Operating System and Microsoft Corporation Essay

Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational software corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services related to computing. The company was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975. Microsoft is the world’s largest software maker measured by revenues.[3] It is also one of theworld’s most valuable companies.[4] Microsoft was established to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800. It rose to dominate the personal computeroperating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. The company’s 1986 initial public offering, and subsequent rise in its share price, created an estimated three billionaires and 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees. Since the 1990s, it has increasingly diversified from the operating system market and has made a number of corporate acquisitions. In May 2011, Microsoft acquired Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion in its largest acquisition to date.[5] As of 2012, Microsoft is market dominant in both the PC operating system and office suite markets (the latter with Microsoft Office). The company also produces a wide range of other software for desktops and servers, and is active in areas including internet search(with Bing), the video game industry (with the Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles), the digital services market (through MSN), and mobile phones (via the Windows Phone OS). In June 2012, Microsoft announced that it would be entering the PC vendor market for the first time, with the launch of the Microsoft Surface tablet computer. In the 1990s, critics began to contend that Microsoft used monopolistic business practices and anti-competitive strategies includingrefusal to deal and tying, put unreason able restrictions in the use of its software, and used misrepresentative marketing tactics; both the U.S. Department of Justice and European Commission found the company in violation of antitrust laws. Microsoft is the undisputed leader in the market for operating systems (Sheremata 1997). The Microsoft Corporation has produced the vast majority of operating systems for all personal computers (PCs); moreover, operating systems that Microsoft has created are Windows95, Windows 3.1, and DOS. They also have produced the leading spreadsheet and word processors for both Windows and Macintosh operating systems. They own 85% of the market share with their office software Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Microsoft Exchange, and Microsoft Access. Not surprisingly, most of us have used some if not all of these products and/ or services provided by the Microsoft Corporation. How did the Microsoft Corporation develop into a software monopoly? For the most part, one or several combinations of the following forge monopolies: an amalgamation of smart business decisions, mistakes by competitors, and at times some shady tactics that a company might employ to become a market leader and monopoly of today. Microsoft had its beginning during the 1970s when IBM was the computer hardware giant of the industry. In 1975 Microsoft was the producer of programming languages for MIPS Altair 7500 (Conigliaro1996). In 1981, Microsoft purchased an operating system for an Intel based 8086 chip from a small company named Seattle Computer Products and redesigned its product to sell it to license it to IBM for its new personal computer (PC) (Conigliaro1996). The redesigned product was released under the name MS DOS 1.0. IBM being a monopoly at that time in the hardware department, by allowing Microsoft to provide the operating system to its PCs, then an outside source, relinquished control of the software industry to this up-and-coming powerhouse. Microsoft retained the right to license their operating system to other manufacturers and helped spur the massive IBM clone industry. Microsoft became one of the leaders in the computer industry during the 1980s with the help of technologies that help provide PCs for an information hungry age and with Microsoft providing the operating systems for a high percentage of the PCs sold. By the late 1980s, Microsoft controlled the operating system market; versions of MS-DOS ran over 80% of personal computers (Conigliaro1996). However, Microsoft did not control any of the application markets, this honor went to Lotus, which at the time had the top spreadsheet, 1-2-3 and WordPerfect had the leading word processors, WordPerfect. When Microsoft introduced Microsoft Windows 3.1 in the 1990s, it locked in Microsoft in the driver seat for what is now the software monopoly that exists. Soon after, Microsoft introduced Excel 3.0 for Windows and Word for Windows 2.0. Lotus and WordPerfect did not realize the effects that Windows 3.0 would have on the industry and did not plan ahead for the evolution (Gleick 1995). The claim has also been made that Microsoft used its control over the operating system and graphical user interface markets to help growth in the applications market. Some executives spoke of the â€Å"Chinese Wall†, that is some of the developers learned to take advantage of the operating system before other companies could who did not have the access (Gleick 1995). They were also accused of when introducing new technology called object linking embedding (OLE) in Windows, they would provide the technology to Excel 3.0 developers to incorporate it into Excel before the technology was available to other companies. Making it possible for applications on a system to work with other applications made by Microsoft before competitors could have a chance to compete and provide the same or a comparable application. With the introduction of Windows 3.1 (an update on 3.0) and Microsoft having the edge, Microsoft’s Excel, Word and Office started to dominate the application market. The dawn of Microsoft the monopoly empire was on the horizon. In the 1990s Microsoft began to diversify with its dominance over the application and operating systems it began to get into producing products for multimedia, business operation systems, and now even games and online services. They have been accused of shady business practices when they attempted to purchase Intuit, the software company that owns Quicken, the world’s most popular personal finance manager. And Microsoft’s pairing Windows 95 with The Microsoft Network, both moves are threatening to new competitors because of the barriers they create. They also generate risks to innovation and competition through the entire industry. Microsoft has used its power as the leader in the market with operating systems to grow into the power that it is now. A combination of good business tactics, regretful business choices by competitors, and finally Microsoft using its new power has made Microsoft untouchable by competitors. We have several examples of monopolies in our past as a nation, and we have found that monopolies have a tendency to stiffen innovation. With computer systems innovation is important to continue and stay ahead of the market. The example we can think about is IBM, when IBM split its business it opened the door to several new businesses that have only helped society. Is Microsoft going to help society if it is ordered to split? We can only wait and see. By making Microsoft split it will open the door to new ideas from small entrepreneurs that might have the next great operating system. # Microsoft has long enjoyed Olympian profit margins, using its monopoly power to maintain prices on its software even in tough times. But now, amid a terrible downturn and rising competition, CEO Steven A. Ballmer is shifting to a scrappier approach. He is cutting prices on a variety of fronts, from flagship Windows and Office products to newfangled Internet services. The idea is to accept lower margins in some businesses but boost overall earnings by going after a grab bag of growth opportunities. These range from expanding its share of big companies’ software purchases to lowering the price of Office software so consumers in emerging markets pay for it rather than pirate it. With the outlook so cloudy, â€Å"we’re focusing on gaining share in those areas that are most critical,† says Stephen A. Elop, who heads the business division. On July 13, Elop demonstrated the new Office 2010 in New Orleans. While Microsoft expects most customers to pay for the program the way they always have, less powerful, ad-supported versions will be available free on the Web. The company is also charging a monthly fee for online applications, such as the e-mail program Exchange, which is about a third as profitable as selling the software on CDs. And on Oct. 22, Microsoft’s new Windows 7 PC operating system will go on sale in stores for $40 less than the $240 it charged when it launched its Vista program in 2007—the biggest price cut on a new version of Windows in years. All of these moves amount to a risky experiment in price elasticity. By lowering prices, the company hopes to increase sales of existing products while making fast headway with new ones. If the company can gain enough market share to cover its massive costs in Web services and Internet search—notably, its vast data centers—every extra dollar will be pure profit. â€Å"I’m not saying it will be easy,† says Ballmer. â€Å"But we have great opportunities to grow total profit dollars.† ONLY $29 IN CHINAMicrosoft is cutting the price of Office and offering the free versions of Word, Excel, and other programs to head off competition from Google and other rivals that offer similar software at little or no cost. Microsoft has so many promotions for Office that its effective price is $100, down from $150, and even lower in such countries as Brazil and India. But the experience is sparking optimism at Microsoft about the new strategy. The company says unit sales of Office surged 415% in the second half of last year. The most aggressive price cut has come in China, where Microsoft says 95% of Office installations have been pirated. Since it began testing a $29 offer in China last September, sales have soared morethan 800%. The low price was â€Å"like taking firewood from under the cauldron† of piracy, says Liu Tianxiang, a vice-president with Beijing Federal Software, a Chinese software distributor. He figures Microsoft has sold 80,000 copies of Office in China since the trial started. Now Microsoft intends to make the low price permanent. Not surprisingly, Microsoft continues to hunt for ways to offset price cuts. It hopes to boost the bottom line by encouraging Windows 7 software users to upgrade more often. Since the program CD will come loaded with multiple versions, users who buy the cheaper Starter edition can easily pay later to get premium features. Of course, that risks annoying users—when rivals such as Google are trying to lure customers with cheaper alternatives. But in the current economy, there’s no risk-free way to stay ahead.

