P&G Japan Essay Example for Free

PG Japan Essay Slow, conformist and risk averse – stretch, innovation and speed Leadership Innovation Team implemented a global rollout of Dryel and Swiffer Impact – 18 months after entering the first test market they were on sales in US, Europe, Latin America and Asia Processes Performance-based component of compensation increased from traditional range of 20% to 80%. Extended the reach of stock options to virtually all employees Integrated business planning process where all budget elements of the operating plan could be reviewed and approved together Structure Primary profit responsibility shifted from PGs four regional organisation to seven GBUs that would now manage product development, manufacturing and marketing of their respective categories worldwide Charged with standardising manufacturing processes, simplifying brand portfolios and coordinating marketing activities Eliminate bureaucracy and increase accountability Committee responsibilities were transferred to individuals Activities such as accounting, human resources, payroll and much of IT were coordinated through a global business service unit Progression form Ethnocentric/Polycentric- Regiocentric – Geocentric SK-II – within PG this high-end product had little visibility outside Japan Because Japanese women had by far the highest use of beauty care products in the world, it was natural that the global beauty care category management started to regard Max Factor Japan as a potential source of innovation Working with RD labs in Cincinatti and the UK, several Japanese technologists participated on a global team that developed a new product involving a durable color base and renewable moisturising second coat – Lipfinity Japanese innovations were than transferred worldwide, as Lipfinity rolled out in Europe and the US within six months of the Japanese launch Implementation of O2005 in July 1999 – half the top 30 managers and a third of the top 3000 were new to their jobs – capabilities do not reside in management Global product development process Technology team assembled at an RD facility in Cincinnati, drawing the most qualified technologists from its PG labs worldwide US-based marketing team and Japanese team had the same task – Japanese team came up with SK-II In the end, each market ended up with a distinct product built on a common technology platform. Marketing expertise was also shared, allowing the organisation to exploit local learning Decisions Japanese Opportunity Tapping into PGs extensive technological resources – extend the SK-II line beyond its traditional product offerings Although would take a considerable amount of time and effort, it would exploit internal capabilities and external brand image Product innovation and superior in-store service – competitive advantage in Japan China Operating since 1988 only Entrepreneurial beauty care manager in China Some were worried that SK-II would be a distraction to PGs strategy of becoming a mainstream Chinese company and to its competitive goal of entering 600 Chinese cities ahead of competitors Targeting an elite consumer group with a niche product was not in keeping with the objective of reaching the 1. 2 billion population with laundry, hair care, oral care, diapers and other basics Europe De Cesare – new the European market well Without any real brand awareness or heritage, would SK-II’s mystique transfer to a Western market Organisational constraint De Cesare recognised that his decision needed to comply with the organisational reality in which it would be implemented Jager – openly questioned how well some of the products in the beauty care business fit in the PG portfolio – the fashion-linked and promotion-driven sales models neither played well to PG’s â€Å"stack it high, sell it cheap† marketing skills nor exploited its superior technologies From a local to a global focus

O. Henrys Surprise Endings

O. Henrys Surprise Endings A theme would have to be his surprise endings of O.Henry. He uses this in a large amount of his stories. Many adults who read O.Henrys works are eagerly waiting for a surprise ending. (Rollins 155) O.Henrys works basically all contain a surprise ending. They lead you on it the beginning with a thought that everything is going according to plan. He lets the reader think that they have it figured out by we dont. He has something waiting for us at the end of the book. Something that would seem like it came out of no where. Hyder E. Rollins said â€Å"The conclusion is an enigma.†(155) He has the reader under suspense until the last sentence. This is shown in O.Henrys story The Gift of the Magi. Where a husband sells his watch to buy his wife some combs she worshiped, and the wife cut and sold her hair to buy her husband a chain for his watch. This was such a surprise because you never expected this in the beginning. Also O.Henry had an idea that life is a surprise that the unexpe cted continually happens. (157) Rollins spoke about O.Henry saying that â€Å"He is then, a pure romanticist who strives earnestly for realistic effects.† (157) A romanticist is a person who acts on impulse. They hate conformity they dislike following the rules. They prefer to make there own rules, and they are also in touch with nature. They love the outdoors. Rollins is saying that O.Henry is a romanticist because of his idea. His idea about how life happens unexpectedly. Its spontaneous so therefore you never know what kind of turn your life will take one for the better or worse. Eugene Current-Garcia said that â€Å"the most obvious technical manifestation of O.Henrys delight in the unexpected is in his famous surprise endings.†(Current-Garcia 137) O.Henrys way of using these surprise ending really played a big part in most of his stories. Another theme would of O.Henrys his most commonly used theme when he reverses everything on you. This means when he gives you a story and as soon as you think you have it figured out he changes it completely. He lets you think you know what kind of person the main character is while he has a plan to complete make that person plan a completely different role. Its not like surprise ending, but more like a reversal of the character completely from the way they act to the way they dress, talk, and walk. O.Henry liked to leave the reader guessing not only on the ending, but on what the characters would do next. For example in â€Å"The Princess and the Puma† the princess is portrayed in the beginning of the book as a princess one who lives highly. While she is really a pistol wearing, roping, riding cowgirl who has to fight off a mountain lion when she is suppose to be rescued. Technique was something that O.Henry was good at using. He used many different techniques and different styles in his writing one of the techniques his like using was local color. O.Henrys writings take the speech patterns and rhythms of the common folk and adds â€Å"vivacity, variety, and interest of his stories† said Eugene Current-Garcia. (Current-Garcia 142) He came directly from a southern background being born in North Carolina. The cultural tradition he inherited brought out a deep influence on his literary career. About thirty of his stories were placed in the old south setting or had to do with activities and attitudes of southern characters. When he writes he puts out a realistic dialogue from his childhood, his own history, and first hand observations of the various classes of people he knew and lived with.