Aleatoric Music Of The 20th Century Music Essay

Aleatoric Music Of The 20th Century Music Essay compositional and instrumental methods utilized by John Cage. The biographical background, educational influences and examples of the musical compositions of Cage will also be illustrated. This paper continues by describing the various methods and processes employed by John Cage in the formation of music written during the minimalist movement. Contrived instruments, ambient audience noise, non-traditional tone structures and electronic music will be identified and defined. Furthermore, this paper will explore the debate over aleatoric music as art form versus noise. Traditionally, Western music is highly structured and organized- however, music written in aleatory form generally lacks traditional instrumentation, time, and other methods present in Western forms. According to whom one would ask, aleatoric music can be extremely complex, emotional and intellectual. On the other hand, there are those who believe aleatoric music is nothing more than random noise with no structure, rhyme or reason. Over the course of this paper, the reader will be able to discern that aleatoric music is a definitive musical genre. ii Aleatoric Music of the 20th Century: Compositions of John Cage An Art Form, Not Noise Introduction Aleatoric music refers to musical compositions where some aspect of the music is left to chance. The tempo, instrumentation, dynamics, order of the written music, or various other devices can be manipulated. Simply put, aleatoric music is left up to some amount of chance. However, the amount of chance is not immeasurable. In many cases, the composer only allows a portion of the entire composition to chance while the rest conforms to standard Western-influenced counterpoint. The American composer John Cage was one of the foremost composers who utilized aleatory in musical works. He was also the father of the avant-garde in music during the minimalist movement. THESIS: By studying the devices used in Cages compositions, the argument will be clearly made that aleatoric music, while sometimes free in form and function, is clearly a structured art form and not random noise. ii Aleatoric Music of the 20th Century: Compositions of John Cage An Art Form, Not Noise Outline: Aleatoric Music Explicative definition of aleatoric music Overview of aleatoric devices John Cage Early life and education B. Utilization of aleatoric devices in compositions Thesis support Compare and contrast with opposing viewpoint Acknowledge and dismiss opposing view utilizing evidenciary support Conclusion Summarize main points Reinforce the argument that aleatoric music is not random Markham 1 Selena Markham MUS 2930 Dr. Valerie Austin November 22, 2010 Aleatoric Music of the 20th Century: Compositions of John Cage An Art Form, Not Noise Aleatoric music refers to musical compositions where some aspect of the music is left to chance. The tempo, instrumentation, dynamics, order of the written music, or various other devices can be manipulated. Simply put, aleatoric music is left up to some amount of chance. However, the amount of chance is not immeasurable. In many cases, the composer only allows a portion of the entire composition to chance while the rest conforms to standard Western-influenced counterpoint. The American composer John Cage was one of the foremost composers who utilized aleatory in musical works. He was also the father of the avant-garde in music during the minimalist movement. By studying the devices used in Cages compositions, the argument will be clearly made that aleatoric music, while sometimes free in form and function, is clearly a structured art form and not random noise. One of the most prolific composers of music in aleatory, John Cage, was born September 5, 1912 in Los Angeles, California. He was the only child of Markham 2 parents Lucretia and John Cage, Sr. (two other sons passed away as infants). His father was an inventor and his mother worked on and off as a writer for the Los Angeles Times. The couple met in Greeley, Colorado. John Cage, Sr.s father was a Baptist minister who felt music was of the Devil. His mother, Lucretia (her maiden name was Harvey) was considered rebellious because she read books (a practice her family forbade). The young couple fled the restrictive atmosphere of Colorado for the more welcoming state of California. John Cage, Sr. had an avid interest in undersea vessels and, in fact, invented a device that was used in the English Channel to successfully detect German submarines during World War I. The intellect and innovative spirit of his mother and father would serve young Cage well throughout his lifetime. (Rich 142). As early as age eight, the young Cage began to express an interest for music that was slightly outside of the norm. While taking piano lessons with his aunt, the young boy confessed he enjoyed the music of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg (Rich 145). When Cage graduated in 1928, his grades earned him the record of having the best academics in Los Angeles High Schools history. From high school, Cage