Aaron Feuerstein Essays - Business, Economy, Professional Studies

Aaron Feuerstein In this paper I will examine Aaron Feuerstein, the third-age president and CEO of Malden Mills Industries, Inc., who drives the Lawrence, Massachusetts business with his dads and granddads esteems: graciousness, equity and noble cause. He does this through his alluring administration and vision, which ties his workers together into acknowledging and accomplishing a similar objective. I will show precisely what makes him a pioneer in the cutting edge business setting and clarify why a pioneers vision is significant in characterizing a genuine trailblazer, successful supervisor and alluring pioneer. Feuerstein and Malden Mills had a background marked by dealing with its workers. Laborers pay rates normal $12.50 an hour contrasted and the material industrys normal of $9.50. Furthermore, during the 1950s, when other New England material makers fled toward the South for less expensive work, Malden Mills remained. In spite of the fact that Feuersteins hands-on the executives style has consistently been appreciated by his workers, what set him apart as a genuine pioneer was a close to debacle in the winter of 1996. While commending his 70th birthday celebration, Feuerstein got word that his multi year old family claimed material organization in Lawrence, Massachusetts was catching fire. Three of its assembling production lines that produce the famous top of the line open air attire sews, Polartec? what's more, Polarfleece?, were decreased to singed metal and block. While watching the fire, Feuerstein concluded that he should think of an arrangement to spare his organization from mone tary ruin, yet choose the destiny of more than 3,100 workers that would before long be without an occupation. He decided to remake the plant in Lawrence. He likewise concluded that if he somehow happened to keep giving a quality item to purchasers, he would need to deal with the gifted workers who made the item. Feuerstein kept in excess of 1,000 jobless workers at full compensation and health advantages for a quarter of a year until the production lines were fully operational once more. What stayed with Feuersteins at the top was his solid overseeing aptitudes. A top administration position expects inspiration to accomplish, however this inspiration might be coordinated to accomplishing individual, instead of association objectives. Feuerstein accepted the job to top administration ought to be to oversee and the most significant asset they should oversee is the individuals that work at all degrees of an association. Their job ought not be to govern, yet to lead. Feuerstein likewise comprehended that representatives structure the establishment of any association, and that every one of them have novel qualities that can help in accomplishing the organizations objectives. Consequently, workers will feel helpful and are put in a situation to self-realize or achieve one's latent capacity. When Feuerstein was asked what separates him from other CEO's, he reacted: The crucial contrast is that I consider our laborers an advantage. Not a cost. I have a duty to the laborer, both hands on and professional, I have an equivalent obligation to the network. It would have been unconscionable to put 3000 individuals in the city and convey a final knockout to the urban communities of Lawrence and Methuen. Perhaps on paper our organization is useless to Wall Street, yet I can disclose to you it's worth more. We're doing fine. Different CEOs feel I'm kind of an inept person who doesn't have the foggiest idea how to manage his overabundance cash, he says. The nature of Polartec is what I'm selling. By rewarding the individuals the manner in which I'd need them to treat me, they make that quality. At the point when you make the best decision, you'l1 presumably end up more productive than if you fouled up. Feuerstein didn't discard his cash. It was an all around contemplated and sound authority choice to put millions in Malden Mills most basic resource, its laborers. The differentiation between this Feuerstein and the at present observed CEOs making 30, 60 or 100 million dollars every year by dispensing with employments and moving plants is basically shocking. What amount would you say you will bet that each organization that shut a plant as of late to help stock costs has a dream explanation with words like we worth and regard our workers as our most significant resource? What number of the laid off workers do you assume accept that? Maybe the most significant trademark that transformational pioneers have is their capacity to make a dream that ties

Assessment Tools Free Essays

Running head: 1 Assessment Tools Analysis Paper Tricia E Topping University of Phoenix NUR/440 Karen Harriman April 16, 2012 Assessment Tools Analysis Paper 11/13/12 8:13 PM http://www. scribd. com/doc/104725000/Assessment-Tools-Analysis-Paper Page 2 of 12 April 16, 2012 2 Assessment Tools Analysis Paper Assessment apparatuses are utilized in nursing to upgrade the general evaluation period of the nursing procedure. We will compose a custom paper test on Appraisal Tools or on the other hand any comparative theme just for you Request Now The appraisal apparatuses that I have chosen to examine are: The Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS), The Hassles and Uplifts Inventory, and The Well Being Picture Scale (WBPS). In the wake of portraying each device and it’s benefits inside the nursing procedure, I will apply them to the powerless populace of person’s with Down condition. Otherworldly Well-Being Scale â€Å"The Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) is a general marker of saw well-being† (lifeadvance. com). During its creation by specialists Ellison and Paloutzian, they found a requirement for Assessment Tools Analysis Paper 11/13/12 8:13 PM http://www. scribd. com/doc/104725000/Assessment-Tools-Analysis-Paper Page 3 of 12 individuals to have the option to depict their considerations on otherworldliness in their own terms. This idea gives otherworldly devotees a more noteworthy feeling of self-esteem and motivation to proceed with their profound convictions. It additionally offers reason to the gathering and individual individuals for proceeding to spread the message of their convictions to other people. Being able to trust in a higher being, to talk and go to this substance, engages an individual past ordinary every day exercises. It takes into consideration the making of self harmony and direction in a difficult situation. â€Å"Being strict or having profound convictions has been connected to improved wellbeing and prosperity in a few experimental studies† (Grow et. ll). The SWBS is modest apparatus and can be used by any individual or populace. It is easy to utilize, is self-regulated and takes between 10-15 minutes. â€Å"It is a paper and pencil overview at present accessible in both English and Spanish†¦ and was intended to survey people’s view of their own otherworldly well- being† (lifeadvance. com). The SWBS can be utilized by medical attendants inside the evaluation procedure to help guide and show a patient’s level of otherworldly well-3 being. A more elevated level of otherworldly prosperity can be related with improved wellbeing and better acknowledgment of self impediments and profound harmony whenever confronted with a perilous analysis. As the SWBS is a straightforward device, it would be successful for a medicinal services specialist to use with an advanced grown-up with Down condition. With slight change to inquiries for simplicity of comprehension, and conceivable verbal introduction, a human services supplier could introduce the devices and decipher the outcomes similarly as with some other grown-up. The people group in which one reveres goes about as an emotionally supportive network for it’s individuals. Numerous families with kids influenced by Downs or comparative issue go to a profound network for help and acknowledgment. These people group help to cultivate the development of the youngster into an otherworldly grown-up, giving them a superior feeling of self-esteem, an Assessment constructive faith in a higher force, and a practical spot inside a little populace. Along these lines, the SWBS can be a viable device to improve the evaluation of a grown-up Downs persistent. Bothers and Uplifts Scales The Hassles and Uplifts Scales (HSUP) were made as an increasingly positive way to deal with perceiving day by day stressors in our lives. An alteration of the Hassles scale, the HSUP is a blend of the Hassles scale with 117 things recognizing life’s stressors, and the Uplifts scales including 135 things distinguishing day by day positive experiences. The HSUP contains â€Å"fifty-three things worked with the goal that the respondent can show whether a given exchange is an issue, inspire, or both† (Lazarus Folkman, 2011). By consolidating the two scales, a positive accentuation was put on every day exercises, as opposed to concentrating on the negative stressors of the Hassles scale. â€Å"The Uplifts scale recommends how positive parts of every day life neutralize the harming impacts of stress† (Lazarus Folkman, 2011). United in the HSUP scale, the constructive impacts 4 and adverse impacts of stressors in a person’s every day life can be recognized. On the off chance that the negative stressors are pervasive, it is then inside the intensity of the person to build the quantity of inspiring occasions while diminishing or defeating the stressors. This data is exceptionally valuable to recognize while playing out a wellbeing evaluation. On the off chance that a patient is found to have a staggering number of stressors or bothers and not many to little elevates, their enthusiastic and physical prosperity could be undermined. Too many negative stressors can prompt a powerlessness to adapt and cause harming impact. Helping a patient to distinguish the two stressors and elevates can permit them to build up their own ways of dealing with stress just as present progressively positive connections all through Assessment Tools Analysis Paper 11/13/12 8:13 PM ttp://www. scribd. com/doc/104725000/Assessment-Tools-Analysis-Paper Page 5 of 12 their day. The HSUP is additionally a cheap and basic instrument that can be performed during a medicinal services evaluation and take roughly 10 minutes for a grown-up to finish. By recognizing the 53 expressions as either an issue or inspire and giving each a numerical incentive from 0-3, the test c an be scored rapidly giving quick outcomes to the patient. This is significant in light of the fact that is permits the medical attendant to rapidly perceive positive and negative impacts. The patient would then be able to be made mindful of the result. This permits the patient and medical attendant or human services supplier to work together to adjust the issues and increment the elevating encounters. The HSUP, similar to the SWBS, can be effortlessly utilized in evaluations of more advanced grown-ups with Downs. If necessary, slight change to the 0-3 numerical rating should be possible. Rather than appointing a number to an elevate or bother, the patient could all the more effectively recognize a positive or negative involvement with their day by day exercises. By then concentrating on the inspiring/positive encounters, a patient with Downs could perceive the encounters that make satisfaction, figuring out how to attempt to encounter these all the more regularly. This evaluation instrument can likewise be utilized effectively by individuals from the patient’s family to help them in recognizing circumstances that cause expanded pressure. Helping the family in perceiving Developers/API Legal Terms Privacy Copyright  © Copyright 2012 Scribd Inc. Language: English Step by step instructions to refer to Assessment Tools, Essay models

Celebrate May Day by becoming a Seeple COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog

Celebrate May Day by becoming a Seeple COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog Sunday marks a new beginning for many people across the globe. May 1, also known as May Day, has various meanings, but for many of us it is a time to celebrate spring and the approaching summer months. Some communities dance around a maypole like the one pictured above taken at a fair in Bristol, some feast on their home countrys delicacies, and others exchange flowers to mark the spring holiday. At SIPA, we do things a little differently and celebrate by welcoming the next class of Seeples to the university. But were not sure if well be able to fully welcome all of our admitted students  to the SIPA family. A handful of you havent responded to your offers of admission,  which is due on  â€" you guessed it  â€" May 1. If you still have reservations about joining the program, use your friends and family as a sounding board this weekend. Even if youve already asked for their advice, sometimes just voicing your concerns out loud is enough to give yourself that extra moment of clarity you need to make the best decision.  Not enough? Browse through our SIPA Stories microsite, which highlights what our students are up to both inside and outside of the classroom. (You might even recognize a few stories from the blog!) We hope you  all will join us in the fall.  Just click here to respond to your offer of admission. Photo courtesy of Lukey / Flickr / (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Groundwater Pollution and Drinking Water Scarcity Essay

By means of water, we give life to everything. – Koran, 21:30 Drinking water is our most precious resource, something every human being needs to survive. Yet today over 1.2 billion people a day on average do not have access to drinking water. Even if they might have this access, the chances are good that the drinking water is polluted with many contaminants. In the future, we will probably find that clean drinking water will go to the highest bidder, and even more people will find themselves without easy access to drinking water. Pollution of the worlds water resources began to take a scary turn as industrialization took hold on the European continent. We can see similar effects of what happened in the past if we look†¦show more content†¦We also see pollution in different forms, such as water release from nuclear reactors and factories. Though the water is sometimes purified before leaving, the temperature of the water is sometimes significantly different from that of which it is being returned to. The difference in temperature does cause the death of aquatic life, and can sometimes effect plant life. One of the most visible effects of water pollution occurred with the Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill, which launched over 11 million gallons of oil onto Alaskas coast. (see table below for more stats on oil pollution). The spill was a major one, but just one, as shown below, there are over 37 million gallons of oil sent into oceans every year! It is apparent that the protections and regulations use d are failing. A concern for the future lies in the fact that water pollution does not usually remain in the country where it was produced. In light of this, it is necessary for the world to work together in order to maintain and upgrade water quality. However, with the descrepancies in economic wealth, it is possible that wars may be fought over water rights. At present, one of the hurdles between the Israeli and Palestinian people is that of water rights. Water pollution will remain as long as present systems are, which we rely on for living our lives. It will be necessary to modify water use,Show MoreRelatedGroundwater Pollution and Drinking Water Scarcity Essay example1111 Words   |  5 Pagesprovide clean water for every man, woman and child on the Earth. What has been lacking is the collective will to accomplish this. This is the commitment we need to make to the world. Jean-Michel Cousteau The Issue: Recently, the issue of drinking water quality has become a matter of great importance. Hydrogeologists and water resource managers have realized that the increased demand for drinking water, due to population growth, has placed a huge burden on our nations groundwater resourcesRead MorePollution And Lack Of Infrastructure Essay1552 Words   |  7 Pages32606 Dear Professor Dickson: Here is my report on the water problems in Kosovo. In preparing this report, I’ve learned a great deal about the issues that Kosovo faces, including groundwater pollution and lack of infrastructure. Thank you for your guidance and help throughout this process. The situation in Kosovo can still be resolved as situation won’t be dire for a few more years. Kosovo has enough water to get by but mishandlings of the water supply is causing it to dwindle. The government needsRead MoreCauses And Remedies Of Water Pollution1596 Words   |  7 PagesCAUSES OF WATER POLLUTION AND EFFECTS AND REMEDIES ABSTRACT Water is one of the necessities for existence of mankind. It is also one of the most abundantly available resources. But indifference of mankind and its abuse of the plentiful resource made water scarcity a problem for many nations around the globe. Water pollution is one major problem that demands utmost attention to deal with emerging water crisis. This paper is an attempt to describe various causes and remedies for water pollution. INTRODUCTIONRead MoreWater Pollution in Bangladesh1429 Words   |  6 PagesWater Pollution in Bangladesh INTRODUCTION Water is the most vital element among the natural resources, and is crucial for the survival of all living organisms. The environment, economic growth and development of Bangladesh are all highly influenced by water - its regional and seasonal availability, and the quality of surface and groundwater. Spatial and seasonal availability of surface and groundwater is highly responsive to the monsoon climate and physiography of the country. Availability alsoRead MoreClean, Safe Drinking Water Is Scarce1014 Words   |  5 Pages Introduction Clean, safe drinking water is scarce. Today, nearly 1 billion people in the developing world do not have access. But we take it for granted, we are wasting it, and we even pay for it a little too much to drink plastic bottles .Water is the basis of life. And yet today all over the world, too many people spend all day looking for it. In places like India Education suffering from sickness disappears. Economic development will be lost if people are just trying to survive. But it needRead MoreSimulation Of Modeling And Distributed Simulation1392 Words   |  6 PagesSimulation on monitoring Environmental Pollution - Harini Ramasahayam Introduction Environment is the surrounding or the biosphere of the earth that consists of air, water and land in which humans, plants and animals live. Environmental pollution is defined as the presence of pollutants or impure substances in the environment that causes adverse effects and contaminate it. Environmental pollution is caused by human activities or byRead MoreSpeech on save water save life762 Words   |  4 PagesSave water, save life Water is necessary for life. Water is needed for domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes. Three-fourth of Earth s surface is covered by water bodies. 97 per cent of this water is present in oceans as salt water and is unfit for human consumption. Fresh water accounts for only about 2.7 per cent. Nearly 70 per cent of this occurs as ice sheets and glaciers n Antarctica and other inaccessible places. Only one per cent of fresh water is available and fit for human useRead MoreImminent Water Crisis in India3840 Words   |  16 PagesImminent Water Crisis in India Nina Brooks, August 2007 There will be constant competition over water, between farming families and urban dwellers, environmental conservationists and industrialists, minorities living off natural resources and entrepreneurs seeking to commodify the resources base for commercial gain -UNICEF report on Indian water.[1] Intro More than two billion people worldwide live in regions facing water scarcity[2] and in India this is a particularly acute crisis. MillionsRead MoreWater Scarcity in India1406 Words   |  6 PagesWater is an essential resource to sustain life. From 50 - 90 percent of the weight of living organisms is water. Water is the major constituent of living matter. Water, essential for growth of all crops, is the natural resource in shortest supply. More than 20 countries lack sufficient water to grow enough food for their people. The situation is getting worse as needs for water rise along with population growth, urbanization and increases in household and industrial uses. According to a UN reportRead MoreWater Supply And Water Shortage Essay1117 Words   |  5 Pagesissue of water shortage. There are a lot of reason behind this problem such as carbon emission and decrease in the rainfall etc. In order to overcome this problem, the Government of Australia has been trying to develop new tech nologies in water sector as well advancement in the traditional methods of water supply. The common sources of water supply are ground water and surface water. But now with the help of scientist and public sector, Government of Australia has built new method of water supply which