(Current-Garcia 12) O.Henry was born in the south so most of his stories talk about the lifestyles of the people in the south. His characters models are people w ho were around O.Henry. His narrative methods came from him dealing with Texas outlaws also from his childhood in the south. (Current-Garcia 4) There is a story where he talks about life with the outlaws in Texas. That is because he was there and witnessed it first hand. So he takes them and puts them into his story so that they can become major characters based on the way they were around him. O.Henry moved from the south to Texas and was later in jail all of these things were reason that were put into his stories. Since he was in jail some of his characters are based on people he met in jail or some of them are based on how the jail life was. In 1894 cash was found to have gone missing from the First National Bank in Austin, where Porter had worked as a bank teller. When he was called back to Austin to stand trial, Porter fled to Honduras to avoid trial. Little is known about Porters stay in Central America. It is said, that he met one Al Jennings, and rambled in South America and Mexico on the proceeds of Jenningss robbery. After hearing news that his wife was dying, he returned in 1897 to Austin. In 1897 he was convicted of embezzling money, although there has been much debate over his actual guilt. Porter entered in 1898 a penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio. All of this things helped O.Henry by being in his local color. They each played a significant part in his life and in his stories. O.Henry either wrote like a humorist like A.B. Longstreet and J.J. Hooper or he wrote with local color. Both ways you can tell that the characters had southern attitudes, manners, and speech. (Current-Garcia 4) Another technique would be O.Henrys ability to use allusions. An example of O.Henrys artistry with words can be seen in his many literary allusions, especially toward Shakespearean plays and the ancient classics. (Current-Garcia 146) O.Henrys â€Å"The Poet and the Peasant,† puts together a lot of literary devices. The story starts off first person narrative and follows a detailed description. At each turn of the story the irony gets further complicating. (Current-Garcia 152-153) This is just one example of how O.Henry uses many different literary devices. A writer said that in the many allusions to Shakespeare found in O.Henrys stories â€Å"how shows a tendency to word-play or to an unexpected turn similar to that manifest of the plots of his stories.†(Current-Garcia 146) The light touch of O.Henry â€Å"his mastery of the vernacular, his insight into the life of the disinherited, makes it needless for him to resort to such inventions.†(Forman 152) When O.Henry writes he has a touch that is unbelievable the way he makes everything fall together. Each line is unique in a way because he writes like he talks, but in some cases he is able to use academic terms in his writings. He just builds up a picture for us. Forman said â€Å"The piquant and picturesque phrasing, the dash of the slang. The genial and winning fancy seems to carry the most fantastic situations.†(Forman 152) This quote describes exactly what I mean he is able to paint a picture for us. His stories have the â€Å"harmony of tone so essential to the short story writer,† said Rollins. (Rollins 158) Even though O.Henrys ridiculous use of modern slang, he still is a master of felicitous expressions and strange verbal flavors. (Current-Garcia 136) O.Henry had a â€Å"malt reatment of words.† O.Henrys stories were either based in Texas or in New York City. Both of these places he spent a significant amount of time in during his life. He was in Texas working in a drug story. Then he was put into jail and some how found his way to New York City. These places made the setting of his stories simple and easy because every one has heard of New York City. While in prison O. Henry started to write short stories to earn money to support his daughter Margaret. His first work, Whistling Dicks Christmas Stocking (1899), appeared in McClures Magazine. After doing three years of the five years sentence, Porter emerged from the prison in 1901 and changed his name to O. Henry. He moved to New York City in 1902 and from December 1903 to January 1906 he wrote a story a week for the New York World, also publishing in other magazines. Henrys first collection, Cabbages and Kings appeared in 1904. The second, The Four Million, was published two years later and included his well-known stories T he Gift of the Magi and The Furnished Room. The Trimmed Lamp (1907) included The Last Leaf. After his death in 1920s his rep dwindled and critics wonder how he was ever taken seriously new fiction gained much more respect in 20s and 30s went against moral standards, taboos and conventions of older generation nd reliance on plot structure. Critics consider all of O.Henry work jokes because he was humorous and he used slang he didnt take it seriously. While other said it is fair to compare him woth anybody. He was just amazing like Henry James Forman said â€Å"No talent could be more original or more delightful. The combination of technical excellence with whimsical,sparkling wit, abundant humor and fertile invention is so rae that the reader is content without comparisons.† This is true on many levels about O.Henry the way in which he wrote so many stories was amazing. Towards the end of his life things started to fall out. O. Henrys last years were shadowed by alcoholism, ill health, and financial problems. He married Sara Lindsay Coleman in 1907, but the marriage w as not happy, and they separated a year later. O. Henry died of cirrhosis of the liver on June 5, 1910, in New York.

