Perspective on the Teachings of Jan Hus Free Essays

Jan Hus From â€Å"The Church† Jan Hus was a Czech Roman Catholic preacher and writer in Prague. His teachings were influenced by the English theologian Wyclif. Wyclif was one of the earliest opponents of papal authority influencing political power; he started anticlerical and biblically centered reforms known as the Lollard Movement. We will write a custom essay sample on Perspective on the Teachings of Jan Hus or any similar topic only for you Order Now The Lollard Movement was a precursor to the protestant reformation. Likewise, Hus called for radical reforms in the church. Of primary concern to Hus was the designation of the Pontiff, or Pope, within the church. Based on his radical views and strong opposition to the church’s foundational belief that the pope is the head of the church, Jan Hus was accused of heresy and was condemned. Hus recorded his perspective and teachings in monographs which were used by his accusers to build a case against him. Of the thirty-nine sentences read to him at his trial, twenty-six of them were based on his work â€Å"The Church. † Because Hus refused to renounce his beliefs he was burned at the stake, becoming a national martyr against the Catholic Church. The excerpts from his work â€Å"The Church† express Hus’s opinions on the papacy. He begins by characterizing the role of Christ within the church. Hus uses scriptures from Matthew, I Peter, Hebrews, Luke, John, Philippians, and revelations to support his argument, that Jesus is the only true roman pontiff, or bishop, of the Roman Catholic Church. Hus interprets these scriptures as describing three major themes of Christ: 1) Jesus is at the right hand of god, and no one can be saved without him, 2) Jesus is omnipresent and all knowing, and that 3) Jesus is god. Jon Hus uses these scriptures to contend that Jesus is the only true bishop because he baptizes and takes away the sins of the world, holds supreme guardianship over man, and that he is the pope, or father of the future age. Hus concludes that everyone is subject to the pontiff, Jesus, for salvation, and that there is no other pontiff except for jesus. Hus’s major contention with the church centers his beliefs that there is an abuse of the term pope within the church since anyone, ordained or not, can e elected as a pope, and that expressed belief in one individual, the pope, is needed for salvation. To support the first belief, Hus goes provides examples of popes who were unlettered, female, and/or heritics. He concludes that under current conditions within the church, even an antichrist could be elected as pope. Hus uses these examples and the potential for an antichrist religious leader to drive home the point that no pope is the most exalted person of the Roman Catholic Ch urch besides Christ. Therefore, no pope is the head of the Catholic Church except for Christ. To support the latter belief, Hus suggests that it is not a necessity for salvation that people should believe expressly that any one is head of any church whatsoever; unless the works of the individual plainly moved others into believing it. He claims that if the body of Christ, the people, follows a bad head, the pope, then both body and head will end up in the precipice. Therefore, people should choose who they wish to follow as a head, and that their decisions should be based on the works of the individual. Hus’s beliefs posed an immediate threat to the Roman Catholic Church and, more importantly, to its leaders. By stating that popes are not ordained of god, and that popes have historically assumed contradictory roles to their appointed position, Hus questions the legitimacy of the elite position within the church. The pope Alexander V excommunicated Hus and his followers in 1409 and outlawed public preaching. The government however, took the side of Hus, and the power of his movement increased daily. Despite the ban on free preaching, Hus continued to preach in the Bethlehem Chapel. It appeared as though the ban itself caused little result. Tensions between the church and Hus’s movement continued until a council was called in 1414. The council of Constance was an attempt to put an end to the division of people due to the papacy and to take up the long desired  reform of the Church. Hus agreed to go to the council on the premise that he would be given safe passage. However, it has been proposed that he suspected that he would be killed at Constance; this is evidenced by the will he wrote prior to going. Within a few weeks after his arrival, Hus was imprisoned, put to trial, and burned at the stake. His execution was an attempt by the church to squander the reform that he had started in Bohemia. However, the eople of Bohemia responded to his death by moving even more rapidly away from Papal teachings, and by announcing a  crusade  against them. A  Papal bull was then issued by the pope  which stated that all supporters of reformers like Hus and Wycliffe be slaughtered. The crusaders lost, as did the second and third crusades that followed. A century later, as much as ninety percent of the  Czech Crown lands  still followed Hussite teachings. Although some revolutionary movements do not end in a revolution, there accounts can provide powerful insights into the views held among the people. It is too often that only the perspective of the rich and noble are recorded in history; revolutionary movements offer some of the few accounts of the opposing ideals held among the commoners. Jan Hus’s reform resulted in his death, and the death of many of his followers, but its impact upon the church was far reaching. Hus was a key contributor to the creation of Protestantism which strongly influenced European States, as well as Martin Luther. The reform started by Jan Hus resulted in the Basel Compacts which allowed for a reformed church within Bohemia. How to cite Perspective on the Teachings of Jan Hus, Essay examples

Digital Forensic Model for Digital Forensic Investigation

Question: Discuss about a Report on A New Approach of Digital Forensic Model for Digital Forensic Investigation? Answer: Introduction: The ability to collect data or information for the purpose of the critical analysis is considered as an essential skill in the field of Criminal Justice (Caloyannides Caloyannides, 2004). Such skills are necessary for the purpose of problem solving. The advent of computer science and technology has given rise to a new domain of criminology: the digital or computer crimes. The list of the techniques used to conduct digital crimes is growing with each passing day: needless to say that file do of criminal justice is also adapting itself to the current situation by incorporating various technologies and com putting techniques to combat such crimes (Clarke, 2010). However, it should also be kept in mind the techniques using which such crimes are being conducted are getting more and more sophisticated with time, hence the criminal justice system should incorporate newly developed and innovative techniques so as to keep up with the evolving digital crime techniques. Computer forensics or d igital forensics is one such computer technology that is currently being used in various operational activities that are essential for the purpose of investigating any digital crime (Wiles, 2007). In this paper, various aspects of the field of digital or computer forensics have been discussed so as to evaluate the importance of this technology in the society and in the field of criminal justice. Computer forensics, along with the science of digital forensic, can be defined in a specific way as that field computer studies which helps in the process of collecting and analyzing various information and/ or document from any computer systems or devices and associated storage media units that can be treated as legal evidence in any court of law (Craiger Shenoi, 2007). These computer forensics involved experts involved in