Assessing the Marks and Spencers retail chain - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 11 Words: 3332 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Fashion Essay Type Case study Did you like this example? Marks and Spencer is a British retail chain with over 800 stores in around 30 countries (600 in the UK). Food and clothing retail play a large part in the Marks and Spencer corporate strategy. The Marks Spencer business model has had to adapt to change and consumer trends over the years to maintain the companys position as one of the largest retailers in the world. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Assessing the Marks and Spencers retail chain" essay for you Create order Marks and Spencer (MS) is a heritage of the British retail and has been present for nearly 130 years. Throughout the years, several individuals have led the organisation and distinct patterns of leadership style can be observed. The impact of leadership style at MS will be compared to the organisations performance and critically evaluated against published leadership models. Covey, S.R. (1990) Historical leadership (1880-1990) (Mathieu) Until the middle of the 20th century, the customers and employees were divided in two classes: middle class and working class separating people who had money and the working class who hadnt. Additionally, women during this period seemed to have predominantly a reproducing role and did not have direct political power. Gender and classes have shaped the evolution of MS dominated by strong powerful males from its early days [Rippin A. (2005)]. The leadership of MS has been and still is dominated by men. Michael Marks founder of MS had the tra its of an entrepreneur. As the leadership was passed on through the family, increased competition within the heirs led to emergence of stronger characters. Michaels son, Simon Marks and later Simons brother in law Israel Sieff changed the leadership style towards a stronger dictatorial influence. Both Marks and Sieff families had been victims of violence especially during the war and controversially established an organisation with systematic symbolic violence and bullying [Rippin A. (2005)]. MS managed to blur the gaps between the social classes, at least on the fashion aspect by the type of clothes provided by the company. Working class women could at last afford and wear elegant and aspiring clothing deemed to a superior class. Derek Raynor took over in 1983 which was a major transition from a family business to a plc. In 1988, Sir Richard Greenbury concentrated on the operational and financial of the organisation. In the following year however, MS failed to transform signi ficantly and became reactive [Stockport G.J. (2000)]. As the environment became more dynamic, customers expectation changed, competition became fiercer but MS failed to keep up and adapt to the market. The family business became victim of their past success and lacking of a person with exceptional calibre to lead change through its professional debut. 2.0 Leadership transition Changes outside and inside MS In 1997 MS made over 1 Billion pounds of profit and accounted for over 16% of UKs clothing market. The company was then valued at 19 Billion pounds. (1997 Annual Report). 1998-1999 marked the start of an under performing period and share price plummeted by 40% [Cape Times Business Report (1999)]. As competitors such as Zara and Next took market share from the top end of the market while the same time value offerings were attacked by the supermarkets who were increasingly entering the same market. Peter Salisbury became CEO in 1999 and started to question the MS ways of working. He placed an emphasis on empowerment by reducing the number of hierarchical layer from eight to seven, and promoting a sense of ownership and decision-making in local stores [Stockport G.J. (2000)]. 2.1 Is there something missing Greenburys position came under threat as others in the ranks attempted to usurp him. For a short period, Salisbury was promoted to the post of Chief executive. However his tenure was short lived and after replacing much of the senior management team he left. On January 2000 the MS board appointed a new chairman from outside the business, Luc Vandevelde. Vandevelde was a Belgian accountant with a wealth of experience in managing food brands Covey, S.R. (1990) As Van der Erve points out, Vandevelde is a transformational leader. From the word go, he makes significant changes. Initially laying off over 4000 employees and Selling the European arm of MS [Van der Erve (2004)] and undertook a sale and leaseback of many of MSs properties. He also experiments with a new convenience store format in London. Vandevelde was a fairly aloof leader. In View (2005) quotes Vandevelde as advocating healthy selfishness. This means defining boundaries such as working hours and putting personal needs first while being willing to defend others. His emphasis was on being able to step back and develop thinking spaces. Vandevelde did appea r to reverse MSs fortunes and profits rose from a low of 146 Million in 2001 to 781 Million in 2004. Many critics have claimed that Vandevelde became increasingly detached from MS during his tenure. In addition to his role at MS he was also on the board of Carrefour and is a non-executive director of the mobile phone giant Vodafone, and Change Capital Partners [Independent (2004)]. In 2004 Cool hand Luc announced that he was stepping down. One member of the MS board was quoted as saying He read the boards mood precisely. We were fed up with how little time he was spending here, so we were close to asking him to leave. [Independent (2004)]. In June 2004, Phillip green saw the power vacuum, and made a bid for the company of 9.1 Billion. In what became characterised as a battle, newly appointed Chief Executive Stuart Rose, the recently also appointed Chief Executive, eventually defeated Green. After a good deal of campaigning Rose managed to persuade shareholders not to take u p Green on his bid. But as Stuart Rose had been with MS for over 33 years and had a passion for the business, he turned down Greens bid. Looking Rosy (Rose 2004 now) According to Covey, S.R. (1990) In 2004 performance was poor, with customers defecting to competitors. Investors were uneasy and showing signs of losing confidence. There was a lack of clarity about what the brand really stands for, even though it had a high profile and evoked strong opinions. Increasingly, key competitors were showing signs of becoming much more focused and effective. Marks Spencers Board was not particularly aligned., Its leadership team does not encompass the right mix of skills, knowledge and experience to enable the company to regain its long-held position as a market leader. This was the scenario which Stuart Rose stepped into, when he became CEO of UK retail giant, Marks Spencer, in May 2004. Rose was determined to: ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢make fundamental changes ÃÆ'à ‚ ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢change from a bureaucratic old fashioned organisation into a modern dynamic force ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢implement the missing Shared Values to complete the transformational leadership model Stuart Roses new leadership model led to improved performance highlighting number of key features: He was very deliberate in managing key stakeholder groups to buy time to create confidence in his ability to lead out of its difficulties. This was especially important in dealing with the takeover bid and creating reassurance for investors that an independent MS under his leadership would create better returns. He inspired confidence that he could create value. In rejecting the offer from Philip Green of  £4 per share, he persuaded shareholders that the MS share price would rise far beyond that point. Today, it is trading in excess of  £6. He was clear and decisive about the leadership team he needed. This included taking some tough decisions about the make-up of that team, making it smaller and more clearly accountable, but also paying attention to signals about leadership culture. Covey, S.R. (1990) The plush headquarters at Barker Street, with all its hierarchical culture were swept away. At the same time as slimming down the top team, he simplified the management structure to make decision making faster, more accountable and transparent. Rose himself was regularly seen on the shop floor close to employees and customers and he expected his team to do likewise He immediately engaged with employees at all levels. A major side effect of the loss of confidence in MS was low employee morale. This had a direct effect on the way in which they interacted with customers stories of poor service from apathetic employees abounded. Coleman, J. (1990 Rose focused on re-building employee pride and commitment. But he was also ruthless in removing some long-term employee perks which had grown to beco me rights. He introduced more professional, performance based contracts for staff which were designed to reinforce and reward behaviours which support organisational performance. He took a personal interest in the product ranges and critical buying function of the organisation. MS long believed that buying was a generic skill, that a buyer of cabbages could equally well buy ladies fashions. But with buyers being rotated around different areas of the business, the result was that some key areas, notably clothing, lacked of coherence from season to season. Coleman, J. (1990 At the same time, he embarked on a major revamp of stores, supply chain management and advertising. The results were striking. But above all, the success of these changes are founded on confidence and belief in Stuart Rose as a leader. 4.2. 2.2 Roses style changes to autocratic For a number of years after stepping in, Sir Stuart was lauded by investors and retail experts alike. He was cre dited with refocusing and re-energising the business, giving it cachet among younger, more fashion savvy customers and making it more profitable. But these bouquets have turned to brickbats over the last year or so. First, Sir Stuart faced accusations in March 2008 that he was becoming too powerful after he surprisingly agreed to combine the role of chairman with his existing position of chief executive. Blackmore, J. (1999) Some argued that Sir Stuart garnered too much power and turned into an autocrat. But Sir Stuart has played up the necessity of decisive leadership at the time in which conditions on the High Street were deteriorating rapidly. [reference] On the other hand, others have cast aside doubts over claims that Sir Stuarts style has become too autocratic and place their faith in a man seen as one of the UKs most successful retailers. They will remember the trouble that MS was in when he arrived from Arcadia in 2004, losing market share to hipper and cheaper riva ls and struggling to argue a case for remaining independent. Bevan, J. (2002) His turnaround strategy proved highly successful and under his leadership, MS won back its reputation for offering value for money while a strong commitment to ethical values and an environmentally-friendly approach also had a beneficial effect 2.3 Gargantuesque ego in Roses Style Some investors felt that Sir Stuart garnered too much power, recognizing himself above the others or having Gargantuesque ego. Gargantuesque ego, popularly conceived as an over-inflated sense of self-importance, is a major stumbling block to effective leadership. Initially, Sir Stuart was brought in to lead Marks and Spencers to fill a CEO role, a position that provides significant decision-making power in all areas of the business. Sir Stuart had some strong ideas and asked vital questions about measurement, accountability and processes that come from his perspective and experience. However, his emphasis on getting resu lts, no matter what ran counter to the existing culture where people and relationships weighed in equally. Bevan, J. (2002) 2.4 Review of employees contracts Recently in 2008, a worker at MS who blew the whistle on the high street giants plans to slash redundancy terms for more than 60,000 staff was suspended and faced a disciplinary hearing. Adorno, T.W. (1950 MS plans to cut redundancy pay by up to 25 per cent as part of proposals triggered a fierce backlash among staff, which feared a widespread round of job cuts. ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢A memo showed that a typical 49-year-old employee with 30 years of service would see their possible pay-off fall from  £35,000 to  £26,000. ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢Those aged over 41 would get three weeks pay per year worked instead of the current 3.75, while staff aged between 22 and 40 would receive two weeks instead of 2.5. ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢The Business Involvement Group also war ned the MS board that the proposed changes had caused an unprecedented level of concern and anger with staff asking Why do people at the bottom get the sack on the cheap while the top bosses get large payouts even when they leave having messed up? Initially, when Sir Stuart Rose took the reigns, one of his main objectives was to have employee-focused goals for motivation and improved performance. This objective proved successful initially however recently, the shift of strategy with the announcement of the review of employee contracts caused unprecedented anger with some questioning around the autocratic leadership style practiced by Sir Stuart Rose. 2.5 Performance indicator (Christopher) Although the literature Davies, B. and Ellison, L. (1999) on the link between causal effect relationships of leadership on performance is fragmented and inconclusive, there is still a strong suggestion that different leadership styles influence organisational performance. Financial per formance of the company in this period shows a steady improvement of performance for MS year after year. The turnover increased from around 8.1 billion pounds in 2002 to around 9.1 billion pounds in 2008. The profit margin jumped from 4.13 per cent to 12.51 per cent in the same period (Figure 2). The share price, which indicates the confidence that external stakeholders have in the performance of MS, has recently plummeted after having done so well for a few years. From the time that Rose Stuart took over as CEO, the share price managed to reach a peak of  £7.42 (Table 3 and Figure 5, appendix). Table 2 also indicates a series of improvements under Stuart Rose of gross margin, return on shareholders funds, capital employed and return on total assets. These indicators show that the company was being run efficiently and effectively. This can be attributed to the leadership. 3.0 Temporal leadership model According to Davies, B. and Ellison, L. (1999) the different leadership styles observed in the history of MS have shown some impact on performance but cannot be exclusively the only influencing factor. The iteration of ledership adaptation with a changing environment and the speed of adaptation have increase over the last decades. Figure 1 shows the impact of the leadership style on performance over time depending. One can observed that changes in MS leadership style go through transition periods but one type a specific type of leadership doesnt have a direct correlation on performance neither in the short or long term. Van der Erve [Van der Erve M. (2004)] has drawn a model based on the leadership requirement depending on the organisation growth curve and economic development dividing the different categories in temporal comfort zones. Van der Erve argues that the model can help in selecting the right type of leader with desired skills and behaviour for the development of an organ isation. According to the temporal model, the early leaders (Marks) were Transformers, creative and innovator and quickly evolved into Builders, nurturing product niche. The organisation managed to further grow by expanding internationally. The drop in performance seems to have happened at a time where the leadership should have evolved in to the confronters zone, questioning the established culture and open up the organisation. The focus was targeted towards operational performance rather than challenging a long running family embedded culture and failed to establish a vision. Autocratic leadership was also accepted, at least not rejected in the last century due to the power of social classes in an instable period of World Wars was dictatorial political figures ruled by example. Davies, B. and Ellison, L. (1999) 3.1 Transformational leadership. While transactional leadership implies a steady state transformational leadership (Leithwood and Jantzi, 1990) is a more dynami c concept. The three key components of the concept are 1) the stimulation and development of a collaborative culture 2) contribution to the continuous professional development of teachers, and 3) expansion of the problem-solving capacity of the school. Transformational leadership provides the vision and inspiration that is intended to energise all members of the school community. It is about transforming organisations and creating new cultures in which collaboration is valued, systematic enquiry is assumed to be the proper basis of professional judgement and in which there are high levels of reflection and discussion of professional practice. It sets expectations high and assumes a strong sense of shared responsibility for attaining educational goals. Dimmock and Walker set this in a multi-cultural context: This type of leadership style seemed present in Marks and Spencer. 3.2 Transactional leadership. Transactions among people imply measured give and take. Services are render ed and rewarded when they meet approval. The concept is attributed to McGregor Burns (1978). He sees the transactional leader as setting the goals for the organisation and letting people know what needs to be done to achieve those goals. Faith is placed in systems, structures and data which will assist in reaching those goals. This is akin to exchange theory, a quasi market model of everything being weighed in terms of individual profit and loss in an economy where there is stability of value and currency. People know where they are, what they owe and what they are due. Leaders and followers are in fixed and recognisable complementary roles. It is a steady state founded on stability and efficiency in meeting short term goals. Transactional leadership does not appear to have any positive advocates but rather seems to be proposed as a foil to transformational leadership. Nonetheless, Leithwood (1992) warns against dichotomising the two concepts and argues that transactional leadership may be a stage on the way to transformational leadership. Davies, B. and Ellison, L. (1999) This style is present all the time as it offers the operational management to peform its role of carrying out transactions within the organisation. 4.0 Other models 4.1 Professional leadership. It is difficult to conceive of school leadership which is not professional, but it has been invested with a distinctive meaning by Sergiovanni and others. Sergiovanni argues that authority may be derived from different sources but one of the most compelling of these is the authority which comes from transparent professional knowledge and expertise. He or she must espouse professional values and possess appropriate professional knowledge and judgement. 5.0 Conclusion s been a trend in the last few years to move away from notions of management to rebrand movements, projects and organisations under the leadership banner. Management training becomes leadership development and senior management teams are being reincarnated as leadership teams. This is to create a distance between leadership and management, the latter seen as a more limited concept and too closely associated with managerialism, a somewhat discredited approach based on rational, scientific principles. Critics, such as Gerald Grace, for example, argue that much of this is smoke and mirrors, not so much a substantive change as a change of rhetoric. Others have made theoretical distinctions between the concepts, between focus on systems (management) and focus on people (leadership), between administration and innovation, short term planning and long term vision, accepting or challenging the status quo. Bennis and Nanus (1985) distinctions between doing things right (management) and doin g the right thing (leadership) has assumed an almost folkloric status. These categorical separations are, however, contentious. Some take the view that management is necessarily subsumed as an aspect of leadership while others argue that in practice, as well as in theory, there are people who lead and others who manage, and that many successful teams are combined of people who bring complementary roles and skills to their collaborative work. Ultimately, discussion of what is management and what is leadership is of less importance than what both are for. What is being led and managed? What lies at the heart of leadership? As a Leadership for Learning Network our position speaks for itself. Leadership in a school context, we contend, must first and foremost be concerned with the how, why and what of learning. The who refers, naturally, to children but is conditional on a milieu in which those who teach, those who lead, and those who manage are themselves exemplary learners.