spent two years at Pomona College (Struble 287). While at Pomona College, he studied ministry and writing. (Rich 145). Cage then went on hiatus to Europe for two years. While there, he composed many short works, some using mathematical formulas. Unfortunately, Cage did Markham 3 not save these early works- as he traveled, he would go through his belongings and discard any non-essential items in order to lighten his load (Nicholls 175). He returned to the United States in 1931 and in 1933, John Cage began to study piano under Richard Buhlig, who introduced the composer to serialism, an aleatoric musical device. Serialism is music which has been written with a high degree of organization (Brindle 17). Since Buhlig had premiered serialist composer Arnold Schoenbergs composition Three Piano Pieces, Cage hoped Buhlig would introduce him to Schoenberg. Instead, Cages first published piece, Sonata for Clarinet (1933), brought him to the attention of Henry Cowell, a professor teaching the new music at the New Music Society of California in San Francisco. Though Cage was able to informally study with Schoenberg, Cowell was his primary influence (Lipman 22). The Sonata for Clarinet also shows how Cage used serialism to reproduce the same pitches in retrograde in the last movement from the first movement of the same composition in a highly organized fashion. Ironically, when the Sonata for Clarinet premiered, Cage found himself performing it on piano because the clarinetist was unable to do so (Nicholls 176). Over the course of the next two years (1933-34), John Cage invented a new technique called 25-pitch non-repetitive serialism. In this technique, each voice is limited to a twenty-five note pitch area and no pitch can be repeated Markham 4 until all twenty-five have been played. He also used this technique in three additional pieces he wrote during this period: the Sonata for Two Voices (Nov. 1933), Composition for Three Voices (1934) and Soloà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and Six Short Inventions (1933-34). The use of this technique was generally not harmonically sound with the exception of a few phrases (Nicholls 177). John Cage composed two pieces in 1935 (Three Pieces for Flute Duet and Two Pieces for Piano) that also used the serialism technique. The harmony was paired with a highly chromatic melodic line that made the pieces overwhelmingly contrapuntal. However, these pieces tended to possess a higher percentage of harmonically pleasing subject matter (Nicholls 184). These works also coincided with his introduction to Merce Cunningham, an author, choreographer and Cages lifelong love interest. As a result, Cage began to be interested in how music correlated with dance. John Cage and Merce Cunningham collaborated to organize performances using Cages music and Cunninghams choreography over the course of their lifetimes (Thomson 77). Another interesting device John Cage used in his composition was ambient noise. In his piece 4 33 (1952), a piano or any ensemble is to conduct themselves as if they were preparing to play. However, the instrument(s) or performer(s) never utter a singular sound- for the entire four minutes and Markham 5 thirty-three seconds. The idea is to attune ones self with the ambient noise of the room, the noise entering the room from outside and the natural noises of the people within (Lipman 30). The piece has also been said to be an example of freedom in general (Brindle 122). This work had its premiere by pianist David Tudor in Woodstock, New York, on August 29, 1952, in the Maverick Concert Hall (located near where the 1969 Woodstock Festival was held). Cage (interviewed in the late 1980s by William Duckworth) stated that he listened to the piece every day and that in Indian culture, it is we that turn away from the music. However, the music is always there (Bonds 588-589). An original device employed by John Cage was an invention all his own- the prepared piano. A prepared piano is a grand piano where the inside strings are manipulated by foreign objects to produce a twelve-tone scale. Such was the case with Cages composition Bacchanale (1940)- a percussive piece he was commissioned to write to be performed with a dance group. The work was originally intended for percussion instruments, but was relegated to the prepared piano when it was deemed the concert hall was too small for all of the required instrumentation. Cage required that bolts and weatherstripping be attached to the strings connected to the 12 different notes (Bonds 590). John Cages influence in the realm of electronic music began as early as 1937. His composition Imaginary Landscape No. 1 (1939) was one of the first Markham 6 written in the electronic genre. It consisted of recording oscillatory frequencies on two 78rpm gramophone records (Brindle 99). He also wrote a piece comprised of fifty-one tapes (each twenty minutes long) produced on the computer system of Illinois University (Illiac) that could be played in any order along with seven live harpsichords and a light show of sorts. This piece was written in 1967 and titled HPSCHD (Brindle 125). John