King Charles and the Power Struggles after the Battle of Edgehill

England- being the site of industrial revolution and subjected to several wars can be considered as more developed economically and politically. Alongside with these developments, people in England had established the Parliament as a response to the growing need of the people for an organized society apart from the ruling of the monarchy at the time. However, the decline in the power of the monarchy including that of King Charles and the rise in the power of the parliament were not without struggles.The Battle of Edgehill characterized the classic battle for power between the Parliament and the monarchy (King Charles) in their bid to show who has the most political power in England. Characteristically, the Battle of Edgehill is a power struggle between the Parliament or democracy and King Charles and the monarchy. At the time when there is an increasing acceptance and power accorded to the Parliament, the question has been raised on who can appropriate and approve funds- the King or the Parliament.This being the root cause of the Battle of Edgehill and the four (4) years that followed after an indecisive outcome of the war had been studied from the point of view of political scientists and sociologists. This paper on the other hand, seeks to provide an evaluation on the significance of the Battle of Edgehill on the power struggles of King Charles and the Parliament after the years that followed. It can be recalled that while the way was opened for King Charles' troops, no victor emerged in the war.The vagueness of the result then further pushed the power struggle and hence, put England at the theme of monarchy vs Parliament. Power Struggle: King Charles vs. The Parliament and the Battle of Edgehill The triggering factor in the Battle of Edgehill has been the conflict on who would determine the kind of rule that England would be governed with. According to the side of the Parliaments, it is they who should decide on this matter as they have the mandate of the pe ople. On the other hand, the monarchy under King Charles claimed that it is the monarchy with the divine provision who should rule England on their discretion.An important element in this disagreement is the discernment on who should appropriate funds and how to allocate them. For King Charles, the monarchy has the sole authority to use funds on their discretion; on the other hand, the parliament asserts that they have the right to deny and appropriate funds from the crown. Hence, the inability of the two opposing forces to reach an agreement precluded the Battle of Edgehill and the English Civil War. Prior to the start of the war, both sides had acknowledged and prepared for the inevitability of war.King Charles took charge of the Royal Army with about 13,000 forces together with Prince Rupert of Rhine whereas, the Parliament headed by the Earl of Essex commanded about 14,000-15,000 military men. Before the war broke, England has been divided into areas that support the Parliament and the monarchy. For instance, Wales had been considered to be the territory of King Charles whereas Parliament has control of Essex and the Midlands. The predictability of the war made the two opposing sides prepare for it. On the side of King Charles, he handed out the Commissions of Array compelling the Lords of each county to prepare the royal army.On the other hand, the Parliament signed the Militia Ordinance in order to command England's trained military personnel. The process of accumulating all the needed armed men took a few months on both sides as it was not easy to assimilate the troops necessary for battle. After Charles secured the necessary weaponry for war, he moved to Shrewsbury in order to meet up with the troops coming from Wales. On the other hand, the Earl of Essex with directives coming from the Parliament assimilated a slightly large troop in Northampton and then went to Worcester.Prior to the Battle of Edgehill, the strength of each force was tested in the Ba ttle of Powick Bridge where the Royal Army defeated the Parliament army. En route to its success, King Charles planned to march towards the center of power in England- London in order to seize power and defeat the Parliament Army. En route to London, both troops were unaware as to the location of their enemies. On their way to London, the Royal Army of King Charles had an encounter with the Parliament Army at Banbury who then sought help from the Warwick Castle. By the evening of October 22, the Parliament Army went to rescue its troops in Kineton.In October 23, 1642 by the orders of King Charles, the Royal Army trooped to Edgehill because of the threat of the Parliament Army. From there, the battle of Edgehill occurred. Scholars assert that the Royal Army was more trained, young and were predominantly gentlemen whereas the Parliament Army were experienced but are older and with less armory than the enemy(Evans, 2005). While the Royal Army was in place of the battle earlier than the Parliament Army, the Royal Army members are largely more inexperienced and when it came to foot battle, the Parliament army had the upper hand.However, due to the tactical and strategy of scattering the Royal Army, the Essex or the Parliament Army succumbed and they withdrew from the battle. Both sides stayed and camped on Edgehill for the night. What is surprising about the battle is that King Charles had not expected that the battle would have so many casualties not only on their side but also on the other camp. The unwillingness of both sides to resume battle had made some scholars declare the battle to be a draw while others assert that it was the Royal Army under King Charles who won the fight.However, King Charles was unable to patronize and seize the victory and improve his power position. Hence, the power struggle between the monarchy and the parliament went on for years. Analysis Inordinately, the Battle of Edgehill signalled the six year war that constituted the English C ivil Wars from 1642-1648. However, it should be noted that the Battle of Edgehill was not a one-time spontaneous battle but a series of disagreements between the Parliament and the monarchy on who should rule England. Hence, the lack of resolution of the battle had pushed for more wars.Consequently, it is not only the war that made the post Battle of Edgehill continues but rather the political power struggle that constituted after it had pushed for more wars in order to find resolution. Hence, the Battle of Edgehill had exposed more issues to be confronted leading for more civil wars in England. First, the power struggle between King Charles and the monarchy versus the Parliament and Oliver Cromwell (leader of the Parliamentary Army) stems from the very nature of the legitimacy of their rule. The question posited is that â€Å"who should rule England, the monarchy or the Parliament?â€Å". The long dominance of the monarchy in England ended in the Industrial Revolution when the Pa rliament was formed in response to the growing need of the people to be represented and reform the political and economic policies in the society. Add to this, the growing discontent on the rule of the monarchy and its inability to solve poverty and unemployment issues were still prevalent in the English Civil War. This was one of the primary issues why despite the century long rule of the monarchy, several states in England had supported the Parliament in their bid to out rule King Charles.On the other hand, counties such as Wales were still loyal to the monarchy and supported King Charles. Hence, the question remained after the Battle of Edgehill. King Charles whose power emanates from the Divine Rights of Kings and hence, its primary supporters were the Catholic Church and the Pope. From this power, Parliament seeking to end his arbitrary practices and refuse to be given the financial resources had a temporary agreement until King Charles dissolved Parliament in 1629 in order to pursue his goals of religious orthodoxy- Catholicism for all of the people of England.The end of the Battle of Edgehill did not end this power struggle. For instance, King Charles after the battle continued to dominate the west, southwest and north parts of England whereas the Parliament had Eas Anglia, Southeast and London as its territory. The division of the people and the question of who should rule them are therefore still prevalent after the Battle of Edgehill. Second, King Charles and the Parliament continued to rally people to support their sides even after the battle. Parliament retained the support of the army despite the seeming victory of King Charles in the post Battle of Edgehill era.Hence, lacking the necessary resources to put up his own army, King Charles was in shambles particularly because Parliament was preparing for another civil war. For instance, the Parliament allied themselves with the Scottish Presbyterian in 1643, giving the Parliament the upper hand in te rms of army and military power. Consequently, with the institution of the New Model Army, training that was lacking among the Parliamentary Army in the Battle of Edgehill was instituted in order to strengthen the Parliament troops.Thus, the struggle of power continued with King Charles and the Parliament. Third, King Charles continued to struggle with the Parliament by aligning the monarchy with Scottish Army. By this time, King Charles still considers the monarchy as the stable force that counters the instability of the parliamentary. Consequently, King Charles saw the opportunity to gain back the power when the Parliament was divided by differences between Presbyterians and the Independents. However, the war waged by Charles against the Parliament failed with the victory of Cromwell in Preston by 1648.Finally, the power struggle was ended by the Parliament when it sentenced King Charles to death in 1649 by beheading him in the Banqueting House in Whitehall, London. The decision by the Parliament rested on the premise that King Charles still holds power over some of the population in England and hence, it cannot effectively establish its power if he is still alive. However, the aspirations of the Parliament to end the Civil War by ending the life of King Charles did not succeed (Dix, 1992). England will go on for more wars concerning the power struggle between the monarchy and the Parliament.Each of these entities asserts that they are the ones who are representing the stability of England by enforcing the constitutional and social rules. Additionally, the legacy that was left by King Charles was carried on by supporters of monarchy. On the other hand, the struggle for power by the Parliament continues. King Charles death marked the beginning of another round of struggle. For the period surrounding the trial, the most powerful theme is the exaltation of form over substance: The army and its Puritan allies believed they could not execute Charles without appear ing to follow acceptable legal procedure (Roberts and Tincey, 2001).The very idea of trying a king must have appalled English citizens. They were contemplating impeaching not just the constitutional head of government, but also a hereditary monarch, who, some believed, could heal with his touch. The Cromwellians tried to overcome objections by disposing of the King through the formal legal process of a trial. After Cromwell's death, the power of the Parliament was weakened and the restoration of the monarchy was underway. However, problems concerning the emancipation of the Catholics as well as the Catholic succession had the Parliament's disapproval again.Hence, after James II fled, the Parliament seeking to reinstate the monarchy, declared William and Mary the King and Queen. From thereon, the Declaration of Rights that changed the power of the monarchy up to this day was declared. This change resulted to the delegation of power to the monarchy as merely symbolic in nature. This i mplies that legislative power and matters of the state would be the sole domain of the Parliament while the monarchy which once held power indiscriminately was relegated to the sidelines and became the head of state- a symbolic position that is relevant to the history of England.Conclusion History reveals that conflict between the political concepts of monarchy and Parliamentarism or of a Republic is fairly common. This is true in the case of King Charles and the Parliament in the Battle of Edgehill. Prior to the Battle of Edgehill, King Charles had been exposed to several power struggles that led him to the abolition of the Parliament. These acts were deemed to be indiscriminate particularly when he increased the taxes of the people and entered into wars that England has no use of.Hence, the rise in power of the Parliament was a direct result of the actions of Charles. After the Battle of Edgehill, the series of English Civil Wars follows. The same theme ensued: who holds the power to rule England? The answer was not resolved in the Battle of Edgewood and the years later would result to more casualties and wars and power struggles between the monarchy and the Parliament. However, the tactical alliance made by the Parliament secured its power over King Charles who succumbed to the Parliament.The inability of King Charles and the Parliament to enter into a common ground has historically scarred the country- but this can be considered as a necessary struggle in order to define and redefine what England is now. First, the power struggle marked the decline of the monarchy and the Divine Power of Kings and the rise of republics ruled by the people and for the people. Second, the insistence of King Charles of religious orthodoxy was unwarranted and gained him more enemies than supporters. Third, it made leaders accountable for their actions.While King Charles rested on his Divine Power, the people at the time were increasingly aware of their own power as well. The i nability of the King to address poverty and unemployment decreased their legitimacy and claim to power. Fourth, the Parliament together with Enlightenment was able to educate and introduce the people to the concepts of freedom, democracy and rule of the people. While both parties had struggled for power, their goal was the same: to uphold England. However, the means by which they have accomplished this was a result of years of power struggles of which lives were sacrificed.However, the resolution via the separation of monarchy as symbolic in nature (head of state) and the Parliament who would run the government was the good result of this political struggle. References Dix, P. (1992) The Ghosts of Edgehill, Leamington Spa, Peter Dix Press. Evans, R. (2005) The ‘Loyal Unknown Soldier': Wales and the English Civil War Robin Evans Assesses the Contribution of the Welsh to the Troubles of 1642-49. History Review. 53(1): 23-29. Roberts, K and Tincey, J. (2001) Edgehill 1642 : first battle of the English Civil War, Oxford : Osprey Military.

