Edm Influence

In the last decade Electronic Dance Music, or EDM, has made a complete 180 in the United States. It has shifted from a genre that was mostly underground with few listeners into popular music. Not only has it begun to top billboards, but it has influenced artists of many other genres to â€Å"hop on the bandwagon† and begin using it in their songs as well. From commercials to theme songs of popular television programs, the influx of EDM can be seen throughout American society.One of the biggest changes EDM has brought to the music industry is that due to most of the artists’ knowledge of computers, not to mention the day and age we live in where we are all connected over the internet, they are able to take advantage of communicating and promoting over the internet to reach out to their fans. This allows these artists to listen to their fans and give them what they are asking for.Contrary to the EDM artists, many rock and pop artists have â€Å"used and abused them [fans ], sold them overpriced CDs, tried to sell them music they didn't like by using stupid gimmicks† (Doherty) causing them to lose their foothold on the charts and allow EDM to step right in. The influences of EDM can also be seen by looking at pop artist and the way their songs have begun using more electric beats and styles. â€Å"Katy Perry's ‘Fireworks' and Rihanna's ‘Only Girl' [were] both co-produced† (Doherty) by electro-house artists and one of Britney Spears’ newer songs, ‘Hold It Against Me,’ also included signs of dubstep.On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s collaborative album ‘Watch the Throne’ the song ‘Who Gon Stop Me’ has a sample from a very popular EDM song by Flux Pavilion called ‘I Can’t Stop. ’ The most surprising influence of EDM on an artist, however, can be placed on Taylor Swift. In her new album ‘Red’ she has a song called ‘22’ which features many e lectronic and upbeat rhythms in it. These are only a few of the many artists that have incorporated electronic music into their songs and in doing so helped to render EDM even more widespread and dominant in today’s music industry.EDM also has begun showing up in music festivals, on television, and in movies. â€Å"It’s artists headline huge festivals†¦ its hooks soundtrack commercials; its textures bolster movie scenes† (Doherty). The EDM music festivals have grown very popular in the last decade, Deadmau5, a famous EDM Dj, compares one of these festivals in the 90’s to one a few years ago and recalls â€Å"[there were] only about 4-5000 people, but it was huge at the time. You go out to L. A. now, to Gary Richards' Hard parties — he gets 20-40,000. The Dj’s are bringing a visual and physical experience for the audience during these festivals by having laser shows and visual graphics appear while their music plays. Television commerci als have also started to embrace this trend. Microsoft included and promoted Alex Clare’s ‘Too Close’ in their commercial for the new Internet Explorer. This commercial boosted Alex Clare’s career, before the commercial he was only known in the U. K. In a final form of media the movies have also assimilated EDM into their soundtracks. ‘Tron: Legacy’ had a soundtrack that was almost entirely devoted to EDM.Because of all this assimilations into mass media of all forms, EDM’s influence in the United States has only grown more rapidly and stronger. It seems that one cannot go a day without hearing a song under this genre; it surrounds and influences pop culture every day. Similar to rock and roll in the 1950’s, EDM has experienced demonization from parents and threats of legislation over the concern â€Å"fueled by concern over the ecstasy-related deaths. † These laws see â€Å"electronic music itself as a gateway to social degradation† (Doherty) and seek to disassemble EDM.According to Josh Glazer, editor of URB magazine, â€Å"It may cause a cooling down period, but in the end, electronic music, festivals, etc. , are simply not something that will ever be halted. There is both too much demand and too much economic incentive. † If the law were to shut down EDM then many business and individuals would be left bankrupt or jobless. Although this may seem dismal and unfair in the present, rock and roll received the same kind of â€Å"critique which now seems quaint and ridiculous. †In conclusion EDM has brought about many social and cultural effects due to the changes it created to the industry. Through its artists’ computer knowledge they have brought about a greater fan/artist connection along with allowing any aspiring artist the ability to create his/her own music just by downloading different software. Finally EDM has influenced mainstream pop artists, directors, and market ing agencies to incorporate a more electrical and up beat sound to their music, ads, or movies because it appeals to the young audiences.

Hul: -Strategies

Due to the continuous efforts of the top shampoo brands in India penetration of shampoos in urban areas is almost 100%. As far as penetration of shampoo in the rural areas is concerned it has risen by almost 18% in the current scenario. the shampoo market in India is valued at Rs 4. 5 bn with the penetration level at 13% only. The market is expected to increase due to lower duties and aggressive marketing by players Shampoo is also available in a sachet, which is affordable and makes upto 40% of the total shampoo sale. The Indian shampoo market is characterised by a twin-benefit platform: cosmetic and anti-dandruff. It is basically an upper middle class product, as more than 50% of the consumers use ordinary toilet soap for washing hair. While the awareness level is high, the penetration level is very low even in the metros which is only 30%. Urban markets account for 80% of the total shampoo market, The penetration level is rapidly increasing due to decline in excise duty, which was 120% in 1993 to 30% currently. Hindustan Unilever Ltd led hair care sales in 2010, with a 19% value share, followed by Dabur India Ltd India, Marico Ltd and Procter & Gamble Home Products Ltd India. These four companies accounted for almost 49% of value, by virtue of their strong brands in shampoos and conditioners. Consumer goods giant Hindustan Unilever today said it is looking at cornering over 13% of the shampoo market next fiscal with its leading hair care brand Dove in the next fiscal. â€Å"We have already launched these products globally. Today we have launched it in this market. With this we expect to gain 13-15% market share in FY13,† HUL General Manager, Hair Care Business, Piyush Jain, told PTI here. He further said, â€Å"the company entered the hair care segment in 2007 and since then we have achieved a market share of 10%. † The shampoo market is estimated to be around Rs 3,500 crore. To achieve the target, the company today launched its Dove nourishing oil care range of products — oil care shampoo, daily treatment conditioner, oil care weekly vita-oils repair mask and oil care vita-oil serum — in the premium category which contains a blend of vita oils ncluding coconut, almond and sunflower oils. Dove, which initially started as soap brand, has diversified into the hair care and antiperspirant segments recently. we have achieved a market share of 10 percent. † The shampoo market is estimated to be around Rs 3,500 crore. (IBN Live oct 2011) But if HUL, the leader in shampoos with a market share of around 44% through its Sunsilk, Clinic Plus, Clinic All Clear and Dove brands, was to respond to P&G’s move with share of 24%. apr2011

Cause and effect: gambling Essay

Throughout life we take chances with many different things. We take chances for ourselves, and we take chances for others close to us. Chances are things which will give you so much good in your life if you go for the right things and succeed when taking the chance. As is everything in this life taking chances are all and only good within moderation. When you take yourself to an abusive level with anything it becomes dangerous for you and all who surround you. An unsuccessful gambler may carry the same attributes of a very greedy person. A greedy person is someone who always wants more, and in essence a person gambling is looking to get more then they have. Gambling is considered to be addictive for many people, and depending on the degree of your addiction it can affect your life in more places then just your wallet. People engage in gambling through its ever-present incentive. The incentive in gambling is most commonly a financial reward, but it may also be many other different things. The mind of a person is hopefully set to learn from mistakes, and this is the mindset of many gamblers, these are successful gamblers. The reason they are successful is because they are able to establish what the problem was in their loss. After establishing their problem they learn to not repeat their fault. Next, when the mind set of a person is not gauged to learn from their mistakes, but only learn through extreme measures is when gambling becomes a larger problem. A gambler can be successful and not greedy, but a bad gambler is made through greed. If the gambler does not want to lose anymore or accepts his winnings they become unsuccessful. Greed is one of the seven deadliest sins, andn it is so fitting indeed. When a good gambler suffers from losing he or she turns around and puts their loss aside and does not let it intertwine with any aspect of their life other then gambling. When an inexperienced or unsuccessful gambler loses, the loss effects more then just the gambling aspect of their life. The unsuccessful gambler will turn to things of more negativity. The reason the gambler turns to these things is to ease their mind and hide their feelings. This way of coping with losing could ultimately result into hurting financially, as well as emotionally, and even physically. The first problem the gambler will face will be financial loss. The first thing to go in gambling is your wallet, and unfortunately one of the most commonly related problems to depression is debt. Losing money will affect the mindset of the gambler causing possible depression. This is when the problem reaches the emotional aspect it may take. The chain of events continues from depression on ward to abuse among substances, most commonly drugs and alcohol. Drugs and alcohol are substances made to relax the mind and take them away from the reality of things. The reality of the situation is that all drugs and alcohol will do is further affect the gambler financially as well as emotionally, and physically. When abuse of alcohol and drugs is brought to the home life of someone all it brings is deceit and ultimately pain. If the gambler has a family life the habits of drugs and alcohol will be tried to be concealed by the user to not hurt anyone else, and ultimately the truth surfaces taking an even bigger toll on the gambler. The abuse of alcohol and drugs is also closely related to physical abuse. Being intoxicated on drugs and alcohol can in fact lead to abusing close friends or family. It is most likely never said, but gambling can lead a person to rehabilitation. It is somewhat ironic that a hobby usually carried by wealthy, or well off people with strong mentalities can lead to complete collapse and weakness. This chain of events the gambler goes through can have almost a ruining effect on their life. Gambling is caused by the mentality of a risk taker or someone who enjoys taking chances wanting more then they have. Taking chances is not a bad thing by any means. It only becomes bad when it is abused. The effects of abusing gambling are never ending. Abusing gambling can lead to many extremes of negativity. It is up to the mind of the gambler to know when it is time to stop, or if it is not risking too much by continuing on.