Charles Baudelaire

Born in Paris in 1821, Charles Baudelaire has long been recognized as not only one of the greatest poets of the nineteenth century but also a forefather of modern art. Baudelaire lived during a tumultuous time in French history and his work was impacted by a number of political events. However, his personal life was also turbulent: One of the most scarring episodes of his life was the death of his father in 1827 and his mother's hasty remarriage to a general in the French army. Baudelaire detested his stepfather both personally and as a symbol of the corrupt July monarchy established following the 1830 Revolution.He went to great lengths to upset his stepfather, squandering his inheritance and living a bohemian lifestyle. Worried about his behavior, his family sent him on a trip across the Mediterranean, whose exotic beauty left a lasting impression on the young poet. Shortly after Baudelaire's return to Paris, the 1848 Revolution overthrew the July monarch and established a republic in France for the first time in more than fifty years. Baudelaire greeted the revolution with enthusiasm, fighting among the barricades and openly defying his stepfather in public.However, his joy soon turned to disenchantment when Louis Napoleon, the original Napoleon's nephew, overthrew the Second Republic in 1851. Louis Napoleon's coup d'etat instituted the Second Empire, ending the hopes for a republican form of government that men like Baudelaire favored. His disenchantment then turned to despair when Louis Napoleon began an intense rebuilding and public works project aimed at modernizing Paris. Baudelaire was horrified with the destruction of the ancient and medieval sections of Paris that he had called his home. His longing for the â€Å"old† Paris would play a major role in his poetry.Baudelaire's disgust with politics led to a rejection of reality in favor of an obsessive fantasy world inspired by drugs, the exotic beauty of the Mediterranean, and the search for lov e. He was strongly influenced in this regard not only by his experiences along the Mediterranean but also by Edgar Allen Poe, whose writings he translated into French. Baudelaire was fascinated by Poe's evocation of the dark side of the imagination, and he found a comparably sinister seductiveness in the paintings of Eugene Delacroix and Edouard Manet, as well as the music of Wagner. These themes and influences play a redominant role in Baudelaire's 1857 collection of poetry, The Flowers of Evil, which juxtaposed the negative themes of exile, decay, and death with an ideal universe of happiness. Baudelaire's exotic themes quickly caught the attention of the government, which condemned The Flowers of Evil for immorality. Unlike his friend, Gustave Flaubert, whose Madame Bovary was also put on trial, Baudelaire lost his case, had to pay a fine, and was forced to remove some poems from the collection. Baudelaire was devastated by this rejection of his work, which he attributed to the h ypocrisy of a bourgeoisie incapable of understanding artistic innovation.Yet at the same time, he saw the condemnation of his work as the culmination of the different themes and events that had shaped his artistic talent since his youth: no achievement of beauty could be unaccompanied by bitterness and disappointments. Indeed, with this philosophy, Baudelaire shifted the attention of the art world to the darker side of life, inspiring contemporary and future artists to new levels of perception and provocation. Analysis A confession of hopes, dreams, failures, and sins, The Flowers of Evil attempts to extract beauty from the malignant.Unlike traditional poetry that relied on the serene beauty of the natural world to convey emotions, Baudelaire felt that modern poetry must evoke the artificial and paradoxical aspects of life. He thought that beauty could evolve on its own, irrespective of nature and even fueled by sin. The result is a clear opposition between two worlds, â€Å"spleen † and the â€Å"ideal. † Spleen signifies everything that is wrong with the world: death, despair, solitude, murder, and disease. (The spleen, an organ that removes disease-causing agents from the bloodstream, was traditionally associated with malaise; â€Å"spleen† is a synonym for â€Å"ill-temper. ) In contrast, the ideal represents a transcendence over the harsh reality of spleen, where love is possible and the senses are united in ecstasy. The ideal is primarily an escape of reality through wine, opium, travel, and passion. Dulling the harsh impact of one's failure and regrets, the ideal is an imagined state of happiness, ecstasy, and voluptuousness where time and death have no place. Baudelaire often uses erotic imagery to convey the impassioned feeling of the ideal. However, the speaker is consistently disappointed as spleen again takes up its reign. Read also Edgar Allan Poe DrugsHe is endlessly confronted with the fear of death, the failure of his will, and the suffocation of his spirit. Yet even as the poem's speaker is thwarted by spleen, Baudelaire himself never desists in his attempt to make the bizarre beautiful, an attempt perfectly expressed by the juxtaposition of his two worlds. As in the poem â€Å"Carrion,† the decomposing flesh has not only artistic value but inspires the poet to render it beautifully. Women are Baudelaire's main source of symbolism, often serving as an intermediary between the ideal and spleen.Thus, while the speaker must run his hands through a woman's hair in order to conjure up his ideal world, he later compares his lover to a decomposing animal, reminding her that one day she will be kissing worms instead of him. His lover is both his muse, providing ephemeral perfection, and a curse, condemning him to unrequited love and an early death. Women, thus, embody both what Baudelaire called th e elevation toward God and what he referred to as the gradual descent toward Satan: They are luminous guides of his imagination but also monstrous vampires that intensify his sense of spleen, or ill temper.The result is a moderate misogyny: Baudelaire associates women with nature; thus, his attempt to capture the poetry of the artificial necessarily denied women a positive role in his artistic vision. Baudelaire's poetry also obsessively evokes the presence of death. In â€Å"To a Passerby,† a possible love interest turns out to be a menacing death. Female demons, vampires, and monsters also consistently remind the speaker of his mortality. However, the passing of time, especially in the form of a newly remodeled Paris, isolates the speaker and makes him feel alienated from society.This theme of alienation leaves the speaker alone to the horrific contemplation of himself and the hopes of a consoling death. Baudelaire further emphasizes the proximity of death through his relia nce on religious imagery and fantasy. He earnestly believes that Satan controls his everyday actions, making sin a depressing reminder of his lack of free will and eventual death. Finally, elements of fantastical horror–from ghosts to bats to black cats– amplify the destructive force of the spleen on the mind.Baudelaire was inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination, and he saw Poe's use of fantasy as a way of emphasizing the mystery and tragedy of human existence. For example, Baudelaire's three different poems about black cats express what he saw as the taunting ambiguity of women. Moreover, the presence of tortured demons and phantoms make the possibility of death more immediate to the speaker, prefiguring the fear and isolation death will bring. Summary Baudelaire famously begins The Flowers of Evil by personally addressing his reader as a partner in the creation of his poetry: â€Å"Hypocrite reader–my likeness–my brother! In â⠂¬Å"To the Reader,† the speaker evokes a world filled with decay, sin, and hypocrisy, and dominated by Satan. He claims that it is the Devil and not God who controls our actions with puppet strings, â€Å"vaporizing† our free will. Instinctively drawn toward hell, humans are nothing but instruments of death, â€Å"more ugly, evil, and fouler† than any monster or demon. The speaker claims that he and the reader complete this image of humanity: One side of humanity (the reader) reaches for fantasy and false honesty, while the other (the speaker) exposes the boredom of modern life.The speaker continues to rely on contradictions between beauty and unsightliness in â€Å"The Albatross. † This poem relates how sailors enjoy trapping and mocking giant albatrosses that are too weak to escape. Calling these birds â€Å"captive kings,† the speaker marvels at their ugly awkwardness on land compared to their graceful command of the skies. Just as in the introdu ctory poem, the speaker compares himself to the fallen image of the albatross, observing that poets are likewise exiled and ridiculed on earth. The beauty they have seen in the sky makes no sense to the teasing crowd: â€Å"Their giant wings keep them from walking. Many other poems also address the role of the poet. In â€Å"Benediction,† he says: â€Å"I know that You hold a place for the Poet / In the ranks of the blessed and the saint's legions, / That You invite him to an eternal festival / Of thrones, of virtues, of dominations. † This divine power is also a dominant theme in â€Å"Elevation,† in which the speaker's godlike ascendancy to the heavens is compared to the poet's omniscient and paradoxical power to understand the silence of flowers and mutes. His privileged position to savor the secrets of the world allows him to create and define beauty.In conveying the â€Å"power of the poet,† the speaker relies on the language of the mythically subli me and on spiritual exoticism. The godlike aviation of the speaker's spirit in â€Å"Elevation† becomes the artistry of Apollo and the fertility of Sybille in â€Å"I love the Naked Ages. † He then travels back in time, rejecting reality and the material world, and conjuring up the spirits of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, and Hercules in â€Å"The Beacons. † The power of the poet allows the speaker to invoke sensations from the reader that correspond to the works of each artistic figure.Thus, he uses this power–his imagination– to create beacons that, like â€Å"divine opium,† illuminate a mythical world that mortals, â€Å"lost in the wide woods,† cannot usually see. After first evoking the accomplishments of great artists, the speaker proposes a voyage to a mythical world of his own creation. He first summons up â€Å"Languorous Asia and passionate Africa† in the poem â€Å"The Head of Hair. † Running his fingers through a woman's hair allows the speaker to create and travel to an exotic land of freedom and happiness.In â€Å"Exotic Perfume,† a woman's scent allows the speaker to evoke â€Å"A lazy island where nature produces / Singular tress and savory fruits. † The image of the perfect woman is then an intermediary to an ideal world in â€Å"Invitation to a Voyage,† where â€Å"scents of amber† and â€Å"oriental splendor† capture the speaker's imagination. Together with his female companion, the speaker expresses the power of the poet to create an idyllic setting just for them: â€Å"There, all is nothing but beauty and elegance, / Luxury, calm and voluptuousness. † FormBaudelaire was a