Hermeneutical Circle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hermeneutical Circle - Essay Example The 'meaning' may be open-ended, but the particular text that is being considered is a close-ended circle because of the self-referentiality of individual parts and whole (Jasper, 2004). Christianity is based upon a number of tenets, including the idea, at least within the Protestant faiths, that the Bible is in fact an "organic whole" rather than a series of contrasting individual texts that have been gathered together over quite a long period of time. Yet on another note, the only way for a Christian to understand many parts of the Bible is to refer to other parts of the Bible for understanding. This is the self-referentiality of the Bible that can be seen as a part of the hermeneutical circle. A central example is the 'nature of God' which has concerned Christians for more then 1900 years. The various manners in which God reveals Himself within the Bible, particularly in reference to the contrast between the Old and New Testaments, might seem to be contradictory. The same God who asks for the first-born to be killed and demands that one of his faithful kill his own son to prove his faith is also the same God who reveals that love, mercy and forgiveness are the central aspects of his nature in the New Testament (Goldsworthy, 2007). It is the closed circle of self-referentiality that is found within the Bible is the answer to that question. Various parts of the Bible, in revealing the nature of God, refer to one another. One cannot understand the God of the New Testament without reference to the Old Testament and visa-versa. One version of the circle of hermeneutics, as expressed by evangelical theology, suggests that it is not merely "word studies" that should be involved in interpretation but rather "Word study" (Goldsworthy, 2007). This is the Word of Jesus Christ which is regarded as being the central focus and prism through which the rest of the Bible, and in fact "all of reality" can be discovered and understood (Goldsworthy, 2007). The gospel of Jesus Christ is the central fulcrum around which the rest of the Bible revolves according to this kind of hermeneutics. Of course this essentially counters the non-hierarchical structure of self-referentiality that exists within the traditional hermeneutical circle. In traditional hermeneutics all parts relate to the whole and the whole relates to all the parts in equal measure. Within a Christian theology that includes hermeneutics the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the focusing structure that involves comprehension. Jesus "communicates" (Brown, 2007) with people through the closed circle of the Bible, and enables them to navigate through the often complex and seemingly contradictory passages that it offers. The hermeneutical circle may appear to be complex, but in fact it is quite simple when seen in terms of revelation. As Brown (2007) suggests, "reading scripture is learning to discern a communicative act initiated by God". That "communicative act" needs to be understood within the context of all the other acts of communication that are contained within the Bible, but for the Christian at least, it is the word of Jesus Christ that offers a complete explanation for how that communication has occurred and what God is intending to mean. To conclude, the hermeneutical circle is one of the largest dilemmas within all philosophy in general and within theology in particular. The self-referentiali

Content management system

Content management system Abstract This assignment is aimed to introduce students to how a project is to be managed and developed. This project is about planning for the project management of the move of a large corporate website from static HTML version to a data driven system based on a Web Content Management System. To plan for the project an evaluation for three options has to be made between Joomla, Drupal and SharePoint. As the project plan is to be for a 9 month period the time scheduling have to be made within this period. Also have to do Gantt chart and resource utilization in Microsoft project Microsoft excel and make lesion learned report. Project Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholders needs and expectations from a project. Project management is the discipline of organizing and managing resources in such a way that the project is completed within defined scope, quality, time and cost constraints. Executive Summary Introduction: This document serves as a course requirement of ITPQM assignment given by Greenwich University. It supersedes the previous HTML version to a data driven system for Web Content Management System (WCMS). Key parts of this report will be the choice of the content management system and the evaluation of M.S Excel and M.S project. A business criterion has to be selected regarding the chosen WCMS, which would be chosen after evaluating it in MS Excel. This assignment helps us to understand whether MS Excel and MS Project have features and functions that would support in a Project management. Research On Web Content Management System (CMS) CMS stands for Content Management System, a software application used for the creation, storage, and management of web content in many formats.A Web Content Management System (WCM, WCMS or Web CMS) is content management system (CMS) software, implemented as a Web application, for creating and managing HTML content. It is used to manage and control a large, dynamic collection of Web material (HTML documents and their associated images). A WCMS facilitates content creation, content control, editing, and essential Web maintenance functions. The software provides authoring (and other) tools designed to allow users with little knowledge of programming languages or markup languages to create and manage content with relative ease. Most systems use a database to store content, metadata, or artifacts that might be needed by the system. Content is frequently, but not universally, stored as XML, to facilitate, reuse, and enable flexible presentation options. Administration is done through browser-based interfaces, but some systems require the use of a fat client. A presentation layer displays the content to Web-site visitors based on a set of templates. The templates are sometimes XSLT files. Most systems use server side caching boosting performance. This works best when the WCMS is not changed often but visits happen on a regular basis. Unlike Web-site builders, a WCMS allows non-technical users to make changes to a website with little training. A WCMS typically requires an experienced coder to set up and add features, but is primarily a Web-site maintenance tool for non-technical administrators. This means users will not need to hire a web design company every time they want to update the site or add content. Benefits of WCMS: Upon completion of this project plan WCMS derives following benefits: Customizable pages and portal elements (banners, colors, etc.) that can be tailored globally or targeted individually Targeted announcements based on Banner criteria Web-based tools to manage user and group profiles, announcements, content and layout, and performance and usage A portal interface to control channel and content delivery An integration suite to share data between third-party applications, and databases Increased capacity to growth any organization. Project Scope Scope: The objectives of WCMS scope: Procure