Englishtasks

Task 1) Summarize briefly why Mr Ramirez came to Los Angeles and why he has to leave. â€Å"Obviously† enough Mr Ramirez came to Los Angeles in the search for a better job and life. Well job, he had a job during the war at an airplane factory making parts, and he kept this job after the war. The reason he had to leave was because he wasn’t allowed to stay there any longer, because his temporary visa was no longer valid. He was there six months too long as well, so the police came and picked him up, to send him back to Mexico. Task2)A There is a famous saying that is nothing more American than Mom and apple pie.This story’s â€Å"mom† just happens to be baking a pie. She looks at her pie and compares it to Mr Ramirez. What attitude toward Mr Ramirez does this comparison encourage? I think our writer; Ray Bradbury wanted to show that illegal immigrants also are human beings. Ray wanted to show that these illegal immigrants can have a positive influence on ot hers. I even think that Mrs O’Brien likes Mr Ramirez more than just a friend; I think she likes him even more. The way she said â€Å"I just realized, I’ll never see Mr Ramirez again† made me think that.She says in a very sad way, like if she lost something very valuable to her. In all those American movies, the moms are very happy for their pies, and they let the pie’s stand in the window frame, and then someone comes and steals it. And now, someone came and took her pie, which is Mr Ramirez. Task 2) B We are given a detailed description of what Mr Ramirez likes about his room, what he spends his money on and what he likes to do in Los Angeles. What do these details reveal to us about why Mexicans like living in the USA? These descriptions start right after â€Å"Soon after Mr Ramirez had arrived.. † just like it wasn’t possible for him to do before he came. Pleasures that are harder to achieve in countries like Mexico are more easily attai nable in USA, which is the land where your dreams come true, isn’t it? USA makes it easier for good, hard-working people to be something, and live more greatly. â€Å"Walked silent streets and seen the bright clothes in the windows and bought some of them† Is one of the things he likes to do. He likes to do it, and he does it, the recipe for success. I guess that in Mexico, these things are harder. Task 2) CMrs O’Brien has been to Mexico. What did she notice? Why do you think all the negative sides of Mexico are in the thoughts of Mrs O’Brian and not Mr Ramirez? Mrs O’Brian remembers the hot days, the endless crickets leaping and falling or lying dead and brittle like the small cigars in the shop windows. She remembers the canals taking river water out to the farms, the dirt roads, and the scorched landscape. She remembers the silent towns, the warm beer, and the hot, thick food every day. She remembers the slow, dragging horses and the parched jac k rabbits on the road.She remembers the Iron Mountains and the dusty valleys and the ocean beaches that spread hundreds of miles with no sound but the waves – no cars, no buildings. I believe that the reason Mrs O’Brien think of all the negative sides, and Mr Ramirez doesn’t is because he is used to them. These conditions, this land she came across during her visit is much more of a shock to her, than to Mr Ramirez. Task 2) D Both Mr Ramirez and Mrs O’Brian are suddenly overwhelmed by a feeling of loss at his leaving. Why did the writer not just have Mr Ramirez being sad about never seeing Mrs O’Brian again?I think our writer; Ray Bradbury wanted to show that illegal immigrants are also human beings. Ray wanted to show that these illegal immigrants can have a positive influence on others. As well, I think that the whole story may last in just a couple of minutes, so the author focuses more on detailed description of the character’s story and experience to give us readers a bigger picture, if not the text could be meaningless and quite short. Task 3) A Is this a story that tries to create sympathy for illegal Mexican workers? Does it succeed? I think it tries to create sympathy for those who illegally enter the USA.It does show that Mexican workers have bad living standards where they come from, so it does create sympathy in some ways. I think it’s more that they want a change considering the rules, because those Mexican workers are people too, and they are probably just as good and hard-working as any other American. A story about Mexican workers just trying to live their life to the fullest by doing solid work, and the story confirms this and tries to open up some thoughts surrounding the theme. I think it succeeds; at least I get sympathy for them, so I guess it works. Task 3) B Can literature play a major role in bringing about social change?Is it as effective as documentary films and television programs, or non-fictional books and articles about social problems? Yes, literature can play a great role, but it’s various. A great, well know text can make a difference if it really makes an impression, but I do not think it’s the best way these days to make social problems more known. I believe a movie is the best way, because it reaches out to more people, and gets greater publicity than books. For example the new movie â€Å"The Impossible† about the Tsunami, gives very strong impressions because we can see what happens, and we know it happend in real life.Books don’t reach out to that many people. Task 6) A * How long is the Mexican-American border in miles and kilometres? The Mexican-American border total length is 1,969 miles or 3,141 km long * The 2006 Secure Fence Act says there is going to be a fence along the border. How long will the fence be in miles, and in kilometres? The 2006 Secure Fence Act goal was/is to help and secure America’s borders to decrease the amount of illegal entries, drug trafficking and security threats. A 700 miles (1,100 km) fence of physical barriers alongside the Mexico-United States border.Kilde: ( http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Secure_Fence_Act_of_2006 ) * Approximately how many illegals get across the border every year? Of course, it’s impossible to give an exact number, but the number is somewhere around 375,000 people every year. About 65% of these illegal immigrants come from Mexico and the other 35% come from Southern America. At least according to (http://www. strategicstudiesinstitute. army. mil/pdffiles/ksil499. pdf) * Use the internet to find out how you could legally enter the USA. Is there any way you could enter the USA to work and live there permanently?Start your search by going to the United States Embassy websites. If you are going to live permanently in the USA, you are going to have to get a green card. This means you have to become a permanent resident. The first way to qu alify for a green card is by having close family members who lives in the US. The second way of getting green card, is trough employment. Your chances for making this work increase the more skilled you are. In most cases you must show that an employer has offered you a job. The employer must also be able to show that no American was available to do the job.The last option for green card, would be through the diversity lottery. A program encouraging immigration for countries that don’t send many immigrants to the U. S. A small number of green cards will be available to people from these countries. All the qualified applicants will enter a lottery and the winners get the green card and gets allowed to move to USA. https://www. usimmigrationsupport. org/greencard. html * Use the internet to find reliable information about the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 or, in its full name, the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007.This act wit h a very long name was a proposition that would allow illegal immigrants to be able living and working legally in the U. S, with something called work authorization card, after paying some fines. Also, it would create temporary work programs, so workers would have to return to their homeland every two years, and stay there for a year or so before they could come back. But this act got voted down and died in the Senate after failing to get the 60 votes it needed to end debate. Kilde : http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Comprehensive_Immigration_Reform_Act_of_2007 http://immigration. about. om/od/usimmigrationhistory/f/What-S-In-The-Comprehensive-Immigration-Reform-Bill. htm http://www. nytimes. com/2011/12/09/us/illegal-border-crossings-dip-sharply. html? _r=0 http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Illegal_immigration_to_the_United_States Last raindrops Little Noah wakes up by the sound of rain thundering down on his window. He looks up, but he doesn’t move, he just stares at the window, looking at the rain. He doesn’t really think of anything special, he just observes how the rain splashes on the railings. Despite his confusion of what he should be thinking, he has a bad feeling. He knows that today is the day.He can feel it. They told him it was going to happen this week, but not sure which day. He stands up and puts his pyjamas pants on, the new one that he bought just some days ago. He stretches out like he always does, making this weird noise because he’s so sleepy. He stands in front of the window, looking out again. He has always been inspired by the rain; it makes him feel comfortable, but not today. Today it just makes him confused. Why would they want to take him? A 10 year old boy, who has done no harm towards anyone. Even though it was raining, the sun was rising in distance, hopefully making a rainbow.Maybe that would cheer him up. Anyhow, he knows that today is the day to leave this reality. Not just all the things in present time, also t he future in this place will go away for ever. The government has decided to send Noah and his dad back home, where they once lived, Kurdistan. He can hear his dad walking around downstairs. Not looking for something, just walking around. Probably confused, just like Noah. It has been 4 days since they said they would show within a week, but this had to be the day. Despite Noah’s young age, he was quite aware of what was going on.Noah’s dad has told him that the war in his native land isn’t critical anymore, even safe according to authorities, but Noah knows better. Noah remembers things from when he had to leave the country, he gets flashbacks. He remembers people screaming, and he just stood there crying. He remembers the last time he ever saw his mother and sister, before they were killed by a car-bomb. Noah was only 4 years old at the time, but the memories are stuck in him. He tries to stay positive, but he’s afraid. Afraid of leaving this safe place . Afraid of the memories that are printed in his head.Afraid that he and his dad will share the same faith as his sister and mother, losing everything again. Maybe he won’t have any place to sleep, anything to eat. He is glad he got his dad, but he misses his mother’s comforting words. He doesn’t recall much of her, but enough to know that he misses her. Noah fells a tear down his cheek, just like the ones falling down on his window. Noah’s father didn’t take the loss of his wife well either, he struggled a lot. Noah remembers how he heard his father crying late nights, and he remembers when they got the letter which said they had to go back.Noah looks out the window again, he sees people running around, hiding from the rain under their jackets. He remembers one time, long ago, when his mother, father and himself had to run across town because the rain surprisingly showed up. But Noah didn’t mind, he loved the rain. He hopes it will rain a l ot where he is going, it’s his only hope at the moment. Doorbell. Doorbell again. Every sound makes Noah’s heart beat a little faster. He looks outside again, observing the rain, sliding down synchronized with his tears. They were here, it’s time.

Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

December 11, 2012 Section 1: Who is the one to delineate fault for a miscommunication and misunderstanding between two cultures? In Anne Fadiman’s novel, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, she begins the novel as an attempt to allocate responsibility for the mistreatment and exacerbation of Lia Lee’s epilepsy. The tension between the Hmong and United States medical culture exemplified the strain in America between a foreign culture dependent on rituals and society’s norm. As the novel progress, Fadiman realizes that neither culture is truly at fault.Lia’s situation stemmed from a clash of cultural beliefs and practices that could have been solved by a respect and empathy of the significance of cross-cultural communication. Throughout the narrative, there were characters that were able to be culturally empathetic while some were unable to appreciate the cultural differences between the two entities and realize the necessity for cooperation and unders tanding. The Hmong have a saying that they repeat at the beginning of every story, â€Å"Hais cuaj txub kaum txub,† which means, â€Å"speak of all kinds of things† (Fadiman 13).These words depict the belief in the Hmong culture that the world is full of things that might not appear related but actually are. This concept relates to the Hmong’s history. Their development as a culture is tainted with inconsiderate counter cultures that restricted their freedom to practice their cultural rituals. This greatly influenced their ability to trust cultures that are not their own. Their general distrust in any culture different from their own can be mainly traced back to the Chinese and Indochinese portion of their saga.Basically, the Hmong have been chased out of any home they have ever had due to their unwillingness to take orders, their affliction to losing and the imperative detail that they would rather flee, fight, or die than surrender. This all boils down to the fact that they are not easily swayed by other culture’s customs. This ethnocentric attitude has greatly attributed to the Hmong culture’s general distrust and distaste for any culture but their own. Lia’s parents, Nao Kao and Foua Lee, and much of the Hmong community were skeptical of trusting the â€Å"white people† in the medical profession and in the community.In fact, Lia’s case became the litmus test for Hmong community and turned out to be a deciding factor as to whether the Hmong community in Merced, California would trust the medical professionals when they found themselves at MCMC in a similar state as Lia. Despite this inherent distrust of any culture dissimilar to their own, the Lee’s were able to trust one CPA worker, Jeanine Hilt, who took the Lee’s case very personally. Jeanine made it her mission to fight the medical industry tyranny on behalf of the Hmong culture and became the only person to ask the Lees their opinion .Because of the language barrier, many medical professionals saw talking to the Lee’s as a lost cause to communicate with, which led the Lees to believe they were being taken advantage of. Jeanine was the only one who thought to ask how the Lees felt about how the doctors were treating Lia and their culture. Because of this openness to communication and genuine interest in their answers, she explained to the hospital how the Lees, and the Hmong culture, felt about Lia’s epilepsy and why they were running into to so many conflicts with the Hmong culture.Jeanine’s open approach allowed her to see what the barrier was between the Lees ad the medical profession. The Lee’s and the Hmong culture considered Lia an anointed one and her â€Å"illness† as a blessing rather than a weakness. In the Hmong culture, people born with epilepsy are believed to be the anointed ones and are destined to a life as a shaman. They call it â€Å"qaug dab peg,† or â €Å"the spirit catches you and you fall down. † People in the medical profession did not understand the concept of spirits and the importance of epilepsy for the Hmong. Jeanine was the only white person who adamantly fought for the rights of the Hmong.She was able to do this by the ability to effectively and cross culturally communicate. A similar problem occurred when the Lees refused to give their daughter her daily medicine regimen. Lia was taken away from her family and put into foster care. Jeanine fought to get Lia back to her family as her epileptic episodes became more frequent and dangerous. After she succeeded, it was Jeanine’s mission to educate the Lees, especially Foua, on the drug regimen and explain to her the importance of the drugs and to understand Nao Kao and Foua’s aversion to medicine.Hilt was the only person that took the time to listen to Foua and her concerns regarding the unnatural substances. And after Lia’s large grand mal seizu re, she was the only one who tackled the problem of how the Hmong family was treating Lia’s developmental delays. Jeanine’s key to success was always keeping the lines of communication open between herself and the Lees and therefore between the Lees and the MCMC. In order to cross culturally communicate, Jeanine focused on a caring approach that was â€Å"culturally empathetic† and used the Lees daughter, May, as her translator.She did this because having another unfamiliar person in the room, especially a translater, would make the Lees uncomfortable and less open to effective communication. Hilt also took the time to get to know the Lees. She knew the names of all their seven surviving children and most importantly never abandoned Lia or her family even in Nao Kao’s darkest moments. As part of the Hmong culture, they are naturally very violent and are not deterred by being outnumbered. Nao Kao threatened a translator that came and told the Child Protect ive Services were taking Lia away.Jeanine understood the aversion to having someone’s child taken away and made sure the threats Nao Kao made didn’t affect the courts decision to let Lia return. Jeanine’s empathy was deepened by two factors. She understood the burden of a chronic illness because she had asthma. She also admired the connection and closeness of the Hmong families. She was deeply connected to this family and to this child so she harassed the government and the hospital until the Lees got what they deserved. This included a pediatric hospital bed for Lia’s last days at home.This led the Lees to hold Jeanine in high esteem and allowed for a trust that was incredibly hard to earn from the Hmong culture. While Jeanine took the time to understand the Hmong culture, Nao Kao, Lia’s father, did little to reciprocate. He greatly appreciated her attempt at being understanding, however he never believed it was his responsibility to do the same. Even then, Foua was usually the most receptive to Jeanine’s triumphs. Historically Hmongs have become the pariahs of society.With this in mind, Nao Kao never really made the effort to be part of a society that he knew went against his beliefs and therefore was rejecting him. It is also prominent in Hmong culture, that the man is the strongest part of the family and the most emotionally disconnected. While the Hmong were fighting the Chinese, they even killed their wives and children so they wouldn’t be emotionally distracted. Nao Kao hyper masculine attitude led him and his wife to be passively obedient. In the book, Fadiman writes â€Å"It was typical or Hmong patients to appear passively obedient – thus protecting their own dignity by concealing their ignorance and their doctor’s dignity by acting deferential – and then, as soon as they left the hospital, to ignore everything to which they had supposedly assented† (Fadiman 68). This is no way to effectively communicate between two cultures. By Nao Kao affirming that he would give the medicine and not at least trying to explain that it is against his belief and/or he does not understand how to give the medicine, he falsely gives the impression to the doctors that Lia will be cared for at home.Not only does not communicate that he will not give the medicine, but he also doesn’t communicate that he has not given the medicine to Lia when the Lees continue to take her to the hospital seizure after seizure. While the Hmongs believed being epileptic was a sort of blessing, they also understood the repercussions and knew the disease was at least semi-dangerous. That is the reason the Lees continued to take Lia to MCMC over and over again, despite their hatred for the medical culture and the inability to effectively communicate. However Nao Kao Lee was most definitely stuck in his ways.Fadiman explains a observation by Francois Marie Savina as to his first impressions to the Hmong in 1924. Savina, a missionary, stated â€Å"ethnic durability can be attributed to six factors: religion; love of liberty; traditional costumes; refusal to marry outside their race; life in the cold, dry mountainous areas; and the toughening effects of war† (Fadiman 208). The Lee family did little the acculturate themselves into the United States culture and came here to merely escape prosecution. When the Lees came to America, their relatives had to show them how the country worked. They relied greatly on their children.After Seventeen years of living here they still speak only Hmong and practice only Hmong traditions. The Hmong culture is famously stuck in its ways and it was no different for Nao Kao. The mixture between his role in his culture as well as the culture itself lends itself to the inability to communicate between the Lee family and the MCMC medical staff. The first thing that would allow two cultures, such as the Hmong and the United States medical culture, to effectively communicate is knowing what their core values, core distinction, and some key elements to their culture in regards to value dimensions.The Hmong’s value dimensions tend to fall on one extreme, while America falls on the other side of the spectrum. For example, in the Identity value dimension, the Hmong are highly collectivist, which means their core value is group harmony and their core distinction is whether you’re in group/out group. However, the United States population is based on individualist side of the identity spectrum. This means they believe in individual freedom and the core distinction is whether its me/others (Hofstede Pederson Hofstede 94-97).This has a large impact in how two cultures interact with each other because while the United States will believe that the Hmong should do whatever it takes to protect themselves while the Hmong believe they should maintain the peace with the gods or else they will be punished which focusâ⠂¬â„¢ on group harmony. The virtue value dimension also has a strong effect on the differences between these cultures. The Hmong are considered extreme long-term orientation, which values the long-term benefits. The US medical culture is more oriented on today’s effects, otherwise known as extreme short-term orientation (Hofstede Pederson Hofstede 109-112).This shows why the Hmong are so superstitious because they are worried about the futures of their children and even their grandchildren. The medical industry is not superstitious and therefore believes in saving the life that needs saving now and not later. They do not discriminate on between now and later. A lot of lessons can be learned from how Jeanine was able to effectively communicate between the Hmong and US medical cultures. First of all, it is important to be open to new ways of communication between cultures and to not only find similarities, but also understand the differences between cultures.The Hmong culture a nd the Medical culture in the United States seem on opposite ends of the cultural spectrum. In that brief period of Lia’s seizures being decreased and her seemingly getting better, the Lees understood that they had to give Lia her medicine regularly and the hospital understood why the Lees were hesitant about giving their child too many unnatural substances. When the two entities understood each other’s culture and cultural differences, Lia’s health improved and they were able to understand each other beyond the most basic level.This is called being culturally empathetic. Lia’s illness was a test for the two cultures. It was a situation that forced a broken system to recognize its faults and demonstrate how it needs to be fixed. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who worsened Lia’s illness because placing blame won’t help either culture understand each other. By the end of the text, as Fadiman is reflecting on the case, she writ es â€Å"I do not know if Lia would be able to walk and talk today had she been treated by Arthur Kleinman instead of by Neil Ernst and Peggy Philp.However, I have come to believe that her life was ruined not by septic shock or noncompliant parents but by cross-cultural misunderstanding† (Fadiman 262). The MCMC has learned multiple lessons from Lia’s epilepsy. They learned to be culturally conscious, they removed the organ donor box from the hospital waiver and posted details about Lia’s case so her illness won’t be mistreated ever again. The key to communicating effectively is to realize that a culture is different from yours and value their judgments just as much as you value your own.Jeanine was able to do it, hopefully Nao Kao will one day do it as well as every doctor in the medical profession, and especially the doctors that are in heavily populated minority areas. Bibliography 1. Fadiman, Anne. The spirit catches you and you fall down: a Hmong chil d, her American doctors, and the collision of two cultures. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997. 2. Hofstede, Gert Jan, Paul Pedersen, and Geert H. Hofstede. Exploring culture. Yarmouth, Me. : Intercultural Press, 2002 Section II: Throughout my life, I have always been a person who loved traveling.I will always love traveling and someday, I hope to have a job where traveling is a requirement. When I travel, I hoped to come as close to emersion as possible in the time span I’m there. I believe interacting with other cultures can seriously give you a whole new outlook on life and learning perspectives of different cultures and humans always fascinates me which is why, next year, I am planning to take a year off to work at a bed and breakfast in France. People from all over the globe come to bed and breakfasts, which will give e a lot of face time with a lot of different cultures and learn a little bit about everything. My housing and dining will be paid for while I meet people, make lifelong connections and put all the things I learned about in cross cultural communication to work. Cross Cultural Communication opened up my eyes to some pretty basic things that you just never really put names to. The best lesson I learned was on cultural empathy. The idea that you don’t only tolerate another culture, but you understand it at its most basic level is incredibly important in how you connect with other people.A lot of my best friends are actually international and live in other countries. One of my best friends ever lives in Greece and looking back on our friendship, I realize how I subconsciously underwent the process of cultural empathy by asking her about the different practices she went through and the different ways she understood American culture and society. Unfortunately, I did not do the same with my German ex-boyfriend who lived in Germany which probably could have saved a lot of grief on my end.Another lesson I found interesting in cro ss-cultural communication was reflexivity. Reflexivity is the ability and willingness of a researcher to acknowledge their bias. When I went to H Street, I realized my bias growing up in small town liberal suburbia. I realize my bias everyday when I meet people who grow up in different countries, parts of the country or even socio economic class. While interviewing Josh Parrish for my interview project, I saw how different our lives were and yet how similar we were.Reflexivity is not only important to acknowledge for reliable research, but for dependable relationships as well. Talking about white privilege really interested me throughout the course. Growing up as white, I kind of always resented the doors that automatically opened for me in some sense of the word. I can’t pinpoint why, but I like the challenge of overcoming adversity. In the School of Public Affairs Leadership Program, we talked about the idea of Privilege and Power and we watched an interesting TED talks tha t introduced the idea of â€Å"The Power of a Single Story. Acknowledging the different presets in society is important to society and to be able to communicate with each other. If I could change one thing about this class, it would definitely be about the reading. The readings were incredibly numerous and sometimes, I couldn’t finish everything, which led to a serious cycle of me falling incredibly behind. I would’ve loved for a way to cut down the readings, perhaps only read important excerpts or something because the workload was either really hard or very laid back.The lessons I learned in cross cultural communication feel less immense than other classes, but I already notice how I look around and see how these lessons are applicable in real life. I constantly look back at my history and realize how helpful these skills would have been months and even years ago. Being culturally empathetic is the most important lesson I could have learned and I feel was the overar ching theme to the whole course. I found it helpful to learn how to properly acculturate into a foreign culture and while I may not become a foreign diplomat because of this class, I definitely learned some important imformation. Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down December 11, 2012 Section 1: Who is the one to delineate fault for a miscommunication and misunderstanding between two cultures? In Anne Fadiman’s novel, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, she begins the novel as an attempt to allocate responsibility for the mistreatment and exacerbation of Lia Lee’s epilepsy. The tension between the Hmong and United States medical culture exemplified the strain in America between a foreign culture dependent on rituals and society’s norm. As the novel progress, Fadiman realizes that neither culture is truly at fault.Lia’s situation stemmed from a clash of cultural beliefs and practices that could have been solved by a respect and empathy of the significance of cross-cultural communication. Throughout the narrative, there were characters that were able to be culturally empathetic while some were unable to appreciate the cultural differences between the two entities and realize the necessity for cooperation and unders tanding. The Hmong have a saying that they repeat at the beginning of every story, â€Å"Hais cuaj txub kaum txub,† which means, â€Å"speak of all kinds of things† (Fadiman 13).These words depict the belief in the Hmong culture that the world is full of things that might not appear related but actually are. This concept relates to the Hmong’s history. Their development as a culture is tainted with inconsiderate counter cultures that restricted their freedom to practice their cultural rituals. This greatly influenced their ability to trust cultures that are not their own. Their general distrust in any culture different from their own can be mainly traced back to the Chinese and Indochinese portion of their saga.Basically, the Hmong have been chased out of any home they have ever had due to their unwillingness to take orders, their affliction to losing and the imperative detail that they would rather flee, fight, or die than surrender. This all boils down to the fact that they are not easily swayed by other culture’s customs. This ethnocentric attitude has greatly attributed to the Hmong culture’s general distrust and distaste for any culture but their own. Lia’s parents, Nao Kao and Foua Lee, and much of the Hmong community were skeptical of trusting the â€Å"white people† in the medical profession and in the community.In fact, Lia’s case became the litmus test for Hmong community and turned out to be a deciding factor as to whether the Hmong community in Merced, California would trust the medical professionals when they found themselves at MCMC in a similar state as Lia. Despite this inherent distrust of any culture dissimilar to their own, the Lee’s were able to trust one CPA worker, Jeanine Hilt, who took the Lee’s case very personally. Jeanine made it her mission to fight the medical industry tyranny on behalf of the Hmong culture and became the only person to ask the Lees their opinion .Because of the language barrier, many medical professionals saw talking to the Lee’s as a lost cause to communicate with, which led the Lees to believe they were being taken advantage of. Jeanine was the only one who thought to ask how the Lees felt about how the doctors were treating Lia and their culture. Because of this openness to communication and genuine interest in their answers, she explained to the hospital how the Lees, and the Hmong culture, felt about Lia’s epilepsy and why they were running into to so many conflicts with the Hmong culture.Jeanine’s open approach allowed her to see what the barrier was between the Lees ad the medical profession. The Lee’s and the Hmong culture considered Lia an anointed one and her â€Å"illness† as a blessing rather than a weakness. In the Hmong culture, people born with epilepsy are believed to be the anointed ones and are destined to a life as a shaman. They call it â€Å"qaug dab peg,† or â €Å"the spirit catches you and you fall down. † People in the medical profession did not understand the concept of spirits and the importance of epilepsy for the Hmong. Jeanine was the only white person who adamantly fought for the rights of the Hmong.She was able to do this by the ability to effectively and cross culturally communicate. A similar problem occurred when the Lees refused to give their daughter her daily medicine regimen. Lia was taken away from her family and put into foster care. Jeanine fought to get Lia back to her family as her epileptic episodes became more frequent and dangerous. After she succeeded, it was Jeanine’s mission to educate the Lees, especially Foua, on the drug regimen and explain to her the importance of the drugs and to understand Nao Kao and Foua’s aversion to medicine.Hilt was the only person that took the time to listen to Foua and her concerns regarding the unnatural substances. And after Lia’s large grand mal seizu re, she was the only one who tackled the problem of how the Hmong family was treating Lia’s developmental delays. Jeanine’s key to success was always keeping the lines of communication open between herself and the Lees and therefore between the Lees and the MCMC. In order to cross culturally communicate, Jeanine focused on a caring approach that was â€Å"culturally empathetic† and used the Lees daughter, May, as her translator.She did this because having another unfamiliar person in the room, especially a translater, would make the Lees uncomfortable and less open to effective communication. Hilt also took the time to get to know the Lees. She knew the names of all their seven surviving children and most importantly never abandoned Lia or her family even in Nao Kao’s darkest moments. As part of the Hmong culture, they are naturally very violent and are not deterred by being outnumbered. Nao Kao threatened a translator that came and told the Child Protect ive Services were taking Lia away.Jeanine understood the aversion to having someone’s child taken away and made sure the threats Nao Kao made didn’t affect the courts decision to let Lia return. Jeanine’s empathy was deepened by two factors. She understood the burden of a chronic illness because she had asthma. She also admired the connection and closeness of the Hmong families. She was deeply connected to this family and to this child so she harassed the government and the hospital until the Lees got what they deserved. This included a pediatric hospital bed for Lia’s last days at home.This led the Lees to hold Jeanine in high esteem and allowed for a trust that was incredibly hard to earn from the Hmong culture. While Jeanine took the time to understand the Hmong culture, Nao Kao, Lia’s father, did little to reciprocate. He greatly appreciated her attempt at being understanding, however he never believed it was his responsibility to do the same. Even then, Foua was usually the most receptive to Jeanine’s triumphs. Historically Hmongs have become the pariahs of society.With this in mind, Nao Kao never really made the effort to be part of a society that he knew went against his beliefs and therefore was rejecting him. It is also prominent in Hmong culture, that the man is the strongest part of the family and the most emotionally disconnected. While the Hmong were fighting the Chinese, they even killed their wives and children so they wouldn’t be emotionally distracted. Nao Kao hyper masculine attitude led him and his wife to be passively obedient. In the book, Fadiman writes â€Å"It was typical or Hmong patients to appear passively obedient – thus protecting their own dignity by concealing their ignorance and their doctor’s dignity by acting deferential – and then, as soon as they left the hospital, to ignore everything to which they had supposedly assented† (Fadiman 68). This is no way to effectively communicate between two cultures. By Nao Kao affirming that he would give the medicine and not at least trying to explain that it is against his belief and/or he does not understand how to give the medicine, he falsely gives the impression to the doctors that Lia will be cared for at home.Not only does not communicate that he will not give the medicine, but he also doesn’t communicate that he has not given the medicine to Lia when the Lees continue to take her to the hospital seizure after seizure. While the Hmongs believed being epileptic was a sort of blessing, they also understood the repercussions and knew the disease was at least semi-dangerous. That is the reason the Lees continued to take Lia to MCMC over and over again, despite their hatred for the medical culture and the inability to effectively communicate. However Nao Kao Lee was most definitely stuck in his ways.Fadiman explains a observation by Francois Marie Savina as to his first impressions to the Hmong in 1924. Savina, a missionary, stated â€Å"ethnic durability can be attributed to six factors: religion; love of liberty; traditional costumes; refusal to marry outside their race; life in the cold, dry mountainous areas; and the toughening effects of war† (Fadiman 208). The Lee family did little the acculturate themselves into the United States culture and came here to merely escape prosecution. When the Lees came to America, their relatives had to show them how the country worked. They relied greatly on their children.After Seventeen years of living here they still speak only Hmong and practice only Hmong traditions. The Hmong culture is famously stuck in its ways and it was no different for Nao Kao. The mixture between his role in his culture as well as the culture itself lends itself to the inability to communicate between the Lee family and the MCMC medical staff. The first thing that would allow two cultures, such as the Hmong and the United States medical culture, to effectively communicate is knowing what their core values, core distinction, and some key elements to their culture in regards to value dimensions.The Hmong’s value dimensions tend to fall on one extreme, while America falls on the other side of the spectrum. For example, in the Identity value dimension, the Hmong are highly collectivist, which means their core value is group harmony and their core distinction is whether you’re in group/out group. However, the United States population is based on individualist side of the identity spectrum. This means they believe in individual freedom and the core distinction is whether its me/others (Hofstede Pederson Hofstede 94-97).This has a large impact in how two cultures interact with each other because while the United States will believe that the Hmong should do whatever it takes to protect themselves while the Hmong believe they should maintain the peace with the gods or else they will be punished which focusâ⠂¬â„¢ on group harmony. The virtue value dimension also has a strong effect on the differences between these cultures. The Hmong are considered extreme long-term orientation, which values the long-term benefits. The US medical culture is more oriented on today’s effects, otherwise known as extreme short-term orientation (Hofstede Pederson Hofstede 109-112).This shows why the Hmong are so superstitious because they are worried about the futures of their children and even their grandchildren. The medical industry is not superstitious and therefore believes in saving the life that needs saving now and not later. They do not discriminate on between now and later. A lot of lessons can be learned from how Jeanine was able to effectively communicate between the Hmong and US medical cultures. First of all, it is important to be open to new ways of communication between cultures and to not only find similarities, but also understand the differences between cultures.The Hmong culture a nd the Medical culture in the United States seem on opposite ends of the cultural spectrum. In that brief period of Lia’s seizures being decreased and her seemingly getting better, the Lees understood that they had to give Lia her medicine regularly and the hospital understood why the Lees were hesitant about giving their child too many unnatural substances. When the two entities understood each other’s culture and cultural differences, Lia’s health improved and they were able to understand each other beyond the most basic level.This is called being culturally empathetic. Lia’s illness was a test for the two cultures. It was a situation that forced a broken system to recognize its faults and demonstrate how it needs to be fixed. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who worsened Lia’s illness because placing blame won’t help either culture understand each other. By the end of the text, as Fadiman is reflecting on the case, she writ es â€Å"I do not know if Lia would be able to walk and talk today had she been treated by Arthur Kleinman instead of by Neil Ernst and Peggy Philp.However, I have come to believe that her life was ruined not by septic shock or noncompliant parents but by cross-cultural misunderstanding† (Fadiman 262). The MCMC has learned multiple lessons from Lia’s epilepsy. They learned to be culturally conscious, they removed the organ donor box from the hospital waiver and posted details about Lia’s case so her illness won’t be mistreated ever again. The key to communicating effectively is to realize that a culture is different from yours and value their judgments just as much as you value your own.Jeanine was able to do it, hopefully Nao Kao will one day do it as well as every doctor in the medical profession, and especially the doctors that are in heavily populated minority areas. Bibliography 1. Fadiman, Anne. The spirit catches you and you fall down: a Hmong chil d, her American doctors, and the collision of two cultures. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997. 2. Hofstede, Gert Jan, Paul Pedersen, and Geert H. Hofstede. Exploring culture. Yarmouth, Me. : Intercultural Press, 2002 Section II: Throughout my life, I have always been a person who loved traveling.I will always love traveling and someday, I hope to have a job where traveling is a requirement. When I travel, I hoped to come as close to emersion as possible in the time span I’m there. I believe interacting with other cultures can seriously give you a whole new outlook on life and learning perspectives of different cultures and humans always fascinates me which is why, next year, I am planning to take a year off to work at a bed and breakfast in France. People from all over the globe come to bed and breakfasts, which will give e a lot of face time with a lot of different cultures and learn a little bit about everything. My housing and dining will be paid for while I meet people, make lifelong connections and put all the things I learned about in cross cultural communication to work. Cross Cultural Communication opened up my eyes to some pretty basic things that you just never really put names to. The best lesson I learned was on cultural empathy. The idea that you don’t only tolerate another culture, but you understand it at its most basic level is incredibly important in how you connect with other people.A lot of my best friends are actually international and live in other countries. One of my best friends ever lives in Greece and looking back on our friendship, I realize how I subconsciously underwent the process of cultural empathy by asking her about the different practices she went through and the different ways she understood American culture and society. Unfortunately, I did not do the same with my German ex-boyfriend who lived in Germany which probably could have saved a lot of grief on my end.Another lesson I found interesting in cro ss-cultural communication was reflexivity. Reflexivity is the ability and willingness of a researcher to acknowledge their bias. When I went to H Street, I realized my bias growing up in small town liberal suburbia. I realize my bias everyday when I meet people who grow up in different countries, parts of the country or even socio economic class. While interviewing Josh Parrish for my interview project, I saw how different our lives were and yet how similar we were.Reflexivity is not only important to acknowledge for reliable research, but for dependable relationships as well. Talking about white privilege really interested me throughout the course. Growing up as white, I kind of always resented the doors that automatically opened for me in some sense of the word. I can’t pinpoint why, but I like the challenge of overcoming adversity. In the School of Public Affairs Leadership Program, we talked about the idea of Privilege and Power and we watched an interesting TED talks tha t introduced the idea of â€Å"The Power of a Single Story. Acknowledging the different presets in society is important to society and to be able to communicate with each other. If I could change one thing about this class, it would definitely be about the reading. The readings were incredibly numerous and sometimes, I couldn’t finish everything, which led to a serious cycle of me falling incredibly behind. I would’ve loved for a way to cut down the readings, perhaps only read important excerpts or something because the workload was either really hard or very laid back.The lessons I learned in cross cultural communication feel less immense than other classes, but I already notice how I look around and see how these lessons are applicable in real life. I constantly look back at my history and realize how helpful these skills would have been months and even years ago. Being culturally empathetic is the most important lesson I could have learned and I feel was the overar ching theme to the whole course. I found it helpful to learn how to properly acculturate into a foreign culture and while I may not become a foreign diplomat because of this class, I definitely learned some important imformation.

