Pablo Picassos Gruernica Essay examples - 914 Words

In 1937, Pablo Picasso depicts an epic event in history in his Guernica using visual symbolism, line, space, light and color which advocates to the observer the truth behind the subject matter of the artwork itself. The line used leads to specific images to tell the story; the space throughout the work is filled with many jagged and sharp shapes with an odd use of positive and negative space. The light and color illuminate the actual scene. Knowing and understanding how the artist uses these three fundamental tools will guide us to the meaning and logic of the artwork. Pablo Picassos use of line gives a sense of direction almost as key to unlock the meaning of the artwork. In our culture we read from left to write. The artist†¦show more content†¦Now combined with the images of the candle, the light fixture and the horse we gather that, by definition, the horse is the most economically important domesticated animal and was diminished due to mechanization. The candle next to the light shows us a change in technology, advocating the death of the horse with a spear in the side, as the destruction of Spains cultural origins. Finally we see the horse leading us back to the bull where between both heads we see the spirit flying away alerting us that soul and spirit is being ripped away, that death is coming no matter if it is in a bull fight or a battle, everything that lives will die. Picassos use of space in this masterpiece leads to similar conclusions to pain, suffering and the eventual death of an ancient city or any living thing. This piece is extremely vivid and the use of space used is probably breaking all the rules of art, but if we think about what we are actually seeing we are not really looking at just art, we are looking at inhumane events in the world and it almost holds an obligation to exploit the boundaries of art to get the desired effect which the artist has done intentionally. Most art works contains non busy and busy areas which are proportional to one another but in life we know that the main focus in the real world is all the chaos and that there is no balance just that tunnel vision effect of the awe stricken horror. Even in the use of light and color Picasso conveys the

A brief description of the arts Free Essays

â€Å"What is art?† Different people can come up with different answers to this question, and they can all be correct. This reflects the dilemma that has hounded the concept of art from the first time man attempted to define it. As society evolves art does, too; as such, to attempt to place boundaries around art is as futile an exercise as to define the former, since both share the characteristic of perpetual change. We will write a custom essay sample on A brief description of the arts or any similar topic only for you Order Now With this fact in mind, I have decided to limit the references used in this paper to sources that are not only up-to-date but likewise education-related.   Solely for the purposes of coherence and clarity, I have chosen to adopt the standards set by the revised North Carolina Arts Education Standard Course of Study (http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/curriculum/artsed/scos/artsed.pdf) and the Arts Education Mandate of the Washington OSPI [Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction] which provided a chart of the elements and principles of organization of the subjects to be discussed. It is my belief that an exposition of the subjects of painting, dance, theater, and music done along the lines of education is more relevant than any discussion done in another perspective. I will begin my discussion with the subject of painting. Painting is a branch of the visual arts – this alone sets it apart from the other three subjects, which are all branches of the performing arts. The Encarta encyclopedic entry (2005 edition) for painting defines it as an art wherein â€Å"color, derived from any of numerous organic or synthetic substances, is applied to various surfaces to create a representational or abstract picture or design†. There are quite a number of techniques in painting that correspond to the medium used by the artist, the most popular of which are as follows: oil, fresco, tempera, enamel, encaustic, gouache, grisaille, watercolor, and acrylic. There is another way of classifying painting styles, and that is through the subject (what is depicted) of the work. Mural paintings, still life paintings, icon paintings, and miniature paintings are some of the categories under which a work may be classified. In this discussion it is important to cover drawing – another branch or form of visual art – briefly, since painting employs the basic principles in drawing. To quote the entry for â€Å"drawing† in the Encarta encyclopedia: â€Å"In drawing from any object or model, the first step is to observe and sketch in the dominant structural lines, contours, and masses. The more important details are added and corrected, and the minor details are left to the last.† This approach is likewise often used by painters. As for the elements in painting, I have taken the liberty of taking on the elements prescribed by the Arts Education Mandate of the Washington OSPI, which are as follows: (1) color, (2) form, (3) line, (4) shape, (5) space, (6) texture, and (7) value/shading. These elements – with the exception of space – are unique to the art of painting as far as the other subjects of this paper are concerned because simplistically speaking, the said elements are applicable only to the visual, and not the performing arts. Music concerns the arrangement of sounds artistically over a period of time. As in painting, the field of techniques (or means of expression) for this particular art form is vast. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the world is divided into musical cultures, with each culture carrying a distinct sound and a distinct method of producing music. Aside from that, with the steady progress of technology came the intermarriage of cultures, which in turn paved the way for an expansion in the methods by which a person can express himself musically. I found more than twenty types of musical compositions, but for the sake of brevity let me just mention a few: aria, ballad, chant, hymn, sonata, symphony, and the tone poem.   Although there is an overwhelming number of techniques of execution in music, all these share the same elements: (1) beat / rhythm, (2) expression [dynamics, style, tempo, phrasing], (3) form, (4) harmony, (5) melody, (6) notation, (7) pitch, (8) texture, (9) timbre / tone color. How to cite A brief description of the arts, Papers