Division Zombie Essay

Matt Coon Mrs. Scott English Comp 15 March 2013 Zombies A zombie is defined as a deceased human body that has somehow become reanimated and autonomous, yet no longer has sufficient brain or vital functions to be considered alive or capable of thought. The characteristics of a zombie have evolved over the years and throughout various cultures. In Africa they portray a zombie as a soulless being used as a slave for a voodoo priest. Never the less we will take a look at the American portrayal of the modern day zombie.We will do this by dividing the â€Å"zombie† into four different categories; the walkers, the runners, the crawlers, and the mutated zombies. In the older legends, zombie lore usually involved some form of voodoo or evil magic, but most modern zombie-themed media centralizes the idea of a rapidly spreading disease or virus causing the human species to turn into mindless beings with an intense hunger for the human flesh. Walkers were the first breed of zombie that ac tually craved human flesh. The usually spell-induced African zombies were just soulless beings; they had no desire to feast on people.Very fragile, and mostly decomposed, these â€Å"walkers† move extremely slowly. However, what they lack in agility, they make up for in magnitude. Usually walking around aimlessly, the walkers normally travel in groups, a lot like a flock of birds, but at the first sight of flesh the group converges and the next thing you know your overcome. Of all the types of zombies, walkers are probably the most realistic. The idea of somebody dying and being resurrected as a necrotic, dead cannibal is terrifying to a majority of the population.They may lurch about and stumble comically, but it only takes one to alert the rest of the group and nest thing you know you have an army chasing you from all directions. All for the BRAINS! Created to put zombie movies at a faster pace, the â€Å"runner† is not technically a zombie. Customarily originated by a man-made disease or virus, these zombies are exceedingly fast and viciously savage. This is why happening upon a single runner can be just as deadly as meeting an entire horde of the inferior walkers. Assumedly because quick, hard-to-catch targets darting around the screen present more of a threat han those slower moving zombies, runners often play the most crucial part in zombie-based video games and films of this day and age. Zombies are nothing but soul-less, rotting bodies; so what happens to them when they lose a part of themselves? Started by the popular video game Call of Duty, crawlers are normal zombies, walkers or runners, who had their legs dismembered in an attempt to kill them. Usually caused by trying to cut them or some sort of explosion. These zombies are typically slow moving and easy prey; but if you are not vigilant they can be very hazardous.Even if they can’t chase you down and attack you, they still carry whatever infection or virus put them in their current condition, and they are more than capable of passing it on while fighting you off. They will often attack the feet and ankles first, in attempts to infect and weaken you. Then, when you fall to the ground, they feast. Last of all, there are the mutated zombies. Mutated zombies were started by the popular video-game-turned-movie series, Resident Evil. Infected, panicked, and fighting to retain life, scientists attempted to create a serum to battle the virus.At first it seemed as if it was working, and the disease was to be cured; alas, most of them turned into to heaps of rotting, radioactive flesh, starving for the taste of brains. There are other cases where a zombie is doused in radioactive material, afterwards becoming virtually unrecognizable afterwards. These unlucky few are freakishly disfigured; they are also generally very agile and extremely strong. Not only infected, most mutated zombies also come radioactive, one touch who knows what may happen?Uninfected humans o ften have no chance of survival when standing up to one of these monsters. Even though the zombie apocalypse will probably never happen, it is always going to be one of the human race’s biggest fears. Maybe this essay will help somebody through it by knowing all of the many types of zombies, each one stronger and faster than the other. We also know never to turn your back on a zombie, even if it is just crawling around snapping at your ankles. The zombie apocalypse might not happen any time soon but it is always good to be prepared.

Fashion as Communication Essay

For this week’s task I had to read a quite difficult extract from ‘Fashion as Communication’ by Malcolm Barnard about how fashion is regarded in today’s society, whether it is trivial or not and highlighting how important it is in today’s economy. The first idea exposed is that fashion is ‘fit only for the intellectually disenfranchised’, suggesting that everyone working in the fashion industry lacks intelligence. Having chosen to study Fashion Marketing I completely disagree with this statement, but I am fully aware of the prejudices held against it. When I decided to pursue this course I realized most people did not consider Fashion Marketing a serious career, but the truth is that it takes a lot of dedication and hard work to succeed in this industry and most people do not understand what it really entails. What struck me most was a quote from a letter in The Guardian’s Women’s page arguing that ‘fashion is irrelev ant to serious minded persons’. As Anna Wintour says in The September issue ‘Just because you like to put on a beautiful Carolina Herrera dress or a pair of J Brand blue jeans instead of something basic from K-Mart it doesn’t mean that you’re a dumb person’ and even if you make a choice that you think completely leaves you out of the fashion industry, you are nevertheless engaging with it. Fashion is a way of expressing yourself; people will judge you on what you are wearing so if you want to be seen as a ‘serious-minded person’ you will have to look like one, thus making fashion relevant. Barnard then goes on to present a counter argument by saying that ‘fashion seems to be inevitable, given the social and economic organization of most of the world’, which is true, fashion is everywhere, everyone is influenced by it and it hugely contributes to the global economy. In addition to this ‘fashion is a product of a society with more than one class in it where upward movement between classes is both possible and desirable’, there is a market for every level of the social structure, from value to luxury, which have been developed because the elite cannot wear the same as everybody else. Fashion is thus a way of claiming social status and it creates a social mobility that could not otherwise be accessed. Fashion is an industry based on creating a need where there is none and nowadays, due to the current recession, I can understand that fashion may not be people’s biggest concern. But we cannot qualify it as ‘trivial’ since we are surrounded by it; each new generation of customers is highly exposed to commercial influences. As I have seen through the text  this industry ‘covers increasingly large parts of the world’ and its role on today’s economic organization and modern culture is just too important to qualify fashion as ‘trivial’. In my opinion people despise it or mock it because they don’t understand it or feel excluded from this world. Barnard, M. (1996) Fashion as Communication 1st ed. Routledge pp 17-18

