Seismic Analysis

EVALUATION OF SEPERATION GAP BETWEEN MULTISTOREY BUILDINGS SUBJECTED TO DYNAMIC SEISMIC LOAD Dr. G Sridevi1*(0000-0002-5922-3132), Mr. Umesh Biradar 2(0000-0003-0087-9433), Mr. G Sudarshan 3(0000-0002-5129-5465) and , Mr. A Shivaraj 4(0000-0002-7437-1256) 1234 B V Raju Institute of Technology, Narsapur, India Abstract : When structures are under earthquake forces, adjacent structure may collide with each other due to different dynamic characteristics. When building vibrates out of phase and separated gap between buildings are not sufficient to accommodate their relative motions, this can cause severe damage to the structures and it is known as seismic pounding. Most of the time it is not possible to maintain sufficient pounding gap between adjacent buildings. Present work evaluate the minimum separation gap required between high-rise building models considered. Two high-rise building of 10 storey and 15 storey are modelled and analysed for dynamic time history analysis for the EI Centro ground motions and minimum pounding gap between buildings has been discussed.Keywords : Seismic Pounding, RC Building, ETABS, Time History Analysis.INTRODUCTIONBecause of expanding population and land esteems, structures are being built to close to each other. During a quake it is expected that, they will pound against each other. This repeated collision activity is referred as seismic pounding. Pounding of structures could have cause severe damage, as neighbouring structures with various dynamic attributes vibrate out of phase and there is inadequate separation gap to accommodate the relative movements of adjacent structures. This highly congested construction system in the metropolitan cities is the major concern for the seismic pounding. The most simple and viable method for controlling the issue and diminish the harm caused by it is to give enough separation gap between the adjacent structures.LITERATUREShehata (2006) examined structure pounding response and proper seismic hazard dissipation technique. Three categories of recorded earthquake excitation are used for input. The effect of impact is studied using linear and nonlinear contact force model for different separation distances and compared with nominal model without pounding consideration. And it is concluded that, an increasing gap width is likely to be effective to minimize the effect of seismic pounding. Mizam Dogan et.al (2009) carried stress examinations on outline models for various effect focuses and investigation on pounding. It is concluded that pounding forces are not totally absorbable on account of their high esteems but rather their consequences for structure can be decreased by setting versatile materials between adjacent structures or by strengthening basic frameworks.Pushover is a static nonlinear analysis method to estimate seismic structural deformations. It gives force displacement relationship of a structure or structural element. Horizontal load is applied in a specified pattern in increments and for a given applied shear force, associated displacement is found until it reaches its maximum capacity of deformation. As the storey drift increases the columns are subjected to additional moment leading to the failure of the structure. A B Kawade et.al studied the minimum gap to be provided between the adjacent buildings using push over analysis. Response spectrum analysis was carried out by taking the data of EI Centro earthquake on different models. The results indicated that the acceleration and shear force produced because of pounding varies with the storey height and peak storey drift depends on the ground excitation characteristics. The effect of pounding is observed to be more predominate when floor levels of adjacent building are different constructing separate buildings with equal floor heights is one of viable solutions to prevent seismic structural pounding. It was also observed that the separation distance to be maintained increases with the increase in peak ground acceleration values.Jeng-Hsiang Lin et.al (2002) investigated the seismic pounding probability of buildings in the Taipei metropolitan area. Detailed procedures of the analytical method are presented. And concludes that pounding probability of adjacent buildings is found to be significantly affected by the natural period of individual buildings and the period ratio of the adjacent buildings. Due to the lack of proper treatment of the vibration phases of adjacent buildings, it is found that the method used in the current Taiwan Building Code (TBC'97) provides poor estimates for the required building separation distance and produces a non-uniform risk for all the cases investigated in this study.MOTIVATION AND OBJECTIVES OF STUDYTo Study the Dynamic Behaviour of Tall Structures.To Evaluate Seismic Pounding Effect of Adjacent Buildings with Consideration of Vertical Geometrical Irregularity.To Study the Influence of Shear Walls on Seismic Pounding Effect.MODEL DESCRIPTIONIn Present Study Total 3 Models have been Modelled to Evaluate Dynamic Behaviour of High Rise Buildings by Considering Vertical Geometrical Irregularities.M odel 1 : A Plan which consists adjacent multi storey buildings one is 10 Storey and the other one is 15 Storey with a separation of 100mm with Masonry infill walls.Model 2 : A Plan which consists adjacent multi storey buildings one is 10 Storey and the other one is 15 Storey with a separation of 100mm in this particular model all infill walls are modelled and designed as shear walls.-47625012700Fig 1 : Plan View of the Buildings1219200176530Fig 2 : Isometric View of ETABS Model1104900191770Fig 3 : Elevation of ETABS ModelMETHODOLOGYThe principle objective is to evaluate the effects of seismic pounding between two closely spaced multi-storey buildings, to understand the minimum seismic gap between the buildings, modelling is done to study the response of buildings under pounding during EI Centro earthquake.In order to observe pounding effect between adjacent buildings, two RC buildings of 10 and 15 storey are considered. Both buildings have been modelled and analysed in ETABS 2015 so ftware. Based on the analysis results the clear separation distance is provided. all 3 models have been analysed for nonlinear time history analysis to study dynamic behaviour of buildings. The output results were obtained.In Time History Analysis the ground motion records are given as input. The time history analysis has the ability to perform linear as well as non linear analysis . The ability of this method to account for bidirectional effects by applying three components of ground motion helps in predicting the response more precisely. In a Linear analysis, it is assumed that the displacement of whole structure does not exceed elastic limit under the application of design forces. when the structure deforms more than elastic limit, non linearity of the structure in terms of geometry or material are to be considered. Bureau of Indian Standards clearly gives in its code IS 4326, that a Separation distance is to be provided between buildings to avoid collision during an earthquake. The IS code provisions are mentioned in following Table.Fig 4 : Gap Width for Adjoining Structure as per IS 4326 ( Table 1 )Table 1 : Seismic ParametersSoil Type MediumResponse Reduction Factor, R 5Importance Factor, I 1.5Zone IVTable 2 : Material PropertiesConcrete cube strength, fck30 N/mm2 (M30)Characteristics strength of reinforcing steel, fy415N/mm2(Fe 415)Modulus of elasticity of concrete, E 29.5 kN/mm2Unit weight of concrete 25 kN/m3 Table 3 : Sectional PropertiesName of the Element Size in mmBeam 1 300 * 400Beam 2 300 * 500Beam 3 350 * 600Column 1 300 * 300Column 2 300 * 400Column 3 300 * 500Column 4 300 * 600Column 5 300 * 700Slabs 125Exterior walls,w1 300Interior walls,w2 230 6. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Dynamic Time History Analysis of considered models have been performed in ETABS Software. EI Centro Ground Motions were considered as Input Data for Analysis. Effect of Pounding is studied with a reference to storey displacement. The Storey Height Vs Storey Displacement graph has been plotted to understand the dynamic behaviour of Structure.Fig 2 : Storey Displacement Curve for Model 1Fig 2 : Storey Displacement Curve for Model 2Fig 3 : Storey Displacement Curve for Model 37. CONCLUSION :Stiffness of building has got a great influence on displacements in respective directions. In Model – I separation gap between adjacent buildings are 100 mm. Displacement observed was 509.883 mm in X direction and 31.881 mm in Y direction. When masonry wall are replaced with shear wall, lateral displacement has reduced in considerable amount to 36.74 % and 80.8 % in X and Y direction respectively.Effect of pounding can be reduced by providing safe separation gap. By the result of Model – I we can conclude that minimum safe separation gap between building is 540 mm.Stiffness of building can be enhanced by adopting shear wall to reduce the pounding effectREFERENCESA.B. Kawade , Mr. Abhijeet A. Sahane â€Å"Seismic pounding effect in building† Amrutvahini college of engineering, Sangamner.Alireza M.Goltabar.R, Shamstabar Kami, A.Ebadi, (2008) â€Å"Analyzing the effective parameters in Pounding Phenomenon between Adjacent Structure due to Earthquake†,The 14th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, pp. 12-17, Beijing, China.Diego Lopez Garcia, (2004)â€Å"Separation between Adjacent Nonlinear Structures for Prevention of Seismic Pounding†, 13th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering Vancouver, B.C., Canada, Paper No. 478.Jeng-Hsiang Lin, Cheng-Chiang Weng, (2002)â€Å"A Study on Seismic Pounding Probability of Buildings In Taipei Metropolitan Area†, Journal of the Chinese Institute of Engineers, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 123-135.K.Kasai, V.Jeng, P.C.Patel ; J.A.Munshi â€Å"Seismic Pounding Effects – Survey and Analysis† Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago,USA.Mizam Dogan and Ayten Gunaydin, (2009)â€Å"Pounding of Adjacent RC Buildings During Seismic Loads†, Journal of Engineering and Architecture, Vol: XXII, No: 1.Raja Rizwan Hussain et.al. (2013)â€Å"Non-linear FEM Analysis of seismic Induced Pounding between Neighbouring Multi-Storey Structures†, Latin American Journal of solids and structures, pp. 921-939.Shehata E. Abdel Raheem, (2006)â€Å"Seismic Pounding between Adj acent Building Structures†, Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering, Vol. 6, pp.66-74.Susendar Muthukumar and Reginald DesRoches, (2006)â€Å"A Hertz contact model with non-linear damping for pounding simulation†, Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, Vol.35, pp.811-828.Weng Dagen, Li Tao Bashar Alfarah, Fransisco Lopez-Almansa (2017)â€Å"Non linear time history analysis of a base isolated RC building in shanghai founded on soft soil† Tongji University, Technical university of catalonia, paper No. 2634.