The Job Selection Criteria

Why are you applying for the Graduate Trainee Program in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade? What skills and attributes would you be able to contribute to DFAT's goals and work? You should give examples based on your academic achievements, work experience and/or extra-curricular activities. I deem the Graduate Trainee Program as one of the epitomes of DFAT's thrust in showcasing the best and brightest Australia has to offer the international community. Being part of a vibrant, dedicated and diverse group of individuals entrusted to foster understanding and promote the country's foreign and trade relations is a challenge anyone who believes in Australia should be proud to be a part of. Having read Politics and Government in university and presently doing my post-graduate studies in International Relations give me the fundamental, if not advanced, skills as well as awareness of local and international socio-political and economic realities of today. Complementary to my academic skills are the English language teaching experiences I have locally and abroad, which contributed immensely to my understanding of different cultures and peoples of varying age group. Being trilingual (English, Korean and street Japanese) gives me the edge to appreciate not only the language of other people but the nuances of what a language conveys, this is a paramount trait in comprehending the distinct language of diplomacy. It has helped me deal with clients in an interpretation job, students in a teaching assignment or local tribes people in medical or mercy missions. 1.Written and Oral Communication Skills Provide examples of where your written and oral communication and negotiation skills have been most effective in the workplace or elsewhere. What outcomes were achieved? One of the jobs I do on the side is translation and interpretation work from Korean to English and vice versa. This type of work deals with Korean trade delegations coming to Australia to deal with Australian business owners. Both Korean and Australian clients require submission of a written project proposal prior to getting the tasking. The proposal calls for demonstrating my competence and advanced level of understanding not only of the Korean and English languages but the cultures as well. In writing the proposal, I set my plan of action and the methodology to be used for the translation and interpretation processes. After the clients read through my proposal, I present it to both parties and convince them of my being the right person to get the job done. During the actual translation/interpretation work, I sometimes observe that the principals' understanding of what each said to the other may get â€Å"lost in translation.† The outcome of which is that on several occasions, I had to mediate and arbitrate so that the two factions agree on correct interpretations. It is noteworthy seeing conflicting parties come to terms because of my diplomatic approach and diligence in getting the job done properly. Describe a situation in which you had to identify and analyze a problem and then recommend a solution. What was the outcome? What constraints did you face in developing the solution? Would you have done anything differently? In 2001, while doing community re-building voluntary work with the Youth with a Mission (YMAN), a non-government organization assisting marginalized communities worldwide, I was a â€Å"trainee team leader† charged with a group of young volunteers from the United States, Canada, Australia, Fiji and even Australian aborigines. We were in northern Thailand amongst the Karen and Hmong tribes and I found out that due to their patriarchal society, the males in the tribes refused to work with our female volunteers. This caused some setbacks since individual assignments were already given prior to arriving on site. As the team leader of the group, I discussed this problem with the senior team leader and recommended that we should respect their culture in order to complete the mission. I talked with the team and organised the male volunteers to work in building houses and improving the local site. The female volunteers took on the English teaching assignments and medical assistance. This went well with the local populace and we gained their respect because we demonstrated our reverence for their beliefs. I would have done things differently by studying the culture, beliefs and peculiarities of the tribes first prior to embarking on another volunteer mission. What makes a successful team, in the workplace or elsewhere? Why are you an effective team member? How have you incorporated people from different backgrounds in a team in which you have participated? Give an example of how you have contributed to a team's achievements. Team success rests with good leadership and management. I related the leader and manager role since despite being distinct characteristics, they are inseparable traits of someone charged with such daunting assignment. A leader/manager must have the vision to effectively implement tasks and the steadfastness to successfully complete mission objectives. My value as a team member is the ability to work cohesively with each team member and agree to set aside idiosyncrasies in order to fulfill collective goals. People with different backgrounds can be incorporated in a team by appealing to their individual aims and marry them with the strategic objectives. During one of my courses in post-graduate studies, our class simulated a United Nations Security Council meeting and I played the part of the Secretary General. We were doing North Korean nuclear proliferation conflict resolution and individuals have their own opinions on how best to mitigate the problem. Playing the goodwill role, I contributed to the team output by consolidating valid points from individuals and getting a group consensus that the solution to North Korea's nuclear arms program is by catering to the North Korean's need for aid in exchange for reduction or total demobilization of the nuclear arms . 4.Flexibility, Adaptability and Initiative Give an example of a challenge you have recently faced in the workplace, your studies or extra-curricular activities. Describe how you addressed and overcame that challenge. What were some of the difficulties you faced? While working as a contractual English instructor in Korea, I noticed that the students learning English, though very diligent and hardworking, English have a hard time with conversational, street-speak and business English. This is due to the formation of the program wherein they learn classroom and â€Å"theoretical† English but lacking the suave and practical application. Korea is a very rigid and structured society and change usually comes at a difficult phase. I adapted and conformed to the norms of the school but took the initiative by instructing my students to prepare a five-minute oral presentation of a country of their choice. The presentations have to be made with individually hand-made posters to have more impact in terms of graphics. After each student's presentation, critiques from the class – in English, were done and this further confirmed the value of the pioneering teaching methodology. Needless to say, my technique was adapted by other teachers, who found it more efficient than the processes they have been using for years. Even the school director was pleased with my achievement that when my contract ended, he offered to renew it but I declined since I had to go back to Australia to pursue my studies.