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Business Management Technology Report - Essay Example Inevitably, the organisation evolved to be able to develop strategic plans for the effective management of technological systems that supports its business operations – most primarily, focusing on internet transactions and eCommerce applications. The internet trade service of HSBC bank provides the customer with a wide range of financial products at a single point of entry. In the case of large organisations, banking with HSBC would be a unique experience considering their access to large volumes of data and better financial control, through setting reasonable transfer limits across different people and easy access to tools and services. In addition, HSBC has developed tremendous support for the export/import business units as well, be it a new player in the business or person with considerable years of experience. In order to better banking experience for its customers, HSBC has been trying hard to promote the internet banking among its customers. This would require more efficient operational systems which include robust security systems to protect the transfer of private information. Thus the possible improvements in this connection can be proposed only after a closer introspection of prevailing technological competence of HSBC. The HSBC has the privilege of having the best I.T. security systems to protect the transactions through the internet. But as the technology is changing rapidly to prevent any large scale frauds or possibility of any losses it need to evolve appropriate SISP considering the business growth potential. The potential use of techniques like biometrics could also be attempted to strengthen its security systems. The report presents the various opportunities that HSBC could explore to strengthen its security systems for the benefit of customers. The impact of the information and communication technologies have

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Describe the current U.S. healthcare cost milieu and evaluate the need to ration the availability of healthcare services - Essay Example For which reason, other methods are being planned in order to ensure comprehensive coverage. One of these methods is the health care rationing approach which is meant to assist in the availability of health care services to as many individuals as possible. This paper shall describe the current US healthcare cost milieu and it shall evaluate the need to ration the availability of health services. Healthcare spending in the US is supported through private and public sources combined (Duetsch Bank Research, p. 5). In the year 2008, about 52.7% of the national expenditures came from private shares and 47.3% came from public shares (Deutsch Bank Research, p. 5). This is considered low when compared with the OECD average; however, this has always been the trend in the US, with publicly supported health care consisting of less than the portion of the population. The publicly sponsored costs are those which cover the poor, the elderly, and the disabled (Deutsch Bank Research, p. 5). The main publicly sponsored programs are the Medicare for Americans 65 years and older and the Medicare for the poor and the disabled. Even as more than half of health care spending is actually financed by the public, a major part of the services is provided by private service providers (Deutsch Bank Research, p. 4). Private insurance covers about 66% of Americans and some 58% of these Americans are ins ured through their employers. The general cost of healthcare is significant due to the services and the health tools needed to secure quality health care. Health care costs have been driven up because of various factors. Among these factors include the introduction of technology and prescription drugs. For many years, health technologies have been introduced into the practice and these technologies are very expensive when actually used. Prescription drugs have also increased in number and frequency of use, driving up cost and

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History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 76

History - Essay Example of the European powers across the globe were no longer welcomed in the larger Americas; in effect, erecting a wall of protection around the unites states’ neighboring nations, thus, allowing them to develop in their own terms (Renehan, 2007). The show of solidarity expressed in the doctrine in an era of revolutions against European imperialism encouraged the United States to build up its military might in readiness to defend its interests as well as those of other smaller defenseless nations within the hemisphere. It is hard to deny that the foreign policy stance at the time formed the very origins of America’s â€Å"imperialistic, police†Ã‚  behavior, more particularly with regards to terrorism watch around the world; a policy inspired by the 9/11 never to change/be changed any time in the near future. While not referred to much often in the diplomatic transactions, the Monroe doctrine remains in force, but with a larger police role on the shoulders of the United States that goes beyond Southern

Does Christian Salvesen's sickness absence management policy meet its Essay

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The Ford Motor Company Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

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Communication in Health and Social Care Essay Example for Free

Communication in Health and Social Care Essay 1. 1 Apply relevant theories of communication to health and social care contextsAccording to George Gerbner,he describes the three main branches of communication studies as; 1. †semiotics† The study of signs and symbols and how they combine to convey meaning in different social contexts,This branch is mainly concerned with how verbal,non verbal and aural signs and symbols combine to create messages. 2. Media effects the study of behaviour and interaction through exposure to messages,It emphasizes measuring,explaining and predicting communication effects on knowledge,perceptions,beliefs,attitudes and public opinion,It is strongly influenced by scientific methods from the fields of psychology and social psychology. 3. Message production is the study of the large-scale organization through social institutions and system,example; mass media,political organisation,government and advocacy groups. Their history, regulations,policy making impact,It is strongly influenced by scientific methods from the fields of sociology but also by the methods of political science and public affair. According to Abraham Maslows humanistic theory of learning,learning contributes to psychological health. The goals of learning includes discovery of ones vocation or destiny;knowledge of values;realization of life as precious;acquisition of peak experiences; senses of accomplishment;satisfaction of psychological needs;awareness of beauty and wonder of life;impulse control;developing choice and grappling with critical existential problems of life. Applying Abraham Maslows Hierarchy of needs in The Care Home Setting,service users needs should be met like; Freedom of abuse and neglect from the care workers and ensuring them adequate food and shelter;Free from any kind of discrimination,risks and danger to be able to feel safe;Ability to trust their care workers and receive effective communication;Respect for their rights,dignity,privacy and diversity;Helping them take control of their own lives in order to develop their full potential and reach their goal. According to John B. Watson, Behaviours can be measured,trained and changed. It also acquired through conditioning which occurs through interaction with the environment. All of our sensory work, memory work,attention,etc,are part of definite modes of behaviour. In a Care Home Setting, it explains why we need to separate service users with an agitative behaviour from a noisy environment where other service users are happily participating in a physical activities,to prevent his/her agitation to aggression which can be potentially harm to the other individuals,care workers needs to take the service user to a quiet place to settle down. Sometimes moody behaviours are the service users way to communicate what they feel so its very important on the part on the care workers to be very observant on service users mood change and act accordingly According to Sigmund Freuds outline of psychoanalysis(1940),He compared the human mind to an iceberg in order to describe the structure of personality. The small portion of the iceberg that lies above the water represents the conscious mind,or all the thoughts,feelings,and desires that you are fully aware of. This is the aspect of our mental processing than we can think and talk about rationally. A part of this includes our memory,which is not always part of consciousness but can be retrieved easily at any time and can be brought into awareness which is called preconscious. The massive below the surface represents our unconscious mind,The reservoir of feelings,thoughts,urges and memories that outside of our conscious awareness. Most of the contents of the unconscious are unacceptable or unpleasant,such as feelings of pain,anxiety or conflict. According to Freud, the consciousness continues to influence behaviour and experience,even though we are unaware of these underlying influences. In relation to this theory at The Care Home setting,Care workers deal with different Service user with different behaviours, medical problems,communication problems,cultures and needs. It is very important to identify the individuals communication capabilities and incapabilities to be able to help them empower their weaknesses and difficulties,in that way, care workers will be able to get cooperation from the service users and establish rapport on doing their everyday task and to meet their needs and maintain their well being. According to Ulric Neisser cognition is all processes by which the sensory input is transferred ,reduced,elaborated, stores,recovered and used. In short,it means it is the branch of psychology that studies mental processes including how people think,perceive,remember and learn. It is involved in everything a human being might possibly do;that every psychological phenomenon is cognitive phenomenon. An example of this theory at the Care Home Setting where service users are suffering of dementia,Care workers needs to encourage service users to participate on ctivities such as brain and physical exercises,social gatherings and have a good diet,to stimulate their brain cells and regained its brain power. 1. 2 Undertake and evaluate at least one communication activity in Health and Social Care Organization,considering Confidentiality and Data Protection Act 1998. Communication in a Health Care Organization is very important. It is the key for the health care providers and other health agencies to carry out their responsibilities to maintain the well being of the service users. An example of this is when making a care plan for the service users,all individuals that are involve in continuing health care of the service user must contribute on making the care plan by communicating their observations, assessments and suggestions on the service users daily activities ,risks and wellness. The service user should contribute as well on making their care plan by telling their preferences,choices, wishes and needs. Otherwise, the care workers will have no idea what kind of care the service users wanted to receive. If the service user cant speak for themselves,there must be a representative to speak for their behalf,either a social care worker,solicitor or a member of their family. When the care plan has been made,it should be kept in a secure and protected filing cabinet which only authorize person can have access on the document for data protection and to maintain confidentiality on the informations written in the care plan to protect all personal informations gathered.  If the service user needs to be transferred to a new health care services,the care plan should be presented for their reference. 1. 3 Describe and explore barriers to communication with health and social care Organisations In a Care Home for vulnerable adults,the most common communication barriers that a care workers encounter are the following; difficulty of hearing,impaired eyesight,learning difficulties,memory loss,foreign language,cultural differences,stroke,emotional problems,sensory loss and others. Problem arises between care workers and service users when doing personal care tasks if these barriers mentioned are present, the task may not be completed well because of misunderstanding which resulting in cooperation from the service user. Therefore,it will never be easy for the care worker to perform the task well without the full cooperation of the service user. Often times service users disagree with some procedures if your explanation is not enough for them to understand it,or if they are not comfortable with it. To solve the problem, care workers should encourage the service user s to have an input with the care they want to receive. They might know a better way to do the task in their most comfortable and convenient way. If the service user have difficulty of communicating because of the barriers mentioned,ask them what kind of communication method they prefer and wish to use,thus giving them a choice. Explain the various methods of communication available and what would be suitable for them. Seek further advice from the specialists in the wider health care team. Care givers also consult to the clients care plan as this should contain all necessary information. Care givers need to listen attentively and take notice of what the service users are communicating and not assume what they want. 1. 4 Understand how to transmit values and the need to transmit values when communicating within health and social care Organizations Respecting the rights of the service users at the care home should be highly observe. When the preferred method of communication of a service user has been identified,which is obviously the ones that they can communicate most effectively,care workers must respect to use it or learn to use it because if they dont,then they are of risk of not communicating effectively,distressing the service user and breaching their rights. A service user who has suffered of stroke may have communication problem such as, they can understand the care workers completely but have difficulty with speech and its likely to become very frustrated if they cannot express themselves using their preferred method of communication. Problems arises when the care worker will just assume what the service user is saying rather than giving them more time to talk or attempting to encourage them to communicate their choices,wishes,preference and needs. If this happens the service user may end up for example;served with a meal they never want, wear clothes they never picked out and go to bed when they dont wish to,these situations shows that the rights of the service users has been taken away from them.

