Examine the Extent to Which Gender Is Socially Constructed

Gender differences are biologically constructed. We are born either as male or female. Without going any further these statements appear normal and one can take the view that this is the general assumption. What then is sex? Is there a difference between sex and gender? Distinctions between sex and gender have been made by social scientists from the feminist movement of 1970’s, when feminists argued that the traditional views of masculinity and femininity often led to the disempowerment of women.Ann Oakley (1972) in particular, set the stage for the socialization explorations of gender identity (Abbott 2005). Since this latter part of the 19th century, the common distinction made by sociologists is that sex is derived from the biological differences between men and women – chromosome make up, internal and external genitals and reproductive organs amongst others. Gender, however, refers to the socially constructed characteristics of masculinity and femininity, characteri stics that are defined by different societies and cultures in different ways.In contrast, there are arguments proposing that gender differences are based on biological sex and result from biological factors – we naturally show characteristics of masculinity and femininity. These different views are often referred to as the nature v nurture debate (Marsh et al 2009, Lippa 2005 and Abbott 2005) Here we will look at some of the biological explanations in support of the assumption that gender differences are biologically determined before moving on to the sociological explorations of the social construction of gender, and the limitations of both views.We will also look at the gender differences across cultures and the influence of the mass media in shaping our society. Biological sex differences have often been used to explain the ‘natural’ differences in roles employed by men and women – men are naturally the breadwinners and the women nurture and take care o f the family. The different arguments for the biological explanations of gender roles are often referred to as ‘essentialism’ and ‘biological determinism’ (Marsh et al 2009). Talcott Parsons (Parsons and Bales 1955 as cited in Marsh et al 009) argued that the natural differences between men and women suit them to specific roles within society. This is referred to as the ‘sex-role’ theory. This theory relies on the premise that there are two distinct categories of men and women throughout the world. It therefore follows that heterosexuality is viewed as the norm. This immediately excludes those persons who feel that their gender identity does not correspond with their biological sex, for example transsexuals and homosexuals.Since the first wave of feminism in the 1970’s the focus has shifted towards the now dominant socialization explanations of gender identity, however we still see new biological theories and studies appearing. For examp le, biological determinists have looked to the differences in male and female brains. In their book Brain Sex (1989), Anne Moir and David Jessel talk of the ‘prenatal hormone’ theory, whereby testosterone has an influence on thought process and emotions leading to the brain being wired differently between men and women (Marsh et al 2009).Simon Baron-Cohen also has similar views – â€Å"the female brain is predominantly hard-wired for empathy, and the male brain is predominantly hard-wired for understanding and building systems†. (Simon Baron-Cohen 2003 as cited in Marsh et al 2009:220). In contrast, the various socialization explanations of gender argue that our gender identities are created by society, by interactions from early childhood with parents, siblings and peers (social learning theory) and by external influences such as the mass media, continually developing through our social interactions and experiences into adulthood.The differences across cu ltures in what is considered as masculine and feminine are also studied in support of this concept. â€Å"The different social experiences of women and men are the creation of society far more than biology† (Macionis and Plummer 2005:308). The social learning theory suggests that from birth we learn what is considered as â€Å"gender-appropriate† behaviours and traits (Marsh et al 2009). â€Å"Infants are seen as blank states, waiting to be written on by their environment† (Bilton et al 2002:136). This theory suggests that through nteraction with parents, siblings and peers, children learn the characteristics of their gender role – which emotions to display, activities to take part in or avoid, toys to play with, clothing to wear, work and hobbies to pursue amongst others. It is also widely accepted that children copy what they see and try to emulate their peers etc. This is referred to by sociologists as ‘modelling’. The majority of persons will recall that some behaviours are encouraged and accepted whereas if a child emulates something that a parent views as wrong or abnormal this is discouraged. The reactions from parents etc. einforce the gender characteristics expected of the child (Marsh et al 2009). A study undertaken in North Carolina of pre school children (Robinson and Morris 1986 cited in Bilton et al 2002) proposes that the social learning theory is an incomplete explanation that we learn all ‘gender-appropriate’ behaviours. In this study, children were themselves selecting ‘gender-stereotyped’ toys for their Christmas presents. For example dolls were selected by the girls and military toys by the boys. The parents selections for the children were mostly sex-neutral – art supplies and musical instruments.The early inclinations of the children to conform to their gender roles cannot be explained by the social learning theory (Bilton et al 2002). In 1971 Sandra Bem, a Pennsylv anian psychologist created the Bem Sex Role Inventory. This inventory lists various characteristics which are stereotyped as being masculine (dominant, athletic) or feminine (affectionate, flatterable). Individuals can assess themselves by selecting which of the characteristics they view as being desirable for a man or woman in order to determine how well you fit into your traditional gender role.The results from a sample of participants show that both men and women share a range of what are considered to be stereotypical feminine and masculine traits (Marsh et al 2009). Some writers have interpreted that Bem is in effect arguing that â€Å"the development of typical gender roles and gender stereotyping are not inevitable† (Marchbank and Letherby 2007:125 as cited in Marsh et al 2009:223). In other words parents, teachers etc. can influence the gender identities of the children.Money and Ehrhdart (1972) report the case of a 7 month old boy who after losing his penis in an acc ident underwent surgery to reconstruct his genitals as female. He was thereafter raised as a girl and is reported to have developed normally as such (Money and Ehrdart 1972 as cited in Bilton et al 2002). This would support the interpreted view of Bem above. The stereotypical gender projections of the mass media are also said to have an influence on our gender identities, often reinforcing gender stereotypes. â€Å"The media are forms of pedagogy that teach us how to be men and women† (Kellner 1995:5 as cited in Marsh et al 2009:231).Some argue that the media however offers a variety of images that both challenge and support stereotypical views (Stacey 1994 as in Marsh et al 2009). Feminine stereotypes are reinforced by media representation of the fashion, beauty and diet industries, focussing on physical improvement and reinforcing the stereotype that women should always look their best and ‘primp’ and ‘preen’ themselves. Programmes such as How to L ook Good Naked and Extreme Makeover are becoming increasingly popular. Masculine stereotypes are also reinforced in advertising.For example, the beer industry relies on the masculine stereotype to appeal to its audience and alternatives such as gay men and househusbands amongst others are markedly absent from this type of advert. (Strate 2004 cited in Marsh et al 2009). The media is viewed by sociologists as a powerful tool in conveying stereotypical and idealistic views of femininity and masculinity to its audience. Other arguments and studies highlighting the social construction of gender look at the different views across different cultures upon what characteristics are considered as masculine and feminine.Margaret Mead, an American cultural anthropologist, undertook a study of three primitive societies within New Guinea (1935), the Arapesh, the Mundugumor and the Tchambuli. Mead noted that the Arapesh men and women expressed similar attitudes and behaviours. They were peaceful, sensitive and cooperative, traits that in our culture are considered as feminine. The Mundugumor men and women again shared similar behaviours, however, in contrast to the Arapesh they displayed what we would view as masculine traits – aggressive, selfish and ‘warlike’.The Tchambuli men and women, similar to our culture, displayed different behaviours although the women displayed masculine traits of dominance and aggression, and the men displayed feminine traits, having responsibility for domestic activities and care of the young as well as ‘primping’ and decorating themselves (Macionis and Plummer 2005, Marsh et al 2009). A further example of the cultural differences surrounding masculinity and femininity can be seen in Samoa where men can take on the role and identity of females. They are known as fa'afafine which literally means ‘like a woman’.The biological sex is male but the gender is considered as female. They dress like women, ca rry out what are considered as the female tasks within the household – cooking, cleaning, and washing and have relationships with other men. It can be the choice of a boy to take on a female role or it may be that they are raised as fa’afafine by their family if they have no or few daughters needed to undertake the female role within the household. Although men have relationships with the fa'afafines they strongly feel that this is not homosexual behavior.Fa’afafines consider themselves female and believe that the men who have relations with them also see them as female (See – National Geographic Channel ‘Taboo’ studies). We can see clearly from Mead’s study and the fa’afafines in Samoa that different cultures define masculinity and femininity in different ways. Gender identities are capable of being shaped or formed, therefore giving substantial weight to the argument that gender is socially constructed and is derived from our social and cultural traditions and views.On balance, the arguments of the biological determinists appear very limited in their application to those outwith the ‘normal’ heterosexual categories of male and female. In contrast the socialization explanations show that we can influence gender identities and that although sex is biologically determined it does not automatically follow that we naturally inherit the stereotypical characteristics of masculinity and femininity. Mead’s study alone provides strong evidence to support this point.To conclude, the general assumption and explanations that gender differences are biologically determined appear to have been somewhat overshadowed since the 1970’s. The majority of sociologists are in preference of the views, studies and evidence that support the sociological explanation of gender as being socially constructed with any differences being derived from society and culture. In comparison, the biological viewpoints and theories appear to struggle to correlate with today’s modern and multicultural society.References Abbott, P. Wallace, C. and Tyler, M. (2005) An Introduction to Sociology: Feminist Perspectives. London: Routledge. Bilton, T. , Bonnett, K. , Jones, P. , Lawson, T. , Skinner, D. , Stanworth, M. and Webster, A. (2002) Introductory Sociology. Basingstoke: Macmillan. Lippa, R. A. (2005) Gender, Nature, and Nurture. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Macionis, J. and Plummer, K. (2005) Sociology: A Global Introduction. Harlow: Pearson. Marsh, I. , Keating, M. , Punch, S. and Harden, J. (2009) Sociology: Making Sense of Society. Harlow:Pearson.

FA Style Analysis Essay Bayer

That night at the hotel, in our room with the long empty hall outside and our shoes outside the door, a thick carpet on the floor of the room, outside the windows the rain falling and in the room light and pleasant and cheerful, then the light out and it exciting with smooth sheets and the bed comfortable, feeling that we had come home, feeling no longer alone, waking in the night to find the other one there, and not gone away; all other things were unreal.We slept when we were tired and if we woke the other one woke too so one was not alone. Often a man wishes to be alone and a girl wishes to be alone alone against the others. It has only happened to me like that once. I have been alone while I was with many girls and that is the way that you can too and if they love each other they are jealous of that in each other, but I can truly say we never felt that. We could feel alone when we were together, be most lonely.But we were never lonely and never afraid when we were together. I kno w that the night is not the same as the day: that all things are different, that the things of the night cannot be explained in the day, because hey do not then exist, and the night can be a dreadful time for lonely people once their loneliness has started. But with Catherine there was almost no difference in the night except that it was an even better time.If people bring so much courage to the world the world has to kill them to break them, so Of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.