and install the selected web content management system Plan, test and deploy initial information architecture framework and update, document or leverage from existing Templates Workflows for known sites Roles and responsibilities Content guidelines Support and training materials Services to be provided System schematic logical and physical design Plan, test and execute Scope Elements: Several elements lack sufficient clarity without further analysis to determine whether they are in or out of scope: Number and scope of site migration: the number of Humanities departments that can be accommodated within the project is unknown. The scope of the University Relations migration is not fully defined. Use of authoritative course information is currently available using the template system and some academic departments expect this functionality. Whether it is in scope for Phase II is dependent upon analysis of complexities involved. Fully redundant off-site disaster recovery of editing and publishing functionality may prove too complex and costly. Out of Scope: Other deliverables that are out of scope for the WCMS Project include: Creation of strategic and implementation plans for corporate response to web security and policy/regulatory compliance beyond Design Review Board process. Web standards work for development and integration (with the exception of standards and release policy for code passed via system to web layer.) Full or extensive evaluation and mitigation for compliance and accessibility issues Extensive service definition of the new web services to be deployed Retirement/repurpose of existing web content delivery infrastructures Design/revision of new campus template Look and Feel Resolution of funding source for hiring of operational staff. Project Dependencies: The dependencies below introduce risk that must be mitigated and, therefore, are included in the Risk Management Plan. Other Web Program Components Web Function and Design Project: template design and information architecture deliverables have many functional and schedule-related interdependencies. Web Service Definition Project will derive information from WCMS as a result of practical migration experience and the WCMS project will require the Service Definition project to provide direction. Web Governance: The WCMS project will rely upon Web Governance to develop policy where needed for implementation or operations. Description of Joomla, Drupal SharePoint: Drupal: Drupal is a free software package that allows an individual or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content on a website. Tens of thousands of people and organizations are using Drupal to power scores of different web sites, including Community web portals Discussion sites Corporate web sites Intranet applications Personal web sites or blogs Aficionado sites E-commerce applications Resource directories Social Networking sites The built-in functionality, combined with dozens of freely available add-on modules, will enable features such as: Electronic commerce Blogs Collaborative authoring environments Forums Peer-to-peer networking Newsletters Podcasting Picture galleries File uploads and downloads General features Collaborative Book- collaborative book feature lets one setup a book and then authorize other individuals to contribute content. Friendly URLs- Drupal uses Apaches mod_rewrite to enable customizable URLs that are both user and search engine friendly. Modules- The Drupal community hascontributed many moduleswhich provide functionality that extend Drupal core. Online help- Have built a robust online help system built into the core help text. Open source- The source code of Drupal is freely available under the terms of the GNU General Public License 2 (GPL). Unlike proprietary blogging or content management systems, Drupals feature set is fully available to extend or customize as needed. Personalization- A robust personalization environment is at the core of Drupal. Both the content and the presentation can be individualized based on user-defined preferences. Role based permission system- Drupal administrators dont have to tediously setup permissions for each user. Instead, they assign permissions to roles and then group like users into a role group. Searching- All content in Drupal is fully indexed and searchable at all times if one take advantage of the built in search module. Content management Polls- Drupal comes with a poll module which enables admins and/or users to create polls and show them on various pages. Templating- Drupals theme system separates content from presentation allowing you to control the look and feel of your Drupal site. Templates are created from standard HTML and PHP coding meaning that you dont have to learn a proprietary templating language. Threaded comments- Drupal provides a powerful threaded comment model for enabling discussion on published content. Comments are hierarchical as in a newsgroup or forum. Version control- Drupals version control system tracks the details of content updates including who changed it, what was changed, the date and time of changes made to your content and more. Version control features provide an option to keep a comment log and enables you to roll-back content to an earlier version. Joomla: Joomla is an award-winning content management system (CMS), which enables you to build Web sites and powerful online applications. Many aspects, including its ease-of-use and extensibility, have made Joomla the most popular Web site software available. Best of all, Joomla is an open source solution that is freely available to everyone. Joomla is used all over the world to power Web sites of all shapes and sizes. For example: Corporate Web sites or portals Corporate intranets and extranets Online magazines, newspapers, and publications E-commerce and online reservations Government applications Small business Web sites Non-profit and organizational Web sites Community-based portals School and church Web sites Personal or family homepages Joomla is designed to be easy to install and set up. Many Web hosting services offer a single-click install, getting your new site up and running in just a few minutes. Since Joomla is so easy to use, as a Web designer or developer, we can quickly build sites for your clients. Then, with a minimal amount of instruction, we can empower our clients to easily manage their sites themselves. SharePoint: SharePoint is a collection of products and software elements that includes, among a growing selection of components, web browser based collaboration functions, process management modules, search modules and a SharePoint can be used to host web sites that access shared workspaces, information stores and documents, as well as host defined applications such as wikis and blogs. All users can manipulate proprietary controls called web parts or interact with pieces of content such as lists and document libraries. Some Features of SharePoint: Team Collaboration, Review Workflows, Premium Web, Slide Library (splits a PPT presentation into individually viewable slides on the site without breaking the PPT file open), Premium Web Application, Premium Root Site, Management Library, Global Web Parts, Enhanced Search, Base Web Application, Spell Checking, Signatures Workflow ,Reporting, Premium Site, Publishing Web, Base Web, Base Site, Basic Search, Translation Workflow workflow for sending a document through rounds of translation into multiple languages, Expiration