Bilateral Relations Between the EU and China

Bilateral Relations Between the EU and China Till the 1978, Peoples Republic of China (PRC) was in self employed isolation because of two things, one was Cultural Revolution and another was the transformation of the society and economy from traditional to modern. Another factor which also played a part was the Soviet threat to China after 1958 till 1983. On the other side EU was coming out of the wars and conflicts of the first half of the 20th century and making the headway for global economic power after the economic boom from 1960-1970. Though there were trade agreements between China and EU in 1978 and in 1985, however, till the end of Cold War, relations between the EU and China were at low as latter has not given high priority to relations with former, however, globalisation, and interests in multi polar world became the factors that lead to growing bilateral relations between the two. The bilateral relations between the EU and China developed and reached to its height in 2011, when train started connecting the two mighty economic and political actors of globe through Central Asian Republics. Since the bilateral relations between the two partners are still growing but there are new issues that are need the dynamism to solve the problems, human rights violations in some parts of China, and other issues like lack of transparency in China that was highlighted by EU Ambassador at WTO in June 2012, â€Å"related to lack of transparency, which makes Chinas trade and investment policies in the words of Secretariats report â€Å"opaque and complex† (EU Ambassador to WTO, June 2012). The paper will analyse: What steps have helped the bilateral relations between the EU and China? What are the hurdles that need solutions to make the bilateral relations more powerful? The growing interdependence after the globalisation has played a role in integration of trade, finances and people and ideas that led to speed up the bilateral relations between the countries, regions etc. According to new interdependence phenomenon regional powers, countries having different forms of government came closer to each other and start and world institutions like WTO played great role in promoting the phenomenon by replacing protectionism by free trade. The interdependence at times had made so much impact that many countries adopt policies according to international norms to trade and protect ones economy. In the conference of the Interdependence and Globalisation, Secretary-General of UN said, â€Å"There are two main aspects of forging coherence in advancing the development goals in a globalizing world economy †¦ At the regional level; there is a need to broaden and deepen regional integration and to foster coherence through greater coordination of policies and th rough peer reviews While some regions have taken the necessary steps to achieve these ends, others lag Behind.†[1] Under the following back ground and arguments about to achieve the goals of necessary steps for the relations with the other countries, regions like (EU) had taken many steps and have shown dynamism for the bilateral relations and trade particularly with the Central Asian countries and China. However, some of the countries lack behind like (China) that is not a positive sign though the Chinese government have made many changes. Review of literature: There is literature available on the bilateral relations between the China and EU in the form of different journals, books, reports and conference proceedings. They give the information related to trade between the EU and China and the annual high level summit held between the two. However, most of the literature is related with the trade relations and their impact on both side but about the progress in the other social problems there is stray references. The stress is not given on the peace building capacity and conflict resolution capacity of the both partners jointly or the problems which both are facing in the bilateral relations. Last but not the least to what extent they have made the world multi polar from unipolar. As one of the recent articles published by the by the European Council on Foreign Relations argues that Europe needs a â€Å"global China policy,† meaning that it should look at its relationship with China not from a traditional bilateral perspective, but ra ther from a global perspective that takes into account indirect effects through third countries or regions (Godement, 2010). History of bilateral relations between China and EU: The bilateral relations between China and EU started after 1975 and that were further developed by the economic policy changes introduced by Deng Xiaoping in 1978. Since 1978 China has freed itself from the self imposed isolation and integrated with the world. Not only was this but the major shifts in the world economy which had left their mark on the relations between China and various European economies. The single most important events bringing about a significant reshuffle of the European economies economic structure and the pattern of their integration into the international division of labour have been the evolution of a single European market under the auspices of the European Union and the breakdown of socialist block the ensuing transformation of the Central and East European economies into market economies (Markus: 2002). During this period many agreements on trade and bilateral relations were signed by the two like those of Trade Agreement between the EC and China followed in 1978 (Official Journal: 1978). In 1985 this agreement was replaced by the Agreement on Trade and Economic Co-operation between the EC and China. The European Commission opened its representation in Beijing in 1988, and ever since there has been a continuous deepening of economic and trade relations. Since after the opening of the economy after 1978 and especially after the fall of USSR and globalisation, Chinese economy have become the second largest economy. On the other side EU is making it headways to became the major champion of the human rights, rule of law, democracy and is expanding its membership that made the EU major player in this global world. These events make both EU and China think about their larger interests and exchange of goods and rapid development of bilateral trade. China in 2001 joined WTO that helped the both partners to come closer to each other. After 2009 when Lisbon treaty came into force and main motives of the treaty was to overhaul the basic setup of the European Union (EU) had been to make it stronger, more visible and more assertive actor on the international scene. This institutional re-structuring which followed, notably the creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS) and EU delegations with global reach, was also intended to enhance the EU’s role and capacity in supporting peace processes, making relations with other countries more practical (Joris Larik, Catriona Gourlay). When Catherine Ashton was appointed to new post of High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy was welcomed by the Chinese government, as it has given China a contact at the top of the EU’s administration with whom they are already familiar through trade negotiations. Such a dynamism of both EU and China saw the fruits