any case are accountable for those operational processes that are conducted for the examination of various files, folder and other digital media that are stored on any c omputing device or on additional storage media so as to recover files of information that might be contextual to any legal situation and/ or matter (Wiles Reyes, 2007). Needless to say, computer forensics refers to that domain of computer science which deals with the inspection and analysis of the personal and private digital files of any individual or any organization, given that specific person or organization has been involved in any legal matter (Gogolin, 2013). The domain of computer forensic science is concerned with the data collection and analysis process followed by investigating while probing any digital or computer crime. While considering the investigation procedure, it can be said that this particular discipline of computer science incorporates and implements the widely known technologies and techniques that are used in the process of data discovery and recovery. Along with this features, the discipline of computer forensics also includes various guidelines, practices and methodologies that are useful in creating legal audits (Jones, Bejtlich Rose, 2006). The evidence and information that are gathered by any computer forensics team in the course of the investigation are subjected those very same protocols, guidelines and practices that any other forensic data or report are subjected to. As in the case of other forensic evidence, the information collected from of digital forensic investigation processes cannot be edited or tampered with in any way, and various constitutional guidelines should be followed to preserve them, such that they can be used in any fair legal procedure or trial (Li, 2010). Importance of digital/ computer forensics: The advent of the internet has changed the process in which crime scenes were investigated in the past: the dynamic nature of the internet is reflected in the way criminals plan and conduct crimes, thus making the task of collecting information or evidence using the traditional procedures more and more difficult with each passing day (Volonino Anzaldua, 2008). As, for example, the various websites that are used planning or conducting any crime might be accessible on the internet on one day and might be pulled down on the very next day (Nikkel, 2014). On the other hand, as the access to internet is omnipresent in most developed countries these days, criminals can gain access to the internet from various computer devices at different points in time, each tome from a different location. While traditional investigating procedures would not be able to detect o investigate any crime conducted in this process, digital or computer forensics can be used investigate such incidents (Vacca, 200 5). The Internet Protocol (IP) addresses used to conduct any cyber crime can be easily detected using digital forensics, which in turn gives away the address of the particular computer used to gain access to the internet and the exact time at which the crime was conducted: once the time and place at which the crime was initiated becomes available to the investigators, a little more probing would surely reveal the person of group of persons who had conducted the evil (Marshall, 2008). However, digital forensics can be used to collect data or evidence in a wide range of cases other than that of cyber crimes. It has been noticed that many offenders who are involved in crimes like sexual assault, drug dealing, espionage, extortion, auto theft, murder, kidnapping, economic crimes, criminal hacking and even in terrorism, tend to have stored some such incriminating data on their computing machines that are more than enough to prove their association with such crimes (Solomon, Barrett Broom, 2005). In such cases, the data or evidence collected from their computing devices, as revealed by digital forensic experts, are used as legal evidence in all courts of law (Mohay, 2003). Effect of the digital/ computer forensics on society: Let us consider one of the very first cases that were solved by investigating processes that utilized the help of digital or computer forensics. In 1998, a small town in Vermont, known as the Fair Haven, witnessed a murder in which a piece of pipe bomb was used as a weapon. In this particular case, Chris Marquis, who was a 17 year old teenager at that time, had reportedly announced on a forum on the internet that he would be selling some CB radios on the Internet (Nelson, Phillips Steuart, 2010). However, in reality he was aimed at scamming the buyers since he had no such radio device to sell. A 35years old person named Chris Dean became one of his victims. This person was from Pierceton in Indiana, and Marquis had conned him for some hundred dollars. When Dean realized that he had been scammed, he made several futile attempts to communicate with Marquis and had reportedly sent some threatening emails to him. However, on the 19th of March 1998, a pipe bomb was delivered by the UPS t o Marquis' house: Marquis was killed as the bomb exploded, leaving his mother severely injured (Kessler, 2005). The shipping label used by UPS led the local authorities to Dean, and the FBI found the threatening emails found on his computer. These two pieces of evidence were used as the key evidence using which Deans involvement in Marquis' death was proved and Dean was convicted in a court of law. At present, Chris Dean is serving a life sentence in one of the federal prisons of the country. The impact of digital or computer forensics on the society can also be demonstrated using the case that has been discussed in the following section. In March 2005, a serial killer, widely known as the BTK killer was arrested from Wichita in Kansas, based on the information provided by a single digital document (Kessler, 2005). The killer had been involved in a series of murders for the past 30 years: however, a small mistake conducted was finally utilized by the authorities to end his killing spree. The killer had a habit of sending letters to the local television centre at Wichita so as to inform the general mass about the killing he had made: in one such case the killer had used the information about his exploits to the local television station. The local police got a hold of this email, from which the first name of the author was easily found out. The metadata properties of the mail also revealed the name of the organization to which the devices belonged using which these emails w ere being sent. The emails revealed that the killer was using one of the computing devices of a church, and checking the database of the church provided the investigating team with the information that the killer whom they were looking for was the president of this particular church. A search at the church premises provided many such pieces of evidence to the police: the investigators found out a floppy disk that contained a document in which an agenda for a next council meeting was discussed, along with the letter that was sent to the local television channel via the electronic mail. Until this stage, Dennis Rade was never being considered as a suspect for the murders; however a single of electronic mail was enough to reveal the true characteristics of Pastor Dennis Rade, the president of the church. Thus, it can be said that the importance of digital or computer forensics is the same as that of other procedures that are used to maintain peace and a level of security in the society (Solomon, 2011). Importance of digital/ computer forensics to the field of Information Technology: The advent of technology is being helpful in the process of developing new and innovative technologies that can be used in detecting various cyber crimes, besides collecting information against such crimes and analysing this information so as to find out such evidences which can be accepted as legal evidences in any court