Environment Primary Factor That Influences Plant Growth Development Biology Essay

Environment Primary Factor That Influences Plant Growth Development Biology Essay Although there is no doubt that the world population grows up in more gradual way every year, demanding more food than any other time before, Environment is the primary factor that influences the plant growth and development and has also the greatest effect on the crop distribution on the earth. In this ten page report, the most important environmental factors that affect the crop growth and development namely light, water, temperature and carbon dioxide are covered, emphasizing their influences on crop productivity. Moreover light as the most environmental factor importance on crop production and productivity, all light quality, quantity and duration effect directly on crop yields, also in most cases plant reactions and processes are greatly influences by the temperature, plants key process affected by temperature is photosynthesis followed by germination, transpiration, respiration and flowering. However, crop temperature requirements in a specific physical, chemical or biochemical process varies from one spice to another resulting difference among crops in their geographical distribution. On the other hand, water and humidity play an important role for the crop productivity since most plants need 90% water content to grow effective and efficiency way until some crops like rice demand flooding the area to grow properly. In addition to the plant water needs, plants are number one consumers of carbon dioxide on the earth so as to synthesize food and energy. Each of these factors were discussed in this report emphasizing and giving more detailed look on their effect on crop productivity. Light Why solar energy is important to a successful plant growth, development and improvements to its yields? On the planet life is mostly solar-powered, sun is the only natural source of light energy, all the living organisms depend on the amount of light energy (solar radiation produced by the sun) harvested by green plants at any level of ecosystem, only few types of bacteria can derive the energy they require from sulfur and other inorganic chemical compounds or substances. Photosynthesis which is the process that the plants manufacture their food molecules from carbon dioxide and water by using the sun light, therefore the rate of duration of photosynthetic activities directly effects the amount of dry matter produced by the plant, and energy harvested as crop yields to transfer energy from primary producers to the other components of the ecosystem which are the consumers, so the ultimate source of food in the globe is the green plant, because plants have the ability to harvest and ut ilize the sun light manufacturing a usable food after three main consecutive processes during plants photosynthetic activities. Photosynthesis The management of that resources available to the production, that the crop requires to grow and develop and show its potential genetic characteristics as much as possible is a major factor that contribute the dramatic rise of the crop production, only organisms/plants that contain a certain pigment called chlorophyll which is the most abundant enzyme/protein on the earth are capable to utilize solar energy directly. It is therefore; light is an important factor to produce energy by the plants and the energy produced will be supplied to the different levels of the ecosystem. The light influence on the plant development and productivity can be discussed into three main categories. Quality of light The intensity of light and its concentration are what decide the quality of light; light densities differ from one season to another, countries that have three or four seasons, the largest amount of light is found in the summer season, where the least amounts are available in the winter, as the case is in many European countries, but areas like Malaysia the amount of light available throughout the year is almost the same, so the light intensity varieties depend on the geographical area, for example in Sub-Saharan Africa where the climate is desert, clouds and other sun light barriers are not found in the atmosphere, the sunlight density is very high. Not straying from the main point, the more light radiation that a plant harvests, the greater and the ore ability to manufacture food through photosynthetic processes even though this relationship will depend on the pathway group that a certain plan flows. From this interactions, the scientists specially those botanists, ecologists and physiologists realized the direct relationship the amount of light available to the plant and the crop productivity, that is why the greenhouse managers to fix artificial light sources to supply light their fields to create longer photoperiod in the greenhouse targeting more improvements to the final output, even though this strategy will negatively affect the cost of every unit produced under this system. However, they can easily manipulate the amount of light of the planned growth patterns to their plants. Quality of light Are there different light qualities? Light colors, which can be divided into bands of red, yellow, blue, orange, violet and indigo. The red and blue color lights that the plant can absorb have the biggest influence on crop growth, the blue light is primarily responsible to the leaf vegetative growth and the combination of red and blue lights encourage the flowering process. The solar rays produced by the sun, or what is normally known as wavelength of the light constitute the light quality, wavelengths that the sun sends to the earth ranges 250 7000 nanometers, these solar rays reaching the earth are divided into eight parts, only the visible radiation is called light, and the other which are Cosmic rays, Gamma rays, X-rays, Ultraviolet, Infrared, Microwaves and Radio waves are invisible. The visible solar rays or light is the small proportion of the range of wavelengths of the electromagnetic radiation occurring somewhere between 400 and 735 nanometers. In other words the visible light is between Ultraviolet which are shorter waves than 390 nanometers and Infrared which are longer waves than 700 nanometers. Only 47% of the light produces by the sun is gained by the earth (P. Bannister 1978), where the other 53% part of it is absorbed by the atmosphere while other part is reflected by some barriers and finally gained by the space. Only 2% of that 47% o f the light that reaches the ground is used in the photosynthetic processes and about 10% is used different processes that occur in the plant. Duration of light Photoperiod or the duration of light is referred to how long of time the plant exposes to light, the flowering of many plant species is controlled by the photo duration, as a result that, the plant physiology experts tend to name and classify plants into short-day and long-day plants relating to under which condition do these crops flower. In