Home Network Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Home Network - Essay Example The connection of the home network will be through an Ethernet type of network, whereby, I will have a router that will direct the traffic between the linked devices. Preferably, there will be a connection of the router to the dial-up for allowing many computers to share a single connection to the Internet (Crabtree, Mortier, & Rodden, 2012). Another essential required for connecting the devices to the internet is a strong firewall that will protect the home network from attacks by malicious hackers and users who will corrupt data. Preferably, I will opt to use a router that combines the Ethernet network technology and a hardware firewall. Another essential required when setting up the home network is the network switch that will allow the devices connected on the home network to communicate effectively with each other through the Ethernet. A built-in switch will suffice for the router. I will also include a network bridge for connecting the network

Medicare Budget Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Medicare Budget Crisis - Essay Example Critics claim that America’s medical system is one of the failing ones mainly because of its expenditure and lack of autonomy on the responsible parties. As of today, about 44 million Americans (approximately 16 percent) lack any sort of medical insurance (Taylor, 2012). This is extremely absurd given that the government strives a lot to see its subordinates sustain their health. This paper will seek to discuss five Medicaid suggestions set forth by five different senators and provide one more suggestion, which appears more substantial when implemented. Senator 1 Senator 1 suggested to the Congress that the government should pass the cost of Medicaid to the states. A closer outlook into this suggestion shows that passing the cost of Medicaid to the states would have negative implications since studies show that most of these states might not be in a position to settle the expenses (Arnold, R2011). Even though this may seem hard and somewhat intolerable, the brighter part of th e suggestion posits that the government will be able to provide medical assistance to its citizens without many huddles. This is so because the states will be the ones responsible for their own medical expenses, which is more considerable when compared to the former (White, 2003). This is an indication that this suggestion is advantageous to the government and the citizens as well as the states since it is a way of distributing resources to the states. It facilitates easier access to medical aid to every state’s people making it reliable and affordable (Arnold, 2010). Nevertheless, noting that this suggestion is disadvantageous to agencies involved is crucial. If the government happens to resolve into passing on medical care cost to the states, many injustices will take place (Taylor, 2012). For one, the cost of settling any medical expenses incurred or getting medical insurance would be very high and therefore the states would not be able to cater for its citizens. Generally , the cost of Medicaid would only be worse due to its high cost when passed on to the state’s budget structure (Arnold, 2010). According to senator one, passing on the cost of Medicaid to the states would indicate that very many Americans would fail to cater for their medical care hence go for years without health care. This is very taunting to many citizens, as they would face difficulties when it comes to Medicaid (Arnold, R2011). Senator 2 With reference to the current system of medical care in the US, senator two’s suggestion is very relevant and advantageous to almost every American. Based on the idea that the government must alter the definition of some identification such as â€Å"poor† into those people who are virtually homeless, it is seeable that the government can save the presumed amount, which is $500 billion (Taylor, 2012). Altering the Medicaid qualifications is an advantage that the government may consider putting into place if it wishes to have its cost of health care decline and pave way for easier allocation of budget to other departments within the government (White, 2003). Additionally, lowering the threshold line, which is set by the Federal Poverty Line, can end up being a very essential tool towards realizing the predetermined savings amount in the Medicaid sector (Arnold, R2011). On the other end, understanding that the second suggestion can come along with several negative effects is of great essence to every party involved. In any case, if the government results into implementing

Migration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Migration - Essay Example The traditional theories of assimilation argued assimilation as an essential part of the upward mobility part of immigrants and hence explain the nature of immigration well (Warner and Srole, 1945). On the other hand, based on the failure of these theories to capture the assimilation process, it is now shown that the traditional theories of assimilation have failed to capture this incompleteness of assimilation and hence the nature of immigrant adaptation (Alba and Nee, 1997, 2003; Rumbaut, 1997etc).In spite of this, some studies show the assimilation theory as still relevant (Greenman and Xie, 2008).The debate remains unsettled. This essay critically evaluates the traditional theories of assimilation and their ability to explain the nature of immigrant adaptation. This essay is organized as follows. Section 2 discusses the historical background underlying the migration debate. Section 3 discusses the theories of assimilation. Section 4 discusses the critiques of the theories of evaluation and evaluates the theories. Section 5 concludes the essay. The debate underlying the immigrant adaptation had its origin from the United States. The number of immigrants to USA slowed down from 1920 to 1965 while with the passing of the 1965 immigration Act, it showed significant rise again. The earlier immigrants before 1920 were mainly Europeans. The experiences with these European immigrants and their children are considered as successful assimilation into the host American society (Alba and Nee, 1997). Since 1965, the immigrants were mainly from Latin America and Asia. There has been widespread debate regarding the economic, social and cultural impact of these new immigrants on the society of America. Whether the experiences of these immigrants and their children were similar to those of the early European immigrants or not have been highly controversial (Alba and Nee 1997, 2003; Bankston and

E-Business , E-Commerce and Information System Case Study

E-Business , E-Commerce and Information System - Case Study Example ips with the customers and the development of a better website will allow PharmQuip to gather useful customer data and retain the customers’ loyalty. The global healthcare equipment industry is anticipated to grow around 5% more till the year 2012. Therefore this is the best opportunity for the company to go global and increase its market share. The developing countries such as Pakistan, India and Malaysia are the most attractive markets because these markets are not concentrated, hence, the demand for healthcare equipment for the disabled will be much higher than in developed countries. NGOs have played another role in creating demand for healthcare equipment as 1500 jobs were created in India in 2005 for the handicaps. The physically challenged individuals who go to jobs or are living alone are the main target segment for PharQuip. Although the international expansion looks very attractive at first glance but it presents a number of issues. As the PharmQuip business will ent er the global arena, it will require more ICT resources and streamlining of the current processes to meet the demand of international healthcare retailers and chemists. The company will need to employ more security measures to enhance the current payment system for its B2B customers. Security of customer data and supplier information will also be needed and will require significant expenditure when the company goes global. A higher budget will be required to advertise and for the promotional strategy to be implemented in all the countries where the company will operate. The single greatest risk that the company faces is from the changes in technologies and introduction of lower cost healthcare equipment. New regulatory requirements can be introduced in the countries which can harm the business. Other risks are the changes in the market dynamics, introduction of alternatives to healthcare equipments and breakthroughs in biotechnologies which can cure the physical disabilities of the

Business Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business Research - Essay Example The research will use a qualitative method to gather data and focus groups will be mainly used for this particular case. This proposal is expected to be complete within a time frame of about two weeks. Topshop is the most influential brand in the British Fashion community and it has distinguished itself through offering popular range of clothing, accessories and makeup and a portfolio of successful product-led marketing initiatives such as Topshop Unique and Kate Moss Design Collaboration (Joyn, 2011). The success of Topshop is not an end in itself since it is still poised for growth. As such, this research proposal has been design to establish the strategies that can be implemented by this shop in its bid to expand to overseas markets. It is important that research has to be carried out so as to be in a position to successfully establish business in a global environment. The paper is divided into various categories which are meant to highlight the stages involved in carrying out this particular research. Organizations operating in a global market ought to take a holistic approach in order for them to operate effectively. The global environment is characterized by various market forces such as competition as well as consumer choice among other factors (Everard & Burrow, 1996). Though Topshop has successfully managed to establish itself as a force to reckon with in the UK fashion industry, this might not be the case in overseas markets since they are not synonymous with the UK market. As such, this study is justified since it seeks to investigate the market forces that can affect the viability of businesses in different markets. The research is also valuable given that it helps the responsible authorities at the above mentioned shop to make informed decisions about the strategies that can be implemented in order for it to penetrate new overseas market. The research is also going to create a body of knowledge that can be used for academic purposes in as far

The Current and Future Uses of Tidal Power in North America Essay

The Current and Future Uses of Tidal Power in North America - Essay Example Other records documents that Tidal power originated from Europe and Atlantic coast of North American where tide mills were used to produce electricity. The flowing water was stored in massive ponds and the movement of tides turned the waterwheels, which utilized mechanical energy generated to for grain milling. The earliest tide mills occurred during the Middle ages and during the Roman times and in the 19th century, the process of utilizing running water and turbine spinning for electricity production was introduced in America and Europe, (Hardisty 52). During this period, the tidal mills were primarily utilized to grand grains and had similar designs with the conventional water mills except the fact that they did not use reservoirs and dams. Similarly, the industrial revolution accelerated power demands and tidal energy could not meet the demand; therefore, the development of cheap fossil fuels and other power production means that provided access to generation of power replaced ti dal power. Therefore, the existing Tidal mills and other pre-industrial water mills lost their value as power production means. ... Secondly, tidal energy can be exploited through turbines sinking to the floor of the sea whereby fast-moving water currents turn blades of the generator as wind does to wind turbines. Tidal power is renewable energy as the tides movement is on a predictable routine schedule based on the Sun, Moon, and Earth’s orbit and cannot be exhaustible. Even though, tidal power is free of carbon, it is not environmental secure because concerns over the shoreline health and aquatic environment ruins the clean power source – older technology of tidal barrage can destroy aquatic life populations. Traditionally, massive systems of barrage prevailed in the of tidal energy project. However, because of high evident unhealthy environmental and economic challenges with the tidal power technology, investigations into the tidal power field had a shift from systems of barrage to tidal turbines current in the recent years. This modern technology has fewer environmental challenges than the tidal barrages because the turbines on the offshore water current cuts the necessity of building water reservoirs for capturing tides along environmental delicate coastlines. Although, harnessing tidally drive currents of the coastal waters cannot product as much power as the barrage style equipments, the technology still has some hope for the North Americans. This is because the technology is rapidly developing and growing with various test projects developing all over the world. For instance, the technology is evolving in various nations such as Canada, France, Europe, and the entire United States. North America now owns and operates its own Annapolis tidal energy project that provides energy for various purposes. For instance, power from the tidal