of law (Olivier Shenoi, 2006). Extensive researches are being conducted all over the world that aims at developing innovative methods and techniques that can be used to gather and analyze digital evidence in the case of any cyber crime. A wide range of readily existing literary articles has been reviewed while writing this report, some of which have been mentioned in the following section (Pollitt Shenoi, 2006). In the article titled as 1 A New Approach to Digital Forensic Model for Digital Forensic Investigation , the authors have made a detailed discussion on the various digital or computer forensic models that are currently being used in the process of forensic investigations of cyber crimes (Barske, Stander Jordaan, 2010). The proceedings of The Digital Forensic Research Workshops or the DFRWS, that was held in 2001 in Utica in New York b has been provided in this article: in this workshop a newly formed community of people, who belonged to fields of Information Technology and academics, shared the findings of their researchers in the field of digital forensics with a target audience in which civilians were present along with military experts and law enforcement officials (Prosise Mandia, 2003). The article also provides detailed description of some of the widely used digital forensic methodologies, namely The Forensic Process Model which was introduced by the U.S National Institute of Justice, the Abstract Digital Forensic Model which was introduced in 2002, the Integrated Digital Investigation Process Model or the IDIP, the Enhanced Digital Investigation Process, the Extended model of cyber crime investigation and many more (Ray Shenoi, 2008). The application of data mining tools as a prospective approach towards the collection and analysis of data as to find evidence in the case of cyber crimes has been discussed in the second article that has been referenced (Nirkh Dharaskar, 2012). The third article that has been reviewed provides an insight into the various processes that are used in digital or computer forensics (Dawar, Gupta Kishore, 2014). The authors have classified digital forensics into the following types: Device Forensics: This particular domain of digital forensics is associated with the recovery of evidence or information from various devices, like that of computers, digital cameras, mobile phones, etc (Sammons, 2012). Disk Forensics: This particular domain of digital forensics is associated with the recovery of evidence or information from various primary and secondary storage devices like that of Hard Disc, Flash Drive, CD, Floppy drives and so on and so forth. Network Forensics: As the digital world demands the interconnectivity of computer machines for the purpose of sharing of digital contents, most of the evidence or information regarding cyber crimes are present or embedded within the very same network that connects these devices. This particular domain of digital forensics aims at collecting information from networks, to analyze them and to use them as evidence in courts of laws. Such a type of digital forensics is generally used to track or find information about defamation cases, data theft, software piracy, espionage, etc. This particular paper also provides detailed information on such digital forensic model using which the investigating team at first decides on using one or more than one of the computer forensic domains in order to perform an investigation. The fourth paper that has been reviewed provides an insight into the frame using that digital forensic experts collect evidence of various incidents. The definition of forensic investigation has been provided; along with the classification of digital analysis types have been discussed. The authors are of the opinion that digital forensic evidence is of the following kinds (Reith, Carr Gunsch, 2002): 1. Media Analysis: It refers to the collection and analysis of evidence or information stored on any device. This kind of analysis can only be used to collect evidence from media sectors of a fixed size. 2. Management Analysis: The collection of data or evidence using management systems that are used to organize data. It includes data collection from RAID system and might also include the process of volume management. 3. File System Analysis: This method is used to collect information or evidence from file systems that reside inside a disk or partition. The process of extracting the contents of a file and/ or recovering any deleted file includes these particular types of digital forensic analysis. 4. Application Analysis: through this process, the data content of any file can be accessed, collected and analyzed. 5. Network Analysis: The process using which data, information or evidence can be collected from any communication network. Effects of digital/ computer forensics on individuals or organizations: The next literary article that has been reviewed discusses about the digital forensics readiness framework that should be implemented in the small and medium sized enterprises of South Africa. The author at first provide a detailed description of those situations in which an organization can be asked to provide details of the Information technology and communications systems that have been incorporated in its organizational activities. In order to provide the information or data about such systems, it is essential to include certain framework, using which the data from all organizational activities can be collected. The authors have also provided with an outline using which such small and medium sized enterprises could implement such a framework in their organizational systems (Barske, Stander Jordaan, 2010). Legislation: When scenarios occur that can cause the destruction of valuable digital assets, intellectual capital on an organizational system and networks, organization have to deal with the unfavourable situation and embarrassment even some time market value also drops due to the negative image of weak security mechanism. When an organization build a new intrusion detection system and a particular application loaded on a system as an interface to detect the audit log to trace the intrusions. Next to this law enforcement is notified and the intruder is charged for the feloniously altering computer data, illegal use of computer data and causing the computer to malfunction (Balon, Stovall Scaria, 2015). The lawyers for the suspected hackers mount their attack based on the evidence on application generated activity log. It is obvious that each of the evidence need to be correct and admissible to the court. On the other hand the digital evidence must survive the Daubert challenge to by overcoming several hurdles to collect, store and to process and to present the evidence. Computers today provide an enormous amount of data storage to process a large volume of data. There are several disk drives are in use to store and process the data though seizing and freezing them do not take place only by burning single CD-ROM. Sometimes being unable or forget to freeze the files prior to access them may lead the evidences to the invalidate state. In addition to this in todays modern distributed system architecture digital evidences reside in several server and clients deployed in an organization (L. Garfinkel, 2015). Even the problem gets more critical when an IT infrastructure gets connected to the internet and all the digital evidences get spread over the several geographic regions. To secure the digital evidence, it is required- To implement such mechanism upon seizing evidence; action should not change the evidence. On the other hand a person who forensically competent can only be the competent one to handle those digital evidence. An individual is responsible for the entire actions taken with respect digital evidence, if the evidence is in the possession of that particular person. An agency is responsible or can be charged for the seizing, accessing the digital evidences