Do People Learn Who They Are Only When They Are Forced Free Essays

Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest leaders in American history who has votes himself entirely into the great reformation of the country, was not as dutiful as in his presidency before he become the leader Of United States. During his early political career, his opinion on controversy of slavery had always been neutral in front of public. Nevertheless, he showed his firmness and fortitude on reforming the social structure of the country after he had won his election. We will write a custom essay sample on Do People Learn Who They Are Only When They Are Forced or any similar topic only for you Order Now The difference between early and late politic career of Abraham Lincoln perfectly demonstrate that people need external force to achieve a new level in their career. Another person who depicts brand new self after tremendous life change would be Kimberly Ghana, the Chinese girl from â€Å"Girl in Translation†. In the book, the girl and her family have immigrated to the great united States. The cruel reality she was living in made her become strong and brave when facing others who bully and disdain her. Despite all the pressure, she managed to study hard and gained scholarship in new private school. The headmaster admired her resilience and talents. Eventually, the saying â€Å"chance favors only the prepared mind† has proven on Kimberly. Her outstanding academic impressed Yale University. How to cite Do People Learn Who They Are Only When They Are Forced, Essays

Role of Merger and Acquisition

Question: Write an essay on Role of Merger and Acquisition in Singapore. Answer: Introduction The purpose of this essay paper is to excavate the biggest marketing news of 2015 in Singapore. According to the market research, it has been determined that the merger and acquisition has become one of the most significant ways to improve the condition of the company (PwC, 2016). In the competitive world of business, there are many multinational companies doing same business, merger or acquisition helps the company to reduce the number of competitors and increase the service quality. In the budget of Singapore 2010, mergers and acquisitions (MA) schemes are introduced to enhance the service quality, customer loyalty in Singapore so the organizations can able to increase the capability of the business through these two processes. The mergers and acquisitions schemes are re-introduced in 2015 and 2016 again. Main Body of Analysis: Role of Merger and Acquisition in Singapore: The value of Merger and Acquisition has doubled in 2015, from the most trusted channel of Asia, it can be understood that mergers and Acquisitions help Singapore to jump up to US$101.2 from US$50.7 billion. In a span of just 1 year, the value has doubled. It is one of the successful merging so far in the world of economy (Garg, 2013). Before going deep into the study, it is necessary to understand the role of Merger and Acquisition in the growth of the organization. Besides acquisition, mergers can be taken place in various forms such as purchasing of assets, exchange of share with assets, purchase common share and exchange share for shares (https://www.accaglobal.com, 2016). There is Merger Efficiency theory, which is depicting the role of Mergers and Acquisitions. With the help of these theories, Merger and Acquisitions can be understood. There are several theories on this like Differential Efficiency Theory Inefficient Management Theory Synergy (Channel News Asia, 2016) Pure Diversification Strategic realignment for Changing Environment and Undervaluation Among the several other theories, two leading theories are Disciplinary and Synergistic Merger Motives. Strage, (2010) stated that Disciplinary mergers theory is suggesting that MA target such managers of firms, whose motif is clearly driven by the objectives not by the profit maximization (Strage, 2010). From the market research, What-when-how.com, (2016) depicted that mergers in Singapore are introduced by some specific objectives like here managers do not only focus on profit maximization but also concentrate on the profit maximization. On the other hand, Ahmad (2015) opined that Synergistic Merger Theory is opposite, in which firm mangers are trying to achieve the performance by combining the business with target. From the above chart, the significant MA can be extracted. Impact of the takeover on the market of Singapore This takeover has significant impact on the growth of the entire nation. The positive impacts of the merger and acquisition of the companies on the shareholder are going to be depicted. Quality: Service quality of Singapore airline industry can be improved through this successful takeover. Acquisition helps to improve the service qualities well as the productivity of the organization (Reed and Lajoux, 2011). With the successful takeover, the organization can able to improve the performance of the organization. Even the governing body of Singapore is showing interest in this acquisition process. Cost: At the time of acquisition, parent company or Giant Company has to pay a sum of money and later this takeover helps to reduce the cost of the company related to service (PwC, 2016). Due to the amalgamation, the company can reduce the operational cost of the company and later this cost can be implemented in the welfare of the tourism industry. With the help of the takeover, the management of the organization can able to provide better quality service to end users in low price (McManus and Hergert, 2012). Customers: Service users are the prime stakeholder of every organization. Companies should judge the purchasing behaviour of the customers and demand of the customers. Based on the two factors, customers service can be allocated to the customers. This takeover enables the customers to avail better service in low price (Iras.gov.sg, 2016). Often it is seen that the customers are complaining about the short hauls but now with the integration of short haul situation can be resolved. They are going to get best service from that giant company. Competitors: Competitors are another significant aspect of every company. This acquisition facilitates the customers of the organization to avail better service without spending much. It is a posing threat for other airline industry of same and different countries (Scribd, 2016). The airline industry is full of competitors but due to this acquisition, at least one competitor is eliminated. Acquisition may allow the other competitors to coordinate with the price increases. Negative Impacts of this takeover Apart from the positive factors, this takeover comes with several negative aspects also. Shift of power can be the major problem in future (Maji, 2013). Small companies can able to take own decision but still the power shifts from one hand to another and this can affect the organizational structure. Organizational structure and culture can also be affected due to this. The company, which has merged needs to bring significant changes in culture and structure of the organization; otherwise, it is impossible for the organization to sustain their position (Singapore Business Review, 2016). Employees are the key stakeholder of the company and takeover can affect their performance. This increase the tendency of switching companies, management should provide them training to retain them in the organization. Shareholder is the major issue of the company, due to takeover, often it is seen that shareholder looses all their faith on the company (PwC, 2016). At the time, merging powerful companies have taken over less powerful companies so the employees or shareholder may believe that the financial position of the less powerful company is not well enough so they try to search new companies (Bessembinder and Zhang, 2014). On the other hand, acquisition may have negative impact on the service level. Acquisition can be quite confusing in terms of lost relationship with the existing valued customers, transmission of sales positions and commission rate (Garg, 2013). Recommendation From the analysis of the paper, it can be determined that the merging and acquisition has significant impact on the growth of the market as it helps to increase the growth of entire industry. Along with that the entire shareholder are benefitted due to this decision. If it judged from the marketing aspect, it has been seen that it is the best decision in the Singapore so far. This takeover helps to improve the economy of the country. Conclusion From the above discussion, it can be concluded that Mergers and Acquisitions are the major profit for every company as well as for nation. With the successful takeover of the small companies by large companies has significant impact on the growth of the Singapore Business. With this successful growth, the governing body of Singapore can able to increase their GDP (Ahmad, 2015). To run the business operations smoothly, it is necessary for the management of the organization to track the resources and activities of the organization and then apply the strategies in the organizational process (https://www.accaglobal.com, 2016). The scope of the marketing is depending on the size and large company is always at the profitable position in terms of Mergers and Acquisitions, so the marketing manger should take the decisions effectively. References Ahmad, A. (2015). Corporate Governance in Banks Undergoing Merger and Acquisition. SSRN Electronic Journal. Bessembinder, H. and Zhang, F. (2014). Overreaction to Merger and Acquisition Announcements. SSRN Electronic Journal. Channel NewsAsia. (2016). MA deals in Singapore almost double in 2015. [online] Available at: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/m-a-deals-in-singapore/2335556.html [Accessed 6 Jun. 2016]. Garg, S. (2013). Merger and acquisition ppt. [online] Slideshare.net. Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/SwatiGarg2/merger-and-acquisition-ppt [Accessed 6 Jun. 2016]. https://www.accaglobal.com, A. (2016). Mergers and acquisitions in Singapore | ACCA Global. [online] Accaglobal.com. Available at: https://www.accaglobal.com/in/en/member/accounting-business/insights/ma-singapore.html [Accessed 6 Jun. 2016]. Iras.gov.sg. (2016). Mergers and Acquisitions Allowance - IRAS. [online] Available at: https://www.iras.gov.sg/irashome/Businesses/Companies/Working-out-Corporate-Income-Taxes/Claiming-Allowances/Mergers-and-Acquisitions-Allowance/ [Accessed 6 Jun. 2016]. Maji, M. (2013). Merger and Acquisition in Information Technology Sector. SSRN Electronic Journal. McManus, M. and Hergert, M. (2012). Surviving merger and acquisition. Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman. PwC. (2016). Encouraging innovation and internationalisation. [online] Available at: https://www.pwc.com/sg/en/singapore-budget-2015/bc01-03.html [Accessed 6 Jun. 2016]. PwC. (2016). Mergers and Acquisitions. [online] Available at: https://www.pwc.com/sg/en/deals/mergers-acquisitions.html [Accessed 6 Jun. 2016]. Reed, S. and Lajoux, A. (2011). The art of M A. New York: McGraw-Hill. Scribd. (2016). Theories of Mergers. [online] Available at: https://www.scribd.com/doc/22679793/Theories-of-Mergers [Accessed 6 Jun. 2016]. Singapore Business Review. (2016). Year in review: Here are the ten biggest mergers and acquisitions in Singapore for 2014. [online] Available at: https://sbr.com.sg/commercial-property/in-focus/year-in-review-here-are-ten-biggest-mergers-and-acquisitions-in-singapo [Accessed 6 Jun. 2016]. Strage, M. (2010). Acquisition and merger negotiating strategy. New York: Presidents Pub. House. What-when-how.com. (2016). MERGER AND ACQUISITION: DEFINITIONS, MOTIVES, AND MARKET RESPONSES (Finance). [online] Available at: https://what-when-how.com/finance/merger-and-acquisition-definitions-motives-and-market-responses-finance/ [Accessed 6 Jun. 2016].