Cage began to write pieces titled by the number of performers later in his life. For example, the work titled One (1987) was for one pianist. Another work, titled Five (1988) was for string quintet. These pieces are dubbed number pieces (Moser 31). Even these odd little pieces have a structure- the structure being the amount of time the performer has to perform each measure and the number of musicians required for performance. As illustrated with the devices John Cage used in his compositions, his works are very structured and organized. Cage was one of the total serialists, who felt that music composition could be planned and analyzed with the precision of scientific experiments (Lipman 56). In his own words during a lecture in Darmstadt in 1958: The function of the performerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ is comparable to that of someone filling in color where outlines are given; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ is that of giving form, providing, that is to say, the morphology of the continuity, the Markham 7 expressive content; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ is that of a photographer who on obtaining a camera uses it to take a picture; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ is comparable to that of a traveler who must constantly be catching trains the departures of which have not been announced but which are in the process of being announced (Moser 8). It is clear by reading these words that Cage finds his music to have form, which is a staple of Western music. In addition, his music is generally left up to the interpretation of the performer- definitively not an aspect of Western music. Even still, form is readily detectable within his works regardless of how the stated form is interpreted by the performers. Another argument concerning music in aleatory is that there are no determinate ways to discern the number of possible arrangements. This simply is not true: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the exact number of realizations of an indeterminate score can often be determinedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Moser 11). In conclusion, John Cage lived during an exciting time in American history. Just after his birth in 1912, the United States found itself fully engaged in World War I. The United States truly became a world power during this time. The enlightenment through his well-rounded and educated parents as well as the Markham 8 excitement and innovations of the new century served John Cage well, as he was able to thrive and grow as an intellectual and musician in this environment. Although his music is sounds extremely dissonant and non-harmonic, it exhibits a high amount of structure. Cages earlier works illustrate a mathematical approach to the music- meaning that the music makes sense based on mathematical principles, but not necessarily traditional ideals surrounding musical composition. The influence of John Cages music can certainly be felt today in late 20th century jazz and numerous other works that allow the performers greater freedoms. Take, for instance, the piece recently performed on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Dr. Joanna Hersey premiered a work for her Low Brass Ensemble at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke titled Sails, Whales and Whalers (2008) by Gary Buttery. This work included recorded whale song interspersed with the live music produced by the L ow Brass Ensemble (Hersey Krosschell). Perhaps Gary Butterys composition was influenced in some way by the works of John Cage. There is no doubt that many musicians past, present, and future have been and will continue to be influenced by Cages maverick attitude toward music. Markham 9

Essay --

Nehal Banik 12-12-13 Period 4 Room 121 The Noble Gettysburg Address The Gettysburg Address simply conveys the ideas that expands his wisdom of politics and Civil War, and civilizes those who wish to respect the dead that passed away fighting for their country. Abraham Lincoln, a great spokesman, and wise critic, throughout his speech uses many techniques that grasp his audience’s attention and pull them into the scenario at hand. His speech contains miscellaneous information from throughout human history that respects the great men that have fought for this country, and pertains to circumstances that would have been helpful in convincing his audience. The Gettysburg Address uses parallel structure that determines the tone of relaying a message of lost soldiers that fought for their part in the country. He is trying to establish a purpose where the Union needs to succeed and cannot perish before the country is whole again. The Gettysburg Address was written in a form that was meant to show his audience what had happened at Gettysburg; one of t he bloodiest and goring battles of the war; and was meant to convey his idea of our nation, and address the people about the peace and sacrifices that have been made so that the war would come to end and the that the nations success would not go down in vain. The purpose of his speech was to rally the people and spread his idea to the nation; to represent that the ideas that encircled the documents written by the founding fathers, and not let their imposing deaths go in vain. In the text, Lincoln begins to state, â€Å"That government of the people, by the people, shall not perish from the earth.