can be charged for compliance with these principles. Seizure of data traffic is considered as spying and it is a smart way to collect information on the other hand the privacy become obsolete. On the other hand the wiretapping helps to gather evidence when social concerns are there or maybe there are numbers problems in the legal system. Collection of electronic evidence with the help of telephone wiretap can be carefully controlled by the legal system following the wiretap Act. The U.S. district court of New Hampshire in Basil had a rule that having access of email stored on a hard drive was not inception as per the wiretap act, at the recipient end (J.Ryan Shpantzer, 2015). On the other hand there are numbers of administrative considerations are there, namely proper training, resource commitment, software licensing. Recommendations: Computer crime is arising due to the misuse of resources by allowing the anomalous behaviour. Although, there is a continuous improvement in the computer operating system, the future of computer system security is not good enough for the further detection and of anomalous behaviour pattern generated from the system user. Detection of intrusion take place using standard logs, audit trails, information gathered from the switches, routers to detect the intrusion into a computer system (Ashcroft, J. Daniels V. Hart, 2015). There are numbers of class based approaches are there, namely, anomaly based IDS that uses a statistical profile of activity to understand whether the occurrence of a particular incident is normal or anomalous. The normal activities are considered as the legitimate and harmless. On the other hand the unauthorized or harmful incidents fall under the anomalous incident type (J.Ryan Shpantzer, 2015). Signature-based IDS tries to match a sequence of observed events with a known or previously learned pattern of events, which can predict attacks of unusual events that can take place. If there is no signature is matching then with the suspicious activities are known as legitimate or harmless. Signature based IDS are not able to identify the previously unknown or new type of attack and beside this, anomaly based ISD cannot separately identify a sequence of attacks or unwanted events. The basic intrusion detection system have been discussed above which is a beginning that is in use by the computer forensics investigator. In addition to this phase of basic intrusion detection, the computer forensics can be considered to conduct further analysis into investigation. There are three main steps are there involved in computer forensics data preservation, recovery, and examination. For these above mentioned steps it is required to have the access of hard drives, system logs, memory, and network traffic seizing, intrusion detection system (Ashcroft, J. Daniels V. Hart, 2015). The major and current problem with the anomaly detection, it is quite complicated to define the normal user behaviour. In this case, rule-based detection, it only detects highly accurate known attack patterns. In a dynamic environment, it is not possible to understand the normal behaviour. Hence, as a recommendation, it is required to introduce such intrusion detection system that is able to observe the behaviour of the processes rather than the user. In future, it will consider as beneficial if the intrusion detection tools are able to deal with encrypted network traffic and detection of evasion technique. On the other hand, the detection system to detect anomalous behaviour can help to alleviate some of the extra work from the Security administration (Balon, Stovall Scaria, 2015). An organization adopts a new intrusion detection system loaded with particular application on system as an interface to detect the audit log to trace the intrusions. Next to this law enforcement is notif ied and the intruder is charged for the feloniously altering computer data, illegal use of computer data and causing the computer to malfunction (Ashcroft, J. Daniels V. Hart, 2015). References: Ademu, Imafidon, Preston,. (2011). A New Approach of Digital Forensic Model for Digital Forensic Investigation. (IJACSA) International Journal Of Advanced Computer Science And Applications,, 2(12). Ashcroft, J., J. Daniels, D., V. Hart, S. (2015). Forensic Examination of Digital Evidence: A Guide for Law Enforcement (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/199408.pdf Balon, N., Stovall, R., Scaria, T. (2015). Computer Intrusion Forensics Research Paper (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://nathanbalon.com/projects/cis544/ForensicsResearchPaper.pdf Barske, Stander, Jordaan,. (2010). A Digital Forensic Readiness Framework for South African SMEs. CONFERENCE PAPER SEPTEMBER 2010. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224178601 Caloyannides, M., Caloyannides, M. (2004). Privacy protection and computer forensics. Boston: Artech House. Clarke, N. (2010). Computer forensics. Ely: IT Governance Pub. Craiger, P., Shenoi, S. (2007). Advances in digital forensics III. New York, NY: Springer. Dawar, Gupta, Kishore,. (2014). An Insight View of Digital Forensics. International Journal On Computational Sciences Applications (IJCSA), 4(6). Fbijobs.gov,. (2015). FBI - Cyber Team. Retrieved 1 August 2015, from https://www.fbijobs.gov/cybercareers/index.html Gogolin, G. (2013). Digital forensics explained. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. J. Ryan, D., Shpantzer, G. (2015). Legal Aspects of Digital Forensics (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://euro.ecom.cmu.edu/program/law/08-732/Evidence/RyanShpantzer.pdf Jones, K., Bejtlich, R., Rose, C. (2006). Real digital forensics. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley. Kessler,. (2005). The Role of Computer Forensics in Law Enforcement. Journal Of Digital Forensic Practice. L. Garfinkel, S. (2015). Digital forensics research: The next 10 years (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://dfrws.org/2010/proceedings/2010-308.pdf Li, C. (2010). Handbook of research on computational forensics, digital crime, and investigation. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference. Marshall, A. (2008). Digital forensics. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. Mohay, G. (2003). Computer and intrusion forensics. Boston: Artech House. Nelson, B., Phillips, A., Steuart, C. (2010). Guide to computer forensics and investigations. Boston, MA: Course Technology Cengage Learning. Nikkel,. (2014). Fostering Incident Response and Digital Forensics Research. International Journal Of Digital Evidence. Nirkh, Dharaskar,. (2012). DATA MINING : A PROSPECTIVE APPROACH FOR DIGITAL FORENSICS. International Journal Of Data Mining Knowledge Management Process (IJDKP), 2(6). Olivier, M., Shenoi, S. (2006). Advances in digital forensics II. New York: Springer. Pollitt, M., Shenoi, S. (2006). Advances in digital forensics. New York: Springer. Prosise, C., Mandia, K. (2003). Incident response computer forensics. New York: McGraw-Hill/Osborne. Ray, I., Shenoi, S. (2008). Advances in Digital Forensics IV. [S.l.]: International Federation for Information Processing. Reith, Carr, Gunsch,. (2002). An Examination of Digital Forensic Models. International Journal Of Digital Evidence, 1(3). Sammons, J. (2012). The basics of digital forensics. Waltham, MA: Syngress. Solomon, M. (2011). Computer forensics jumpstart. Indianopolis, Ind.: Wiley Pub. Solomon, M., Barrett, D., Broom, N. (2005). Computer forensics jumpstart. San Francisco, Calif.: SYBEX. Vacca, J. (2005). Computer forensics. Hingham, Mass.: Charles River Media. Volonino, L., Anzaldua, R. (2008). Computer forensics for dummies. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Wiles, J. (2007). Techno security's guide to e-discovery and digital forensics. Burlington, MA: Syngress Pub. Wiles, J., Reyes, A. (2007). The best damn cybercrime and digital forensics book period. Rockland, Mass.: Syngress.