classically trained poet and as a result, his poems follow traditional poetic structures and rhyme schemes (ABAB or AABB). Yet Baudelaire also wanted to provoke his contemporary readers, breaking with traditional style when it would best suit his poetry's overall effect. For example, in â€Å"Exotic Perfume,† he contrasted traditional meter (which contains a break after every fifth syllable in a ten-syllable line) with enjambment in the first quatrain. The result is an amplified image of light: Baudelaire evokes the ecstasy of this image by juxtaposing it with he calm regularity of the rhythm in the beginning of the poem. Other departures from tradition include Baudelaire's habit of conveying ecstasy with exclamation points, and of expressing the accessibility of happiness with the indicative present and future verb tenses, both of which function to enhance his poetry's expressive tone. Moreover, none of his innovations came at the cost of formal beauty: Baudelaire's poetry has often been described as the most musical and melodious poetry in the French language. Commentary The Flowers of Evil evokes a world of paradox already implicit in the contrast of the title.The word â€Å"evil† (the French word is â€Å"mal,â₠¬  meaning both evil and sickness) comes to signify the pain and misery inflicted on the speaker, which he responds to with melancholy, anxiety, and a fear of death. But for Baudelaire, there is also something seductive about evil. Thus, while writing The Flowers of Evil, Baudelaire often said that his intent was to extract beauty from evil. Unlike traditional poets who had only focused on the simplistically pretty, Baudelaire chose to fuel his language with horror, sin, and the macabre.The speaker describes this duality in the introductory poem, in which he explains that he and the reader form two sides of the same coin. Together, they play out what Baudelaire called the tragedy of man's â€Å"twoness. † He saw existence itself as paradoxical, each man feeling two simultaneous inclinations: one toward the grace and elevation of God, the other an animalistic descent toward Satan. Just like the physical beauty of flowers intertwined with the abstract threat of evil, Baudelair e felt that one extreme could not exist without the other.Baudelaire struggled with his Catholicism his whole life and, thus, made religion a prevalent theme in his poetry. His language is steeped in biblical imagery, from the wrath of Satan, to the crucifixion, to the Fall of Adam and Eve. He was obsessed with Original Sin, lamenting the loss of his free will and projecting his sense of guilt onto images of women. Yet in the first part of the â€Å"Spleen and Ideal† section, Baudelaire emphasizes the harmony and perfection of an ideal world through his special closeness to God: He first compares himself to a divine and martyred creature in â€Å"TheAlbatross† and then gives himself divine powers in â€Å"Elevation,† combining words like â€Å"infinity,† â€Å"immensity,† â€Å"divine,† and â€Å"hover. † The speaker also has an extraordinary power to create, weaving together abstract paradises with powerful human experiences to form an ideal world. For example, in â€Å"Correspondences,† the speaker evokes â€Å"amber, musk, benzoin and incense / That sing, transporting the soul and sense. † He not only has the power to give voice to things that are silent but also relies on images of warmth, luxury, and pleasure to call upon and empower the reader's senses.In â€Å"Exotic Perfume,† the theme of the voyage is made possible by closing one's eyes and â€Å"breathing in the warm scent† of a woman's breasts. In effect, reading Baudelaire means feeling Baudelaire: The profusion of pleasure-inducing representations of heat, sound, and scent suggest that happiness involves a joining of the senses. This first section is devoted exclusively to the â€Å"ideal,† and Baudelaire relies on the abstraction of myth to convey the escape from reality and drift into nostalgia that the ideal represents. This theme recalls the poet's own flight from the corruption of Paris with his trip along the Mediterranean.In â€Å"The Head of Hair,† the speaker indeterminately refers to â€Å"Languorous Africa and passionate Asia,† whose abstract presence further stimulates the reader's imagination with the mythical symbolism of â€Å"sea,† â€Å"ocean,† â€Å"sky,† and â€Å"oasis. † The figure of women further contributes to this ideal world as an intermediary to happiness. The speaker must either breathe in a woman's scent, caress her hair, or otherwise engage with her presence in order to conjure up the paradise he seeks. His fervent ecstasy in this poem derives from the sensual presence of his lover: â€Å"The world†¦ o my love! wims on your fragrance. † Spleen and Ideal, Part I Summary Baudelaire famously begins The Flowers of Evil by personally addressing his reader as a partner in the creation of his poetry: â€Å"Hypocrite reader–my likeness–my brother! † In â€Å"To the Reader,† the speaker evok es a world filled with decay, sin, and hypocrisy, and dominated by Satan. He claims that it is the Devil and not God who controls our actions with puppet strings, â€Å"vaporizing† our free will. Instinctively drawn toward hell, humans are nothing but instruments of death, â€Å"more ugly, evil, and fouler† than any monster or demon.The speaker claims that he and the reader complete this image of humanity: One side of humanity (the reader) reaches for fantasy and false honesty, while the other (the speaker) exposes the boredom of modern life. The speaker continues to rely on contradictions between beauty and unsightliness in â€Å"The Albatross. † This poem relates how sailors enjoy trapping and mocking giant albatrosses that are too weak to escape. Calling these birds â€Å"captive kings,† the speaker marvels at their ugly awkwardness on land compared to their graceful command of the skies.Just as in the introductory poem, the speaker compares himself to the fallen image of the albatross, observing that poets are likewise exiled and ridiculed on earth. The beauty they have seen in the sky makes no sense to the teasing crowd: â€Å"Their giant wings keep them from walking. † Many other poems also address the role of the poet. In â€Å"Benediction,† he says: â€Å"I know that You hold a place for the Poet / In the ranks of the blessed and the saint's legions, / That You invite him to an eternal festival / Of thrones, of virtues, of dominations. This divine power is also a dominant theme in â€Å"Elevation,† in which the speaker's godlike ascendancy to the heavens is compared to the poet's omniscient and paradoxical power to understand the silence of flowers and mutes. His privileged position to savor the secrets of the world allows him to create and define beauty. In conveying the â€Å"power of the poet,† the speaker relies on the language of the mythically sublime and on spiritual exoticism. The godlike aviation of the speaker's spirit in â€Å"Elevation† becomes the artistry of Apollo and the fertility of Sybille in â€Å"I love the Naked Ages. He then travels back in time, rejecting reality and the material world, and conjuring up the spirits of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, and Hercules in â€Å"The Beacons. † The power of the poet allows the speaker to invoke sensations from the reader that correspond to the works of each artistic figure. Thus, he uses this power–his imagination– to create beacons that, like â€Å"divine opium,† illuminate a mythical world that mortals, â€Å"lost in the wide woods,† cannot usually see. After first evoking the accomplishments of great artists, the speaker proposes a voyage to a mythical world of his own creation.He first summons up â€Å"Languorous Asia and passionate Africa† in the poem â€Å"The Head of Hair. † Running his fingers through a woman's hair allows the speaker to create and travel to an exotic land of freedom and happiness. In â€Å"Exotic Perfume,† a woman's scent allows the speaker to evoke â€Å"A lazy island where nature produces / Singular tress and savory fruits. † The image of the perfect woman is then an intermediary to an ideal world in â€Å"Invitation to a Voyage,† where â€Å"scents of amber† and â€Å"oriental splendor† capture the speaker's imagination.Together with his female companion, the speaker expresses the power of the poet to create an idyllic setting just for them: â€Å"There, all is nothing but beauty and elegance, / Luxury, calm and voluptuousness. † Form Baudelaire was a classically trained poet and as a result, his poems follow traditional poetic structures and rhyme schemes (ABAB or AABB). Yet Baudelaire also wanted to provoke his contemporary readers, breaking with traditional style when it would best suit his poetry's overall effect.For example, in â€Å"Exotic Per fume,† he contrasted traditional meter (which contains a break after every fifth syllable in a ten-syllable line) with enjambment in the first quatrain. The result is an amplified image of light: Baudelaire evokes the ecstasy of this image by juxtaposing it with the calm regularity of the rhythm in the beginning of the poem. Other departures from tradition include Baudelaire's habit of conveying ecstasy with exclamation points, and of expressing the accessibility of happiness with the indicative present and future verb tenses, both of which function to enhance his poetry's expressive tone.Moreover, none of his innovations came at the cost of formal beauty: Baudelaire's poetry has often been described as the most musical and melodious poetry in the French language. Commentary The Flowers of Evil evokes a world of paradox already implicit in the contrast of the title. The word â€Å"evil† (the French word is â€Å"mal,† meaning both evil and sickness) comes to sign ify the pain and misery inflicted on the speaker, which he responds to with melancholy, anxiety, and a fear of death.But for Baudelaire, there is also something seductive about evil. Thus, while writing The Flowers of Evil, Baudelaire often said that his intent was to extract beauty from evil. Unlike traditional poets who had only focused on the simplistically pretty, Baudelaire chose to fuel his language with horror, sin, and the macabre. The speaker describes this duality in the introductory poem, in which he explains that he and the reader form two sides of the same coin. Together, they play out what Baudelaire called the tragedy of man's â€Å"twoness. He saw existence itself as paradoxical, each man feeling two simultaneous inclinations: one toward the grace and elevation of God, the other an animalistic descent toward Satan. Just like the physical beauty of flowers intertwined with the abstract threat of evil, Baudelaire felt that one extreme could not exist without the other . Baudelaire struggled with his Catholicism his whole life and, thus, made religion a prevalent theme in his poetry. His language is steeped in biblical imagery, from the wrath of Satan, to the crucifixion, to the Fall of Adam and Eve.He was obsessed with Original Sin, lamenting the loss of his free will and projecting his sense of guilt onto images of women. Yet in the first part of the â€Å"Spleen and Ideal† section, Baudelaire emphasizes the harmony and perfection of an ideal world through his special closeness to God: He first compares himself to a divine and martyred