when the bilateral trade that in the first decade of the 21century as the EU having surpassed the United States as China’s largest trading partner ( Fox: 2009). On the one side EU has beca me the largest supplier of technology and equipment, in the form of FDI, and also a number of joint technology projects with China. Apart from the good and prospective trade relations EU-China co-operation activities are also seen in the categories of measures directed in transition process to an open society based on the rule of law; support of economic reforms; business and industrial co-operation; legal and administrative reform; human resources development; science and technology; environment and energy; regional disparities, poverty alleviation and social cohesion; academic and societal activities (Franco: 2002). Cooperation has extended to other areas, with 100,000 Chinese now studying in the EU, against 60,000 in the United States, and the Chinese invited to join in a number of European technology projects, including the Galileo satellite navigation programme (Europa press release: 2003). This co operation shows the bilateral relation between the two China and EU are reaching to the new heights and levels and can be called the emergence of a new Sinoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ European axis in world politics (Shambaugh 2004; Scott 2007). According to the statics of the 2012, the bilateral trade between the China and Europe reached to 443.6 billion Euros in which EU exports to China reached to its height â‚ ¬143.9 billion and Chinas exports to EU reached to â‚ ¬289.7 billion.[2] That means that one billion trade is done on the average between the two partners. Hurdles in the Bilateral Relations: Though the EU China bilateral relations reached to it new heights nut there are also some hurdles that created problems many time and even when Shambaugh wrote in the International Herald Tribune (26 November 2007) that â€Å"for Europe the ‘China honeymoon’ is now over†. Starting from 1989, when because of Tiananmen Square protests for more reforms towards democratic setup and its suppression lead to the death of more than 1000 persons. Though this event does not have much impact on the bilateral relations between the two but EU with USA imposes the arms embargoes in place (Franco: 2002). Also the problems like human rights violations in Tibet, Xinjiang and Carbon emissions. These issues reached to its height and created the rift between EU and Chinas bilateral relations, when latter cancelled their participation in the annual EU-China summit in retaliation against French plans to meet the Dalai Lama in December 2008. On the economic front the problems like dumping issues against China, and EUs response like increasing the anti-dumping tariffs of up to 50 percent on Chinese-made candles sold in the Europe have made bilateral relations somewhat more strangled(ROBERTO: 2010). In 2012, out of 100 fake goods captured on the European borders 64 were made in China that has created the larger problems. The other problems in the economic front are the China laws on the foreign companies that diminish the role of the EU companies and FDI. As for example EU investments in China add up to less than 2% of the total FDI abroad compared with nearly 30% in the United States.[3] The Chinese government also does not use country specific standards than international standards which EU companies fail or find hard to meet. Because of this in 2012, 45 % of EU companies have missed the business opportunities by these standards or regulatory barriers. Since these things need a solution and compromise between the two wor ld largest economies for this some of the steps have been taken by the EU and China for better prospects and better bilateral relations like. As both the EU and China have more to gain from each other than either has to lose and to overcome the issue of the human rights in China both EU and China have started dialogue from 1996 onwards one among them was on the Human rights in China (EU-China Observer, 2010). To come out of the hurdles between the two bilateral partners, they started Strategic Dialogue in 2005, held at the Vice Ministerial level and since then dialogue is held yearly for the progress and prospectus of the bilateral relations between the two and the framework of this annual dialogue covers wide range of areas. After the Lisbon treaty the dialogue is held at the direct the highest decision-making level helps maintain the strong momentum in strengthening contacts and increasing bilateral cooperation between the two partners. At the end of each summit meeting, the joint declarations reveal the new agreements reached between the two sides, which draws the blueprint and directs further the future development for EU-China relations and also serve to clarify each other’s interests and concerns. (EU-China Observer, 2010). This dialogue have given the opportunities to both the partners to known about each other’s grievances and progress on any contested issue, however, still lot has to be done in this regard. On the other side the growing the threats of terrorism to both partners in general and world in particular have became great problem to world peace. Although EU have made peace building process and conflict resolution there priority in their international relations after Lisbon treaty 2009. EU had send many peace keeping missions to Kosovo, Libya, Georgia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Niger, Palestinian territories and some military missions to Somilia, Atalnta, Bosinia, Mali. Both China and EU can start a new dialogue process with the leaders of the conflict areas for peace as both are considered neutral that can help in solving these deadly problems. Also EU and China can help the poor countries of the world for the sustainable human resource development and economic activities by investing jointly the technology and the finances in these countries. Although now the annual summits held between the two global partners on the security situation in Asia, from non-proliferation to the control of small arms and light weapons, from global warming and climate change to the fight against illegal migration and trafficking in human beings but still lot have to be done. Bibliography: Action and the External Action Service,  Algieri, Franco (2002). â€Å"EU Economic Relations with China: An Institutionalist  Perspective†, The China Quarterly, No. 169, Catriona Gourlay, The European Union as Peacemaker – Enhancing EU Mediation Capacity,  European Policy Centre, Available at: EU-China Observer, 2010, issue 5, (available online www.coleurope.eu.). Europa press release (2003) â€Å"EU and China are set to collaborate on GALILEO, the  European global system of satellite navigation†, Foa, Roberto (2010), â€Å"The EU-China Relationship†, Published in the 21st Century  International Review, Francois Godement, (2010) â€Å"A Global China Policy†, ECFR Policy Brief 22, London. Fox, John and Franà §ois Godement, (2009). â€Å"A Power Audit of EU-China Relations†,  European Council on Foreign Relations, Joris Larik, The EU on the Global Stage after the Lisbon Treaty: External Kapur, Harish (1990), Distant Neigbours: China and Europe, London, New York: Pinter  Publishers. Official Journal of the European Communities, L 123, 11 May 1978. Philip Baker, (2002)â€Å"Human Rights, Europe and the People’s Republic of China†, The China  Quarterly, (1). Scott, David (2007), China and the EU: A Strategic Axis for the Twentyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ First Century?, in:  International Relations, Vol. 21, no. 1, 23à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬â„¢45. Shambaugh, David (2004), China and Europe: The Emerging Axis, in: Current History, 103,  243à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬â„¢248. Taube, Markus 2000, Die chinesische Volkswirtschaft zum Jahrhundertwechsel.  