Learning Curve free essay sample

Learning curve in psychology and economics The first person to describe the learning curve was Hermann Ebbinghaus in 1885. He found that the time required to memorize a nonsense word increased sharply as the number of syllables increased. [l] Psychologist, Arthur Bills gave a more detailed description of learning curves in 1934. He also discussed the properties of different types of learning curves, such as negative acceleration, positive acceleration, plateaus, and ogive curves. 2] In 1936, Theodore Paul Wright described the effect of learning on labor productivity in the aircraft industry and proposed a mathematical odel of the learning curve. [3] The economic learning of productivity and efficiency generally follows the same kinds of experience curves and have interesting secondary effects. Efficiency and productivity improvement can be considered as whole organization or industry or economy learning processes, as well as for individuals. The general pattern is of first speeding up and then slowing down, as the practically achievable level of methodology improvement is reached. We will write a custom essay sample on Learning Curve or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The effect of reducing local effort and resource use by learning improved methods paradoxically ften has the opposite latent effect on the next larger scale system, by facilitating its expansion, or economic growth, as discussed in the Jevons paradox in the 1880s and updated in the Khazzoom-Brookes Postulate in the 1980s. edit] Broader interpretations of the learning curve Initially introduced in educational and behavioral psychology, the term has acquired a broader interpretation over time, and expressions such as experience curve, improvement curve, cost improvement curve, progress curve, progress function, startup curve, and efficiency curve are often used interchangeably. In economics the subject is rates of development, as development refers to a whole system learning process with varying rates of progression. Generally speaking all learning displays incremental change over time, but describes an S curve which has different appearances depending on the time scale of observation. It has now also become associated with the evolutionary theory of punctuated equilibrium and other kinds of revolutionary change in complex systems generally, relating to innovation, organizational behavior and the management of group learning, among other fields. 4] These processes of rapidly emerging new form appear to take place by complex learning within the systems themselves, which when observable, display curves of changing rates that accelerate and decelerate. edit] Common terms The familiar expression steep learning curve may refer to either of two aspects of a pattern in which the marginal rate of required resource investment is initially low, perhaps even decreasing at the very first stages, but eventually increases without bound. Early uses of the metaphor focused on the patterns positive aspect, namely the potential for quick progress in learning (as measured by, e. . , memory accuracy or the number of trials required to obtain a desired result)[5] at the introductory or elementary stage. 6] Over time, however, the metaphor has become more commonly used to focus on the patterns negative aspect, namely the difficulty of learning once one gets beyond the basics of a subject. In the former case, the steep[ness] characterizing the overall amount learned versus total resources invested (or versus time when resource investment per unit time is held constant)†in mathematical terms, the initially high positive absolute value of the first derivative of that function. In the latter case, the metaphor is inspired by the patterns eventual behavior, i. e. , its behavior at high values of overall resources invested (or of overall time invested when resource investment per unit time is held constant), namely the high rate of increase in the resource investment required if the next item is to be learned†in other words, the eventually always-high, always-positive absolute value and the eventually never-decreasing status of the first derivative of that function. In turn, those properties of the latter function dictate that the function measuring the rate of earning per resource unit invested (or per unit time when resource investment per unit time is held constant) has a horizontal asymptote at zero, and thus that the overall amount learned, while never plateauing or decreasing, increases more and more slowly as more and more resources are invested. This difference in emphasis has led to confusion and disagreements even among learned people. 7] The most effective solution to problems arising from a steep learning curve is to find a different method of learning that features a differently shaped (or at least less steep) curve. Such a discovery, often characterized as an aha! moment or breakthrough, often results from a seemingly radical intuitive change in direction. [citation needed] [edit] Learning curve models The page on learning experience curve models offers more discussion of the mathematical theory of representing them as determinis tic processes, and provides a good group of empirical examples of how that technique has been applied. edit] General learning limits Learning curves, also called experience curves, relate to the much broader subject of natural limits for resources and technologies in general. Such limits generally present themselves as increasing complications that slow the learning of how to do things more efficiently, like the well-known limits of perfecting any process or product or to perfecting measurements. [8] These practical experiences match the predictions of the Second law of thermodynamics for the limits of waste reduction generally. Approaching limits of perfecting things to eliminate waste meets geometrically increasing effort to make progress, and provides an environmental measure of all factors seen and unseen changing the learning experience. Perfecting things becomes ever more difficult despite increasing effort despite continuing positive, if ever diminishing, results. The same kind of slowing progress due to complications in learning also appears in the limits of useful technologies and of profitable markets applying to Product life cycle management and software development cycles). Remaining market segments or remaining potential efficiencies or efficiencies are found in successively less convenient forms. Efficiency and development curves typically follow a two-phase process of first bigger steps corresponding to finding hings easier, followed by smaller steps of finding things more difficult. It reflects bursts of learning following breakthroughs that make learning easier followed by meeting constraints that make learning ever harder, perhaps toward a point of cessation. Ђ Natural Limits One of the key studies in the area concerns diminishing system limits for resource development or other efforts. The most studied of these may be Energy Return on Energy Invested or EROEI, discussed at length in an Encyclopedia of the Earth article and in an OilDrum article and series also referred to s Hubert curves. The energy needed to produce energy is a measure of our difficulty in learning how to make remaining energy resources useful in relation to the effort expen ded. Energy returns on energy invested have been in continual decline for some time, caused by natural resource limits and increasing investment. Energy is both natures and our own principal resource for making things happen. The point of dimininishing returns is when increasing investment makes the resource more expensive. As natural limits are approached, easily used sources are exhausted and nes with more complications need to be used instead. As an environmental signal persistently dimishing EROI indicates an approach of whole system limits in our ability to make things happen. Ђ Useful Natural Limits EROEI measures the return on invested effort as a ratio of RII or learning progress. The inverse IIR measures learning difficulty. The simple difference is that if R approaches zero R/ will too, but IIR will approach infinity. When complications emerge to limit learning progress the limit of useful returns, uR, is approached and R-uR approaches zero. The difficulty of seful learning 1/(R-uR) approaches infinity as increasingly difficult tasks make the effort unproductive. That point is approached as a vertical asymptote, at a particular point in time, that can be delayed only by unsustainable effort. It defines a point at which enough investment has been made and the task is done, usually planned to be the same as when the task is complete. For unplanned tasks it may be either foreseen or discovered by surprise. The usefulness measure, uR, is affected by the complexity of environmental responses that can only be measured when they occur unless they are foreseen.