Heart of Darkness Apocalypse Now Comparison Research Paper Example

Heart of Darkness Apocalypse Now Comparison Paper Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness, written in 1902, deals with themes relating to the self-discovery of ones self and the hypocrisy of European imperialism in the late 19th century. Francis Ford Coppolas film, Apocalypse Now, successfully transferred the themes discussed in Heart of Darkness to a 20th century format-the Vietnam War. By doing so Coppola changed the way individuals looked at the novel written by Conrad. It leads them to realize the truth behind the darkness that blinded them from reality. The movie made individuals such as you and me look at the novel and closely examine the hypocrisy and colonization behind it. So Apocalypse Now captures this atmosphere, and in the meantime allows Hearts of Darkness to show us the torment required to bring forth such a vision of inhumanity. Marlows journey throughout the Congo can be divided into three sections: the outer station, central station, and the inner station. These three regions each have increasing levels of isolation and darkness. In Apocalypse Now the same three sections were used, however they were changed slightly to suit the Vietnam setting. The outer station was represented by Lieutenant Colonel Kilgores camp, central station was represented by the Du Lung Bridge, and Kurtzs compound in Cambodia, represents the inner station. In Conrads novel , the first of these stations was known as the Outer Station and was located near the beach. This was the point in the novel were Marlow met the accountant. The accountant in Conrads novel compares somewhat to the character in Apocalypse Now named Kilgore. You could say that they both dressed in the same manner because they were always dressed so nicely. But before Marlow got to the station he witnessed a French man-o-war firing into the desolate continent. This in a way compares to the way that Kilgore took over the beach by destroying all of its inhabitants. Although they are similar in some ways, they did have very different reasons for doing this. The French ship was firing because they supposedly saw some natives trying to attack their ship. Kilgore took the beach and killed most of its inhabitants just so he and his men could have a good time by going surfing. Although they seem different, they are still so similar because they are destroying human lives just for their entertainment. We will write a custom essay sample on Heart of Darkness Apocalypse Now Comparison specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Heart of Darkness Apocalypse Now Comparison specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Heart of Darkness Apocalypse Now Comparison specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In the movie between the first and second stations Coppola added something that make it a little more interesting and show us what they are like as they slowly drift further into the darkness and chaos. I am referring to when their patrolboat stopped a boat that contained Vietnamese civilians and supplies. Because a girl made a move towards a basket the soldiers panicked and started to fire wildly, killing everybody onboard. The girl was however only wounded, but Willard coldly executed her. This scene shows us that they were all starting to lose their humanity and turn into some sort of savages. It was like they were all being engulfed by the darkness, one at a time. The next stop in their journey is the Du Lung Bridge, the last military stronghold on the river. This last military outpost somewhat relates to the place in Conrads novel known as the Central Station. This was the place in the novel where Marlow first met the man known as the brickmaker. The brickmaker, as he is known, seems to be some sort of spy for the manager to see what kind of person Marlow is. In the end he mistakes Marlow for being a very important and influential person in Europe. The only similarity between this and Apocalypse Now happened when Willard was looking for the man in charge at the bridge. Because all of the soldiers thought he was an important person, they thought Willard was the leader. The next thing that happened in both the novel and the book was the death of some of their men in ambushes along the way to Kurtzs station. In the novel, the helmsmen died because he was hit with a spear. In the movie, the helmsmen, Chief Phillips is killed by a spear also, but there is also a death of another one of their comrades-Clean. He died in a surprise attack by the Vietcong. These are the points in both the novel and the movie where the characters Marlow and Willard start to lose it. Because Marlow refuses to recognize the black helmsmans humanity, he becomes even more savage. He also believes that the mission is lost. Willard also starts to lose hope in his mission to terminate Kurtz. After these tragic deaths, they finally come upon Kurtzs station where the harlequin is waiting for them. In the novel the harlequin is portrayed as a comical Russian in colorful clothing. In the movie he is portrayed as an American Photo Journalist. They both seem to think that Kurtz is some sort of god and is a man of great intelligence and intellectual thinking. Although after closely examining the area Marlow finds a bunch of heads on posts. Marlow was not very shocked at the sight. He took this as an indication that Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his lusts. Marlow assumed that Kurtz was hollow inside and needed something to fill that. The Russian was irked by Marlows attitude of distrust towards Kurtz. What I find most fascinating is Marlows idea of Kurtz being hollow. This would relate to the poem that Kurtz was reading when Willard was his prisoner-T.S. Eliots Hollow Men. After meeting the harlequin is where the two plot lines start to differ drastically. In the novel, they find Kurtz in the station and bring the sickly looking man back onto the steamer. But during the night Kurtz escapes and plans to attack the people on the steamboat. In the movie Willard is taken prisoner by Kurtz because he knew that Willard was sent here to kill him. While Willard was with Kurtz he learned that you must make a friend of horror and that its judgement that defeats us. But in both the novel and the movie, Marlow and Willard come to their senses and realize the great task remaining before them. They both eventually do kill Kurtz and put and end to his tyranny (although in the novel his death was a little more prolonged). Finally, on his deathbed Kurtz says one of his most famous lines in both the novel and the movie, The horror! The horror! It seems that Kurtz desired power and hated anyone who got in his way. It is also possible that he said this because he was angry that he did not get to finish what he was doing. There was also a similarity in something what Kurtz had once written in the novel, and what Willard had found when he was going through some of Kurtzs documents. These two statements were Exterminate all the brutes (novel) and Drop the bomb, kill them all. (movie) These two sentences are written differently but have the same exact meaning. Here the two Kurtzes sum up what their goal was. It also shows us what was going on in his head, and leads us to wonder whether we are or arent like him. Lastly, is that the endings in the novel and movie are a little different. In the movie Willard just sails away in his PT boat with Lance, but in the novel, Marlow returns home with the packet of papers Kurtz had given him. Here he eventually gives most of the documents away to people like Kurtzs relatives and reporters. But in the end, when Marlow is talking to Kurtzs wife, he does something quite astounding. He lies to her saying that her name was the last words hed spoken. He did this so she would not have to find out about Kurtzs true black heart. He wanted to keep her in her own little world of reality where she was safe from all evil. If she would have found out, it would have led her and many other Europeans to question their own civilization. The novel then ends with Marlow saying that weve been carried out to the darkness but now its coming back with the tide. The movie, Apocalypse Now, dramatically changed the way we look at Heart of Darkness. Because it is expressed visually and in simpler words it is easier to understand the novel and draw conclusions about what is in it. It also made us more aware of the parallels between the Vietnam War and the European colonization of various parts of the world. It helped to lift the veils that were preventing us from seeing the truth behind each topic. It is like what Marlow was talking about at the end of the novel. The fact that governments may be able to hide the truth for a while, but it will eventually come back to haunt them.

Misused Words Ironic and Literally - Proofread My Paper

Misused Words Ironic and Literally - Proofread My Paper Misused Words: Ironic and Literally We try not to be too pedantic here at Proofreading Towers. After all, language changes over time, and there’s not much we can do to stop that. But there are some words whose widespread misuse makes us feel a bit sad, such as â€Å"ironic† and â€Å"literally.† Ironic (Against Expectations) In everyday language, â€Å"ironic† is often used to mean â€Å"coincidental† or â€Å"unfortunate.† The most famous example of this comes from the Alanis Morissette song, which lists a range of things that fit this definition of â€Å"ironic,† such as: It’s like rain on your wedding day. The problem is that a rainy wedding day is not technically ironic. The actual definition of â€Å"ironic† is â€Å"opposed to what you’d expect.† Consequently, rain on your wedding day would only be ironic if weddings were notoriously dry. Unfortunate, but not ironic.(Photo: Tom Godber/flickr) The word â€Å"irony† does have other meanings, mostly related to drama and literature. But all of these rely on the same basic idea of something happening against expectations. As such, finding your lost keys just as you’ve had replacements made is not â€Å"ironic,† no matter how annoying it might be. It’s just an unfortunate coincidence. Literally (In Actual Fact) Misuse of â€Å"literally† is possibly even more common than misuse of ironic. It’s also more problematic, as people often use â€Å"literally† to emphasize a metaphor: When Alanis finds out, she’ll literally explode with anger. We wouldn’t usually take this to mean that someone is about to actually explode. It’s just a way of figuratively stressing how angry they’d be. The repressed rage is plain to see.(Photo: Justin Higuchi/wikimedia) However, the original meaning of â€Å"literally† is â€Å"exactly† or â€Å"actually the case.† As such, using â€Å"literally† to emphasize something that isn’t actually true is the exact opposite of this! We’re then left in a situation where one common use of â€Å"literally† is opposed to its â€Å"literal† use. Now that is ironic (in the literal sense of the word)! Does Any of This Really Matter? Yes, we know that using these terms wrongly doesn’t hurt anyone. And so we try not to worry about it too much. But if, like us, you prefer to avoid mistakes in your written work, it makes sense to use these words correctly.

Target Marketing for Agrium Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 19

Target Marketing for Agrium Inc - Essay Example Agrium has approximately 500 retail units in South America and the United States of America and they operate under the brand names of Crop Production Services, West Farm Services and Agroservicios Pampeanos SA (Agrium, 2012). The retail units deal directly with farmers in selling its agricultural nutrients and specialty fertilizers. Its affiliate, the Crop Production Services has the vision to be a leader in the production of agricultural inputs in all segments of its market and in doing this; it has embarked on a policy to retain talented employees in its services so as to provide high-quality services to its customers. The organization seeks to build its brand name by assisting college students to achieve higher education by paying their fees.  Through its wholesale unit, the company provides nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers to retailers who in turn sell these products to farmers. The wholesale unit, in achieving its targets, treats its customers as partners in the business and it does this through honesty and integrity in dealing with them. The company has a distribution network of over 100 supplied by thirteen production unit and these results into the timely supply of the products to their customers. The company has initiated technological devices such as Ag Tracker and loading hours to enable customers to access critical product information and operating hours of various plants of the organization.  The advanced technological unit produces specialty fertilizers and focuses on environmental sustainability (Agrium, 2012). This unit targets consumers, agricultural and horticulture market and organizations engaging in sports such as golf, due to the profession turf. In achieving its objective, the company markets and sells its products through distributors in the United States of America and Canada.

Is music an entertainment or art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Is music an entertainment or art - Essay Example   Ã¢â‚¬ËœIs music an art form or entertainment?’ is a difficult question for one to answer. Art is related with self-expression which reveals the creativity of a person while entertainment is based on public enjoyment. In a case of music, it needs artistic qualities as well the elements of entertainment. Considering the popular music culture during the 1960s and 1970s in English speaking world, one can find a brilliant amalgamation of art and entertainment. Historians have documented that the event of Civil Right Movement and the associated civil disturbance and the Vietnam War greatly influenced the youth culture. Formation of life style, values, and economic growth of youth marked the influence of these two happenings. Newly originated popular culture in which rock/soul music was the dominant one which changed lives. People from the English speaking world receive this cultural division of sex, race and began to see each one having different perceptive. Here, one can see th at popular acceptance of rock/soul music underlines the presence of both artistic features and some characteristics of entertainment. The new popular culture during the 1960s and 1970s marked the emergence of rock/soul music which provides some features of entertainment as well the characteristics of art. As a medium of entertainment, music requires a perfect content which describes the social and cultural heritage of the nation, brilliant instrumentation, and effective visual presentation. The song entitled, â€Å"Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" by Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell gives a particular beat style which promote a faster track than rock. Motown uses little bits of melody in its songs. Similarly, the frequent use of electric keyboards in Soul music gives a different experience for the listener. Social and cultural backgrounds The content of Motown music is matured and diversified which performed great artistic value. Research professionals mention that Motown became the centre of popular music in sixties and one can easily find its strong influence of African American or gospel backgrounds. Here, the lyrics of the songs need both artistic quality and some features of entertainment. The song â€Å"I heard it through Grapevine† by Marvin Gaye gives higher level of artistic performance as well entertainment quality. Michael Campbell and James Brody observe; â€Å"It is beautifully integrated: every elements blends shamelessly to convey the sense of the text which gradually unfolds the story of love gone wrong† (Campbell & Brody 185). In case of popular music in the English world, one cannot find the crisis between the features of art and entertainment in music. Music of Motown and Soul underscore the contribution of Black people or African Americans. Various use of instrumentation affects public acceptance and popularity. It is significant for a reader to notice that the songs of Bob Dylan and Motown give considerable status in lyrics. Considering the song entitled "The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964) by Bob Dylan, one can find that the Dylan gives more emphasis on its lyrics than music. The song is based on political movements of that period. The sufferings of and protest of working class people is revealed through his words. Even without a band and or any other instrument listener/viewer can get the feel of an anthem. Therefore, popular music culture in 1960s and 70s concentrated artistic features than entertainment. In case of music, songs of Motown and Soul acquired great popularity among the public because of its music and instrumentation. Artists have controlled the use of the elements of entertainment in their songs. Visual presentation and class identification are is not a significant matter among the public in