The Body Shop, Corporate Social Responsibility

The objective of this piece of work is to undertake a critical analysis of the cosmetics company The Body Shop, in terms of its philosophy, business practices and other activities and assess the extent to which the organisation can legitimately be regarded as a socially responsible corporate entity. The concept of corporate social responsibility will necessarily be outlined and discussed to provide a theoretical framework within which the subsequent analysis will itself be located. The study will then explore the organisation’s opposition to animal testing, its support for community trade and commitment to environmental protection. The chosen areas represent three of the five core values that underpin The Body Shop’s mission statement (Appendix 1) the other two being the activation of self-esteem and the defence of human rights, which will not be addressed specifically. It is anticipated that the structure of the study will allow the company’s history, achievements, strengths and limitations in each defined area to be evaluated within a holistic paradigm (Campbell & Kitson, 2008). The values which the company has defined and set for itself will ultimately be used as benchmark criteria against which the organisation will be assessed. Evaluation will therefore be an ongoing and integral part of the analysis, rather than a process that is separate and distinct from it, although the main themes and issues will be drawn together to expose areas of concern and signpost future courses of action. Introduction The Body Shop International PLC is a global cosmetics company launched in 1976 by Anita Roddick and her husband Gordon, which was predicated on ethical principles and the values of environmental sustainability. Generally known as The Body Shop, the company has 2400 stores in 61 countries, two thirds of which are franchised, selling a range of over 1500 products (The Body Shop, 2009a). The company also sells its products through an in home sales programme, The Body Shop at Home, in the United States, Australia and here in the United Kingdom (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2009). One of the first companies to prohibit the use of ingredients tested on animals, The Body Shop also pioneered Community Trade agreements with countries in the developing world. The company is also attributed for shaping ethical consumerism in the way it has produced and retailed its various consumer products. For many years, bolstered by its eco-friendly credentials and ethically focussed marketing strategies, The Body Shop accommodated a decidedly popular position within the public consciousness and for some at least, was seen as the epitome of a socially responsible organisation. In March 2006, The Body Shop was sold to L’Oreal in a  £652. 3 illion takeover deal, netting Anita and Gordon Roddick  £130 million for the firm they had conceived and set up thirty years previously (The Times, 2007). Anita Roddick died in September 2007 of a brain Haemorrhage (BBC News, 2007). Corporate Social Responsibility At its most basic, corporate social responsibility is an umbrella term used to describe the various ways in which organisations strive to ‘integrate social and environmental obligations with their business activities’ (Watson and MacK ay, 2003:625). Put differently, corporate social responsibility is the belief held by increasing numbers of individuals that businesses have responsibilities to society and the community in which they operate, that go beyond their obligations to investors. Although evidence of socially responsible business ventures can be traced back some significant time, the concept of corporate social responsibility in its recognisably modern form is generally regarded as a Twentieth Century phenomenon, finding formal expression in Howard Bowen’s Book ‘Social Responsibilities of the Businessman’ (1953). Bowen defined social responsibilities in the business context as those which are ‘desirable in terms of the objectives and values of our society’ (Bowen, 1953:6). Since then, definitions of corporate social responsibility have become more sophisticated responding to and taking account of changes in the complexity, nature, diversity and size of business organisations operating within an increasingly global context. There are those however who believe that ethical and moral considerations or indeed social responsibility of any kind have no place in business, its operations or processes. Milton Friedman argued that ‘there is one and only one social responsibility of business – to use it resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits’ (Friedman, 1962:133). He disputed that businesses can have responsibilities, ‘Only people can have responsibilities’ he asserted (Friedman, 1970). Friedman viewed business organisations as amoral, accommodating a position that is neither moral nor immoral. In this sense, as long as business takes place in context of open and free competition, is conducted in the spirit of fairness and within the ule of law, questions of social responsibility remain mute. Other theorists link the growth and ascendancy of corporate social responsibility, to the proliferation of ethical consumerism. From this perspective, it is the demands of consumers for products and services that are produced ethically, do not benefit from human exploitation or have no detrimental effects upon the environment, rather than the philanthropic endeavours or altruistic tendencies of business entities that is of most significance (Burchell and Cook, 2006). Irrespective of its precise definition or the theoretical perspective from which it is evaluated, there is little doubt that since its formalised conception, corporate social responsibility has become a major entity on the management and business landscape as well as the object of widespread academic interest. In this context, it appears that the CSR concept has a bright future because at its core, it addresses and captures the most important concerns of the public regarding business and society relationships (Carroll, 1999). Opposition to Animal Testing From the outset, The Body Shop has maintained and publicly declared that it does not test its cosmetic products on animals, nor does it commission others to do so on its behalf, as it considered the practice to be unethical. Indeed, this sentiment became a central facet of the organisation’s philosophy and one that set it apart from its main industry competitors. It is also a policy that has served to define the organisation in terms of its ethical stance and one that has been reaffirmed in many of the company’s publications (The Body Shop, 2006a). In the 1980’s The Body Shop, supported by many of its customers and a wide spectrum of animal protection groups, campaigned for a change in the law on the testing of animals for cosmetics purposes in the UK, Europe, the Netherlands, Japan and Germany. In 1996, The Body Shop presented the European Union with a petition signed by over four million people, objecting to the use of animals in cosmetic testing, which at the time was the largest of its kind ever constructed. The organisation played a significant part in the UK government’s decision in 1998 to ban animal testing for cosmetic products and ingredients. Additionally, the various campaigning activities of Anita Roddick resulted in the banning of finished product tests in Germany and the Netherlands, whilst in Japan The Body Shop was responsible for organising the first major campaign on this issue. In 1995, The Body Shop arranged for the independent auditing of its Against Animal Testing supplier monitoring systems and for their certification using the ISO 9002 quality assurance standard. The organisation was one of the first to sign up to the Humane Cosmetic Standards scheme (HCS) in 1996. This internationally recognised framework was conceived and implemented to enable consumers to easily identify in the purchasing process, cosmetic and toiletry products that have not been tested on animals. In 2004, The Body Shop Foundation (BSF) awarded  £20,000 to The Centre for Alternatives to Animal Testing at John Hopkins University to support research into alternatives that might eradicate the need for animal testing entirely. In 2005, the Royal Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) awarded the company first place in the cosmetics category for ‘Achieving Higher Standards of Animal Welfare’ in recognition of its efforts on this issue (RSPCA, 2005). The following year, it was awarded first place in the ‘Best Cruelty-Free Cosmetics category by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Lauren Bowey of PETA said at the time of the presentation that ‘The Body Shop is a driving force in promoting a more humane lifestyle. By renouncing animal tests, The Body Shop has shown beauty doesn’t have to have an ugly side’ (The Body Shop, 2006b). In 2008, the RSPCA once again recognised the achievements of The Body Shop, by presenting it with the Good Business Award and in 2009 the society bestowed its ultimate accolade, A Lifetime Achievement Award upon the company. The Body Shop was presented with a special lifetime achievement award for its longstanding commitment in campaigning for animal welfare, and for the work of Dame Anita Roddick in being instrumental in driving legislative change, which has seen an European Union wide ban on animal testing come into force this year’ (RSPCA, 2009). Despite its seemingly impressive track record, there are those who argue that The Body Shop’s stance against animal testing did not develop from deeply hel d ethical beliefs concerning animal welfare, but was rather a commercially motivated strategy to enhance the company’s profitability. Anita Roddick, apparently held no strong views on the issue, but after the use of a Not Tested on Animals slogan was proposed by the company’s first cosmetic consultant Mark Constantine and was later proven to have improved sales, her commitment to this cause seemed to shift. Indeed, no mention is made of animal testing or lack thereof in any of the company’s early promotional literature, nor could its customers reasonably deduce The Body Shop’s ethical position on the matter from logos or slogans on the packaging of its initial product lines. It was not until 1987, when The Body Shop undertook a promotional campaign with the British Union Against Vivisection (BUAV) to end testing on personal care products, that the company’s alignment and identification with the issue against animal testing for cosmetics products can be said to have taken place (Entine, 1996). The Not Tested on Animals claim that became almost synonymous with The Body Shop brand has also been the target of much criticism by animal welfare campaigners and others who argue that the statement is clearly and demonstrably false. For example, it is not possible for The Body Shop or any other cosmetics producer to guarantee that its products contain materials or ingredients that have never been tested on animals. All cosmetics contain fragrances, colourings, preservatives and other formulations that must comply with international regulation and certification processes. It is the case that compliance with such regulatory mechanisms almost certainly involves the use of animal testing, even if it is acknowledged that such tests were conducted some time ago. Indeed, The Body Shop’s shift from the use of Not Tested on Animals to the adoption of Against Animal Testing logo in 1989 was influenced to a large extent by legal challenges in Germany and in the United States following complaints from cosmetic companies and animal welfare groups. The objections were not solely concerned with The Body Shop’s unjustified and exaggerated claims, but the organisation’s portrayal that its policies and practises vis-a-vis animal testing were somehow more ethically robust and superior to those of other companies. In making the transition from one position to another, The Body Shop redoubled it publicity campaign giving the impression in the public domain at least, that it was strengthening its opposition to animal testing in the production of its cosmetics. Perhaps the most significant attack against the Body Shop by animal rights supporters and indeed those who subscribed to and took seriously the notion of corporate social responsibility, followed the sale of the company by Anita and Gordon Roddick to L'Oreal in March 2006. Despite vowing to give away the ? 