Entwicklungsstandund Perspek-tiven, Zeitschriftfiir Politik, No. 1 pp. 32-53. Wu Jianmin, (2007) Waijiao Anli (Case Studies in Diplomacy), Beijing: Renmin University  Press, Yahuda, Michael B. (1994), China and Europe. The Significance of a Secondary  Relationship, in: Thomas W. Robinson and David Shambaugh (eds), Chinese Foreign Policy:  Theory and Practice, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 266à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬â„¢288 Yves Dumas, (2009) â€Å"European NGOs calls on EU to Ensure Human Rights in China Before  2008 Olympics†, The Epoch Times, 15 May EU Statement, EU Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation Angelos Pangratis, Fourth Trade Policy Review of China, 12 and 14 June 2012. [1] â€Å"Globalization and interdependence†, Report of the Secretary-General, United Nations General Assembly, 31 August 2004.Cf Martin Wolf, Globalisation and Interdependence, (Available online) [2] Facts and figures on EU-China trade, Oct, 2013; http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2009/ september/tradoc_144591.pdf online [3] Karel De Gucht (7 June, 2013) EU-China Investment: A Partnership of Equals, European Commissioner for Trade, Brussels

Microsoft Surface Table: 3D Modelling and Touch Controls

Microsoft Surface Table: 3D Modelling and Touch Controls Background and Context Three Dimensional (3D) Modelling is the process of creating a 3D representation of any surface or object by manipulating polygons, edges, and vertices, in simulated 3D space ­1. 3D modelling is used in many different industries, including virtual reality, video games, TV and motion pictures. 2A 3D modelling software generates a model through a variety of tools and approaches including: Simple polygons. 3D primitives simple polygon-based shapes, such as pyramids, cubes, spheres, cylinders, and cones 3Spline curves a curve that connects two or more defined specific control points. 3NURBS (non-uniform rational b-spline) Computationally complex, smooth shapes designed by bezel curves. Scope and Objectives In this project, the 3D model produced, was the 5G Innovation Centre at the University of Surrey. The final version of the prototype is supposed to be a model of the whole University campus, which would be able to display the temperature, noise levels, and a few other statistics in every single area on the map. In order to record data, an IoT Desk Egg4 was created. This Desk Egg is a multi-sensor suite with feedback mechanisms and wireless communication capabilities. Using this Desk Egg, environmental data, such as light, sound, temperature, noise, humidity, dust density are measured and recorded. Separately, these recordings have limited value, but when combined, and analysed in aggregate, the sensors provide a rich context of its immediate surroundings. 5The objective of this project is to enhance the model with touch navigation capabilities, similar to 3D navigation on a mobile phone or tablet. The current model is constructed for a Samsung SUR40 touch table, running Microsoft Surface. The model has been implemented using PixelSense and in addition, Microsoft Surface Game Studio 4.0 and the Window Presentation Foundation (WPF). To go about enhancing the model, investigations would have to be established, on what changes would be involved to implement touch navigation, before implementation and testing of the aforementioned varieties. Introduction[SO1] Microsoft PixelSense 6Microsoft PixelSense orientation capabilities are used and seamlessly integrated into the application, which also supports multiple simultaneous touch points. The Samsung SUR40 can only run Windows 7, as the Surface SDKs are only fully supported on Windows 7 and not any newer Operating System. Window Presentation Foundation To initiate an application for any Microsoft Surface devices, especially for the PixelSense, the Microsoft Surface Game Studio 4.0 and Window Presentation Foundation (WPF) are required. Rowe (2012) shows a few points that can assist a developer to innovate and create a great application for the Samsung SUR40 Surface Table.7 Implement a darker background as it does better with quality during contact. Multiple screen interactions, in which, the users finger and objects, can be detected. Actions only must be interacted by the users fingers to avoid detection errors, and adding sound effects, acknowledging the users finger interaction, should be done. Ensuring the user immerses into an outstanding experience from the application. Since the PixelSense has 4 corners, it will be more convenient for users to be able to turn the orientation of the application, while offering an easy means of leaving the application. The points of interaction with the application, should be well sized and well-spaced, to prevent manipulation errors during input. Working with Touch Input To implement the 3D touch controls, a key prerequisite for the project is the availability of touch control capability. Using the System Information app, which could be launched from the Run dialog box, with the syntax msinfo32.exe. As seen from the image below, the Samsung SUR40 Surface Table, has 52 individual touch points. This confirms that the table supports the touch interaction and the touch framework is ready to use. Fig 1. The Run dialog, with the corresponding syntax, used to launch the system information window. Fig2. A System Properties window, showing the details on the touch capability. The initial edition of the 3D modelling software has sub-par touch navigation controls, but it makes up in the availability of buttons which are mapped to specific viewing points of the model. Having these buttons provides a way of navigating through, but lack the fluidity of the touch input system you would get from any other 3D modelling software. Fig 3. An image showing the initial edition of the source code, with buttons. Development Environment In order to be able to work on this project, a few software programs have to be installed. These software programs are specifically required to create an application for a Microsoft PixelSense device. These include: Windows 7 Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Microsoft XNA Framework Redistributable 4.0 Refresh Microsoft XNA Game Studio Platform Tools Microsoft Surface 2.0 SDK Microsoft Surface 2.0 Runtime GitEXT Windows 7 Windows 7 is the latest operating system that the Surface SDK supports, hence, all the programming done, had to be on a PC running Windows 7. Running these programs on a Windows 10 PC, gives an unfixable error. A Windows 7 license had to be purchased. Microsoft DreamSpark provides a free license to the University of Surrey students. Using