EASTERN FOODS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

EASTERN FOODS - Essay Example This project aims at presenting an outline indicating the way forward for the eastern foods expansion plan in the United Kingdom. The concept of human resources is significant within any given business. It basically concerns the welfare of employees in the organization as well the manner the employees interact with one another towards the realization of the business’s goals. Various challenges are deemed to face the eastern foods business in line with the management of human resources. The issue of culture is an issue that presents challenges to many organizations. The human resource team of eastern foods will have to take the initiative of ensuring that diverse aspects within the organization are well controlled. Other critical challenges that the eastern foods will have to address in the management of human resources include; developing a plan for staff recruitment, ensuring coordination of staff, developing ways of training its employees and motivating them to work towards the targeted business goals. Accounting is another crucial feature of organizational structure that the company will have to address. ... Another very important challenge in line with accounting is financial reporting. This basically involves the presentation of financial reports such as financial statements at the end of a specified time. Financial reporting will pose a challenge to the business necessitating the need for the management team to ensure that it develops ways of fostering better ways of keeping records. Financial reports provide very crucial information in regards to the performance of the business hence they are used in facilitation of decision making process in the organization. These challenges shall aid in the developing of an organizational structure by the management on how to carry out financial management. Marketing relates to all activities that aid in creating awareness about a business and promoting sales. Marketers make a business and its products to be well known to customers. For the eastern foods business there are some challenges in line marketing that will assist the management team of e astern foods to have an idea on how to structure their marketing strategies they include; ensuring high customer service standard, ensuring that queries and complaints presented by customers are well handled and developing ways for the diversification of the business’s marketing campaigns (Pollan 2009, p.65). Another crucial challenge in line with marketing involves the issue of finances. Marketing activities especially when a new business is being developed in a hew region cost quite high. Operations management involves activities that involve dealing inventory issue in the business in this case the challenges related to operational management include; developing ways of order supplies, ensuring organization

If industrial robots get cheap enough, they may replace almost all Essay

If industrial robots get cheap enough, they may replace almost all unskilled factory worker in the future. discuss the benefits and costs of this to society - Essay Example There are certain estimations, which indicate that, by year 2025, robots would have taken almost 50 percent of the total jobs in the United States. The impact of industrial robots on employment patterns would vary amongst different industries, and there are reasons to believe that the automotive industry, food services industry and the manufacturing industry would be amongst the ones that would be impacted the most. In these industries, robots would replace as much as 95 percent of the total workers (Skaar & Castillo, pp. 63-64, 2012). These three industries, combined, would replace more than 44 million workers. In fact, calculations also indicate that by the end of 2012, the number of industrial robots, within US alone, would increase to the level of 1.2 million. More importantly, despite the dismissal performance of economy and recessionary pressures, there has been a 20 percent average annual increase in the employment of industrial robots. By the year 2013, there would be one rob ot worker for every 6000 people living on this planet and there are reasons to believe that, within a few decades, the world would have more robots that people (Briggle, et al., pp. 104-106, 2011). Proponents of replacing human workers with robots believe that this would mark a new era in improving the quality of living of people. Life on this planet would become more comfortable, and industries would be able to reduce their costs, drastically, thus allowing consumers as well as industries to gain from the savings (Skaar & Castillo, pp. 63-64, 2012). On the other hand, proponents of these ideas believe that it will only increase the problems in developing and third world countries of the world, which are plagued, already, by problems of high inflation, poverty, and unemployment. In many of these countries, a significant chunk of people is employed in the manufacturing sector, performing

Discussion question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 12

Discussion question - Essay Example t they are self-evident and inalienable (MacKinnon, 76).† In fact, American Declaration of Independence 1776 is the clearer formulation of this concept. Thomas Jefferson mentions a quote about the equal rights of all men â€Å"....... that all men are created equal, .......... with certain inalienable rights........† This is the source for ascertaining what should be weighed â€Å"natural right.† Another time, the U.S. Border Patrol Agents’ similar assertion from the case when they state it is justified for the reason that a considerable amount of Latinos in border regions are in America illicitly (MacKinnon, 76) their assertion moves against the â€Å"natural right† in accordance to what Jefferson told. Moreover, the statement disagrees with the equality principle. Author also defines the principle of equality in this book as, â€Å"It is unjust to treat people differently in ways that deny to some of them significant social benefits unless we can show that there is a difference between them that is relevant to the differential treatment (MacKinnon 196).† America has archaic laws regarding drugs. Against the trade of drugs, the law enforcement has been very restricted to imprisoning causal drug users. In Mexico, the drug lobbies, and the prison lobbies that are operated privately, both expend obscene amounts of wealth, to see that recreational drugs stay illicit. Until the U.S. laws are restructured, the jails will be overloaded, with people who are young, incarcerated for non-violent offences, like use or possession of just a small amount of drugs. As noted by Auroch, most of the privately operated jails are owned by the â€Å"1 per cent,† and the Republican Party is controlled by this â€Å"1 per cent†. (HumanJustice.org. 2010) However, it is obviously not accepted and the U.S. government should consider this massive issue and make suitable laws about this because this is against the human

Good Samaritan Act - Reynoso v. Newman Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Good Samaritan Act - Reynoso v. Newman - Essay Example With respect to the case, he was plaintiff and appellant. The defendant and respondent was Mr. Jeffrey L. Newman (FindLaw, â€Å"REYNOSO v. NEWMAN†). Outcome The Good Samaritan Laws are those that defend people who decide to serve others as similar to one who are injured or are ill. This law differs from one jurisdiction to another. The principles that pertains the Good Samaritan laws operate in countries such as Australia where the foundation of the legal system is the English Common Law. The case here is related to the Good Samaritan Act. Bruce Adams who was a DDS by his occupation had put his patient named Orlando Reynoso under general anesthesia. The reason behind this was that Mr. Adams wanted to perform oral surgery. According to the records, it is evident that San Diego county dentist has been administering the anesthesia as Reynoso was mentally retarded by birth. As a result he couldn’t sit calmly throughout the dental procedure. After Mr. Reynoso was sent to th e recovery room, it was recognized by the dentist that the oxygen saturation levels of the patient were low. Therefore, according to the recommendations of Dr. Lo, Reynoso was sent to the hospital for further treatment in which an aspiration related to blood might arise. Later Mr. Adams called up his friend, a physician named Jeffrey L. Newman, in order to gain second opinion. Mr. Newman arrived shortly after Mr. Adams called him.

Operation Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Operation Management - Essay Example The economic and social factor of people has changed drastically and that is why education and warnings about dangerous things should be given priority before embarking on business. Excellent programs on data collection about the coffee business, surveys of past errors and how they can be corrected should also be scrutinized. Consequently, recommendations have to be underway on how coffee shops can curb accidents resulting from coffee burns. Coffee management strategies that rarely have the specific objectives which are organized by all the stakeholders and for this reason they can always undermine the support of the stakeholders on the selling of coffee to their customers. In this paper I evaluate and discuss the strategies used in the case where by McDonald was sued for selling the customer hot coffee which accidentally burns Mrs. Stella Liebeck on her way home in car driven by her grandson. The approach used by the people who sued the McDonald was robust processes to achieve justi ce for what happened to Mrs. Liebeck.I also review the importance of all the businesses in the world today to understand the uncertainties of balancing the economic, biological and sociological objectives of their customers. Operation Management Introduction The case of McDonald’s coffee shop is a good example of factors that many businesses tend to ignore. ... In the world today, coffee markets have increased and is dominated by the brand coffee shops which include foreign and home made coffee (Lee and Yeu 2010.).Since 2009, coffee shops have increased drastically to suit the ever growing population. The coffee shops have grown in number across the country (Park and Lee 2010) Due to the fact that customers buy coffee any where and any time, Liabeck bought coffee which later spilt on her laps causing severe burns which made her hospitalized for eight days. The impact of various customers behavior and the repercussions and hospitality studies have been put upfront on how to retain customers in coffee shops and restaurants.(Kwun and Oh,2006).in this paper, I critically look at the impact of the case between McDonalds and Mrs. Liabeck. The main reason for the case is that, McDonalds sold very hot coffee to a customer who was in a hurry which ended up causing severe burns on her body .Another thing that I will look at is the importance of using a proper procedure when evaluating the McDonalds case. The management strategic evaluation should be put in place to help the stakeholders help make the decisions in a firm (Kolli 2000). Methodology The method used was questionnaire where by it consisted of four parts that were basically modified by the stakeholders for them to fit the context of a coffee shop. First of all, the whole study had a scenario from a context of tourism which could fit well in the modification of a coffee shop. The next step was basically to ask all the respondents to evaluate their experiences at the McDonalds coffee shop in regard to the functional attributes of the shop. The third step was to ask the customers their attitudes towards the coffee shop (He and Mukherjee, 2007). Executive summary The

Business growth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business growth - Essay Example Businesses that grow are often seen in the technology industries† (par. 1). In terms of measuring business growth in the United States therefore, one needs to gather and evaluate pertinent data that indicates the performance of businesses that is indicative of growth over the period under review. In the Econographia (2012) site, the historical record of the country’s economic performance is effectively captured and visually presented using graphical illustrations. One of the most relevant indicators of business growth that was disclosed was the ability to create jobs, specifically in the private sector. As revealed, from the post-war period until the tenure of President Obama, the creation of private sector jobs have been illustrated to exhibit a declining trend, except during the periods where governance was headed by Dwight David â€Å"Ike† Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States, and both George H.W. Bush (41st President) and George W. Bush (43rd Presid ent), which signified the lowest trends, as shown in Figure 1, below. Obama’s tenure manifested the fourth lowest number of private sector jobs created. ... However, as emphasized by Kiely & Farley (2012), â€Å"by using private-sector jobs, the president makes his job-creation record look better. The U.S. has gained about 55,000 private-sector jobs since Obama became president in January 2009, but overall there has been a total job loss of 552,000 — all because of the decline in government jobs† (p. 1). Seeing the political climate through the eyes of the American Institute of Economic Research (AIER), Steven Cunningham, the Director of Research and Education has indicated through his economic review that there is an eminent recovery that could spur optimistic potentials for business growth. As disclosed, the business cycle conditions that are being monitored by the AIER have captured rising business growth indicators which confirms supposed continuing expansion (Cunningham, 2012). A copy of the statistical indicators of business cycle changes for the period February to June 2012 are presented in Annex A. From the statisti cal indicators, it was revealed that positive changes were noted for the following primary leading indicators for the cyclical status April to June of 2012, to wit: (1) new orders for consumer goods; (2) new housing permits; (3) index of common stock prices; and (4) change in consumer debt. For primary roughly coincident indicators, the following were optimistic and expanding changes: (1) non-agricultural employment; (2) index of industrial production; (3) personal income less transfer payments; (4) manufacturing and trade sales; and (5) gross domestic product. Finally, for primary lagging indicators, the following exhibited expanding status: (1) manufacturing and trade inventories; (2) commercial and industrial loans; (3) ratio of consumer debt to income; and (4)