contrast, the duration of uninterrupted darkness which presents a critical situation to the crop development and flowering process is the factor that show the importance of light duration not only the plants but also on farm animals specially poultry production therefore shorter darkness periods are encouraged. The amount of carbon dioxide fixed and assimilated by a specific plant is determined by the light density, because several situations can be seen when the plant is grown the area where the light intensity is not constant this is much explained in the plants light response curve, which shows light compensation point, plant light response area and plants light saturated period where any further increases of the light available to the plant will not result an increase in the amount of the carbon dioxide absorbed from the atmosphere, meaning photosynthetic activities will peak t that point and all the enzymes involved to this process are active. From this concept, the ecologists realized some remarkable differences among the two main pant pathway groups C3 plants, C4plants. Because the carbon dioxide concentration is not the same in these pathways as soon as there are variations in amounts of light available (lower, neutral and higher) the different light amounts are available to the cro p, the growth, development and productivity are highly effected by the light factor. In addition to that, C4 plants showed higher net rate of photosynthesis as a result of light intensity increases than C3 plants. Even though at a very low light intensities C3 plants are more affective and efficiency than C4 plants because of their low compensation points, crops like corn and sorghum full sunlight for photosynthesis while tobacco can tolerate only partial sunlight. Water Water is the most component in the living cell, plants contain nearly 90% of water content , this high percentage enables us to understand the remarkable role of water on the crop growth and development, large quantities of agricultural output all over the world is heavily depend on different types of irrigation, over 1500 million hectares of agricultural land are irrigated every year, the continuously rise of the global temperature is seem to be the highest impact on the irrigated agriculture when considering water (hydrological) cycle. Water in a primary component in plant photosynthesis, the plant respiration, responsible to balance the pressure (turgor) in the plant cell, turgor is required to form the cell shape, tissue firmness and fullness, and ensure cell development. Also water is the place and the solvent where carbohydrates and minerals are transported from the soil and/or leaves to the other parts of the plant. Water treats as a cooling system to regulate the plant temperature specially on the leaf surface through a process called transpiration, water controls the stomata opening and closure, water provides a kind of power to encourage roots to penetrate the soil more in depth and this will enlarge the space that the crop can absorb the nutrients needed for growth and development. One more crucial role is that the water is the medium where biological reactions take place, also water is a component in the organic reactions, and it is used in the cell growth. Amount of water available in the plant compared the atmosphere water content (atmosphere humidity) is the limiting factor of crop photosynthesis, the ratio of the amount of water vapor available in the air to the volume of water that the air can keep at specific temperature and pressure is called relative humidity. Water vapor is the whenever a water molecule leaves from the surface of the ground, it is said to have  evaporated. Each individual water molecule which transitions between a more associated (liquid) and a less associated (vapor/gas) state does so through the absorption or release of kinetic energy. On the other hand, In the hot climate, wind and dry air conditions while there is a moisture stress or what scientifically called water deficit caused by the low water content, in this situation the stomata aperture is dramatically reduced and the photosynthetic reactions are weakened because the activeness and the effectiveness of the enzymes have a direct proportional relationship to the amount of water found from the s urrounding environment and inside the plant tissue and indirectly proportional to the temperature specially the extreme one. Temperature As said in the beginning temperature is important factor to the plant growth, development and yield, since it affects approximately most of the plant processes including germination, photosynthesis, respiration, transpiration and flowering. As the degree of temperature increases this will result an increase to the plant respiration and photosynthesis. Generally in temperate species, the increase in temperature about 10oC (18oF) will cause to the rate of carbon dioxide (CO2) assimilation approximately to double. Furthermore usually plants in the tropical areas require higher temperature degrees to perform successful photosynthetic processes to the possible maximum level that the plants in the temperate areas can generate. Usually, plants differ their temperature requirements for example radish, spinach and lettuce which are cold weather (season) crops germinate at 55oF 65oF best, where crops like petunia, lobelia and tomato which are hot climate crops germinate at about 65oF 75oF best. According to the level of the temperature, plant processes can speed up or slow down the period that each activity completes. For instance, the 18 months that the oil palm plants need to live in the nursery can be reduced to about 10 months when provided higher temperatures from artificial sources. Flowering however, experts in horticulture sometimes relate the length of the day to the temperature to manipulate flowering. For example the combination of short days with low temperature degrees helps cold-season plants to the set the flowers as the case in Christmas cactus, when the temperature levels are in their highest points and the days are in their longest hours the summer (cold-season) crops will bolt as in the case in spinach. In contrast, when the temperature is extremely cold, plants like tomato which is warm climate crops will set their fruits in unsuccessful manner. Temperature influence on biochemical plant processes Biochemical reactions of the plant are directly affected by the temperature through one or two principle functions, an exponentially dynamic increase to the rates of proceeding activities. And sometimes as the climate gets hotter more exponential delay will be experienced resulted by enzymes lost their naturalness. The most important and involved factor is the weather, it is not impossible to rise the quality of enzyme stability so as to avoid losses in their naturalness. The everyday changes on the temperature is called thermo-period the best crop growth occurs when the difference between the day and night temperatures is about 