the downloaded ISO file, a USB boot key was made, using DiskPart, so as to dual boot Windows 7 on the laptop used. Using DiskPart, empties the flash drive of all its contents, its advisable to use an empty drive, or back up its contents. Fig 4. The error shown when the program is being opened on a Windows 10 PC. Fig 5. Image showing the free purchase of a Windows 7 Operating System, using DreamSpark. DiskPart is the Windows built in disk management program, using CMD to call it, the following syntaxes will create a custom USB key for any appropriately sized flash drive: List disk This lists out all the disk drives connected to the system, and their sizes, with disk numbers Disk ###, for easier disk reference. After finding your particular disk, use select disk x, x being the respective number of your disk. This basically tells the program you plan on working on this disk. Clean This clears your drive of previous configurations and empties it. Create partition primary This creates a primary partition on the cleaned drive. Select partition 1 This selects the recently created partition. Active this sets the selected partition as an active partition. Format fs=fat32 This syntax formats the flash drive to a requested file system. In this example, the file system being FAT32, the legacy file system recognizable by most BIOS (Basic Input Output System) firmware. Fig 5. The image shows the procedure for creating a USB Key, Disk 2. Visual Studio 2015 Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 is now a free software, but for the Enterprise version, a key is needed, but as a University of Surrey student, one is provided free of charge, under the DreamSpark account. Fig 6. Image shows free purchase of Visual Studio Enterprise, using DreamSpark. Microsoft XNA Framework and Microsoft Surface SDK A Microsoft Surface SDK installer was downloaded and installed, as an extension, for the Visual Studio 15 suite. This enables Visual Studio to compile on the Microsoft Surface XNA Game Studio framework. The installer sets up two important frameworks, which are the Microsoft Surface WPF and Microsoft Surface XNA Game Studio 4.0. These frameworks are applied to help developers with the creation of two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) applications respectively. A successful install will show something like this, when creating a new project in Visual Studio. Fig 7. The image shows a properly installed XNA Game Studio Framework. GitEXT GitEXT is an extension for windows, that helps manage a git repository. The programs source code had to be worked on alongside a few colleagues, as they had other objectives in terms of updating the 3D Modelling software. Using a git repository, helps with management of different modifications and changes between different editors of the same source code. Fig 8. The image shows an installed git extension for version management. Camera Movement Running a camera location around an object is a concept of projecting different views from different positions for audiences. It is an essential task for the developer to implement this concept in the application. In order to implement, a series of matrix calculations are required to move the camera from its current position to a desired place and display the object with high quality and performance. The current camera, as stated earlier, seen in Fig 3, has a fixed position, and does not move around the model, rather, there are fixed points in camera can be. These points are controlled by the arrow buttons. To fix this problem the touch framework has to be implemented. Touch Gesture The touch functionality of the program depended on raw input, and only moved the model round a fixed point. The method of implementation made navigation with the touch screen, somewhat ineffective. The XNA framework installed, comes with a touch input namespace namely Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Input.Touch. After extensive research on this library namespace, using this namespace made implementing a new gesture-based, touch framework for the code straightforward. The namespace provides support for gestures like tapping, double tapping, horizontal drag, and a few others. Development After researching various libraries and namespaces for a substantial understanding of the initial source code, coding began. During initial coding, it was discovered that the method of navigating the model, was rotating the camera round a fixed object, as it gives the same illusion as the model moving round its axes, as opposed to the manipulation of the model itself in front of an immovable camera. Using this logic, the touch code had to manipulate the cameras movement and not the movement of the model. While implementing the touch framework, a few redundancies were removed, such as the buttons used in moving the camera and a few others, to provide for a more immersive experience when using the 3D model. Fig 9. The image shows the 3D model with redundancies removed.

Dont Worry You Can Be Happy, by John B. Thomas :: Happiness Essays

What's it going to take? David Myers says in the article 'Don't Worry You Can Be Happy'; by John B. Thomas. 'Happiness relies largely on things unrelated to money, such as meaningful activities and enriching relationships.'; With that the article states that with the following ten steps you can improve your happiness. One: learn to like your self. Two: take control of your destiny. Three: practice expecting the best. Four: become more extroverted. Five: try acting happy. Six: consider new work. Seven: Sleep, sleep, sleep. Eight: Foster close relationships. Nine: Tie the knot. Ten: have faith. So with all of the ten steps you can see that with a little faith and following these steps you could 'Be Happy';. Throughout the article Thomas makes very valuable points, two that I have to agree with 100%. The first point that I agree with is having faith. Having faith in a religious way or just in life in general. Both types of faith will bring you an inner happiness. You look at those people who are sick or very ill. The one who has faith seems to make a stronger and quicker recovery. You'll also notice that from these people that they are very at peace and bring happiness to those around them. The second point that he makes that I agree with is sleep, sleep, sleep. I've notice that in life you need to sleep. People who have trouble sleeping become very irritable and unhappy. You'll also notice that those people whom do sleep they tend to be more patient, alert and more extroverted. These people to me, which are getting enough sleep are happy with that point in their life and can pass their happiness to others. You'll also notice that people seem to make more mistakes and have trouble being happy when they unable to sleep. So when looking at happiness and sleep you'll notice that you have to get enough sleep to be happy in life. When looking at the list you have to wonder what do I do to make myself happy? For me I surround myself with my friends who are happy. Knowing that their happiness would rub off on me. I also find myself trying to make others happy by helping them, when they are down in their time of need. Being there for others can be very self-gratifying and boost happiness for both you and the person whom you are helping.