creature in â€Å"The Albatross† and then gives himself divine powers in â€Å"Elevation,† combining words like â€Å"infinity,† â€Å"immensity,† â€Å"divine,† and â€Å"hover. † The speaker also has an extraordinary power to create, weaving together abstract paradises with powerful human experiences to form an ideal world.For example, in â€Å"Correspondences,â €  the speaker evokes â€Å"amber, musk, benzoin and incense / That sing, transporting the soul and sense. † He not only has the power to give voice to things that are silent but also relies on images of warmth, luxury, and pleasure to call upon and empower the reader's senses. In â€Å"Exotic Perfume,† the theme of the voyage is made possible by closing one's eyes and â€Å"breathing in the warm scent† of a woman's breasts. In effect, reading Baudelaire means feeling Baudelaire: The profusion of pleasure-inducing representations of heat, sound, and scent suggest that happiness involves a joining of the senses.This first section is devoted exclusively to the â€Å"ideal,† and Baudelaire relies on the abstraction of myth to convey the escape from reality and drift into nostalgia that the ideal represents. This theme recalls the poet's own flight from the corruption of Paris with his trip along the Mediterranean. In â€Å"The Head of Hair,† the sp eaker indeterminately refers to â€Å"Languorous Africa and passionate Asia,† whose abstract presence further stimulates the reader's imagination with the mythical symbolism of â€Å"sea,† â€Å"ocean,† â€Å"sky,† and â€Å"oasis. † The figure of women further contributes to this ideal world as an intermediary to happiness.The speaker must either breathe in a woman's scent, caress her hair, or otherwise engage with her presence in order to conjure up the paradise he seeks. His fervent ecstasy in this poem derives from the sensual presence of his lover: â€Å"The world†¦ o my love! swims on your fragrance. † Spleen and Ideal, Part II Summary Despite the speaker's preliminary evocation of an ideal world, The Flowers of Evil's inevitable focus is the speaker's â€Å"spleen,† a symbol of fear, agony, melancholy, moral degradation, destruction of the spirit–everything that is wrong with the world. The spleen, an organ that rem oves disease-causing agents from the bloodstream, was traditionally associated with malaise; â€Å"spleen† is a synonym for â€Å"ill-temper. â€Å") Although the soothing ideal world in the first section does remain a significant presence for the speaker, it will now serve primarily as a reminder of his need to escape from a torturous reality. Even â€Å"The Ideal† begins with â€Å"They never will do, these beautiful vignettes. † Baudelaire's juxtaposition of the poem's title (â€Å"The Ideal†) with its content suggests that the ideal is an imagined impossibility.He insists that he cannot find the ideal rose for which he has been looking, declaring that his heart is an empty hole. The comforting, pure, and soothing presence of a woman has also given way to â€Å"Lady Macbeth, mighty soul of crime. † As the speaker acknowledges in â€Å"Earlier Life,† the beautiful majesty of blue waves and voluptuous odors that fill his dreams cannot ful ly obscure â€Å"the painful secret that lets me languish. † Baudelaire uses the theme of love and passion to play out this interaction between the ideal and the spleen.In â€Å"Hymn to Beauty,† he asks a woman: â€Å"Do you come from the deep sky or from the abyss, / O Beauty? Your look, infernal and divine, / Confuses good deeds and crimes. † The speaker projects his anxiety at a disappointing reality onto a woman's body: Her beauty is real but it tempts him to sin. Both angel and siren, this woman brings him close to God but closer to Satan. He then refers to his lover as a witch and demon in â€Å"Sed non Satiata† (â€Å"Still not Satisfied†). The reality of her tortuous presence awakens him from his opium-induced dream, his desire pulling him toward hell.This ambivalence between the ideal and the spleen is also played out with the juxtaposition of the speaker's lover to a decaying corpse in â€Å"Carrion. † While out walking with his lo ver, the speaker discovers rotting carrion infested with worms and maggots, but which releases pleasing music. He compares the carrion (a word for dead and decaying flesh) to a flower, realizing that his lover will also one day be carrion, eaten by worms. Just like the corpse, nothing will be left of their â€Å"decomposed love. † The theme of death inspired by the sight of the carrion plunges the speaker into the anxiety of his spleen.The nostalgic timelessness and soothing heat of the sun are replaced by the fear of death and a sun of ice in â€Å"De Profundis Clamavi† (â€Å"From Profoundest Depths I Cry to You†). The mythical and erotic voyage with a woman in the ideal section is now phantasmagoric pursuit by cats, snakes, owls, vampires, and ghosts, all of whom closely resemble the speaker's lover. In two separate poems both entitled â€Å"The Cat,† the speaker is horrified to see the eyes of his lover in a black cat whose chilling stare, â€Å"prof ound and cold, cuts and cracks like a sword. In â€Å"The Poison,† the speaker further associates the image of his lover with death. Unlike opium and wine, which help the speaker evade reality, the evasion of his lover's mouth is the kiss of death: â€Å"But all this doesn't equal the poison kiss / Arising in your green eyes. † The section culminates with four poems entitled â€Å"Spleen. † Depressed and â€Å"irritated at the entire town,† the speaker laments the coming of death and his defunct love, as a ghost and the â€Å"meager, mangy body of a cat† evoke the haunting specter of his lover. In the next â€Å"Spleen,† the speaker watches the world around him decompose.He is swallowed up by death, comparing himself to a cemetery, a tomb, and a container for withered roses. Empty physically and spiritually, only the miasma of decay is left for him to smell. In the fourth and final â€Å"Spleen,† the speaker is suffocated by the tradi tionally calming presence of the sky. Devoid of light, â€Å"the earth becomes a damp dungeon, / When hope, like a bat, / Beats the walls with its timid wings / And bumps its head against the rotted beams. † Drenched by rain and sorrow, the bells of a nearby clock cry out, filling the air with phantoms.Horrified and weeping with misery, the speaker surrenders as, â€Å"Anguish, atrocious, despotic, / On my curved skull plants its black flag. † Form Baudelaire uses the structure of his poems to amplify the atmosphere of the speaker's spleen. In â€Å"Spleen† (I) each stanza accumulates different levels of anguish, first beginning with the city, then creatures of nature and nightmare, and finally, other objects. This layered expression of pain represents Baudelaire's attempt to apply stylistic beauty to evil. Moreover, his sentences lose the first-person tense, becoming grammatically errant just as the speaker is morally errant.By beginning the first three stanzas of â€Å"Spleen† (IV) all with the word â€Å"When,† Baudelaire formally mirrors his theme of monotonous boredom and the speaker's surrender to the inexorable regularity and longevity of his spleen. Another aspect of Baudelaire's form is his ironic juxtaposition of opposites within verses and stanzas, such as in â€Å"Carrion,† with â€Å"flower† and â€Å"stink. † Commentary Baudelaire is a poet of contrasts, amplifying the hostility of the speaker's spleen with the failure of his ideal world. Like the abused albatross in the first section, the poet becomes an anxious and suffering soul.It is important to remember that the speaker's spleen is inevitable: It occurs despite his attempts to escape reality. The flowers he hopes to find on a â€Å"lazy island† in â€Å"Exotic Perfume† do not exist: It is the stinking carrion that is the real â€Å"flower† of the world. The failure of his imagination leaves him empty and weak; havi ng searched for petals, he finds their withered versions within himself. The poetry itself suggests a resurgence of the ideal through its soothing images only to encounter the disappointing impossibility of calming the speaker's anxiety.In this sense, the speaker's spleen is also the poet's. Indeed, the gradual climax and terror of the speaker's spleen in â€Å"Spleen† (IV) has often been associated with Baudelaire's own nervous breakdown. The hostile and claustrophobic atmosphere of the speaker's world is most eloquently expressed in the failure of his ability to love. The poet originally intends his love to be a source of escape but is soon reminded of the cruel impossibility of love that characterizes his reality. For him, love is nothing but a decomposing carrion. Instead of life, love reminds him of death: A woman's kiss becomes poisonous.Baudelaire often spoke of love as the traditionally artistic attempt to escape boredom. Yet he never had a successful relationship and as a result, the speaker attributes much of his spleen to images of women, such as Lady Macbeth and Persephone. Cruel and murderous women, such as the monstrous female vampire in â€Å"The Vampire,† are compared to a â€Å"dagger† that slices the speaker's heart. But Baudelaire also finds something perversely seductive in his demoniacal images of women, such as the â€Å"Femme Fatale† in â€Å"Discordant Sky† and the â€Å"bizarre deity† in â€Å"Sed non Satiata. Baudelaire often described his disgust at images of nature and found fault in women for what he saw as their closeness to nature. However, what comes through in the poetry is not so much Baudelaire's misogyny as his avowed weakness and insatiable desire for women. The speaker's spleen involves thoughts of death, either in the form of an eventual suicide or the gradual decay of one's body. Sickness, decomposition, and claustrophobia reduce the expansive paradise of the speaker's ideal to a single city pitted against him.Baudelaire felt alienated from the new Parisian society that emerged after the city's rebuilding period, often walking along the city streets just to look at people and observe their movements. This self-imposed exile perfectly describes the sense of isolation that pervades the four â€Å"Spleen† poems. Yet while the city alienates and isolates, it does not allow for real autonomy of any kind: The speaker's imagination is haunted by images of prison, spiders, ghosts, and bats crashing into walls.Unlike the albatross of the ideal, the bat of the spleen cannot fly. This restriction of space is also a restriction of time, as the speaker feels his death quickly approaching. Baudelaire saw the reality of death as fundamentally opposed to the imagined voyage to paradise; rather, it is a journey toward an unknown and terrible fate. The â€Å"frightful groan† of bells and the â€Å"stubborn moans† of ghosts are horrific warning signs of the impending victory of the speaker's spleen. According to the poet, there are no other sounds. Parisian Landscapes SummaryBaudelaire now turns his attention directly to the city of Paris, evoking the same themes as the previous section. In â€Å"Landscape,† he evokes a living and breathing city. The speaker hears buildings and birds singing, also comparing window lamps to stars. He considers the city a timeless place, passing from season to season with ease. It is also a space of dreams and fantasy, where the speaker finds â€Å"gardens of