10 to 15o C. under this situation plant build up their food and break down the energy, higher temperatures than that required by the crops cause some crops to photo-respire and the amount of food manufactured by the photosynthesis will equalize the energy used to at that time and carbon dioxide CO2 assimilated will be zero meaning that the crop is in the state of light compensation point. Therefore food molecules synthesized from the photosynthetic activities must overweight the energy that the plant consumes otherwise the plant will grow poorly resulting drops in the ultimate yields. Higher temperatures and their long-term influences on the crop The chronic effects meet the crop growth and development when the temperature is getting higher every day the crop stress will become more serious because of the extreme hot weather. However C4 plants showed a higher net rate of photosynthesis than C3 plants when temperature levels at the surface of leaves were increased. In 1993 Kropff and his colloquies, found that 9% decrease of rice productivity were recorded for every 1o C increase of the temperature, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) coordinating with the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), their second evaluation report in December 1995 forecasted that the temperature of the planet will rise about 2 5oC during 21st century and the sea level will grow up about 30 t0 100 cm more, and this higher sea levels can submerge many agricultural areas in the world, these weather conditions will negatively affect the food production in the globe. Carbon dioxide When crops are manufacturing their food through photosynthesis, carbon dioxide is the most component factor importance in that process, plants obtain CO2 from the air through the pore spaces on the surface of the leaf when open, CO2 flow in the plant tissue depends on the carbon dioxide concentration inside the plant and the plants surrounding atmosphere, the carbon dioxide molecules (substances) move inside the plant when the concentration inside is less density than its concentration outside and this is a physical process called diffusion. The carbon dioxide flow in the plant is controlled by the stomata then the pore spaces on the leaf surface are open, and the aperture of the stomata its turn depends on the amount of water available in the guard cells. Overview of carbon dioxide influence on plant growth and development Plants are divided into two main categories according to their response and their first stable product after the fixation of carbon dioxide. The first category is those species whose first stable products after the fixation of carbon dioxide is three carbon molecules and the plants under this group are called C3 plants or C3 pathway. The second group is the species that their first stable products after the fixation of carbon dioxide are four carbon molecules and plants in this group are called C4 plants or C4 pathway, also there are CAM plants, these plants have different character, because the plant here operate fixing carbon dioxide in dark, plants depend on the amount of carbon dioxide accumulated in the leaf in the night. The photosynthetic rates of the plant directly relate to the growing amounts of carbon dioxide until it reaches approximately 700 ÃŽ ¼ mol/mol or higher according to the plant type and other factors. Furthermore photosynthesis always develops with the rise of temperature to optimum levels and after specific maximum level the photosynthesis in C3 plants show decline, as a result of photorespiration process which takes place in the plant. As some scenarios of the world climate change mentions, a global worming is forecasted and that will increase the amount of carbon dioxide available in the atmosphere as well as other gases in the green house. Mean while the amount of rain in many places of the world may also experience changes, generally scientists believe that certain plant species will indicate yield increase especially in C3 plants (C3 pathway includes many important crops like wheat, rice, oats, soybean, pea, peanuts, sunflower and tomato) because of the CO2 increase. However, benefits of increased carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere are limited, because stomata close and photosynthesis stops at CO2 concentrations higher than 0.15%. On the other hand, C4 plants which include coin, sorghum, sugarcane and millet and many other crops are more efficient in higher bright-nesses and higher temperatures than C3 plants even though the reverse is true when light intensity is very low. Soybean responses different amounts of CO2 As IPCC and FAO reported in their second assessment in December 1995, the amount of production harvested from soybean fields was generally increasing by the elevated CO2 levels Allen et al. (1987). The following table shows the percentage increases of soybean yield predicted across selected carbon dioxide concentration ranges associated with relevant benchmark points in time, adapted from Allen et al. (1987). Period of time (years) [CO2] midday Biomass photosynthesis Seed yield Initial Final (Nmd/mol) (% increase over initial [CO2]) IA 17001 200 270 38 33 1700 1973 270 330 19 16 1973 20732 330 660 50 41 1 IA, the ice age is about 13 000 to 30 000 years before present. The atmospheric CO2 concentration that prevailed during the last Ice Age, and from the end of the glacial melt until pre-pioneer/pre-industrial revolution times, were 200 and 270 ÃŽ ¼ mol/mol respectively. 2 The first world energy crises occurred in 1973 when the CO2 concentration was 330 ÃŽ ¼ mol/mol. This CO2 concentration is used as the basis for many CO2 doubling studies. The CO2 concentration is expected to double sometime within the 21st century. Conclusion Crop production and productivity entails the management of production resources, since the world population increases demanding more food and fiber the need of utilizing the sunlight energy, water, temperature and carbon dioxide is important since plants are the ultimate source of energy for all lives on the earth. We humans and other animals cannot utilize the solar energy, only organisms that contain chlorophyll are able, but we are capable to give more attention to the factors that affect photosynthesis. The management, conservation and protection of water, land and atmosphere are the most challenging issues to realize higher and stable crop yields. In the future, the main that the researchers discuss will be to identify and select plant species that have the ability to perform more photosynthesis and carbon dioxide assimilation for higher dry matter production. Also when more is understood from influences of the present climate changes on plant production and productivity, much money, time and effort should be invested to introduce cultivars that can adapt the environment biologically and systems to contribute the management of crop production to create more stable, sustainable and productive agricultural models.