Workflow, Excel Server, Search Web Parts, Publishing Site Issue Tracking Workflow . EVALUATION ON DRUPAL, JOOMLA SHAREPOINT Joomla: Joomla is designed in a way that it can work perfectly in a shared hosting environment. It is a package that is least expensive and most common to all users. Its installation feature is simple and just like any other descktop software. It can support several extensions, add-on and plug in. Joomla is written in PHP with general purpose scripting language and best suitable for web development. Joomla is integrated with CiviCRM and other common packages like GetActive or DemocracyInAction. Drupal Drupal can work just like Joomla in shared hosting environments. It has powerful content editing tools for common users and for web developers for creating websites without bothering about codes. Drupal is a bit diffuclt in installation procedure than that of Joomla. Drupal is also developed in PHP and offers common functionalies of Joomla or perhaps more sophisticated ones, which would be difficult for non technical persons to master it than that of Joomla. It contains non-profit centric add-ons like event registration, online donation, email newsletter etc. Eventhough drupal has plugins they are less powerful than that of Joomla. SharePoint: Sharepoint uses application server as IIS.Net where as Joomla and Drupal uses , CGI and Apache. Applicatin cost is $4000 compared to the other two which are free to use. Security feature is more of a plus point in SharePoint than that of Joomla! And Drupal. Ease of use, performance and management are more easy and manageable compared to both Drupal and Joomla. But SharePoint supports ASP.net programming language, if the site which was built using PHP then it will be difficult to use SharePoint to establish the same site online. KEY FUNCTIONALITIES OF A WCMS Content management systems manage content creation, review and approval processes for web site content. Content management system provides content version control, collaboration utilities, and user or document level security. Some of the functions of CMS are: Content Authoring: it is the ability to create content through a content editor, import of content, capability to deploy, present the content and aggregation of items. Content acquisition: it is the ability to gather content through import or metadata. Content aggregation: process of gathering information from different sources into one overall structure. Output and content presentation: Presenting content through different ways such as HTML or XML Workflow management: the process of managing to create flows of sequential and parallel tasks that must be accomplished. Version control and management: lets multiple users make simultaneous changes to content and keep track of them. Security management: Access to the content are controlled through authentication, role and directory management, access control settings and passwords. Product technology and support: defines the technical architecture of the product, the technological environment in which the product can successfully run. Such as product and application architecture, software usability and administration, platform and database support, application standards support, communications and protocol support and integration capabilities. Project Goals and Objectives: The objectives of WCMS with the original scope: Procure and install the selected web content management system Plan, test and deploy initial information architecture framework and update, document or leverage from existing Templates Workflows for known sites Roles and responsibilities Content guidelines Support and training materials Services to be provided System schematic logical and physical design Plan, test and execute WSM criteria of WCMS: Criteria to which alternative to choose for Web Content Management System (WCMS): Corefunctionality When most people think of content management, they are thinking of the creation, deletion, editing and organizing of pages. They assume all content management systems do this and so take the functionality for granted. However that is not necessarily the case. There is also no guarantee that it is done in an intuitive fashion. Not all blogging platforms for example allow the owner to manage and organize pages into a tree hierarchy. Instead the individual posts are automatically organized by criteria such as date or category. In some situations this is perfectly adequate. In fact this limitation in functionality keeps the interface simple and easy to understand. However, in other circumstances the absence of this functionality can be frustrating. Theeditor The majority of content management systems have a WYSIWYG editor. Strangely this editor is often ill considered, despite the fact that it is the most used feature within the system. The editor is the interface through which content is added and amended. Traditionally, it has also allowed the content provider to apply basic formatting such as the selection of fonts and color. However more recently there has been a move away from this type of editor to something that reflects the principles of best practice. The danger of traditional WYSIWYG editors is twofold. First, they give the content provider too much design control. They are able to customize the appearance of a page to such an extent that it could undermine the consistence of design and branding. Second, in order to achieve this level of design control the CMS mixes design and content. The new generation of editors takes a different approach. The content provider uses the editor to markup headings, lists, links and other elements without dictating how they should appear. Ensure your list of requirements includes an editor that uses this approach and does not give content providers control over appearance. At the very least look for content management systems that allow the editor to be replaced with a more appropriate solution. The editor should also be able to handle external assets including images and downloads. That brings us on to the management of these assets. Managingassets Managing images and files are badly handled by some CMS packages. Issues of accessibility and ease of use can cause frustration with badly designed systems. Images in particular can cause problems. Ensure that the content management system you select forces content provider to add alt attributes to imagery. You may also want a CMS that provides basic image editing tools such as crop resize and rotate. However, finding such a CMS can be a challenge. Also consider how the content management system deals with uploading and attaching PDFs, Word documents and other similar files. How are they then displayed to users? What descriptions can be attached to the files and is the search capable of indexing them. Search is an important aspect of any site. Approximately half of users will start with search when looking for content. However, often the search functionality available in content management systems is inadequate. Userinteraction If you intend to gather user feedback, your CMS must provide that functionality or allow third party plug-in to do so. Equally, if you want a community on your site then you will require functionality such as chat, forums, comments and ratings. As a minimum you will require the ability to post forms and collect the responses. How easy does the CMS make this process? Can you customize the fields or does that require technical expertise? What about the