5.77853 4.605240229 5.191885 2004 10.33028 4.238655854 7.284467 2005 8.640415 4.21893723 6.429676 2006 10.80977 9.34741143 10.07859 2007 7.954082 12.91780713 10.43594 2008 6.356607 4.69090727 5.523757 2009 6.103882 5.737315593 5.920599 Avg 7.877512 7.200386572 7.538949 The table above shows the summary of z-scores for both the banking systems and the overall z-score as an average of both. There are some surprising results here. The z-score for Islamic banks is a little less than that of the conventional banks even though the results of the financial ratio analysis showed that the Islamic banks were exposed to less risk as compared to the conventional banks during this period, especially the period of financial crisis. In other words, the conventional banks are a little more financially stable than the Islamic banks. Looking at the trend of the z-scores during our sample time period, the graph shows that on overall, conventional banks z-score was higher thus showing that they were more insolvent as compared to the Islamic banks. However, it can be seen that there was a fall in z-score before and during the crisis in 2006 and 2007 for conventional banks and only during this period, the Islamic banks were less risky. However, the dip in the aftermath of the crisis for the Islamic banks showed that they became riskier especially after the crisis in 2008 and 2009. It is worth noting here that in 2009, the z-score for the conventional banks has a downward trend and for Islamic banks, it is rising. Hence, in the future, it may be predicted when the things get stabled that the Islamic banks would become less risky and more financially stable. Conventional Islamic ROA Equity/Assets Z-Score ROA Equity/Assets Z-Score Average 2.03 0.08 7.88 2.10 0.10 7.20 In the table above, the average results are shown. There is a higher return on assets for the Islamic bank during the period on average, and also a higher share of equity in assets as compared to the conventional banks. However, the z-score on average is lower for Islamic banks as compared to the conventional banks thus telling that even though there is less ROA and equity share in the assets for the conventional banks, they are more stable financially and have lesser risk for solvency. However, as mentioned earlier, there is a rising trend for the Islamic banks at the moment. Hence, once the dust settles down, we can have a clearer picture of the future of the two systems. However, the slight variations in the z-score do not differentiate the financial stability of the two banking systems by very much. Hence, it would be unwise to conclude something here at this point of time. 1.3 Regression Analysis Overall Regression: SUMMARY OUTPUT Regression Statistics Multiple R 0.803713 R Square 0.645954 Adjusted R Square 0.173893 Standard Error 1.94228 Observations 8

Maxine Hong Kingstons Woman Warrior Essay -- Maxine Hong Kingston Wom

Maxine Hong Kingston's Woman Warrior   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Food strengthens us, without it we are weak. Eating has always been an important factor with families living in poor conditions. Often, those who could not help to produce more food are considered inferior or unworthy to eat. Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior is no exception, due to the relation it creates between eating and the strength of people. This is shown through the tale of Fa-Mu-Lan, the story of the eaters, and the references to the fellow relatives left in China.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the tale of Fa-Mu-Lan, the narrator is given a survival test, where she has to survive a mountain trek without provisions. During that trek, the narrator finds herself weary from hunger. Hunger brings out her animal instincts, because she needs to stay strong to live. 'On the fourth and fifth days, my eyesight sharp with hunger, I saw deer and used their trails when our ways coincided. Where deer nibbled, I gathered the fungus, the fungus of immortality'; (25). The narrator is forced to search for her food to eat. The hungrier she becomes, the more feral she is. Meat also played a role in the connection between food and strength. During the beginning of her story she claimed she no longer needed meat. After she became starving, she breaks down and eats meat. '†¦I saw the rabbit had sacrificed itself for me. It had made me a gift of meat'; (26). Her will was eroded by the hunger because as her hunger increased, she became weaker and her resolve was easier t o destroy. When the narrator was not starving she was in control of her faculties. Hunger however, strips her even of vision, as she imagines things that do not exist. The narrator says, 'Hunger also changes the world when eating can't be habit, then neither can seeing. I saw two people made of gold dancing the earth's axis'; (27). Viewing two gold dancers would be wonderful to witness, however the chances are very slim. The hunger had weakened her to the point of confusion, and possibly dilution. Just as hunger weakens a person so they cannot command themselves, eating will make a person powerful and the masters of others.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The stories of the heroes who ate heaping amounts of food illustrate that those who can eat have extraordinary powers. The narrator says before, that her mother is powerful';†¦because she can eat anything – quick, pluck out the carp's eyes, one for... ..., yet Kingston continues to reference the topic throughout the book. In the chapter At the Western Place, Brave Orchid meets her sister Moon Orchid at the airport. ''†¦you're so skinny.' 'You're so fat.' 'Fat women are more beautiful than skinny women''; (118). Brave Orchid's bitterness toward American culture influenced the narrator. Fat carried not only excess lipids, it carried wealth and power in Brave Orchid's opinion. Women were more beautiful with fat because wealth enabled them to achieve their 'beauty';. The incessant use of references between strength and eating throughout the book show the narrator was influenced is some manner. The product of the influence may not have been a fat woman, but a woman educated in two cultures. Eating is vitally important in the memoir The Woman Warrior. It is regarded as a sign of strength in the book. That point is shown through Fa-Mu-Lan, the story of heroes, and through relatives in China. With those, Kingston became educated in two differing cultures, possibly influenced by both. The connection between hunger and strength is well known throughout the ages, as the old military adage states, 'An Army marches on its stomach.';

The Significance of Nicknames in Italian-American Culture and the Novel Christ In Concrete :: Essays Papers

The Significance of Nicknames in Italian-American Culture and the Novel Christ In Concrete Nicknames. They are something that everyone is familiar with in one way or another. However, most people have little, if any, personal experience with nicknames. In Italian-American culture, nicknames play a major role in everyday life. Nicknames are formed with a certain unspoken format, and they have a particular importance. In Italian-American culture nicknames, even though to others they may seem harsh and cruel, are terms of endearment and give a sense of belonging. â€Å"Soprannomi† in Italian means â€Å"above the name† (Mazzoni) and refers to dialect nicknames (Addario and Rulli). To the â€Å"outside world† Italian-American’s use of nicknames may bring to mind organized crime, due to negative media portrayal, with such names as Al â€Å"Scarface† Capone and Tony â€Å"The Big Tuna† Accardo (Arduini). From my personal experience, I can say that within the Italian-American culture nicknames have a much sweeter significance. Since very large, extended Italian families all were apt to dwell in close proximity to one another, nicknames were traditionally used to distinguish one branch of a family from another, and/or one individual from another (Addario and Rulli). Another very good reason for the use of nicknames comes from the â€Å"rigor of most Italian naming traditions† (Arduini). The first-born son is to be named after his paternal grandfather, and the second-born son is to be named after his maternal grandfather. Likewise, the first-born daughter is to be named after her paternal grandmother, and the second-born daughter is to be named after her maternal grandmother. The children that follow, â€Å"Lord willing†, are to be named after their godparents, not to mention the naming of children after patron saints. It goes without saying that many family members, and community members, end up with the same names. Obviously this leads to tremendous confusion when families and communiti es are gathered and talking to and about one another, which occurs frequently. Therefore there is actually a desperate need for nicknames. The most basic form of nickname assignment is the tag of â€Å"Big† and â€Å"Little† added to the oldest and youngest carriers of a name (Arduini). Although, since most Italian families are so large, this isn’t always sufficient, so nicknames have to rely on other characteristics. A very convincing example of the role that nicknames play in Italian-American life is portrayed in Pietro di Donato’s novel Christ In