In the World of Mirrors Looking for the Authors Image

The Scent of Garlic: China Postmodernism and Mo Yan In spite of the fact that postmodernism in China, like every influence coming from the West turns into something completely inimitable and unique, the art of Chinese authors can be still understood by the European dwellers. Among the issues which modern Chinese writers touch upon the one concerning the political life of the country takes one of the key places.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on In the World of Mirrors: Looking for the Author’s Image specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Since expressing direct critique is not the Chinese refined style, Mo Yan, one of the most prolific modern – or should it be said, postmodern? – writer uses the most refined and exquisite style of metaphors. As Jensen explains, â€Å"Interfamily struggles and intrigues, involving complex and sensitive historical and political issues, lend the novel an allegorical qu ality† (166). Putting his ideas into his characters and making them speak the way he does and think the way he thinks, the Chinese author creates the world of his own where there are no boundaries for people’s will, the specific â€Å"’my’ world† (122), as Lu says. Exploring the political issues is one of those spheres where Mo Yan is most brilliant. With the most subtle hints and the most picturesque descriptions he exposes the life of the ordinary people to the eyes of the audience, making the readers live in China fro a while. Thus, plunging into the fascinating, wise and enticing stories, one can touch upon the versatile and yet so conservative Chinese culture. Cai explains this in the following way: â€Å"the post-Mao move toward modernity has also been designed and implemented under an acute awareness of the need to position china in an increasingly globalized environment† (154). However, like a real wise man, Mo does not speak his idea s in the novel, leaving this complicated issue to his characters. And they do talk, in an impressive and convincing way. Yet there is quite an important question: whom should the reader listen to? The Faces of the Author No matter what one can read between the lines of a novel, the author will never reveal his/her true face to the reader. However, trying to draw certain parallels between the lead characters of the book and the author him-/herself, it could be possible to come to certain conclusion. Thus, it would be better to consider the ideas which the works of Mo Yan are shot through with.Advertising Looking for essay on literature languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More What Mo Yan was trying to convey in his book was the desperate state of Chinese peasants in the so-called Paradise County. His heart was aching for the country stamped into dirt straight after its short revival. With great pain for the results of the si tuation in China, he managed to express his sorrow through the novel. However, Mo Yan did not accuse either of the parties. Like a wise man should do, he only observed what was going on. Not able to speak out loud, he created the characters who could speak the truth louder than anyone else. Thus, Sollars comments on the works of Mo Yan in the following way: In Mo Yan’s The Garlic Ballads, the rural world is moved to China in the 1980s. Set in the fictional Paradise County in northern China, the novel relates the stories of Gao Yang and Gao Ma, two peasants participating in a riot of the garlic farmers. (533) Pointing that Yan is greatly concerned with the political situation in China and its tragic past, Sollars gives a hint to understanding which character speaks the words of Mo Yan. It is obvious that the character whom Mo Yan has chosen as the herald of the author’s own opinion is supposed to be a person of certain social position concerning the politics of the Chin ese â€Å"the powers that be†, with the soul of a rebel and with the eyes of a wise man. Contrasting to the typical Shifu who will â€Å"do anything for a lunch† (Yan 50), these self-assured little people have great power and even greater influence. It seems that Mo Yan has added a piece of his own ideas into each of the characters – otherwise his novel would not have been so impressive and convincing. One of the characters who could convey Mo Yan’s ideas was the lawyer. The author’s idea of justice for China and lenience to the politicians who led China to its decay was perfectly demonstrated by the lawyer and his position towards the chaos in China. Another character who could impersonate Mo Yan and speak his ideas was the Storyteller. Old and wise, the man merely observes the situation, the people and the results of their actions, and keeps the story for the descendants. As Yang said, â€Å"Mo Yan has never persisted in the ideal of root seekin g† (207).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on In the World of Mirrors: Looking for the Author’s Image specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Yet it seems that the one and only character who could embody the ideas of the author was the blind minstrel. It is a peculiar detail that Mo Yan’s pen name is translated as â€Å"Don’t speak†. Mo Yan cannot speak openly about his ideas; likewise, the minstrel cannot see what is going on. Yet both of them know how to make the situation change, and they change it. The minstrel convinces people to create a riot, which drives them to even worse condition than they used to be. Conclusion Because of his concern for the country and its citizen, Mo Yan cannot keep silence, yet knowing that bald accusations would be of no use, he makes the characters of his novels speak on his behalf. With such simple and yet efficient way of making people listen to his reas ons, the author can afford being as sincere as possible. Choosing different characters with various backgrounds, Mo Yan can make readers see the versatility of the aspects which he discusses. Proving his geniality, Mo Yan revives the old stories and makes his characters completely alive. Works Cited Cai, Rong. The Subject in Crisis in Contemporary Chinese Literature. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 2004. Print. Jensen, Lionel M., Timothy B. Weston. China’s Transformations: The Stories Beyond  the Headlines. Lahlam, MD: RowmanLittlefield, 2007. Print. Lu, Tonglin. Gender and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Chinese Literature and  Society. New York, NY: SUNY Press, 1993. Print. Sollars, Michael D. The Facts on File Companion to the World Novel, 1900 to the  Present. New York, NY: Infobase Publishing, 2008. Print.Advertising Looking for essay on literature languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Yan, Mo. Shifu, You’ll Do Anything for a Laugh. New York, NY: Arcade Publishing, 2003. Print. Yang, Xiaobin. The Chinese Postmodern: Trauma and Irony in Chinese Avant-Garde  Fiction. Ann Atbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2002. Print. This essay on In the World of Mirrors: Looking for the Author’s Image was written and submitted by user GwenStacy to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Reports of ww2 essays

Reports of ww2 essays The assigned reading was for the most part the telling of soldiers stories, whether they told of the stories they'd had or the story they were currently taking part in. As a whole they weren't looking to sway my opinion in any particular direction regarding the war, just describe the situation. The first piece of writing that I found persuasive came from I. F. Stone, a writer for The Nation who was stationed behind a desk in Washington instead of behind a bunker at the time of the war. I mention the fact that he was a desk jockey because it was something I took personally when reading of the heroics of the reporter writing from the front lines. I said to myself the first time reading through his report "Why should I listen to this coward, he is trying to tell us that we are doing enough? What a hypocrite. He needs to get off his rear, get a gun and into G.I. gear.". However after reading the piece and seeing how it moved me, I saw how important a role a reporter could play back home. Stone's article "A plea to admit Jewish refugees" was the only writing that looked at the war from the broader sense of things. Most war time reporters concentrated more on what was happening in the platoons, the men's feelings and keeping moral high. This was an essential role that reporters filled, not only for the soldiers but for the folks back in the States. I know that if I was in that particular situation that I wouldn't be worrying about the Jewish refugees so much as I would be trying to avoid the bullets whizzing over head. It's important to concentrate on one thing at a time. However since Stone could look at the war as more of a political battle than a battle of day to day survival, it made him curious about what exactly are our objectives were and are we properly utilizing our resources. Through his researching he found that the only support that we were really giving was militarily, and other than that ...