30 million that she apparently made from the sale, Anita was accused of ethical hypocrisy and abandoning the principles that she had espoused during the course of her entrepreneurial career and upon which her Body Shop empire had itself been based. At its core was the policy of opposition to animal testing, a position that was not one shared by L'Oreal and for which Roddick herself had criticised the company in the past (Roddick, 1992). Campaigners against animal testing also pointed to L'Oreal’s link with the Swiss multinational firm Nestle that held a twenty six per cent share in the company (Milmo, 2006). Nestle, had attracted condemnation in the past for its alleged role in promoting baby powder in the developing world and had also been voted as the ‘world's least responsible company’ in an internet poll (Berne Declaration, 2005). Support for Community Trade Community Trade is a system that promotes the purchase of gifts, products, natural ingredients and accessories from communities around the world that are socially or economically marginalised and is a concept that The Body Shop has actively supported for more than twenty years. By allowing producers to access markets that would otherwise be unavailable to them and ensuring that remuneration for the materials, ingredients and products that are supplied is fair and ethical, Community Trade has the very real potential to provide stable sources of income for producers in some of the most socially and economically disadvantaged parts of the world. Indeed, Community Trade and other variants of it such as Fair Trade, is a central pillar of corporate social responsibility and as an identifiable scheme or programme, can have demonstrable benefits for those individuals and groups who participate in it. Under the banner of Trade Not Aid, The Body Shop purchased its first Community Trade products in 1987 from Tamill Nadu, a small community in Southern India. In 1991, Kayapo Indians used their skills to harvest the Brazil nut oil which Body Shop used in one of the company’s bestselling hair conditioning products. Similar projects quickly developed in various parts of the world such as New Mexico where the Pueblo Indians were commissioned to supply The Body Shop with Blue Corn, an essential component of its scrub mask product. Since then, the organisation has identified and worked with trade partners in over twenty countries and is now helping over twenty five thousand people throughout the world to earn a fair wage. It is also that case that more than half of The Body Shop’s core product lines contain one or more ingredients acquired through Community Trade (The Body Shop, 2006c) and that in 2009  £7. 4m was spent to support the Community Trade programme itself (Body Shop, 2009b). Over the years, the Community Trade programme has enabled The Body Shop not only to source high quality, sustainable and demonstrably natural ingredients and other products from across the world, it has allowed the organisation to make a real contribution to the lives and future of those with whom it has developed trading links and partnerships. ‘Community Trade is our commitment to trading fairly and responsibly with suppliers. We actively seek out small-scale farmers, traditional craftspeople, rural cooperatives and even tribal villages, all of them highly skilled experts at their work’ (Body Shop, 2009b). Through its Community Trade programme, The Body Shop has also supported initiatives in its supplier’s local communities, with projects that involved the building of wells, schools, community centres and the supply of educational material to enable learning and the acquisition of knowledge. Indeed, The Body Shop’s pioneering efforts in the area of Community Trade is regarded by many as a model within the cosmetics industry and one that the organisation itself hopes that others will strive to emulate (The Body Shop, 2006c). In 1996, a Code of Conduct was constructed by The Body Shop which outlined the ethical standards to which all of its suppliers should adhere. The Code was developed further in 2005 to ensure its alignment with the Ethical Trade Initiative (ETI) Base Code that sought to identify minimum standards for workers within a global context (The Body Shop, 2005). The Body Shop gave operational expression to the Code by setting up monitoring and assessment systems to ensure compliance by all its suppliers. The Body Shop also worked with those groups whose practices or conditions fell below that which was expected as it believed an educational and awareness raising approach was a more responsible and imaginative way to deal with none compliance than more Draconian responses. Indeed, there is evidence that by engaging with this audit process, suppliers have become more valuable as partners, not only for The Body Shop, but for other retailers and in some cases have caused suppliers to implement their own ethical trade agreements with others further down the supply chain. Whilst The Body Shop would appear to have pioneered the notion of Community Trade, at least if one were to accept the accuracy of the organisation’s publicity and promotional material, some anthropologists and activists have criticised the company for exaggerating the scale and nature of its programmes and other claims that have been made regarding its support for indigenous communities throughout the world. In 1994, it was estimated that Community Trade spending accounted for less than 0. 6 per cent of The Body Shop’s gross sales (Bavaria et al. , 1994). This figure is clearly meagre when compared with the finances of the fair trade organisation Traidcraft, which in the same year disclosed that no less than 31 per cent of its turnover came from fair trade sources (Entine, 1995). Such comparisons are used to question why The Body Shop focuses so much public attention on a programme that accounts for such a small proportion of its total business. Terence Turner, an anthropologist at the University of Chicago has argued that The Body Shop’s purchase of Brazil Nut oil from the Kayapo Indians did nothing to prevent the destruction of the their rain forests, as the company claimed in its public pronouncements. According to Turner, the Kayapo derived most of its income from selling logging and mining concessions on their lands, the very the activities that the Body Shop claimed to have protected through its Community Trade programme. Turner also argued that whilst The Body Shop used images of Kayapo Indians extensively in its stores and in other ‘informational broadsheets’, to enhance its depiction as a culturally sensitive company, the villagers have not been fully compensated for the use of their images by the company in this way (Bavaria et al. , 1994). There is evidence also that some of The Body Shop’s Community Trade associations are patronising and have brought mixed economic benefits for producers, whilst creating tensions, divisions and evoking widespread disruption to the existing social order for indigenous communities. It has certainly not helped the Indians come together as one people; on the contrary, it has contributed to internal antagonisms and divisions, not to mention social dislocation and alienation which recently ruptured the community completely’ (Corry, 1993:11). Environmental Protection As one would expect from a company that has aligned itself so fundamentally with ethical principles in its business practices and operations, environmental protection forms a significant part of The Body Shop’s philosophy of sustainable development. Indeed, since its creation, the organisation has supported the use of technologies and materials that cause minimal harm to the environment and its inhabitants and has promoted the use of resources and ingredients in its product lines that are renewable and sustainable. In 1976, when The Body Shop set up its first UK store in Brighton, it was the one of the first cosmetics companies to provide a refill service and actively encourage its customers to return their used containers and packaging for recycling, a practice that continues today (Roddick, 2006). In continuing its tradition of waste reduction The Body Shop has recently introduced plastic bottles made from one hundred per cent recycled material, an initiative that built upon the company’s replacement of all its carrier bags in 2008 with recycled and recyclable paper bags, the environmental benefits of which are apparent (The Body Shop, 2006d). The Body Shop also sources wood products through suppliers who are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified and hopes ultimately to become a carbon neutral retailer by 2010 (The Body Shop, 2006d). In seeking to turn the rhetoric of its environmental protection objectives into reality, the Body Shop is constantly exploring new ways to improve business practices that result in the reduction of the company’s carbon footprint. Many of its stores have already benefitted from structural refurbishment projects that have resulted in energy efficiencies and more are planned in the future as part of an ongoing programme. Low energy lighting and heating systems, conversion of company cars to lower emission models and the reduction of air travel by Body Shop staff are all hoped to contribute towards the longer term objective of carbon neutrality. Where it is possible, The Body Shop is also committed to using renewable sources of energy to run its offices, stores and warehouses throughout the world. In the UK for example, sixty five per cent of its stores are linked to renewable energy contracts. Such energy saving and conservation strategies have been underpinned by awareness training for staff members, which it is hoped will lead to further reductions in the company’s use of finite environmental resources (The Body Shop, 2009d). Although regulatory changes are planned in the future (DEFRA, 2006) public companies are not currently compelled by law to report on their environmental record, unlike the publication of financial statements, nor indeed maintain systems though which such data can be accurately captured. It is the case however that The Body Shop voluntarily published three independently verified environmental statements in 1992, 1993 and 1994, each of which met the criteria of the European Union Eco-Audit, which is now the Eco-Management and Audit scheme (EMAS). In 1994, The Body Shop enhanced and developed its environmental reporting strategy, by combining it with evidence based information of its performance and progress in a number of other areas. The outcome was the production of The Body Shop’s Values Report 1997, a document that is often seen as ‘one of the most significant social performance reports ever prepared’ (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2009:798) and for which the company developed its own ethical auditing methodology (The Body Shop, 2008). Since then The Body Shop has produced further Values Reports, the latest of which includes contributions from a stakeholder’s panel and an external advisor Alan Knight. Alan serves on the UK Sustainable Development Commission and is a highly respected voice, whom we felt would challenge and provoke us’ (The Body Shop, 2009:8). Despite the apparently positive stance taken by The Body Shop on matters of environmental protection and its portrayal in the public domain as the very epitome of a progressive company, there are those who have challenged this perception and rather than being a champion of green issues within the cosmetics industry, believe the org anisation is concerned more with the pursuit of profit than it is with saving the planet (Suzuki, 1996). Whilst publicly declaring its commitment to recycling, The Body Shop has in the past printed its catalogues on ReComm Matte paper, a product produced by Georgia Pacific, a company based in Atlanta notorious for its environmental problems and the large scale harvesting of rainforest timber. Sources within The Body Shop at the time said that the firm had switched from the post-consumer waste recycled paper it was then using to the Georgia Pacific product in January of 1993, apparently because it was cheaper and glossier than the material it had replaced (Entine, 1996). The Body Shop has also phased out the use of reusable and more easily recyclable unbreakable glass containers in favour of plastic receptacles made from petrochemicals that are not recyclable in the majority of markets within which The Body Shop operates. Once again, sources within the company suggest that this move was motivated by escalating shipping costs and thus the imperative to save money, although was apparently promoted in the media and within company literature as being environmentally progressive. There is also evidence that some of The Body Shop’s processing operations have resulted in the discharge of non-biodegradable and some toxic chemicals into local sewerage systems. David Brook, former head of The Body Shop’s United States Environmental Department has confirmed a number of incidents that involved the leaking of materials from the company’s facility in New Jersey. This is underpinned by public records held by the Hanover Sewerage Authority that cites three cases of discharge, although Michael Wynne, an official with the organisation suspected that there were probably more (Entine, 1994).