bronze,† â€Å"blue horizons,† and â€Å"builds fairy castles† during the night. Paris becomes an enchanted city, where even a beggar is a beautiful princess.For example, the speaker admires the erotic beauty of a homeless woman in â€Å"To a Red-headed Beggar Girl,† especially her â€Å"two perfect breasts. † He does not see her rags but, rather, the gown of a queen complete with pearls formed from drop s of water. The speaker then laments the destruction of the old Paris in â€Å"The Swan. † Evoking the grieving image of Andromache, he exclaims: â€Å"My memory teems with pity / As I cross the new Carrousel / Old Paris is no more (the shape of a city /Changes more quickly, alas! than the heart of a mortal). All he sees now is the chaos of the city's rebuilding, from scaffolding to broken columns. Baudelaire then juxtaposes the pure but exiled image of a white swan with the dark, broken image of the city. The swan begs the sky for rain but gets no reply. The speaker forces himself to come to grips with the new city but cannot forget the forlorn figure of the swan as well as the fate of Andromache, who was kidnapped shortly after her husband's murder. The presence of the grieving Andromache evokes the theme of love in the city streets.But in the modern city, love is fleeting–and ultimately impossible– since lovers do not know each other anymore and can only cat ch a glimpse of each other in the streets. In â€Å"To a Passerby,† the speaker conjures up a beautiful woman and tries to express his love with one look: they make eye contact, but it is quickly broken, as they must each head their separate ways. The encounter is tragic because they both feel something (â€Å"O you who I had loved, O you who knew! â€Å") and yet they know that their next meeting will be in the afterlife; a foreboding presence of death looms over the poem's end.Baudelaire continues to expose the dark underside, or spleen, of the city. (The spleen, an organ that removes disease-causing agents from the bloodstream, was traditionally associated with malaise; â€Å"spleen† is a synonym for â€Å"ill-temper. â€Å") In â€Å"Evening Twilight,† he evokes â€Å"cruel diseases,† â€Å"demons,† â€Å"thieves,† â€Å"hospitals,† and â€Å"gambling. † The different aspects of the city are compared to wild beasts and anthills, while â€Å"Prostitution ignites in the streets. † Paris becomes a threatening circus of danger and death where no one is safe.By the end of the section, in â€Å"Morning Twilight,† â€Å"gloomy Paris† rises up to go back to work. Form It is important to note that most of the poems in this section are dedicated to Victor Hugo, who composed long epic poems about Paris. In this context, Baudelaire abandons the structure and rhythm of the previous section in order to emulate Hugo's own style. However, in â€Å"To a Passerby,† Baudelaire returns to his original form, using a traditional sonnet structure (two quatrains and two three-line stanzas).As in â€Å"Spleen and Ideal,† he emphasizes the imperfection of the speaker's spleen with imperfections in meter, isolating the words â€Å"Raising† and â€Å"Me† at the beginning of their respective lines. Commentary Baudelaire was deeply affected by the rebuilding of Paris after the r evolution of 1848. Begun by Louis-Napoleon in the 1850s, this rebuilding program widened streets into boulevards and leveled entire sections of the city. Baudelaire responded to the changing face of his beloved Paris by taking refuge in recollections of its mythic greatness but also with a sense of exile and alienation.The swan symbolizes this feeling of isolation, similar to the â€Å"Spleen† poems in which the speaker feels that the entire city is against him. The Swan asks God for rain in order to clean the streets and perhaps return Paris to its antique purity but receives no response. Suddenly, the city itself has become a symbol of death as its rapid metamorphoses remind the speaker of the ruthlessness of time's passage and his own mortality: â€Å"The shape of a city /Changes more quickly, alas! than the heart of a mortal. † The speaker sees Paris as a modern myth in progress, evoking such mythological figures as Andromache and Hector.Even the negative aspects o f city life, ranging from prostitution to gambling, are described as animals, giving Baudelaire's poetry an allegorical quality. For example, in â€Å"Evening Twilight,† the poet evokes â€Å"Dark Night,† which casts its shadow over the ants, worms, and demons, symbolizing Parisian prostitution, theater, and gambling. Together, the city, its vices, and its people form a mythical, â€Å"unhealthy atmosphere,† instructing the reader to learn his or her lesson. Yet Paris is primarily a cemetery of failed love, as described in

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PROJECT ON PROMOTIONAL APPROACHES TO INCREASE STUDENT NUMBER AT M.SC Assignment

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Generation X expatriates - Essay Example ter displays the outcomes in a statistical measurement fashion, with some qualitative emphasis by way of a summary of the findings from the key informants, describing significant opinions and comments. The general analytical approach was used to analyse the interviews and descriptive statistical analysis was undertaken to identify survey outcomes. This approach has contributed to some noteworthy results on the topic of The Hidden Depths of Global Ambition. When the question was asked about the number of employees worked in the organizations of participants so there were 36% respondents who respond that there are over 1500 employee in their organization, 11% respond less than 50 employees they had in their organizations. When the question were asked to the respondents regarding their studies in abroad then there were 68% respondents who respond that they studied abroad and there were 32% respondents who respond that they didn’t studied abroad. In response of the question regarding time spent abroad, there were 41% respondents who respond that they spent about 5+years in abroad, 24% respond 2-5 years, 15% respond 1-2 years and there were 14% respondents who respond that they spent less than 1 year in abroad. When it was asked to the respondents that what motivates them to go abroad, then on the option of career advancement there were 67% respondents agreed that the career advancement motivates them to go abroad, 14% disagreed with it. When it was asked to the respondents that is the seeking better future is an important factor behind their abroad visit, 68% respondents agreed with this statement and there were 13% respondents disagreed with this statement. When it was asked to the respondents who didn’t go abroad that is the reason behind not going abroad was lack of job opportunities then from the 6 respondents there were 2 respondents disagreed with this statement and 4 respondents agreed with it. From 6 respondents there were 2 respondents respond

English-Cultural Studies- Generation X Essay Example for Free

English-Cultural Studies- Generation X Essay Throughout the years, rock and roll stars have greatly emerged in the consciousness of every American youth. In a world that appears to be uncontrollably spinning, the pied pipers of rock have acted as jesters, pillows, and poets for every incoming generation. The forerunners like Sex Pistols, the Who, the Doors, the Stones, the Beatles, and other rock and roll Hall of Famers, many of whom have become millionaire icons, rebelling against the society and pulling out the rich and seemingly boundless vein of alienation and angst among teenagers of the Generation X. During the 1990s, the rise of grunge music characterizes an imperative element of what has been the alternative rock trend in that decade. Nirvanas Kurt Cobain made it to the pinnacle higher than any other rock and roll stars. Like several other rockers, Kurt Cobain became a sensation through the standards of his times. Generation X considered Kurt Cobain as their poet emeritus, he was the Richard Cory of his generation, joining the ranks of Elvis, Keith Moon, Jim Morrison, and Brian Jones as the white icon who apparently had everything, but threw it away. Generation X or Gen-X came into its own throughout the later part of 1980s and early 1990s. An inclination for grunge music epitomized by the band Nirvana expressed the disenchantments of a generation ceaselessly destined to exist in the gloominess of its elders. As it is ordinary in generational shifts, Gen-X philosophy has considerable inferences of disbelief against things held dear to the earlier generation. Accordingly, grunge music became the defining character of Generation X, who came of age throughout this period. Generation X Generation X consists of individuals who finished high school between the periods 1989 and 1996 (Bozenda 2). However, laggards have also been identified beyond those years, but were already considered the minority of their graduating class. In its glory days, Generation X, through its music, boasted tremendous recognition. For Generation X-ers, MTV was their sanctuary, and has been pronounced, the only TV channel that did not care just as much as them (Bozenda 2). Grunge saturated in this stretch of time and, without a doubt, it fit the bill. There were different classes of Generation X-ers: the light X-ers were typically just into the music and could not be easily identified; the medium X-ers were way into the music, and do really look the part; the heavy X-ers took the way of life to its limits, and were concerned with nothing but the music; and the major X-ers who are identifiable even these days, as they tend to talk slowly, typically wear clothes that are older than they are or, clothes that they did not buy, and feel more comfortable in a gloomy room (Bozenda 2). I. Origins of Generation X Although the precise dates of birth defining Generation X are highly disputed, on the whole, this age demographic consists of people born in the 1960s and 1970s. As an expression, without existing meaning, the term was made the title of a 1964 pulp novel, and was chosen as the name of young Billy Idol’s punk rock band (â€Å"Generation X†). Moreover, Douglas Coupland took it from a sociological text of Paul Fussell, which he later popularized in his book Generation X: Tales For An Accelerated Culture (â€Å"Generation X†). It was only after the publication of Couplands book that the media started to prevalently exploit the term as a name for the generation, by introducing Generation X as a group of undereducated, alienated, flannel-wearing lazybones with body piercing who had worked at McJobs and drank Starbucks coffee. Generation X has a great deal to be confused about: Prozac-happy therapy, the lingering presence of AIDS where love can turn into death; drive-by shootings, declining prospects, few good jobs, unparalleled levels of teen suicide and violence; and absentee parents striving to succeed in the two-income economy, Beavis and Butthead mean-spiritedness sufficing as social interpretation, and an increasing prejudice in particular sectors toward the homeless and poor (Hill). Generation X has undergone most of the 14 years of Reagan-Bush-Clinton economics, particularly the governmental policies of free trade (Hill). As a result, Kurt Cobain slammed, thumped and wailed his guitar against