Representation Of Consciousness In To The Lighthouse English Literature Essay

Representation Of Consciousness In To The Lighthouse English Literature Essay This paper examines the view that consciousness is a key theme in To the Lighthouse  [1]  and is used to explore the nature of reality both as it relates to the subjective world of individuals and the objective world that society agrees on. Further, that Mr and Mrs Ramsay appear to represent the two aspects, Mr Ramsay objective and Mrs Ramsay subjective and that Lily Briscoes character is used to resolve the question of how one person can make sense of these apparently conflicting internal and external views of reality. In a sense, the end of the book when Lily has her vision could be read as her solving Mr Ramsays life work into subject and object and the nature of reality. (p.26) In many ways Woolfs style is stream of consciousness; lots of thoughts presented without clear distinctions between them or who is having them. Sometimes we see the characters through their own eyes, sometimes one character is thinking about another one, and sometimes the author appears to be making her own comment on a character without being absolutely sure of her facts about them. We see how internal struggles impact outward actions and affect the way characters perceive each other. Woolf uses her authorial voice in the way she frames and selects certain aspects of her characters that she would like us to see and not others. If a stream of consciousness technique had been used throughout however, this would not have been so obvious. As Ayers puts it: To the Lighthouse presents the consciousness of various characters in an idiom which sometimes is borrowed from the minds and voices of the characters, and at other times is cast in a narrative voice which is independent of the character(s) even while it narrates according to their thought and knowledge. This means there is still an authorial voice present  [3]   She selectively dips in and out of her characters thoughts, into the mind of another character, and back again. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the lines separating narrator and author, and narrator and character, are, in most cases, very obscure. In some instances, therefore, it is vital to see, to feel, the various ways the author places the narrator, since the position the reader feels will often establish for him the narrators location in the setting; and this not only firmly identifies him but also clarifies his relationship to the action.  [4]   All her characters speak in the same idiom, they can not really be differentiated by the words they use. They are not thinking off the top of their heads; their thoughts are articulated in a highly formulated prose. Mr Ramsay is characterised by the omniscient narrator in terms of rational facts and outward reality: What he said was true. It was always true. He was incapable of untruth; never tampered with a fact; never altered a disagreeable word to suit the pleasure or convenience of any mortal being, least of all his own childrenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (p.4) Later on in the first section the same argument about whether it will be fine enough to go to the Lighthouse tomorrow is continued, but this time we are taken into the consciousness of Mr Ramsay and see that his view of reality is, after all, coloured by passion. But it is a passion for the absolute as it affects his family. He wants their internal reality to match the external world: The extraordinary irrationality of her remark, the folly of womens minds enraged himà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦and now she flew in the face of facts, made his children hope what was utterly out of the question, in effect, told lies. (p.36) More is revealed about how him, however, when we are shown Mrs Ramsays perceptions. Mrs Ramsay is depicted as the opposite of her husband, relying on her feelings and intuition to unite people  [5]  : To pursue truth with such astonishing lack of consideration for other peoples feelings, to rend the thin veils of civilization so wantonly, so brutally, was to her so horrible an outrage of human decency. (p.37) Three consciousnesses are used in this example to show that reality is not just what is out there in the physical world, but that there is also an inner reality of feeling, which cannot be separated from external pressures. In each example above, the sense of reality shifts slightly, as does the readers perception of each characters consciousness. This sense of shifts in consciousness and reality is set up from the first page: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦James Ramsay, sitting on the floor cutting out pictures from the illustrated catalogue of the Army and Navy Stores, endowed the picture of a refrigerator as his mother spoke with heavenly bliss. It was fringed with joyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦though he appeared the image of stark and uncompromising severity, with his high forehead and his fierce blue eyesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦so that his mother, watching himà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦imagined him all red and ermine on the Bench or directing a stern and momentous enterprise in some crisis of public affairs. (pp.3-4) The omniscient narrator shows us James sitting on the floor, dips into his consciousness to tell us how he is feeling, goes back out again to describe what he looks like then goes into his mothers imagination as she looks at him. Auerbach  [6]  calls this the multipersonal representation of consciousness and Nussbaum  [7]  tells us the reader isà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦constantly made aware of the richness of consciousness, and of the tremendous gap between what we are in and to ourselves, and the part of the self that enters the interpersonal world. None of the characters are shown to the reader with absolute clarity, as seen through a photographers lens, but as perceived by human consciousness; glimpses caught and revelations made. Woolf is trying to show life as it is lived. Not as a neatly packaged event with well understood motives and defined beginnings and endings, but as a series of perceptions and small moments of understanding which constantly shift over time according to the influence of those people around us. Characters are shown trying to deal with the conflict between their own internal reality, their consciousness or state of being, and the external reality, the real world with its expectations of how things are, as generated by society and the way nature is real independent of any human force on it. James thinks things that a six year old boy would not actually be thinking. Woolf takes James simple hate of his father thwarting him and uses highly stylised and metaphorical language comprised of grammatically precise sentences  [8]  to explain how he feels about his father disrupting his relationship with his mother. he hated him for the exaltation and sublimity of his gesturesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦but most of all he hated the twang and twitter of his fathers emotion which, vibrating round them, disturbed the perfect simplicity and good sense of his relations with his mother. (p.42) In this case, James consciousness is not hazy at all; it is sharp and focused, but the language used forces the reader to the conclusion that this perception is given to him by the narrator for her own purposes, to heighten the tension and create an atmosphere of instant hatred. That it does not accurately describe the words that a boy of James age would use does not necessarily mean that it is not truthful, that it does not accurately convey his feelings. That the voice of the narrator is mixed with James highlights the difficulty of reconciling an internal reality with an external codified and recognised one. This constant shifting in narrative voices also highlights the difficulties of ever knowing all of another person, which Love has presented as a problem: The difficulty with the Ramsays, in short, is this: People who seem to know one another do not truly know one another. They have a certain tense harmony and union, but even as they are united, they are discordant within themselves and with one another. Knowledge is unknowing; harmony contains disharmony  [9]   But much of what Woolf seems to be saying with her characters is that they do not actually know themselves fully. Just as there is no one reality, no meaning of life, there is no one unwavering internal core of self knowledge and belief; it is constantly changing with external influences. Even when Lily Briscoe has her vision it is acknowledged as fleeting, as a small part of life: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦she looked at her canvas; it was blurred. With a sudden intensity, as if she saw it clear for a second, she drew a line there, in the centre. It was done; it was finished. Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue, I have had my vision. (p.242) Lily could be read as a combination of both Mr and Mrs Ramsay as she wants to get beyond her inner reality, typified by Mrs Ramsay and represent it through her art, in an outward way. This is what Mr Ramsay does, although he uses words rather than art and does not have to struggle in the same way that Lily does to give herself permission to paint. His internal struggle is more of the nature of knowing he is not quite the Great Man he would like to be, but he does know that it is his right to be one, whereas Lily feels that the mere act of painting and expecting to be taken seriously as an artist is something she has to fight for, she is aware of her own inadequacy, her insignificance. (p.22) Ayers sees To the Lighthouse as having a pessimistic conclusion because Lilys painting is destined to be confined to a future attic  [10]  but it could also be interpreted as being positive on the individual scale as Lily does have her vision; she comes to an understanding of life and her place in it that does not depend on being shown in an art gallery of the (male) establishment. So there is more than a [tentative suggestion of] the importance of art in transfiguring the moment  [11]  because that transfiguration takes place on an individual basis. Lily has achieved her own personal unity in the face of opposing, controlling forces and expectations such as Mr Ramsays greatness and his demands for sympathy, George Tansleys remembered women cant paint, cant write (p.184) and Mrs Ramsays reverence for men and her role as the familys emotional centre. In that moment she reconciled the internal and external, the subjective and objective. Woolf it seems is saying that it is only on this fleeting moment-to-moment basis that life can be understood but that these moments build on top of each other to provide fresh versions of reality, which can in turn be renegotiated and perceived.

Compare and Contrast Roman and Han Empires Essay

The Roman and Han empires were both very powerful, in their own rights. Although their culture and beliefs were very different, their ideology and governments were, at points, very similar. Both empires experienced a rise, plateau, and fall, which eventually changed their entire empires. One thing that was a key aspect in both societies was religion. While the Han empire brought Confucianism as a main element in daily life, the Roman’s had several different religions that each played a key role. The Han empire trained bureaucrats formally in the teachings of Confucian philosophy. The Roman emperors were sometimes, after death, referred to as demigods. At the same time this was going on in the Roman empire, Jews and Christians were being persecuted. While the Romans had polytheism, Christianity and Judaism, the Han empire had Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. The Chinese did better to make their religion more an aspect of everyday life and law, while the Romans did not care as much. The fragmentation in religious beliefs in Rome lead to hostility among the people. In both empires the lack of stable economy and government caused the empire to be weak and so susceptible to attack and invasion. Rome was already faltering from within, with tax collection becoming corrupt and the economy slowing down, when the Germanic tribes came and invaded. What was left in the east became the Byzantine Empire. In China, the weak centralized government was very unpopular due to over taxation. The Huns then invaded, and the Chinese could not fend them off. Unlike the Roman empire though, the Chinese bounced back a few hundred years later, in the 600s with the Sui and Tang dynasties. In both the Han and Roman empires, the people themselves had something directly to do with the decline of their societies. If a country is not stable and happy from within, it will not stand a chance to any outside invaders. While the element of religion in the Han dynasty brought the people together, it was not strong enough to hold the people together, while religions themselves caused people in the Roman empire to be against one another.

How to Forget Someone You Love Essay

How do we forget someone that has been a part of our lives for a quite some time? We find it hard at times when we actually want to forget them but still can’t because they’ve been â€Å"something† to us. Some get depressed, and some get stressed out with the things around them some get drunk and put their selves to trouble just to forget the hurt that they feel. But where do they end up? Some in the jail for their stupidity, some are stuck in the past and don’t know how to get out and move out of the box that they are in, and some still can’t stand up tall and say†¦ â€Å"I’ve finally moved on. Well, here are some effective tips for you†¦ Step one: Set aside all the things that can make you remember this person! How do you do it? In a big box, you put everything there. Pictures, stuff toys, or whatever this person gave you. After, you can put them away and put in the balcony or somewhere you won’t be able to see it for a lo ng period of time. Just be sure you will not go to that place and check everything out. Also, start removing and forgetting all the contact numbers you have connecting to this person. If possible, delete them in your personal accounts too like Facebook, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Live, Skype and all other social sites where you can see his or her updates. Step two: Be strong! Show this person that you can do it without them! Get all the confidence you could before you meet him the second time around after they leave you. Show him/her that it’s their lost, not yours! There’s going to be a big difference with the way they will treat you. Step three: Get busy! — Focus yourself on other things like studies, friends, family and other happy things. Go on a party with your awesome buddies†¦ HAVE FUN! Drink if it’s going to ease the pain but remember not to get wasted. It’s going to bring back all the pain and let you drag yourself down! Step four: Life must go on! Not just because this someone special left you, you lose hope with everything. Remember: The most revengeful thing that you can do to the person who left you is to be happy. P ut a big smile on your face and tell the world you can do it! Step five: Think of happy thoughts! Never let yourself down with the memories that will melt your heart and cry. Think of the stuffs that make you happy even if you’re all alone. Have yourself a treat at the mall or go on a shopping that will make you happy. Do the things that will make you happy even without accompany of others. NEVER watch romantic movies! You’ll just hurt yourself twice as much as you can remember. Step six: Stand up tall with chin up! Prove the people around you that you survived everything you’ve been through. When you see this person, walk in front of them with all the confidence you have! If they’ll notice you, say â€Å"hi† or â€Å"hello† for them not to feel that you were very affected with what they did to hurt you. After all that was said here, it’s still you who’s going to decide on what to do. This might help, but everything is still up to you. It’s going to be easy and yet, difficult. Just like math, X and Y are there but you still have to calculate it properly to get the answers correctly. Everything worth having is worth waiting.