Development in Oil and Gas Retail Industries Essay

Development in Oil and Gas Retail Industries - Essay Example 53 percent of energy European Union consumes comes from its imports that have affected trade balance of because of high imports of fossil fuel (Daly, 2014). Therefore, the union look forwards for reduction in energy dependency in order to enhance energy security, reduce the import bills and affordable energy, to ensure consistency to meet climate and industrial objectives for 2050 (Schweitzer, 2014). The main objective of the European Union is to reduce the dependency of the energy, improve energy security and power system. Russia has been of the major supplier of energy to European Union over the past decades. One-third of the gas demands of European Union are being delivered by Russia. In the EU-Russian Summit heal on 2000; the energy was one of the prominent aspects that were chosen to be a potential lead for the integration of the bilateral relationship (Ehrlich, 2013). The economic and industrial coronation between different nations including European Union has significantly developed through these years. However, the thousands of Russian companies are developing and have created interdependency of energy supply for European Union. Agreement on the global climate and energy targets has emerged to be one of the significant elements in globalization that has to be effectively addressed. Recently, at the European Summit that held on March 20th the government leader were suppose to agree with the climate and energy target of 2030 (Tindale, 2014). However, they discussed more about the energy dependency on Russia, Ukraine and Crimea. The Russian Annexation of Crimea has emerged to be one of the debatable issues in the current political meetings. It is because the high dependency of Europe on Russian Energy that has to be effectively addressed (Tindale, 2014). Russian is one on of the largest supplier of gas to European Union due to

Role of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Essay Example for Free

Role of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Essay They have employed existing means of production differently, more appropriately, more adventurously. They have â€Å"carried out new combinations†. They are entrepreneurs† – Joseph Schumpeter (Lumsdaine and Binks, 2007). Entrepreneurship is a procedure through which individuals identify opportunities (problems that need to be solved or unmet needs) in the market place, allocate resources, initiate change by being innovative and creative and create value through solutions. One of the Factors of Production to produce goods or services is Enterprise with Land, Labour and Capital; an entrepreneur combines all other factors of production by enterprise, which is actually problem solving, risk taking and creativity, to come up with innovative products or services. â€Å"Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity not a threat†. (Steve Jobs,2010). It is not necessary that Innovation is something completely new which is stated as ‘Discrete Change’ by Joseph Schumpeter, it can also be a ‘Gradual Change’, that is a product or service which is better than what was there before (Lumsdaine and Binks, 2007). It can be called a process by which an Idea or invention is translated into a product or service for which people will pay and perceive it as being new. Entrepreneurship is incomplete without Innovation as Steve Jobs said, â€Å"Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship. The act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth. †. (Steve Jobs,2010). Economic Development can be defined as the development of economic wealth for the well being of a country’s inhabitants. It implies progressive changes in the socio-economic structure of an economy, change in the distribution pattern of income, adoption of new technologies, creation of jobs, transition from agro-based to industry-based economy and general improvements in living standards. According to Lumsdaine and Binks,â€Å"In the context of entrepreneurship, it is creativity that leads to Innovation, that is development of new products and processes which when innovated replace the traditional and previous versions. Creativity leads to a greater fulfillment on an individual basis as we use our imagination to create our new horizons for what we do in our lives. By imagining what we could be and achieve, we move beyond the boundaries we have previously set for ourselves. Innovation can be seen as practical application of creativity in an organization. † (Lumsdaine and Binks, 2007) So Innovation is actually the product of Creativity and Problem Solving with the help of Entrepreneurship. â€Å"Entrepreneurs are the catalysts that spur the economy with their innovations and technological change† – Joseph Schumpeter (Lumsdaine and Binks, 2007). Entrepreneurship leads to Economic Change and economic development through creative destruction. When the Entrepreneurs sell their Idea, the Idea is a solution to a problem and is a need that has not been met before which means there was a gap in the market for that product or service which he innovated, consumers buy it because there is a demand for it which the entrepreneur realized and innovated it and as more and more consumers buy it, more will be the improvement in Living Standards of the inhabitants of the Economy; in conclusion, entrepreneurs showing their creativity solve a problem and innovate a product or service which benefits the economic development of an economy directly and indirectly. Wal-Mart Stores is a relevant example for understanding the relationship between Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Development, the company which is ranked no. 18 in the Forbes List of â€Å"Global 2000 Leading Companies 2011†. Samuel Moore Walton is one of the most successful entrepreneurs who made it possible in less than half a century. He founded the Company in 1962 when he opened the company’s first discount store in Rogers, Arkansas, USA after watching a market gap of Discount stores in his State of Arkansas. He just figured out a problem that people in the urban areas have to pay higher prices at stores in the city center since the country side is far away for the consumers to go there and the stores used to take an advantage of that and charge higher prices. Sam Walton imagined using his creativity, what if there is a discount store in the city which buys everything in bulk from the country side and uses its own transport for delivery of good to the store, would the consumers buy from there at lower prices rather than going to other stores in the city with higher prices. He just used his creativity to solve the problem and Innovated world’s first and most successful Discount Store, Wal-Mart. Sam Walton, in his autobiography, said, â€Å"If you think about it from the point of view of the customer, you want everything: a wide assortment of quality merchandise; the lowest possible prices; guaranteed satisfaction; friendly, knowledgeable service; convenient hours; and a pleasant shopping experience. You love it when a store exceeds your expectations, and you hate it when a store inconveniences you, gives you a hard time, or pretends you’re invisible. (2011). When he opened his first Wal-Mart store, no one imagined he was introducing a retailing formula that within a generation would impact the lives of millions of people. Wal-Mart Stores grew gradually but at a good pace and then reached to the position it has achieved today. In 1975, it employed only 7500 employees, 125 stores with Sales of $340 billion. In 1983, The Forbes Magazine ranked it no. 1 General retailer for the eighth year straight. In 1991, Wal-mart became an international supermarket chain with more than 1200 stores and more than 200,000 employees. Wal-Mart launched Sam’s clubs which was also a success and reached 1995 stores, 239 supercentres, 433 Sam’s Clubs and 276 international stores with 675,000 employees by the end of 1995. By 1997, Wal-Mart Stores had entered into another part of the world, which is China and was taking Environmental friendly measures and also became the largest private employer in the US with 680,000 employees and additional 115,000 international employees serving 90 million customers per week worldwide. By the end of the 1990s, Wal-Mart had opened stores in Korea and Germany and had become the largest private employer of the World with total of 1,140,000 employees. By 2004, Wal-Mart had been declared as the third most admirable company in the US by Fortune Magazine, ranked among the companies with â€Å"Top 25 Diversity Recruitment Programs† and was awarded the â€Å"Corporate Patriotism Award†. In 2005, The Wal-Mart Foundation started working much actively and donated $18 million for US hurricane relief efforts and the Company employed more than 1. million employees and owned 3800 Stores in the US and 3800 International Stores with Annual Sales of $312. 4 billion and existed in 16 countries. Today, Wal-Mart Stores owns 9826 stores in 28 countries with 2. 1 million employees and serves more than 176 million customers annually. Walmart Foundation now is too active and donates largely in relief efforts and for causes; it has separate programs for different fields like Health, Disable people and Education (Wal-mart Stores, 2011). Sam Walton said it best, â€Å"If we work together, we’ll lower the cost of living for everyone†¦we’ll give the world an opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life. † (2011). This was the innovation mainly in his Idea of Discount Stores to save people’s money, to help them live better was the goal that Sam Walton envisioned when he opened the doors to the first Walmart (2011). If his vision was to help people live better which means improving their living standards, then there is no doubt that how much Wal-Mart would have contributed towards positive economic development just because of Sam Walton’s entrepreneurship and Innovation. A company that employs 2. 1 million people cannot be questioned for its contribution towards economic development. Since it generated a lot of employment opportunities the economy was benefited in the form of expenditure on goods and services by the employees; moreover, all the employees working there earn a salary from Wal-Mart and then spend it on goods and services in their own economies. Expenditures like education and health increase the demand of goods and services in the economy leading to economic growth. This has lead to increase in the economy’s PPF outwards as A. D of the economy has increased. On the basis of the figures provided in the 2010’s Annual Report of Wal-Mart Stores and the World Bank’s statistics of the US’s GDP of the year 2010, Wal-Mart Stores had contributed approximately 2. 8 percent to the Annual GDP of the US in 2010. (Yahoo Finance and World Bank, 2011). This Calculation can be supported by the Statistics provided by the website of Wall-Mart Stores, that in 2010, Wal-Mart’s sales were $307. billion in U. S. retail sales as the  next five largest U. S. retailers combined  sales of $324. 5 billion: Kroger ($78. 3 billion), Target ($65. 8 billion), Walgreen ($61. 2 billion), Home Depot ($60. 1 billion) and Costco ($58. 9 billion). In 2005, almost half (46%) of Americans lived within 5 miles of a Walmart or Sams Club, and 88% lived within 15 miles of a Walmart of Sams Club which also shows the contribution of Wal-Mart towards U. S. ’s economy and in 2011, every $45 dollars spent in the U. S. economy, almost $1 was spent on a purchase at a Walmart. (Wal-mart Stores, 2011). Therefore, the presence of Wal-mart in the US economy generated income not only for the employees but for the economy as a whole. Among all of the great scholars of entrepreneurship, Joseph Schumpeter is the only one who has explained properly the relationship between Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Development. According to Lumsdaine and Binks (2007), â€Å"The crucial contribution made by Joseph Schumpeter in The theory of Economic Development (ref. 2. 1) was to highlight the entrepreneur’s role as the catalyst for economic development. This contribution connects entrepreneurship, creativity and economic development. To understand the actual and potential impact of entrepreneurship, it is important to consider his analysis. Schumpeter portrayed any economy as a collection of enterprises and business where each represented a particular combination of production factors in the form of machines, people, land, premises, finance, and so on, in some sense every business relied for its market upon the successful activities of all others. This interdependence through customer demand meant that changes in the nature or level of economic activity would be caused only when a new combination of factors of production was introduced. The diverse operations of Walmart did not only benefit the US but has also contributed to economic development of under-developed and developed countries of Africa. According to Brown and Sander (2007), large multinational supermarket chains are rapidly expanding in developed and developing economies. These supermarket chains tend to import agriculture products from developing and under-developed economies; this is due to the advantage developing and under developed countries offer them in quality and prices. Which in a way is good for the development of the under developed and developing countries. According to Brown and Sander (2007), â€Å"In the continent of Africa, where small farmers account for both 90 per cent of agricultural production and 73 per cent of Africa’s rural poor, access to valuable international markets could play a crucial role in wider poverty reduction†, most Multinational Supermarket chains buy Fruits and Vegetables from small holder farmers of Sub-Saharan Africa which also increases exports of these poor countries resulting in higher economic development of their country by improvement in their living standards. According to Stokk (2007), â€Å"Supply chain development initiated by supermarkets can help farmers escape the low productivity trap. Supermarkets face a short run cost, but gradually benefit from the agricultural skill upgrading in terms of increased market share. Our result suggests that when farmers do not meet the required standards, supermarkets have an incentive to invest in farm assistance programs that improve the productivity of local suppliers. Supermarket expansion not only affects farmers in the supply chain, but also has consequences for the rest of the food retail sector. Traditional retailers face increased competition and potential loss of market share, but may benefit from foreign supermarkets through spillover effects of the latest retail techniques. † (2009). Higher productivity and latest retail techniques do affect the economic development to a great extent. In the same article Stokk said, â€Å"The value of local purchases made to operate the Wal-Mart stores and facilities such as tilities and business services. The value of goods sold by local manufacturers to Wal-Mart, The types of Wal-Mart facilities present within the MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area), while the price effects from retail stores can be significant, other facilities such as distribution centers can also have positive economic impacts. † In conclusion, this essay has clearly analysed the relationship between entrepreneurship, innovation and economic development and has also briefly explain the role Creativity and Problem Solving play in this relationship. In this relationship between entrepreneurship, innovation and economic development, Innovation is the base, since economic development is influenced by entrepreneurship through Innovation. However, it is not necessary that all entrepreneurs benefit the economic development; it can only have a positive implication on economic development if there is innovation. And for innovation to effect the economic development positively with entrepreneurship, the entrepreneur should be creative in problem solving. Creativity is a foundation of this relationship and problem solving is an essential tool for this relationship to come over difficulties and carry on with the flow from entrepreneurship to positive economic development through innovation. However, long term economic development cannot lack of innovation and entrepreneurship, simultaneously, as tools of innovation, creativity and problem solving play a vital role in the whole process. Word Count: 1651 words without referencing.