the converging walls of the putrefying society around him, and the existing generation followed into his direction feeling that they as well are experiencing the societal strap to be getting tighter. Unfortunately, in due course Cobain could not break out; therefore, taking the easy way out or perhaps the difficult one, by taking his own life. Generation X-ers Music As categorized through music: light X includes Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and other foremost radio bands; mid-X includes all of the above, and bands like Kyuss, Monster Magnet, as well as other bands that started small but eventually got big; heavy X also includes all of the above, Soul Coughing, Fu Manchu, as well as other bands that remained small but got major underground progress; and major X, which also includes all of the above, along with Desert Sessions, The Atomic Bitchwax, and bands that remained indie or stayed underground (Bozenda 2). Generation X music commenced in 1989, peaked in 1994, fell inconsistent in 1997, and eventually disappeared in 2000 (Bozenda 2). The year of 1996 proved to be the final year wherein grunge musicians were very much dynamic, seeing that many lasts had taken place during this year. The Screaming Trees and Soundgarden released their respective last studio albums entitled Dust and Down on the Upside; Alice in Chains gave their concluding shows with their estranged, ailing front-man Layne Staley; Pearl Jam released their last chart topping album entitled No Code; and Nirvana released their only album following the greatest hits album Nirvana in 2002, which is the live album entitled From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah. Over the few ensuing years, grunges usual attractiveness promptly died away. Several grunge bands have continued touring and recording but with more limited success, most notably, Pearl Jam. I. The Grunge Music The term grunge was coined in the late 1980s by a British journalist to depict the style of music a group of bands played during the period in the Seattle area (Schmitz). During the period, the most recognized grunge band was a group called Green River, whose fame was confined within the Seattle area. Accordingly, once in a while, grunge music is referred to as the Seattle Sound in view of the fact that it was created as a subgenre of alternative rock played by bands from the state of Washington, mostly in the Seattle area, during the mid-1980s. Grunge is generally categorized through its sludgy guitar sound that makes use of a high level of feedback, fuzz and distortion effects. Grunge combines elements of heavy metal and hardcore punk, and is also normally characterized by heavy drumming, dirty guitar, and angst or apathetic-filled lyrics, although various bands performed with more credence on one or the other. Grunge music shares a similar lyrical concern and raw sound with punk genre. However, grunge involves more complex instrumentation, dissonant harmonies, and slower tempos, which is indicative of heavy metal. Some individuals linked with the growth of grunge, including the Melvins and Sub Pop producer Jack Endino, described grunges fusion of heavy rock authorities such as Kiss as musical provocation (Grunge 1). Grunge artists regarded heavy rock bands as cheesy but even so took pleasure in listening them. Buzz Osborne of the Melvins illustrated it as an endeavor to see what extreme things bands could carry out and yet pull off. In the early 1990s, Nirvanas signature stop-start song arrangement became a genre standard of the time. II. Grunge Music Scene Notwithstanding the fact of being looked down upon by most critics, glam metal bands, such as Warrant, Poison, and Motley Crue had been taking over the charts, particularly in the United States, during the 1980s. Glam metal bands was famous for their macho, gaudy clothing style, obsequious riffs, misogynist lyrics, and an apparent lack of social responsiveness, all done for the mere purpose of entertaining and staying ahead of the race of drawing mainstream audiences. These characteristics were well-liked throughout the 1980s, but they began to have the differing effect on audiences towards the last part of the decade. Most music critics and grunge fans believe that grunge progressed as a well-liked genre and as a result accepted by mainstream audiences as a response to the dwindling attractiveness of glam metal. Accordingly, the popularity of grunge music abruptly contrasted to glam metal. When the public realized the viable alternative to heavy metal music, the attractiveness of glam metal began to disappear as the recognition of grunge began to soar. Inspired by indie rock, heavy metal and hardcore punk, the early grunge movement came together around Sub Pop, which is a Seattle independent record label. Grunge bands were renowned for their indie approaches and their negative response to mainstream and theatricals success. Grunge became commercially flourishing in the first half of the 1990s, largely as a result of the release of Pearl Jams Ten album and Nirvanas Nevermind album. The accomplishment of these bands heightened the recognition of alternative rock and made grunge the most popular genre of hard rock music of the decade. However, a number of grunge bands were not comfortable with this popularity, as the genre became intimately linked with Generation X in the United States, given that the understanding of each rose at the same time. Although by the late 1990s the majority of grunge bands had faded or disbanded from public view, their previous impact persists to influence the most modern rock music today.

Effects of Noise Pollution on Mental Health of Students Essay Example for Free

Effects of Noise Pollution on Mental Health of Students Essay It is interesting that noises emanating from the various types of roadways of today are still among the most important sources of environmental noise, even though the types of noise are not those that existed in Rome, Medieval Europe, or 18th century Philadelphia. Our modern roadways (including road, rail, and air) and the products of modern technology produce increasing levels of unwanted noise of varying types and intensities throughout the day and night that disturb sleep, concentration, and other functions. (Lee Fleming ) This noise affects us without our being consciously aware of it. Unlike our eyes, which we can shut to exclude unwanted visual input, we cannot voluntarily shut our ears to exclude unwanted auditory input. Our hearing mechanisms are always â€Å"on† even when we are asleep. (Babisch 113:A14-15) 3 The noise problems of the past pale in significance when compared with those experienced by modern city dwellers; noise pollution continues to grow in extent, frequency, and severity as a result of population growth, urbanization, and technological developments. For example, within the European Common Market, 65% of the population is exposed to unhealthy levels f transportation noise. (Carlos 318:1686-1689) In New York City, maximum noise levels measured 106 dB on subway platforms and 112 dB inside subway cars. These levels have the potential of exceeding recommended exposure limits given sufficient duration of exposure. (Gershon et al. 83:802-812) In 1991, it was estimated that environmental noise increased by 10% in the decade of the 1980’ s. ( Suter ) The 2000 United States Census found that 30% of Americans complained of noise and 11% found it to be bothersome. Among those who complained, noise was sufficiently bothersome to make nearly 40% want to change their place of residence. (U. S. Census Bureau, Housing and Economic Statistics Division. ) That noise pollution continues to grow in scope, variety, and magnitude is unquestioned; it is only the extent of the growth that remains unknown. In comparison to other pollutants, the control of environmental noise has been hampered by insufficient knowledge about its effects on humans and about dose-response relationships, but this seems to be changing as more research is carried out. However, it is clear that noise pollution is widespread and imposes long-term consequences on health. (Committee on Environmental Health, American Academy of Pediatrics) In 1971, 4 3a World Health Organization (WHO) working group concluded that noise is a major threat to human well-being. That assessment has not changed in the intervening 30-plus years; if anything, the threat has intensified. The various sounds in our environment (excluding all those sounds that arise in the workplace) to which we are exposed can be viewed as being either necessary (desirable) or unnecessary (undesirable). One might consider the sounds produced in and around our homes by garbage disposals, dishwashers, clothes washers and dryers, refrigerators, furnaces, air-conditioners, yard maintenance equipment, and the many other mechanized time and labor saving devices, which we all use and enjoy, as being necessary. We are exposed to the noise of radio, television, and related technologies; children are exposed to a wide variety of noisy toys. (Axelson Jerson 76:574-578) The noise of internal combustion engines (modulated by legally required mufflers), jet engines (modulated by improved design and by altered flight paths), and train horns at grade crossings (modulated by new Federal Quiet Zone rules), might all be considered necessary. There are numerous other such examples of machines or activities that produce sounds that are tolerated because they accompany a desired activity or they serve an important societal purpose, such as the sirens of emergency vehicles. But what about sounds that accompany an undesired activity, that have no societal importance, or that we consider unnecessary? What about the sounds produced by the so-called boom-cars that are roving, pulsating noise factories? What about the uncomfortable sound levels at concerts, in theaters, and public sporting events? What 5 about the noise of slow moving train horns in urbanized areas or the early morning sounds accompanying garbage collection? What about all the noise on our streets to which buses, trolley cars, car horns, car alarms, motorcycles, and un-muffled exhaust systems contribute? What about the risks to children from noisy toys and from personal sound systems? What about the noise of barking dogs, leaf blowers, and recreational vehicles? What about the noise of low flying aircraft? In general, sounds that we deem unwanted or unnecessary are considered to be noise. Our society is beset by noise, which is intrusive, pervasive, and ubiquitous; most important of all, it is unhealthy. Most reasonable people would agree that much of the environmental noise to which we are subjected serves no useful purpose and is therefore undesirable. The variety of noise polluting devices and activities is large and seems to be growing on a daily basis, although there is no consensus about what items are useful and desirable or noise polluting and unnecessary. Domestic tranquility is one of the six guarantees in the United States Constitution, a guarantee that is echoed in some form or other in every state Constitution. In 1972, the Noise Control Act was passed by Congress, declaring, â€Å"†¦it is the policy of the United States to promote an environment for all Americans free from