Vedic Mathematics Multiplication

Sample details Pages: 30 Words: 9097 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? Abstract Vedic Mathematics has been the rage in American schools. The clear difference between Asian Indians and average American students approach to solving math problems had been evident for many years, finally prompting concerted research efforts into the subject. Many students have conventionally found the processes of algebraic manipulation, especially factorisation, difficult to learn. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Vedic Mathematics Multiplication | Mathematics Dissertations" essay for you Create order Research studies have investigated the value of introducing students to a Vedic method of multiplication of numbers that is very visual in its application. The question was whether applying the method to quadratic expressions would improve student understanding, not only of the processes but also the concepts of expansion and factorisation. It was established that there was some evidence that this was the case, and that some students also preferred to use the new method. Introduction Is Vedic mathematics a kind of magic? American students certainly thought so, in seeing the clear edge it gave to their Asian counterparts in public and private schools. Vedic schools and even tuition centers are advertised on the Web. Clearly it has taken the world by storm, and for valid reasons. The results are evident in math scores for every test administered. Vedic mathematics is based on some ancient, but superb logic. And the truth is that it works. Small wonder that it hails from India, purported to be the land that gave us the Zero or cipher. This one digit is the basis for counting or carrying over beyond nine- and is in fact the basis of our whole number system. It is the Arabs and the Indians that we should be indebted to for this favour to the West. The other thing about Vedic mathematics is that it also allows one to counter check whether his or her answer is correct. Thus one is doubly assured of the results. Sometimes this can be done by the Indian student in a shorter time span than it can using the traditional counting and formulas we have developed through Western and European mathematicians. That makes it seem all the more marvellous. If that doesnt sound magical enough, its interesting to note that the word Vedic means coming from Vedas a Sanskrit word meaning divinely revealed. The Hindus believe that these basic truths were revealed to holy men directly once they had achieved a certain position on the path to spirituality. Also certain incantations such as Om are said to have been revealed by the Heavens themselves. According to popular beliefs, Vedic Mathematics is the ancient system of Mathematics which was rediscovered from the Vedas between 1911 and 1918 by Sri Bharati Krsna Tirthaji (1884-1960). According to him, all Mathematics is based on sixteen Sutras or word-formulas. Based on Vedic logic, these formulas solve the problem in the way the mind naturally works and are therefore a great help to the student of logic. Perhaps the most outstanding feature of the Vedic system is its coherence. The whole system is beautifully consistent and unified- the general multiplication method, for example, is easily reversed to allow one-line divisions and the simple squaring method can be reversed to give one-line square roots. Added to that, these are all simply understood. This unifying quality is very satisfying, as it makes learning mathematics easy and enjoyable. The Vedic system also provides for the solution of difficult problems in parts; they can then be combined to solve the whole problem by the Vedic method. These magical yet logical methods are but a part of the whole system of Vedic mathematics which is far more systematic than the modern Western system. In fact it is safe to say that Vedic Mathematics manifests the coherent and unified structure of mathematics and the methods are complementary, straight and easy. The ease of Vedic Mathematics means that calculations can be carried out mentally-though the methods can also be written down. There are many advantages in using a flexible, mental system. Pupils can invent their own methods, they are not limited to the one accurate method. This leads to more creative, fascinated and intelligent pupils. Interest in the Vedic system is increasing in education where mathematics teachers are looking for something better. Finding the Vedic system is the answer. Research is being carried out in many areas as well as the effects of learning Vedic Maths on children; developing new, powerful but easy applications of the Vedic Sutras in geometry, calculus, computing etc. But the real beauty and success of Vedic Mathematics cannot be fully appreciated without actually practising the system. One can then see that it is perhaps the most sophisticated and efficient mathematical system possible. Now having known that even the 16 sutras are the Jagadguru Sankaracharyas invention we mention the name of the sutras and the sub sutras or corollaries in this paper. The First Sutra: Ekdhikena Prvena The relevant Sutra reads Ekdhikena Prvena which rendered into English simply says By one more than the previous one. Its application and modus operandi are as follows. (1) The last digit of the denominator in this case being 1 and the previous one being 1 one more than the previous one evidently means 2. Further the proposition by (in the sutra) indicates that the arithmetical operation prescribed is either multiplication or division. Let us first deal with the case of a fraction say 1/19. 1/19 where denominator ends in 9. By the Vedic one line mental method. A. First method B. Second Method This is the whole working. And the modus operandi is explained below. Modus operandi chart is as follows: (i) We put down 1 as the right-hand most digit 1 (ii) We multiply that last digit 1 by 2 and put the 2 down as the immediately preceding digit. (iii) We multiply that 2 by 2 and put 4 down as the next previous digit. (iv) We multiply that 4 by 2 and put it down thus 8 4 2 1 (v) We multiply that 8 by 2 and get 16 as the product. But this has two digits. We therefore put the product. But this has two digits we therefore put the 6 down immediately to the left of the 8 and keep the 1 on hand to be carried over to the left at the next step (as we always do in all multiplication e.g. of 69 2 = 138 and so on). (vi) We now multiply 6 by 2 get 12 as product, add thereto the 1 (kept to be carried over from the right at the last step), get 13 as the consolidated product, put the 3 down and keep the 1 on hand for carrying over to the left at the next step. (vii) We then multiply 3 by 2 add the one carried over from the right one, get 7 as the consolidated product. But as this is a single digit number with nothing to carry over to the left, we put it down as our next multiplicand. (viii) and xviii) we follow this procedure continually until we reach the 18th digit counting leftwards from the right, when we find that the whole decimal has begun to repeat itself. We therefore put up the usual recurring marks (dots) on the first and the last digit of the answer (from betokening that the whole of it is a Recurring Decimal) and stop the multiplication there. Our chart now reads as follows: The Second Sutra: Nikhilam Navatacaramam Daatah Now we proceed on to the next sutra Nikhilam sutra The sutra reads Nikhilam Navatacaramam Daatah, which literally translated means: all from 9 and the last from 10. We shall and applications of this cryptical-sounding formula and then give details about the three corollaries. He has given a very simple multiplication. Suppose we have to multiply 9 by 7. 1. We should take, as base for our calculations that power of 10 which is nearest to the numbers to be multiplied. In this case 10 itself is that power. Put the numbers 9 and 7 above and below on the left hand side (as shown in the working alongside here on the right hand side margin); 3. Subtract each of them from the base (10) and write down the remainders (1 and 3) on the right hand side with a connecting minus sign () between them, to show that the numbers to be multiplied are both of them less than 10. 4. The product will have two parts, one on the left side and one on the right. A vertical dividing line may be drawn for the purpose of demarcation of the two parts. 5. Now, Subtract the base 10 from the sum of the given numbers (9 and 7 i.e. 16). And put (16 10) i.e. 6 as the left hand part of the answer 9 + 7 10 = 6 The First Corollary The first corollary naturally arising out of the Nikhilam Sutra reads in English whatever the extent of its deficiency lessen it still further to that very extent, and also set up the square of that deficiency. This evidently deals with the squaring of the numbers. A few elementary examples will suffice to make its meaning and application clear: Suppose one wants to square 9, the following are the successive stages in our mental working. (i) We would take up the nearest power of 10, i.e. 10 itself as our base. (ii) As 9 is 1 less than 10 we should decrease it still further by 1 and set 8 down as our left side portion of the answer 8/ (iii) And on the right hand we put down the square of that deficiency 12 (iv) Thus 92 = 81 The Second Corollary The second corollary in applicable only to a special case under the first corollary i.e. the squaring of numbers ending in 5 and other cognate numbers. Its wording is exactly the same as that of the sutra which we used at the outset for the conversion of vulgar fractions into their recurring decimal equivalents. The sutra now takes a totally different meaning and in fact relates to a wholly different setup and context. Its literal meaning is the same as before (i.e. by one more than the previous one) but it now relates to the squaring of numbers ending in 5. For example we want to multiply 15. Here the last digit is 5 and the previous one is 1. So one more than that is 2. Now sutra in this context tells us to multiply the previous digit by one more than itself i.e. by 2. So the left hand side digit is 1 2 and the right hand side is the vertical multiplication product i.e. 25 as usual. Thus 152 = 1 2 / 25 = 2 / 25. Now we proceed on to give the third corollary. The Third Corollary Then comes the third corollary to the Nikhilam sutra which relates to a very special type of multiplication and which is not frequently in requisition elsewhere but is often required in mathematical astronomy etc. It relates to and provides for multiplications where the multiplier digits consists entirely of nines. The procedure applicable in this case is therefore evidently as follows: i) Divide the multiplicand off by a vertical line into a right hand portion consisting of as many digits as the multiplier; and subtract from the multiplicand one more than the whole excess portion on the left. This gives us the left hand side portion of the product; or take the Ekanyuna and subtract therefrom the previous i.e. the excess portion on the left; and ii) Subtract the right hand side part of the multiplicand by the Nikhilam rule. This will give you the right hand side of the product. The following example will make it clear: The Third Sutra: rdhva Tiryagbhym rdhva Tiryagbhym sutra which is the General Formula applicable to all cases of multiplication and will also be found very useful later on in the division of a large number by another large number. The formula itself is very short and terse, consisting of only one compound word and means vertically and cross-wise. The applications of this brief and terse sutra are manifold. A simple example will suffice to clarify the modus operandi thereof. Suppose we have to multiply 12 by 13. (i) We multiply the left hand most digit 1 of the multiplicand vertically by the left hand most digit 1 of the multiplier get their product 1 and set down as the left hand most part of the answer; (ii) We then multiply 1 and 3 and 1 and 2 crosswise add the two get 5 as the sum and set it down as the middle part of the answer; and (iii) We multiply 2 and 3 vertically get 6 as their product and put it down as the last the right hand most part of the answer. Thus 12 13 = 156. The Fourth Sutra: Parvartya Yojayet The term Parvartya Yojayet which means Transpose and Apply. Here he claims that the Vedic system gave a number is applications one of which is discussed here. The very acceptance of the existence of polynomials and the consequent remainder theorem during the Vedic times is a big question so we dont wish to give this application to those polynomials. However the four steps given by them in the polynomial division are given below: Divide x3 + 72 + 6x + 5 by x 2. i. x3 divided by x gives us x2 which is therefore the first term of the quotient x2 2 = 22 but we have 72 in the divident. This means that we have to get 92 more. This must result from the multiplication of x by 9x. Hence the 2nd term of the divisor must be 9x As for the third term we already have 2 9x = 18x. But we have 6x in the dividend. We must therefore get an additional 24x. Thus can only come in by the multiplication of x by 24. This is the third term of the quotient. Q = x2 + 9x + 24 Now the last term of the quotient multiplied by 2 gives us 48. But the absolute term in the dividend is 5. We have therefore to get an additional 53 from some where. But there is no further term left in the dividend. This means that the 53 will remain as the remainder Q = x2 + 9x + 24 and R = 53. The Fifth Sutra: Snyam Samyasamuccaye Samuccaya is a technical term which has several meanings in different contexts which we shall explain one at a time. Samuccaya firstly means a term which occurs as a common factor in all the terms concerned. Samuccaya secondly means the product of independent terms. Samuccaya thirdly means the sum of the denominators of two fractions having same numerical numerator. Fourthly Samuccaya means combination or total. Fifth meaning: With the same meaning i.e. total of the word (Samuccaya) there is a fifth kind of application possible with quadratic equations. Sixth meaning With the same sense (total of the word Samuccaya) but in a different application it comes in handy to solve harder equations equated to zero. Thus one has to imagine how the six shades of meanings have been perceived by the Jagadguru Sankaracharya that too from the Vedas when such types of equations had not even been invented in the world at that point of time. The Sixth Sutra: nurpye nyamanyat As said by Dani [32] we see the 6th sutra happens to be the subsutra of the first sutra. Its mention is made in {pp. 51, 74, 249 and 286 of [51]}. The two small subsutras (i) Anurpyena and (ii) Adayamadyenantyamantyena of the sutras 1 and 3 which mean proportionately and the first by the first and the last by the last. Here the later subsutra acquires a new and beautiful double application and significance. It works out as follows: i. Split the middle coefficient into two such parts so that the ratio of the first coefficient to the first part is the same as the ratio of that second part to the last coefficient. Thus in the quadratic 22 + 5x + 2 the middle term 5 is split into two such parts 4 and 1 so that the ratio of the first coefficient to the first part of the middle coefficient i.e. 2 : 4 and the ratio of the second part to the last coefficient i.e. 1 : 2 are the same. Now this ratio i.e. x + 2 is one factor. ii. And the second factor is obtained by dividing the first coefficient of the quadratic by the first coefficient of the factor already found and the last coefficient of the quadratic by the last coefficient of that factor. In other words the second binomial factor is obtained thus Thus 22 + 5x + 2 = (x + 2) (2x + 1). This sutra has Yavadunam Tavadunam to be its subsutra which the book claims to have been used. The Seventh Sutra: Sankalana Vyavakalanbhym Sankalana Vyavakalan process and the Adyamadya rule together from the seventh sutra. The procedure adopted is one of alternate destruction of the highest and the lowest powers by a suitable multiplication of the coefficients and the addition or subtraction of the multiples. A concrete example will elucidate the process. Suppose we have to find the HCF (Highest Common factor) of (x2 + 7x + 6) and x2 5x 6 x2 + 7x + 6 = (x + 1) (x + 6) and x2 5x 6 = (x + 1) ( x 6) the HCF is x + 1 but where the sutra is deployed is not clear. The Eight Sutra: Puranpuranbhym Puranpuranbhym means by the completion or not completion of the square or the cube or forth power etc. But when the very existence of polynomials, quadratic equations etc. was not defined it is a miracle the Jagadguru could contemplate of the completion of squares (quadratic) cubic and forth degree equation. This has a subsutra Antyayor dasakepi use of which is not mentioned in that section. The Ninth Sutra: Calan kalanbhym The term (Calan kalanbhym) means differential calculus according to Jagadguru Sankaracharya. The Tenth Sutra: Yvadnam Yvadnam Sutra (for cubing) is the tenth sutra. It has a subsutra called Samuccayagunitah. The Eleventh Sutra: Vyastisamastih Sutra Vyastisamastih sutra teaches one how to use the average or exact middle binomial for breaking the biquadratic down into a simple quadratic by the easy device of mutual cancellations of the odd powers. However the modus operandi is missing. The Twelfth Sutra: esnyankena Caramena The sutra esnyankena Caramena means The remainders by the last digit. For instance if one wants to find decimal value of 1/7. The remainders are 3, 2, 6, 4, 5 and 1. Multiplied by 7 these remainders give successively 21, 14, 42, 28, 35 and 7. Ignoring the left hand side digits we simply put down the last digit of each product and we get 1/7 = .14 28 57! Now this 12th sutra has a subsutra Vilokanam. Vilokanam means mere observation He has given a few trivial examples for the same. The Thirteen Sutra: Sopantyadvayamantyam The sutra Sopantyadvayamantyam means the ultimate and twice the penultimate which gives the answer immediately. No mention is made about the immediate subsutra. The illustration given by them. The proof of this is as follows. The General Algebraic Proof is as follows. Let d be the common difference Canceling the factors A (A + d) of the denominators and d of the numerators: It is a pity that all samples given by the book form a special pattern. The Fourteenth Sutra: Ekanynena Prvena The Ekanynena Prvena Sutra sounds as if it were the converse of the Ekadhika Sutra. It actually relates and provides for multiplications where the multiplier the digits consists entirely of nines. The procedure applicable