Is it necessary to stop speaking and using a native language in order Essay

Is it necessary to stop speaking and using a native language in order to identify with a new culture - Essay Example Cultural awareness involves knowledge of cultures around a person while cultural sensitivity involves ability to identify cultural trends and to adjust to needs in a cultural set up. It is therefore important to identify possible differences between one’s native culture and a new culture and to understand effects of the differences. In cases where language difference is a barrier to cross cultural interaction, a speaker must identify differences in language and respond by refraining from speaking in the native language. This will ensure effective interaction between a speaker and members of a new culture. However, if the native language is not offensive to members of the new culture, and especially if the language is pleasing to the members, then its use is likely to facilitate cross cultural cohesion and the language should be

Cable TV Vs Network TV Essay Example for Free

Cable TV Vs Network TV Essay In addition, consumer trend have changed from dish network, to cable network and direct network. First, consumer had access to only dish networks which provided a limited variety of channels through a satellite receiver and dish antenna. The antenna had to revolve at specific angle in order to capture different channels, nut then, cable television came into play which entirely changed the concept of watching television. With hundreds of channels through a single wire, people had access to more information then ever before. Concept of couch potatoes also came onto stage according to which there were viewers who actually switched between channels the entire day as they had a large variety of channels . The largest impact of such advancement was seen in the developing countries which actually came to know what was happening in the world outside at a larger scale. Due to a variety of channels covering all sectors of daily life, many cultures started to adopt the western culture because of the fact that most of the channels on cable at that time belonged to the west. This was the time when new TV channels came on air even more rapidly then the news. Globalization and the concept of westernization in different cultures was seen as the west projected its media all over there world. However, today, the concept of direct TV and network TV are on their boom rather then cable TV because of the fact that consumer preferences have an addition of high quality resolutions rather then just the variety which only the direct TV networks provide. Customer satisfaction and high resolutions were met through which customers paid for only those channels which they wanted to watch rather then subscribing to all of the channels and then switching between them. Viewers want quality entertainment more then they want bulk entertainment. Almost all news channels tell the same story with different perspectives, but, viewers what to see what is right, what is in accordance to their perspective and stance on specific issues, what is in line with their tastes, what attracts them the most, what tells the truth and what is more attractive. Thus, as direct network TV offers high quality resolution, high quality services and broadcasting along with selection of the channels, the viewers are moving towards this type of media rather than the booming cable network industry.

The Architecture of Zaha Hadid

The Architecture of Zaha Hadid All people owe to architecture which plays racy part in their life. Architecture is designing structures and outdoor spaces according to some main principles. Architecture provides settings for certain activities; remind people of what these activities are; signify power, status or privacy. Rapoport (1979, p. 17) wrote about architecture Architecture differentiates between here and there; men and woman; front and back; private and public; sacred and profane and habitable and inhabitable. The main function of architecture is to make certain that the parts of a system work together to meet the necessary needs of users. Architect has a vital role in architecture nowadays, since he/she is the main factor that makes architecture good or successful. The architect is the one who design and plan the structure of buildings. Frank Gehry, Hassan Fathy, Ignazio Gardella, Don Erickson and Frank Lloyd Wright are five of thousands of most famous architects of the world. Who is the most famous archi tect in Iraq in the 20th century? Zaha Hadid is the most famous Iraqi architect in the 20th century. According to Zaha Hadid , an examining of the investigate causes of her philosophy and life relating to architecture to reveal how they influenced the processes of her design projects and work. Zaha Hadid is a British Iraqi architect. She was born in 31 October 1950 in Bagdad, Iraq. She grew in a family, which was showing interest in architecture. Her parents took her to architectural exhibitions, such as Frank Lloyd Wrights exhibition at the Opera House in Bagdad. Due to the impact of her parents, Zaha became interested in architecture. She was reflecting deeply on the world around her when she was a child. She was studying mathematics; she figured a strong relationship between mathematics and architecture. Zahas parents encouraged her to study architecture. Oscar Niemeyer encouraged her too to complete her education in architecture. When she was asked about the reason of making her architect, Hadid (2008, p. 2) answered I became interested in architecture when, I remember vaguely; my parents took me to a Frank Lloyd Wright exhibition at the Opera House in Baghdad. I was around six years old and I remember seeing models and things. I think both my parents were interested i n architecture in an indirect way. She continued by saying As a child I also travelled with my family on a small boat to visit some of the villages within the marshes of southern Iraq, and the landscape was so beautiful. There was this amazing flow between the sand and the water and the wildlife that extended to incorporate the buildings and the people. What I am trying to do is capture that kind of seamlessness and flow in an urban context for the contemporary city and its users. Zaha M. Hadid: Biography (2001) discussed Zaha Hadids biography. Zaha Hadid studied mathematics in the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. After getting her degree in mathematics, she went to London to study Architecture in a college of Architecture there. She worked as a partner with her teachers in an office of architecture when she got a degree in architecture. Architect Peter Rice encouraged Zaha Hadid in the beginning of her career life, when she was facing difficulties of starting her own business. She started her own office in London in 1980. Also she worked as a teacher in many associations in London and other countries all over the world. Some good examples of these universities are; Harvard University, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture, the Hochschule fà ¼r Bildende Kà ¼nste in Hamburg, the Knowlton School of Architecture, the Ohio State University, Columbia University, New York, the University of Applied Arts Vienna in Austria, the Yale Schoo l of Architecture, New Haven, Connecticut. Zaha received many international awards and she was the first women who won the Pritzker Architecture Prize, architectures equivalent of the Nobel Prize. Zaha has done many popular projects all over the world. Good examples of her works are; London aquatics center, regium waterfront, civil courts for Madrid, etc. Talking briefly about these projects; London aquatics center located in London. It has a waved roof, which makes this building special. Regium waterfront is a museum located in Italy. She has also designed residential buildings. The dancing towers in Dubai are a good example of this type of building. Zaha Hadid has created her own path in architecture by using several appearances of things relative to one another as determined by their distance from the viewer to show the state of extreme confusion and disorder of the modern life. In Zaha Hadid architecture and design (2007) described Zaha Hadids philosophy. Zaha Hadids strength is her curse and her blessing. A curse because strong character can make clients run for the hills. A curse because stiff character can make clients run for the hills. Hadid had her own ideas on architecture to nurture and it was a long incubation. She created her own company neo-modernist architecture. Zaha Hadids philosophy in architecture takes after accommodating, designing a landscape which can be called baroque modernism. Zaha Hadid damages both the classically formal, rule bound modernism of Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier and the old rules of space walls, ceilings, front and back, right angles. She then reassembles them as what she calls a new fluid, kind of spatiality of multiple perspective points and fragmented geometry, designed to embody the chaotic fluidity of modern life. She reassembles them as a new fluid, kind of spatiality of multiple perspective points and fragmented geometry, designed to embody the chaotic fluidity of modern life. Her architecture denies its own solidness. She defines the solid apparatus to make people comprehend place. She speaks about theory and she wears her cultural identity.

Essays --

Como ya se sabe la vida de un ser humano depende mucho en lo que la salud le brinde en su vida diaria. Para muchos de los seres humanos en el mundo, el no cuidarse les provoca enfermedades, las cuales producen que el ser sea parte de una vida la cual no sea protegida y sin ayuda mà ©dica. Con eso la exposicià ³n a la vida que se vive afuera expone al ser humano a situaciones severas y a veces causa una ayuda mà ¡s para ellos. En Mà ©xico como se sabe, el derecho a la salud es de una de las tantas principales bases para que el ser humano viva en el lugar correcto con una buena salud y con el bienestar que es necesario en su vida. La salud es el motor principal para que el humano sepa por donde su vida se pone en riesgo y por donde se puede pasar sin ningà ºn problema. Tambià ©n el ser humano es el cuerpo que en la ciencia forma parte por lo que la salud existe y mà ¡s teniendo a la piel expuesta a las bacterias y otras cosas que puedan afectar a la vida diaria de cada ser. Por el momento en Mà ©xico la salud es parte de la vida y pues con el derecho puesto en cada ser humano el producto resulta una ayuda mà ¡s para la poblacià ³n que la necesita. Con la promocià ³n del derecho de la salud en Mà ©xico se a puesto a prueba el uso de este para que los individuos se den cuenta la importancia y la necesidad que es tenerla. Teniendo el punto de vista de otro paà ­s, India, me a puesto otra perspectiva con la el significado que se toma en Mà ©xico de la salud. El contraste es masivo y pues la vida se puede poner en riesgo en los dos paà ­ses pero la salud se ve de otro modos en cada uno de estos paà ­ses. La India se mete en un lugar en donde las situaciones de su salud son normalmente provocadas por la escasez de higiene que existe en el paà ­s. Con esto se està ¡n provoca... ...mo el Programa Nacional de Salud, poniendo nuevos objetivos. Primero se querà ­a poner mas refuerzos interinstitucionales para el desarrollo de programas conjuntos e incrementar la cobertura y poner la oportunidad de los servicios de la salud mas gente de la poblacià ³n. Con todo esto, el gobierno mexicano esperaba elevar el à ­ndice de vida, reducir las tasas de mortalidad en todos sus tipos y mejorar la salud del paà ­s poniendo a la infraestructura primero que nada. Todo el tiempo se siguià ³ este esfuerzo y pues el sexenio que siguià ³ de Ernesto Zedillo, fue parte de esto tambià ©n. Durante el siglo XX, los gobiernos presentes en estas dos ultimas dà ©cadas el de De la Madrid, Salinas de Gortari y Ernesto Zedillo, trataron de meter unas series de medidas y programas para poder fortalecer y modificar el tema de la salud en el paà ­s y para poder ofrecerle mayores oportunidades

Oedipus, Antogone, And Media :: essays research papers

ANALYTICAL ACCOUNT OF A RUNNING THEME   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"All those who were meant to die have died: those who believed one thing, those who believed the contrary thing, and even those who believed nothing at all, yet were caught up in the web without knowing why.† This particular quote by Jean Anouilh, author of Antigone, helped me choose fate, one of the more interesting underlining themes in all three plays: Oedipus the King, Antigone, and Medea, as the topic for my paper. No matter how hard the protagonists or antagonists in each play tried to change the fate of the protagonists, they failed and fate took over the chain of events. When humans try to change that which is beyond their control, they often fail and make the matters even worse than before as expressed by the authors of the three plays.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Oedipus was born to Laius and Jocasta, their happiness was interrupted by a horrible prophecy: Oedipus will kill Laius and marry Jocasta when he grows up. The mood in Thebes changed from joyous to somber for the king chose to have his own son killed so that he could remain alive. Considering the situation from Laius’ point of view, it is not difficult to understand his actions but the mere fact that he tried to challenge fate causes his actions to seem ironic and cynical. By tinkering with fate, Laius caused the death of Jocasta, and Oedipus’ blindness and banishment in addition to the events caused by fate. In Antigone, Anouilh portrayed Creon in a similar way as Sophocles portrayed Laius. They both contributed more damage than benefit to the protagonists and their families with their â€Å"noble intentions.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Antigone violated the law created by Creon and tried to bury the body of her brother, Creon should have ordered her to be killed right away. Since he tried to persuade Antigone to forget about the body of her brother and marry his son, which was against her fate, his plan did not work out. One might think Antigone, being of noble blood and having a chance to marry a prince, was out of her mind to jeopardize her life while worrying about a dead body but Antigone’s fate was to die fighting for respect of her family. By delaying her death, Creon inadvertently caused the death of his wife and son. Jason tried to interfere with Medea’s fate and lost his life as well as the life of his loved ones.