TV and Our Children Essay Example for Free

TV and Our Children Essay There is a long term debate about television affecting development of children, its positive and negative impacts, and possible consequences of excessive popularity of TV among young developing personalities. Critics argue on supportive and harmful influence of television on kids, and access the topic from different perspectives: scientific, which is observing of physical changes in child’s development, ethical, moral, and psychological. A number of experiments have been conducted in order to determine possible harmful effects of television on young minds, which indicated different and controversial results as for the issue. However, every study confirms that excessive time spending in front of television negatively influences various aspects of child’s development. see more:influence of television   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The extent of influential force of television of young developing personalities can be determined with the help of reviewing and investigating the results and outcomes of different experiments conducted on this matter. First of all, television can be determined as a representation of information in two senses, which are hearing and sight. Furthermore, television reproduces the sounds of a very poor quality to the human hearing, and the visual data contains flashing, unrealistically colored, fluorescent over-stimulating images to a human eye, which can be a threat to development and proper functioning of the sight and hearing organs (Poplawski 1998). Moreover, watching television can result in improper functioning of the vital multi-leveled sensory elements, which can deteriorate the process of children’s brains growth. Experiments, where children are left alone with limited interaction wit other personalities, accompanied only by the information retrieved form TV screen, show that such isolation tends to generate a decrease of child’s brain by approximately 25% (Healy 1990). Further experiments conducted on young developing animals, which assume confining an individual into a closed space with the ability only to observe the action of other animals, indicated the similar effect of brain decrease and its rate was proportional to the time spent in confines (Healy 1990). A full visual ability of a child and a three-dimensional vision pertained to an adult organism continue the development process until a child becomes 4 years old. Consequently, the visual data produced by television appliances blocks the full functionality of seeing abilities and limits it to the quality reproduced by the actual screen, which represents unfocused two dimensional data composing of a limited amount of dots of light, often referred as TV resolution and refreshment rate. The visual information appears on the screen due to the process of transmitting electrons by a cathode ray gun to fluorescent substances, phosphors. The product of phosphors is artificially pulsed light originated from its glow, and it is directly perceived by a human eye without stimulating the function neuron-endocrine system secretions (Mander 1978). The final product of a TV screen represents a fairly unfocused picture, in order to perceive which with clarity and sharp focus the eyes of a human have to strain and adjust to the lower quality visual product. Apparently, television negatively affects the physiological development of a young human organism, as well as adult organism can experience harmful effects of excessive watching television. Among some other arguments that support the idea of harmful influence of television are moral and ethical considerations, which can be quite controversial. As an example of these, there is an argument of negative affect provided by the information received from TV including violence, inappropriate social behavior, explicit use of language, scenes of sexual acts and sexual abuses. Furthermore, television may become a tool of promoting inadequate behavior of people, as well as stimulating different addictions both to TV and products promoted on TV. Another recognized problem of watching too much television is very critical to young personality’s mind development. Watching television prevents children from use of their imaginative thinking, as they perceive the message exactly in form it was transmitted by author of shown information. Neocortex, a part of the brain that stimulates the creation of images, pictures, and symbols, is partially or sometimes completely inactive while children watch TV. Imaginative thinking is a critical aspect of human development, as it is a foundation of such human characteristics as intuition, creativity, leadership, artistic features, learning abilities, and many more. Television puts a child in a position of a passive recipient of information, limiting the extent of his/her participation and the ability to influence the ongoing action. Probably, one of the most successful definitions of harmful affects of television on young personalities is its impairment of the three main human characteristics acquired during the first three years of a child’s life. During this period a child learns to talk, walk, and think. Television captures a child in the sitting position most of the time, prevents possible communication, and makes a child a passive recipient of information without providing an ability to analyze the information and think. In contrast to all the harmful effects of television and its severity, TV is a very useful educational tool during the first years of human life. Television provides a possibility to get acquainted with objects, organisms, and phenomena that are impossible to encounter in person. Different educational programs, promoting exemplary behavior of children on TV in masterly created scenarios and plays may significantly assist parents in teaching basic society norms, values, and understandings. Informational programs providing information about natural phenomena and different living species on earth helps children to get acquainted with what they cannot meet in their environment. Also, different programs stimulate children’s positive attitude, as well as sound effects such as music generates the ideas and senses of rhythm. In conclusion, television should not be completely removed from the child’s environment in the time of his/her development. However, watching TV should be regulated on the time, purpose, and body position basis in order to maintain the impact provided by television. Short-time uses and right body positioning is essential when watching television as it prevents from many harmful physiological effects on the child’s body and prevents young body muscles from lack of activity. Information provided by television should be specifically chosen to attempt to get as much of positive educational data from watching TV as possible, however, a child must still have relative freedom in choosing specific programs. Watching TV practice should be minimized to the most extent possible, replacing it by activities, which contain more physical and intellectual involvement of a child. Examples of these can be reading books, spending time with friends, outside in nature, etc. Nevertheless, any regulation of spending time in front of television will not eliminate all harmful effects provided by this activity. The goal is to create a balance, or to outweigh the negative impacts of TV by positive contributions to child’s development. Bibliography Buzzell, Keith. The Children of Cyclops: The Influence of Television Viewing on the Developing Human Brain. 1998 California: AWSNA. Davis, Kimberly. â€Å"TV and your child: how much is too much?† Ebony.   Oct, 2004. Everett, Miles. How Television Poisons Childrens Minds. California: Miles Publishing. 1997. Healy, Jane. Endangered Minds: Why Children Dont Think and What We Can Do About It. 1990 New York: Simon and Schuster. Mander, Jerry. Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television. New York: William Morrow and Co. 1978 Poplawski, Thomas. Losing Our Senses. Renewal: A Journal for Waldorf Education. 7:2, Fall 1998. Yarbrough, Marti. â€Å"Movies, music TV: can parents monitor their childrens entertainment?† Jet.  March 28, 2005.