in this case is therefore evidently as follows. For instance 43 9. i. Divide the multiplicand off by a vertical line into a right hand portion consisting of as many digits as the multiplier; and subtract from the multiplicand one more than the whole excess portion on the left. This gives us the left hand side portion of the product or take the Ekanyuna and subtract it from the previous i.e. the excess portion on the left and ii. Subtract the right hand side part of the multiplicand by the Nikhilam rule. This will give you the right hand side of the product The Fifthteen Sutra: Gunitasamuccayah Gunitasamuccayah rule i.e. the principle already explained with regard to the Sc of the product being the same as the product of the Sc of the factors. Let us take a concrete example and see how this method (p. 81) can be made use of. Suppose we have to factorize x3 + 62 + 11x + 6 and by some method, we know (x + 1) to be a factor. We first use the corollary of the 3rd sutra viz. Adayamadyena formula and thus mechanically put down x2 and 6 as the first and the last coefficients in the quotient; i.e. the product of the remaining two binomial factors. But we know already that the Sc of the given expression is 24 and as the Sc of (x + 1) = 2 we therefore know that the Sc of the quotient must be 12. And as the first and the last digits thereof are already known to be 1 and 6, their total is 7. And therefore the middle term must be 12 7 = 5. So, the quotient x2 + 5x + 6. This is a very simple and easy but absolutely certain and effective process. The Sixteen Sutra :Gunakasamuccayah. It means the product of the sum of the coefficients in the factors is equal to the sum of the coefficients in the product. In symbols we may put this principle as follows: Sc of the product = Product of the Sc (in factors). For example (x + 7) (x + 9) = x2 + 16 x + 63 and we observe (1 + 7) (1 + 9) = 1 + 16 + 63 = 80. Similarly in the case of cubics, biquadratics etc. the same rule holds good. For example (x + 1) (x + 2) (x + 3) = x3 + 62 + 11 x + 6 2 3 4 = 1 + 6 + 11 + 6 = 24. Thus if and when some factors are known this rule helps us to fill in the gaps. Literature Research has documented the difficulties students face in algebra and how these can often be traced to their limited understanding of numbers and their operations (Stacey MacGregor, 1997; Warren, 2001). Of growing concern is the artificial separation of algebra and arithmetic, since knowledge of mathematical structure seems essential for a successful transition. In particular, this mathematical structure is concerned with (i) relationships between quantities, (ii) group properties of operations, (iii) relationships between the operations and (iv) Relationships across the quantities (Warren, 2003). Thus it has been suggested by Stacey and MacGregor (1997) that the best preparation for learning algebra is a good understanding of how the arithmetic system works. An understanding of the general properties of numbers and the relationships between them may be crucial, and students need to have thought about the general effects of operations on numbers (MacGregor Stacey, 1999). This study sought to test the hypothesis that arithmetic knowledge can improve algebraic ability by applying a Vedic method of multiplying arithmetic numbers to algebra, based on the similarity of structural presentation. Vedic mathematics has its origins in the ancient Indian texts, the Vedas, an integrated and holistic system of knowledge composed in Sanskrit and transmitted orally from one generation to the next. The first versions of these texts were possibly recorded around 2000 BC, and the works contain the genesis of the modern science of mathematics (number, geometry and algebra) and astronomy in India (Datta Singh, 2001; Joseph, 2000). Sri Tirthaji (1965) has expounded 16 sutras or word formulas and 13 sub-sutras that he claims have been reconstructed from the Vedas. The sutras, or rules as aphorisms, are condensed statements of a very precise nature, written in a poetic style and dealing with different concepts (Joseph, 2000; Shan Bailey, 1991). A sutra, which literally means thread, expresses fundamental principles and may contain a rule, an idea, a mnemonic or a method of working based on fundamental principles that run like threads through diverse mathematical topics, unifying them. As Williams (2002) describes them: We use our mind in certain specific ways: we might extend an idea or reverse it or compare or combine it with another. Each of these types of mental activity is described by one of the Vedic sutras. They describe the ways in which the mind can work and so they tell the student how to go about solving a problem. (Williams, 2002, p. 2). Examples of the sutras are the Vertically and Crosswise sutra, which embodies a method of multiplication with applications to determinants, simultaneous equations, and trigonometric functions, etc. (this is the sutra used in the research reported here see Figure 3), and the All from nine and the last from ten sutra that may be used in subtraction, vincula, multiplication and division. Barnard and Tall (1997, p. 41) have introduced the idea of a cognitive unit, A piece of cognitive structure that can be held in the focus of attention all at one time, and may include other ideas that can be immediately linked to it. This enables compression of ideas, so that a collection of ideas or symbols that is too big for the focus of attention can be compressed into a single unit. It seems as if the sutras nicely fit this description, with the mnemonic or other memory device being used as a peg to hang the collection of ideas on. Thus the theoretical advantage of using the sutras is that they allow encapsulation of a process into a manageable chunk, or cognitive unit, that can then be processed more easily, sometimes using a visual reminder, such as in the Vertically and Crosswise sutra. Here the essential procedure is signified holistically by the symbol 5, unlike the symbol FOIL that signifies in turn four separate procedures. It might be possible for a symbol such as to be used in much the same way for FOIL, but this may appear more visually complex, and it is not usually separated from the accompanying binomials like this. In this way sutras often make use of the power of visualisation, which has been shown to be effective in learning in various areas of mathematics (Booth Thomas, 2000; Presmeg, 1986; van Hiele, 2002). Such visualisation accesses the brains holistic activity (Tall Thomas, 1991) and intuition, and this assists in providing an overview of the mathematical structure. The sutras also aid intuitive thinking (Williams, 2002) and being based on patterns and mnemonics they make recall much easier, reducing the cognitive load on the individual (Morrow, 1998; Sweller, 1994). The sutras were originally envisaged as applying both to arithmetic and algebra, and Joseph (2000) and Bhatanagar (1976) have explained that since polynomials may be perceived as simply arithmetic sequences, the principles apply equally well to them. This research considered a possible role of the vertically and Crosswise sutra for improving facility with, and understanding of, the expansion of algebraic binomials and the factorisation of quadratic expressions. Methodology The research employed a case study methodology, using a single class of Year 10 (age 15 years) students. The school used is a co-educational state secondary school in Auckland, New Zealand and the class contained 19 students, 11 boys and 8 girls. The students, who included 9 recent immigrants, were drawn from several cultural backgrounds, and accordingly have been exposed to different approaches and teaching environments with respect to learning mathematics. This also meant that nine of the students have a first language other than English and these language difficulties tend to hinder their learning (for example, three of the students are on a literacy program at the school). Two anonymous questionnaires (see Figure 1 for some questions from the second) were constructed using concepts we identified as important in developing a structural understanding of binomial expansion and factorisation, such as testing the concept of a factor and the ability to apply a procedure in reverse. Questions included: multiplication of numbers; multiplication of binomial expressions; factorisation of quadratic expressions; word problems on addition and subtraction of like terms; and expansion of expressions in a practical context. Some questions also involved description of procedures and meanings attached to words. In particular, the second questionnaire contained items on the use of the Vedic method applied to binomial expansion and factorisation. The lessons were taught by the first-named author in 2003 in a supportive classroom environment that encouraged student-to-student and teacherstudent interactions. Students were assured that the teacher was genuinely interested in their mathematical thinking and respected their attempts, that it was fine to make mistakes and that understanding how the mistake occurred was a learning opportunity for everyone concerned. Students were encouraged to explain and check the validity of their answers, and positive contributions were praised. The first teaching session comprised work on multiplication of numbers and revision of work on algebra that the students had learned in Year 9 (age 14 years). Substitution, collection of like terms and multiplication of a binomial expression by a single value were revised, using, for example, expressions such as 5(x 4), (p + 2)4, and k(4 + k). Students were also reminded of the meanings of words such as term, expression, factor, expansion, coefficient and simplify. Diagrammatic representations of 3(5 + 6) and k(4 + k) using rectangles were drawn and discussed, and then students drew similar rectangle diagrams representing multiplications such as (3 + 5)(2 + 5) and (k + 2)(k + 4) (see Figure 2). Following a review of factorisation of expressions such as 15p + 10, the FOIL (First, Outside, Inside, Last) method of expanding binomials was taught, where the First terms in each bracket are multiplied together, then the Outside terms, the Inside terms and then the Last term in each bracket, to give four products. Finally factorisation of quadratic expressions, followed by a guess and check method for factorising quadratic expressions was covered. The students did not find these topics easy, especially factorising of quadratic expressions. This took a total of four hours, after which, questionnaire one was administered. Students were then exposed for one hour to the Vedic vertically and crosswise method, where initially they practised multiplying two- and three-digit numbers with this approach. Subsequently, the next three hours were spent expanding binomials and factorising quadratic expressions with the vertically and crosswise method. This method (see Figure 3) involves a sequence of four multiplications, the answers to each of which are placed into a single answer line. The middle two terms are added together mentally to supply the final answer. Results The first question (1a) in each questionnaire was a two-digit multiplication. In the first, it was 37 58, and the second 23 47, and in this second case the question asked that this be done by the vertically and crosswise method. The aim was to check students facility with arithmetic multiplication and to see if the vertically and crosswise sutra was of assistance in this area. In the event 11 of the 18 (61%) students who completed both questionnaires, correctly answered the question in the first test, and 13 (72%) in the second, with only one student not using the sutra in that test. There was no statistical difference between these proportions (c2 = 0.125). When asked to explain what they had done using the Vedic approach, students who were able to write down the final answer were often able to write something like student 4s explanation for 1c), 32 69: 2 times 9 is 18 3 times 9 + 2 times 6 is 39 + carried 1 = 40 3 times 6 + carried 4 = 22 Expansion of binomials A summary of the results in the first of the algebra questions (Q2 see Figure 1 for format), requiring students to multiply together two basic binomials, is given in Table 1. Question 2 was presented in each case with the binomials in the same line. Since the first questionnaire was administered immediately after the FOIL method was taught, most students employed this method, and only 8 (44.4%) correctly performed the expansion in the simplest example, question 2a). In the second questionnaire, where students were asked to use the vertically and Crosswise method, 10 (55.6%) were correct, but there was no statistically significant difference (c2 = 0.11, df = 1, ns). However, when the presentation format was changed from a single line to the grid format of question 3 (see Figure 1), the facility on 3a) (Multiply x + 3 and x + 4) improved to 14 correct answers (77.8%). Thus there was weak evidence (c2 = 2.92, df = 1, p = 0.1) of an improvement in students performance on this basic expansion of binomials in the second questionnaire, using the Vedic method with a grid presentation. However, the improvement was not sustained for question 3b) which had negative signs (see Table 2: c2 = 0.45), or for 2b), which involved 2x and negative signs. It seems that the arithmetic complexity caused problems, with only 3 students answering 2b) correctly on each test. The other results of question 3 on the second questionnaire also support the idea of improved understanding; Table 2 gives the results of the multiplications in this question. In this case question 3c) was the question of a standard corresponding to 2b) in the first test (2x 3 times x + 4), and yet the students did significantly better (50% correct) than they did on that question (c2 = 3.13, df = 1, p 0.05). It is also of interest that on question 2 in the first test all eight students who successfully applied the FOIL method wrote out all four terms and then added the two middle terms. No student wrote the final answer without the intermediate step of giving both middle terms. In contrast, when using the vertically and crosswise approach, all 14 students who were successful were able to write the answers straight down, as seen in the example in Figure 4. Furthermore, 5 students (12, 15, 16, 17, and 18) who were unable to multiply binomials using the standard method achieved success using the Vedic method. Figure 5 shows the corresponding working of student 18 on these questions. In test 1, following the FOIL method she was unable to multiply any terms together and even seemed to confuse the question with factorisation. However, with the Vedic method she makes a good attempt, correctly answering two parts. It might be argued that the improvement above was due to students spending more time learning how to perform such expansions, or that the previous FOIL learning took time to assimilate. However, it should be noted that the questions where the improvement occurred specifically involved use of the Vedic method, which, while it can be related to FOIL by an experienced mathematician, would no doubt look quite different to these students, since it is set out in a grid format rather than being performed in a single line. Furthermore, it was noted during the teaching episode that there was some resistance from the students to learning a second method when they already knew the FOIL method, and this could be expected to have a detrimental effect on performance. Factorisation of quadratic expressions Table 3 contains a summary of the results of question 3 from the first questionnaire and question 5 in the second, these being corresponding single line, traditional format factorisation questions (see Figure 1). Individually the results of these questions did not show any statistical difference between the performance before and after the Vedic method was introduced. For example, between questions 3a) and 5a), c2 = 0.9, which is not significant. However, if the question parts are grouped together and the number of students correct on question 3 compared with those correct on question 5 then we find that there is a significant improvement (Q3 v Q5 c2 = 6.65, p 0.01) on the second questionnaire. For question 4 in each questionnaire the students were asked to supply the missing terms in two binomials that were multiplied together. Boxes were provided for the missing terms, which were in the binomials, the quadratic, or both (see Figure 1). While these are not standard straight factorisation questions they do require students to work backwards from the answer and thus display some conceptual knowledge of how to undo multiplication of binomials. There was no difference in facility on any of these matching questions (see Table 4), or on a comparison of the total number of correct scores between the two questionnaires (c2 = 0.39, ns). The students appeared to be able to do them equally well using either guess or check and decomposition or the Vedic approach. While the discussion above shows that the evidence for a better performance on individual questions following the teaching of the Vedic method was rarely present, a consideration of the students overall scores on the expansion and factorisation algebra questions did show a significantly better performance on the second test, (_x1 = 41.4%,_x2 = 51.5%, t = 2.66, p 0.05). Thus it appears that, overall, the Vedic approach may have contributed to student understanding of the methods, either by cementing in place the previous methods, or by complementing them. It is worth noting too that some students preferred to use the vertically and Crosswise method even when not directed to do so. For example, in question 2 of the second questionnaire students were simply asked to multiply two binomials together, with no method specified. In the event 4 students (4, 5, 16, and 18) chose to use the vertically and Crosswise approach, setting out their work in a grid. In addition, 3 of these students (15, 16 and 18) used it for the factorisation in question 5. An example of their work is shown in Figure 6. While they used the method with varying levels of success, it seems to have benefited both student 5, who answered no algebra questions correctly in test 1 (and 2 in test 2), and student 16 who used it for factorisation and went from 3 correct to 8 correct (see Figure 6). While student 18 preferred the Vedic method to expand and to factorise expressions, she used the traditional method to multiply numbers even when asked to multiply by the vertically and Crosswise method. This seems to