Essay on Flow Cytometry Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

On Flow Cytometry - Essay Example The light source usually used is a laser light. The cells are hydro-dynamically maneuvered such that only one cell intercepts the laser beam at a given time. When these cells intercept the laser beam, light is scattered by them and absorbed by the fluorochrome. The fluorochrome gets excited and releases a photon of light with specific spectra unique to that fluorochrome. This scattered and emitted light is converted to electrical pulses by the optical detectors. Parallel light waves are picked up by the confocal lenses focused at the point where the cells intercept the laser beam. Optical filters are used to send light to different detectors, where it is processed by a series of linear and log amplifiers and finally the analogs are digitalized to plots and graphs (Berkeley). Flow cytometry is done when the experimenter is not interested in keeping the cells but simply in analyzing the distribution of cell size and/or surface molecules on the cells in the suspension. But if he/she is interested in identifying and separating the cells, then a flow cytometer equipped with fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS) is required. In FACS, the scattered and emitted signals passed onto the computer are used to generate electrical charge, which is then passed onto the cells-stream just before forming droplets. Having attained a charge, these cells deflect from the main stream as they pass between plates having opposite charge. Positive drops go to negatively charged plate and vice versa. In this way subpopulation of cells can be purified from a collection of cells, distinguished by the labeled antibodies. Data Analysis: An important principle of flow cytometry data analysis is to selectively visualize the cells of interest while eliminating results from unwanted particles e.g. dead cells and debris. This procedure is called gating. This is based on the fact that dead cells have lower forward scatter and higher side scatter than living cells. The data collected by the com puter is represented in several ways like density plots, contour diagrams, and histograms. On density plots each dot represents an individual cell that has intercepted the laser beam. Contour diagrams are an alternative way to demonstrate the same data. Joined lines represent similar numbers of cells. Histograms can be a single parameter or two parameter histograms based on the parameters displayed on the two axes. Single parameter histograms are graphs that display a single measurement parameter (relative fluorescence or light scatter intensity) on the x-axis and the number of events (cell count) on the y-axis. Two parameter histograms are graphs that display two measurement parameters, one on the x-axis and one on the y-axis, and the cell count as a density (dot) plot or contour map (Kenneth 2012). Technical Hints: Single cells must be suspended at a density of 105–107 cells/ml to prevent tubing from clogging up. The rate of flow sorting should be adjusted to 2000–20 ,000 cells/second. If cells have intracellular antigens, these cells have to be fixed and permeabilized prior to adding the fluorochrome. This allows probes to access intracellular structures while leaving the morphological scatter characteristics of the cells intact. Splenocytes: Mouse spleen can have several cell types at any given time. These cells could be B cells and its subtypes, T cells and its sub

The Two Major Theories Relating To Leadership and Motivation in Essay

The Two Major Theories Relating To Leadership and Motivation in Organizations - Essay Example The researcher states that the modern world has become competitive requiring organizations to be as creative as possible so as to ensure that their workplaces are motivated as much as possible. When motivation is concerned, the modern workers are not directly motivated by financial increments. Some may prefer other motivational ways most of which can be suggested by the employees themselves. This brings in another issue of communication, which is crucial to the management being practiced and requires the leadership traits of the supervisor to keep up. In this instance, most successful organizations take employees seriously and view them as the most important asset to the functionality and productivity of the organization. In contrast, the organizations that view employees in a similar way to the machinery and the equipment in the workplace encounter resistance when it comes to implementation of changes in the organization and in fulfilling the core tasks that the organization intends to realize. Such organizations are also prone to intense competition since the productivity is wanting from the perspective of employee psychological health. A happy workplace is a highly productive workplace. Analyzing and contrasting two of the best theories related to motivation and organization’s leadership is essential so as to put this into perspective. One of the best theories related to motivation and leadership of the organization and one that is essential to the working of the organization is the participative theory of leadership. This is a contrast theory to the autocratic theory but both can be utilized in a creative manner to ensure smooth operation of the organization and the achievement of the intended objectives and goals. The participative theory can also be referred to as the democratic theory due to its nature.

Unit2 -- IT3318 Systems Administration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Unit2 -- IT3318 Systems Administration - Essay Example Deciding which particular process must be continued and choosing to delete a particular program against the other chosen ones also makes up for the tasks completed during the process management. These include the input and output enabling commands and components. The sole purpose of the I/Os is the enabling function of converting a machine interfaced language to the user understandable language. There are other important functions that are assigned to the I/O components. These include providing the computer programmers with the relevant information about the source code only and protecting any other information that may not support the programmers purpose of tackling the operating system. Resource allocation process consists of the function of allocating the work load and the programs load according to the capacity of the operating system and the kernel. It is associated with the function of stacking up the information and ensuring that the operating system does not suffer from delay and wait. Allocating resources along the cache and preventing any deadlocks in the operating system activities make up for the allocation process. The purpose is to get a smooth flow of the operating system and overall performance altogether. RAM is used for this purpose which ensures providing the secondary data and storage for processes execution. Allocating the memory to the right kind of registers and addresses is the function fulfilled in this part of the program. Ensuring that the data so used is in use by the authentic users is also the main memory management function. Memory spaces adjustment on the hard disk and the Ram is another function performed during the main memory management process. Operating systems tools provide various functionary support and assistance in the case of patches and new versions of the operating systems introduced. The following are few of the commonly used and commonly

Fuel prices remain high because of the United State's energy policy Research Paper

Fuel prices remain high because of the United State's energy policy - Research Paper Example In 1970s and 1980s renewable energy was called alternative energy because it was the best alternative for nuclear power and fossil fuel. There are different sources of energy. Firstly, I would like to discuss renewable energy that can be extracted from natural resources. Types of renewable energy are wind, solar, hydroelectric, biomass, geothermal and tidal energy. Then we also have fossil fuel sources extracted from coal or hydrocarbon, which are the remains of decomposition of animals and plants. There are three types of Fossil fuels: coal petroleum, natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Third one is Nuclear power based on fission and fusion. The US is second largest energy consumer in world.  The US is seventh country in the world in terms of consumption of energy per capita. We know that in 20th century, after coming out of isolation US played a major role in the world socially, politically and economically. Every event or crisis in US has its own historical background; nothing happens within some days or months. Same is the case of fuel price, which is one of the biggest issues in the US now days. US was an agrarian state in 18th century but industrial revolution brought changes in the energy requirements and its production ways. At that time major source was coal to produce energy till 20th century then it took drastic change during WWII era. Petroleum and natural gas attracted the attention of US energy production sectors in 1950s. †Following  World War II, oil heating boilers took over from coal burners along the Eastern Seaboard;  diesel locomotives  took over from coal-fired  steam engines  under dieselization; oil-fired electricity plants were built; petroleum-burning buses replaced electric  streetcars  in a GM driven conspiracy, for which they were found guilty, and citizens bought gasoline powered cars.  Highways helped make cars the major means of

Study on what drives potential employees who are currently studying Dissertation

Study on what drives potential employees who are currently studying business in Foundation Campus (UK) to choose a job that offe - Dissertation Example endations 30 APPENDICES 34 Appendix 1: Questionnaire 34 Appendix 2: Interview 36 CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION 1.1 Overview The area of this research is human resource management. This area is made up by several fields which includes reward and motivation (Boddy, 2008). Human resource management refers to the use of modern science approach to "train, organize, and allocate some people"(Stone and Stone-Romero, 2008). People's thought, psychological and behavior of the appropriate induction, control and coordinate. To create people’s self-image and to improve people’s motivation of working, it is good to keep balance of employee e and material resources. Human resource management is the â€Å"effective use† of people so that can â€Å"boost organizational performance† (Simons 2011). Managers use employees to finish task effectively so that to make company performance better. Managers can give opportunities to motivate employees to work better. It is a way to use people to work hard. For example, manager reward, recruits, train and verbally punish their employees (Thussu and Freedman, 2003; Ruppel, 2010). The field of this research will be based on reward, extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. Mmotivation is a â€Å"process of allocating energy to maximize the satisfaction of needs† (Pritchard and Ashwood, 2008). Motivation is the driving force in order to employees to keep their goals. For example, employees hope to have their own car. They will be motivated by their own desire. They will earn enough money to buy it. Motivation can also be defined as a recurrent concern (McClelland, 1985, p.590). The goal state acts like workers to do something very well or having impact. For example, if people feel hungry, they will find food from different places. The aspect of human resource management is interesting as the research seeks to reward employees in intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Reward is that" work ana lysis, making plan of human resource needs and recruit; training and exploiting" (Adair, 1996). It is a good way to know what the employees need when they work in a company and how the employers can meet the needs of employees. Intrinsic motivation refers to inside an individual "interesting" (McClelland, 1985). Workers enjoy job itself and the challenge is offered a sense of pleasure. Inside desires to finish a special task, people do some activities because it can give them pleasure. Meanwhile, it develops particular skill of employees. Extrinsic motivation factors are external rewards such as salary for workers or grades for students (McClelland, 1985). This type of motivation provides satisfaction and pleasure even though the task itself can be discussing. People are motivated by money and