How Colour Symbolism in Animation Affects the Viewer

How Colour Symbolism in Animation Affects the Viewer The impact on people of colour symbolism in animation Animation movies present an unusual set of challenges and questions to academics examining films from a cognitive perspective. When the boundaries of the real world do not exist like do in live action movies, the film maker is challenged to create the complete narrative space of scratch. How do animators succeed this seemingly enormous task? This question certainly precedes making film life and space in visual art has been a subject of deep study by artists, photographers, historians and psychologists alike. While the intention may be to create a highly realistic visual space, the option given to visual artists and animators  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   is to abandon principle of realism in favour of another different perspective on the visual reality. Animation alone can bring to life inanimate objects, challenge and defy laws of physics, and create visual effects beyond the bounds of possibility in live action film.Animation and colour have evolved since their respective beginning. Colour has been both an obvious challenge as well as a field for exploration for animators throughout the animation history. Scientific discoveries in aspect to the perception of colour also influenced its use in art and animation, making colour an ideal goal for further exploration in a psychological context. In this chapter three questions will be posed and answered. First, what is colour exactly and how is it defined? And second, how has colour been used by animators through the history of animated film? Finally, how does our cognitive sense of colour shape the viewers cognitive sense of a film? The final question will focus on a specific population of animated movies (animated movies adapted for children), and how the use of colour in these films strategically differs from other types of films. WHAT IS COLOR? Color is a concept that philosophers, artists, and scientists have historically spent a great deal of time exploring and quantifying. Physiologically, our perception of color results from varying wavelengths of light being reflected onto the retina, which in turn are processed by cells called photoreceptors. The relative responses to light spectra by these cells are what generate our ability to see and distinguish between colors. Anomalies in photoreceptor cells can cause deficits in the ability of an individual to see color, though in some unique circumstances, these anomalies allow individuals to more finely discriminate between colors (Neitz, Kraft, Neitz, 1998; Jordan Mollon, 1992; Nagy, MacLeod, Heyneman, Eisner, 1981). 2 Quantifying Color. Attempts to categorize color vastly predate our understanding of the physiology of the eye, but Isaac Newtons Opticks (1704) is pivotal in its introduction of his color wheel for understanding color theory2. The ordering of the colors around his color circle (and in subsequent iterations by other color theorists) is based on the order in which the colors are refracted out from the prism, uniting violet and red to close the radial axis (see Figure 1). Thus the ordering of the colors on the color wheel is not arbitrary, but based in the physics of light. Newton also introduced the notions of primary and secondary colors, and notes that opponent colors on the color wheel combine to create a neutral light color3. Despite that it has evolved over time and exists in varying forms, the color wheel continues to play an important part in both the artistic and psychological understanding of color. Notably, it is useful for defining several metrics of color, namely hue and saturation. Hue refers generally to named colors, and corresponds to the sectors of color into which color wheels are typically divided. Examples of hue-based descriptions include blue-green, red, and pink. Saturation is another important color variable, and generally refers to how bright or potent a color is. Pastel colors (which are closer to the center of the color circle) are relatively unsaturated. Very saturated colors (which are referred to as bright red or bold blue, for example) lie along the outer edges of the color circle. Luminance is another variable important for discussing color. Luminance refers to how light or dark something is; when discussing color in particular, it refers to how much black is contained within a particular color. Unlike hue and saturation, luminance can be independent of color; in other words, black-and-white images contain no hue or saturation information but do contain luminance information. Because luminance is not a variable unique to color stimuli, it is not represented on the color wheel4, but nonetheless it is an important variable when discussing color. These terms, including how they are mathematically quantified, will be revisited later with data. The color wheel is not the only color quantification system to define colors using the metrics of hue, saturation, and luminance. One of the most noted color-classification systems, and the one still most reliably used in psychophysiological testing, was originally developed by Albert Munsell, and also uses these color parameters5. Munsell compiled and organized a tremendous set of finely-grained discrete colors now known as Munsell colors or Munsell chips (Munsell, 1912; Munsell, 1919). One important component of the Munsell color system is that it emphasizes that color perception is dependent on the physiology of the human eye. For example, humans can more identify many more discrete levels of yellow than blue at high values, whereas the reverse is true at low values. In other words, one can argue more light yellows exist than dark yellows, whereas color wheel representations suggest that all color values exist equally in our visual environment. While the study of how we physiologically perceive color is important, perhaps more critical in studying art and film from a cognitive perspective is the question of how we psychologically respond to color. Our preferences for and biases toward particular colors have the potential to influence how we respond cognitively and emotionally to art. Color Preferences. Artists across visual domains recognize how the use of color affects viewers perception of their work. Deliberate and comprehensive choices regarding the use of color permeate all types of visual art, including intentional choices to omit color from 3 artwork6. Unsurprisingly, people tend to have strong predelictions for particular colors. While it might intuitively seem like individuals each have their own color preferences that are unique, the psychological research on color preferences reveals a surprising amount of concordance across people in terms of color preferences. In terms of specific colors, research has consistently demonstrated a cross-gender and cross-cultural preference for blue hues above other hues (Eysenck, 1941; Granger, 1952; McManus, Jones, Cottrell, 1981; Komar Melamid, 1997). People also tend to consistently rate yellow and brown hues as being least pleasant, especially in their darker forms (Palmer Schloss, 2010). Biases across populations are not limited to hue; people consistently tend to favor colors in more saturated forms as opposed to more washed-out or pastel counterparts of the same hue (Granger, 1952). Naturally, the consistency in color preference drove psychologists to posit theories on how color preference develops. Some have proposed that color preference is an innate artifact of human evolutionary history, which developed to facilitate our early survival in hunter-gatherer societies (Hulbert Ling, 2007). While some biological evidence supports this idea, if color preferences are present at birth, infants and adults should show similar color preferences, when in fact they do not. Data collected from infants and young children suggest that color preferences change over time, and that while children eventually match adults on their color preferences later, they are not born with those preferences. Infants tend to prefer colors that adults classify as unpleasant, namely dark yellows, yellow-greens and reds (Adams, 1987). Children also have a preference for very high saturation that gradually diminishes to match the adult preference level for saturation (Child, Hansen, Hornbeck, 1968). Since preferences for color dimensions seem to be dynamic over the lifespan, it is unlikely that color preferences are built-in. This is not to say that color preference is purely nonfunctional; in fact, the ecological valence theory of color preference suggests that the early associations humans build with colored objects facilitate their color preferences (Palmer Schloss, 2010). For example, our early preference for dark yellows in infancy may come from consistent positive exposure to caregiver skin tones and hair color; it is only later that we learn the association between dark yellows and rotten food or excrement, at which point this preference changes direction. Conversely, as we increase our exposure to stimuli like clean water and fresh food, our preferences for blues and slightly-saturated hues begins to dominate color preferences. Yet another theory, which is particularly relevant for the use of color in an art space, is that we learn strong associations between emotion and color, and color can consequently be used to evoke particular states of emotion. Specific colors have been shown to correlate with arousal (Valdez Mehrabian, 1994) and scales of emotional valence (Kaya Epps, 2004; for a detailed review on color-emotion literature, see also Steinvall, 2007). This theory is not necessarily at odds with other theories on color preference; in fact, it may simply supplement the idea that gaining positive associations with a color increases our preference for that color, which is an assumption that guides most current theories on color preference. 4 The question that remains from our understanding of color preference is whether or not art mimics life; in other words, how do animated filmmakers instill color in an artificial world, and do filmmakers exploit our color preferences in order to make their films more engaging? HOW IS COLOR USED IN ANIMATION? Color is arguably one of the most salient features of even the earliest animated films. This is not to imply, however, that the techniques involved in creating an animated space with dynamic color is a simple process. In fact, some of the biggest obstacles in moving animation forward as an art form arose from the complications of colorization. Cel Animation. Often referred to as traditional animation, the cel animation approach dominated the animated film landscape from very early in films history to the relatively recent advent of computer animation. Cel animated films composite a meticulously painted background layer with transparent celluloid (or cel) layer containing foreground information. Each layer carries with it important implications for how color is ultimately represented and rendered in the final film. The background layer, while usually created first, must work reciprocally with the cel layers in order for the colors to appear natural together and for the layers to appear integrated. The overuse of color, in particular colors that are heavily saturated, tends to overwhelm cel forms placed overtop the background; instead, the background ideally consists of more muted colors to complement the component cel forms. This led to the Disney animated film signature watercolor effect of its background layers (Thomas Johnson, 1995). The cel layer presents significantly more challenges where color is involved, and these challenges were originally addressed by Disneys larger-budget animation studios. The physical properties of celluloid itself have implications for color; the thicker the cel, the darker the resulting colors layered onto the cel layer (Thomas Johnson, 1995). Thus, paint color had to be balanced in such a way that the resulting cel painting did not clash with the watercolor appearance of the background layer. Colors high in saturation were often difficult to achieve because they also ultimately darkened when photographed from the cel. Disneys animators found that muted colors in the cel layer often were the best complement for a variety of background layers. When designing a character or a cel-layer object, animators were often limited by the expense of cel paint colors, and thus character design was in a sense limited by color. Adding to this complication, cel artists and color keys also had to adjust the color palettes of characters depending on the implied lighting of a background, to avoid a character looking overly-red or overly-saturated in a nighttime scene, for example (Thomas Johnson, 1995). Color in the cel layer also contained some complications for maintaining realism in the animated scene. For example, outlining characters in black often made their appearance visually heavier and detracted from their integration with the background layer. Disney first introduced colored inking to replace universal blank inking, and colored inking was also integrated with cel Xeroxing technology as that emerged (Thomas Johnson, 1995). Another color problem dealt with creating depth in the cel layer: textures in hair and fur could be created via airbrushing and drybrushing, but this created a flicker effect when the individual cels were captured in sequence. 