Overview of Bhopal Disaster Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Overview of Bhopal Disaster - Essay Example The number of deaths and injured people however did not stop during the release of MIC in the atmosphere but continued to kill Bhopal residents for months that followed that the Indian government reported to its Parliament that the tragedy has taken 1,430 lives in just four months. By 1991, the number of people in Bhopal who died from the tragedy reached more than 3,800 and the number of people who contracted disability reached approximately 11,000 (Jackson 1983). Later investigation showed that the disaster was caused by a disgruntled plant employee who poured water into a batch of batch of methyl isocyanate in a storage tank. The water caused chemical reaction to the effect that it created heat and pressure in the tank. These chemical reaction in tank forced the valve to open that forced the chemical to be released into the atmosphere where the chemical compound was transformed into a lethal gas that killed the nearby Bhopal residents (Union Carbide a 2013). This report was both confirmed by Union Carbide’s panel of experts as well as the Indian government. After the incident, the company who owned the plant, Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) sought permission from the government to clean up the area and this clean up drive extended until 1998. In this year (1998) UCIL was taken over by the Madhya Pradesh State Government, which owns and had been leasing the property to Eveready assumed responsibility of the facility and shouldered all accountability for the site (Bhopal.com c). After the disaster, UCIL provided around $2 to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund to help aid in the easing the tragedy and also brought in its own panel of experts and medical experts along with the medical equipment and supplies. The company also donated $5 million to the Indian Red Cross as a supplement to the initial donation. The company also shared its available information and study about methylisocyanate (MIC) with the Government of India to effectively respond to the ill effect of the chemical (Bhopal.com b).

Refutation in Thelogical Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Refutation in Thelogical Religion - Essay Example futation of religion does not involve only a refutation of theories regarding God and his kingdom but it necessarily involves a refutation to all possible authorities at once. Dostoevsky finds Nihilism to be the only alternative of religion and thus he supports a religious anarchy as a system which may allow human beings to dwell on earth with a piece that he compares to heavenly kingdom. However, on the other hand, handing over complete political authority to church had already shows threatening result which Dostoevsky himself had seen and considered as a result of political and economical lust in theological authorities which must choose to refute all worldly facilities and charms in order to sit on an authoritative position in religion. Compared to religious view of Dostoevsky, Freud and Sartre- who had borrowed a large part of their theories from Dostoevsky- proposed two analytical alternatives to understand the theory of religion. In his Origin of religion, Freud examines the idea for why men must find out a God whatever his situations are. In Brothers Karamazov Dostoevsky mentions there things that are necessary to mankind other than the Heavenly Bread of Bible, those are: Mystery, Miracle and Authority. Freud chooses authority as the reason why men always look for a superior creature that must be controlling at least some of his fate, if not all at once. Parallel to this idea, (Sartre) describes his theory of ‘bad faith’ to explain for how human being is infinitely free to choose just anything that he is afraid of his freedom and he seeks for a surrender to anything that provide him an alternative of facing his infinite freedom. As most of the empirical theories, including science, necessarily fails to describe about the nature of consciousness (or soul, spirit), the necessity of laws in nature and secret of life, people find out religion as providing them a shelter from their naked responsibility to find out a meaning in their existence. Resultantly,

Course Design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Course Design - Essay Example According to Iwasiw, Goldenberg & Andrusyszyn (2009), curriculum development in nursing education is characterized by ‘interaction, cooperation, change, and possibility conflict, †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..and values of stakeholders’ (Chapter 1, n.p). Wound care management is a hot topic which requires special attention in nurses training. So a program in this would be very useful. Foot care management is providing education and training on proper foot care like foot massaging, trimming toe nails, identifying circulatory disorders etc. All these require expertise. So a course on foot care management is essential. These three areas are in need of experienced man power. So training courses in the above said departments is a necessity. I. SANE Course A. Course Design A course on Sexual assault nursing examination is important as the trauma of a victim is so intense. A four weeks long SANE course should follow a student centered approach with maximum interaction from the part of the st udent. In addition to the interactive class room sessions the learner should get active clinical practice making the learner competent in sexual assault practice. The learner should be trained in psychological principles to deal with the emotional state of the patient. The class size of 8 students and well trained faculty members makes the course interactive and interesting. Clinical practice sessions and visits to crime lab and crisis centers give the students enough practical exposure. 1. Course Description. This four-week course offers didactic and clinical training for Registered Nurses to conduct a comprehensive sexual assault medical forensic examination and to testify in court on that exam if called. This course should train the nurse in advanced physical assessment skills like emergency care, critical care and maternal child health care. The training they require should meet the requirement of the community they serve as each community varies in the mode of SANE practice. It varies according to the type of patient they handle like adult, adolescent and pediatric. A SANE is trained to work with a multidisciplinary population of professionals like advocates, law enforcement, forensic experts and legal professionals. So training in a collaborative learning environment is a criterion in SANE training. This course provides further knowledge in topics such as forensic code of ethics, extensive forensic examination, and documentation of injuries, collection of forensic samples and its management, testifying legal proceedings, giving emotional support to the victims. 2. Goal. The goal of this course is to mold a registered nurse to a professional trained in clinical preparation and forensic care of a patient who has experienced sexual assault. 3. Objectives. After four weeks of the course; 3.1. The participants will be able to discuss medical forensic history and dynamics of sexual assault 3.2. The participants will be able to describe and give examples of wha t to document, how to document and management of forensic samples 3.3 The participants will be able to demonstrate or show how to testify in a mock trial and do the GYN exam 3.4. The participants will be able to compare and contrast/ analyze different assault situations. 3.5. The participants will be able to explain/summarize forensic code of ethics 3.6. The participant develops skill in physical examination of the person who has undergone sexual assault 3.7. The

Key drivers affecting health care organizations and the U.S. health Essay

Key drivers affecting health care organizations and the U.S. health care delivery system - Essay Example This paper will briefly discuss these issues, and find out how these reforms may positively affect key players in the healthcare system. One of the main drivers affecting healthcare organizations is cost. The cost of care in most healthcare organizations in the United States is considered to be the key driver affecting the manner in which most organizations operate. At the moment, countless people are not able to acquire quality medical attention due to its high cost (Garber & AHA, 2006). It is true that the cost of healthcare provision is going higher and not many people are capable of acquiring the effective and quality healthcare they desire. The second driver is the increase in need for healthcare employees. There is no question about the recent spell of reducing healthcare workers in the United States, which presents a tremendous challenge to the healthcare sector. Current and future implications of these drivers lie in the fact that patients may not get what they truly desire from the healthcare organizations or healthcare delivery systems. It is next to impossible to fully provide for a changing environment when negative progress riddles a system that is meant to cater to a large population. Furthermore, a reduction in healthcare workers means that a shortage looms in the horizon, which implies that countless other patients may receive the short end of the stick when it comes to efficient healthcare provision (Buchbinder & Shanks, 2011). One change that countless people would want enacted is the recruitment of more healthcare workers in the region. Also, a reduction in the cost of healthcare services may be a reform that most people would want to see enacted. These changes are crucial to the patient because, in the long run, they would be able to pay for the services they urgently need. Furthermore, they will not necessarily have

How to Get a Job Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

How to Get a Job - Essay Example The essay "How to Get a Job" analyzes how a fresh graduate can get the right job in a competitive job market environment. First of all, the applicant should write a resume. The graduate should first have the kind of job they want and then design headings that are in line with this job. An example lies with someone seeking an accountancy job. This graduate in accounting should develop headings for their work that is in line with the accounting profession for example to have words like Record Keeping, Computer Skills and much more. The main aim of upholding clarity and relevance with headings is to ensure that they are eye catching and give overview information of the applicant. In an actual sense, a resume is supposed to give overview information within five seconds as the consideration here is that many resumes are under scrutiny and at this point it is the appeal that is important to the one selecting. After this, the resume should now be written in details. Of importance to note in this area is the inclusion of any relevant experience that one has. If there are areas where one was involved in teamwork or demanding tasks it is important to include them clearly with the dates of each accomplishment or task. Therefore, the main idea here is to be coherent and that the events that have happened in one's life to be chronologically inserted for clarity and easy follow-up of information. In the case of a cover letter, it is important to consider a number of issues that can make the whole process a success or failure.