The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe

The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe| | The world’s most powerful Communist country was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or otherwise known as the Soviet Union. It contained 15 republics that were controlled by a central government. Over time, it developed into a large industrial power that dictated all aspects of the national economy. It set levels of wages and prices, controlled the allocation of resources, and decided what would be produced and how and where goods would be distributed. The Soviet Union was corrupted after World War I.Economic recovery such as Russian industrial production had gotten passed prewar levels by forty percent. New power plants, canals, and giant factories were built. Testing of hydrogen bombs in 1953 and Sputnik 1 in 1957 enhanced the Soviet state’s reputation as a world power abroad. Soviet people did not have much, their apartment’s one room served as both a bed and living room. As the struggle for power continued, Joseph S talin, the general secretary of the Communist Party, became the master of the Soviet Union and he had a low amount of respect for Communist Party leaders.Stalin was a selfish leader and did not think people from his circle could do anything without him. He believed in a socialist government. The government issued a decree that all literary and scientific work must conform to the political needs of the state itself. As a result of this, there was increased terror. Many believed new purges were to come until Stalin died on March 5. After Stalin’s death, a man named Nikita Khrushchev came in as the chief Soviet policy maker and improved his regime. Khrushchev deleted Stalin’s ruthless policies which became known as De-Stalinization.He also loosened government control on Stalin’s literary works. Khrushchev tried to make consumer goods more popular. He also wanted to increase agricultural output by growing corn and cultivating lands that were east of the Ural Mountai ns. His attempt in increasing agriculture weakened his reputation within the party. As a result of his bad reputation and increased military spending, the Soviet economy became ruined. He was suddenly deposed in 1964. After Khrushchev fell from power, Leonid Brezhnev, who had been serving as his deputy in the party secretariat, became first secretary of the party.Under his rule the de-Stalinization campaign was highly relaxed. Previous experimental agricultural programs were abandoned and the economy began to flourish. Cold war tensions eased after the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 and there was a limited opening for cultural exchanges with the West. Competition shifted to a space and arms race. In Yugoslavia, a man by the name of Tito, also known as Josip Broz, was the leader of the Communist resistance movement. He wanted an independent Communist state in Yugoslavia. Tito refused to agree with Stalin’s demands of taking over Yugoslavia.By portraying the struggle as one of Yu goslav national freedom, Tito gained his people’s support. Tito ruled Yugoslavia up until his death in 1980. Yugoslavia was a Communist government, but not a Soviet satellite state. The Soviet Union did not allow its Eastern Europe satellites to become independent of Soviet control, especially in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary. Protests took place in Poland; the Polish Communist Party adopted a series of reforms in October 1956. They elected a first secretary named Wladyslaw Gomulka. He said that Poland had the right to follow its own socialist path.Poland was afraid of the Soviet armed response to his remark so they pledged to remain loyal to the Warsaw Pact. Unrest in Hungary and economic difficulties led to a revolt. What added to the rising rebellion was Imre Nagy, the Hungarian leader, declared Hungary a free nation on November 1, 1956. It also promised free elections. Three days after Nagy’s declaration, the Soviet Army attacked Budapest. 23 After this, the Soviets reestablished control over the country. Nagy was then seized by the Soviet military and executed two years later. 24Alexander Dubcek was elected first secretary of the Communist party. 25 He introduced freedom of speech and press of freedom to travel abroad. He relaxed censorship, began to pursue an independent foreign policy, and promised a gradual democratization of the Czechoslovakia political system. 26 He wanted to create â€Å"socialism with a human face. †27 All the happiness of the people was ended when the Soviet Army invaded Czechoslovakia in August 1968 28 and crushed the reform movement. Gustav Husak replaced Dubcek, did not follow his reforms, and reestablished the old order. 28In that same year of 1968 a movement for liberal reforms gained widespread support in Czechoslovakia. 29 When the Czech government seemed to be moving away from the Soviet-style rule, the Soviet Union reacted by sending troops into Czechoslovakia in August to ensure the removal of Czech leaders. 30 After this invasion, the Soviets developed the â€Å"Brezhnev doctrine,†31 a policy that called for Soviet intervention to stop any developments that may disrupt the Communist order in Eastern Europe. 32 Political and economic patterns remained constant and still into the 1980s.An invasion of Afghanistan to help a puppet regime broke down into guerrilla warfare. 33 In most cases the Soviets were cautious international players dodging any direct military interventions. Workers and youth began to react to their strict control and lack of consumer goods. High alcoholism increased death rates and lowered production. A growing economic crisis beginning in the mid-1980s forced major political change. 34 Efforts at reform were matched by developments in Eastern Europe that ended the Russian empire.The initial cause was a deteriorating economy hampered by the costs of rivalry with the United States. By the 1980s the economy was grinding to a halt. Forced industriali zation had caused extensive environmental disaster throughout eastern Europe. Related diseases impaired optimism and economic performance. Infant mortality rates increased highly. Industrial production slowed and economic growth stopped, but one-third of national income continued to go to military production. 35 Younger leaders recognized that the system might very well collapse. In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev introduced reforms. 6 He urged nuclear reduction and negotiated with the United States a limitation of medium-range missiles in Europe. The war in Afghanistan was ended by Soviet withdrawal. Internally Gorbachev proclaimed the freedom to comment and criticize. He commended use of market incentives and less use of administrative controls. But strong limits on political freedom remained and the centralized planning apparatus resisted reform. Gorbachev's policies partly reflected ambivalence about the West as he reduced isolation but still criticized Western values. He wanted reform, not abandonment of basic communist controls.The keynote to reform was perestroika, or economic restructuring. 37 This meant more private ownership and decentralized control of aspects of the economy. Foreign investment was encouraged and military expenditures were reduced to free resources for consumer goods. In 1988 a new constitution gave considerable power to a parliament and abolished the communist monopoly of elections. Gorbachev was elected to a new and powerful presidency in 1990 as people argued for or against reform. 38 By the end of 1991 the Soviet Union had been replaced by a loose union of republics. 9 Gorbachev was dissatisfied so he decided to resign and was replaced by an elected president, Boris Yeltsin. 40 The Communist party was dissolved. Continuing uncertainty showed in 1993 when Yeltsin clashed with the parliament. 41 Yeltsin and the army triumphed and elections followed to produce another constitution. In the midst of continuing political confusion two trends p redominated: the economy was weak and there was a breakdown of values and discipline. 42 Crime flourished and growing economic class divisions threatened stability.The economic and political conditions provoked the states of Eastern Europe to take advantage of the new times to seek independence and internal reform. Soviet troops were withdrawn. Bulgaria arranged free elections in 1989 43; Hungary and Poland in 1988 installed noncommunist governments and moved toward a free economy. 44 Czechoslovakia did the same in 1989. 45 Without a doubt the Soviet Union began to collapse. Ethnic and national tensions got worse dramatically during 1989 to 1991. 46 There was heavy controversy between Georgia, Azerbaijan, Moldavia, and Kirghizia. 7 The Soviet government responded by sending troops to these regions to restore order. All 15 of the republics proclaimed that their laws were more superior than those of the central government. During 1989 to 1990, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Armenia, Geor gia, and Moldavia all confirmed that they were going to separate from the USSR. 48 However the Soviet government did not recognize any of these independence claims and in 1990 Soviet troops stormed various communications facilities in Lithuania and Latvia. 49 During 1988-89, Gorbachev implemented various governmental reforms that radically changed he way in which the Soviet Union was ruled. 49 He persuaded the Communist party to relinquish its monopoly on political power and to recognize the authority of the new Supreme Soviet and the newly created Congress of People’s Deputies. 50 Also, the government created the office of president vested it with broad executive powers. Gorbachev was elected to that position in 1989. 51 The government approved a variety of economic reforms aimed at introducing a market-based economy. These measures included the legalization of private businesses and the reduction of state subsidies for many industries.Numerous economic problems followed, in cluding high inflation and shortages of many goods, in particular food. 52 Meanwhile, democratic reform movements arose in eastern European countries and the legitimacy of Communist rule was challenged. Gorbachev rejected the â€Å"Brezhnev doctrine† 53 and made little effort to support the Communist governments in these nations. Most of them either collapsed or were reconstituted as democratically oriented regimes with the Communist party in a minor role. Gorbachev’s hands-off policy made possible the reunification of Germany in 1990. 4 East Germany in 1989 removed its communist leaders55; the Berlin Wall came down and full German unification occurred in 1990. 56 In 1991, Gorbachev negotiated a power-sharing treaty with most of the union republics. 57 In August, before the treaty was signed, a group of hardline Communists overthrew Gorbachev and seized control of the government. 58 The coup failed very fast because of the large amount of opposition led by Boris Yeltsi n and the failure of important military units to support the coup. Gorbachev survived the attempted coup because of popular support and eventually returned to power.The failed effort led to renewed attacks on the Communist party and to independence movements by minority nationalities. The only violence occurred in Romania when an authoritarian ruler was overthrown. The Communists retained power, through elections, in Bulgaria and Romania. In addition, Gorbachev quit his position as general secretary. 59 A new transitional government designed to give more power to the 15 republics was established. Nationalism continued to rise among the republics. In September of 1991, the Soviet government noticed that Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were all independent. 0 By November, practically all the rest of the republics had proclaimed their wish for independence from the Soviet Union but at the same time to keep a unified economic economy. On December 8th, Russia, Ukraine, and Byelorussia for med a loose confederation known as the Commonwealth of Independent States, 61 otherwise known as the CIS. By the end of that same month, around December 21, all of the rest of the republics joined the CIS, except for Georgia. 62 In The Baltic republics declared independence and other regions threatened to secede.By the end of 1991 the Soviet Union had been replaced by a loose union of republics. 63 Gorbachev became very unhappy and on December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union. 64 This ultimately ended the nation. The Communist party was dissolved. Continuing uncertainty showed in 1993 when Yeltsin clashed with the parliament. 65 Yeltsin and the army triumphed and elections followed to produce another constitution. In the midst of continuing political confusion two trends predominated: the economy was weak and there was a breakdown of values and discipline.Crime flourished and growing economic class divisions threatened stability. The new situation in Eas tern Europe was marred by ethnic clashes. Yugoslavia fell apart and brutal fighting broke out among its former components. The new governments faced serious economic and environmental problems. Communist parties in Poland and Hungary won elections in 1993-199466 because of economic grievances, but did not attempt to restore the former system because of agitation among minority nationalities; some demanded independence.Although there were several changes over the last decade in Eastern Europe, the 20th century brought fewer changes. The Soviets claimed they were allowing equality for women, but never actually did. 67 They also had negotiated a federation between republics, but minority nationalists were constantly under ethnic Russian control and continued to want to be in charge of their own affairs. However religion maintained a dominant role in the state. People continued to be interested in Western culture, especially in the east European nations. 8 Components of the communist pa st survive still survive to this very day. The loss of superpower status is resented and the prospects of democratic leadership are insecure. East Europeans whole-heartedly value the benefits of communist welfare social protections and social inequality limits, hoping to combine such ideas with capitalist tendencies. The Russian emphasis on authoritarian government with extreme centralization of power remained. The emphasis on territorial acquisition was maintained with the domination of Eastern Europe after 1945. 9 Among the continuities were a sense of cultural isolation from the West, Russian ethnic domination over minority ethnic and religious groups, and the predominance of the novel as a literary form. Among the differences were the destruction of the powerful landholding aristocracy, the lack of emphasis of the role of Orthodox Christianity, the creation of an industrialized society with a social hierarchy, the presence of household patterns typical of an industrialized state , the attempt to introduce â€Å"socialist realism†70 into the arts, and the collapse of isolation