results? Can you specify who they are emailed to? Can they be written to a database or outputted as an excel document? Consider the type of functionality that you will require and look for a CMS that supports that. Rolesandpermissions As the number of content providers increase, you will want more control over who can edit what. For example, personnel should be able to post job advertisements but not add content to the homepage. This requires a content management system that supports permissions. Although implementation can vary, permissions normally allow you to specify whether users to edit specific pages or even entire sections of the site. As the number of contributors grows still further you may require one individual to review the content being posted to ensure accuracy and consistent tone. Alternatively content might be inputted by a junior member of staff who requires the approval of somebody more senior before making that content live. In both cases this requires a cms that supports multiple roles. This can be as simple as editors and approver, or complex allowing customized roles with different permissions. Finally, enterprise level content management systems support entire workflows where a page update has to go through a series of checkpoints before being allowed to go live. These complex scenarios require the ability to roll back pages to a pervious version. Being able to revert to a previous version of a page allows you to quickly recover if something is posted by accident. Some content management systems have complex versioning that allow you to rollback to a specific date. However, in most cases this is overkill. The most common use of versioning is simply to return to the last saved state. Although this sounds like an indispensable feature, in my experience it is rarely used expect in complex workflow situations. That said, although versioning was once a enterprise level tool it is increasingly becoming available in most content management systems. This is also true of multi-site support. Multiplesitesupport With more content management systems allowing you to run multiple websites from the same installation, I would recommend that this is a must-have feature. Although you may not currently need to manage more than a single site, that could change. You may decide to launch a new site targeting a different audience. Alternatively with the growth of the mobile web, you may create a separate site designed for mobile devices. Whatever the reason, having the flexibility to run multiple websites is important. Multilingualsupport It is easy to dismiss the need to support multiple languages. Your site may be targeted specifically at the domestic market or you may sell a language specific product. However think twice before dismissing this requirement. Even if your product is language specific, that could change. It is important that your cms can grow with your business and changing requirements. Also just because you are targeting the domestic market does not mean you can ignore language. We live in a multicultural society where numerous languages are spoken. Being able to accommodate these differences provides a significant edge on your competition. That said; do think through the ramifications of this requirement. Just because you have the ability to add multiple languages doesnt mean you have the content. Too many of my clients have insisted on multilingual support and yet have never used it. They have failed to consider where they are going to get the content translated and how they intend to pay for it. Success Criteria: A central WCMS is implemented and accepted by primary stakeholders including academic and academic support web site Clear roles and responsibilities are established for content creation, maintenance, and the support of the technology In-scope web sites are to the content management system Stakeholders are kept informed of developments and are provided with opportunities to comment and participate After Evaluation of WSM criteria I have created this WSM model which can help me to choose best CMS system for WCMS. Work Breakdown Structure: Project Name: Web Content Management System Project planning/feasibility study (requirements stage) Study on the project issues Develop the project plan System analysis Analysis of its requirements pre analysis selecting a supplier How many servers will be required, procuring hardware etc. Procuring hardware and software System design Develop system design Context diagram/ system boundary DFD ERD Final database The final solution map Develop content management activities. Develop content management activities CMS objects CMS emails Find relevant contents Moving contents from old website to the new one. Archiving mechanisms Operating environment made ready implementation/coding Creating basic pages with different logged areas Implement menu structure Implement site authentication Implement site modules web editors trained for use of CMS integration and testing Developed module for testing Test modules Test full site Test in the working environment Acceptance Check developed module and suggests changes Client testing Acceptance by the sponsors for the launch of new system installation Move site from developers server to live server Changes made System installed in the real environment. Deployment (training) Train IT support staff Construct training schedule Give training for use of the CMS system Verify user readiness Give editor course after 6 months of deployment. Implementation Plan: The high-level timeline follows for implementation. [A key weakness in estimating dates is the current unknown availability date of the vendor. Here we assume availability to develop SOW as soon as the contract is finalized.] Assumptions for the following timeline include: Contract negotiations are successful Actual award is not delayed after successful negotiations Vendor can engage as soon as contract negotiations are complete Two weeks off over winter break and one week over Thanksgiving break Availability of other team resources as specified below Twenty percent reduction in capacity due to furloughs and staff loss Implementation Strategy: The strategy to implement the new centrally supported WCMS site process includes the following work elements. Procurement negotiate a contract with the vendor and complete the purchase of the application. System Design and Installation design and installation of hardware, software, and process components supporting the application environment Requirements, Configuration, and Development requirements elicitation, configuration and development of the application to meet user requirements Deployment Management create a deployment plan for release of infrastructure, configurations, development projects, and assure release readiness. Documentation and Communication collect and organize documentation and project communication. Implementation Work Package Description: Procurement: Procurement and Business Contracts will procure software, consultation time, and three-year support contract from the selected vendor. System design and installation: The technical aspects of the system implementation will be conducted by a core technical team including two ITS team leads, PM, and rotating technical experts depending upon work products (programming, security, server admin, network, architects, IDM manager, etc.) Disaster recovery is a deliverable of this workgroup. Requirements will be gathered, options