Blaise Pascal Essay -- Essays Papers

Blaise Pascal "We arrive at truth, not by reason only, but also by the heart"(1) said Blaise Pascal, one of the greatest minds of the 17th Century. The 17th Century was the time of the scientific revolution. During this period the main idea for everyone, was to question everything not to just listen to what is told. This caused a transformation in thought in both religious and scientific areas. Science allowed the questioning of the teachings of the old church. Scientists battled with ideas in math and physics, while philosophers battled with ideas of God. It was an intellectual revolution concerning the methods for determining humanity's place in the universe. Blaise Pascal was a physicist, a mathematician, and a man of God. He was a Renaissance man of the scientific revolution. On June 19, 1623, Pascal was born in the small town of Clermont-Ferrand, France, to Antoinette and Etienne Pascal. When Pascal was just three his mother passed away. After this, Etienne Pascal moved Blaise and his two sisters to Paris, France. Here his son would be able to learn. Etienne Pascal was very concerned about his son becoming an educated man. This is why he decided to teach his son on his own. He brought a young Blaise to lectures and other gatherings. He decided Blaise would not study math until age 15. When he made this decision he took all the math books out of the family home; however, this did not stop a curious Pascal. At age twelve, he started to work on geometry by himself. Blaise’s father finally started to take him to mathematical gatherings at "Academic Parisienne." At the age of 16, Pascal began to play an active role in "Academic Parisienne," as the principal disciple of Girard Desargues, one of the heads of "Academic Par... ... Pascal was such a brilliant man because he could do both of these. Pascal was one of the only men that wrote about his beliefs in God and was an accredited scientist and mathematician too. He was a true man of the scientific revolution. Endnotes: - Pascal, Blaise. 1910. Pascal's Pensà ©es. Translated by W. F. Trotter. New York: The Modern Library, 1941. - Rose, N. Mathematical Maxims and Minims. Raleigh NC: 1988. - Same as 1. - Gillispie, Charles Coulston. Dictionary of scientific biography. New York: Scribner, [1970-1990]. - Auden, W. H. and Kronenberger, Louis. The Viking Book of Aphorisms. New York: Viking Press, 1966. Work Cited Hazelton, Roger. Blaise Pascal The Genius of Thought. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1974. Eliot, Charles W. The Harvard Classics (Pascal). New York: P. F. Collier & Son Corporation, 1938. Blaise Pascal Essay -- Essays Papers Blaise Pascal "We arrive at truth, not by reason only, but also by the heart"(1) said Blaise Pascal, one of the greatest minds of the 17th Century. The 17th Century was the time of the scientific revolution. During this period the main idea for everyone, was to question everything not to just listen to what is told. This caused a transformation in thought in both religious and scientific areas. Science allowed the questioning of the teachings of the old church. Scientists battled with ideas in math and physics, while philosophers battled with ideas of God. It was an intellectual revolution concerning the methods for determining humanity's place in the universe. Blaise Pascal was a physicist, a mathematician, and a man of God. He was a Renaissance man of the scientific revolution. On June 19, 1623, Pascal was born in the small town of Clermont-Ferrand, France, to Antoinette and Etienne Pascal. When Pascal was just three his mother passed away. After this, Etienne Pascal moved Blaise and his two sisters to Paris, France. Here his son would be able to learn. Etienne Pascal was very concerned about his son becoming an educated man. This is why he decided to teach his son on his own. He brought a young Blaise to lectures and other gatherings. He decided Blaise would not study math until age 15. When he made this decision he took all the math books out of the family home; however, this did not stop a curious Pascal. At age twelve, he started to work on geometry by himself. Blaise’s father finally started to take him to mathematical gatherings at "Academic Parisienne." At the age of 16, Pascal began to play an active role in "Academic Parisienne," as the principal disciple of Girard Desargues, one of the heads of "Academic Par... ... Pascal was such a brilliant man because he could do both of these. Pascal was one of the only men that wrote about his beliefs in God and was an accredited scientist and mathematician too. He was a true man of the scientific revolution. Endnotes: - Pascal, Blaise. 1910. Pascal's Pensà ©es. Translated by W. F. Trotter. New York: The Modern Library, 1941. - Rose, N. Mathematical Maxims and Minims. Raleigh NC: 1988. - Same as 1. - Gillispie, Charles Coulston. Dictionary of scientific biography. New York: Scribner, [1970-1990]. - Auden, W. H. and Kronenberger, Louis. The Viking Book of Aphorisms. New York: Viking Press, 1966. Work Cited Hazelton, Roger. Blaise Pascal The Genius of Thought. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1974. Eliot, Charles W. The Harvard Classics (Pascal). New York: P. F. Collier & Son Corporation, 1938.

Ruby Archuleta and Amarante Cordova Define Community Essays -- Milagro

Ruby Archuleta and Amarante Cordova Define Community Community is defined as a group a people living in an area under the same conditions. Realistically, a community is so much more than this definition. It is people and their different beliefs that form a community. In the town of Milagro, Amarante Cordova, Ruby Archuleta, and a town coming together to rescue a fellow community member from jail exemplify the true spirit of what community is. Ruby Archuleta makes the biggest difference in bringing the community together. Ruby is the only member of the community to take intuitive and start fighting for the rights of the Milagro citizens. While everyone is waiting around to see what will happen, Ruby gets to work. She understands that the first step in defeating the greedy endeavors of Ladd Devine will be to seek legal advice. Ruby gets Charlie Bloom to write up a petition and explain the water laws to the disorganized people of Milagro. Another example of Ruby’s commitment to the community is her devotion to get the petition signed. The petition is to stop the buil...