† Lincoln translates the morals once taught by the founding fathers; government and democracy will... ... parallel structure not only are represented without restraint, but they were conveyed in respected manners of the viewer’s bias and were therefore abiding. The purpose and main ideas of the Gettysburg Address was to honor the brave soldiers that fought in the blood battles, and complete their task that was not finished. He begins to stress the importance of liberty and freedom. He wants the nation to be whole again and united so that they can improve it for the future generations. He tries to convey a message to everyone that they all have a part in the war and when they realize their job they can finally begin to move forward. The Gettysburg Address tells the people of America that even if many are lost, that their specific mission is not finished and there is still much to do before freedom can be portrayed by the people that live henceforth on this continent. Essay -- Nehal Banik 12-12-13 Period 4 Room 121 The Noble Gettysburg Address The Gettysburg Address simply conveys the ideas that expands his wisdom of politics and Civil War, and civilizes those who wish to respect the dead that passed away fighting for their country. Abraham Lincoln, a great spokesman, and wise critic, throughout his speech uses many techniques that grasp his audience’s attention and pull them into the scenario at hand. His speech contains miscellaneous information from throughout human history that respects the great men that have fought for this country, and pertains to circumstances that would have been helpful in convincing his audience. The Gettysburg Address uses parallel structure that determines the tone of relaying a message of lost soldiers that fought for their part in the country. He is trying to establish a purpose where the Union needs to succeed and cannot perish before the country is whole again. The Gettysburg Address was written in a form that was meant to show his audience what had happened at Gettysburg; one of t he bloodiest and goring battles of the war; and was meant to convey his idea of our nation, and address the people about the peace and sacrifices that have been made so that the war would come to end and the that the nations success would not go down in vain. The purpose of his speech was to rally the people and spread his idea to the nation; to represent that the ideas that encircled the documents written by the founding fathers, and not let their imposing deaths go in vain. In the text, Lincoln begins to state, â€Å"That government of the people, by the people, shall not perish from the earth.† Lincoln translates the morals once taught by the founding fathers; government and democracy will... ... parallel structure not only are represented without restraint, but they were conveyed in respected manners of the viewer’s bias and were therefore abiding. The purpose and main ideas of the Gettysburg Address was to honor the brave soldiers that fought in the blood battles, and complete their task that was not finished. He begins to stress the importance of liberty and freedom. He wants the nation to be whole again and united so that they can improve it for the future generations. He tries to convey a message to everyone that they all have a part in the war and when they realize their job they can finally begin to move forward. The Gettysburg Address tells the people of America that even if many are lost, that their specific mission is not finished and there is still much to do before freedom can be portrayed by the people that live henceforth on this continent.

Developing and Maintaining Safe Schools Essay -- Safety Education Essa

Developing and Maintaining Safe Schools There is no greater challenge that exists today than creating safe schools. It is difficult for children to learn in an environment that is unsafe and when they feel at risk. It is hard to keep staff on task when they fear for their own safety. One out of twelve students who stay away from school do so because of fear. In an ideal world, you would like to prevent all school crime and ensure the safety of students and each staff member. There are so many things outside the control of the school administrator that such a task is almost impossible. To predict the potentially disruptive behavior of students, a staff member, or the intruder who comes to your campus is unrealistic, but being armed with the knowledge that this could happen to you could can lead to do several things to prepare for a crisis, avoid a crisis, and preclude successive crises. Restoring our schools to tranquil and safe places of learning requires a great commitment. It involves placing school safety at the top of the educational agenda. Without safe schools, teachers cannot teach and students cannot learn. School administrators