reviewed, and feasible option implemented. Because no precedent at UCSC for off-site disaster recovery is available, the options will be researched and analyzed for feasibility. The lack of precedent will be verified. Specific deliverables are listed in section 4.2. Functional Requirements, Configurations Development: Logical configuration of the application to meet business needs will include developing knowledge of the application function as well as the partner business requirements. Also key will be engagement with the vendor to understand best practices. Unlike technical configuration, functional configuration includes definition of business requirements related elements such as users/roles/groups, workflows, and user interface configurations. Hannon Hill Cascade Server has components that combine templates, configuration settings, and user groups together. A logical analysis of the best configuration is critical to maintaining scalability and functionality. This configuration team will engage and include technical team members and migration team members in developing requirements and specifications for configuration and development. To the extent required to meet project deliverables, the team will gather business requirements, create specifications, and develop scripts, API interfaces, and external application integration. Specific deliverables are listed in section 4.2. Deployment Management: A core team including team leads will be responsible for deployment planning, will develop a checklist of activities and tests that must be performed prior to deployment, and will be accountable for their successful completion prior to deployment. Documentation and Communication: This team will be responsible for assuring that documentation to be handed off to the service team is created by the appropriate sub-teams and is stored/ organized in the appropriate place prior to project close. This includes: Technical documentation Technical training materials Application configuration User training materials Requirements

Language, Identity and Acceptance in Wright’s Autobiography, Black Boy :: Wright Black Boy Essays

Language, Identity and Acceptance in Wright’s Autobiography, Black Boy African American writer James Baldwin said that, â€Å" Language is the most vivid and crucial key to identity: It reveals the private, and connects, or divorces one from the larger public or communal identity.† The stories in Black Boy are original and captivating. It identifies Richard Wright as a writer and a person of incredible substance. The language identifies the books time frame and era. And most importantly shows Richard’s journey through social and personal acceptance. Writing this book the language used was important to Wright. It gave him the power to convey his life story to the reader. Without it his stories could have never been published and his popularity amongst readers would be nonexistent. This book is based on a factual claim. It might be biased because we read only his side of the story. It might also include a bit of fiction but his command of the words and the imagery speaks otherwise. Richard Wright infuses the book with personal stories from his experiences in life. We as the reader might find some of the stories in the book hard to believe but his use of evidence and historical facts lead the reader to deem that this book is in fact the life of Richard Wright. His use of words and his grasp of the English language allows the reader to identify with his victories and his defeats. Using the pathos appeal Wright enables the reader to be part of the story of his life. â€Å" I would hurl words into the darkness for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger of life that gnaws in us all, to keep alive in our hearts a sense of the inexpressibly human. Language also identifies the books era. Reading the book one can tell that it was a time of hostility between races. The term â€Å" white man† comes up many times. It is as if Wright is reluctant to use he names of particular people even when he does know them. â€Å" White man† obtain a singular feeling from the reader. Even though most of the time there is usually more than one man he refers to them as the white man. The blacks on the other hand are â€Å"us† or â€Å"ours† .

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter Critique

Critique of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) Tanya Willie ENG 225: Introduction to Film Prof. Sarah Snook January 24, 2013 Critique of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) In Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012), the actions that take place began with its use of storytelling, acting, cinematography, editing, sound, style, and directing each part creating the masterpiece. I will reveal how the storytelling is played out, the different types of actors that is being used, how cinematography and editing’s roles take effect, and how the style and directing affect the film.In Abraham Lincoln: vampire Hunter (2012), Abraham struggled with the loss of his mother. As a young boy he fights when standing up for a friend who was being treated as a slave by stopping him from being beaten with a whip. Unknown at the time, this man was truly not a man, but a vampire. When young Abraham’s father intervenes, it creates a target on his family. It did not help when Abrahamâ€⠄¢s mother stated â€Å"until every man is free, we are all slaves† (Bekmambetov, 2012). The vampire soon after snuck into the Lincoln’s home and killed Abraham’s mother, which all takes place while he watched from his loft above.His struggle with her loss grew within him into adulthood where he finally began to plot on killing the man who took his mother from him. During his plotting, while drowning his sorrows in a bar, Abraham meets a man. This man eventually saves him when he attempts to kill Barts, the vampire that killed his mother. Henry Sturges agrees to teach Abraham to destroy, not kill, vampires as long as Abraham commits to becoming a full time vampire hunter and let go of his vengeance. Henry tells Abraham that you cannot kill that which is not dead, you must destroy them (Bekmambetov, 2012).Along Abraham’s journey he destroys many vampires with his ax coated with silver on the blade, yet not getting the privilege to hunt the main vampire he desires. In time he finds the love of a woman, Mary Todd, and his place as a political leader. All this is very much to the dismay of his mentor, Henry, being it is against the code of a vampire hunter who is damned to live a life with no friends, family, or career. These things became prominent after Abraham found out that Henry was a vampire himself. In Abraham’s politics he uses the words of his mother to guide him with his ambitions.The story is about how a boy becomes a man after the mysterious death of his mother, and how her words, â€Å"until every man is free, we are all slaves† lingered in his mind transforming him into a man (Bekmambetov, 2012). The irony of the death of his mother is that he could save his friend, but could not save his mother, leaving Abraham to struggle with the conflicting anger he contained from her being taken away so soon in his life. It takes nine years for him to realize his anger was all due to him feeling that he failed to save he r. Also he is ironically trained to destroy vampires by Henry who he later learns is also a vampire.This film used a variety of actors in order to create this masterful collection of scenes. Not only did they speak the script, but had to become the character so the audience would believe what they saw. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) starred Benjamin Walker as Abraham Lincoln, an impersonator actor portraying a secret vampire hunter who later becomes the President of the United States. Dominic Cooper was the wild card actor, starring as Henry Sturges, Abraham’s mentor and a vampire himself. Mary Elizabeth Winstead starred as Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham’s wife.Anthony Mackie starring as Will Johnson was his close, childhood friend. Rufus Sewell starred as Adam, the father of all the American vampires. Last of all Marton Csokas starred as the one who started it all Jack Barts, the vampire who killed Abraham’s mother. Anthony, Mary, Rufus, and Marton were in the background simply character actors used as minor roles set aside from Benjamin Walker who played the leading role, impersonating a well-known historic figure making him an impersonator actor (Goodykoontz, & Jacobs, 2011, Sec. 3. 4; para. 1). Dominic was also a leading actor.Dominic is a wild card as he had to play a man one moment and a vampire the next. The actors helped to convey the story’s meaning by using the interpretation of their characters. I find the most difficult roles to play as Will Johnson and Abraham Lincoln. Anthony has to play a boy fighting to prove he was born free, but after the long battle African American’s had to fight for freedom I am not sure I could do as good a job as he did. Benjamin Walker has the difficult task of making the viewers see him as a well know historical figure. Each actor pulled through and convinced me that they were their character, not just playing the role.Cinematography takes the actors, putting them in specific pict ures to make how the film looks using different lighting, camera angles, color types, distance and framing to bring things together creating a specific look and feel. Caleb Deschanel begins the film with a wide shot of a free nation, present time in Lincoln’s time as President, in Washington, D. C. The shot was clear and bright just how Caleb wanted the viewers to see it. This bright scene is portraying the free nation, victorious after a long struggle of dark times. Gradually the scene takes us back to the past as Lincoln begins narrating him life.His story begins with a dark and gloomy time shown by the cinematographer’s use of low-level lighting. The tint of the film changes from blues to yellows depending on the mood of the scene. The blue tints were for a sad and dreary time while the yellow tint was meant for an eerie feeling. Caleb uses different camera angles throughout the film. â€Å" When the camera looks down on a character, we may be intended to view that character as â€Å"below† us or inferior to another character in the film, in a submissive position, or simply from an objective distance† (Goodykoontz, & Jacobs, 2011, sec. . 6; para. 2). One example is when Abraham is looking down at Barts after his first attempt to kill him. At times we are able to see what the character sees; this suggests the use of a subjective camera. The camera changes from showing the whole scene, to close-ups, the viewing things through Abraham’s eyes. All these things are put into motion by Caleb Deschanel, the cinematographer, who pictures the film scene by scene, cut by cut, and frame by frame in order to enhance how we, the viewers, feel about what we have seen.In this film it is mostly fear, anger, and victory that are being felt! The editor arranges the shots and scenes into acts, and uses different transitions to put them together. William Hay, the editor, chose each shot, putting them into order to achieve the incongruous editi ng. Even as this story begins with a present day time for Abraham Lincoln, he is narrating it from his journal venturing into his past, putting the film in a non-linear order. Direct cuts are used in this film to join shots within a scene. This type of cut is the simplest and often taken for granted.If I were not in Introduction to film learning about these details I would have never noticed this happening. According to figure 5. 1 Editing Transitions of out text, a direct cut is when â€Å"one shot instantaneously replaces another on the screen† (Goodykoontz, & Jacobs, 2011, Sec. 5. 3; fig. 5. 1). William uses single frames with direct cuts joining them to establish a more intense scene for action shots. This gives them the opportunity to use different camera angles to stimulate the viewer, making the scene one that makes your heart race. Other shots are longer in order to create a constant feel.Editing is used to imply a battle is taking place. In the scene, in the dark thi s is used when you hear a huge battle taking place but see only darkness, but when the light comes back on Abraham and Henry are beaten and bloody implying an event took place that had not actually happened. The scene is enhanced by the sound effects creating a stronger sense that it is actually taking place. The manner in which William edits this film helps to create a belief in the actions taking place. Films in the year 2012 are dependent on the sounds so we can understand what is happening.In Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) dialogue, sound effects, and music play an important role in the film. Throughout this film I found equal amounts of dialogue, sound effects, and music balancing things so evenly that without any part the film would not be as successful. Most of the dialogue is of Abraham narrating the events in his journal, but as this takes place it also shows actual conversations between the characters. This helps keep the audience’s attention by keeping it i nteresting. Sound effects are used to emphasize the battles taking place as well as encourage more than sense to be used while watching the film.For example, I not only saw Abraham’s ax swinging, but I could hear the swoosh sound as it flew through the air. Music done by Henry Jackman also plays its part by invoking an emotional response since it speeds up in action scenes and slows down to create a more morbid mood. Without the sounds of the dialogue, sound effects, and music within this film it would lose the interest of the audience quickly. Timur Bekmambetov is the director/ producer for this film and often works with action films. He has a history of working with war scenes as well as fantasy. He makes his view of this film evident through his work.His view, in my opinion, is that the film is about Abraham Lincoln having a secret identity as being a vampire hunter with the underlying meaning being about his fight for freedom. Timur shows how young Abraham fights for youn g Will’s freedom, his own freedom from anger and grief, freedom from the fear of vampires, and freedom for a nation of slavery. He does this by the many battles Abraham physically fights. It begins when he fights to help his friend, young Will, from being beat with a whip, moving on to his fight within himself in regards to him allowing his mother to die, and internal battle.It then shows his fight for survival on to his fight for freeing the nation from vampires. Last of all Abraham fights for the freedom of the slaves, standing strong by the words of his mother, â€Å"until every man is free, we are all slaves† (Bekmambetov, 2012). Timur is able to create these battles with his experience in films dealing with action and fantasy. Tim Bekmambetov is experienced in revealing his point of view within the film, making it known to the audience. This action, fantasy, horror film sends the viewer spiraling back into the past to a time when slavery was acceptable.I felt that since the director and producers, Timur Bekmambetov, Tim Burton, and Jim Lemley did such a great job setting the scene that I could believe this was a true reality for Abraham Lincoln. It touches the controversial subjects of slavery and war crossed with the belief in the supernatural. The film has such a realistic feel to hit, I find myself strangely wondering if Abraham actually fought against vampires, making me wonder, in a world full of the unknown, if vampires could have been part of this reality in the past.Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) is classified as a horror film with the subgenres being in History and Vampire. It gave a thrilling experience with the action scenes where vampires are being fought to keep them from taking over. It is a horror film due to the fear that vampires create. History is a subgenre because the film reflects a time that actually occurred in the pant, and the other subgenre is Vampire for obvious reasons. The film had my interest as soon as I saw the word â€Å"Vampire†; others may have focused on the history. It is funny that the film was more affected by society than it was on society.The violent manner used in the killings and the lack of censoring the scenes show how our society has advanced from the past when these scenes were only left up to the viewer’s imagination. Presently I pay no attention to this; but older viewers like my parents say it would never be accepted in the past. So far I found that the storytelling was clear and exciting, the acting was precise, and Caleb’s cinematography was on point. The editing by William and his direct cut transitions gave way to an exciting film set aside only by the sounds of dialogue, sound effects, and music by Henry Jackman.Overall the style and directing allowed for a film that was impacted more by society than it was on society. All these things came together to create a film full of action, fantasy and horror. References Bekmambetov, T. (Directo r/Producer). (2012). Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. [Motion Picture]. United States: 20th Century Fox. Goodykoontz, B. , & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From Watching to Seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Retrieved from https://content. ashford. edu/AUENG225. 11. 2

Pros and Cons of Mainstreaming/Inclusion in Middle School Classroom

Inclusion or mainstreaming is the practice of providing a child with disabilities with opportunity of non-discriminatory educational services in the general education classrooms. Till early seventies, over half the children with disabilities in United States did not receive appropriate educational services. It was very common for schools to refuse education to children with disabilities (Neas, 1998). In 1975, Congress passed the Education of all Handicapped Students Act, now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Essence of this act is in provision of least restrictive environment to students with disabilities. Different states are interpreting and implementing this law differently. Some are allowing disabled students to be in regular education classrooms for all subjects, while others allow ‘partial inclusion’ implying that disabled students are brought in regular education classroom for some subjects only. Whatever the level of inclusion, it has generated a number of controversies. This essay will therefore scrutinize pros and cons of inclusion in order to analyze its efficacy. Proponents of inclusion believe that for students with disabilities, inclusion facilitates a rational and balanced social behavior because of higher expectations in the regular classroom. Kochhar, West, and Taymans (2000) conclude from their research that inclusion offers a greater support for disabled children which includes social acceptance from classmates without disabilities. It improves the ability of students and teachers to adapt to different teaching and learning styles. In disabled children, inclusion also promotes levels of achievement higher or at least as high as those achieved in self-contained classrooms, and an environment of better understanding is created among students with and without disabilities. In addition to various benefits of inclusion, the strongest argument coming in its favor is from its philosophical and moral/ethical base. Even opponents of inclusion can not refute the legitimacy of its philosophical and moral/ethical reasoning. Segregated programs are considered detrimental to disabled students since these make them feel isolated and rejected from mainstream. In normal children, the inclusion reduces the fear of human differences by increasing comfort and awareness towards their peers and friends with disabilities. Inclusion has a number of drawbacks too. Despite the support of specialists, it is not possible for regular schools to provide intensive and focused education to disabled children throughout the school day. It is becoming difficult for the schools to manage behavior patterns of disabled children and regulate these with normal children. It is eventually resulting into creating specialized classrooms (Harchik, 2005). The fact can not be ignored that students with disabilities are distinctly different from their non-disabled peers. This fact necessitates different, and specialized services to both the cadres. Students with disabilities can be best served outside the mainstream classroom since such students require individualized and customized training which can not be provided in large classrooms. It is not possible for the regular teachers to handle disabled children with specialized curriculum, which results in inappropriate educational services (SEDL, 1995). Tiner (1995) carried out survey of 120 teachers from six middle schools and found that teachers were concerned about spending too much time on special students which resulted in time taken away from others in the classroom. The proponents and opponents of inclusion have strong arguments to support their stance. Provision of specialized education through regular schools is very challenging and demanding. A school without proper facilities, services, aids and disciplinary strategies can not cope with the task of inclusion. Irrespective of pros and cons of inclusion, IDEA’97 legally bounds all educational institutions to provide least restrictive environments to students with disabilities, and therefore needs strict implementation to make it meaningful and beneficial. References Harchik, Alan. (2005). Including Children with Special Needs in Regular Classrooms: Pros & Cons. News for Parents. Retrieved April 30, 2006, from http://www.newsforparents.org/experts_inclusion_pros_cons.html Kochhar, C. A., West, L. L., & Taymans, J. M. (2000). Successful Inclusion: Practical Strategies For A Shared Responsibility. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. SEDL-Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. (1995). Inclusion: The Pros and Cons, vol. 4, number 3. Retrieved April 30, 2006, from   http://www.sedl.org/change/issues/issues43.html Tiner, Kathy A. (1995). Conditions conducive to special learners in the general classroom: Inclusion in the 1990s. Dissertation Abstracts International, 55(08), 2348A.   