Principles of Assessment Essay Example for Free

Principles of Assessment Essay Educational assessment is the process of documenting, usually in measurable terms, knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs. Assessment can focus on the individual learner, the learning community (class, workshop, or other organized group of learners), the institution, or the educational system as a whole. According to the Academic Exchange Quarterly: Studies of a theoretical or empirical nature (including case studies, portfolio studies, exploratory, or experimental work) addressing the assessment of learner aptitude and preparation, motivation and learning styles, learning outcomes in achievement and satisfaction in different educational contexts are all welcome, as are studies addressing issues of measurable standards and benchmarks. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Educational_assessment Some of the key concepts of assessment are as follows: * Accountability * Achievement * Assessment Strategies. * Initial, Formative or Summative types Accountability means that I am answerable to my learners and my organisation to ensure that I am performing my role as an assessor correctly. I always let my learners know when they are going to be assessed and how they will meet the criteria. Achievement- I will look at what the learner has achieved while they have been doing the course and compare this with the standards to ensure they have been fully met. Assessment Strategy- I follow my organisations assessment strategy for the subject I am assessing to ensure I am carrying out my role correctly. The assessment strategy I follow for NVQ2 in Cleaning is: * UPK questions * Observations * Progress Review * Supplementary questions * Exit Interview. The qualifications and experience I require are A1 V1 and experience in the cleaning industry. Formal Assessment * Ongoing during a course * It enables progress to be regularly monitored and reviewed * The student can see what they need to develop further before a final assessment * A student can identify gaps in their learning * It shows a student how much they have learnt so far which encourages and motivates them Methods of Formal Assessment. * Tracking Sheet * Observations * Tutorials * Midway Review * Oral Questions Summative Assessment * Usually taken at the end of the course * Usually leads to a pass/fail situation * Tests whether performance criteria have been met Methods of Summative Assessment * Exit Interview * Portfolio Completion * Demonstration * Summative Testing * Evaluation Form â€Å"Summative assessment takes place at the end of a course or topic and is used mainly for certification purposes. It is used to see if a student has learned the material and is capable of going on to further study. † Formative assessment is most suitable where the results are to be used internally for example: Teachers to ensure learning has taken place and for improving methods of instruction and for students to have an idea of their success etc whilst summative assessment can be set by the teacher or by an awarding body/examination body. When making a summative decision I confirm to my learners that they have met the criteria. They may receive a certificate as with NVQ2 or progress further with their training. Summative assessment takes place at the end of a course or topic and is used mainly for certification purposes. Formative assessment, on the other hand, takes place during the course and is useful in telling the student how the learning is proceeding. Reece Walker 2007p323. STRENGTHS WEAKNESSESS Formative Assessment Formative Assessment Role Play Make learners uncomfortable Physical demonstration of ability Embarrassed Not Realistic Summative Assessment Summative Assessment Demonstration Make learners feel uncomfortable Authentic Realistic Valid The assessment practice starts with initial assessment before the course starts. It may happen at pre- entry, entry or induction stage. The initial assessment will inform you about the learner’s prior knowledge, skills, qualifications, learning styles and any support learner may need. When you have found out the current level of ability you can then set goals, plan future learning and assessment. There are different types of initial assessment: Enrolment Form- shows what qualifications the learner has if they have special needs. Interview when you interview the learner you will be able to ask many questions. Skills Scan the skills scan will tell you if the learner is in employment what there job requires and if they will need additional training. Diagnostic Tests will inform you if the learner has difficulty in reading or writing. You may be able to tell if a person has dyslexia as they will have blurred vision, suffer from headaches when reading and they find it easier to read large print. To help them with reading you can print on to coloured paper or have a coloured overlay. 10% of the British population are dyslexic, 4% severely. Dyslexia is identified as a disability as defined in the Disability Discrimination Act 2005. Some of the famous people who suffer from dyslexia are: Albert Einstein Tom Cruise Henry Winkler. Vince Vaughn (British dyslexia Association www. bdadyslexia. org. uk, (11/07/11 I have taught learners who have learning difficulties including deaf people, people who have difficulty in reading and writing and understanding. ILP It states on the ILP what qualifications a learner has, the results of diagnostic tests and if they require additional support, what units they are doing, midway review and exit interview. Learning styles is recognising individuality in your class it is the way in which learners begin to concentrate on and process and retain new and difficult information. There are different types of learning styles: David Kolb’s Converger, Diverger, Assimilator, Accommodator Honey and Mumford’s Having an Experience, Reviewing Experience, Concluding from Experience Planning next steps Fleming Vak/Varks Visual, Auditory, read/write, Kinaesthetic. Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia En. wikipedia. org/wiki/learning styles 11/07/011 Learning style is the way that you absorb information 1 We decode 2 How you store information 3 Recall information Learning style is how we receive and recall information. We can absorb information through our senses, hearing, seeing and doing. In my role I use all of the styles of Fleming. In further education if there is no initial assessment this will disadvantage the learners as they may be placed on the wrong program or course, which will lead to lack of interest and little motivation if any, they may not get additional support and the teacher will have no baseline to assess their progress. Peer and Self Assessment Self or Peer Assessment is a process whereby students or their peers grade assignments or tests based on a teacher’s benchmarks. [1] The practise is employed to save teachers time and improve students understanding of course materials as well as improve their metacognitive skills. Rubrics are often used in conjunction with Self- and Peer-Assessment. [2] http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Self-_and_Peer-Assessment 12/07/11 Peer assessment is when the learners or colleagues assess another learners or colleagues progress. It is used to develop learner’s ability to work as a group and to be critical of others work as well as receiving review and comment. Self assessment is when you assess your own progress. Both methods encourage the learners to make decisions on what they have learnt so far and to reflect on future development. The learners need to know the criteria fully. Advantages Disadvantages Peer Assessment Peer Assessment Can reduce the amount of teacher assessment. All peers need to be involved So planning needs to take place As who gives feedback and to Whom. Learners may accept comments from peers Appropriate conditions and More willingly than from the assessor environment are needed Promotes learner and peer involvement some peers may be anxious, Nervous or have lack of confidence To give feedback. Self Assessment Self Assessment Encourages learners to check Difficult to be objective when Their own progress making a decision Encourages reflection Learners need to fully understand Promotes learner involvement the assessment criteria. And personal responsibilities some learners may lack Confidence in their ability to make Decisions about their own progress What research tells us? * Giving feedback on learning errors and getting the learner to correct them and identify strategies to improve future work is directly linked to significant improvement in achievement rates. (Professor John Hattie, 2002) Assessment should involve both teacher and learners in checking and reflection. Feedback is very important not only to learners but to the teachers from the feedback teachers can decide whether they have to change anything. Feedback and Questioning Feedback is information we give our learners to let them know what they have achieved to date and how they can develop further all learners need to know how they are progressing and what they have achieved. Feedback can be both formative and summative. Formative is ongoing and includes praise and encouragement. Summative is at the end has the learner achieved to specific criteria. Feedback should be a two-way process allowing discussion and questions. Most people need encouragement to tell them how well they have done or how well they are doing when you give feedback you should give praise first then how they can improve then end on a positive note to give them motivation. This is known as the praise sandwich. http://www. google. co. uk/search? q=feedback+sandwichhl=enprmd=ivnsbsource=lnmstbm=ischei=vXQcTsrxHNKwhQepndXdBwsa=Xoi=m 12/07/11 The advantages of giving feedback are: Confirms achievement, success or otherwise Creates opportunities for explaining and discussion Highlights progress rather than failure. Helps improve confidence and motivation Identifies further learning opportunities or any action required. Feedback should be given as soon as possible after the assessment while the information is still fresh. Questioning can be used formally and informally as part of the feedback to ensure the learner understands what has been said. My response should question appropriate questioning skills so the feedback is effective to the learner. Questioning skills include: * Using open questions (usually beginning with who, what, when, where, why and how). * Using closed questions (only requiring a yes or no answer). * Clarifying (for example can you go over that again? ). * Probing (for example why was that? ) * Prompting (for example what about†¦? ) Feedback should were possible be positive negative feedback presents learners with difficult and unachievable targets or naming and making learners embarrassed in the classroom. You should never criticise always praise and if the teacher makes a mistake he/she should be honest and apologise. Record Keeping Accurate records that are taken through out a course enable the teacher and learner to continually assess the effectiveness of the teacher/learner relationship. Records indicate whether pupils are learning what they are being taught and their progression with the course, records can tell you which learners may need a little more help, and whether a teacher needs to refine any aspects of their teaching. Maintaining attendance records can give an idea of where learners may fall behind through their learning. Being able to identify learners attendance can indicate problems which may benefit from referral to other professional bodies, or a learner may be unhappy with the teaching style or the course they have chosen. As well as a register a tracking sheet of all learners names, forming columns starting with a date, the assessment and a column for a pass or refer, in cleaning you are competent or not yet competent. These tracking sheets are recorded and form part of the learner’s portfolio along with any practical tasks and also a guide for the learners to follow through their course. When learners begin their course its good for them to have their own individual learning plan as a teacher its good to have our own individual teaching plan. A session plan should relate to the scheme of work, it helps to record your aims and objectives, assessment activities and self evaluation. It can also help to assess your learners. As a teacher my responsibility is to teach and guide and assess my learners. Records can be used as a guide for learners focusing on their learning strengths and weaknesses, where they do well or could do better. There are organisational records and external records. Organisational records: * Enrolment form * ILP * Learners record of achievement * Peer group feedback * Tutor feedback * Incident report * Observation records. * Contact Logs The types of records I use are: * Enrolment form * ILP * Learners record of achievement * Observation records * Contact Logs â€Å"You need to keep records of how your learners are progressing. If you mark a test or observe a task, how can you prove your learner has achieved something if they lose their work†? (Gravells 2008p88) JOIN NOW FOR FREE RATIONALE METHODOLOGY Wishing to gain a broad balance to my teaching experience, I started working as an assessor at Swan Training Group. The following assignment will cover the following areas: Negotiating with learners Inclusive learning. Integrating Functional skills Communication I have researched all of the above and this written assignment will be a short overview of the main areas using examples from both research and personal experience. Negotiating with learners is a form of communication where cooperation is established so that the learner and tutor agree on the learner’s goals; negotiation is the process of two individuals or groups reaching a joint agreement. When you have got all the information via initial assessment at the start of the course it is important to agree on goals and actions based on the information. The learner should be encouraged through negotiation to take control and responsibility for their own learning by contributing in discussions and decisions about their learning and how this will develop. Also in initial assessment you can include tests for literacy and numeracy to see what level learner is at and if they will require additional help. In my specialist area I integrate functional skills as the learners need to use literacy and numeracy to read labels and dilute chemicals, complete upk questions, order supplies, complete holiday sheets. Inclusive learning is described as recognising, accommodating and meeting the learner’s needs of all of the students and supporting them in the learning environment. All learners are allowed to take part in their chosen subject and should be placed in the best possible environment regardless of their gender, race, ethnic origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation and age. Communication is very important and we not only communicate by speaking we communicate through our eyes, gestures and body language. There are also many barriers to communication such as: Family Commitments Lack of Resources Lack of Support. Peer Pressure Emotional Disability and many more. To overcome these barriers you must be honest with the learners if you do not know something you should tell them you will find out, be positive and enthusiastic, communicate effectively and give constructive and positive feedback. I am learner centred as I pay attention to what the learner is learning, how they are learning, whether the student is retaining and applying the learning. I like to teach this way so all of the learners can participate and differences between learners are accommodated so that all in the group have the best possible chance of learning.