Character of Socrates Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Character of Socrates - Essay Example The paper initially compares, then contrasts and eventually concludes about the character of Socrates. This is done by taking into account what is said by Nietzsche about Socrates’ problems in TI, as Socrates talks with Crito and as seen in Apology. Some of the attributes of Socrates as discovered by Nietzsche are similar to the ones seen in Apology, when Socrates appeared in court and when he talked with one of his friends Crito. There are certain characteristics of Socrates, which did not change, even though his life became quite tough. These include: I. Being argumentative II. His acts of being a real criminal III. Being erotic IV. Being controversial V. Being ironical I. Argumentative Socrates was actually argumentative (Friedrich 33). He began his speech by arguing on how the problem he faced was massive; he stated that his accusers hardly uttered a word of truth about him. He went onto further state that his accusers may go ahead and tell the men of Athens that Socrates deceives people through his eloquence. He also goes onto declare that using the same words is like a known habit to Socrates, since it was seen in the money changer’s table and agora among other places. ... Socrates established that this was one of his principles. He further explained that the bad opinions need no consideration, but good ones need careful deliberation. He explained that this was the reason for him not escaping to a nearby safe country. He took one-step further and stated that his opinions are better than the rest, since he regarded himself as a wise man. The opinions of unwise people are evil and therefore require no attention. II. Being a typical criminal Nietzsche discovered Socrates as a typical criminal. Nietzsche validates this fact by stating that in Apology, Socrates, in the presence of judges confronted everyone without any sort of fear or remorse. By defiantly asking Meletus to name the improver of the youth, he implied that he was the youth’s corrupter. Furthermore, one of the foreigners also told Socrates that he was full of worst appetites and vices. At this remark, Socrates actually agreed with the foreigner, stating ‘You know me sir’, s howing that someone who barely knew Socrates also found him to be a criminal. Moreover, Nietzsche also used the appearance of Socrates to claim that since Socrates was so ugly, he was ugly in spirit, as well, as elucidated by ‘monstrous in appearance, monstrous in spirit. III. Socrates was erotic Socrates was quite erotic, as mentioned by Nietzsche. He told men of Athens that he was not going to change his way of living, even if he had to die many times. He told people not to interrupt him, while he was delivering his speech, as shown in Apology in these lines ‘And I must remind you that you are not to interrupt me if I speak in my accustomed manner’. (Walter and Hollingdale, 162). He claimed that he might be a corrupter of youth by stating that he never misled them intentionally. By asking

Descartes and his Meditations on the First Philosophy Essay

Descartes and his Meditations on the First Philosophy - Essay Example He proves that nature is our teacher because it tells us what is right and wrong. Our intellect, understanding, and free will help us act upon what we have learned through nature and obtained through our senses. We then make judgments in life even though we don't have complete knowledge of anything and everything is doubtful and believe that God will pass the best judgment because God is all-knowing. Â  Descartes created his Meditations to unlearn everything and build stronger foundations for all the ideas that exist within humans. He said that often human beings make errors of judgment habitually and believe things without reason. He wanted to prove to the world that God exists not through religion or science but through a rationalized argument. In his meditations, Descartes discusses how we know that we exist as human beings, how the senses work, how we gain knowledge, make judgments and that God exists and is the best judge of all. Â  "Nevertheless, the belief that there is a God who is all-powerful, and who created me, such as I am, has, for a long time, obtained steady possession of my mind. How, then, do I know that he has not arranged that there should be neither earth, nor sky, nor any extended thing, nor figure, nor magnitude, nor place, providing at the same time, however, for [the rise in me of the perceptions of all these objects, and] the persuasion that these do not exist otherwise than as I perceive them (Descartes, Meditation 1, section 9) Descartes asks a critical question in the first meditation. He wonders if our mind is in God's control as is everything else in the universe how do we know if the universe really exists. The mind thinks and that is its only purpose. All the information gathered by our five senses is registered with our brain for us to know what we felt, saw, smelt, heard or tasted. We lose one of our senses if we lose that part of our body. For example, if a person loses his eye s he loses his sight and if a person loses his ears he loses his hearing. Everything in the body is connected to the brain, therefore, if one part of the brain is damaged, everything connected to it gets affected. The mind is the sensory treasure box. To think and to act are controlled by the mind. The mind is controlled by God as long as a person believes that there is a God and has created us. Therefore, it is absolutely possible that anything that mind observes and thinks maybe an illusion. We know there is a sky because we can see a sky; we know there is an Earth because we feel it under our feet. We know all of this because all signals we sense are shot up to our brain and processed so we know what we have sensed.

Global political economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Global political economy - Essay Example The Blueshirts tended to brutalise society into obedience. In this sense, Chiang tried to enforce his authority by force - something that Hitler and Mussolini tried to do. Chiang's attempt to win the support of the people in his territory was minimal Meanwhile, on Taiwan, throughout the 1950s and 1960s, intermittent skirmishes occurred throughout the mainland's coastal and peripheral regions, though American reluctance to be drawn into a larger conflict left Chiang Kai-shek too weak to "retake the mainland" as he constantly vowed. ROC fighter aircraft bombed mainland targets and commandos, sometimes numbering up to 80, landed repeatedly on the mainland to kill PLA soldiers, kidnap CCP cadres, destroy infrastructure, and seize documents. The ROC lost about 150 men in one raid in 1964.Mao's prestige rose steadily after the failure of the Comintern-directed urban insurrections. In late 1931 he was able to proclaim the establishment of the Chinese Soviet Republic under his chairmanship i n Ruijin, Jiangxi Province. The Soviet-oriented CCP Political Bureau came to Ruijin at Mao's invitation with the intent of dismantling his apparatus. But, although he had yet to gain membership in the Political Bureau, Mao dominated the proceedings. Few Chinese had any illusions about Japanese designs on China. ... The Japanese began to push from south of the Great Wall into northern China and into the coastal provinces. Chinese fury against Japan was predictable, but anger was also directed against the Guomindang government, which at the time was more preoccupied with anti-Communist extermination campaigns than with resisting the Japanese invaders. The importance of "internal unity before external danger" was forcefully brought home in December 1936, when Nationalist troops (who had been ousted from Manchuria by the Japanese) mutinied at Xi'an. The mutineers forcibly detained Chiang Kai-shek for several days until he agreed to cease hostilities against the Communist forces in northwest China and to assign Communist units combat duties in designated anti-Japanese front areas. At Yan'an and elsewhere in the "liberated areas," Mao was able to adapt Marxism-Leninism to Chinese conditions. He taught party cadres to lead the masses by living and working with them, eating their food, and thinking their thoughts. The Red Army fostered an image of conducting guerrilla warfare in defense of the people. Communist troops adapted to changing wartime conditions and became a seasoned fighting force. Mao also began preparing for the establishment of a new China. In 1940 he outlined the program of the Chinese Communists for an eventual seizure of power. His teachings became the central tenets of the CCP doctrine that came to be formalized as Mao Zedong Thought. With skillful organizational and propaganda work, the Communists increased party membership from 100,000 in 1937 to 1.2 million by 1945. In 1945 China emerged from the war nominally a great military power but actually a