Labyrinth and Star Wars :: Movies Essays

Labyrinth and Star Wars It is amazing how in many stories a group of the most unlikely characters can overcome the most impossible odds. The battle of good vs. evil is reenacted in thousand upon thousand of movies. A lot of the times in these movies the group of heroes consist of very ordinary or odd characters, those who seem to possess few heroic traits. As seen in the movies Labyrinth and the first made Star Wars, a group of small and seemingly powerless characters can overcome great evils. The movie the Labyrinth tells a story about a group of unlikely heroes trying to make their way though a maze in order to defeat the Goblin King. The story starts out with the main character Sarah whom, without even realizing it, wishes her baby brother to be taken way by Jareth the Goblin King. He tells her that if she wants her brother back she will have to make her way through the labyrinth and to the castle beyond the Goblin City. She only has 13 hours to complete the seemingly impossible task or her little brother Toby will be turned into a goblin. While making her way through the twisted and endless maze Sarah runs into many weird characters. The first person she encounters is Hoggle a very untrustworthy dwarf whom is under the influence of Jareth. He is selfish and does things only if there is something for him to gain. He betrays Sarah many times throughout the movie, but in the end he proves himself to be more than a traitorous coward. Ludo is a yeti and despite looking vic ious is a gentle and caring monster. Ludo also has the power to control rocks. Sir Didymis is a loudmouthed, but noble knight who displays his valor throughout the movie. The four heroes manage to fight their way through the perilous labyrinth. The Goblin King Jareth is defeated and Sarah’s brother Toby is saved. Though the characters in this movie seemed to be nothing more than ordinary, and if not odd, they fought their way through labyrinth and conquered an entire army of evil goblins and their king. (Labyrinth 1986) Star Wars also tells of a similar story; the most unlikely set of people can stop an entire evil empire. The movie begins with Princess Leia’s capture by the evil empire. In an attempt to save herself and her mission plans, she sends two robots, R2D2 and C-3PO, to deliver a message to the illusive Ben Kenobi.

A Comparison of Andrew Marvells To His Coy Mistress and Thomas Hardys

A Comparison of Andrew Marvell's To His Coy Mistress and Thomas Hardy's The Ruined Maid In this essay I will look at the two poems, explore what the poems are about, look at the language and images used in them by the writers and then compare the two. "The ruined maid" by Thomas Hardy is a conversation between two women; "Melia", the ruined maid herself and another lady, her friend of whom she used to know when she lived in need. Melia's friend brings up all different points about Melia that have changed, for example the way she looks, 'now you've gay bracelets' and acts, 'you'd sigh and you'd sock' but Melia just says a few simple words in reply. 'To his coy mistress' by Andrew Marvell is a one sided argument and is about a man trying to persuade his mistress to lose her virginity with him before her looks and beauty start to go, as she gets older. He tries to persuade her to have sex with him by using flattery, humour and frightening, almost blackmailing her by describing different shocking images. Hardy writes 'The ruined maid' in an unusual way, one of which is not usually heard of, he writes it as if it was an actual informal conversation between two women. He creates this by using various amounts of punctuation; he uses speech marks throughout the poem, uses dashes to separate the two different people?s speech, and uses question marks, explanation marks and further speech marks in all the appropriate places, which all help to give the effect of the conversation happening, from the first line to the last and encourages the reader to think of it more as a dialogue when reading it. 'Your talking quite fits 'ee for high compa-ny!'- ?Some polish is gained with one?s ruin,? said she? is an e... ...gh it is obvious that she does not want to, as she would have known that it wasn?t the best thing to do, that her marital status would have been in ruins, her reputation in tatters. However in ?The ruined maid? Melia had already have had sex and although her old life and the only way she knew was gone, she had gained a much better one, where although she is no longer of any marital value, she appears (unless it is just a cover) to be more polished and seems happier in general life. If you look at it in one way, ?The ruined maid? could be what could happen to the mistress in ?To his coy mistress?. It could be what happens to her if she goes through with the man?s proposal so in conclusion, although the poems tell the tales of two different stories, they could easily be part of the same one, where ?The ruined maid? follows on from ?To his coy mistress?. A Comparison of Andrew Marvell's To His Coy Mistress and Thomas Hardy's A Comparison of Andrew Marvell's To His Coy Mistress and Thomas Hardy's The Ruined Maid In this essay I will look at the two poems, explore what the poems are about, look at the language and images used in them by the writers and then compare the two. "The ruined maid" by Thomas Hardy is a conversation between two women; "Melia", the ruined maid herself and another lady, her friend of whom she used to know when she lived in need. Melia's friend brings up all different points about Melia that have changed, for example the way she looks, 'now you've gay bracelets' and acts, 'you'd sigh and you'd sock' but Melia just says a few simple words in reply. 