Animal Testing Controversy essays

Animal Testing Controversy essays To Test or Not To Test, That Is the Question: Is Animal Research Beneficial To Medicine? Animal research has always been a debated topic that we may never resolve. It is easy to show incidences in the past, usually dating back at least 50 years, that animal testing has been beneficial, but it is also easily argued that testing on animal has been outdated by more up to date testing methods. In this essay, I plan on describing and dissecting two articles arguing each side of the argument, then I plan on giving my own opinion that I have come to after reading these articles. The first article is called Animal Research Is Wasteful and Misleading by Neal D. Barnard and Stephen R. Kaufman. Just by the title, the reader knows that this article is arguing against animal testing. The main arguments the authors use are: Animal tests are not applicable to medicine, better methods have been found, and lastly, animal testing is used as a rhetorical device. They first describe to the reader that animal tests are not applicable to medicine by pointing out several cases in which animals were tested for different carcinogens and medicines that would have one outcome for the animal, whether it be favorable or unfavorable, and would have a completely different outcome biologically in the humans it was being tested for. Most of these tests came with very dangerous results, human fatalities or even worse medical conditions for the patients, from these faulty results. The reasons for these wrong results could have come from several different causes. One of the causes pointed out in the article is that some of these medicines were being tested on animals that were perfectly healthy and the researchers would have to induce the medical conditions that were shown by their human counterparts. This would mean that the condition wouldnt have the time to slowly debilitate the body that was being affected by this condition. The second ...