Perovskite Electrocatalyst for CO2 Reduction Design

Perovskite Electrocatalyst for CO2 Reduction Design Theoretical design of efficient perovskite electrocatalyst for CO2 reduction Summary This project aims to engineer perovskite materials as efficient electrocatalysts for CO2 to fuel conversion. Perovskite are appealing candidates because of their wide ranging and complex electronic structures. There is a scope to break some of the limitations of metallic catalysts to come up with new efficient electro catalyst. The endless varieties of electronic properties oxides’ show are truly astounding. We would like to search this large materials space systematically for possible catalyst with improved activity for CO2 reduction. However, they should also be active, stable and conductive at relevant potentials to meet application targets. Identification and establishment of design principles for efficient oxide catalyst for CO2 reduction will mark the scientific part of this project. Efforts to be made for predicting molecular pathway of CO2 reduction reactions and develop unified search criterion like descriptors regarding these reactions. Then this knowledge to be appl ied for high throughput computational search for best perovskite electrocatalysts. In this project we plan to utilize the latest simulation methodologies developed based on density functional theory (DFT) towards understanding the molecular mechanism of CO2 to fuel conversion on oxide surfaces. Further on, we will explore kinetic barriers using nudged elastic band (NEB) method to come up with possible efficient electro catalyst. Introduction and perspective on impact Global energy consumption will increase manifold in a few decades as larger fraction of world population achieves higher quality of life. This demand could be met from fossil fuels, particularly coal. However, in recent time, carbon dioxide level in the air has reached the highest (>400 ppm) of the last 20 million years, causing radical and largely unpredictable changes in the environment. Thus to maintain sustainability for human kind, it will require invention, development, and deployment of carbon-neutral energy production at a scale larger than, the entire energy supply in modern civilization. To support high penetration of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power it would require a commensurate increase in energy storage capacity to integrate them into the electrical power grid. This is to facilitate reliability in power delivery by smoothing out the large fluctuations. Electrochemical conversion of CO2 and H2O into liquid fuels is the holy grail where high density renewable energy storage and CO2 capture meet each other. However, no electro-catalyst known to man can catalyse this reaction efficiently. Copper (Cu) is the only metal with considerable activity, but its efficiency and selectivity for liquid fuels are far too low for practical use. Ruthenium dioxide can convert CO2 to methanol at a low overpotential, however, the process is rather unselective and ruthenium is extremely scarce. It is of utmost importance to discover efficient electro catalyst with low over potential, high faraday efficiency and most importantly, made of earth abundant elements. Recent success obtained in photo electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 on SrTiO3 surfaces and electrocatalytic reduction of the same on Lanthanum Strontium Cuprate perovskite leads us towards selecting oxides especially perovskite as the most promising class of materials to study. The potential phase space of (mixed metal at A and B site) perovskite materials is very large, thus experimentally testing all compounds is not practically feasible, but has to be narrowed down through computational screening. Simulation science has taken up a key role in development of new energy materials in the last couple of years, through computation of materials properties, which are difficult to measure experimentally. Development in computer power has enabled large-scale materials screening and design at atomistic scale. Within catalyst design, simulations can identify restrictions on catalyst activity and selectivity caused by scaling laws, and these laws enable efficient prediction of activity or selectivity for possible new catalysts. Background Hori did seminal work on electrochemical reduction of CO2 on pure metals. Cu is the only metal that does not desorb CO and can uniquely reduce CO2 to significant quantities of hydrocarbons (mainly CH4 and C2H4). Reduction of CO2 on Cu is accompanied with a very high over-potential that hinders this reaction from being energy efficient. Recently, a mechanism that explains coppers unique ability in reducing CO2 to hydrocarbons and the origin of the high over-potential for the reduction of CO2 was identified by DFT calculations in conjunction with computational hydrogen electrode (CHE) model. Since electrochemical CO2 reduction to methane is an eight electron-proton transfer step that has seven intermediates, finding the best catalyst in principle demands understanding of a seven-dimensional molecule surface interaction space. Fortunately, the binding energies of carbon bounded species and oxygen bounded species scale with the binding energies of CO and OH, respectively. These correlati ons reduce the dimensionality to two binding energies but make it difficult to change the binding energies independently. Based on different reaction pathways and scaling relations Peterson and co-workers constructed volcano plots for different metals. It was shown that regardless of the reaction pathway, changing the metal surface marginally changes the over-potential. This helped to move the focus on other class of catalysts e,g, rutile oxides (Ru/Ir/Ti) can catalyze the conversion of CO2 to alcohols. However, very little is known about the reduction of CO2 to alcohols on oxide electrocatalysts. As the binding energies of OH/CO vary much widely on oxides than metals, it is possible to have different pathways and thermodynamic limiting steps on oxide surfaces than metallic ones. That makes template based computational search much more challenging, at the same time opening up possibilities of adsorbate-surface binding energies away from the established scaling laws. In general, there are three criteria that should be fulfilled by a newly proposed catalyst material: The catalyst should have high selectivity towards desired product It should have high energy efficiency, i.e. low reduction over-potential It should be stable at potentials of interest so that the activity does not degrade over time It should have sufficient electronic/polaronic conductivity Research plan For the thermodynamic pathway of the reactions, computational hydrogen electrode model will be followed to calculate the potential dependent reaction free energies from density functional theory based calculations using BEEF-vdW functional and PAW method as implemented in VASP. Corrections for zero point energy, heat capacity, entropic contribution and other energy correction for free molecules will be taken into account. Usage of BEEF-vdW functional will enable the estimation of errors in first principles calculations and describe proper long range van der Waals interaction between adsorbates and surfaces. Statistical tools will be used to calculate corrections from vibrational modes of the adsorbates. In addition, to describe correctly the electronic structure of late transition and rare-earth metals, Hubbard U correction method will be employed as and when required. To know atomic structure of the catalyst surface, which is key to these calculations, potential dependent surface Po urbaix diagrams will be constructed. Kinetic barriers for individual reaction steps will be searched with the climbing image nudged elastic band (CI-NEB) method. This method lets us find saddle points and minimum energy paths between two atomic configurations and works by optimizing a number of intermediate images along the reaction path. Using this methodology to study CO2 reduction over a handful of well-known perovskite materials, we will be able to establish activity descriptors for favorable catalysts. Through Brà ¸nsted–Evans–Polanyi relation between the activation energy and the reaction energy extends scaling laws to kinetic barriers as well. Using thermodynamic and kinetic scaling laws, it will be feasible to define most critical descriptors of the many electron reactions. These descriptors along with selectivity based parameters (e.g. suppressed hydrogen evolution) will be used to screen through a really large phase space of perovskite structures constructed in a 2x2x2 supercell (40 atoms) by using a large number of different elements in A/B or anion site as well as vacancies which are common in many perovskite materials. Significant fraction of these hypothetical structures will be discarded through simple rules like oxidation number sum, Goldstein’s rule and Valence Bond models. In th e screening process, the stability of possible structures are assessed using an accurate scheme of comparing the total energy of each compound to a pool of reference systems using a linear programming algorithm, to determine whether the material is stable or not. The further level of screening will include looking for materials with small or no bandgap using GLLB-sc functional. This is a crude approximation for screening purpose. For few selected structures, other conduction mechanism such as quantum tunneling or polaron hopping will be studied in more detail using Marcus theory for polaron hopping and non-equilibrium Green function based transport modelling. Even with the large reduction in search space through simple rule based screening, it will be impossible to perform DFT calculation for all of the possible structure. A genetic algorithm based search will enable us to effectively get the fittest candidates with existing computational resources. The parameters for the fit function will be similar as discussed above. Concepts of mutation and crossover will be used for quick searching. The project will be carried out in collaboration with experimentalist from DTU Energy Conversion (Prof. Nini Pryds and his group) and DTU Physics (Prof. Ib Chorkendorff and group). This will enable rapid experimental validation of predicted materials as effective CO2 reduction electrocatalyst. Work package and milestones WP1: Establish reaction mechanism (Jan 2015 – Aug 2015) 1.1 Calculate atomistic structure of SrTiO3 and NaNbO3 (100) and (110) surfaces from surface Pourbaix diagram 1.2 Study wide variety adsorbates to confirm reaction pathway to alkane and alcohols 1.3 Estimate kinetic barriers for the reaction paths WP2: Search for Descriptor (Sept 2015 – Feb 2016) 2.1 Calculate thermodynamic and kinetic barrier for CO2 reduction reactions for larger number (~50) of well-known perovskite. 2.2 Study these barriers for identifying best descriptors for the reactions 2.3 Do micro-kinetic modelling of the system considering different final products both carbonaceous and hydrogen based of the descriptors of reactions, to define region of selectivity and low over-potential requirement. WP2: High throughput computing based catalyst search and validation (Mar 2015 – Dec 2016) 3.1 Setup Computational infrastructure (e.g. software framework working in unison) required for screening methodology over billions of structures. The layers in the screening (rule based and calculation based) as well as the genetic algorithm based evolutionary search tool has to work in tandem. 3.2 Perform the large scale search for optimum binding energies, kinetic barrier, conductivity and selectivity through GA based exploration of the phase space. The fit criterion for a specific product to be defined based on the results of the micro-kinetic modelling. 3.3 Synthesize and run experiments for measuring activity of a handful of selected candidates for different end products Resource requirement The scale of the computational search and complexity requires tier0 type supercomputing infrastructure. I expect to be able to use ~8 million cpu hours in the DTU HPC resource – NIFLHEIM. Applications have also been made for another 20 million cpu hours under the European supercomputing program – PRACE. Scientific dissemination The fundamental insight developed, catalyst predicted and validated throughout this project will generate utmost interest in the catalysis for sustainable energy field internationally. Thus findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals with a high visibility. Such publications can be expected during 4Q of 2015 and 2016. Preliminary results will be presented at relevant conferences within the fields of electrocatalysis, computational electrochemistry and surface science. Besides contributing to fundamental insight the project is focused on specific catalyst design and it is therefore an objective that one or more patents will be filed for at the end of the period.