'To his coy mistress' by Andrew Marvell is a one sided argument and is about a man trying to persuade his mistress to lose her virginity with him before her looks and beauty start to go, as she gets older. He tries to persuade her to have sex with him by using flattery, humour and frightening, almost blackmailing her by describing different shocking images. Hardy writes 'The ruined maid' in an unusual way, one of which is not usually heard of, he writes it as if it was an actual informal conversation between two women. He creates this by using various amounts of punctuation; he uses speech marks throughout the poem, uses dashes to separate the two different people?s speech, and uses question marks, explanation marks and further speech marks in all the appropriate places, which all help to give the effect of the conversation happening, from the first line to the last and encourages the reader to think of it more as a dialogue when reading it. 'Your talking quite fits 'ee for high compa-ny!'- ?Some polish is gained with one?s ruin,? said she? is an e... ...gh it is obvious that she does not want to, as she would have known that it wasn?t the best thing to do, that her marital status would have been in ruins, her reputation in tatters. However in ?The ruined maid? Melia had already have had sex and although her old life and the only way she knew was gone, she had gained a much better one, where although she is no longer of any marital value, she appears (unless it is just a cover) to be more polished and seems happier in general life. If you look at it in one way, ?The ruined maid? could be what could happen to the mistress in ?To his coy mistress?. It could be what happens to her if she goes through with the man?s proposal so in conclusion, although the poems tell the tales of two different stories, they could easily be part of the same one, where ?The ruined maid? follows on from ?To his coy mistress?.

Nature, Healthy to the Environment and You Essay

Throughout time cities have been the gathering place of great thinkers and idealist who have moved our world forward. Being a place where many people who hold similar ideas may gather and form a community, city life brings inspiration and innovation to many common aspects of life such as art, technology, and pop culture. Without such urbanized areas the world may not have been home to the revolutionary ideas of great minds like James Joyce, Shakespeare, or even Einstein who was inspired by commuter trains (Lehrer par. 1). And yet, today’s modern cities have shifted from not only a metropolis of ideas but one that can be equally detrimental to one’s mind and health. The expanding urbanization and population within cities have torn down the natural environment and replaced it with a jungle of concrete. Instead of inhabiting wide-open spaces as humans have lived in for thousands of years, many cities have become crowded; surrounded by strangers, bustling cars, traffic, lig hts, and millions of different noises in a setting almost devoid of nature. Imagine walking down a crowded sidewalk trying to maneuver around oncoming pedestrians, making sure to keep up with the ever fluctuating traffic flow and preventing yourself from being distracted by the many commercialized advertisement signs, posters, and billboards. Cars are backed up as far as the eye can see, blaring their horns and flashing their taillights as they inch forward. To many, it is common knowledge how exhausting the city life can be, but recent studies have shown just how drastically being in an urban environment can impair one’s mental capabilities. Consider everything that your brain has to keep track of and its no wonder why your brain would have a hard time keeping everything in memory, and remaining calm. The controlled perception needed to stay focused can be very taxing on our minds. Settings similar to the above are an everyday experience in the United State’s most urbanized cities from New York to San Francisco; however, places like this aren’t just limited to the U.S. people all across the world are suffering. In fact, fifty years ago only 10% of the world’s population lived in cities. Those statistics have since changed to over 50% with an estimated 75% by the year 2050, accounting for the production of two-thirds of the world’s energy and carbon emissions, putting a strain on the environment’s sustainability of clean air. This increase in the use of economic resources and the production of pollution has led to a sharp increase of many diseases such as asthma which now affects nearly 1 in every 10 children living in the United States, or attention deficit disorder, which is much more apparent to those who live in urban environments rather than those in a more natural setting. Marc G. Berman, a professor at the University of Michigan performed two experiments published in 2008 which tested the restorative effects on cognitive functioning of interactions within natural environments compared to more urbanized areas. For the first experiment students were given GPS receivers and were told to take a fifty-to-fifty five minute walk in either the Ann Arbor Arboretum (a park near campus) or to walk in downtown Ann Arbor. The students then took a psychological test of attention and working memory by repeating a series of three to nine numbers backwards. As a result, people who had walked through the city were in a worse mood and scored significantly lower on the test. In Experiment 2, participants viewed either pictures of nature or urban areas to further control each participant’s experience, which proved that merely viewing pictures of nature can have restorative beneï ¬ ts. Even the slightest glimpse of nature can be invaluable to those living in urban areas as they provide a mental break of relaxation. For example, patients with a view of trees, flower beds and other greenery outside their hospital window have been shown to recover more quickly than those without. In the same setting from an apartment building, residents have better self control while able to focus and relax more. Evidence