Andrew

Andrew Springiness Module 1 CSS: Information Networking as Technology: Tools, Uses, and Socio- Technical Interactions DIMMIT: Management of Information Systems and Business Strategy Dry. Mary Lind June 17, 2014 Information Overload â€Å"Are organizations likely to find better solutions to information overload through changes to their technical systems or their social systems or both? Why? To answer this question, this paper will discuss the technical and social systems of companies specifically based on review of the articles by Blair, Belling, et al, Green, ND Lie and Ere as well as other information on related data companies such as Amazon and ASS. The context of the paper will aide in the understanding of an ideal way to process the information present in the market and then use it for company benefits.This paper will also review and analyze the importance of info-tsunami in context of specific markers and give specific examples on how data storage and analysis is now the latest trend in the market. Various big data software present in the market and comment on the future trends of the market will be reviewed. Finally, I will propose an answer to the original question posed of what betterment is most important in dealing with information overload social systems, technological systems, or both?History of Data Mining/Sharing In order to truly understand information overload and how to deal with it, we must start by analyzing various aspects of data starting from its history through the current and probable future trends of the market. Today there are zillions of pieces of data in the market growing for over 30% per year bases (Blair, 2010). The roots of the big data come from ancient days when people used to huge manuscripts and biblical resources to pass on the knowledge of present generation to the next one.They not only documented information, but also backed up or made it easier to share that information by creating duplicates of the original work. Peopl e with different philosophies discussed the same issues with a different context and vision to give alternate versions of the existing issues. However, this increase in the amount of information collected led to what may have appeared to be an insurmountable collection that could not be fully read in an acceptable amount of time or never being blew to find specific information, which could be described as an information overload (Blair, 2010).People would have too much information to sift through to find what they needed, which would need to lead to an evolution in that form of data storage such as different note-taking capabilities as well as organization (Blair, 2010). Note- taking capabilities enabled the researchers to organize the structure of different ancient texts and later on printing evolved the structure of writing as indexes and bibliographies became norm for the research papers, which helped people to find he specific information they were looking for or the source of m ore information.Encyclopedias were created to serve as a set of easily accessible and searchable information on a broad amount of topics. Also, the advent of the Dewey Decimal System meant that a lot of general information could be found in a short amount of time. The Dewey Decimal Classification initially sorts information into 10 categories, and then into another 100 sub-categories, giving you 1, 000 specific categories to search (University Library, n. D. ). For example, you could search the ass's forTechnology or Applied Sciences categories and find sub-category (also known as a â€Å"call number†) 621 and search specifically for Applied Physics (University Library, n. D. ). All of these things lead to less of a feeling of information overload as people did not need to spend a lifetime searching for the data that they needed. However, personal collection of information would take up large amounts of space. Fast forward time a millennia or two and you have the advent of el ectronic media, which meant that a galore of information could be stored in a much smaller space.This educed limits of how much information people and organizations could collect. People and organizations could now store a large amount of information onto cassettes, disks, diskettes, compact discs, etc. Rather than in hundreds or thousands of books or written documents. Today, we can carry a flash drive with a program to read electronic books as well as hundreds or thousands of electronic books that is the size off pack of chewing gum. In addition to the space, the information itself was now only a touch away.People no longer needed to use indexes or bibliographies as they could sears for keywords and a computer would help to find he information they were looking for. Computer systems can search through programs, documents, or the world wide web and find information that people are looking for in milliseconds. However, there is now also a feeling that maybe there is too much informa tion accessible through the internet nowadays. We are at a point where there is what appears to be an insurmountable pile of information available on the internet, even when computer systems help us sift through the information.Companies may again have to sift through a lot of minutia in order to get the specific information they need. In another point of view, there were initial concerns regarding the electronic system of storage. There have been many instances where digital data has been hacked or accessed without the consent of the original writer in order to change the information or utilize it for other purposes than it was originally intended. There is also the possibility of data redundancy and the fear of data getting lost of due hardware complications.However, with the advent of more and more advance technologies in data storage and sharing electronic storage, there are greater security and back-up procedures added to hardware and software. This leads to the it is the only feasible medium conceivable in the future. Data Analysis To help understand information overload, data analysis must be defined. According to Russell Kickoff, a systems theorist and professor of organizational change, the content of the human mind can be classified into five categories: data, information, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom (Belling, Castro, & Mills, 2004).According to Belling, et al (2004), the data can be described as symbols; information is â€Å"data that can be processed to be useful† and provides answers to four of the five Was (who, hat, where, and when); knowledge is â€Å"the application of data and information† and answers the question of how; understanding gives an â€Å"appreciation of the question of why'; and wisdom is an elevated level of â€Å"evaluated understanding. † Data is seen as a raw entity which, for the proposes of this research paper, only exists either in digital or in ink.The significance of data is to be present i n any accessible format to the user. Information is the processed data and it is specific to any context to the user. Knowledge is the output gained from that information, essentially by realizing tatters formed by information. Although ultimately wisdom will help with future operations, industry is primarily concerned regarding retrieving knowledge, as this parameter is a tool which is used by the company to either make direct or indirect revenues. Knowledge is the basic building block of data analysis that can be gained directly from computer software.Companies such as MM, Accentuate and other consulting companies are focus teams to exploit knowledge as a parameter to give specific insights for industries and sectors. Understanding is one step ahead of knowledge in which problems are solved in a specific context. Understanding is the point which the reason for the patterns discerned from knowledge can be understood. It is involved in selecting the required information and processi ng it to provide the best solutions for a specific problem or multiple problems.Getting to the understanding phase is difficult with such a superfluous amount of data available to companies. In modern era this process is called Data Analytics or Just Analytics. This is slightly different according to Green (2010) who refers to only four sections of data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. The first three sections namely data, information, and knowledge are concepts of past data, but wisdom is a future analysis and vision concept. It develops our internal experience which helps in our future decision making.Wisdom is very similar to understanding, with the main difference being that wisdom allows one to predict fracture outcomes based on understanding the reasons behind specific patterns and how changes will affect behaviors of related processes. The first four sections can be represented in a hierarchy and the level of complexity will increase downwards from data to wisdom. In addi tion, the amount of effort and technological resources used will decrease from top to bottom as you require maximum resources to build and maintain data.The advance methods of data capturing tools have been efficient in blurring the lines between information and knowledge as companies are becoming efficient in data analysis. Socio-Technical System According to Lie and Ere (2006), â€Å"the Socio-Technical Systems theory considers that every organization is made up of people (the social system) using tools, techniques and knowledge (the technical system) to produce goods and services that are valued y customers (who are part of the organization's external environment). Essentially, this can be described as the interaction between personnel in an organization, or people in general, with that of technology. People and employees have certain behaviors that may need to be modified along with technology in order to create an optimized process or improve quality of fife. The Socio-Technic al Systems theory also considers the usage of social information and incorporates it into the development of technology to make it more relevant and desired. Amazon's Analytics Concept Data analysis has now become a latest trend in the market.Amazon. Com has become a leader in promoting the analytics-as-a-service concept. They are approaching this as a cloud-enabled business model and not Just an innovation in the industry. It is a great model and will provide as an alternative having better architectural patterns to Justify business priorities. Amazon aims at firms dealing with large amount of data and need flexible infrastructure. Targeted domains in web analytics include gene sequencing, cyber- security, human resource workforce and others.The challenge is to bind data and draw insights without building complex entities and spending years in restoring those entities. Predicting entities infrastructure is yet emerging and the case is not trivial for Amazon. The model is to give fo recast estimations to the companies using their own data which stored with Amazon cloud computing servers. Additionally, Amazon uses data analysis to evaluate data on historical purchases and â€Å"wish-lists† to predict the amount of specific products that will be ordered and need to be shipped to certain locations (Devils, 2014).Amazon can then pre-ship items to hubs in bulk shipments prior to people ordering, which saves in future costs and enables faster shipping services (Devils, 2014). Role of Advance Technology in Data Analysis and Future Trends Technology plays a crucial role for big data analysis as it enables the forecasters to apply the data onto the model and get significant results. With tests such as the Durbin Watson Test, white noise is a small statistical test but needed to implement on all of the data to identify the required useful parameters.There are trillions of megabytes worth of data in companies. So, how are results found using simple tools such as ex cel which, according to Microsoft Office (n. D. ), has a limitation of â€Å"1 ,048,576 rows by 16,384 columns? † Dedicated servers and software's are built and designed specifically for these kinds of requirements. The open source language R is specially built for statistical operations, to extract and interpolate data and can run on multiple operating systems (Wirtschaftuniversitat Wine, n. D. ). A lot of additional software has also come along the way.Some of these include SAPS, ASS, Maintain, Stats, Jump, Mathematical and others. All have their pros and cons but ASS and SAPS are considered two of industry favorites (Munched, 2014). Another technology which is on the rise is Apache Hoodoo. Hoodoo is designed to create a partition in the virtual memory and allows different users to implement the same function on large databases to give the results (The Apache Software Foundation, 2014). It is more of a server application and can be combined and other technologies to get opt imum results.To solve the memory problem these days, companies are shifting to cloud computing as an alternative. Cloud computing is where all the data is saved n the dedicated servers of a third party vendor and not with the company itself. Whenever the data is required it is processed from those servers and for each transaction a certain sum is paid by the company to the third party. Although cloud computing isn't 100% effective all of the time either as several companies have found out in the past decade according to Dan Mariner's (2013).In the next five years, a trend of adaptation of analytics in more and more countries and in different domains can easily be predicted. As of now, pharmaceutical industry has endorsed use of clinical trails led by analytics. Also, the concept of â€Å"Moneybags† has been in used in baseball for several years now. Additionally, credit risk has been managed by these same analytical financial models. All signs for the rising demand of analyti cs in future. Software's like ASS, Hoodoo are here to stay and we will see more data managing software been introduced in the industry.Analytics will act as a backbone of E-commerce industry driving their profits and market share. In the future, big data analysis will not Just be a tool to gain competitive edge but will become a necessity for the survival of the company in highly competitive market. In marry, information and its quest have been long running from the past. Companies are inclined to use as much information possible to enhance their productivity and achieve competitive level in the ever evolving market.The trends of the market suggests that companies are more inclined to use technology and data mining software and there dependency has been shifting from senior officials to software inputs. Still the importance of experience cannot be neglected and companies must make a balance between the two to achieve high growth rates. I believe the priority will focus on improvemen t of the technical system; however, any many that refuses to look at the importance of the social system will continuously see high turnover rates. References Blair, A. (2010) Information Overload, Then and Now.