suggest that she was comfortable using different methods in algebra from those employed in arithmetic. Discussion India has good reasons to be proud of a rich heritage in science, philosophy and culture in general, coming to us down the ages. In mathematics, which is my own area of specialization, the ancient Indians not only took great strides long before the Greek advent, which is a standard reference point in the Western historical perspective, but also enriched it for a long period making in particular some very fundamental contributions such as the place-value system for writing numbers as we have today, introduction of zero and so on. Further, the sustained development of mathematics in India in the post-Greek period was indirectly instrumental in the revival in Europe after its dark ages. Notwithstanding the enviable background, lack of adequate attention to academic pursuits over a prolonged period, occasioned by several factors, together with about two centuries of Macaulayan educational system, has unfortunately resulted, on the one hand, in a lack of awareness of our historical role in actual terms and, on the other, an empty sense of pride which is more of an emotional reaction to the colonial domination rather than an intellectual challenge. Together they provide a convenient ground for extremist and misguided elements in society to reconstruct history from nonexistent or concocted source material to whip up popular euphoria. That this anti-intellectual endeavour is counter-productive in the long run and, more important, harmful to our image as a mature society, is either not recognized or ignored in favour of short-term considerations. Along with the obvious need to accelerate the process of creating an awareness of our past achievements, on the strength of authentic information, a more urgent need has also arisen to confront and expose such baseless constructs before it is too late. This is not merely a question of setting the record straight. The motivated versions have a way of corrupting the intellectual processes in society and weakening their very foundations in the long run, which needs to be prevented at all costs. The so-called Vedic Mathematics is a case in point. A book by that name written by Jagadguru Swami Shri Bharati Krishna Tirthaji Maharaja (Tirthaji, 1965) is at the centre of this pursuit, which has now acquired wide following; Tirthaji was the Shankaracharya of Govardhan Math, Puri, from 1925 until he passed away in 1960. The book was published posthumously, but he had been carrying out a campaign on the theme for a long time, apparently for several decades, by means of lectures, blackboard demonstrations, classes and so on. It has been known from the beginning that there is no evidence of the contents of the book being of Vedic origin; the Foreword to the book by the General Editor, Dr. A.S.Agrawala, and an account of the genesis of the work written by Manjula Trivedi, a disciple of the swamiji, makes this clear even before one gets to the text of the book. No one has come up with any positive evidence subsequently either. There has, however, been a persistent propaganda that the material is from the Vedas. In the face of a false sense of national pride associated with it and the neglect, on the part of the knowledgeable, in countering the propaganda, even educated and well meaning people have tended to accept it uncritically. The vested interests have also involved politicians in the propaganda process to gain state support. Several leaders have lent support to the Vedic Mathematics over the years, evidently in the belief of its being from ancient scriptures. In the current environment, when a label as ancient seems to carry considerable premium irrespective of its authenticity or merit, the purveyors would have it going easy. Large sums have been spent both by the Government and several private agencies to support this Vedic Mathematics, while authentic Vedic studies continue to be neglected. People, especially children, are encouraged to learn and spread the contents of the book, largely on the baseless premise of their being from the Vedas. With missionary zeal several devotees of this cause have striven to take the message around the world; not surprisingly, they have even met with some success in the West, not unlike some of the gurus and yogis peddling their own versions of Indian philosophy. Several people are also engaged in research in the new Vedic Mathematics. To top it all, when in the early nineties the Uttar Pradesh Government introduced Vedic Mathematics in school text books, the contents of the swamijis book were treated as if they were genuinely from the Vedas; this also naturally seems to have led them to include a list of the swamijis sutras on one of the opening pages (presumably for the students to learn them by heart and recite!) and to accord the swamiji a place of honour in the brief history of Indian mathematics described in the beginning of the textbook, together with a chart, which curiously has Srinivasa Ramanujans as the only other name from the twentieth century! For all their concern to inculcate a sense of national pride in children, those responsible for this have not cared for the simple fact that modern India has also produced several notable mathematicians and built a worthwhile edifice in mathematics (as also in many other areas). Harish Chandras work is held in great esteem all over the world and several leading seats of learning of our times pride themselves in having members pursuing his ideas; (see, for instance, Langlands, 1993). Even among those based in India, several like Syamdas Mukhopadhyay, Ganesh Prasad, B.N.Prasad, K.Anand Rau, T.Vijayaraghavan, S.S.Pillai, S.Minakshisundaram, Hansraj Gupta, K.G.Ramanathan, B.S.Madhava Rao, V.V.Narlikar, P.L.Bhatnagar and so on and also many living Indian mathematicians have carved a niche for themselves on the international mathematical scene (see Narasimhan, 1991). Ignoring all this while introducing the swamijis name in the brief history would inevitably create a warped perspective in childrens minds, favouring gimmickry rather than professional work. What does the swamijis Vedic Mathematics seek to do and what does it achieve? In his preface of the book, grandly titled A Descriptive Prefatory Note on the astounding Wonders of Ancient Indian Vedic Mathematics, the swamiji tells us that he strove from his childhood to study the Vedas critically to prove to ourselves (and to others) the correctness (or otherwise)of the derivational meaning of Veda that the Vedas should contain within themselves all the knowledge needed by the mankind relating not only to spiritual matters but also those usually described as purely secular, temporal or worldly; in other words, simply because of the meaning of the word Veda, everything that is worth knowing is expected to be contained in the vedas and the swamiji seeks to prove it to be the case! It may be worthwh ile to point out here that there would be room for starting such an enterprise with the word science! He also describes how the contemptuous or at best patronising attitude of Orientalists, Indologists and so on strengthened his determination to unravel the too-long-hidden mysteries of philosophy and science contained in ancient Indias Vedic lore, with the consequence that, after eight years of concentrated contemplation in forest solitude, we were at long last able to recover the long lost keys which alone could unlock the portals thereof. The mindset revealed in this can hardly be said to be suitable in scientific and objective inquiry or pursuit of knowledge, but perhaps one should not grudge it in someone from a totally different milieu, if the outcome is positive. One would have thought that with all the commitment and grit the author would have come up with at least a few new things which can be attributed to the Vedas, with solid evidence. This would have made a worthwhile contribution to our understanding of our heritage. Instead, all said and done there is only the authors certificate that we were agreeably astonished and intensely gratified to find that exceedingly though mathematical problems can be easily and readily solved with the help of these ultra-easy Vedic sutras (or mathematical aphorisms) contained in the Parishishta (the appendix portion) of the Atharva Veda in a few simple steps and by methods which can be conscientiously described as mere mental arithmetic (paragraph 9 in the preface). That passing reference to the Atharva Veda is all that is ever said by way of source material for the contents. The sutras, incidentally, which appeared later, scattered in the book, are short phrases of just about two to four words in Sanskrit, such as Ekadhikena Purvena or Anurupye Shunyam Anyat. (There are 16 of them and in addition there are 13 of what are called sub-sutras, similar in nature to the sutras). The mathematics of today concerns a great variety of objects beyond the high school level, involving various kinds of abstract objects generalising numbers, shapes, geometries, measures and so on and several combinations of such structures, various kinds of operations, often involving infinitely many entities; this is not the case only about the frontiers of mathematics but a whole lot of it, including many topics applied in physics, engineering, medicine, finance and various other subjects. Despite its entire pretentious verbiage page after page, the swamijis book offers nothing worthwhile in advanced mathematics whether concretely or by way of insight. Modern mathematics with its multitude of disciplines (group theory, topology, algebraic geometry, harmonic analysis, ergodic theory, combinatorial mathematics-to name just a few) would be a long way from the level of the swamijis book. There are occasionally reports of some researchers applying the swamijis Vedic Mathematics to advanced problems such as Keplers problem, but such work involves nothing more than tinkering superficially with the topic, in the manner of the swamijis treatment of calculus, and offers nothing of interest to professionals in the area. Even at the western teaching Vedic Mathematics deals only with a small part and, more importantly, there too it concerns itself with only one particular aspect, that of faster computation. One of the main aims of mathematics education even at the western teaching consists of developing familiarity with a variety of concepts and their significance. Not only does the approach of Vedic Mathematics not contributes anything towards this crucial objective, but in fact might work to its detriment, because of the undue emphasis laid on faster computation. The swamijis assertion 8 months (or 12 months) at an average rate of 2 or 3 hours per day should be enough for finishing the whole course of mathematical studies on these Vedic lines instead of 15 or 20 years required according to the existing systems of the Indian and also foreign universities, is patently absurd and hopefully nobody takes it seriously, even among the activists in the area. It would work as a cruel joke if some people choose to make such a substitution in respect of their children. It is often claimed that Vedic Mathematics is well appreciated in other countries, and even taught in some schools in UK etc. In the normal course one would not have the means to examine such claims, especially since few details are generally supplied while making the claims. Recent years have brought about the development of powerful tools for verifying specifications of hardware and software systems. By now, major companies, such as Intel, IBM, and [emailprotected]/* */ Molecules have realized the impact and importance of such tools in their own design and implementation processes as a means of coping with the ever-increasing complexity of chip and computing tools. Protocols, networks, and distributed systems can generally not be described by code of some deterministic programming language. Such systems exhibit concurrent behavior and they are typically reactive in the sense that their behavior depends on what the environment can offer (e.g. Is the printer busy?). Computation tree logic (CTL) is currently one of the popular frameworks used in verifying properties of concurrent systems. We study its syntax and semantics, and use those insights to design an automated verification algorithm which takes a description of a system and specifications of expected behavior as input and checks whether that system meets those expectations. That algorithm is the foundation for a tool, the symbolic model verifier (SMV), which they use to evaluate some basic designs, e.g. simple elevator systems and a mutual exclusion protocol (3-4 weeks). Exposure to a labeling algorithm for finite-state verification illustrates depth-first backwards search in a directed graph; this search is recursive and the recursion is driven by the logical structure of the specified behavior, written as a CTL formula. The description and evaluation of small designs with the tool SMV makes students appreciate how such graphs can be modeled with a modular guarded-command language with non-deterministic assignment. The discussion of program logic contains the linear algorithm for computing minimal-sum sections of integer arrays as a case study. Finally, binary decision diagrams require algorithms that implement the familiar logical operations on such diagrams. Some of these algorithms illustrate dynamic programming at an accessible level. Conclusion In this study students were taught an appropriate Vedic sutra following teaching of the traditional FOIL method of multiplication of binomials, and the decomposition method for factorisation. We found that afterwards the students performed significantly better overall on these types of algebra questions, and specifically on the factorisations, and there was weak evidence of better results on expansion using a grid format. The reasons for the improvement are not easy to pinpoint since they appear in some areas and not in others. This seems to indicate that the value of the method may lie in what it adds to the students overall algebraic conceptions and knowledge of mathematical structure. Thus we have found no evidence that it should be seen as a replacement for the former approaches, but our results suggest it could rather be recommended as a useful adjunct, a complementary method. While this may take longer in terms of teaching time, the results indicate that possession of a range of strategies may have value above and beyond their individual benefit. References Barnard, T. Tall, D. O. (1997). Cognitive units, connections and mathematical proof. In E. Pekhonen (Ed.), Proceedings of the 21st Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Vol. 2 (pp. 4148). Lahti, Finland. Bhatnagar, P. L. (1976). Some Vedic Sutras for arithmetical operations or a fresh look at arithmetic after learning some algebra. Mathematics Teacher (India) 11A, 85120. Booth, R. D. L. Thomas, M. O. J. (2000). Visualisation in mathematics learning: Arithmetic problem-solving and student difficulties. Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 18(2), 169190. Datta, B. B. Singh, A. N. (2001). History of Hindu Mathematics: A Source Book Parts I and II. New Delhi: Bharatiya Kala Prakashan. Joseph, G. G. (2000). The Crest of the Peacock: Non-European Roots of Mathematics. Harmondsworth: Penguin. MacGregor, M. Stacey, K. (1999). A flying start to algebra. Teaching Children Mathematics, 6(2), 7885. Morrow, L. J. (1998). Wither algorithms? Mathematics educators express their views. In L. J. Morrow M. J. Kenney (Eds), The Teaching and Learning of Algorithms in School Mathematics (pp. 119), National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Presmeg, N. C. (1986). Visualisation in high school mathematics. For the Learning of Mathematics, 6(3), 4246. Shan, S. J. Bailey, P. (1991). Multiple Factors: Classroom Mathematics for Equality and Justice. Trentham Books. Stacey, K. MacGregor, M. (1997). Building foundations for algebra. Mathematics in the Middle School, 2, 253260. Sweller, J. (1994). Cognitive load theory, learning difficulty, and instructional design. Learning and Instruction, 4, 295312. Tall, D. Thomas, M. (1991). Encouraging versatile thinking in algebra using the computer. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 22, 125147. Tirthaji, B. K. (2001). Vedic Mathematics. New Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass. Van Hiele, P. (2002). Similarities and differences between the theory of learning and teaching of Skemp and the van Hiele levels. In D. O. Tall M. O. J. Thomas (Eds), Intelligence, Learning and Understanding in Mathematics: A Tribute to Richard Skemp (pp. 2748). Flaxton, Queensland: Post Pressed. Warren, E. (2001). Algebraic understanding: The importance of learning in the early years. In H. Chick, K. Stacey, J. Vincent J. Vincent (Eds), The Future of the Teaching and Learning of Algebra, Proceedings of the 12th ICMI Study Conference, Vol. 2 (pp. 633646). Melbourne, Australia. Warren, E. (2003). The role of arithmetic structure in the transition from arithmetic to algebra. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 15(2), 122137. Williams, K. (2002). The cosmic computer course. Obtained from www.vedicmaths.com. Abhyankar, K.D. A rational approach to study ancient literature, Current science, 87 (Aug.2004) 415-416. Adams, E.S., and D.A. Farber. Beyond the Formalism Debate: Expert Reasoning, Fuzzy Logic and Complex Statutes, Vanderbilt Law Review, 52 (1999), 1243-1340. https://law.vanderbilt.edu/lawreview/vol525/adams.pdf Allen, J., S. Bhattacharya and F. Smarandache. Fuzziness and Funds allocation in Portfolio Optimization. https://lanl.arxiv.org/ftp/math/papers/0203/0203073. Anitha, V. Application of Bidirectional Associative Memory Model to Study Female Infanticide, Masters Dissertation, Guide: Dr. W. B. Vasantha Kandasamy, Department of Mathematics, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, March 2000. Ashbacher, C. Introduction to Neutrosophic Logic, American Research Press, Rehoboth, 2002. https://www.gallup.unm.edu/~smarandache/IntrodNeutLogic. Axelord, R. (ed.) Structure of Decision: The Cognitive Maps of Political Elites, Princeton Univ. Press, New Jersey, 1976. Bibliography Discover Mathematics, Kenneth Williams Vertically and Crosswise, Kenneth Williams Vedic Mathematics, Bharati Krsna Tirthaji www.hinduism.co.za/vedic.htm https://vedicmathsindia.blogspot.com/search/label/vedic%20math%20research https://vedicmathsindia.blogspot.com/ https://vedicmathsindia.blogspot.com/2007/06/10-questions-to-kenneth-r-williams-on.html