Modern video gaming consoles Essay Example for Free

Modern video gaming consoles Essay Abstract: There are many ways for entertainment, sometimes these activities are very expensive for all people to offer these activities, as solution for this in the 1970s a new entertainment method has been introduced in the market place, and this new method was popularly known as video games [1]. Video games created large impact among the game lovers. Time to time, people who develop video games, introduces different consoles using advance technologies. Today the leading competitors using very advance technologies to market their consoles to the consumers. Among that Nintendo Wii U, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS are some of the high end video gaming consoles which are available in the present arena. These consoles equipped with very advance hardware structure like high powered processors, vast capacity of media and storage, user friendly user interface with multiple options, advanced video output, and controllers with advance technologies. On the other hand another set of video gaming consoles has been dominating in the present world which is motion control based consoles. The top motion control console PlayStaion move and xBox Kinect took the gamers to a different track from the traditional gaming consoles. These type of motion based game consoles provide real time game play to the gamers. Today video gaming industry has become one of the most revenue making business, and the evolution of this device is quite interesting, from the most basic models to today’s very complicate play station gaming devices, the demand for the product grown very rapidly. And further international cyber gaming event have made a great impact among individual who are fond of this aspect. 1. 0 Introduction to modern video gaming consoles The technological development in the area of video gaming is an amazing evolution in the world of digital gaming, the history of the gaming industry runs down to the 1970,s, since then the industry has seen a huge development, which were beyond the imagination of human mind at the time of its discovery. The development in this field can be seen from the change that has occurred to the basic gaming device, in the initial stage this mechanism had only used simple joysticks, but today they have developed in to more complicated joystick and move device with more function, because this equipments come wireless they are convenient to handle. Going beyond the gaming arena, you can use the device in various ways, this technology can be used in other sectors as well, and as steering wills are available we can use this kind of devices in training drive and pilots which can save immense cost to the respective institutions. Further looking far beyond the above we can use this technology in the process of developing war strategies which would eventually save not of money and resource, when handling terrorism. More over by using gaming devices we observe the effectiveness and the efficiency of the human brain, and as per the above discussed this industry has potential to grow in the future. Leading competitors of the video gaming industry such as Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft used their own technological approach to enhance their quality of the product. Time to time they have come up with different products and draw the gamers to a different path. A popular game development company Nintendo announces their new product Nintendo Wii U at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 last year [2]. This most advance console of Nintendo, which built up with amazing features than their previous releases. Nintendo Wii U will be ship with Wii remote an upgraded version, Wii remote plus and the Wii Balance Board. Electronic tycoon Sony introducing their PlayStaion VITA this year, targeting its portable video console customer base [3]. PSVITA will be available on the market from the third quarter of this year; will be carrying lot of feature than the PSP. Sony introduce NVG card, new format of flashcard to store games and enable 3G to connect through internet to access PSN (PlayStation Network) for online gaming experience. GPS, Multi-Touch Touch screen, built-in microphone, two analog sticks, rear Touch Pad, Cross Play support (play online games WITH PS3 users), SIXAXIS motion controls, and front and rear Cameras that allow for AR Games are some of the new features from its original PSP. Section 2 provides an overview about the video gaming consoles. Section 3 is critically reviewed on categories and major developments of the devices. Section 4 describes the technologies involved in modern video gaming consoles, section 5 provides future directions of video gaming consoles, Section 6 discuss about Threats to modern video gaming consoles section 7 explains a discussion about the area. 2. 0 Overview of the modern gaming consoles Over the decades, video gaming culture becomes more popular among the individual who are fond of this aspect. Hence a higher task is assigned for the video game industry to provide the output according to the user requirements. As s result of these different products from different manufactures came to the market in a large scale. In the early 1950’s smaller researches carried on to develop video games and the researches last until the late 1960’s. The golden era of video gaming begins from the early 1970’s and the growth is massive. 1985 Nintendo came up with their new device Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), a separate device which is designed for video gaming. Similar consoles like Sega Master System III, Atari XEGS, Action Max, Commodore 64GS, RDI Halcyon were introduced to the gamers with different technologies. Video gaming consoles industry has been rehabilitee with the entry of Sony Corporation. In the year 1994 Sony introduced an advanced gaming device called PlayStation [4]. While Sony dominating throughout the decade other consoles like Atari Jaguar II, Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, Nintendo 64DD, Game Boy Color, Playdia were also available in the market. Another notable incident took place in the year of 2001 with the present of Microsoft to the industry. Microsoft makes their present with a remarkable console xBox, which is a big competitor to Sony’s PlayStation 2. Portable devices and Handheld gaming consoles also played a vital role in the video gaming console industry. Motion controller based console is another popular device in today’s gaming field. Motion control based devices came to the market with the present on Nintendo Wii and later Sony and Microsoft introduces their controllers Move and Kinect in late 2000s [5]. The functionality and the efficiency of modern gaming consoles are excellent. At the present there is a high competition between Sony’s PS3 and Microsoft’s xBox 360, while Nintendo dominates the motion control console market. Meanwhile the expectations of eighth generation video gaming consoles are very high. The announcement for PSVITA, Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, Razer Switchblade, EVO2 were already made and gamers expecting their arrivals. It is expected that Motion control based consoles will dominate the eighth generation video consoles. These eighth generation consoles are expected to have a centralized online system, which is similar to xBox Live and Apple’s game centre. Ported games will be differentiated on platforms via DLC and it facilitates the player to download the game for different platforms. The controller of these consoles will be Controllers will be motion-capable, which comes through an evolution from the SIXAXIS where the motion could be detected by six degree. These consoles will be fully fledged media centers. They are mostly equipped with media streaming, video streaming playback videos through Netflix and adding online video banks like YouTube and Justin. tv. 3. 0 Categories and major developments of modern gaming consoles There are different types of consoles widely available in the market. They can be categorized as motion based console, Controller based consoles, handheld consoles etc. Among that motion based consoles are the very famous one which is popularly used by the gamers. 3. 1 Motion based Consoles These are the most advanced consoles that are available in the market. Japan’s popular game development firm Nintendo introduced their first motion based console Nintendo Wii back in 2005. A big amount of research and development carried out throughout the past and finally Sony Corporation and Microsoft came up with their products. Sony launched their motion controllers Move for their PS3, while Microsoft releases Kinect for xBox. Mean while Nintendo announces their next generation motion based gaming console Nintendo Wii U, which will be built up with advanced technologies than their previous version. These consoles have been built up with massive technologies. 3. 1. 1 PlayStaion Move PS Move bundle contains with a sensor camera and the controller. The controller in the user hand will be detected by the camera and that particular controller will be synchronized with the video game. Once the player moves with the controller, the character in the video game also moves to the direction. FIGURE I: PLAYSTATION MOVE CONNECTED TO A DISPLAY The camera, called Eye is capable of using edge detection, facial recognition, and basic motion tracking to map a room. The glowing Orbs plays an important role to detect the controller by the camera. PS3 Move uses LED tracking and edge detection to determine the controllers distance from the screen. By measuring the size of the orb in relation to the incoming video feed allows the system to calculate the precise distance of the controller from the camera. The color change of the Orbs helps the PS3 eye to differentiate the controllers from other objects that can be captured by the camera and from one another in a multi-controller setup. While determining distance is the primary purpose for the orb design, the orbs also assist in pointer detection. The tilt, rotation, velocity, and orientation of the controller is determine by an array of inertial sensors. Three kinds of sensors have been used in the motion controllers which are accelerometer, a magnetometer, and angular rate sensor. Accelerometer is used to detect the upward orientation of the controller as well as to determine the tilt. Magnetometers are typically used to determine the magnetic field and it helps the system in establishing the directional orientation of the controller. The angular rate sensor is used to measure the velocity of the move controller’s motion. This allows the system to accurately determine the actual speed of how fast the player moves or swings the controller. Motion controllers can be connected to the main console both wired and wireless. Wireless connectivity is based up on Bluetooth, which creates a firm bridge between the console and the Motion controller [6]. 3. 1. 2 Microsoft Kinect for xBox 360 Kinect has been introduced by Microsoft in the year 2010 for their primary gaming console xBox 360. A record making sales occurred world wild after it debuts the market. Kinect use a slightly different technology from PS Move and Nintendo Wii. Kinect only built with a sensor camera, which allows the player to interact with the console without any handheld controller. FIGURE II: PRIME SENSE THAT HAVE BEEN USED IN KINECT Kinect uses Prime Sense’s sensing technology which can maps thousands of points, and can accurately read body movements, complex gestures and even verbal cues [7]. In order to adapt to varying room layouts and sensor positioning, Kinect is capable of automatically adjusting its orientation with a motorized swivel and tilt mechanism built into the base, While the tilt mechanism is pretty solid, it can be damaged by improper care or attempting to manually adjust the sensor. The sensor connects to the Xbox 360 via either the auxiliary port built into the new Xbox 360 S or USB on previous models. The new Xbox 360s auxiliary port is an all-in-one solution that both powers and communicates with the sensor, whereas older systems will have to use an included AC power adapter to power the device. Setting up and calibrating the Kinect can be simple or a bit of a hassle, depending on the type of playing environment. Not only is there an extensive on-screen setup process, but players must physically prepare a room for Kinect. In order to play with Kinect user must choose a clear large space at least 6 feet between the player and the sensor and any object that are intermediate should be moved. Kinect is recommended players play in rooms with bright, even lighting, though our experience showed that just about any lighting environment produces reasonable result. 3. 2 Handheld video gaming console 3. 2. 1 Nintendo Wii U Wii U is the upcoming gaming console of Nintendo, expecting to launch next year. Wii will carry with lot of advance feature from their previous product Nintendo Wii. This console is compatible with Wii peripherals such as Wii control and Wii balance board. Wii U’s Hardware architecture and the design have been completely enhanced with comparing Wii U is Approximately 1. 8 inches tall, 6. 8 inches wide and 10. 