A Nineteenth Century Ghost Story in The Turn of The Screw by Henry Jame

A Nineteenth Century Ghost Story in The Turn of The Screw by Henry James The Turn of The Screw is a classic Gothic ghost novella with a wicket twist set in a grand old house at Bly. The story is ambiguous; we never fully know whether the apparitions exist or not and we are left with many more questions than answers. The Governess is left in charge of two young children, Miles and Flora, of whom she later becomes obsessed with, describing them as 'angelic'. She has no contact with her employer from London, the children's enigmatic uncle once there, sparking suspicions of the children being unwanted. The anonymous Governess' obsessive nature is taken to another level, with the darker side of Bly appearing. Her sanity is called into question with her continued revelations of apparitions around the family's country residence. The story itself could not have had a bigger twist in it, from being overwhelmed by the beauty and innocence of the two orphans under he care to being convinced that ghosts of her predecessor and the master's former valet, Miss Jessel and Peter Quint, both who die in mysterious circumstances, have come to possess the souls of her charges. The Governess begins to take ever more desperate measures to protect them, but is it enough? A typical Gothic story in many respects, The Turn of the Screw conforms to our expectations by sharing many key features, style and themes typical to nineteenth century horror fiction. A gothic story is a type of romantic fiction that predominated in English Literature in the last third of the 18th century and the first two decades of the 19th century. The setting for this type of st... ...riously wrong with her. Taking all of these points into account all of these points, I am sure that you now agree that The Turn of the Screw is a typical 19th century gothic ghost story. The story itself has many characteristics typical of a gothic story and it is based around two apparitions, which is a necessity in any ghost story. Gothic stories were very popular during this period due to Darwin's book, 'The Origin of Species' which hugely questioned Christian beliefs. People were no longer sure of religion, and became very superstitious, with Ghost stories becoming very popular. They had always thought god came first; now science was starting to take over. In the 19th century people were unsure about what was real in the world. The Victorians did not know what to believe about in their world and spirituality.

Pluralism :: Federalist Papers pluralistic theory

American Pluralism In Federalist No. 10, James Madison stresses that â€Å"measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.† Madison philosophized that a large republic, composed of numerous factions capable of competing with each other and the majority must exist in order to avoid tyranny of majority rule.# When Federalist No. 10 was published, the concept of pluralism was not widely used. However, the political theory that is the foundation for United States government was the influential force behind pluralism and its doctrines. Pluralism comes from the political system that focuses on shared power among interest groups and competing factions.# A pluralistic society contains groups that have varying interests and backgrounds, including those of ethnic, religious, and political nature.# Differences like these are to be encouraged, with overall political and economic power being maintained. When a number of people, all sharing a common interest are threatened, a group is involuntarily formed in order to defend against competing interests. These pluralistic interest groups are free to operate and lobby in the political arena, fighting against the majority and other competing factions for voice in Congress. With the influence of multiple factions operating throughout the political system, a balance of power is created (Kernell 2000, 429). This is much like the international theory of sovereign states balancing each other’s power to create a political system that focuses on stability, yet is always in a constant flux of power. With this in mind, special interest groups are constantly contending for power by raising money, campaigning, and lobbying in Congress. When a special interest group is threatened by a competing policy, the group will organize efforts to balance, or transcend the power of the competing group. The pluralistic scholar David Truman notes that â€Å"the proliferation of political interest groups [is] a natural and largely benign consequence of economic development† (Kernell 2000, 429). That is, as American economic development increases, in the form of industry, trade, and technology, factions are produced in order to protect special interests. Factions have a large platform on which to find support from various political parties, committees, subcommittees, and the courts, as well as federal, state, and local governments (Kernell 2000, 429).

Praise of Chain Stores by Virginia Postrel Essay example -- wal-mart, e

â€Å"So what’s wrong if the country has 158 neighborhood California Pizza Kitchens instead of one or two?† Virginia Postrel inquires in her In Praise of Chain Stores essay (Postrel 348). In rebuttal, I plan to answer her question with more reasons than one. However, the responses I intend to offer apply not only to the CPKs of America, but for all the national retailers, big box stores, chain stores, and the like. National retailers destroy the local character of small towns. Chain stores should be limited to only run in a few highly populated urban areas. Furthermore, the costs saved in the convenience and familiarity of chain stores do not outweigh the negative economic impact and damaging effects that they can have on a community’s well-being. Postrel develops her support of national retailers throughout the essay, offering the opinion that it isn’t the stores that give places their character, but instead, aspects like the terrain, weather and culture that do (Postrel 347). While terrain, weather and culture can set apart regions, such as New England from The Deep South, and Southern California from the Midwest, it’s the community that gives each town their own special character. A community consists of the residents, their restaurants, hardware stores, pharmacies, ice cream parlors, farmers markets, and so on. These places, and the interactions that occur daily at each establishment, are the fabric that differentiate them, and create the breeding ground for diverse characteristics to flourish. While Postrel argues that wildly different business establishments across America in the past is a myth , it’s actually not necessarily that the products that varied from store to store, but more the aforementio ned factors that truly set ... ...he amount of a certain retailer’s establishments constructed within a certain amount of mileage. For example, a Wal-Mart on the north side of town and the south side of town is excessive. There is no question that chain stores have a detrimental effect on the measurable character and community of small towns. Not only are residents effected economically and collectively, but the character of the area is also threatened or compromised. In conclusion, we should all take a step back and see how we can give back to our community by leveling the playing field for local businesses. The first step in doing so is to realize the negative influences chain stores impose on small towns. Works Cited Postrel, Virginia. â€Å"In Praise of Chain Stores.†Model Essays: A Portable Anthology. Eds. Jane E. Aaron and Ellen Kuhl Repetto. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013. 345-49