What was the ideal female image projected by mass media in the 1950s Essay

What was the ideal female image projected by mass media in the 1950s Was this ideal also the reality Why, or why not - Essay Example While the husband was away, the ideal woman would clean the house, make porridge for the babies and bake cookies for the children returning from schools. The family seemed to offer a psychological fortress, a buffer against both internal and foreign threats. In this ideological climate, independent women threatened the social order. Under cultural pressure and with limited options for work outside the home, women, contained and constrained, donned their domestic harness. (Meyerowitz, 1994). The ideal image was not quite real because many women did not feel comfortable restrained into the boundaries of their home. They felt that their rights were subdued and they did want things to change for good. Women of 1950s wanted to play their role in social development along with men and yet maintain a balance between their professional and domestic life. Their constant effort improved their lifestyle in the 1960s when more women joined schools and entered the workplaces than ever

Sex and sexuality a cultural taboo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sex and sexuality a cultural taboo - Essay Example (Bristow 2) Sex is the physical course of action of the process of intercourse where as sexuality is how you feel, perceive or experience it. Studies have shown that when individuals move from one culture to another, the impact of culture on the sexuality of females is much greater than that on males. Christensen and Carpenter, (as cited in McAnulty and Burnette, 2006) argue that recently more information is being accumulated on the subject of sex and how it differs across different cultures and this will increase the knowledge database on the subject which wasn’t available in such a quantity in the past, the information provided by studies conducted on such matters gives proof that there is not much unevenness between the cross-cultural practices of men and women but when comparing the two one can conclude that that women tend to be at variance a lot more across those cultural margins in comparison to the male individuals. The basic concept and understanding of sexuality cann ot be altered in any manner no matter how much the society attempts to do so (Aggleton 188). The impact of sexual cultural practices on general health and the lives of its members: People have varying cultural practices regarding sex and sexuality; their beliefs and culture depend upon their religion, beliefs, social customs and area in which they are living. Where their cultural practices offer benefits, they also pose high risks for the individuals undergoing them e.g. FGM is mostly done in unhygienic conditions and also without anaesthesia, it is an extremely painful procedure and if things don’t go well, it could result in infection, diseases, infertility or even death. Also it permanently deprives the child of sexual pleasure for without her genitalia she will never be able to enjoy her sexual life. It is a cultural norm for those people, and any girl who is not circumcised loses her chance of marriage as it is considered disgraceful to marry a girl who is open. The topi cs of sex and sexuality are considered taboo topics in most cultures as well as religions. The youngsters when growing up and going through physical change have many questions regarding sex and sexuality but are unable to discuss them since it is an unmentionable topic they are inquisitive about their sexuality and how they perceive themselves in that manner but they end up keeping their queries and fears to themselves since they don’t have the opportunity to discuss. Female circumcision is a brutal practice and requires our attention to be curbed. The various cultural practices can be better explained as follows: Male circumcision: Circumcision is basically a small operation performed on the male`s penis to remove the skin covering the tip of his penis (Milos & Macris 1994). It was thought that young babies don’t have their senses fully developed and are unable to feel pain which is why it was recommended that circumcision be performed preferably on infants. But later it was discovered that infants are fully capable of experiencing pain and they can very well feel the excruciating pain inflicted upon them during the circumcision process (Northrup 2004). Circumcision has been practiced for

World Politics Trend and Transformation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

World Politics Trend and Transformation - Essay Example Waltz on expressing his neorealist conceptualization of the determinants of international behavior claims: "international structure emerges from the interaction of states and then constrains them from taking certain actions while propelling them toward others"1. The analysis of modern economic and integration processes occurring in it allows to allocate two basic tendencies. One of them is quantitative growth of the countries incorporated in the various international economic unions and other international economic alliances that is the evidence of increase of globalization of economy. The other tendency is continuous perfection of forms and methods of realization of world economic integration that speaks about deep qualitative changes occurring in this process. At the present stage the international economic integration has reached global scales. Globalization of economy represents the maximum form of the international economic integration. ...ic integration have had only one form of its realization - the international trade, the stage of globalization alongside with it assumes moving of labor, capital, scientific and technical knowledge, and information in planetary scale. Thus, at a stage of globalization the international economic integration gets not only more significant quantitative characteristics, but also new more developed forms. Globalization is a complex and developing process, which present stage represents only its initial level of development. Today within the limits of globalization there is a formation and organization of the international economic alliances, and alongside with it is creation of the international (transnational) corporations and financial centers. Let us try to summarize the reasons for the rapid development of integration processes in economy on a boundary the 20th and 21st centuries. From a number of the reasons and factors it is possible to allocate three core reasons: 1. The amplified competitive struggle caused by essential growth of scales of manufacture compels business to "cross" its national borders in searches of the best conditions of activity. 2. The favorable political circumstances, which have developed in second half 20th century: the disintegration of the colonial system, which have caused necessity of an establishment in the world of the new economic order, and the termination of Cold War, the period of opposition of two social and economic systems, allowed to consolidate the world community and to consider the world as complete system. Â  