Criticism Against the Modern Medicalization

Today the world in which we live in has faced steady medicalization of daily existence. Critics argue whether this leads to a favorable or a non favorable outcome. The establishment and development in medicine has become a major threat to health. Dependence on efficient health care affects all social relations. In rich countries medical colonization has reached sickening proportions whereas poor countries are quickly following suit. Medicalization, that â€Å"is the process by which human conditions and problems come to be defined and treated as medical conditions and problems, and thus come under the authority of doctors and other health professionals to study, diagnose, prevent or treat. † (wikipedia. org). In the modern world people feel dependant towards medical treatment no matter how minor it is. Whether the doctor is effective or not, it is an illusion what seems to be there in peoples’ hearts that they actually are being cured. Useless medical treatments, doctor-inflicted injuries, leave the patients helpless and as they are already defenceless and still consider themselves to be dependent on doctors. Modern Health care system has grown beyond limits in an unfavorable way. This can be said to happen due to 3 reasons. It must produce clinical damages which outweigh its potential benefits; it cannot but dim the political conditions which execute the society unhealthy; and it tends to assume the power of the individual to heal himself and to shape his or her environment. When it comes to producing medicine, Industrial progress is more being put into concern rather than personal growth. Such medicine is but a device to convince those who are sick and tired of society that it is they who are ill, incompetent and in need of technical repair. Most people are already doubtful about medicine and only need evidence to affirm their uncertainty. Doctors already find it necessary to boost their credibility by demanding that many treatments now common be officially prohibited. Medical performances which are considered as necessary are often so basic that restrictions are put on to them and are not acceptable to many politicians. Medications are costly and contain a high risk, which sometimes makes them not worth to be used. The world that we live in has experienced dramatic changes in the diseases afflicting population. Facts have proved that now a day’s early deaths are caused due to different diseases rather than accidents, violence, or suicide. During the past century deaths have been mainly due to different diseases for example malaria, typhoid, tuberculosis, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, scarlet fever and many more. But the death rate has been fairly decreased due to the introduction of antibiotics and widespread immunization. Improved housing and better nutrition are also one of the factors that have caused the death rate to fall and keep people away from various deadly diseases. Past century has also experienced major malnutrition syndromes, such as rickets and pellagra. But these have been soon replaced by modern epidemics such as coronary heart disease, emphysema, bronchitis and obesity, hypertension, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, and the so called mental disorders. In a way, the elimination of old forms of mortality has increased life expectancy which now suffers from the new diseases. The trend experienced of the diseases afflicting the population shows that the environment is the primary determinant of the state of general health of the society. The food we eat, the houses we live in, the working conditions, neighbourhood coherence, as well as the cultural mechanisms, which make it possible to keep us stable, and play a major role in deciding how healthy we feel and at what age we tend to die. The life expectancy is no doubt increased due to more healthy way of living, but more and more diseases that are affecting people is not due to the number of doctors available, or the medical treatment. The new techniques available to recognize and treat unhealthy conditions by surgical interventions redefine but do not reduce despair. It is not surprising to see that where certain diseases have become rare, the number of doctors exceeds the need of people as compared to the places where those diseases are more to be found. Doctors tend to work in places where the climate is healthy, where the water is clean, and where people work and can pay for their services. Useless medical treatments also take place in cases where they are not necessarily needed. During the last century there have been many, but limited number of medical procedures that have indeed become effective and beneficial for the people. Those medical treatments which are designed for widespread diseases are comparatively cheaper than the ones used for unique or diseases that do not exist on a high scale. The cheap medical treatments are only in the case where they are monopolized for personal use, and they require a minimum of personal skills, materials or hotel services from hospitals. Many dangerous diseases such as malaria, paralytic poliomyelitis, whooping cough, and measles, medicines to cure these diseases have shown considerable progress. But for most other infections, medicine can show no comparable results. For many diseases medicine has a short term effect but for the long term, it tends to be unsuitable or ineffective. Heart diseases, different types of cancers are highly curable, but there are some stages of these diseases at which the diseases gets hard or impossible to be cured. Breast cancer for example is curable but in some cases it is impossible to be cured no matter how frequently medical checkups are being performed. Surgery and chemotherapy for rare congenital and rheumatic heart disease has increased the chances for an active life for some of those who suffer from these conditions. The drug treatment of high blood pressure is effective for the few in whom it is a diseased condition and can do a serious harm to those in whom it is not. But no matters how careful we are or how frequent checkups are being down, doctor inflicted injuries are also getting very common. People suffer from illness that is caused by professional medical treatments. This doctor-made disease is also known as Iatrogenesis. Medicines are widely used for the smallest of diseases. But their unwanted side effects have increased with their effectiveness and widespread use. Several people now a day’s swallow medically prescribed chemical. Some take a wrong drug, others get a contaminated or old batch, others take several drugs which are dangerous or take them in dangerous combinations, and others receive injections with improperly sterilized syringes or brittle needles. Many drugs are also addictive or mutilating, or also mutagenic. Other drugs contribute to the breeding of drug-resistant strains of bacteria. Unnecessary surgeries are normally performed these days. Diseases that are not to happen, a person gets effected because of over medical treatment. The side effects of medications are more than the benefits gained from them. Malpractice, which is known as carelessness is neglected and is not given much of an importance even though it is something to be put into concern. While performing medical surgeries on which lives are dependant, sometimes malpractice even causes a loss in human life. Doctors are being transformed into technicians applying scientific rules to classes of patients. What had formally been considered an abuse of confidence and a moral fault can now be rationalized into the occasional breakdown of the equipment and operators. Malpractice is considered a technical problem not an ethical problem anymore. Undesirable side effects or mistaken or unintentional use of medication has left many patients as helpless and defenceless. Damages are done to the patients due to the doctors carelessness or exploitation and also in the case when the doctor attempts to protect himself against the patients eventual legal action of malpractice. Many people who are inflicted with specific diseases are not allowed to work leaving them helpless and are unable to live their life to the most and earn themselves a good living. Many people start living their lives in a way they think is health wise better and beneficial for them, but at a later stage it turns out to be as harmful and makes them fall into illness. Modern medicalization has faced critics and in a way they prove to be right and unethical for the society. Medical nemesis can only be reversed through mutual self care, if not than the world will be bound to suffer from this dilemma that prevails.