have a host of opportunities and strategies that can be implemented to make a difference. The difficulty often is in effectively analyzing the problem, and then deciding what can be done about it. A safe school is in place when students can learn and teachers can teach in a warm and welcoming environment free of intimidation and fear. It is a setting where the educational climate fosters a spirit of acceptance and care for every child; where behavior expectations are clearly communicated, consistently enforced and fairly applied. A safe school is a function of community will, priorities and i nterests. It requires partnerships and cooperation. The components and people involved are limited only by the imagination, creativity, energy, and commitment of the local community. Very important people include students, educators, parents, law enforcers, judges, probation directors, mental health leaders, and... ...allenge of setting a safe school environment plan. In today's society, safety is a very important issue. Once upon becoming an administrator, this would be one of the main issues on my list. I would work to have a safe school environment plan in effect. I would follow the outlined guide as closely as possible in order to implement a safe school environment plan in my school and district. Bibliography: Dwyer, K.; Osher, D.; and Warger, C. Early Warning, Timely Response: A guide to safe schools. www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/OSEP/earlywrn.html Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Education Flannery, Daniel J. Improving School Violence Prevention Programs Through Meaningful Evaluation. New York, New York: ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education, 1993. Houston, Paul. Schools: Islands of Safety in a Sea of Violence. www.aasa.org/Latest/Outlook/outlook10-7-98.htm AASA Leadership for Learning Stephens, Ronald D. The Art of Safe School Planning. Bloomington, Indiana: The School Administrator, 1996. Stephens, Ronald D. Conducting a Self-Assessment of School Safety. Bloomington, Indiana: The School Administrator, 1996.

Edward Snowden Essay

On June 6, 2013 The Guardian newspaper printed a story alleging that the National Security Agency (NSA) was collecting telephone records of millions of Verizon customers in a top secret government sanctioned program. This would be just the first glimpse at the many disturbing actions revealed by a man named Edward Snowden, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee and NSA contractor who used his computer prowess and security clearance to collect information about how the United States government has been monitoring its own citizens. Mr. Snowden’s actions have prompted the government to file criminal charges against him including theft of government property and espionage. This situation raises serious questions about the legality and ethicality of government surveillance programs as well as security of personal information. There has always been a debate over the trade-off between privacy and security, and this is a perfect example of that discussion. This is an issue that affects anyone who utilizes the technological advancements of today, regardless of the criminality (or lack thereof) of their actions. To better understand this issue we must first take a look at the laws that govern surveillance and the laws that protects our individual freedom from unwarranted surveillance. Two of the most important documents that focus on these issues are the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, which protects Americans against unwarranted surveillance, and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which was instituted in 1986 as an update to the law governing government wiretapping programs. Since the issue at hand regards government surveillance in general and the Fourth Amendment was written to protect Americans from this act, it is worth quoting in full: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to  be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. According to Jackson Lears (2013), the Board of Governors Professor of History at Rutgers University and Editor in Chief of the Raritan Quarterly Review, this Amendment was â€Å"written by men who had rejected imperial power and were determined to prevent its reassertion in their new nation†¦Nothing could more flagrantly violate those requirements than the NSA dragnet† (p. 4). Although our Constitution was written almost 230 years ago, and the men who wrote this document could not have possibly foreseen the technological advancements that would be made in that time (i.e. the telephone, nuclear weapons or the Internet), they were witness to the abuse of government power and tried to institute broad principles to mitigate the possibility of their new government becoming corrupt in that way. The problem our country faces, however, is that in order to regulate this type of behavior it must first be known, which until Edward Snowden appeared had only been considered speculative, and then addressed (Richards, 2013, p. 1934). The government has made attempts, however feeble, at