Chapter 16 The Goblet of Fire

I don't believe it!† Ron said, in a stunned voice, as the Hogwarts students filed back up the steps behind the party from Durmstrang. â€Å"Krum, Harry! Viktor Krum!† â€Å"For heaven's sake, Ron, he's only a Quidditch player,† said Hermione. â€Å"Only a Quidditch player?† Ron said, looking at her as though he couldn't believe his ears. â€Å"Hermione – he's one of the best Seekers in the world! I had no idea he was still at school!† As they recrossed the entrance hall with the rest of the Hogwarts students heading for the Great Hall, Harry saw Lee Jordan jumping up and down on the soles of his feet to get a better look at the back of Krum's head. Several sixth-year girls were frantically searching their pockets as they walked – â€Å"Oh I don't believe it, I haven't got a single quill on me -â€Å" â€Å"D'you think he'd sign my hat in lipstick?† â€Å"Really,† Hermione said loftily as they passed the girls, now squabbling over the lipstick. â€Å"I'm getting his autograph if I can,† said Ron. â€Å"You haven't got a quill, have you, Harry?† â€Å"Nope, they're upstairs in my bag,† said Harry. They walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down. Ron took care to sit on the side facing the doorway, because Krum and his fellow Durmstrang students were still gathered around it, apparently unsure about where they should sit. The students from Beauxbatons had chosen seats at the Ravenclaw table. They were looking around the Great Hall with glum expressions on their faces. Three of them were still clutching scarves and shawls around their heads. â€Å"It's not that cold,† said Hermione defensively. â€Å"Why didn't they bring cloaks?† â€Å"Over here! Come and sit over here!† Ron hissed. â€Å"Over here! Hermione, budge up, make a space -â€Å" â€Å"What?† â€Å"Too late,† said Ron bitterly. Viktor Krum and his fellow Durmstrang students had settled themselves at the Slytherin table. Harry could see Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle looking very smug about this. As he watched, Malfoy bent forward to speak to Krum. â€Å"Yeah, that's right, smarm up to him, Malfoy,† said Ron scathingly. â€Å"I bet Krum can see right through him, though†¦bet he gets people fawning over him all the time†¦.Where d'you reckon they're going to sleep? We could offer him a space in our dormitory, Harry†¦I wouldn't mind giving him my bed, I could kip on a camp bed.† Hermione snorted. â€Å"They look a lot happier than the Beauxbatons lot,† said Harry. The Durmstrang students were pulling off their heavy furs and looking up at the starry black ceiling with expressions of interest; a couple of them were picking up the golden plates and goblets and examining them, apparently impressed. Up at the staff table, Filch, the caretaker, was adding chairs. He was wearing his moldy old tailcoat in honor of the occasion. Harry was surprised to see that he added four chairs, two on either side of Dumbledore's. â€Å"But there are only two extra people,† Harry said. â€Å"Why's Filch putting out four chairs, who else is coming?† â€Å"Eh?† said Ron vaguely. He was still staring avidly at Krum. When all the students had entered the Hall and settled down at their House tables, the staff entered, filing up to the top table and taking their seats. Last in line were Professor Dumbledore, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime. When their headmistress appeared, the pupils from Beauxbatons leapt to their feet. A few of the Hogwarts students laughed. The Beauxbatons party appeared quite unembarrassed, however, and did not resume their seats until Madame Maxime had sat down on Dumbledore's left-hand side. Dumbledore remained standing, and a silence fell over the Great Hall. â€Å"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and – most particularly – guests,† said Dumbledore, beaming around at the foreign students. â€Å"I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable.† One of the Beauxbatons girls still clutching a muffler around her head gave what was unmistakably a derisive laugh. â€Å"No one's making you stay!† Hermione whispered, bristling at her. â€Å"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast,† said Dumbledore. â€Å"I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!† He sat down, and Harry saw Karkaroff lean forward at once and engage him in conversation. The plates in front of them filled with food as usual. The house-elves in the kitchen seemed to have pulled out all the stops; there was a greater variety of dishes in front of them than Harry had ever seen, including several that were definitely foreign. â€Å"What's that?† said Ron, pointing at a large dish of some sort of shellfish stew that stood beside a large steak-and-kidney pudding. â€Å"Bouillabaisse,† said Hermione. â€Å"Bless you,† said Ron. â€Å"It's French,† said Hermione, â€Å"I had it on holiday summer before last. It's very nice.† â€Å"I'll take your word for it,† said Ron, helping himself to black pudding. The Great Hall seemed somehow much more crowded than usual, even though there were barely twenty additional students there; perhaps it was because their differently colored uniforms stood out so clearly against the black of the Hogwarts' robes. Now that they had removed their furs, the Durmstrang students were revealed to be wearing robes of a deep bloodred. Hagrid sidled into the Hall through a door behind the staff table twenty minutes after the start of the feast. He slid into his seat at the end and waved at Harry, Ron, and Hermione with a very heavily bandaged hand. â€Å"Skrewts doing all right, Hagrid?† Harry called. â€Å"Thrivin',† Hagrid called back happily. â€Å"Yeah, I'll just bet they are,† said Ron quietly. â€Å"Looks like they've finally found a food they like, doesn't it? Hagrid's fingers.† At that moment, a voice said, â€Å"Excuse me, are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?† It was the girl from Beauxbatons who had laughed during Dumbledore's speech. She had finally removed her muffler. A long sheet of silvery-blonde hair fell almost to her waist. She had large, deep blue eyes, and very white, even teeth. Ron went purple. He stared up at her, opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out except a faint gurgling noise. â€Å"Yeah, have it,† said Harry, pushing the dish toward the girl. â€Å"You ‘ave finished wiz it?† â€Å"Yeah,† Ron said breathlessly. â€Å"Yeah, it was excellent.† The girl picked up the dish and carried it carefully off to the Ravenclaw table. Ron was still goggling at the girl as though he had never seen one before. Harry started to laugh. The sound seemed to jog Ron back to his senses. â€Å"She's a veela!† he said hoarsely to Harry. â€Å"Of course she isn't!† said Hermione tartly. â€Å"I don't see anyone else gaping at her like an idiot!† But she wasn't entirely right about that. As the girl crossed the Hall, many boys' heads turned, and some of them seemed to have become temporarily speechless, just like Ron. â€Å"I'm telling you, that's not a normal girl!† said Ron, leaning sideways so he could keep a clear view of her. â€Å"They don't make them like that at Hogwarts!† â€Å"They make them okay at Hogwarts,† said Harry without thinking. Cho happened to be sitting only a few places away from the girl with the silvery hair. â€Å"When you've both put your eyes back in,† said Hermione briskly, â€Å"you'll be able to see who's just arrived.† She was pointing up at the staff table. The two remaining empty seats had just been filled. Ludo Bagman was now sitting on Professor Karkaroff's other side, while Mr. Crouch, Percy's boss, was next to Madame Maxime. â€Å"What are they doing here?† said Harry in surprise. â€Å"They organized the Triwizard Tournament, didn't they?† said Hermione. â€Å"I suppose they wanted to be here to see it start.† When the second course arrived they noticed a number of unfamiliar desserts too. Ron examined an odd sort of pale blancmange closely, then moved it carefully a few inches to his right, so that it would be clearly visible from the Ravenclaw table. The girl who looked like a veela appeared to have eaten enough, however, and did not come over to get it. Once the golden plates had been wiped clean, Dumbledore stood up again. A pleasant sort of tension seemed to fill the Hall now. Harry felt a slight thrill of excitement, wondering what was coming. Several seats down from them, Fred and George were leaning forward, staring at Dumbledore with great concentration. â€Å"The moment has come,† said Dumbledore, smiling around at the sea of upturned faces. â€Å"The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket -â€Å" â€Å"The what?† Harry muttered. Ron shrugged. â€Å"- just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation† – there was a smattering of polite applause – â€Å"and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports.† There was a much louder round of applause for Bagman than for Crouch, perhaps because of his fame as a Beater, or simply because he looked so much more likable. He acknowledged it with a jovial wave of his hand. Bartemius Crouch did not smile or wave when his name was announced. Remembering him in his neat suit at the Quidditch World Cup, Harry thought he looked strange in wizard's robes. His toothbrush mustache and severe parting looked very odd next to Dumbledore's long white hair and beard. â€Å"Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament,† Dumbledore continued, â€Å"and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts.† At the mention of the word â€Å"champions,† the attentiveness of the listening students seemed to sharpen. Perhaps Dumbledore had noticed their sudden stillness, for he smiled as he said, â€Å"The casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch.† Filch, who had been lurking unnoticed in a far corner of the Hall, now approached Dumbledore carrying a great wooden chest encrusted with jewels. It looked extremely old. A murmur of excited interest rose from the watching students; Dennis Creevey actually stood on his chair to see it properly, but, being so tiny, his head hardly rose above anyone else's. â€Å"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman,† said Dumbledore as Filch placed the chest carefully on the table before him, â€Å"and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways.. their magical prowess – their daring – their powers of deduction – and, of course, their ability to cope with danger.† At this last word, the Hall was filled with a silence so absolute that nobody seemed to be breathing. â€Å"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament,† Dumbledore went on calmly, â€Å"one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire.† Dumbledore now took out his wand and tapped three times upon the top of the casket. The lid creaked slowly open. Dumbledore reached inside it and pulled out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup. It would have been entirely unremarkable had it not been full to the brim with dancing blue-white flames. Dumbledore closed the casket and placed the goblet carefully on top of it, where it would be clearly visible to everyone in the Hall. â€Å"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet,† said Dumbledore. â€Å"Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete. â€Å"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation,† said Dumbledore, â€Å"I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line. â€Å"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all.