13 Books to Read to Advance Your Career

13 Books to Read to Advance Your Career We have millions of resources available to us on the internet, any time of day. It’s obviously a fantastic tool, especially when you’re looking for ways to boost your career. But you know what also works? Good, old-fashioned books. (Okay, I’ll even stretch that to include ebooks.) From classic lit (no War and Peace, I promise) to ultramodern career advice, we’ve got a reading list that might not satisfy your high school English teacher, but just might help you move forward in your career. The Literary ClassicsFirst, let’s look at some of the books you might not think are career books, but provide great insight into human nature and how to cope with life.The Art of War, Sun TzuLove is a battlefield, sure, but so is the workplace. While it may not be the kind of literal warfare that ancient Chinese philosopher and military strategist Sun Tzu likely envisioned for his audience, it has lots of good advice for someone seeking to improve leadership skills , conquer office politics, or just plain survive the ins and outs of the workplace. Besides, a little extra discipline never hurts, professionally.Career takeaway: â€Å"Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.† One-liners like this can give you bite-size management tips that you can apply to any situation, whether the war zone is a literal one or one with a water cooler.Lord of the Flies, William GoldingIf The Art of War is your field guide to turning yourself into an A+ leader, this one is your cautionary tale for surviving office politics. This young adult novel follows a group of students who become stranded, and attempt to create their own new island society. (Spoiler alert: it doesn’t go great.)Career takeaway: Working together with a diverse group of people is an essential skill, especially amid chaos.The Alchemist, Paulo CoelhoIn this novel, an Andalusian shepherd travels to Egypt seeking riches after dreaming of finding wealth there. Whil e this is a literal tribute to chasing your dreams, it also contains many insightful lessons about seizing opportunities, overcoming fear of the unknown, and embracing the actions you can take in the present.Career takeaway: Focus on your journey, and the steps you can take now to achieve your goals.The Career ClassicsWhile you may not find these books on your English syllabus, these books have helped generations of readers grow professionally.Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon HillAny process that has 13 steps has to be successful, right? This 1937 self-help classic by author and lecturer Napoleon Hill offers the aforementioned steps to make more money and achieve personal goals, based on the successes of early 20th century entrepreneurs like Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie.Career Takeaway: Emulating successful people can help you break through in your own personal achievement and financial goals.The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. CoveyOne of the most important things yo u can do, career-wise, is to set yourself up for success by creating and maintaining good habits. This book has been a perennial bestseller since its publication in 1990, and provides a road map to making changes to your mindset and life to allow for success. While it does cover the aforementioned habits of successful people, this is more of a reset on how you see yourself and the world around you.Career Takeaway: Beloved by executives and other highly successful people, this book offers tools to push yourself up to the next level.How to Win Friends Influence People, Dale CarnegieAnother oldie-but-goodie, this is the original book about networking. Dale Carnegie’s insights into making and maintaining connections has become the basis for many generations of business leaders and highly successful schmoozers.Career Takeaway: You can’t go it alone, so it’s essential to work on your people skills alongside your professional skills, and make the right connections.The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success, Nicholas LoreOriginally published in 1998, this book has been a touchstone for recent grads, people looking for career changes, and those who just want to start plotting out a path to their goals. In it, career coach Nicholas Lore lays out how to figure out what you want to