implementing additional laws to prevent this type of abuse of power in the past, but has not kept up with the times when it comes to updating these safeguards. The Supreme Court ruled in 1928 that warrantless wiretapping was not illegal, but that ruling was overturned in 1967 and it was not until 1968 that Congress passed legislation governing wiretapping. In the same fashion, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act was passed in 1986 as an amendment to the Wiretap Act, but has not been updated in the nearly 30 years since it was enacted (Freiwald & Mà ©tille, 2013, p. 1291). The only two times Congress has clarified what may or not be done in conjunction with the Electronic Communications Privacy Act was in 1994 with the passing of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act and the Patriot Act (passed in 2001 only 6 weeks after the attacks on September 11), which both â€Å"further eased the restrictions on law enforcement surveillance† (Freiwald & Mà ©tille, 2013, p. 1292) and â€Å"ensured[d] that providers of telecommunications services maintained the accessibility of their systems to wiretapping (Freiwald & Mà ©tille, 2013, p. 1293). Friewald and Mà ©tille (2013) also explain that â€Å"surveillance that proceeds outside the bounds of the ECPA (and related statutes), either by virtue of not being historically covered, or by  virtue of being too new to be included, can proceed without any judicial review, so long as a court has not yet held that the Fourth Amendment requires regulation (p. 1295-1296). The question we must ask is whether or not this type of surveillance is necessarily dangerous or if it is necessary to protect our country and national security. According to Neil Richards (2013), â€Å"First, surveillance is harmful because it can chill the exercise of our civil liberties†¦Second, we must recognize that secret surveillance is illegitimate and prohibit the creation of any domestic-surveillance programs whose existence is secret†¦Third, we should recognize that total surveillance is illegitimate and reject the idea that it is acceptable for the government to record all Internet activity without authorization† (p. 1935-1936). The first idea that Richards raises deal with our civil liberties such as freedom of speech. When people are constantly under the fear of government surveillance, they may be less likely to speak their mind when they disagree with public policy because they may fear retaliation or retribution for their dissent. The second point of secret surveillance deals with the idea of accountability for those who are performing the surveillance. If a blank check is written by Congress for surveillance with no oversight as to what surveillance is being performed, then there can be no guarantee that the people performing the surveillance are not violating our personal privacy. If the government wants it’s people to trust them, then they should be comfortable with the idea of â€Å"trust but verify†. Finally, the idea of total surveillance is the most concrete example of the violation of the Fourth Amendment which requires probably cause as a basis for any intrusive action by the government. I am not against the idea of surveillance, especially in the dangerous world we live in, but at the same time we must find a balance and understand our limits. In order to preserve our individual freedoms we must be willing to accept a certain level of insecurity and a certain level of personal responsibility. The level of personal responsibility we must accept is to be willing, and able, to defend ourselves without relying on the government to do it for us all the time. One example of this is the attacks of  September 11, 2001 where 4 planes were hijacked and used as weapons. Out of these 4 planes, only the passengers of one, United flight 93, were willing to stand up for themselves against the hijackers. If the hijackers knew that the passengers on each and every plane would have acted with the bravery and heroism of those on the United flight, I doubt they would have hijacked any of them. As far as accepting a certain level of insecurity goes, that is just a part of life; there is no way we can prevent every horrible thing from happening. I understand the human desire to prevent bad things from happening, but what cost are we willing to pay for it? If we want to prevent car accidents that occur from deer running into the road, does that mean we should kill all the deer? In the words of Benjamin Franklin, one of our Founding Fathers and signatories of our Constitution, â€Å"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.† References Lears, J. (2013). EDITOR’S NOTE. Raritan, 33(1), 1-6. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Richards, N. M. (2013). THE DANGERS OF SURVEILLANCE. Harvard Law Review, 126(7), 1934-1965. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Freiwald, S., & Mà ©tille, S. (2013). REFORMING SURVEILLANCE LAW: THE SWISS MODEL. Berkeley Technology Law Journal, 28(2), 1261-1332. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

What are the impacts of tourism in a selected region of the UK?