5 Animators ultimately decided this depth was worth a certain small-scale amount of flicker tradeoff (Thomas Johnson, 1995). Computer Animation. The cel approach dominated animated films for decades, and the interest in streamlining the cel animation process led to the initial involvement of computers in animation. The first film to be digitally composited was Disneys 1990 film The Rescuers Down Under (Prince, 2012). Computer involvement in animation was also prioritized as a means of film restoration and improving film resolution; that same year, digital paint techniques allowed Disney to fix flaws in the original print of Fantasia for reissue, and in 1993, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was completely restored to create a higher-resolution version of the film (Bordwell, 2012). Computer-based coloring was particularly valuable because it generated more freedom to alter independent components of an image. Prior to computer involvement, color correction had to be done on a whole-frame basis; the process of digitally compositing and altering films meant that color-correction could be done on an individual object or character without the need to alter the entire frame image (Prince, 2012). The involvement of computers in animation continued to grow as the technology became more inexpensive and accessible, and animators experimented with new computer-based techniques for animating (such as crowd-generation in Mulan(1998))7. By the mid-90s, the vast majority of cel animated films employed computers to streamline the once-arduous tasks involved in hand-animating films, including colorization. Because animators no longer had to rely on physical paint or hand-calibrate background and cel layers, the colorization and texturization processes became much easier, and artists in turn were able to work with more degrees of freedom in their animating. The revolution in computer animation began with the first fully computer-based animated film, Toy Story (1995). Moving from a two-dimensional animation space into a threedimensional, digitally-constructed environment had a huge initial investment cost (both in labor and finance), but ultimately gave the animated filmmaker a great deal of flexibility in constructing visual narratives (for a review, see Lasseter, 1987). Constructing and coloring a 3D environment and set of characters involves a great deal of initial time and planning, but the ultimate outcome is a greater degree of control in colorization, in which every individual element in the digital landscape can be fine-tuned in color space. Film Stock. One important caveat worth noting when discussing animation is that the color of the final product is always affected by the film stock. Even in contemporary computer animation, where color design can be done on a very fine-grained scale, the final film is ultimately rendered onto film stock. The choice of film stock, as evidenced especially by the changes in stock availability and popularity over time, as well as advances in stock quality, renders color variably (Bordwell Thompson, 2004). Technicolor film stock was popular with early Disney animated films, which exacerbated complications with cel painting by rendering colors heavy in midtones. This forced animators and color keys8 into a particular spectrum of colors when painting in order to achieve the desired final look on the Technicolor film stock (Thomas Johnson, 1995). Even in modern animated films, the change between the cel or computer and the film stock accounts for some variability in coloring of the final product. Indeed, this is not even the last step in color variance: the original camera negative is almost 6 always different from the colors displayed in theaters, on home televisions, or on computer screens (Prince, 2012). Some of this variance can potentially be put to rest with the increasing number of films being distributed as Digital Cinema Packages (rather than in 35mm form), but it persists as a problem for those interested in studying pinpointing color in film scientifically (Bordwell, 2012). It is clear that artists have more freedom with color in animated films. Before digital technology, live action films were confined by the natural color of objects in a scene as well as by the limited amount of post-production work available to alter color (Prince, 2012). However, from animations inception, animators have been able to select a wide range of colors to best suit their needs, despite some of the early cost and technical constraints. The introduction of computer animation allows for the greatest amount of freedom in color control, putting the entire digital color environment under the direction of the artistic team. The precise control of color in this setting not only has artistic consequences, but also important implications for how films can evoke particular psychological responses from its viewers. The rest of this chapter will examine work revolving around the use of color for a particular audience of animated viewers: specifically, how filmmakers use color in animated films intended for children. CHILDRENS ANIMATED FILMS: ARE THERE DIFFERENCES IN COLOR USE? In the introduction to her book A Reader in Animation Studies, Jayne Pilling (1997) discusses how Disney, as the first company to invest heavily in animated features, eventually became the model for animated films and subsequently marginalized animation into an art form somehow intrinsically only appropriate for entertaining children (xi). Indeed, it appears that the Disney model caused an aggressive bifurcation in the animated feature world, with heavy emphasis being placed on the creation of child-oriented animated films, and a smaller contingent of artists attempting to legitimize animation as an art form appealing to adults. While Pilling is correct in that the latter set of films is certainly underrepresented in the film studies literature, child-oriented animated features have a particular appeal for being studied from a cognitive perspective. Filmmakers in this animation subset face a specific challenge in trying to engage children in their visual narrative; there is ample evidence that the cognitive and attentional capacities of children differ from those of adults considerably, so what changes must the director of a childrens animated film make in order to captivate this unique audience? One potential shift to accommodate this audience appears to take place in colorization of these films. In order to study the physical properties (including color) of childrens films, we assembled a sample9 of G-rated childrens films made between 1985 and 2008 (Brunick, DeLong, Cutting, 2012; Brunick Cutting, in prep). Films in the sample were the highestgrossing G-rated theatrical films from each year in the range and also included some direct-tovideo films10. The sample included live-action, cel animated and computer animated films geared to a variety of ages11. We considered our entire sample of childrens films for our original analyses; for the purposes of this chapter, only the animated films (both cel and computer) will be discussed. This sample is contrasted with a subsample of adult-geared, non-animated films 7 from the same time period (see the 1985 through 2005 films from Cutting, DeLong, Nothelfer, 2010). The following sections will (1) discuss how the color parameter in question was mathematically quantified and (2) discuss the trends in the color parameter for the child- and adult-directed samples. Saturation. As discussed earlier, saturation refers to the brightness or boldness of a color. Saturation radiates outward from the center of the color circle: the center of the circle is white, with no saturation, while the edges of the circle represent fully-saturated forms of a particular hue. However, when analyzing color digitally, saturation is typically not discussed in terms of a color wheel, but instead in terms of a digital color space known as the HSV cone. This space is named for its dimensions: hue, saturation, and value. Value is roughly equivalent to luminance, and this space is essentially constructed by adding this variable to the color wheel (see Figure 2). The base of the HSV cone is a color wheel, and the height of the cone represents value. As value decreases (as the colors become darker), colors are limited in their saturation. Saturation is generally quantified on a scale from 0 (white, no saturation) to 1 (fully saturated). Saturation levels for each pixel in a frame were digitally computed. The median saturation level for all the pixels in each frame was computed, and an average of the frames was obtained for the entire film. Within the childrens film sample, we found that cel animated films use significantly more saturated colors than computer-generated animated films, independent of the year that the films were made. Both live-action childrens films and the matched sample of adult-geared films have been increasing in saturation over time; in other words, newer films are more prone to be more saturated than older films. However, even with this trend, the live-action childrens films and adult-directed films are dramatically less saturated than their animated counterparts. This finding is both interesting and unsurprising for the same reason: the saturation levels in childrens films likely reflect young childrens preference for bright colors. However, it is unlikely that filmmakers are consciously making these choices based on the psychological literature; filmmakers instead are likely intuiting this preference, perhaps based on their own conceptions of how children respond to film or other parts of their visual environment. Regardless of the basis of this intuition, it is important to note that the saturation trends in the films appear to match the scientifically-established preferences of the target audience. Luminance. Though it can be measured independently of color, luminance plays an important part in color space and ultimately how a color is perceived on-screen. To assess luminance, color was digitally removed from the film using a standard digital grayscale conversion. Each pixels luminance value is computed, with values ranging from 0 (pure black) to 255 (pure white). The mean of the pixels in a frame were averaged to create the mean luminance for that frame, and the frames were subsequently averages to create whole-film lumimance. The trend in Hollywood films for adult audiences is a decrease in luminance; in other words, films have steadily been getting darker throughout the studied period, which has implications for directing eye-gaze and attention of the viewer during the film (Cutting, Brunick, DeLong, Iricinschi, Candan, 2011; Smith, 2012). Animated films for children, conversely, maintain a steady level of brightness independent of year, the target age of the film, or what type of animation (cel or computer) was used. While one could argue that consistent brightness is a 8 possible artifact of representing particular colors in animation, childrens live action films are actually increasing in brightness over this period; this evidence instead supports an interpretation that the intended audience is driving the brightness level, not simply that animated films are generally brighter. Another question posed by these findings is the potential interaction between saturation and luminance. As demonstrated by the HSV cone, colors with lower values are limited in their saturation. Is it then possible that childrens films are more saturated only because they are brighter? Or, perhaps, does the inclination of filmmakers to use saturated colors in childrens films necessitate a certain luminance level? While this is certainly possible, it is unlikely that the luminance findings are purely an artifact of the saturation levels, or vice versa. If this were the case, one would expect the trends in both the childrens films and adult-directed films to be complementary; in other words, both luminance and saturation should be increasing or decreasing together in the samples. This is not what we find. In the childrens sample, saturation levels hold steadily across time, while these films have increased in brightness over the same period. Even more importantly, adult-geared films have gotten considerably darker, but have also become steadily more saturated, not less. This evidence suggests that while luminance and saturation have a reciprocal relationship, and while some of the variance in one accounts for variance in the other, the findings reported here on the two metrics are largely independent. Hue. As discussed earlier, hue generally refers to named colors. In both the color wheel and in the HSV cone, hue is represented around the radial edge. One major problem with this representation of hue is that it is based in circular geometry, which makes mathematically quantifying and comparing hues difficult and unintuitive. Fully isolating luminance from hue in the HSV color space is also problematic; an ideal space for considering hue would allow for a full spectrum of colors to be represented (1) in a more convenient mathematical space and (2) independent of luminance. Accordingly, we considered hue using the YCbCr color space, which meets these important criteria. This color space takes the form of a rectangular prism on a diagonal axis (see Figure 3). This color space is also named for its axes in the space: Y (on the vertical axis) refers to luminance, while Cb and Cr refer respectively to chrominance-red and chrominance-blue. The chrominance axes plot complementary colors from the color wheel (red-green and blue-yellow, respectively) on opposite rectangular planes of the prism. The distinct advantage of YCbCr is having luminance on its own axis; in this way, one could take a square slice through the prism to get a square containing all colors at an isoluminant level. Rather than examining whole-film hue, which is nearly impossible without reducing hue on arbitrary dimensions, our research has examined the hue of particular characters in childrens films. We asked independent coders to view childrens animated films in grayscale, and to identify unambiguous protagonists and antagonists in the film. Frames containing these characters were selected, and the characters themselves were extracted from their background. The dominant hue of the protagonists and antagonists were plotted on an isoluminant slice of YCbCr color space. The analyses showed that protagonists, defined as unquestionably positive and morally-right characters, contained more blue and green hues. Antagonists, conversely, contained more red and yellow hues (Brunick, DeLong, Cutting, 2012). Unlike saturation, 9 where films mimic the preferences found in children, this analysis shows that the use of hue in childrens films coincides with adult hue preferences. If childrens preferences were being exploited, good characters would likely contain more child-preferred hues, such as red and yellow, when in reality precisely the opposite occurs. It is unclear why this trend is present, and certainly merits further analysis. One possible explanation is that the shift in hue preferences supposedly occurs earlier than the shift in saturation preferences; adults may not be as aware of the hue preference in children because it shifts earlier, and thus adults and filmmakers have less exposure to this cognitive facet of child color preference. The implications for studying childrens animated films, and childrens films in general, are vast. Researchers not only are able to gain insight into childrens cognitive capacities and preferences, but they can also observe the early reciprocal relationship between filmmaker and viewer. While films for adults are mostly classified as art or entertainment, film in a childs world also serves as an important tool for learning. Facilitating early learning from visual stimuli is a major goal of both psychology and education researchers, and childrens films c