do and how to set your course to get to that point. Lore uses diagnostic tools and tests from the career and networking hub the Rockport Institute to guide readers through the first (or next steps) on their career paths. This one has also been revised and updated for the current realities of the job market (technology, economic shifts, etc.).Career Takeaway: Everyone needs a plan for their career, but not everyone knows how to create and execute that plan. Expert advice and self-diagnosis quizzes help you zero in on your strengths and your goals.The Modern ClassicsAnd now we have the more contemporary books, which may ver y well be the career books we pass along to our kids.Outliers: The Secret of Success, Malcolm GladwellLike Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie before him, writer Malcolm Gladwell understands the importance of learning from the best thinkers and achievers. Outliers takes a deep dive into what makes these achievers so successful, and what we regular schmoes can learn from them in order to grab some of that success for ourselves. This book also contains the now-famous conclusion, which you’ve likely heard, that the key to mastering any skill is to put in 10,000 of effort and practice.Career Takeaway: Success is a result of hard work and savvy planning, and we should be open others’ success stories to help determine what works for ourselves.The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success, Megan McArdleNo one likes to fail, but it’s an inevitable part of everyone’s career at some point. The key is managing those failures, embracing the challenges that come with taking chances, and taking the necessary lessons forward into the rest of one’s career. This book takes real-world stories of failure to illustrate how to embrace and move on from setbacks.Career Takeaway: I fail, you fail, we all fail†¦sometimes. Learning to accept these failures gracefully and move on, wiser and stronger, is a major career skill everyone should have.Linchpin, Seth GodinIf you’ve heard of only one career coach in the past ten years, there’s a good chance that name is Seth Godin’s. Godin specializes in personal success and entrepreneurship, and here he focuses on how to make yourself an absolutely necessary part of the team by embracing innovation and positive change.Career Takeaway: An indispensable person is a person with job security.Lean In, Sheryl SandbergWomen have faced innumerable challenges in the workplace, including a shortage of managerial roles. In Lean In, Sandberg draws on her experience as Facebook’s COO to offer advice on how to cultivate leadership skills and achieve work-life balance. But while this book is aimed at professional women specifically, it also has advice that anyone of any gender can take and apply to their own career paths.Career Takeaway: If you’re not achieving your full professional, you’re putting yourself at a major professional disadvantage.Love Your Job: The New Rules for Career Happiness, Kerry Hannonâ€Å"Do what you love† is very common career advice. It’s also very vague- should you pursue passion projects at the expense of a paycheck? Should you learn to love the job you have? What’s the optimal way to find happiness in your career? Hannon walks you through making necessary changes to your habits, routines, and mindset so that you’re getting the most possible fulfillment out of your job.Career Takeaway: Whether you have your dream job or not, you should seek happiness and fulfillment from the job that takes u p so much of your life and mindspace.Moving the Needle: Get Clear, Get Free, and Get Going in Your Career, Business, and Life!, Joe Sweeney and Mike YorkeyIf you feel like you’re stuck in a rut, either in your job or in your industry, Moving the Needle is designed to help you shake up the status quo, and move forward in your career with a refreshed sense of purpose. If you have no idea what said refreshed purpose could be, this book gives you the tools you need to figure that out.Career Takeaway: Don’t let yourself get mired in a blah status quo- embrace ideas like risk and innovation that can help you move your career in a more fulfilling direction.Now more than ever, there are so many voices out there that can help us learn more about our professional selves, and tools to help us achieve our most cherished career goals. Happy reading!