Tourism is the industry that looks after the needs and welfare of tourists and provides the things that help them travel to places where they can relax and enjoy themselves. I am studying both the positive and negative impacts of tourism on the Lake District because the Lake District is being overwhelmed with tourists each year but without the income that tourism generates the Lake District wouldn't survive. The Lake District is one of 15 National Parks across the UK which has 2 main purposes. – To enhance and preserve the natural beauty of the landscape. – To provide a place for recreation and enjoyment. A third aim is; – To protect the social and economic well being of people who live and/or work in the National Park. The positive impacts of tourism are associated with the economy and employment. Tourism can also start off a cycle known as the positive multiplier effect; the tourism industry locates in an area which provides jobs for locals. This gives workers more money to spend and so more local shops open and more jobs are created and so on and so on. But as well as positive impacts, there are also many negative impacts of tourism. The first is footpath erosion. This occurs when people (tourists in this case) are walking along a footpath, as they do they wear away the vegetation which loosens the soil and exposes the soil to the elements. Then when it rains the footpath becomes muddy and so people veer to the edges of the footpath to avoid the mud. The vegetation next to the path then becomes eroded until the footpath ends up like the picture above This is of course an extreme case but this footpath erosion literally ends up leaving a scar on the landscape. Since 1999 the National Trust has been trying to stop this happening by setting up a 10 year plan to repair and maintain the paths. This will cost an estimated à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½5.1 million of which à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1.46 million has been donated by the Lottery Heritage Fund. This money will be spent on a number of different sustainable strategies like stone pitching. This is when local stone is buried into the ground to make footholds. Alternatively steps have been put on steep hillsides made from local stone so that they fit in with the rest of the natural landscape. The second negative impact of tourism is litter. When tourists visit the Lake District, some drop litter on the floor. People come to the Lake District to see the natural beauty of the countryside but are put off coming back because of the litter on the floor therefore the Lake District loses further income. Animals and their habitats are damaged because of pollution. Bins have been placed in many different areas of the Lake District, especially the honeypot sites to discourage this. Daily warden patrols have been set up to try to clean up any mess created. Conflict on Lake Windermere is another controversial issue in the Lake District. Since 1976 people have been worried about the disturbance of the peace on Lake Windermere by power boats etc. Surveys have revealed that on an average day there are 812 crafts on the water, of which 368 are speed boats. The reason for the conflict is that other lake users such as fishermen and canoeists want peaceful, safe conditions to undertake their leisure activities. Another concern is that the wake from speed boats is causing erosion along the banks of the lake. On the 29th March 2005 a 10 mph speed limit was introduced on the lake. This however did not benefit everyone because power boat enthusiasts had to find alternative locations to use and some local businesses (e.g. Jet Ski rental companies etc) had to modify their companies so they didn't lose custom. I personally believe that we need to manage tourism in a sustainable way if we are to preserve the Lake District's natural beauty for future generations. Strategies like the footpath maintenance may be extremely costly but in the future will benefit the Lake District's economy and the people who live in and visit it.

The Role of Technology in the Development of the United States in the 20th Century

In the past hundred years, it is no question that the advancement and development of the United States has grown exponentially. A great deal of this advancement has been due to the growth in technology that makes life easier, more efficient, and healthier. All of these things combined together, gowing in the 20th century, has made the United States one of the largest world powers and one of the most desirable places to live. There are some things, on the other hand, that technology has affected that really hinders not only the United States, but the planet as a whole.Most of these problems are environmental, which can be detrimental to the planet in the long run, despite the current outcomes. Practices including deforestation and over-fishing contribute to this. However, this technology, when compared to the good and the bad, has definitely left behind a positive mark behind it because of the obvious evidence that technology, such as automobiles, computers, and space exploration, hav e greatly impacted the present day America we are living in today. Today, in the 21st century of America, we are a thriving country, rich with technology.We live in a society where an automobile is almost a necessary factor through daily life because without a car or public transportation, most individuals would not be able to actually get to their job. The creation of the automobile has impacted the place we live so much because the citizens of the United States can work in jobs in a much larger radius from their home, which turns out to be very efficient for both the companies employing these people as well as the employee himself because he has more option for places to work, all because of the automobile.We also live in a society where computers are abundant, so much so that in almost all workplaces there are elements of computers and internet. Also, without these computers and information systems, there would be no online courses or universities for students to take. Online cou