The Green Mile by Stephen King Essays -- Film Movies

The Green Mile by Stephen King Summary: John Coffey is brought to Cold Mountain accused of rape and murder. It becomes known that he has a healing touch. Paul Edgecombe, the superintendent, has sympathy for Coffey and later finds out that Coffey is indeed innocent, but can find no way to stop the execution. Coffey proclaimed that he 'wanted to go'; and thus allowed Paul to accept Coffey's fate as he must, and go on with his life. Central Characters: Paul Edgecombe, probably over 100, narrator, was the head of E block (death row) at Cold Mountain Penitentiary. Paul faces an internal struggle between what his job wants him to do and what he sometimes knows is the 'right'; thing. Kind and gentle, he recounts this episode of his life from Georgia Pines, his retirement home. John Coffey is a huge, muscular black man but is very slow in the mental sense, brought into a situation where death surrounds him, yet he has the power to heal by his own touch. Other Characters: Dean Stanton, Harry Terwilliger, Brutus Howell, and Percy Wetmore were all guards on E block. Percy was the most significant; he was a banty-rooster sort of guy. He liked to pick fights. He represented the fears of Paul Edgecombe. Though it is not obvious at the beginning, it becomes clearer as Paul ages. Toot-Toot was portrayed as a jester to lighten the mood of the story. His humor is what kept the other guards sane. Hal (Warden) Moores was the warden of Cold Mountain Penitentiary. Melinda Moores, Hal's wi...

Standardized Testing Essay -- Standardized Testing Essays

Standardized Testing Scholar Bill Ayers believes standardized testing in schools does not accurately measure what is necessary to be successful in life. Ayers insists that Standardized tests such as the American College Test (ACT) and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) measure specific facts and function which are among the least interesting and slightest important information that children should know. In an article titled â€Å"Testing the Right Way for Talent†, written by Hugh Price, argues the fact that standardized tests fail to capture the qualities that are necessary to be successful in the business world. Another article labeled â€Å"Implementing NCLB Assessment and Accountability Requirements in an Imperfect World† composed by Stuart Kahl, is in agreement with both Price and Ayers. According to Bill Ayers, Hugh Price and Stuart Kahl, standardized tests are uncalled excuse for a traumatic and stressful time in a child’s life. Hugh Price and Stuart Kahl are among the large majority of people who do not believe one test is able to accurately measure what a child knows. Price states, â€Å"High-stakes standardized tests, like the Scholastic Aptitude Test, the SAT, fail to capture the qualities most essential for success in the corporate world, such as creativity, drive and leadership† (Price). Price claims that although these tests are able to rate children in topics such as Math, English and History, what really makes one who they are is more than book smarts, but their personality and leadership skills are also necessary. In addition to Price believing this fact, Kahl also articulates against standardized testing. In his article that analyzes The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Kahl is aware of the fact that ... ...ort and a motivation behind the tests may as well perform better than those who are not. Whatever the reason may be, many people, including Price, Kahl, and Ayers do not support standardized testing. These authors all have one opinion in common; they are all against testing for the sake of the children, because of the pressures kids already endure without the pressures of testing. They all claim that tests may be an unfair way to rank children in the world today due to: teachers not teaching children the right material in preparation for the test, family upbringing, and even worrying the children would affect the test results. As Ayers indicates, one single test could not determine where a child stands in the business world, due to the fact that the test analyzes specific topics on school and nothing about their personality or more personal traits.