Project finance and risk management Research Proposal

Project finance and risk management - Research Proposal Example In this case, the payment of the loans comes from the organization, backed by the organization’s entire balance sheet, as opposed from the revenues of the projects. Similarly, the lenders consider the strength of the balance sheet of the organization financing the project as a prerequisite for lending. The nature of financing projects is quite dynamic considering the fact that projects can be large or small and can be public or private projects. Despite the enormous benefits that come with project finance, it is vital to note that these projects do carry with themselves many risks, some of which may have far-reaching implications. In essence, special project vehicle (SPV) undertakes projects in project finance because the projects are off-balance sheet transactions. However, project managers have discovered the best way to counter the challenge through effective allocation of risks hence improving the performance of project financed by different companies. In fact, this projec t financing and risk management go hand in hand, as the former needs the latter in order to ensure efficient project financing and achievement of the project objectives. ... In this case, a number of risks ranging from political risks to feasibility risk and therefore this paper will take a close look at how to manage project related risks in the course of financing challenging projects. This will be especially significant because for every project being finance, there is a risk associated with the implementation of the project although the risks could be managed through proper mechanisms and expertise. Keywords: Risk allocation; project finance; Risk Management 2.0 Justification of the proposed research Undoubtedly, many of the successful projects receive their fiances from the dedicated corporates and non-governmental organizations depending on the nature and complexity of such projects. In this case, project financing may encompass the creation of a project that is independent and receives its due equity from one or more of the sponsoring entities with a view of making maximum investment in capital assets (Esty 2004, pp. 2013-224). More often than not , project financing involves large projects that cut across nations although some of the companies involved may finance projects on a small-scale basis. Indeed, project financing is the development model for the 21st century given that during the year 2001 alone, capital investments worth $ 200 billion were financed by various project companies across the globe. With an annual growth rate of 20 %, such projects have seen nations achieve unprecedented economic development rates amid domestic challenges (Kleimeier and Versteeg 2010. pp. 49-59). Although project finance works well in areas that are less prone to risks, it is obvious that the presence of risks in any project accentuates the significance of such projects. This means that project fiance

Management Control System at Firm Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Management Control System at Firm - Term Paper Example Western Digital Corporation has been a hard disk drive storage manufacturing pioneer. The product line of the company includes external drives for mobile desktops, laptops and other digital home entertainment products Structure (By Decentralization) One of the major features of the overall management control system is the presence of decentralization. Western Digital has understood the importance of the decentralization in the decision making system so that the sub-goals can be set and achieved. In this way each and every decision maker has become responsible for a small portion of the overall organizational objectives. The Do-it-Yourself, or DIY, culture has been intent on home grown tooling and development. Despite of the decentralization, the implementation of MCS ensures that the organizations develop rules to ensure that supervisors are aware of the authority and the subordinates are aware of the tasks to be performed and respective expectations (Ng and Dastmalchian 18). (organi zationstructure.org) Technological, regulatory, political and economic forces are changing the competitive environment (Jensen 1). Hence organizations are looking to use technology in itself to get business insights. WD is also not an exception. However, the application of technology by the organization is quite unique to say the least. The use of a home-grown job scheduling system is one example of it. The company does not use commercial Extract, Transform and Load tools. The DIY culture is not an issue of cost as the company already has expensive business intelligence tools in the form of statistical analysis software. But the internally developed solution of the company has been more responsive. The main objective of the introduction of the decentralization by WD is to tie the subunits of the company together. In order to complement such decentralization, the company has adopted a product or divisional organizational structure. Here it is be added that instead of going for proces s intervention, the organization has decided to go for structural intervention by looking to change organizational design, job design, the performance review system , etc (Sisaye 54). Planning System As far as the planning system is concerned, the company wished to restore the confidence of the employees through informal and formal communication. The organization wishes to develop a plan to incline capability beyond 40 M units. The organization expects to meet the product costs targets that achieve more than 25%; the company is set to support a quality initiative on AFR improvement. The company also has plans to review and overhaul the process control system as needed (Anthony 101). Review and Measurement System When a control system designer undertakes to review and measure the performance of the decentralized process, a number of issues are needed to be considered. The main issue is the involvement of the measurement of the performance with regard to the interdivisional transactio ns and profit. The technique used to review and measure the performance is quite similar to the ROIC performance management. The company uses the ROIC approach to assess the efficiency of capital allocation. In this way, through the return on invested capital, the company gets a sense of how well the company is actually using money to generate returns (Dent 84). However, the performance of

Developing Strategic Management and Leadership

Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Management is the group of people who make decisions on how the business can be run and profitable in all dimensions of the organizations or company according to Gold (2010). In fact, these individuals who are involved in the decision making of the organization and are called the management are responsible and accountable before the strategic leadership in the organization. The second definition that can be given about the management is the initiative and maintenance of an investment portfolio in the business organization in all the ways to success achievements according to Harrison (2002). This is the management in which the organization deals with dealing of matters in different sectors for improving the productivity and profitability in every area of the business of the organization. LEADERSHIP: Johnson (1992) opines leadership is quality or art of influencing others or motivating a group of people to the task in order to achieve the goals in the business organizations. Leader is the one who holds the qualities of the leadership and is also the person who inspires others and directs them to do something extraordinary for common goals. People not only follow the leader but they also do that willingly and happily. True leader takes his/her people with and step forward with the great morale and team spirit. LINK BETWEEN LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT: Bill Gates is the leader and pioneer of Microsoft Inc, but he is not a manager. This statement shows the position of the leader and the manager. The manager must have the leadership skills but on the contrary for the leader it is not compulsory to have the managerial skills as these skills are important for the leader but the vision is the goal of the leader but the manager works for targets and tasks for the specific time period and for the certain period of time. Leadership and management both are important in the organizations or even in the industries. Leaders are welded to the