rses have had a very positive impact on our country because students can get an education with the ease and the comfort of their own home, all while maintaining a very low price. This makes enrolling in a university more attractive to someone on the fenceof going to university, so in the big picture we have more Americans learning at some kind of institution making our nation smarter and more advanced than it has ever been. This is all due to the growth in the automobile industry and the computer and information systems industry growing in the 20th century. Without these industries growth, our lives today would be very different. Some industries growths, however, will lead a very different outcome in the long run. Paper companies are using methods to chop down trees at a very large rate, in favor only of the paper industry.This is greatly hurting the planet because of the mass deforestation the paper companies are creating. These trees and forests are a necessity for daily life on e arth and without the forests, our future as humans on this earth will be a lot less thriving than the position we are in today. Another example is over-fishing in all bodies of water. Fish are a renewable resource , however, they need to time to reproduce and grow. Fisheries are capturing these sea creatures at such a rate that the fish are not able to fully recover from the over-fishing these companies have done.These two problems are very similar to each other and provides a common theme with the negatives of our new technological growth. The 20th century led our nation to this problem because we have just gotten carried away when it comes to the use of natural, renewable resources. We just have to remember that moderation is key, because with moderation, the trees will be able to grow back and recover from the deforestation and the fish will be able to reproduce at a greater rate. In closing, the pros of the technological growth of the 20th century greatly outweigh the cons.The c ons are a much easier problem to fix because the nations companies that deal with renewable resources just have to take these resources in moderation, otherwise these necessities for life will not be around for much longer. New technology, like the automobile and computers, instead of diminishing our country, have brought light and a new hope to our country, as well as the world because these industries are growing at an enormous rate because almost everyone in America as both a computer and a car.One of the biggest things that we have to look forward as a country is space travel which began in the 20th century when America put a man in orbit and the first man on the moon. The technology that got America to the moon has greatly affected the space technology we have today. It has influenced the 21st century buzz of putting a man on mars as well as warp drives. These are both very exciting things America has to look forward to and we can do that all thanks to the 20th century technolo gy.

Recruitment and Selection (Human Resources Managment) Essay

Recruitment and Selection (Human Resources Managment) - Essay Example In today’s rapidly changing world and with the strategic focus, selection also needs to be strategic. Strategic selection demands a range of activities in the general stream of looking for candidates to fit in the jobs. It involves not only the job at hand but potential range of matches for the person in future jobs. Additionally, the enhancing reach of globalization demands much more flexibility and certain interpersonal and personal skills for a candidate to undertake the ever changing and challenging environment i.e. effective selection by the HR selectors. However, the basic match of candidates to the job description is of significant value because otherwise, achievement of organizational goals and attaining appropriate return on investment (on human capital) is not possible. In true terms, no training or motivation or praise can make individuals work beyond their capacity. Current scenario For Toyota R & S policy The globalization of business has shift from trade and busi ness to strategic alliances, integration of businesses etc. This change has significantly affected the HR practices. One of the major challenges, which global organizations are facing today, is attracting global talent. Toyota, one of the largest shareholders of the global automobile market, is no exception when it comes to facing HR problems, particularly in the US, and in other countries as well where their business has grown. Over the years, the observation has been a general and massive shift of jobs from manufacturing and agriculture to service industry and telecommunication. US economy is moreover a services based economy with 80% of the jobs belonging to the services industry. The trend is expected to continue, resulting in increased demand for services industry jobs and reduced inclination towards agricultural or manufacturing units. Toyota being a manufacturing firm hence suffered from this trend. It meant for Toyota lesser pool of candidates available for recruitment and s election. Changing demographics, shortage of highly skilled and qualified specialist and legislative problems are some of the problems Toyota’s HR has to face globally. (Robert L Malthis, 2008) In order to handle this issue, Toyota should make use of various internal and external recruitment models. The forthcoming sections of this report discuss the various aspects of recruitment and selection model used by Toyota. Nature and composition of workforce Toyota believes in low cost and high performance, which is why the business has developed a proper recruitment and selection process that reflects Toyota’s philosophy. Toyota’s main objective is cost reduction and lean management but they believe in valuing their human capital. Same methodology is followed in recruitment and selection. There are a number of temporary and permanent employees in the organziation. Toyota also makes use of off shoring and outsourcing in countries where there is shortage of skilled labo r such as USA and other North American countries. Sound procedures in