† â€Å"An Age Line!† Fred Weasley said, his eyes glinting, as they all made their way across the Hall to the doors into the entrance hall. â€Å"Well, that should be fooled by an Aging Potion, shouldn't it? And once your name's in that goblet, you're laughing – it can't tell whether you're seventeen or not!† â€Å"But I don't think anyone under seventeen will stand a chance,† said Hermione, â€Å"we just haven't learned enough†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Speak for yourself,† said George shortly. â€Å"You'll try and get in, won't you, Harry?† Harry thought briefly of Dumbledore's insistence that nobody under seventeen should submit their name, but then the wonderful picture of himself winning the Triwizard Tournament filled his mind again†¦.He wondered how angry Dumbledore would be if someone younger than seventeen did find a way to get over the Age Line. â€Å"Where is he?† said Ron, who wasn't listening to a word of this conversation, but looking through the crowd to see what had become of Krum. â€Å"Dumbledore didn't say where the Durmstrang people are sleeping, did he?† But this query was answered almost instantly; they were level with the Slytherin table now, and Karkaroff had just bustled up to his students. â€Å"Back to the ship, then,† he was saying. â€Å"Viktor, how are you feeling? Did you eat enough? Should I send for some mulled wine from the kitchens?† Harry saw Krum shake his head as he pulled his furs back on. â€Å"Professor, Ivood like some vine,† said one of the other Durmstrang boys hopefully. â€Å"I wasn't offering it to you, Poliakoff,† snapped Karkaroff, his warmly paternal air vanishing in an instant. â€Å"I notice you have dribbled food all down the front of your robes again, disgusting boy -â€Å" Karkaroff turned and led his students toward the doors, reaching them at exactly the same moment as Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Harry stopped to let him walk through first. â€Å"Thank you,† said Karkaroff carelessly, glancing at him. And then Karkaroff froze. He turned his head back to Harry and stared at him as though he couldn't believe his eyes. Behind their headmaster, the students from Durmstrang came to a halt too. Karkaroff's eyes moved slowly up Harry's face and fixed upon his scar. The Durmstrang students were staring curiously at Harry too. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw comprehension dawn on a few of their faces. The boy with food all down his front nudged the girl next to him and pointed openly at Harry's forehead. â€Å"Yeah, that's Harry Potter,† said a growling voice from behind them. Professor Karkaroff spun around. Mad-Eye Moody was standing there, leaning heavily on his staff, his magical eye glaring unblinkingly at the Durmstrang headmaster. The color drained from Karkaroff's face as Harry watched. A terrible look of mingled fury and fear came over him. â€Å"You!† he said, staring at Moody as though unsure he was really seeing him. â€Å"Me,† said Moody grimly. â€Å"And unless you've got anything to say to Potter, Karkaroff, you might want to move. You're blocking the doorway.† It was true; half the students in the Hall were now waiting behind them, looking over one another's shoulders to see what was causing the holdup. Without another word, Professor Karkaroff swept his students away with him. Moody watched him until he was out of sight, his magical eye fixed upon his back, a look of intense dislike upon his mutilated face. As the next day was Saturday, most students would normally have breakfasted late. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, however, were not alone in rising much earlier than they usually did on weekends. When they went down into the entrance hall, they saw about twenty people milling around it, some of them eating toast, all examining the Goblet of Fire. It had been placed in the center of the hall on the stool that normally bore the Sorting Hat. A thin golden line had been traced on the floor, forming a circle ten feet around it in every direction. â€Å"Anyone put their name in yet?† Ron asked a third-year girl eagerly. â€Å"All the Durmstrang lot,† she replied. â€Å"But I haven't seen anyone from Hogwarts yet.† â€Å"Bet some of them put it in last night after we'd all gone to bed,† said Harry. â€Å"I would've if it had been me†¦wouldn't have wanted everyone watching. What if the goblet just gobbed you right back out again?† Someone laughed behind Harry. Turning, he saw Fred, George, and Lee Jordan hurrying down the staircase, all three of them looking extremely excited. â€Å"Done it,† Fred said in a triumphant whisper to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. â€Å"Just taken it.† â€Å"What?† said Ron. â€Å"The Aging Potion, dung brains,† said Fred. â€Å"One drop each,† said George, rubbing his hands together with glee. â€Å"We only need to be a few months older.† â€Å"We're going to split the thousand Galleons between the three of us if one of us wins,† said Lee, grinning broadly. â€Å"I'm not sure this is going to work, you know,† said Hermione warningly. â€Å"I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of this.† Fred, George, and Lee ignored her. â€Å"Ready?† Fred said to the other two, quivering with excitement. â€Å"C'mon, then – I'll go first -â€Å" Harry watched, fascinated, as Fred pulled a slip of parchment out of his pocket bearing the words Fred Weasley – Hogwarts. Fred walked right up to the edge of the line and stood there, rocking on his toes like a diver preparing for a fifty-foot drop. Then, with the eyes of every person in the entrance hall upon him, he took a great breath and stepped over the line. For a split second Harry thought it had worked – George certainly thought so, for he let out a yell of triumph and leapt after Fred – but next moment, there was a loud sizzling sound, and both twins were hurled out of the golden circle as though they had been thrown by an invisible shot-putter. They landed painfully, ten feet away on the cold stone floor, and to add insult to injury, there was a loud popping noise, and both of them sprouted identical long white beards. The entrance hall rang with laughter. Even Fred and George joined in, once they had gotten to their feet and taken a good look at each other's beards. â€Å"I did warn you,† said a deep, amused voice, and everyone turned to see Professor Dumbledore coming out of the Great Hall. He surveyed Fred and George, his eyes twinkling. â€Å"I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr. Summers, of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. Though I must say, neither of their beards is anything like as fine as yours.† Fred and George set off for the hospital wing, accompanied by Lee, who was howling with laughter, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione, also chortling, went in to breakfast. The decorations in the Great Hall had changed this morning. As it was Halloween, a cloud of live bats was fluttering around the enchanted ceiling, while hundreds of carved pumpkins leered from every corner. Harry led the way over to Dean and Seamus, who were discussing those Hogwarts students of seventeen or over who might be entering. â€Å"There's a rumor going around that Warrington got up early and put his name in,† Dean told Harry. â€Å"That big bloke from Slytherin who looks like a sloth.† Harry, who had played Quidditch against Warrington, shook his head in disgust. â€Å"We can't have a Slytherin champion!† â€Å"And all the Hufflepuffs are talking about Diggory,† said Seamus contemptuously. â€Å"But I wouldn't have thought he'd have wanted to risk his good looks.† â€Å"Listen!† said Hermione suddenly. People were cheering out in the entrance hall. They all swiveled around in their seats and saw Angelina Johnson coming into the Hall, grinning in an embarrassed sort of way. A tall black girl who played Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Angelina came over to them, sat down, and said, â€Å"Well, I've done it! Just put my name in!† â€Å"You're kidding!† said Ron, looking impressed. â€Å"Are you seventeen, then?† asked Harry. â€Å"Course she is, can't see a beard, can you?† said Ron. â€Å"I had my birthday last week,† said Angelina. â€Å"Well, I'm glad someone from Gryffindor's entering,† said Hermione. â€Å"I really hope you get it, Angelina!† â€Å"Thanks, Hermione,† said Angelina, smiling at her. Yeah, better you than Pretty-Boy Diggory, said Seamus, causing several Hufflepuffs passing their table to scowl heavily at him. â€Å"What're we going to do today, then?† Ron asked Harry and Hermione when they had finished breakfast and were leaving the Great Hall. â€Å"We haven't been down to visit Hagrid yet,† said Harry. â€Å"Okay,† said Ron, â€Å"just as long as he doesn't ask us to donate a few fingers to the skrewts.† A look of great excitement suddenly dawned on Hermione's face. â€Å"I've just realized – I haven't asked Hagrid to join S.P.E.W. yet!† she said brightly. â€Å"Wait for me, will you, while I nip upstairs and get the badges?† â€Å"What is it with her?† said Ron, exasperated, as Hermione ran away up the marble staircase. â€Å"Hey, Ron,† said Harry suddenly. â€Å"It's your friend†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The students from Beauxbatons were coming through the front doors from the grounds, among them, the veela-girl. Those gathered around the Goblet of Fire stood back to let them pass, watching eagerly. Madame Maxime entered the hall behind her students and organized them into a line. One by one, the Beauxbatons students stepped across the Age Line and dropped their slips of parchment into the blue-white flames. As each name entered the fire, it turned briefly red and emitted sparks. â€Å"What d'you reckon'll happen to the ones who aren't chosen?† Ron muttered to Harry as the veela-girl dropped her parchment into the Goblet of Fire. â€Å"Reckon they'll go back to school, or hang around to watch the tournament?† â€Å"Dunno,† said Harry. â€Å"Hang around, I suppose†¦.Madame Maxime's staying to judge, isn't she?† When all the Beauxbatons students had submitted their names, Madame Maxime led them back out of the hall and out onto the grounds again. â€Å"Where are they sleeping, then?† said Ron, moving toward the front doors and staring after them. A loud rattling noise behind them announced Hermione's reappearance with the box of S. P. E.W. badges. â€Å"Oh good, hurry up,† said Ron, and he jumped down the stone steps, keeping his eyes on the back of the veela-girl, who was now halfway across the lawn with Madame Maxime. As they neared Hagrid's cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the mystery of the Beauxbatons' sleeping quarters was solved. The gigantic powder-blue carriage in which they had arrived had been parked two hundred yards from Hagrid's front door, and the students were climbing back inside it. The elephantine flying horses that had pulled the carriage were now grazing in a makeshift paddock alongside it. Harry knocked on Hagrid's door, and Fang's booming barks answered instantly. â€Å"‘Bout time!† said Hagrid, when he'd flung open the door. â€Å"Thought you lot'd forgotten where I live!