Child Abuse Problems and Its Effects on a Future Childs Life

Child Abuse Problems and Its Effects on a Future Childs Life Several Challenges in Writing the Literature Review Writing a literature review is not an easy task for many students; still, in case certain instructions are given and taken into consideration, the task can be properly completed in time.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Child Abuse Problems and Its Effects on a Future Child’s Life specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More There are the three steps that should be followed while writing a review: to conduct research, create a structure, and keep in mind the main idea of the investigation (Ridley, 2012). Each step may have the challenges a writer can face in completing this kind of work; this is why it is necessary to remember that as soon as a theme and subject are identified (Oliver, 2012), the work should begin. The study under analysis focuses on the problems of child abuse and parental neglect and their effects on a future child’s life (Moylan, Herrenkohl, So usa, Tajima, Herrenkohl, Russo, 2010). In fact, the topic is widely discussed around the whole world; this is why many literary sources, statistics, and other interesting material can be found online as well as in libraries. The task is not to lose the main idea and use the up-to-date sources in order to prove that the chosen topic is worth attention and investigation. In fact, there were the three main challenges in writing the literature review just completed that were overcome due to the ability to organize the work, follow the suggestions of the experts, and keep in mind the necessity to meet the deadlines and academic expectations. One of the hardest tasks was to understand how to narrow down the topic and choose the most appropriate research questions to be discussed in the literature review.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Stalker and McArthur (2012) under line that little research has been made on the questions about the support and care for children, who suffer from home abuse; this is why it was necessary to prove that the effects of child abuse were considerable indeed to think about the methods of treatment. Another challenge took place as soon as the necessity to comprehend the effects of child abuse and identify them properly was discovered. Different researchers offer their own ideas about the child abuse effects. Gloud, Clarke, Heim, Harvey, Majer, and Nemeroff (2012) talk about the cognitive development of a child and seem to be the powerful developers of their ideas about the emotional challenges children face with and behavioral problems. And Fang, Brown, Florence, and Mercy (2012) introduce the economic aspect of child abuse effects that seem to be an interesting topic for discussion. This is why the challenge was to integrate a variety of effects in one common topic and introduce it properly. Finally, it was difficult to organize the whole paper so that the introductory part, the body, and the concluding part were logically connected and clear. Still, all these challenges have been successfully overcome due to the ability to organize the work, plan the most crucial steps beforehand, and ask for help before making mistakes or wrong decisions. In general, the work has been done, and the literature review has been properly written. It helps to realize what kind of work should be done the next time and how it is necessary to investigate the effects of child abuse and parental neglect in a society. Reference List Fang, X., Brown, D.S., Florence, C.S., Mercy, J.A. (2012). The economic burden of child maltreatment in the United States and implications for prevention. Child Abuse Neglect, 36(2), 156-165.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Child Abuse Problems and Its Effects on a Future Child’s Life specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Gloud, F., Clarke, J., Heim, C., Harvey, P.D., Majer, M., Nemeroff, C.B. (2012). The effects of child abuse and neglect on cognitive functioning in adulthood. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 46(4), 500-506. Moylan, C.A., Herrenkohl, T.I., Sousa, C., Tajima, E.A., Herrenkohl, R.C., Russo, M.J. (2010). The effects of child abuse and exposure to domestic violence on adolescent internalising and externalising behaviour problems. Journal of Family Violence, 25(1), 53-63. Oliver, P. (2012). Succeeding with your literature review: A handbook for students. Berkshire: McGraw-Hill Education. Ridley, D. (2012). The literature review: A step-by-step guide for students. London: SAGE. Stalker, K McArthur, K. (2012). Child abuse, child protection and disabled children: A review of recent research. Child Abuse Review, 21(1), 24-40.

Reflective Paper Essays

Reflective Paper Essays Reflective Paper Essay Reflective Paper Essay Essay Topic: Reflective Doing volunteer work is a great way to get involved within a community. The Houston Food Bank is a place that had been in before. In my experience have found that really like to volunteer and I plan on going back in the near future. Volunteering has helped me in exploring my interests and abilities. It is through volunteer opportunities that I have learned how to communicate with others and acquire skills that can transfer into the workplace. When trying to find a job, employers look for volunteer experience because that just wows them thou take time out of your life to help others. I have also learned that the world does not revolve around me. There are many people in much worse situations that need help. Am grateful for the opportunities that have been given in life. I am fortunate enough to be in a position where am able to help those in need. Serving the community whether big or small will make a big impact on the lives of people that need it the most. By doing this we not only encourage others to volunteer, but we help the less fortunate arm a more positive outlook on life. Volunteering at the Houston F-DOD Bank this past Saturday saw how much productivity was done in just the four hours that was there. The workers are always enthusiastic and that just creates a welcoming mood for all who attend. Another thing that I like is that at the end of our volunteer hours the employees of the Houston Food Bank give the number of meals that is served from the work that the volunteers put in. Overall, I feel that volunteering helps me improve as a person. It is a great ay to serve a community as well as meet new people. Eel that everyone should volunteer it does not necessarily have to be at the Houston Food Bank but it should be in a place where they feel that their time will be well spent. I am glad I got the chance to volunteer because I feel better about myself knowing that I helped others and I look forward to many more opportunities. Attending the Houston Food bank has shown me that there is a lot of work to be done when it comes to helping out those in need . When it comes to eloping the community monetary contributions alone will not suffice. What people do not realize is that spending time rather than money is more rewarding in the long-run. The time spent in community service makes a person feel as though they have accomplished something big. Volunteering also shows the values that an individual may have such as generosity, compassion and a good heart. It also sets the example for others follow. I believe that everyone should give back to their community because volunteering will make the world a better place.