performance and it is also the duty of the leaders to increase the productivity in different sectors of the organization. Management with good leadership qualities and the leadership with managerial competencies is the demand of the organizations around the globe. Task 1.2 Analyse the impact of management and leadership styles on strategic decisions. IMPACTS OF MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP STYLES ON DECISIONS: Dynamic leadership always does its best to influence the environment and the environment is the situation in which the decisions are to be taken as the needs arise in the organizations. There are different styles of management and leadership in the business world. PARTICIPATIVE MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP STYLE: Kouzes (2008) states that the participative leadership and management style are open and flexible manner of management where employees have the prominent decision making role in the organization and the participation of the employees is considered as the asset of the organization. So this is very important factor in decision making of the organizational setup. This style is very much appreciated in progressing and growing organizations. Employees feel responsible and honoured by the leadership which boosts the morale of them in order to complete the tasks of the organization. This leadership style helps in the organization in decision making and when this style is applied, the team work and dignity of the employees come forth and they become more and more productive. PERSUASIVE LEADERSHIIP AND MANAGEMENT STYLE: Megginson (2003) opines the Persuasive leadership style is all about the quality of the leader in which the leader convinces people around him/her in all the effective ways to achieve the goals of the organization. This style is not possible if the leader fails to convince other people. Persuasion is the essential proficiency for all the leaders as they take people to the level where they can perform their best and be more and more productive in the organization. The ideas and approaches of the leader must appeal the people around the leader for the common goals and objectives in the organization. This style can develop the unity in the organization and the employees and if the decision is take by the agreement of the employees then it increases the accountability in the employees in the organizations. Evaluate how leadership styles can be adapted to different situations. IMPLEMENTATIONS OF THE LEADERSHIP STYLES IN DIFFERNT SITUATIONS: Both of the styles stated above are the need of any progressing and developing organization around the globe. Which one is suitable for the organization, depends on the situation from which the organization is passing through. Most of the bureaucratic organizations being the strict in the rules and regulations make the employees feeling bored and the work becomes just and obligation and burden for them to hold. People lose their creativeness and become like the robot and just commitment becomes a burden for them. These situations give birth to the less productiveness and profit as well. If in this situation the leadership decides to give the chance of participation and cooperation and promote team spirit then the employees come to know that they are not just the machines but the human beings and everyone is unique and precious in the way he or she is. Everyone in the world has some hidden qualities and the only thing is to give that particular one chance to show what that person has what should be considered while taking the decisions of the different department of the organization. As this is simple and effective so the organizations must follow these styles. Now the persuasive is the manner in which the employees might come to know that they are special because the leadership will persuade the employees or staff with the highly professional and reasonable way. So the persuasive and participative both the styles go together in the organizations have the situation in which people feel being bored. 2.1 Review the impact that selected theories of management and leadership have on organisational strategy in your chosen organisation. MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP THEORIES: Leadership skills are the essentials for the leadership in any business organization. If the organizations promote the leadership development methods then the success is obvious and there is no way that the situations may come in the pace of success. There are different leadership theories by which the effectiveness and need of the leadership become more and more essential. The few of the theories are given below to clear the picture of leadership in organizations. SITUATIONAL THEORY: This theory states that leaders everywhere behave in the certain way of their leadership which depends upon the situation of the time and the scenario of the company. Moon (2000) opines there can be different situations in which there might be possible leadership behaviour but these behaviours also depend on the situation of that specific time period. In the organizations, this theory is very popular and effective because it goes with the flow and need of that particular time and the best decision is the decision that is done according to the time and demand of the organizations. CONTINGENCY THEORY: This theory has very close resemblance with the first theory (Situational Theory) and this theory is all about the alternatives and options in order to deal with the problems that come in the way of the success in any dimension of the organization. Mumford and Gold (2004) state leadership must have answer to every question arises in the growth and this is only feasible and possible when the contingency theory is applied in the organizations. Tesco Plc has high rate of such a dynamic leadership which always have alternatives and options as well as the answers to the questions that come in the situation of the danger or need of the organization. PARTICIPATIVE THEORY: Treasy (1998) opines the participative leadership and management style are the open and approachable manner of supervision of the organization and the monitoring with the passion and comforts is really seen in this leadership theory. Everyone in the organization feels pride and honoured to be involved and get their precious opinions be answered in the company really appreciates them. So this theory is very important when the employees feel burden while working in the organization. Tesco plc is promoting this theory in every departments and gives right to all of its employees to take part in new strategies and planning as everyone has got the right to comment and give suggestions and drop their precious opinions in writing form and the suggestion boxes everywhere in the stores. TASK 2.2: CREATE A LEADERSHIP STRATEGY THAT SUPPORTS ORGANIZAITONAL DIRECTION: INNOVATIONS IN THE ORGANIZATION: There are different strategies that give the direction to the organizations. One of them is the INNOVATION that is very effective and the most important factor of the organization. Every organization has to develop the creativeness that develops the innovation. This strategy is the unique and potential strength of the organization. Gold (2010) opines the process in which an idea of any individual is translated into a good or service for what people would love to pay and give attention. Companies or organizations have special people who are supposed to do create and bring new ideas in the form of innovation and these creative and innovative leaders are the real assets of any developing organizations. HUMAN RESOURCE IN ORGANIZATIONS: Human resource is one of the most effective departments in the organizations that direct the organization in the way of growth and development. There are different human resource activities that are performed by this department in the organizations. Human Resource Management deals with different issues in the companies, some of them are the most important because of their need and necessity in the organizations. Human resource is the vast department that organizes the major issues in the organizations. The first activity of the human resource is the Recruitment and Selection in the companies. Harrison (2002) opines that the in the recruitment the duty of the HRM is in various sectors. Firstly, it publishes or advertises the need of the organization or the companies as the vacancy comes in them. This is also the duty of the HRM to contact with the recruitment agencies for the better selection of the candidates in the companies. After the ads the term comes when the