† â€Å"We've been really busy, Hag -† Hermione started to say, but then she stopped dead, looking up at Hagrid, apparently lost for words. Hagrid was wearing his best (and very horrible) hairy brown suit, plus a checked yellow-and-orange tie. This wasn't the worst of it, though; he had evidently tried to tame his hair, using large quantities of what appeared to be axle grease. It was now slicked down into two bunches – perhaps he had tried a ponytail like Bill's, but found he had too much hair. The look didn't really suit Hagrid at all. For a moment, Hermione goggled at him, then, obviously deciding not to comment, she said, â€Å"Erm – where are the skrewts.† â€Å"Out by the pumpkin patch,† said Hagrid happily. â€Å"They're gettin' massive, mus' be nearly three foot long now. On'y trouble is, they've started killin' each other.† â€Å"Oh no, really?† said Hermione, shooting a repressive look at Ron, who, staring at Hagrid's odd hairstyle, had just opened his mouth to say something about it. â€Å"Yeah,† said Hagrid sadly. â€Å"S' okay, though, I've got 'em in separate boxes now. Still got abou' twenty.† â€Å"Well, that's lucky,† said Ron. Hagrid missed the sarcasm. Hagrid's cabin comprised a single room, in one corner of which was a gigantic bed covered in a patchwork quilt. A similarly enormous wooden table and chairs stood in front of the fire beneath the quantity of cured hams and dead birds hanging from the ceiling. They sat down at the table while Hagrid started to make tea, and were soon immersed in yet more discussion of the Triwizard Tournament. Hagrid seemed quite as excited about it as they were. â€Å"You wait,† he said, grinning. â€Å"You jus' wait. Yer going ter see some stuff yeh've never seen before. Firs' task†¦ah, but I'm not supposed ter say.† â€Å"Go on, Hagrid!† Harry, Ron, and Hermione urged him, but he just shook his head, grinning. â€Å"I don' want ter spoil it fer yeh,† said Hagrid. â€Å"But it's gonna be spectacular, I'll tell yeh that. Them champions're going ter have their work cut out. Never thought I'd live ter see the Triwizard Tournament played again!† They ended up having lunch with Hagrid, though they didn't eat much – Hagrid had made what he said was a beef casserole, but after Hermione unearthed a large talon in hers, she, Harry, and Ron rather lost their appetites. However, they enjoyed themselves trying to make Hagrid tell them what the tasks in the tournament were going to be, speculating which of the entrants were likely to be selected as champions, and wondering whether Fred and George were beardless yet. A light rain had started to fall by midafternoon; it was very cozy sitting by the fire, listening to the gentle patter of the drops on the window, watching Hagrid darning his socks and arguing with Hermione about house-elves – for he flatly refused to join S.P.E.W. when she showed him her badges. â€Å"It'd be doin' 'em an unkindness, Hermione,† he said gravely, threading a massive bone needle with thick yellow yarn. â€Å"It's in their nature ter look after humans, that's what they like, see? Yeh'd be makin' 'em unhappy ter take away their work, an' insutin' 'em if yeh tried ter pay 'em.† â€Å"But Harry set Dobby free, and he was over the moon about it!† said Hermione. â€Å"And we heard he's asking for wages now!† â€Å"Yeah, well, yeh get weirdos in every breed. I'm not sayin' there isn't the odd elf who'd take freedom, but yeh'll never persuade most of 'em ter do it – no, nothin' doin', Hermione.† Hermione looked very cross indeed and stuffed her box of badges back into her cloak pocket. By half past five it was growing dark, and Ron, Harry, and Hermione decided it was time to get back up to the castle for the Halloween feast – and, more important, the announcement of the school champions. â€Å"I'll come with yeh,† said Hagrid, putting away his darning. â€Å"Jus' give us a sec.† Hagrid got up, went across to the chest of drawers beside his bed, and began searching for something inside it. They didn't pay too much attention until a truly horrible smell reached their nostrils. Coughing, Ron said, â€Å"Hagrid, what's that?† â€Å"Eh?† said Hagrid, turning around with a large bottle in his hand. â€Å"Don' yeh like it?† â€Å"Is that aftershave?† said Hermione in a slightly choked voice. â€Å"Er – eau de cologne,† Hagrid muttered. He was blushing. â€Å"Maybe it's a bit much,† he said gruffly. â€Å"I'll go take it off, hang on†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He stumped out of the cabin, and they saw him washing himself vigorously in the water barrel outside the window. â€Å"Eau de cologne?† said Hermione in amazement. â€Å"Hagrid?† â€Å"And what's with the hair and the suit?† said Harry in an undertone. â€Å"Look!† said Ron suddenly, pointing out of the window. Hagrid had just straightened up and turned 'round. If he had been blushing before, it was nothing to what he was doing now. Getting to their feet very cautiously, so that Hagrid wouldn't spot them, Harry, Ron, and Hermione peered through the window and saw that Madame Maxime and the Beauxbatons students had just emerged from their carriage, clearly about to set off for the feast too. They couldn't hear what Hagrid was saying, but he was talking to Madame Maxime with a rapt, misty-eyed expression Harry had only ever seen him wear once before – when he had been looking at the baby dragon, Norbert. â€Å"He's going up to the castle with her!† said Hermione indignantly. â€Å"I thought he was waiting for us!† Without so much as a backward glance at his cabin, Hagrid was trudging off up the grounds with Madame Maxime, the Beauxbatons students following in their wake, jogging to keep up with their enormous strides. â€Å"He fancies her!† said Ron incredulously. â€Å"Well, if they end up having children, they'll be setting a world record – bet any baby of theirs would weigh about a ton.† They let themselves out of the cabin and shut the door behind them. It was surprisingly dark outside. Drawing their cloaks more closely around themselves, they set off up the sloping lawns. â€Å"Ooh it's them, look!† Hermione whispered. The Durmstrang party was walking up toward the castle from the lake. Viktor Krum was walking side by side with Karkaroff, and the other Durmstrang students were straggling along behind them. Ron watched Krum excitedly, but Krum did not look around as he reached the front doors a little ahead of Hermione, Ron, and Harry and proceeded through them. When they entered the candlelit Great Hall it was almost full. The Goblet of Fire had been moved; it was now standing in front of Dumbledore's empty chair at the teachers' table. Fred and George – clean-shaven again – seemed to have taken their disappointment fairly well. â€Å"Hope it's Angelina,† said Fred as Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat down. â€Å"So do I!† said Hermione breathlessly. â€Å"Well, we'll soon know!† The Halloween feast seemed to take much longer than usual. Perhaps because it was their second feast in two days, Harry didn't seem to fancy the extravagantly prepared food as much as he would have normally. Like everyone else in the Hall, judging by the constantly craning necks, the impatient expressions on every face, the fidgeting, and the standing up to see whether Dumbledore had finished eating yet, Harry simply wanted the plates to clear, and to hear who had been selected as champions. At long last, the golden plates returned to their original spotless state; there was a sharp upswing in the level of noise within the Hall, which died away almost instantly as Dumbledore got to his feet. On either side of him, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime looked as tense and expectant as anyone. Ludo Bagman was beaming and winking at various students. Mr. Crouch, however, looked quite uninterested, almost bored. â€Å"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision,† said Dumbledore. â€Å"I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber† – he indicated the door behind the staff table – â€Å"where they will be receiving their first instructions.† He took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished, plunging them into a state of semidarkness. The Goblet of Fire now shone more brightly than anything in the whole Hall, the sparkling bright, bluey-whiteness of the flames almost painful on the eyes. Everyone watched, waiting†¦.A few people kept checking their watches†¦ â€Å"Any second,† Lee Jordan whispered, two seats away from Harry. The flames inside the goblet turned suddenly red again. Sparks began to fly from it. Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it – the whole room gasped. Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length, so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue-white. â€Å"The champion for Durmstrang,† he read, in a strong, clear voice, â€Å"will be Viktor Krum.† â€Å"No surprises there!† yelled Ron as a storm of applause and cheering swept the Hall. Harry saw Viktor Krum rise from the Slytherin table and slouch up toward Dumbledore; he turned right, walked along the staff table, and disappeared through the door into the next chamber. â€Å"Bravo, Viktor!† boomed Karkaroff, so loudly that everyone could hear him, even over all the applause. â€Å"Knew you had it in you!† The clapping and chatting died down. Now everyone's attention was focused again on the goblet, which, seconds later, turned red once more. A second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames. â€Å"The champion for Beauxbatons,† said Dumbledore, â€Å"is Fleur Delacour!† â€Å"It's her, Ron!† Harry shouted as the girl who so resembled a veela got gracefully to her feet, shook back her sheet of silvery blonde hair, and swept up between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. â€Å"Oh look, they're all disappointed,† Hermione said over the noise, nodding toward the remainder of the Beauxbatons party. â€Å"Disappointed† was a bit of an understatement, Harry thought. Two of the girls who had not been selected had dissolved into tears and were sobbing with their heads on their arms. When Fleur Delacour too had vanished into the side chamber, silence fell again, but this time it was a silence so stiff with excitement you could almost taste it. The Hogwarts champion next†¦ And the Goblet of Fire turned red once more; sparks showered out of it; the tongue of flame shot high into the air, and from its tip Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment. â€Å"The Hogwarts champion,† he called, â€Å"is Cedric Diggory!† â€Å"No! † said Ron loudly, but nobody heard him except Harry; the uproar from the next table was too great. Every single Hufflepuff had jumped to his or her feet, screaming and stamping, as Cedric made his way past them, grinning broadly, and headed off toward the chamber behind the teachers' table. Indeed, the applause for Cedric went on so long that it was some time before Dumbledore could make himself heard again. â€Å"Excellent!† Dumbledore called happily as at last the tumult died down. â€Å"Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real -â€Å" But Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking, and it was apparent to everybody what had distracted him. The fire in the goblet had just turned red again. Sparks were flying out of it. A long flame shot suddenly into the air, and borne upon it was another piece of parchment. Automatically, it seemed, Dumbledore reached out a long hand and seized the parchment. He held it out and stared at the name written upon it. There was a long pause, during which Dumbledore stared at the slip in his hands, and everyone in the room stared at Dumbledore. And then Dumbledore cleared his throat and read out – â€Å"Harry Potter.†