Promoting Team Effectiveness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Promoting Team Effectiveness - Essay Example Individual conflicts tend to be about personality differences in terms of preference, likes and dislikes, background and so on. These differences are natural and can be a double edged sword. If not managed properly the individual differences lead to team conflicts. Team conflict is characterized by constant disagreements, mistrust among team members, and formation of cliques which act against each other and so on. A case of individual conflict is a situation at the workplace whereby two ladies in a team fail to get along because they share affections for a fellow male colleague. In such a case this problem is purely individual. An example of team conflict is whereby members disagree about the sharing of responsibilities and work in the team. In such a case the problems emanate from the issues that are team related Decision making in a team can be difficult because it may be hard to reach a compromise whereby everyone in the team feels satisfied and like a winner. Additionally, selfish interests among team members may inhibit smooth decision making. However, in contrast, a team leader may experience problem of indifference or disinterest among team members in the area of decision making so that the leader feels disserted when making decisions. Further, a decision affecting team affairs may need to be discussed among team members and welcome their input on the matter which in turn complicates decision making. More often than not these problems of decision making stem from unclear team goals and vision, confusion over who has the final say, unwillingness to take responsibility, selfish interests among other reasons. As a leader, it is important to ensure that these issues do not extend to the point of breaking team spirit which takes so long to build. For example the problem of team members purs ing individual interests first may be resolved by elevating the team's common goal and urging members to realize that the team is bigger than their individual goals. The problem of disinterest or indifferentness in the process of decision making can be conquered by delegating duties more to team members such that they feel more competent to contribute ideas. Perhaps the problem may be that members do not feel valued in the team in which case the atmosphere within the team should change to be accommodating. Question 4 Participation is a strong aspect that attributes to effective teams. Some of the benefits of participation include greater performance/output, efficiency and effectiveness, cohesiveness, growth, innovation and so on. Given the crucial benefits of participation team leaders can devise various methods in order to stimulate/enhance participation, for instance at the workplace a manager may use delegation as a way of promoting participation. Where delegation is made part of the work culture then individuals are forced to step up beyond their comfort zones and participate in team activities. A manager may also reward system to members who show active participation in team activities so that others are enticed to participate too. Importantly, a warm atmosphere and trust in the workplace needs to be nurtured so that team members feel free and uninhibited to participate in activities. Criticisms, gossip and self centeredness should be kept at bay. Communication is also key in fostering parti cipation in the workplace. A team leader should be able to communicate to

Causes and Effects on the High Cost of Health Care Essay

Causes and Effects on the High Cost of Health Care - Essay Example The death rates are falling. There are less barbaric wars and more peace in the world at large. People are now living longer. There are many reasons for this the first being that most people are more mindful of health and wholesome living and are therefore, spending a larger share of income on health care. People are now turning towards healthful products that low fat, zero calories, no sugar added etc. An average individual now takes out more time for exercising, walking and other sports. Many people have reduced smoking after learning about the risks associated with it In developed countries medical insurance takes care of much of health care expenses. However, critics argue that there is an ever-growing number of people (especially Americans) who are overweight or even obese, which may breed physical disorders and afflictions and finally acquire medical attention. Therefore demands in growing at a faster pace than supply of medical services. These and many more reasons have increased life expectancy overall. When people live longer, they put a greater burden on health care services. Apart from this high population growth rates also contribute as a load on such services. Therefore, governments and private health care providers are left with no option but to increase their fees, costs of drugs and other health related expenses. Moreover, a lot of investment is being made in this sector. ... EFFECTS Perhaps the biggest effect of expensive health care services is that many people will use home made remedies for diseases and avoid going to doctors who would prescribe expensive drugs and ask for costly medical tests to be performed first. In years to come this might show as an increase in death rates. In third world countries (including many African states) there is high infant mortality. Many of the countries with the lowest life expectancies, namely Swaziland, Botswana, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi, South Africa, Central African Republic, Namibia, and Guinea-Bissau, are suffering from very high rates of HIV/AIDS infection, with adult prevalence rates ranging from 10 to 38 percent. The residents of poor countries will continue to suffer. As a result, corruption will increase. Existing health care practitioners may not wish to offer their services to anyone who does not pay the prescribed amount. Less qualified individuals with little or no experience might get more patients as their fees would be less. This will lead to an extremely inefficient health care system, with more people falling sick. CONCLUSION For the thousands of years of humankind's existence, lifespans were short and rough. It is only within the last hundred years that life expectancy at birth has risen substantially. The world's average life expectancy at birth was 45years in 1950 which rose to 61 years by 1980 and currently it is 67years. This shows that as people are living longer, the demand for health care is rising. This demand is by far exceeding the supply in many countries of the world, making health care too expensive for most people. High costs of health care will affect