candidates come to the recruitment section and the interviews take place, if somebody passes the interview then it is the chance for that candidate to go further and get the training to join the organization for the post he has applied or for the post the admin believes that the person can perform well according to the capability of the candidate. This is the very important aspect of the companies. If the right people are not coming in the companies then it will be impossible to have more and more innovative ideas in the companies. From the very first stage to the ending stage the HR plays the significant role in bringing the right people in the companies. The second activity the HRM is the Performance Management which is simply the encouragement of the employees. Johnson (1992) states the performance management is the criteria to check the performance of the employees and then to bring the unity and uplift the morale, there should be the regular behaviour of the appraisals and the rewards by the companies. The companies do their best to have such an opportunity to arrange the reward system in the organizations. This is very important that the companies can only help the employees if they are the showing their excellent performance in their duties and their responsibilities. Performance of the employees decides who the next for the reward and the encouragement is. Performance management is the main factor in the organizations in the term of reward system of the employees. In the Tesco Plc, both of these strategies are implemented in order to direct the organization on the way of success and development in all the stores and branches around the globe. TASK 3.1: USE APPROPRIATE METHODS TO REVIEW CURRENT LEADERSHIP REQUIREMENTS: GLOBALIZATION: Moon (2000) states Globalization is the system of the interaction among different countries of the world and the purpose of this interaction is to develop the global economy. This unique economy building system refers to the integration of economists and societies around the globe. This also covers the technological, economic, cultural and political exchanges in the organizations and the communications, infrastructure and transportation is also the fruit of this globalization. There are two types of integration. The first one is called Positive and the second is the Negative integration. The positive integration is used to aim at standardizing international economic laws and policies. In this the countries have their own policies on their tariffs. In the negative integration, Mullins (2010) states negative integration is the breaking down of trade barriers of protective barriers or protective barriers such as tariffs and quotes. EFFECTS OF GLOBALIZATION: Different economists gave their different opinions about the effects of the globalization. There are different changes that can be identified through the globalization. The first effect is the improvement of the international trade. There are more and more countries in demand of the products. Second effect is the technological progress which is because of the demands from the customers throughout the world. Third one states the increasing influence of multinational companies, the companies that have their own subsidiaries in various countries is called the multinational. This is the third effect of the globalization in the business world. Then the fourth one is power of the WTO, IMF and WB. Globalization has these prominent effects everywhere in the world. INTEGRITY LEADERSHIP: Treasy (1998) states the integrity leadership is the best tool of getting the trust of the employees and involve them from their heart and prove themselves as the role model for all the employees around them. This is very important in the organizations to have integrity among the staff so that the environment remain calm and beautiful full if dignity and commitment. Both of these methods of the requirements of the leadership in the organizational positions and every progressing organization needs to prove that they are rich in terms of their globalization and integrity in all dimensions. TASK 4.1: PLAN THE DEVELOPMENT OF LEADERSHIP SKILLS FOR A SPECIFIC REQUIREMENT: ON THE JOB TRAINING: The firs development method is ON-THE-JOB TRAINING which is one of the effective development methods in the companies. Mumford and Gold (2004) state that the process of the on the job training is to arrange and the purpose is to enhance the abilities of the employees in the corporate settings of the organizations. The environment in the organization is suitable for the employees and as well as for the leaders to teach and for the employees to learn and understand the guidelines given by the authorities. There are the reasons that make the on the job training important. In this the leaders demonstrate the presentations which encourage the trainees to get the idea and after that there is the element of the coaching in which the relationship becomes strong and the trainees learn in a beautiful way. In the trainings, the employees can even get the understanding to get the appropriate knowledge about the other departments in the companies. ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP: The second development method is the Organizational Learning which is learning method in the organization which is highly appreciated and required. Mullins (2010) states that the organizations that influence the employees on the regular bases with the knowledge and information. Organizations that promote the practice of the learning are the learning organizations and these learning organizations are run by the HRM because the humans are the main assets in the HRM. So the department does its best to empower the employees with the skills and knowledge. TASK 4.2: REPORT ON THE USEFULNESS OF METHODS USED TO PLAN THE DEVELOPMENT OF LEADERSHIP SKILLS: DEVELOPING LEADERSHIP VERSUS RECRUITING: Planning and Development methods are explained in the above paragraph. Mullins (2004) opines that the advertisements help the readers to know the vacancy in the companies and the leadership in the organizations also receives the right selection of the employees. This is the first planning method in the recruiting and the effectiveness can be measured with the results or the achievements done by the companies after the exact staffing in any organization. The next is the online recruiting process in the companies. Megginson (2003) states there are the recruitments which are undertaken with the help of the online recruiting processes. These kinds of recruitments are called the external type of the recruitments. But the other type of the recruitment is the internal and the internal recruitment is the exchanging and the promotions and then the filling of the vacant places in the companies. The effectiveness of the recruitment and selection is monitored and done by the HRM and the results can be seen in the form of the dynamic leaders that are brought every year in the companies by the leadership planning methods. In the development of the leadership there are two methods. The first one is the on the job training and this method is very impressive and authentic in the companies. If the trainings are given on the job then the employees can learn better and be the best part of the organization. The second one is the organizational learning. There must be the organizations which encourage the idea to make the flexible environment for the employees to get the valuable information and then become the dynamic leaders of the companies. Both of these methods are very important and effective in every situation of the organizational learning processes. TEXT BOOKS REFERENCES: Gold, G. (2010). Leadership and management Development. London. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Harrison, R. (2002). Learning and Development, London. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Johnson, K, B. (1992). Business Bureaucracy, How to Conquer your Organizations worst enemy, London. The McGraw Hill Companies. Kouzes, J. (2008). The Leadership Challenge. 4th Edition. London. Jossey-Bass. Megginson, D. (2003). Continuing Professional Development, London. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Moon, J. (2000). Reflection in Learning and Professional Development, Theory and Practice, Manchester. Routledge Falmer. Mullins, L. (2010). Management and Organizational Behavior. 9th Edition. London. Prentice hall. Mumford, A. and Gold, J. (2004). Management Development. London. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Treasy, D. (1998). Successful Time Management in a week. Hodder. Stoughton.