Vivisection: Progress as Paradigm :: Animals Science Papers

Vivisection: Progress as Paradigm "Progress is an optional goal, not an unconditional commitment, and its tempo has nothing sacred about it. A slower progress in the conquest of disease would not threaten society, but would be threatened by the erosion of those moral values whose loss, possibly caused by the too ruthless pursuit of scientific progress, would make its most dazzling triumphs not worth having." –Hans Jonas, bioethicist, 1969 I. Introduction The debate over animal experimentation for scientific advancement is serious and highly controversial. It brings our assumptions about the value of human life and scientific advancement into question. Analysis of this controversy does not purport any easy solutions: there are many points of view. However, it is apparent that the tones are shifting to entertain alternative methods. In allowing the interests of our own species to override the greater interests of members of other species, can we be equated with racists? Sexists?[1] To oppose the use of live animals in scientific experimentation do we not oppose all cruelty to animals, and should we not all be vegans? Should we not charge congress on all fronts for every connection between us and non-human animals? All of these questions will be touched on in this paper, but I will focus more directly on the vivisection controversy, for which I will borrow the Animal Liberation Front's definition: "Any use of animals in science or re search that exploits or harms them." I will give a brief history institutionalized experimentation and challenge the antagonistic viewpoints presented about the efficacy of the use of live animals in research, and offer some budding alternatives. II. History of Institutionalized Experimentation Experiments involving animals for scientific interests began centuries ago, but became institutionalized with Francois Magendie (1787-1855). Magendie was known as a hardworking and brutal physiologist. Barbara Orlans describes some of his experiments in In the Name of Science: Issues in Responsible Animal Experimentation: "Magendie isolated a section of the dog intestine so that it was attached to the rest of the body only by a single artery and vein. This of course was done without anesthesia. Magendie injected various powerful poisons including prussic acid into the intestinal segment and found that the animal was poisoned just as if the normal connections had been intact. He obtained a similar result by injecting a leg detached except for its crural artery and vein.

Problem-Oriented Policing Essay

According to Dictionary.com, â€Å"policing is to regulate, control, or keep in order with or as if with a law enforcement agency.† The art of policing has changed significantly for many different reasons but mainly to accommodate the times. Crime rates have gone up substantially when compared to 50 years ago. Much of the reason why this may be is the easy accessibility to gory movies, the glamorization of criminal activity, and the poverty that exists here in America. It is important as well as essential to devise strategies to counter the criminal activity with a solid plan for future stability of our communities. According to Gene Stephens’s article, Policing the Future, â€Å"When public policing was formally instituted in London in 1829, the emphasis was on preventing crime: the public and officers themselves regarded successful policing as the absence of crime, (2005).† Although this concept was some time ago, it seems far fetched because nowadays when you consider crime in our communities, it is considered sensible to have a mere reduction of crime, rather than the absence. This is true in all aspects of life, whether you are traveling or walking alone in the park at night, the most reasonable person often considers the threat of potentially being a victim of a crime. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the past policing issues and the way ahead in effective policing strategies. In addition, this paper will discuss factors that affect the increase of criminal activity, i.e. immigration and poverty. Lastly, this paper will discuss new strategy outcomes for the road ahead. Policing Issues In the past, policing strategies did not have to work so diligently against technology. During the 1940s and 1950s, the information infrastructure paled in comparison to the current day super highway we negotiate today. However, the 40s and 50s was a time where organized crime  spiked in activities such as extortion, racketeering, illegal distribution of alcohol and weapons, and other criminal activity. It is speculated that many attributes that facilitated this climb was because of the influx of immigration and the popular crime comics. The United States was and is considered a melting pot for people trying to migrate from other countries. The War Brides Act of 1945 and the Displaced Person Act of 1948 and in1950 initiated large populations of immigrants which allowed several hundred thousand immigrants from Europe, Canada and Mexico to enter the US. With little to no work for such a flooding of people, many were forced to turn to criminal activity to survive. According to the Bureau of Justice statistics (2002), â€Å"Not only does immigration contribute to the poverty that breeds crime, but many aliens have criminal careers: 29% of the inmates are aliens.† Crime comics were popular comics books produced during the earlier 40s and 50s that depicted organized outlaws and plots of gangster activity which may have possibly developed a compulsion for acts of disorder. The American Medical Association, together with five other public-health organizations, issued a joint statement on the risk of exposure to media violence (Joint Statement, 2000). It is probable that crime will continue simply due to the need for blood shed and violence on the movie screen. The effect of continued feeding of this â€Å"growing monster† by the media is not likely to decrease anytime soon. New Strategy Outcomes There have been many discussions that suggest that the future of policing criminal activity and disorder is a â€Å"fight† that can not be completely won; instead it is something that can only be reduced. There are several initiatives currently being utilized to mitigate and subsequently eradicate violence within communities. Problem–Oriented policing (POP) concepts are used as a â€Å"different approach to the complexity of the policing role.† (Walker & Katz, 2005). In an article, Professor Goldstein stated that â€Å"Problem-oriented policing places a high value on new responses that are preventive in nature, that are not dependent on the use of the criminal justice system, and that engage other public agencies, the community and the private sector when their involvement has the potential for significantly contributing to the reduction of the problem.† (Goldstein, 2001) The  key elements of POP that the police officer must focus on are: Evaluation of the problem Importance of solid analysis Developing responses Tapping in to other resources (Goldstein, 2006) This step by step process is designed as a means to deliberately and efficiently approach this concept. In the evaluation phase, the problem or the criminal activity is considered. The intent should not merely be a quick fix but identifying and dealing the source of the problem. Solid analysis is the consolidation of facts and circumstances that contribute to issues. The base problem must be completely understood during this function. Next, consider all developed and suggested responses should follow from what is learned during analysis. Lastly, the process of tapping into resources through surveying of neighborhoods and their residents, or soliciting assistance from community members and other government agencies. This will allow information sharing to take place and generate community responsibility and oversight. (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2004) Summary/Conclusion Policing strategies are used for many different means of control, discipline, and order in what is typically viewed as chaos. Policing needs of the past have changed along with the times. The reasons for policing can range from crowd control to war. Determining the underlying problems are a solid methodology in determining which policing strategies should be used. But some fundamental approaches through the utilization of POP will produce long term affects and prevent disorder by analysis and intervention strategies. The purpose of this paper was to discuss the past and present policing issues and the way ahead in effective policing strategies. In addition, this paper discussed factors that affect the increase of criminal activity, i.e. immigration and poverty. Lastly, this paper will discuss new strategy outcomes for the road ahead. Reference Australian Institute of Criminology, 2004. Retrieved on April 2007, from http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/crm/crm017.pdf Bureau of Justice and Statistics, 2002. Retrieved on April 27, 2007, from http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs Goldstein, Herman, (2006) Center for Problem-Oriented Policing. Retrieved on April 27, 2007, from http://www.popcenter.org/about-whatisPOP.htm Goldstein, Herman, (Draft).(2000) Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing: The 2000 Herman Goldstein Award Winners Joint Statement, Joint Statement on the Impact of Entertainment Violence on Children, by America Medical Association, 2000 Policing, (2004). Dictionary.com. Retrieved March 14, 2004 from http://www.dictionary.reference.com Stephens, Gene, (2005) Policing the Future. Retrieved on April 27, 2007, from http://www.policefuturists.org/pdf/M-A2005Futurist_Stephens.pdf Walker, Samuel & Katz, Charles M. (5th Ed). (2005) The Police in America: An introduction McGraw-Hill