Overcoming Barriers to Change

The external environment in which businesses operate is continually changing. Businesses must respond to these changes to remain competitive and continue to meet the needs of their customers. They need the commitment and support of key stakeholder groups, such as employees, in order to ensure changes are embedded to shape the organization for the long term. Corus was formed in 1999 when the former British Steel plc merged with the Dutch company, Hoogovens. Corus is now a subsidiary of the Indian-owned Tata Group. Corus has three operating divisions and employs 40,000 people worldwide:Corus Strip Products UK (CSP UK) is based at Port Talbot and Llanwern, Newport in South Wales. CSP UK makes steel in strip form. This is used in markets such as vehicle manufacture, construction, electrical appliances, tubes and packaging. Corus aims to be a leader in the steel industry by providing better products, higher quality customer service and better value for money than its rivals. In 2005 CSP U K introduced a cultural plan for change called ‘The Journey’. The company wanted to address a wide range of business challenges, but the common theme was the fundamental way that people at all levels went about their work.The Journey focused on the values and beliefs of its people. Vitally, this was not limited to employees, but it included contractors, suppliers and other partners. This community of people together re-defined eight core values. These provided the guiding principles by which Corus people would work. By early 2007, all employees had been provided with a booklet outlining the CSP Journey values and the behaviors the company expected them to follow. The new values encourage individuals to be accountable for their actions.For example, previously, there had been tragic accidents on site and other health and safety issues, such as poor driving behaviour. This needed to change. The Journey program has taken a positive approach so that it now steers everything CSP UK does and underpins the culture of the organization. This case study focuses on how Corus Strip Products UK has overcome barriers to change in order to secure a more prosperous future for the business. Reasons for change Organizational change is a planned and ongoing process and follows clearly structured elements:Identify the key drivers for change. These are forces outside and within the organization, for example, the growing strength of competitors (external) or health and safety issues within the organization (internal). Corus employees were encouraged to understand what was happening in the business (the ‘As Is’) and identify any flaws in the existing way of working. Identify the barriers to change. This often involves people’s attitudes. They may want to continue to work as before or cannot see the need for change. Create and implement a plan for change.This focuses on winning the commitment of all employees, identifying specific solutions to problems areas (for example, cutting staff or investing in new systems) and setting out ways of measuring improvement. Employees were encouraged to envision what the ‘To Be’ position for CSP UK looked like and make plans to bring it about. Measure the effectiveness of the change. CSP UK is prepared to make further changes based on the outcomes of the actions. Examples of internal drivers for change (inefficiencies within the business) at CSP UK included: Poor delivery – rather than delivering steel to customers on time there were delays, leading to loss of business. †¢ Competitiveness – steel produced in the UK could be more expensive than from some other countries. †¢ High wastage – failing to make products right first time meant that they had to be reworked or scrapped. †¢ Low staff morale – employees were committed but were not motivated by the environment in which they were carrying out their jobs. External drivers (pressures for c hange outside the business) came from: New competitors – low cost producers in Eastern Europe and the Far East were taking business. This could lead to reduced demand with higher costs. †¢ Changing customer requirements – for example, the fall in demand for steel for the automotive industry meant that Corus needed to find different types of customers or develop different products. †¢ New technology meant customers expected higher specifications. †¢ Perceptions of the steelmaking industry within the community tended to be negative – for example, the industry was seen as having a poor record on environmental issues.Total Quality Management (TQM) initiatives had previously been implemented to great effect at CSP UK to improve productivity and improve competitiveness. CSP UK had also previously reduced manpower for the same purpose. However, Corus Strip Products is a business with deeply committed people and a relatively low staff turnover. Total payr oll costs are low compared with its other costs such as energy and raw materials. Labor costs at CSP UK account for around only 13% of total costs. This is considerably less than, for example, an assembly line process where they might be around 40-50% of total costs.It therefore made better sense to enable employees to work more efficiently rather than cut the number of staff. Barriers to change Change may challenge peoples’ abilities, experience, customs and practice. It may even be seen as a threat. This can create resistance or barriers to change. For example, if job roles are changed, employees and managers may feel that they lose status or power. If jobs are cut, remaining employees may feel insecure. This can cause low morale and lead to poor productivity.Although Corus Strip Products as a company supported the principles of change and innovation, not all previous programs had delivered the required results. GLOSSARY Corus is an established business in a traditional ind ustry. This meant that it had set patterns of doing things in some areas of the business. This attitude of ‘this is the way we do things around here’ made it more difficult to make necessary changes. Some Corus employees had a fear of the unknown and saw new initiatives as a possible threat to their existing teams and positions.Job reductions had been a major theme in the steel industry since the 1970s and some of Corus’ previous change initiatives had led to job cuts. Other people did not see a threat to their job because the business had previously survived difficult times. This complacency made change difficult for Corus. Another issue facing Corus was its ageing workforce. There is a considerable degree of expertise in the company and long-term high rewards kept people within the industry. Older employees with high technical skills stayed because these skills were not easily transferable.Fewer young people were attracted to the industry because of reduced job opportunities and reductions in apprenticeship schemes across the UK. The company also had a history of rewarding ‘long service’ rather than ‘distinguished service’. This means that employees who had been with the company a long time (but who had lower productivity) could be gaining greater rewards than newer employees who were producing more. Corus felt that this was an area that needed major change so that those employees with higher output were suitably rewarded. Overcoming barriers We cannot solve our problems by spending; we cannot solve our problems by cutting back. The only way to meet our challenges is to change how we go about things†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (quote from the Managing Director of CSP UK). One of the key techniques Corus has used to overcome resistance to change has been to work closely with employees and get them involved as much as possible in the program. From the start it was important for the company to share with employees what might hap pen to the business if it didn’t change. Corus put emphasis on getting everyone to take ownership of the new values by physically signing up to the program.This helped them ‘buy-into’ the new ways of working. Workers are now more involved in decision making and their contributions and experience are recognized. Through a range of direct and indirect communications, for example, weekly newsletters and workshops, Corus ensures that all employees understand what behaviors it expects of them. As part of implementation, Corus needed to highlight how people were behaving (the ‘As Is’). It created a program with ‘shock tactics’ to show managers and employees the condition of the plant, to identify weaknesses and encourage employees to make changes.For example, 150 senior managers were invited to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. This impressive venue raised expectations. However, they were served cold tea and given a presentation on a ripped p rojector screen. The fact that attendees did not comment on this demonstrated that people did not see they had a ‘right to challenge’. It also highlighted that employees had become accustomed to working with limited resources and were willing to accept low standards. This would be an important aspect to work on during the culture change.Managers were also shown videos of poor working conditions and interviews with local schoolchildren in which they said they would not work at the plant because of their perception of a poor outlook and a poor working environment. Around 150 workshops were held to spread the messages. Fortnightly newspapers clarified these values and repeated the key messages through articles on various activities, such as employees taking part in the redesigning of a control room to improve layout and safety. Billboards, intranet, video programs and most of all, direct one-to-one conversations all reinforced the messages.The Journey also raised important questions about how the company managed key issues, such as alcohol or drug misuse. The new values Due to the high standards of safety associated with Corus processes, all working sites are alcohol-free. Understandably, before the change program, anyone offending in this way was likely to face disciplinary action and this is still the case in most working environments. The new CSP UK values focus on helping employees who are willing to accept assistance to improve their performance, rather than taking disciplinary action against them for poor behaviour.This approach, with support and guidance from the company and counseling services, has resulted in over 50 employees that previously would have lost their jobs being retained in work. Measuring the outcomes of change The Journey change program at Corus Strip Products contributes to sustainability for the business. By facing up to its internal weaknesses, Corus Strip Products has improved efficiency, increased output, lowered costs an d reduced waste in an increasingly competitive steel market.This has enabled the business not just to survive but also to grow – even during the economic recession of 2008 and 2009. Thanks to the Journey program, CSP UK expects to reduce costs for the 2009/10 financial year by around ?250 million. To make sure that actions delivered results, Corus established clear targets and standards. Milestones (intermediate steps) were set so everyone would know how far CSP UK had gone to achieving the targets. This made it easier to review and measure progress and achievements or to set new deadlines.There have been a huge number of ‘quick wins’ which add up to a great gain overall. Key performance indicators have shown significant progress and include: †¢ production capacity has increased by 4. 5% to a run rate of 5 million tones †¢ the plant is on track to achieve a 20% reduction in the cost of producing steel †¢ 5,000 employees have signed up to the values and beliefs of the business †¢ a reduction in absenteeism †¢ measurable improvements in levels of quality and service for customers †¢ tighter targets for Health and Safety – new safety teams contribute towards accident-free production carbon dioxide emissions have reduced by 10%. CSP UK now exceeds government standards †¢ measurable improvements in the company’s impact on the local community. Individuals, teams and departments all support the improvement culture and are more engaged and committed to achieving company values and targets. This culture shift is of critical value as it will enable further improvement. For example, Corus has implemented top-level security with controlled access for the 5000+ vehicles which enter the Corus site each day.This provides a new enhanced ‘entry experience’ for employees, contractors and suppliers and demonstrates that Corus Strip Products is now seen as an organization that is proud of itself. Co nclusion All organisations need to manage change. If they fail to do so they may be left behind by the competition. Change management at Corus Strip Products UK involved bringing the issues out into the open, confronting barriers to change, winning the commitment and support of all employees and delivering an effective plan for change.The Journey has helped CSP UK to ‘weather the storm’. The company is now exploiting the benefits the program has given. The results of the change management program show that Corus Strip Products is a company that is sustainable and can continue to make profits in spite of the recession. Demonstrating ongoing improvement has the additional benefit of winning government grants to support the important economic sector of steel production. Overcoming Barriers to Change The research aims to identify barriers that exist in education on the way to changing students’ learning environments in a positive way. The literature review has revealed that current practices often demonstrate new opportunities willingly embraced by teachers.However, in many cases, teachers are not as susceptible to practices that threaten to have negative effect on their customary routines, in particular exemplified by collaborative teaching. Using teacher survey, the study will determine to what degree such reluctance can stand in the way of the teaching innovation.IntroductionTeaching collaboration is an idea that has gained prominence in contemporary educational establishments. Although at first a really unusual practice, collaboration in teaching has been shown to deliver great benefits.For educators themselves, â€Å"collegiality breaks the isolation of the classroom and brings career rewards and daily satisfactions† (Inger, 1993). It also helps beginners and e xperienced professional learn from each other for improved results and relieves young teachers of the trial-and-error process they are usually immersed in. bringing teachers closer together in a coherent effort, collaborative teaching helps foster cooperation and friendliness between teachers. Collaboration can also go beyond the level of a single school, helping extend new methods to other areas.At the same time, collaboration is not always compatible with school culture and practices and character of an individual teacher; hence come barriers to collaborative teaching. A teacher can be resistant to collaboration in general, being averse to any form of joint efforts in the same classroom. On the other hand, the teacher’s attitude can embrace collaboration between vocational and academic teachers or those coming from other schools. Therefore, the research problem is as follows:What obstacles do teachers most often face on the path of innovation in their school curriculum that involves collaborative teaching?The study will be focused on teacher perceptions and aim to find material so as to substantiate improvements in collaborative practices.Literature ReviewCollaboration can occur at any stage of the educational process. Teaching can engage in joint preparation of materials for the classroom sessions or engage in team teaching, or â€Å"organizational and instructional arrangement in which two or more teachers work in the same classroom† (Price et al, 2000-2001). Thus, in special education teachers can use a variety of models including the resource room, itinerant, and consultation models (Price et al, 2000-2001).In the process of realizing collaboration models, teachers face barriers that have been categorized by Welch and Sheridan (1995) into four main groups: conceptual barriers, pragmatic barriers, attitudinal barriers, and professional barriers. Conceptual barriers are caused by differences in the definition of roles by different educators, their difference in the processing of material, approaches etc.When teachers face challenges in working out the exact schedule or joining resources for joint effort, this is described as a pragmatic barrier. Attitudinal barriers are the result of fear to try a new approach. Professional barriers arise when teachers cannot cooperate on effective methods of problem solving, lacking adequate skills of working together as a team.Teachers can benefit from the administration’s effort to introduce additional measures so as to reduce the possibility of conflict among teachers.For this purpose, it is necessary to introduce concrete rules and procedures that will define the boundaries between their roles and help them establish working relationships. In case of team teaching, â€Å"the problem is getting a balance between enough specificity in prescribing roles so that a bureaucratic rule book is not created† (Price et al, 2000-2001). Most researchers believe that conflict is un avoidable, and therefore strategies for coping with it should be worked out by the administration in advance.A lot depends on the organizational culture as school culture can either stimulate or defy the efforts of teachers to work together. Peterson (2002) identifies two types of culture: cooperative and toxic. Within toxic cultures, individuals are striving to work together for common goals. As a result, teachers can reach effective collaboration more easily than in other organizations. In toxic cultures, on the contrary, individual effort is frustrated because of the lack of common framework.In addition, organizational resources can also be a barrier to innovation that should be represented in teaching communities. Many schools lack adequate programs that can accommodate the participation of two or more teachers. There are even fewer resources available for attracting outside professionals that can participate in collaborative projects. This can serve as a motivator for teachers to desire the continuation of the routines currently present in education.Cooperation between academic and vocational teachers can be prevented by the organizational design of the academic environment in which â€Å"the social and organizational isolation of most vocational teachers is exacerbated by the physical separation and programmatic fragmentation in secondary schools† (Inger, 1993).The difference in their social status further contributes to the rising walls between these two groups of professionals. Since academic teachers generally have a higher status, they tend to marginalize their vocational colleagues, a situation that discourages cooperation.

Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet Essay

Known as a minimalist and experimental composer, Richard Gavin Bryars unleashed an emotionally intimate constructed piece out from a lone old vagrant singing, Jesus’ blood never failed me yet, this one thing I know, for he loves me so†¦ Originally recorded from footage of a documentary by his friend Alan Power in 1971 (Grimshaw), this aged voice served as the focal point and backdrop for Bryars’ poignant yet challenging work unfolding and reiterating itself over the course of 74 minutes in length. Whereas music that falls under Minimalist movement, sometimes associated the emotional neutralization of repeated materials, Bryars’ has the reverse effect in which rather than numbing the listener’s sensibilities, he heightens them and instead of imposing postmodern indifference toward the subject matter, it forces confrontation with it (Grimshaw). The entire lengthy music might deflate the interest of its listeners as the lines simply repeated over the recording, but Bryars managed to extract the spirit of the tramp’s captive song as he slowly introduced an accompaniment. The first part was merely the sole voice of the old man then eventually enhanced by string quartet, followed by plucked bass and guitar. Moreover, as the instruments subsequently fade out, the tramp’s song continues and eventually underscored by a much richer sounding ensemble of low strings, then woodwinds, brass, and delicate percussion and finally full orchestra and choir (Grimshaw). The soul of the music originated from the compassionate nature of the old vagrant who sang the religious tune during the recording of Power’s documentary that was about the life of street-people around Elephant and Castle and Waterloo in London. Bryars’ recounted; while they are filming the documentary, some people broke into drunken ballad or opera songs, but there was a particular homeless old man sang â€Å"Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet†. When he played it at home, he noticed the exact tune of the singing to his piano, and, he discerned that the first section of the song that is 13 bars in length formed an effective loop that repeated in a slightly unpredictable way. Therefore, he took the tape to Leicester and copied the loop onto a continuous reel of tape having the idea of adding orchestrated accompaniment to it. During the act of copying, he left the door that lead to the large painting studios, and when he came back, he found people weeping and silently listening over the old man’s singing, at that point, he realized a great emotional influence from the noble faith and tranquil music (Howse), a merely accidental root behind this epic. This particular Bryars’ piece was a breakthrough as there were other versions made during the latter years. Tom Waits singing along with it in 1990 and Jars of Clay released their own version on their album Who We Are Instead in 2003, aside from the fact that it was also used for several theatrical presentations. Covering credits for its very straightforward message to the people, the unyielding constancy of the lyrics—repeated over 150 times—essentially keeps the music from achieving greater feats. It is said that no matter how many times you paint a house, it remains to be the same house. Still, that verse holds together the entirety of the minimalist piece, a factor that you cannot simply neglect. Focusing on keeping his music very simple yet haunting, this composer and double bassist is a native from Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire, England and born on January 16, 1943. His first musical reputation was as a jazz bassist working in the early sixties with improvisers Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley. He abandoned improvisation in 1966 and worked for a time in the United States with John Cage, until he collaborated closely with composers such as Cornelius Cardew and John White. He taught in the department if Fine Art in Portsmouth, Leicester from 1969 to 1978, and there he founded the legendary Portsmouth Sinfonia, an orchestra whose membership consisted of performers who â€Å"embrace the full range of musical competence† — and who played or just attempted to play popular classical works. He also founded the Music Department at Leicester Polytechnic (later De Montfort University) and served as professor in Music from 1986 to 1994. Meanwhile, his first major work as a composer owe much to the so-called New York School of John Cage—with whom he briefly studied, Morton Feldman, Earle Brown and minimalism. His earliest piece was The Sinking of Titanic (1969) and was originally released under Brian Eno’s Obscure Label in 1975 and the Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet (1971) both famously released in new versions in the 1990s on Point Music Label, selling over a quarter of a million copies. The original 1970s recordings have been re-released on CD by Virgin Records. A major turning point in his development was his first written opera Medea, premiered at the Opera de Lyon and Opera de Paris in 1984. He has written another two operas, both with libretti by his long time collaborator Blake Morrison: Doctor Ox’s Experiment, and G, commissioned by the Staatstheater Mainz for the Gutenberg 600th Anniversary. Aside from that, Bryars has also produced a large body of chamber music including three string quartets and a saxophone quartet both for his own ensemble and for other performers. He has also written extensively for strings as well as producing concertos for violin, viola, cello, double bass, saxophone and bass oboe. He has also written choral music, chiefly for the Latvian Radio Choir, with whom he has recently recorded a second CD, and for the Estonian Male Choir. From being a jazz bassist, composer, professor and opera writer, he also made a name as he collaborated with visual artists, worked with choreographers who have used his pieces, and written numerous Laude for the soprano Ana Maria Friman, to name a few. And to date, he recently completed a theatre piece, To Define Happiness, with Peeter Jalakas for Von Krahl theatre in Tallinn, and a project around Shakespeare’s sonnets, Nothing Like the Sun, with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Opera North. Gavin Bryars is an Associate Research Fellow at Dartington College of Arts and Regent of the College de ‘Pataphysique. And married to Russian-born film director Anna Tchernakova with three daughters and a son. He is currently living in England and British Columbia, Canada. WORKS CITED Howse, Christopher. â€Å"The Assurance of Hope†. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006. xix. ISBN 0-8264-8271-6 Mckeating, Scott. http://www. stylusmagazine. com/articles/seconds/gavin-bryars-jesus-blood-never-failed-me-yet. htm Grimshaw, Jeremy. â€Å"All Music Guide†. http://www. answers. com/topic/jesus-blood-never-failed-me-yet-orchestral-classical-work http://www. gavinbryars. com/ http://www. myspace. com/gavinbryarsmusic http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Jesus%27_Blood_Never_Failed_Me_Yet