noise that jeopardizes health and welfare. In 1974, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated that nearly 100 million Americans lived in areas where the daily average noise levels exceeded those identified as being safe. (Environmental Protection Agency) However, in 1982, the government abruptly terminated federal funding for the Office of Noise 6 Abatement and Control, the vehicle by which the public was to be protected from the adver se effects of noise. The lack of funds threw total responsibility for noise control to the states, which have had a spotty and generally poor record with respect to noise abatement. Shapiro ) Since the Act itself was not repealed, local and state governments may have been deterred from trying to regulate noise. Furthermore, failure to repeal the Act sent the message that noise was not an important environmental concern. As a result, in the United States, most police departments seem to be unwilling or unable to respond to noise-related problems in a way that provides any measure of genuine or timely control. Yet, in most cities, as noise pollution continues to grow some say as much as 6-fold in the past 15 years so do complaints about noise. Complaints to police and other officials about noise are among the most frequent complaints by residents in urban environments; in 1998, noise was the number one complaint to the Quality of Life Hotline in New York City. In 1996, the Federal Environmental Agency in Germany reported two out of three of its citizens had complained about excessive noise. (Bronzaft 2:1-8) The number of people exposed to unhealthy levels of noise in the United States is unquestionably greater than it was in 1974; the degree of oversight and control is unquestionably less. II. Research Body

Strategic Accounting for Decision Making

Strategic Accounting for Decision Making Super Service Mini Market. Contents (Jump to) Abstract Chapter 1 – Introduction Chapter 2 – The Mini Markets Chapter 3 – Conclusions and Recommendations Tables Abstract One of the key factors in achieving bottom line performance in any business enterprise is a complete understanding of how controlling costs contribute to the attainment of profitability. Walters and Giles (2000)[1] point out that managers who exercise â€Å"†¦flexibility in timing of decisions†¦Ã¢â‚¬  provide themselves with options in equating the viability of opportunities. The utilization of strategic accounting in decision-making represents a departure from past accounting practices whereby it was used to predict fiscal performance and then report on what was achieved. Today’s accounting theory sees this function as an ongoing active component in business operations. The proper utilization of varied accounting principles permits business owners and managers to utilize past results as a foundation for predicting future performance as well as the performance for the addition of new product lines. Horngren et al (1997)[2] indicate that effective planning along wit h effective control represent critical factors in the achievement of business objectives. They go on to state that through effective planning goals are selected with more care and input and that the achievement of goal objectives calls for the utilization of effective controls. The introduction of a new section in a ‘mini market’ represents an application of the foregoing whereby the employment of ‘strategic accounting for decision making’ is a process by which the business can be evaluated from differing operational perspectives. The foregoing setting shall be utilized to explore and pose solutions and answers to business conditions and questions with respect to varying business decision-making areas within this setting. Chapter 1 – Introduction The Setting An entrepreneur in South Wales postulated that the establishment of a mini market selling a limited variety of varied food items would be able to establish a foothold and survive in a competitive environment that included major supermarkets, Tesco – Safeways, Asda along with other outlets. The main theme for the foundation of this enterprise was based upon offering consumers ‘convenience’ as well as ‘quality service’ in an establishment where they could purchase either a single or multiple items quickly. The foregoing concept proved successful, as this entrepreneur was able to add three more mini markets in the area. And success brings with it the need to innovative, improve operations and seek areas of opportunity to continue growth. In order to be successful when a business goes through expansion an entrepreneur needs to evolve into a professional manager and understand not only how to delegate, but how to lead as well as communicate and plan. And since sales and profitability are the barometers by which business is measured, the importance of being able to forecast revenues and expenditures, identify probabilities, analyze operations, and control costs are key components of strategic accounting. The foregoing principles became apparent as a result of attending a University course for ‘Budgetary Planning and Control. In order to develop a more sophisticated and effective system, the assistance and input of the managers of the stores was not only an necessary component, it was vital in gathering information as well as insight on the individual operations. Simons (1987)[3] emphasizes that a ccounting represents an informational as well as control mechanism that managers must utilize to understand the varied components of their business and mold their accounting systems in terms of information gathering and construction, to fit the needs of the entity. Background Facts and Factors It was noticed that one of the store managers, located in Aberdare, was committed but lacked the expertise to functionally participate in the formal ‘Budgetary Planning and Control’ system that was being implemented. As a result is was agreed that the company would pay for this manager to attend a course conducted at the ‘Glamorgan Business School Weekend MSC Accounting programme’. At a meeting that called together all of the store managers it was explained that hence forth each store would be rated and evaluated on its individual performance rather than the prior group consolidation basis. This entailed each manager producing a yearly budget for their outlet in consultation with their department managers to generate figures for each retail area. The overall line management organizational structure of the four mini markets is as follows: Table 1 – Organizational Structure Managing Director Newport Penarth Cowbridge Aberdare Each manager was directed to compile the following: ‘Profit and Loss Account’ for their individual mini markets for the period ending 31/21/04, a breakdown of staff salaries, employee composition by mini market section, percentage of floor space allocated to sections, asset value of each cost center within their mini markets, and, a Forecast of Profit and Loss for the six month period 01/01/05 through 30/06/05 The foregoing produced an interesting response from one of the department manager of General Groceries at the Aberdare mini market. The analysis of floor space in that section found that there was under-utilized space that could be put to better use. The manager had conducted some research and uncovered that there was no location in Aberdare where one could have photographs developed or enlarged. The idea was broached with the store manager and after gathering of some additional information regarding the cost of film it was included in reports to be presented at a meeting of managers and the owner. These were to consist of the following: A comprehensive comparison of the Aberdare and Penarth mini markets that includes their relative strengths as well as weaknesses. An analysis of the profitability of the profit centres in Aberdare. Because each mini market was henceforth to be operated as individual business entities, options as well as constraints with regard to raising capital to expand operations at the Aberdare location also were to be included. Budgetary planning and control was delegated to the manager of the Penarth mini market. The foregoing was based upon the fact that all managers had attended a seminar on this subject matter. Proposals for new revenue sources. Report on ‘working capital management’ emphasizing debtor control and the lack of a link between it and profit / cash flow. Presentation of the Forecast Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Account for the Aberdare Super Service mini market in 2005. Chapter 2 – The Mini Markets 2.1 A comprehensive comparison of the Aberdare and Penarth mini markets that includes their relative strengths as well as weaknesses. In developing a basis for comparison of the Aberdare and Penarth the constant that is attributable to both locations is the general layout of the locations and organizational style. As shown by Table 3 the Penarth mini market does not have a sales area devoted to ‘alcoholic drinks and cigarettes’ as well as a separate defined space for the ‘administrative office’. And while the specifications do not provide information on this point, the allocation of 50% of space in the Penarth mini market to ‘stores’ would seem to indicate that this area also is utilized for administrative functions. The other difference in general layout between the two subject locations is the absence of ‘alcoholic drinks and cigarettes’ section at the Penarth mini market. As these products represent traffic builders as well as profitable items, alcoholic drinks at the Penarth mini market they are assigned to the ‘general groceries’ area for alcohol ic drinks and most likely checkout location for cigarettes. This aspect indicates a weakness in the Penarth mini market as the sales of alcoholic drinks and cigarettes contributed 7% to revenue. Table 2 Organization of Aberdare / Penarth Mini Markets The allocation of 50% of floor space to ‘stores’ in the Penarth mini market represents a sizeable amount of area devoted to a non-sales function and would seemingly create a more cluttered layout for the remaining departments. For consumers accustomed to the spacious layout of major supermarkets such as Tesco – Safeways, and Asda the loss of floor space at Penarth as well as definitive section for ‘alcoholic drinks and cigarettes’ could negatively affect sales performance. However, the operating profit as shown by Table 4 for both locations is extremely close, recording 19% for Penarth and 17.4% for Aberdare. Table 3 – Financial Comparisons for the Penarth and Aberdare Mini Markets Penarth Aberdare 2.2 An analysis of the profitability of the profit centres in Aberdare In calculating the profitability of each department at the Aberdare and Penarth mini markets, areas 3 (stores) and 7 (administrative office) need to be removed in order to calculate the relative profitability of the remaining sales areas. The calculations relating to the aforementioned were derived from Table 5 below. Table 4 Organization of Aberdare / Penarth Mini Markets Clearly, the stores (3) and administrative office (7) do not contribute to sales, and thus are cost expense areas. The following Table 6 distributes gross profitability against sales departments. An area that stands out in the analysis