Concepts And Definitions Of Disability Essay Example for Free

Concepts And Definitions Of Disability Essay The contemporary conception of disability proposed in the WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) views disability as an umbrella term for impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. Disability is the interaction between individuals with a health condition (e.g. cerebral palsy, Down syndrome or depression) and personal and environmental factors (e.g. negative attitudes, inaccessible transportation, or limited social supports). Long ago there was great confusion over the meaning of terms such as impairment, handicap, or disability. Then, in 1980, the WHO provided great service by offering a clear way of thinking about it all in a little book called International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps. All these terms refer to the consequences of disease, but consider the consequences at different levels. The disease produces some form of pathology, and then the individual may become aware of this: they experience symptoms. Later, the performance or behaviour of the person may be affected, and because of this the person may suffer consequences such as being unable to work. In this general scenario, Impairment was defined as any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological, or anatomical structure or function. Impairment is a deviation from normal organ function; it may be visible or invisible (screening tests generally seek to identify impairments). Disability was defined as any restriction or lack (resulting from an impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being. Impairment does not necessarily lead to a disability, for the impairment may be corrected. I am, for example, wearing eye glasses, but do not perceive that any disability arises from my impaired vision. A disability refers to the function of the individual (rather than of an organ, as with impairment). In turn, Handicap was defined as a disadvantage for a given individual, resulting from impairment or a disability that limits or prevents the fulfillment of a role that is normal (depending on age, sex, and social and cultural factors) for that individual. Handicap considers the persons participation in their social context. For example, if there is a wheel-chair access ramp at work, a disabled person may not be handicapped in coming to work there. Here are some examples: Impairment Speech production; Disability Speaking clearly enough to be understood; Handicap Communication I Hearing; D Understanding; H Communication I Vision; D Seeing; H Orientation I Motor control, balance, joint stiffness; D Dressing, feeding, walking; H Independence, mobility I Affective, cognitive limitations; D Behaving, interacting, supporting; H Social interaction, reasonableness Here is a diagram that suggests possible parallels between the impairment, disability handicap triad, and the disease, illness and sickness triad. (The squiggly arrows are intended to indicate a rough correspondence) Patients do not come to their physicians to find out what ICD code they have, they come to get help for what is bothering them. A Positive Perspective? Quality of Life and the International Classification of Function The focus on disability takes a somewhat negative approach to health, perhaps not unreasonable since doctors are supposed to cure diseases. But starting in the 1980s clinicians began to set goals to achieve when the disease could not be cured, beyong merely controlling symptoms. The notion of Quality of Life gained prominence as a way to emphasize a positive perspective on health health as a capacity to function and to live, even if the patient has a chronic condition. A central aim of care was to enhance the quality of the patients function, and hence their ability to life as normal a life as possible, even if the disorder could not be cured. This notion was a further extension of handicap, covering maintenance of normal function, but adding psychological well-being and, if possible, positive feelings of engagement. Measurements of quality of life extend the disability focus beyond the ability to perform activities of daily living to include a broad range of functioning (work, home, play) and also the persons feelings of satisfaction and well-being. This is necessarily a qualitative and subjective concept, judged by the patient in terms of the extent to which they are able to do the things they wish to do. In this medical context, quality of life is distinct from wealth or possessions, and to amke this clear you may see the term health-related quality of life. Reflecting these evolving ideas, the WHO revised its  Impairment, Disability and Handicap triad in 2001, re-naming it the International Classification of Function (ICF). This classification system provides codes for the complete range of functional states; codes cover body structures and functions, impairments, activities and participation in society. The ICF also considers contextual factors that may influence activity levels, so function is viewed as an interaction between health conditions (a disease or injury) and the context in which the person lives (both physical environment and cultural norms relevant to the disease). It establishes a common language for describing functional states that can be used in comparing across diseases and countries. The ICF therefore uses positive language, so that activity and participation replace disability and handicap. The ICF is described on the WHO web site. Impairment, Disability and Handicap Sheena L. Carter, Ph.D. The words â€Å"impairment,† â€Å"disability,† and â€Å"handicap,† are often used interchangeably. They have very different meanings, however. The differences in meaning are important for understanding the effects of neurological injury on development. The most commonly cited definitions are those provided by the World Health Organization (1980) in The International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps: Impairment: any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological or anatomical structure or function. Disability: any restriction or lack (resulting from an impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being. Handicap: a disadvantage for a given individual that limits or prevents the fulfillment of a role that is normal As traditionally used, impairment refers to a problem with a structure or  organ of the body; disability is a functional limitation with regard to a particular activity; and handicap refers to a disadvantage in filling a role in life relative to a peer group. Examples to illustrate the differences among the terms impairment, disability, and handicap. 1. CP example: David is a 4-yr.-old who has a form of cerebral palsy (CP) called spastic diplegia. Davids CP causes his legs to be stiff, tight, and difficult to move. He cannot stand or walk. Impairment: The inability to move the legs easily at the joints and inability to bear weight on the feet is an impairment. Without orthotics and surgery to release abnormally contracted muscles, Davids level of impairment may increase as imbalanced muscle contraction over a period of time can cause hip dislocation and deformed bone growth. No treatment may be currently available to lessen Davids impairment. Disability: Davids inability to walk is a disability. His level of disability can be improved with physical therapy and special equipment. For example, if he learns to use a walker, with braces, his level of disability will improve considerably. Handicap: Davids cerebral palsy is handicapping to the extent that it prevents him from fulfilling a normal role at home, in preschool, and in the community. His level of handicap has been only very mild in the early years as he has been well-supported to be able to play with other children, interact normally with family members and participate fully in family and community activities. As he gets older, his handicap will increase where certain sports and physical activities are considered normal activities for children of the same age. He has little handicap in his preschool classroom, though he needs some assistance to move about the classroom and from one activity to another outside the classroom. Appropriate services and equipment can reduce the extent to which cerebral palsy prevents David from fulfilling a normal role in the home, school and community as he grows. 2. LD example: Cindy is an 8-year-old who has extreme difficulty with reading (severe dyslexia). She has good vision and hearing and scores well on tests of intelligence. She went to an excellent preschool and several different special reading programs have been tried since early in kindergarten. Impairment: While no brain injury or malformation has been identified, some impairment is presumed to exist in how Cindys brain puts together visual and auditory information. The impairment may be inability to associate sounds with symbols, for example. Disability: In Cindys case, the inability to read is a disability. The disability can probably be improved by trying different teaching methods and using those that seem most effective with Cindy. If the impairment can be explained, it may be possible to dramatically improve the disability by using a method of teaching that does not require skills that are impaired (That is, if the difficulty involves learning sounds for letters, a sight-reading approach can improve her level of disability). Handicap: Cindy already experiences a handicap as compared with other children in her class at school, and she may fail third grade. Her condition will become more handicapping as she gets older if an effective approach is not found to improve her reading or to teach her to compensate for her reading difficulties. Even if the level of disability stays severe (that is, she never learns to read well), this will be less handicapping if she learns to tape lectures and read books on audiotapes. Using such approaches, even in elementary school, can prevent her reading disability from interfering with her progress in other academic areas (increasing her handicap). Gale Encyclopedia of Education: History of Special Education Top Home Library History, Politics Society Education Encyclopedia Special education, as its name suggests, is a specialized branch of education. Claiming lineage to such persons as Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard (1775 1838), the physician who tamed the wild boy of Aveyron, and Anne Sullivan Macy (1866 1936), the teacher who worked miracles with Helen Keller, special educators teach those students who have physical, cognitive, language, learning, sensory, and/or emotional abilities that deviate from those of the general population. Special educators provide instruction specifically tailored to meet individualized needs, making education available to students who otherwise would have limited access to education. In 2001, special education in the United States was serving over five million students. Although federally mandated special education is relatively new in the United States, students with disabilities have been present in every era and in every society. Historical records have consistently documented the most severe disabilities those that transcend task and setting. Itards description of the wild boy of Aveyron documents a variety of behaviors consistent with both mental retardation and behavioral disorders. Nineteenth-century reports of deviant behavior describe conditions that could easily be interpreted as severe mental retardation, autism, or schizophrenia. Milder forms of disability became apparent only after the advent of universal public education. When literacy became a goal for all children, teachers began observing disabilities specific to task and setting that is, less severe disabilities. After decades of research and legislation, special education now provides services to students with varying degrees and forms of disabilities, including mental retardation, emotional disturbance, learning disabilities, speech-language (communication) disabilities, impaired hearing and deafness, low vision and blindness, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, and severe and multiple disabilities. Development of the Field of Special Education At its inception in the early nineteenth century, leaders of social change set out to cure many ills of society. Physicians and clergy, including Itard, Edouard O. Seguin (1812 1880), Samuel Gridley Howe (1801 1876), and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (1787 1851), wanted to ameliorate the neglectful, often abusive treatment of individuals with disabilities. A rich  literature describes the treatment provided to individuals with disabilities in the 1800s: They were often confined in jails and almshouses without decent food, clothing, personal hygiene, and exercise. During much of the nineteenth century, and early in the twentieth, professionals believed individuals with disabilities were best treated in residential facilities in rural environments. Advocates of these institutions argued that environmental conditions such as urban poverty and vices induced behavioral problems. Reformers such as Dorothea Dix (1802 1887) prevailed upon state governments to provide funds for bigger and mo re specialized institutions. These facilities focused more on a particular disability, such as mental retardation, then known as feeble-mindedness or idiocy; mental illness, then labeled insanity or madness; sensory impairment such as deafness or blindness; and behavioral disorders such as criminality and juvenile delinquency. Children who were judged to be delinquent or aggressive, but not insane, were sent to houses ofrefuge or reform schools, whereas children and adults judged to be mad were admitted to psychiatric hospitals. Dix and her followers believed that institutionalization of individuals with disabilities would end their abuse (confinement without treatment in jails and poorhouses) and provide effective treatment. Moral treatment was the dominant approach of the early nineteenth century in psychiatric hospitals, the aim being cure. Moral treatment employed methods analogous to todays occupational therapy, systematic instruction, and positive reinforcement. Evidence suggests this approach was humane and effective in some cases, but the treatment was generally abandoned by the late nineteenth century, due largely to the failure of moral therapists to train others in their techniques and the rise of the belief that mental illness was always a result of brain disease. By the end of the nineteenth c entury, pessimism about cure and emphasis on physiological causes led to a change in orientation that would later bring about the warehouse-like institutions that have become a symbol for abuse and neglect of societys most vulnerable citizens. The practice of moral treatment was replaced by the belief that most disabilities were incurable. This led to keeping individuals with disabilities ininstitutions both for their own protection and for the betterment of society. Although the transformation took many years, by the end of the nineteenth century the size of institutions had increased so  dramatically that the goal of rehabilitation was no longer possible. Institutions became instruments for permanent segregation. Many special education professionals became critics of institutions. Howe, one of the first to argue for in stitutions for people with disabilities, began advocating placing out residents into families. Unfortunately this practice became a logistical and pragmatic problem before it could become a viable alternative to institutionalization. At the close of the nineteenth century, state governments established juvenile courts and social welfare programs, including foster homes, for children and adolescents. The child study movement became prominent in the early twentieth century. Using the approach pioneered by G. Stanley Hall (1844 1924; considered the founder of child psychology), researchers attempted to study child development scientifically in relation to education and in so doing established a place for psychology within public schools. In 1931, the Bradley Home, the first psychiatric hospital for children in the United States, was established in East Providence, Rhode Island. The treatment offered in this hospital, as well as most of the other hospitals of the early twentieth century, was psychodynamic. Psychodynamic ideas fanned interest in the diagnosis and classification of disabili ties. In 1951 the first institution for research on exceptional children opened at the University of Illinois and began what was to become the newest focus of the field of special education: the slow learner and, eventually, what we know today as learning disability. The Development of Special Education in Institutions and Schools Although Itard failed to normalize Victor, the wild boy of Averyon, he did produce dramatic changes in Victors behavior through education. Modern special education practices can be traced to Itard, and his work marks the beginning of widespread attempts to instruct students with disabilities. In 1817 the first special education school in the United States, the American Asylum for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb (now called the American School for the Deaf), was established in Hartford, Connecticut, by Gallaudet. By the middle of the nineteenth century, special educational programs were being provided in many asylums. Education was a prominent part of moral therapy. By the close of the nineteenth century, special classes within regular public schools had been launched in major cities. These special classes were initially established for immigrant students who were  not proficient in English and stude nts who had mild mental retardation or behavioral disorders. Descriptions of these children included terms such as steamer children, backward, truant, and incorrigible. Procedures for identifying defectives were included in the Worlds Fair of 1904. By the 1920s special classes for students judged unsuitable for regular classes had become common in major cities. In 1840 Rhode Island passed a law mandating compulsory education for children, but not all states had compulsory education until 1918. With compulsory schooling and the swelling tide of anti-institution sentiment in the twentieth century, many children with disabilities were moved out of institutional settings and into public schools. However, by the mid-twentieth century children with disabilities were still often excluded from public schools and kept at home if not institutionalized. In order to respond to the new population of students with special needs entering schools, school officials created still more special classes in public schools. The number of special classes and compleme ntary support services (assistance given to teachers in managing behavior and learning problems) increased dramatically after World War II. During the early 1900s there was also an increased attention to mental health and a consequent interest in establishing child guidance clinics. By 1930 child guidance clinics and counseling services were relatively common features of major cities, and by 1950 special education had become an identifiable part of urban public education in nearly every school district. By 1960 special educators were instructing their students in a continuum of settings that included hospital schools for those with the most severe disabilities, specialized day schools for students with severe disabilities who were able to live at home, and special classes in regular public schools for students whose disabilities could be managed in small groups. During this period special educators also began to take on the role of consultant, assisting other teachers in instructing students with disabilities. Thus, by 1970 the field of special education was offering a variety of educational placements to students with varying disabilities and needs; however, public schools were not yet required to educate all students regardless of their disabilities. During the middle decades of the twentieth century, instruction of children with disabilities often was based on process training which involves attempts to improve childrens academic  performance by teaching them cognitive or motor processes, such as perceptualmotor skills, visual memory, auditory memory, or auditory-vocal processing. These are ancient ideas that found twentieth-century proponents. Process training enthusiasts taught children various perceptual skills (e.g., identifying different sounds or objects by touch) or perceptual motor skills (e.g., balancing) with the notion that fluency in these skills would generalize to reading, writing, arithmetic, and other basic academic tasks. After many years of research, however, such training was shown not to be effective in improving academic skills. Many of these same ideas were recycled in the late twentieth century as learning styles, multiple intelligences, and other notions that the underlying process of learning varies with gender, ethnicity, or other physiological differences. None of these theories has found much support in reliable research, although direct instruction, mnemonic (memory) devices, and a few other instructional strategies have been supported reliably by research. The History of Legislation in Special Education Although many contend that special education was born with the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) in 1975, it is clear that special educators were beginning to respond to the needs of children with disabilities in public schools nearly a century earlier. It is also clear that EAHCA did not spring from a vacuum. This landmark law naturally evolved from events in both special education and the larger society and came about in large part due to the work of grass roots organizations composed of both parents and professionals. These groups dated back to the 1870s, when the American Association of Instructors of the Blind and the American Association on Mental Deficiency (the latter is now the American Association on Mental Retardation) were formed. In 1922 the Council for Exceptional Children, now the major professional organization of special educators, was organized. In the 1930s and 1940s parent groups began to band together on a national level. These groups worked to make changes in their own communities and, consequently, set the stage for changes on a national level. Two of the most influential parent advocacy groups were the National Association for Retarded Citizens (now ARC/USA), organized in 1950, and the Association for Children with Learning Disabilities, organized in 1963. Throughout the first  half of the twentieth century, advocacy groups were securing local ordinances that would protect and serve individuals with disabilities in their communities. For example, in 1930, in Peoria, Illinois, the first white cane ordinance gave individuals with blindness the right-of-way when crossing the street. By mid-century all states had legislation providing for education of students with disabilities. However, legislation was still noncompulsory. In the late 1950s federal money was allocated for educating children with disabilities and for the training of special educators. Thus the federal government became formally involved in research and in training special education professionals, but limited its involvement to these functions until the 1970s. In 1971, this support was reinforced and extended to the state level when the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children (PARC) filed a class action suit against their Commonwealth. This suit, resolved by consent agreement, specified that all children age six through twenty-one were to be provided free public education in the least restrictive alternative (LRA, which would later become the least restrictive environment [LRE] clause in EAHCA). In 1973 the Rehabilitation Act prohibited discriminatory practices in programs receiving federal financial assistance but imposed no affirmative obligations with respect to special education. In 1975 the legal action begun under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations resulted in EAHCA, which was signed into law by President Gerald Ford. EAHCA reached full implementation in 1977 and required school districts to provide free and appropriate education to all of their students with disabilities. In return for federal funding, each state was to ensure that students with disabilities received non-discriminatory testing, evaluation, and placement; the right to due process; education in the least restrictive environment; and a fre e and appropriate education. The centerpiece of this public law (known since 1990 as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA) was, and is, a free appropriate public education (FAPE). To ensure FAPE, the law mandated that each student receiving special education receive an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Under EAHCA, students with identified disabilities were to receive FAPE and an IEP that included relevant instructional goals and objectives, specifications as to length of school year, determination of the most appropriate educational placement, and descriptions of criteria to be used  in evaluation and measurement. The IEP was designed to ensure that all students with disabilities received educational programs specific to their unique needs. Thus, the education of students with disabilities became federally controlled. In the 1982 case of Board of Education of the Hendrick Hudson Central School District v. Rowley, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified the level of services to be afforded students with special needs and ruled that special education services need only provide some educational benefit to students public schools were not required to maximize the educational progress of students with disabilities. In so doing the Supreme Court further defined what was meant by a free and appropriate education. In 1990 EAHCA was amended to include a change to person-first language, replacing the term handicapped student with student with disabilities. The 1990 amendments also added new classification categories for students with autism and traumatic brain injury and transition plans within IEPs for students age fourteen or older. In 1997, IDEA was reauthorized under President Clinton and amended to require the inclusion of students with disabilities in statewide and districtwide assessments, measurable IEP goals and objectives, and functional behavioral assessment and behavior intervention plans for students with emotional or behavioral needs. Because IDEA is amended and reauthorized every few years, it is impossible to predict the future of this law. It is possible that it will be repealed or altered dramatically by a future Congress. The special education story, both past and future, can be written in many different ways.