Activity Based Management Systems

Noverre is seeking to state here that the maitre de concert dance should non try to utilize force and coercion to accomplish his coveted result, and that he should more or less be present merely to offer words of advice and non to implement anything on the terpsichoreans. Similarly, if we transpose this into the context of dance instruction, a good dance pedagogue should non turn his or her pupils into some sort of machine-controlled automatons by take a firm standing that the pupils all simply follow and transcript him. This does non promote any sort of artistic and aesthetic sensitivenesss in the pupils, nor does it excite the scholars to develop their ain sense of look, passion and individuality in their ain dance. They therefore create pupils who are mere C transcripts of themselves who will non last nor travel far in the dance universe because they have non been taught to believe for themselves. In add-on, dance instruction should perservere to supply a acquisition environment t hat non merely offers encouragement and advice on how to better themselves and their dance, but one that will excite the pupils ‘ creativeness and artistic virtue. Dance pedagogues should besides move as wise mans who are at that place to steer the pupils alternatively of smothering them by throwing them into an environment where the pupils learn under fright and by force. Based on the citations below, dance is an abstraction of world and it should be expressive. To develop a terpsichorean is to prepare an creative person who is technically adept, aesthetically sensitive, intelligent, and creatively expressive. How do you, as a dance pedagogue, develop the aesthetic sensitiveness, interpretative ability and originative expressivity of your dance pupils? As a dance pedagogue, the first measure for me towards developing aesthetic sensitiveness, interpretative ability and originative expressivity of my pupils would be to concentrate on 3 watercourses: prowess, aesthetics, and cultural grasp of dance. The pupils would hold to make, experiment, and ticker and the combination of these 3 actions would in bend lead to a greater grasp of and for dance as a signifier of art. I would desire my pupils to non merely dance, but besides create – as in, choreograph because it is through this procedure where they would develop a great sense of artistic virtue and esthesia. I would besides desire them to watch a great assortment of dance shows and non merely simply limit themselves to state concert dance, or pat. This would open their positions in the universe of dance and assist them to pull on many inspirations when they dance and create in category. Ultimately, I want to make pupils who are motivated to believe for themselves, and who are a ble to pull upon their ain personal cognition and experiences and link these to their dance. This I feel, would enable them to hone their interpretative and artistic accomplishments and go believing terpsichoreans with a great deepness of non merely intelligence, but proficient and artistic accomplishment. What in your thought, are the elements that need to be integrated to put up a meaningful acquisition context for your dance pupils? In my sentiment, to develop a really strong sense of kinaesthetic intelligence is needed to being with, because it is of import for the pupils to hold on the construct and be able to associate really closely both head and organic structure in their dance enterprises. This can be brought about by developing our focal point on the procedure in dance instruction whereby the 3 watercourses of artistic, aesthetic and cultural grasp of dance culminate to supply a meaningful acquisition context. In add-on, I feel it is of import that we include the component of easing the acquisition of dance through other academic subjects and life accomplishments. This in bend makes the whole experience of dance instruction double meaningful because it enables the pupils to pull upon their ain personal experiences and convey these into developing their ain alone individualities and believing in dance. Furthermore, it is besides of import non to bury to include the indispensable proficient facets of dance such as the find of beat, infinite, way, attempt, kineticss, locomotor, and motion motives and unite these with the non-locomotor facets of dance such as look, representation and public presentation to make a wholistic acquisition environment for the pupils. Furthermore, it is of import to incorporate cognition and cognitive intelligence together with bodily and kinaesthetic intelligence so that the pupils come to recognize that dance as a signifier of art is non merely about mere superficial proficient glare and aesthetic beauty and that there is far more to it than meets the oculus. How would you use the construct of incorporating reason and prowess to dance instruction? This is a really of import issue that should be addressed because there is a really all right line between being nonsubjective and excessively nonsubjective, or being subjective or excessively subjective. However, this is a line that we as dance pedagogues frequently need to step on because of the nature of dance as a signifier of art. We can non trust on ever the merchandise – by concentrating merely on proficient ability, we hence negate the elements of look and individuality in the public presentation of dance. However, if we rely excessively much on the procedure of learning dance and acquire so caught up with stimulating creativeness and look in the pupils, so we are besides contradicting the factor that dance is finally, a signifier of art that serves to showcase aesthetic glare and extended proficient capablenesss that audiences ever look for. Therefore, there needs to be an equilibrium that is applied between reason and prowess in learning whereby the pedagogue needs t o ever be cognizant of the balance between keeping and bettering the pupils ‘ proficient abilities and yet at the same clip seek to foster their unconditioned sense of prowess to make an art that is aesthetically delighting. I would use this construct of incorporating reason and prowess in dance instruction by using the midway theoretical account of learning as proposed by Smith-Autard in her book ‘The Art of Dance in Education ‘ . I find that this is a really appropriate theoretical account to turn to because it is a matrimony of the most of import elements from the procedure and merchandise theoretical accounts severally. It combines the opposing points from these theoretical accounts into a theoretical account of all rounded acquisition, which places equal accent on