of these two locations is that Penarth has 50% of its available space devoted to ‘stores’ a non-sales area. In contrast, Aberdare devotes just 22% of its available space to this department (stores) and another 5% for administrative function thus losing just 27% as opposed to 50%. The percentage of profitability figures for Penarth sales sections double as a result of deducting the 50% allocated to ‘stores’. By comparing the two mini markets in this manner it is apparent that the Penarth mini market has a higher ratio of sales percentage attributable to the departments utilizing the remaining floor space. The largest discrepancy occurs in the frozen food section which is the third most profitable department at Aberdare ( £47, 387.5) as well as ranking third in terms of sales ( £174,375) behind general groceries, which ranks first in terms of sales ( £465,000), and profits ( £136,260), and dairy products which ranked second ( £348,750 and  £124,775 respectively). Table 5 Percent Profitability of Aberdare and Penarth Sales Areas In equating the percentage of sales attributable to each department at the Aberdare mini market, stores (3) along with the administrative office (7) were eliminated as these represent expense (support) functions. In so doing the percentage of sales differs from the percentage of space allocation in reaching this calculation. Table 6 Comparison of Area Percentage and Percentage of Sales – Aberdare Table 7 Overhead Expense and Net Profit Allocations at Aberdare As one of the points that were mentioned in the meeting of all mini market managers, any activity(s) that was producing a loss was to be discontinued. The preceding directive calls into question the ‘stores’ department at the Penarth mini market. At 50% of the available floor space allocation for that section is grossly out of line with the space allocated at Aberdare at 22%. Interestingly, the Penarth mini market does not indicate an allocation for an administrative office while Aberdare has a specific space for this function at 5% of floor space. As the directive indicated any activity that generates a loss is to be eliminated, the 5% allocated for the administrative office at Aberdare needs to be discontinued. The positioning of the stores department as well as the administrative office at the rear of the store means that existing floor space for dairy products as well as a portion of general groceries could be expanded from the 5% that will become available. Since th e subject of adding a film developing department was broached, the utilization of the added 5% in floor space will be covered in a later section. As administrative functions represent desk space for a computer, files, printer, telephone and allied equipment a small segment of space in the stores area will be utilized for this function. The Penarth’s stores allocation needs to be reduced to a percentage that approximates Aberdare’s 22%. This would open up 28% to be devoted to profitable sales such as diary products and general groceries, significantly expanding these sections as well as providing additional space for small increases in the other departments, fresh meats – frozen foods and space for alcoholic drinks and beverages which is completely missing from the Penarth mini market. 2.3 Because each mini market was henceforth to be operated as individual business entities, options as well as constraints with regard to raising capital to expand operations at the Aberdare location also were to be included. Options for raising capital at each mini market are governed by prudent business practice. The calculation of factors such as ‘interest cover and gearing provide guidelines by which to operate in constraining the raising of capital beyond acceptable levels. Interest Cover represents an important financial variable for business entities in that it provides a gauge concerning the interest paid on the businesses borrowings as measured against its operating profit (HM Revenue Customs, 2005)[4]. This figure is arriving at by dividing the operating profits of the mini market by the interest paid during the same fiscal period. The preceding ratio illustrates the relationship of gearing with respect to the profit and loss. Simply stated, ‘gearing’ describes the debt compared with the mini market’s equity capital (Randall, 2003)[5] Table 3 – Financial Comparisons for the Penarth and Aberdare Mini Markets Penarth Aberdare 2.4 Budgetary planning and control was delegated to the manager of the Penarth mini market In fulfilling this aspect of the directives discussed in the manager’s meeting the balance between improving operational performance through decision making precedes budgetary planning as the direction and changes to be employed must first be decided upon and all impacting variables considered. One such example is the allocation of space at the Penarth mini market whereby the stores department occupies 50% of available floor space. The decision making process in this instance revolves around how to reapportion space and to what departments to maximize the return. Another decision-making process entails the introduction of film processing at the Aberdare mini market and the allocation of resources as well as space based upon projections and market research. Decision making entails utilizing a checklist of steps to assist in arriving at the most viable selection based upon a consideration of factors, facts, influences and alternative options. The following are decision-making procedures to aid in determining what courses of action to take: Pareto Analysis This technique helps to select the most effective changes through following the courses of action that will yield the largest benefits. The technique entails listing the changes that could be made and grouping them into changes that are related. The list items are scored by the basis of profit, customer satisfaction or other titles basing the scores on the profit generated or reduction in complaints, to utilize and example of the two possibilities indicated. In this manner attention is paid to those items with the highest scores (Reh, 2004)[6]. Paired Comparison Through this technique the importance of options that are relative to each other is worked out. The methodology aids in setting priorities when resources are subject to conflicting demands. Placing options on a grid permits the varied options to be compared and then numbered ranging from 0, representing no difference, through 3 which represents major difference(s) are assigned. These values are converted to percentages of the total score (Marsh et al, 2003)[7]. Grid Analysis The utilization of a grid analysis is employed when there are a number of good possibilities or alternatives. The list of options is placed into rows and factors are put into columns. The relative importance of factors comprising the decision is worked out and shown as numbers. These are utilized to apply varying weights to preferences through the importance of the factors. If this is not apparent then ‘paired comparison analysis is utilized (Olsen et al, 2002)[8]. Decision Trees This time proven method begins with the decision that needs to be made which is drawn as a square. Lines emanating from this square are drawn to the right for every possible solution with the explanation written on the line. The end of these lines considers the results and if it is not certain a circle at the end is used to designate this with squares used for decisions. The process is continued until as many possible outcomes as can be thought of are considered (Monahan, 2000)[9]. PMI The Plus-Minus-Implications technique weighs the pros as well as cons of a decision. The process entails utilizing a table with the headings ‘Plus-Minus-Implications’ where one writes the positive (plus), negative (minus) and possible outcomes (implications) of taking a particular course of action (Hennen, 2004)[10]. If the decision is not obvious after the preceding then scores are applied in a subjective manner to complete the exercise. Force Field Analysis This looks at all of the forces as well as pressures for as well as against change. The process looks to strengthen those forces that support the decision and weaken the impact of those forces in opposition. The forces representing change are listed in one column, with those against change listed in the other, then a score is assigned from 1, representing weak, to 5, representing strong are used (Lewin, 1951)[11]. Six Thinking Hats Looking at a decision representing all the possible points of view is the basis for this technique. The method forces thinking outside of habitual styles and employs emotional, creative, intuitive, creative as well as negative views so that resistance to change and other factors are considered (de Bono, 1999)[12]. Cost/Benefit Analysis This relatively simple method entails adding up the relative value of a course of action’s benefits and then subtracting the costs that are associated with it. These costs may be one time or ongoing. Time is factored into the equation by looking at the period required for payback or breakeven as well as the costs (risks) involved (Gramlich, 1981)[13]. Budgetary planning represents actions and activities undertaken by a company over a specified period of time whereby the costs and results are contained in forecasts and projections that consider the factors resulting from the decision making process to arrive at the courses of action (Otley, 1978)[14] ). While decision-making is utilized to arrive at the answers or solutions, budgetary planning uses elements that have already been decided upon and worked into a coherent plan. Decision-making represents the phase when possibilities are considered, whereby budgetary planning entails utilizing elements that are parts of the overall plan for the business entity, both new as well as existing. 2.5 Proposals for new revenue sources The manager of the Aberdare mini market was approached by one of the departmental managers who suggested that an unutilized space in the General Groceries section could be used for photograph development, enlargement, etc. The manager presented the following facts to support the recommendation: Equipment utilized in the process of developing and enlargement cost  £18,000 with a useable life cycle of three (3) years. Operation of the service would entail hiring an additional employee at  £15,000 per annum. The cost of photographic paper would total  £0.75, and would represent 36 prints per sheet. The cost of chemicals to develop 36 prints would total  £0.40 It was suggested that a good marketing promotion would consist of giving customers a free album with each roll of film that was developed. The cost of each album was presented as  £0.80. Competitive pricing put the figure for developing 36 prints at  £5.50. In order to retain customers it was recommended that an offer of a free roll of film be provided customers for each roll brought in for developing. Film could be obtained from Fuji at  £0.75 per roll. In conjunction with the foregoing the manager of the Aberdare mini market prepared a demand forecast representing film development for the years 2005 through 2007: Table 8 Demand Forecast for Films Developed 2005-2007 Year 2005 2006 2007 Films Processed 11,000 12,500