Dtmf Based Water Controller Essay Example for Free

Dtmf Based Water Controller Essay Along with these problems there is no facility for protection from unauthorized user access to the system switching. Why use Intelligent Water Pump? 1)Manual switching is not beneficial in if user is far away from switching station. 2)Timer based switching circuits are beneficial if duration of load operation is fixed. But most of the cases it is not fixed. 3)General remote switching facility provides the efficient solution for these problem. But it is also affected with the parameter range of operation. Intelligent Water Pump provides the exact solution for these problems. It uses the intelligence of microcontroller along with the powerful peripherals. It uses GSM network which is now a days available in most of the places. It also provides password protection facility to protect the system from unauthorized use. It not on provides the remote switching of the system but also provides the status of system electricity to the user. The system provides instant access along with uncommon voice interaction facility. Operation: . GSM network:- GSM stands for ‘Global System for Mobile Communication’ It provides the network service for communication to both user controller side mobile phone. 2. User side mobile phone:- User sends the accessing commands to the Pump control unit using his mobile phone. User’s mobile phone also plays the received voice feedback messages from Pump control system. 3. Controller side mobile phone:- Controller use this mobile phone to detect p resence of call users commands( in the form of DTMF code) from headset output. Also voice feedback messages are put on the Mic i/p of this mobile. 4. Ring detector:- When user make the call , at that time the presence of ring on receiver mobile phone is detected by this circuit to inform the controller that user wants to access the system. 5. DTMF decoder:- When user enters the choice,the decoder IC8870 decodes the choice equivalent binary no. are available on it’s o/p(Q1 to Q4). Whenever new code comes ,the DTMF decoder will pulse low (STB pin) informing microcontroller that codes are available please take them. 5. Speech circuit:- All the voice messages required to inform the user about controlling action are stored in the voice rom(IC APR 9600). As per the trigger and control i/p from microcontroller, speech circuit put respective voice message on the mic i/p of controller side mobile phone. 6.  µController:- Microcontroller(89S52) keeps co-ordination among all peripherals. Whenever call is detected it takes controlling action according to user’s choice and plays respective voice messages for user’s acknowledgment. It also provides controlling signal for switching circuit as per electricity status user choice. . Switching Circuit :- It is basically a driver circuit which provides the making and breaking of ac mains to the water pump as per signal from controller. It consist of electromechanical relay and relay driver(IC2803) to drive it. 8. Water Pump:- Water Pump is a load which is to be controlled by intelligence of microcontroller based system. 9. AC mains detector:- This block detects the presence of AC mains. Controller check the status of this block before providing ON switching signal to the Water pump. Also availability of electricity can be judged from this block. 10. Power Supply:- It provides necessary power to system components as per requirement for their operation. It provides the regulated power supply along with Battery Backup facility. Block diagram of Intelligent Water Pump [pic] User Side Mobile GSM Network Controller Side Mobile Mobile Ring Detector DTMF Decoder Speech Circuit Power Supply To All Blocks  µ C O N T R O L L E R Water Pump AC mains Detector Switching Circuit Mic i/p Headset