making, executing, sing and appreciating dance. We frequently teach how we were taught, what are the branchings of this booby trap for a beginning dance instructor? This is besides yet another issue that tend to impact many of us immature instructors and that needs to be addressed. The effects of learning how we ourselves were taught can be both positive and negative. The general position we tend to keep is that if we are or were being taught in a certain mode, so it must be the absolute and right manner in which we should learn our ain pupils. The gimmick lies in the fact that if we had good pedagogues who nurtured our passions and encouraged the development and cultivation of artistic, aesthetic, and cultural intelligence in dance, who married both proficient and public presentation facets of dance, so this method would be more or less harmless if we in bend decided to learn our pupils in this mode every bit good. However, if we had instructors who taught us without any respect whatsoever for artistic virtue and kinaesthetic esthesias, who, harmonizing to Rand in Reading 2, were monsters who created machine-controlled pupils, so this would be the incorrect manner to travel and the result would be batches of pupils who would non be able to widen their positions and believe for themselves, who would follow mindlessly and non see the absolute ‘joyous spontaneousness ‘ ( Noverre ) of the art of dancing. In add-on, if we do non seek or try to develop our ain methods of learning – by pulling upon all the positive and effectual methods which we have experienced throughout our old ages of dance and acquisition dance, there may be many loopholes in our instruction methods and the pupils in bend will non be able to acquire the most out of their dance instruction procedure. We, as dance pedagogues, have to and should bear in head that even learning dance is a signifier of art that we should near with much sensitiveness, attention, cognition, and daintiness in order to make the most meaningful acquisition environment for our pupils. An first-class dance pedagogue inspires. In order to actuate your ain dance pupils positively, it is of import you demand yourself to possess the same qualities as you demand of your pupils. What, in your sentiment, are these qualities? In my sentiment, these qualities should be expressiveness, creativeness, invention, being extremely perceptive to the infinite and people around oneself, holding a sense of unfastened mindedness so that we do non barricade our personal creative and inventive procedures, sensitiveness with respects to infinite, clip, beat, and way, esthesia with respect to the employment of logical thought, every bit good as artistic, aesthetic and cultural consciousness, careful use and application of technique and manner, every bit good as possessing a strong sense of individualism, good musicalness, spontaneousness, and most significantly, public presentation quality. Reading 2 Compare and remark on the position behind these two instruction attacks refering human nature and how one learns: ‘†¦to obtain conformity and subject from dance pupils by shouting at them, penalizing them for errors and haling them into accepted behaviours through bribing and calming ‘ ‘†¦to cultivate self-denial and ownership through positive support, development of independent believing through logical thinking and, duty through larning about causality ‘ In the reading, Rand introduces us to the modern doctrine of Naturalism and its metaphysical projection of how adult male should be and act. First, the two positions here are polar antonyms of each other and they represent basically what Rand negotiations about in the reading of the ideal and existent projection of adult male by the naturalists as monsters alternatively of heroes. The first position here so represents adult male as an machine-controlled monster who has no feelings nor respect whatsoever for others because he is reassured by the irrational philosophical strong belief that he can be pardoned or accounted for even by moving like that. In this instance, the ‘cultural bankruptcy ‘ that Rand negotiations about is apparent in that Man has succumbed to his ‘tragic defect ‘ and has chosen non to exert any sort of control over his sense of ground values. Hence in this instance, the pupils would endure from a really machine-controlled sort of acquisition and finally, the ‘joyous spontaneousness ‘ that should be present in Man ‘s learning procedure and journey would be destroyed. However, in contrast in the 2nd position, we can see that this conforms more to the Romantic doctrine whereby adult male is presented as a hero, as being in entire control over his actions and being every bit good as being in ownership of a positive energy to make his highest potency and to hold the same respect for others. In bend, the acquisition procedure here would finally be really different from that in the first position. This could be representative of a successful instruction theoretical account, because the pupils are placed in a positive acquisition environment whereby their creativeness and spontaneousness will be stimulated because they are happy and encouraged, non to reference they will be an impulse to seek out artistic virtue alternatively of contradicting it in the acquisition procedure. Compare and remark on thoughts in dance aesthetics in ancient history, the Renaissance period, modern and modern-day times. What are the deductions for dance pedagogues as a effect of these altering thoughts about dance aesthetics? Dance aesthetics in ancient history, the Renaissance period and modern and modern-day times differed really greatly from each other. The biggest going would likely be that of the Renaissance period whereby the Romantics painted a really positive and epic image of adult male as a godlike entity whereas the naturalists during the modern and modern-day times regarded aesthetics as non being present but simply as a statistical presence. As a consequence of these altering thoughts about dance aesthetics, there are many deductions for dance pedagogues, one of which would be to maintain an unfastened head about how to educate and instill this sense of aesthetics into the terpsichoreans. We have to be really careful because there is a all right line between steering and fostering this sense of aesthetics as opposed to going forceful and didactic in our avidity to pull this out from the pupils. As it is, aesthetics in dance in the present is really extremely regarded as of import and indispen sable portion of our art so in bend it is of import that we as dance pedagogues manage to promote this in our pupils.