5 inches long. An IBM Power Architecture-based multi-core 45 nm microprocessor based on the POWER7 will be use as the CPU, while the GPU will be a custom designed AMD RADEON similar to the R770 chip. FIGURE III: CONTROLS OF WII U AND THE COMPONENT ARCHITECHTURE The console will have internal flash memory, as well as the option to expand its memory using either an SD memory card or an external USB hard disk drive. It will also build up with 12cm proprietary high-density optical discs and 12cm Wii optical disc. Will U will be launched with an amazing port and peripheral functionalities including SD memory card slot (supports SDHC cards), USB 2. 0 ports (2 at front of console, 2 at rear), Sensor Bar power port, AV Multi Out port and HDMI 1. 4 out port. Video output will be sync with 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p and 480i. Compatible displays over HDMI, composite, component and S-Video while Audio output will be use AV Multi Out connector with Six-channel PCM linear output through HDMI. Wii U. A brand new controller with a complete new design will be shipping along with Nintendo Wii U Approximately, which is 5. 3 inches high, 0. 9 inches deep (not including buttons and other projections) and 9. 0 inches long. The new controller designed with a 16:9, 6. 2 inch touch LED display which contains all the traditional button controls and along with new two analog Circle Pads. The interesting is the potential for the two screens (controller display and the giant display) to work in direct tandem, an extension of ideas tested on DS. A touch screen interface enables play types that have escaped buttons and analogue sticks. Likewise, inbuilt gyroscopes and accelerometers act as a third set of analogue control inputs, allowing gamers to physically move the device to adjust their aim or orientation on screen. Nintendo Wii U is the Nintendo’s sixth home console and the very first console with 1080p high-definition graphics, and features a new controller with an embedded touch screen. This touch screen enables the player to continue the come if the television display turned off [8]. 3. 2. 2 PlayStation VITA Sony Corporation’s upcoming handheld video gaming console, which is expecting to be available in the market from the end of this year. PS Vita will have a 5-inch OLED capacitive touch-screen(960 x 544) capable of multi-touch, 512MB of RAM, 128MB of VRAM, powered by an ARM Cortex Quad-Core A9 chip and a PowerVR SGX GPU. There will be two VGA cameras (front and rear) capable of capturing images at 60 fps. Additional features include 802. 11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2. 1+EDR, 3G radio(optional), ports for game cards, memory cards, SIM cards (only 3G-equipped models), and a multi-use port that can support DC power input, USB, audio input and serial data. PSVITA facilitates it users to voice chat (‘Party Mode’) during the game play. A ‘Live Area’ will be created for the players to receive announcements from the developers and another option called ‘Activity Feed’ is designed to leave the feedback, check player’s recent activity, achievements, rank and the trophies of the friends. PSVITA also allows the players to exchange contents without starting the device which is similar to Nintendo’s 3DS Sreetpass. PSVITA contains a ARM Cortex A9 core (4 core) CPU and a SGX543MP4+ GPU. An advance 5 inches screens with ratio 960 x 544 (16:9) and approx. 16 million colors support will increase the game play. PS VITA also been built with an advanced OLED Multi touch screen. Ps VITA builds with two different memories of 512MB RAM and a VRAM with 128MB. Ps VITA will have two cameras Front with [emailprotected]? 240 (QVGA) and rear with [emailprotected]? 480 (VGA) FIGURE IV: CONTROLS AND THE COMPONENT ARCHITECHTURE OF PLAYSTATION VITA On the wireless side, the system ships with 802. 11 b/g/n wireless networking, Bluetooth 2. 1+EDR (which supports headsets and Bluetooth stereo), and an optional 3G radio, which will be sold as part of a separate model. There will also be ports for game cards, memory cards, SIM cards (on the 3G-equipped models), and a ‘multi-use’ port supporting DC power input, USB, audio input and serial data. On the multimedia area PSVITA supports music formats like MP3 MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer 3, MP4 (MPEG-4 AAC), WAVE (Linear PCM) video format like MPEG-4 Simple Profile (AAC), H. 264/MPEG-4 AVC High/Main/Baseline Profile (AAC) and image format like JPEG (Exif 2. 2. 1), TIFF, BMP, GIF, PNG. Ps VITA introduces Always on feature to connect with friends and colleagues anywhere, anytime with Wi-Fi or always-on 3G [9]. It will be ships with Newly designed Dual analog sticks which will enhance the intensity of First Person Shooters games. Another advance option of PS3 integration will be available in Ps VITA. Gamers can play games between PS3 and PlayStation3 continuous and uninterrupted. Multi touch Display will be embedded with Nintendo Wii U which enables many more advance features from their earlier Wii. Augmented Reality games will be supported with Ps VITA which merge the real world and the game world with front and rear camera enabled augmented reality. Present of PlayStaion VITA will be definitely drag the attention of the Hand Held video gaming consoles lover as well as the other people who is addicted to this aspect area of gaming world. 4. 0 Technologies involved in modern video gaming consoles Modern video gaming consoles are equipped with very advance technologies. Gesture recognition, Motion detecting, Image sensoring are some of the popular technologies which have been popularly used by today’s gaming consoles. 4. 1 Gesture recognition This technology Interface with computers using gestures of the human body, typically hand movements. In gesture recognition technology, a camera reads the movements of the human body and communicates the data to a computer that uses the gestures as input to control devices or applications. Nintendo Wii introduced this technology to the gaming console and later Ps Move and xBox Kinect featured with the technology. Nintendo Wii controllers are the very popular devices which use gesture recognition efficiently. This device that serves as the wireless input for the Nintendo Wii gaming console. The Wi i remote can detect motion and rotation in three dimensions through the use of accelerometer technology. Separating the controller from the gaming console, the accelerometer data can be used as input for gesture recognition. FIGURE IV THE Wii CONTROLLER (Wiimote) 4. 2 Motion detecting Another advanced technology widely used in modern gaming consoles. Sony’s PlayStation Move combines a video camera with a physical controller packed with motion-sensing electronics, making it the technological cross between Kinect and the Nintendo Wii. The Move Motion Controller, or wand, combines a gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetic sensor (a sort of digital compass that uses the Earths magnetic field to determine the controllers orientation) to track the controller in three dimensions, while the glowing ball at the end gives the PlayStation Eye camera a visual reference for handling aiming, cursor movement, and other motion. Like Kinect, PlayStation Move requires room to function; Sony recommends 5 to 9 feet between the player and the Play station Eye, but you can play anywhere from 2 to 10 feet of the camera. In Nintendo Wii, all the motion-control magic is in the remote. An accelerometer tracks movement, while an IR sensor monitors the positioning of lights emitted by the sensor bar. Its motion-sensing abilities werent so great at first; initially, your movements with the Wiimote were reflected only approximately in games with gestures and broad motions. The addition of Wii MotionPlus, an accessory that gives the Wiimote a gyroscope sensor to complement the accelerometer, improves the motion detection greatly. Nintendo recently began to sell the Wii Remote Plus, a Wiimote with built-in MotionPlus sensors, removing the need for a separate accessory. The Wiis biggest weakness is its graphics; unlike the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the Wii doesnt display high-definition content. FIGURE V THE PS3 MOVE xBox Kinect using totally different motion detecting techniques from Ps Move and Nintendo Wii. Camera plays an important role in detecting the motion of the player older software programs used differences in color and texture to distinguish objects from their backgrounds. PrimeSense, the company whose tech powers Kinect and recent Microsoft acquisition Canesta use a different model. The camera transmits invisible near-infrared light and measures its â€Å"time of flight† after it reflect off the objects. Time-of-flight works like sonar also been used to detecting the motion If you know how long the light takes to return, you know how far away an object is. Cast a big field, with lots of pings going back and forth at the speed of light, and you can know how far away a lot of objects are. Using an infrared generator also partially solves the problem of ambient light. Since the sensor isn’t designed to register visible light, it doesn’t get quite as many false positives. PrimeSense and Kinect go one step further and encode information in the near-IR light. As that information is returned, some of it is deformed — which in turn can help generate a finer image of those objects’ 3-D texture, not just their depth. FIGURE VI HOW KINECT DETECT THE MOTION OF THE PLAYER These types of advanced technologies providing a new dimension to video gaming industry. Developments with these new technologies are carrying out very rapidly and new invents are introducing time to time by the competitors. 5. 0 Future directions of video gaming consoles A very high demand for video gaming consoles have been created over the decade and expectation for future gaming consoles are very high. Almost predictions about Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s xBox 720 have been raised, though the two companies are not reveling about their future product [10]. With the new 3d technology and realistic HD displays console are surely becoming truly powerful multimedia machines. With the combination of features and ease of use, the future consoles will definitely be a worthy competitor against powerful desktop gaming computers which was not possible before. Future gaming consoles will be consider on enhancing features like Media Storage, Hardware Features, Hardware Processing Power, Controllers, Online Networks etc [11]. Also invention of new technology will be boosting the video gaming industry. 6. 0 Threats to modern video gaming consoles Domination of the multimedia based gaming devices has been increased over the decades, and different devices introduced to the market in different forms. Among that Smart phones and tablet PC has been consider as strong competition to the video gaming consoles. Highly portability, multiple purpose usage, high end gaming experience, less expensive, are some of the significant features of the Smart phones. Modern and future gaming console should take these threats as a serious issue. 7. 0 Discussion Although various types of video gaming consoles developed over the years, using different technologies there are some common advance features of the prevailing video gaming consoles. * Advance Graphics: High end multimedia graphics and video output of 1080p in High Definition with 3D enabled . * Hardware Processing Power: enhanced CPU with capable of multi processing. * Social networking: Share the achievements with social networks website like twitter and facebook. * Online Gaming: Enable players to experience the online gaming * Media Storages: Highly capacity media storage to store as many games as possible Acknowledgement I would like to thank my project supervisor Dr. L. Ranathunga who gave me advices throughout the paper and lot of insight on how to properly set this paper up. Also I would like to thank video gaming console manufactures who gave me this wonderful opportunity to review about their modern gaming consoles. References [1] Tech, S. , Video Game Consoles (1970 Present), http://techyshit. com/45-video-game-consoles-1970-present/, Date of Access: 10. 10. 2011 [2] Saenz, A. , Nintendo’s New Wii U Wows at E3, and Changes gaming forever Again, http://singularityhub. com/2011/06/07/nintendos-new-wii-u-wows-at-e3-and-changes-gaming-forever-again/, Date of Access: 10. 10. 2011 [3] Associated Press, Sony: PS Vita to miss 2011 release in US and Europe, http://www. computerandvideogames. com/314207/playstation-vita-release-date-is-2011-in-japan-2012-in-us-and-europe/, Date of Access: 10. 10. 2011. [4] Sony corporation, Business development/Japan (1994~2004), http://www. scei. co. jp/corporate/data/bizdatajpn2004_e. html, Date of Access: 10. 10. 2011 [5] Chen, J. , Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect Launches November 4, http://m. gizmodo. com/5563148/microsoft-xbox-360-kinect-launches-november-4, Date of Access: 10. 10. 2011 [6] Lowe, S. , A rundown of the components powering Sonys motion controller, http://ps3. ign. com/articles/112/1121742p1. html, Date of Access: 10. 10. 2011 [7] Schramm, M. , Kinect. The company behind the tech explains how it works, http://www. joystiq.com/2010/06/19/kinect-how-it-works-from-the-company-behind-the-tech/, Date of Access: 10. 10. 2011 [8] Nintendo, Wii U, http://e3. nintendo. com/hw/#/introduction, Date of Access: 10. 10. 2011 [9] Sony Corporation, PlayStation VITA, http://us. playstation. com/psvita/ , Date of Access: 10. 10. 2011 [10] Bostwick, B. , The future generation of video game consoles, http://www. helium. com/items/993554-the-future-generation-of-games-consoles, Date of Access: 10. 10. 2011 [11] Gilbert, B. , Inafune envisions a future where portable gaming consoles and Smartphone coexist.