Un Chien Andalou Experimental Movie Film Studies Essay

Un Chien Andalou Experimental Movie Film Studies Essay Bunuel explains that historically the film represents a violent reaction against what in those days was called avant-garde, which was aimed exclusively at artistic sensibility and the audiences reason. In Un Chien andalou the film maker for the first time takes a position on a poetic- moral plane. His object is to provoke instinctive reactions of disgust and attraction in the spectator. He also says that nothing in the film symbolizes anything. The premise for the ideas from the film comes from two dreams, one by Luis Bunuel and one by Salvador Dali. Therefore in a dream-like sequence a womans eye is slit open, juxtaposed with a similarly shaped cloud obscuring the moon moving in the same direction as the knife through the eye, to grab the audiences attention. The French phrase ants in the palms, shown as text on the screen literally, this is meant to show the mans urge to kill the woman, as the phrase means itching to kill. This is based on Dalis dream. A man pulls a piano along with the tablets of the Ten Commandments and a dead donkey towards the woman hes itching to kill. Shots of striped objects are repeatedly being used to different connect scenes. The film is an intense amalgam of modernist material drawn from a wider variety of cultural sources. It also includes amalgamates of the aesthetics of Surrealism with Freudian discoveries. It simply answers the general idea of that, which defines Surrealism as an unconscious, psychic automatism, able to return to the mind its real function, outside of all control exercised by reason, morality or aesthetics. The narrative of the film is not continuous, there are non-real jumps in time and space, which make the characters doubt, retract and repeat themselves very much like in a dream and time is non- linear. Surrealist artists used film as a medium because it gave visual expression to their words and ideas and seemed to be closest to dream imagery. The film begins in the present, moves to 8 years later, then 3am, then 16 years before, and finally ends in spring. A very rich and individual cinematographic language is revealed by the use of angles, optical, focus, transitions and also the alternation of long-shots and close-ups. The events that happen are not possible in our everyday reality, for example ants coming out of the palm of the mans hand. Two completely unrelated objects and ideas come together and create a never seen before new idea. Like in the opening of the film, when the womans/ cows eye is slit it was Dalis and Bunuels interest to shock the audience and make them question their own reality and by doing so creating a new one. Man Ray mixed poetry and film to create the cinà ©poà ¨me. He used the same concept as Dali and Bunuel by using completely different and unrelated ideas and objects to create a new reality. An example of a cinà ©poà ¨me is Man Rays Etoile de mer (Starfish), a poem by Robert Desnos, which Man Ray interpreted through film. The film also involved innovative shots and camera angles, such as glimpses through church glass,which created a distorted, unclear view of the scene. Sigmund Freuds influence on European intellectuals resulted in automatic writing and the interests in the dream world. Salvador Dalà ­ in particular set out to simulate mental disturbance with his paranoiac-critical method. These interests manifested themselves in explorations of the illlusionistic rendering of the dream world. Surrealists were tying to challenge bourgeois values and saw themselves as revolutionaries valuing destruction as a way of clearing the ideological landscape. Bunuels film made a key link between surrealism and Freudianism, by revealing the cinema as the true metaphor of the dream state. Atheistic, Dionysian, rebellious and revolutionary, the Surrealist movement thrived on the paradox of filling the moral, ethical and religious vacuum left in the wake of the First World War with another void of guiltness, sinless liberty. As a resolution of World War One the political atmosphere in the 1920s was shaky. The failure of postwar treaties, the economic disaster and the failure of the League of Nations to keep the peace, made it possible for opposing forces to once again emerge. The totalitarian regimes of several European countries used this tenuous ground to grow in the 1920s and 1930s. Benito Mussolini emerged as the head of the fascist regime in Italy which was derived from a staunch nationalism. Joseph Stalin gained control of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union in 1929 and Adolf Hitler in Germany by building the National Socialist German Workers Party into a mass political movement. The questions left from the aftermath of World War One were in need of an intellectual answer. Instead of rejecting everything, as Dada espoused, Surrealism sought a way to improve the society in which it was entrenched. While Dada was a primary rebellion of the individual against art, morality, and society based on chance and with nihilistic intent, Surrealism was based on hope. While Surrealism tended to create instead of destroy, Dada was against everything. Not only in art and literature Surrealism was a ground breaking movement, but also in politics. The strongest years of Surrealism were between1924-38, and these were in many ways characterized by political actions. Breton founded La Rà ©volution surrà ©aliste in 1925 as the voice of Surrealism . By the end of the War, many future Surrealists joined the Dada movement. They believed that the government systems had led them into the war and they insisted that it was better not to have a government, also that the irrational was preferable to the rational in art, all of life, and the civilization. A dream-logic, chance, superstition, coincidence, absurdity and challenging orientation was favoured by the surrealists. They also aimed to recreate links between primal thoughts and emotions in order to recast human needs away from materialism, mass culture and social order towards immersion in the revolutionary hagiography of mankinds dark side. http://lunar-circuitry.net/wordpress/?cat=160 http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/1129727 http://www.wasistwas.de/aktuelles/reportage-HYPERLINK http://www.wasistwas.de/aktuelles/reportage-film/filmlexikon/artikel/link//e5d323f0b8/article/lexikon-experimentalfilm.htmlfilm/filmlexikon/artikel/link//e5d323f0b8/article/lexikon-experimentalfilm.html http://www.cinematica.org/archives/u/un_chien_andalou.htm http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/Moritz1920sAb.htm Surrealists used all media were to create art or poetic acts. One of the main goals of Surrealism was to force the viewer/reader out of his or her everyday reality to see a new, surreality filled with the potential of changing the world into a place of beauty, love, and freedom, away from the harsh truths of European politics and the control of the bourgeoisie. characteristic of the middle class, especially in being materialistic or conventional. Bourgeois: (in Marxist contexts) capitalist. Freudian: relating to or influenced by the Austrian psychotherapist Sigmund Freud (18561939) and his methods of psychoanalysis. susceptible to analysis in terms of unconscious thoughts or desires: a Freudian slip. Hagiography the writing of the lives of saints. a biography idealizing its subject. Le Cinà ©ma, des origines à   nos jours; prà ©face par Henri Fescourt.

Is the Cause of Terrorism Islam, or Foreign Policy? :: September 11 Terrorism Essays

Was the Cause of September 11 Islam or Foreign Policy? George W. Bush has taken a stand on the true nature of Islam, calling it, for instance, a "religion of peace." As strange as this is to hear from the president of the United States, Bush's declarations have given rise to a good deal of useful public discussion about Islam. Unfortunately, this discussion has too often accepted the confused terms of the president's rhetoric: Is there, or is there not, something wrong in the nature of Islam? Salman Rushdie ("Yes, This is About Islam," New York Times 11/2/01) and Jonathan Ebel ("Territory is Not Mind," Sightings 11/15/01) both make some useful points in the process of taking up the question, but somehow leave standing the president's fundamental misconception that a religion has an essence. Surely it is not fair to say that September 11 is "about" Islam. Violent hatred and intolerance can be adduced in too many corners of the religious world to imagine that it comes, simply, from the doctrines of one holy book or another. At the same time, it is difficult for me to blame Salman Rushdie, especially, for perceiving something within Islam today that is prone to violence. His non-violent, literary attack on Islam was, after all, taken by some Muslims to justify very real threats to his life. And, he marshals some reasonable evidence that many Muslims do believe that Islam is on board with the September 11 terrorists. Still, we ought not to declare that September 11 is "about" Islam, especially if this means that we ignore "foreign policy, humanity, global society, and the just ordering thereof"-- which Ebel says are obviously what September 11 is also "about." Ebel's list implies that a larger, broader causal story needs to be told, rather than simply to say that Islam gave us the horrors of September 11. I agree wholeheartedly. Believing too simplistic a causal story carries both moral and practical flaws. If Islam itself -- or something in its nature -- was the cause of the attacks, we could only prevent further attacks by preventing further Islam. In this way, such a simplistic belief would tend to sanction persecution if not genocide against Muslims. From a practical standpoint, we will have to understand the details of the real, long-term causal story if we wish to minimize the threat of repeated terrorism in America.

Essay Outline for Conflict in Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin in the Sun :: Raisin Sun essays

Conflicts in A Raisin in the Sun – Essay Outline I. Conflicts in the Play - There are many types of conflict evident in this play. Some are as follows: A. Man vs. Man - Mama is the matriarch of the family, and she is very much in control of her children's lives. She is driven by a strong sense of pride and a strong faith in God. Her ideas conflict with three other characters: 1.   Walter - His dreams of owning a licquor store conflict religiously with Mama's value system. The conflict between Mama and Walter is amplified by the fact that it is Mama's apartment in which the family lives and Walter is unable/unwilling to make decisions because Mama is so domineering. Ironically, it is the one decision that she eventually lets Walter make which nearly destroys the family. 2.   Beneatha - Mama is angered and confused by Beneatha's views on religion. 3.   Ruth - Mama is unable to accept the fact that Ruth might find it necessary to have an abortion. B. Man vs. Nature 1. Living Conditions - five people in a small apartment 2. The neighborhood - ghetto-itis 3. Economic Conditions 4. Job Dissatisfaction 5. Society's Racism    III. Individual Dreams Vs. Family Responsibilities - A central conflict in the play arises when there is disparity between the individual's dreams and his/her familial responsibilities A. Walter's desire to own a liquor store B. Beneatha's dream to be a doctor    IV. Character Contrasts A. George Vs. Asagai - George is trying to deny his heritage. His family has prospered in America and he sees no need to celebrate his African heritage. He illustrates the blandness and shallowness of a life rooted in the quest for wealth and status. Asagai contrasts with George. He is an idealist. He is intelligent, perceptive, and dedicated to helping his country in its quest for liberation. These two men embody the two forces that operate on and within the family: materialism and idealism. B. Mama vs. Walter - Mama's desires for the family contrast with Walter's. Mama wants to use the insurance money to buy a house, a symbol of stability. Walter would rather spend the money on a high risk investment. Mama represents the wiser generation.      V. Important Props A. The plant - This is representative of Mama's ability to endure despite harsh surroundings, and her tenacity in keeping her dream alive.