proves that exposure to the natural world improves mental health. Thus, the answer to solving the adverse cognitive affects that urbanized areas place on our minds is for planners, ecologists, architects, and landscape-architects to work together to integrate nature into cities, possibly to even reinvent them. City leaders should seek to plan large urban parks that include playgrounds, trails, picnic facilities, and gardens such as those in Central Park New York or the Parque Tres de Febrero located in Buenos Ares which is known for its lakes, rose gardens and city planetarium. Not only are these parks beautifully landscaped and allow city residents a place of relaxation, they may also encourage visitors from all over the region, resulting in economic growth. Of course, the benefit of extensive parks built inside urban areas does not stop there. They are ecological systems essential to filtering urban run-off and the improvement of air quality. Another solution for improving the mental health of citizens and to the health of the city itself would be to integrate greenery into the streets and buildings, establishing a green environment within urban infrastructure. On a small scale, cities may integrate parklets to repurpose under-utilized parts of streets or roadways and provide a space for people to enjoy themselves or the company of others. Parklets are platforms built in parking lanes made to provide a welcoming area of practicality and visual aesthetics with benches, planters, bike racks, or even cafà © tables. On a much larger scale, architects can work with engineers to build â€Å"green buildings† a structure that is designed to reduce the impact on the environment and human health by efficiently using resources, improving employee productivity, and reducing environmental degradation. This is achieved through various techniques that take advantage of renewable resources (solar panels, green roofs, rain gardens, etc†¦) measures are taken to reduce energy consumption by allowing extra insulation within the confinements of the building which prevents air leakage while solar panels are implemented to lessen the need for electricity and energy cost during the day. One other key objective in green buildings is the conservation of water quality. By using fixtures such as low-flush toilets and low-flow shower heads which manage water recycling and benefit the minimization of waste-water. On the aesthetic side, biophilic design emphasizes harmony with natural features by integrating the environment with architectural design to create a place both pleasant and natural for people to work in. Due to its impact on human psychology, biophilic design plays a large role in health care while finding ways to cope with the the rates of technological progress compared to those of mental evolution. According to Biophilia expert Yannick Joye, â€Å"by including elements of ancestral habitats in the built environment, one can counter potential deleterious effects, which stem from this dominance, [of uniform/modernist environments], resulting in more positive effects and more relaxed physiological and psychological states.† Green buildings, incorporated with biophilic design would not only decrease the impact put on our environment by creating a more self sustaining city with fresh air and improved amount of resources. It may also reconnect urban dwellers with the natural world away from the bustling cars and crowded city streets, fostering restoration, improve emotional well-being, and promote health. Works Cited Asladirt. â€Å"Taking Nature to the City.† Diss. N.d. The Dirt. 31 Mar. 2011. Web. 21 Nov. 2012. Berman, Marc G., John Jonides, and Stephen Kaplan. The Cognitive Beneï ¬ ts of Interacting With Nature. 12th ed. Vol. 19.PSYCHOLOG ICAL SC IENCE. 2008 Association for Psychological Science, 18 Feb. 2008. Web. 21 Nov. 2012. Lehrer, Jonah. â€Å"How the City Hurts Your Brain.† Boston.com. N.p., 2 Jan. 2009. Web. 21 Nov. 2012. Urbanized. Dir. Gary Hustwit. Perf. Oscar Niemeyer and Rem Koolhaas. 2011. DVD. Web. Walker, Christopher. â€Å"The Public Value of Urban Parks.† Urban.org. Urban Institute, 24 June 2004. Web. 22 Nov. 2012.

Betrayal in the city Essay

A critical analysis of the theme of betrayal in Francis Imbuga’s Betrayal in the City, Game of Silence and Man of Kafira This study examines the kind of influence postin dependence realities have had on Imbuga as a playwright. More specifically it is an exploration of some aspects of Imbuga’s dramatic transmission of these realities. A critical analysis of the dominant theme of betrayal, in Betrayal in the City, Game of Silence and Man of Kafira helps illuminate the realities. The guiding assumption is that drama in Africa carries a political dimension and is therefore socially committed. Drama may thus be read as a barometer of social change and progress. Imbuga’s drama artistically presents topical socio-political issues through dramatic exploration of the theme of betrayal and in the process reveals the playwright’s perception of society. The analysis starts off with a survey of the historical background of the three selected plays. This way we arrive at the origins of the theme of betrayal. The physical setting is Africa where the goings-on include the strangling of nascent democracy and the attendant oppression of the common people by the ruling elite. As Betrayal in the City demonstrates, the consequence of this state of affairs is a popular desire for change. Game of Silence is a dramatic critique of the culture of silence in which the playwright seems to advocate popular reaction against autocratic and anti-life forces. As Imbuga’s ideological stance as a writer becomes clearer in this play, we advance into Man of Kafira and its dominant theme of power crisis and the related positions of the former head of state. In the final analysis, we have read and understood society through Imbuga’s drama.