четверг, 31 октября 2019 г.

Comparing Biblical and Denominational Christianity Research Paper

Comparing Biblical and Denominational Christianity - Research Paper Example Both types of belief systems ascribe to the basic Christian tenets, but the way in which they develop traditions and interconnections to each other through frameworks of belief, are constructed upon differing forms of guidance. In understanding the differences between Biblical Christianity and denominational Christianity, systems of belief must be examined and interpreted through meanings and from where those meanings are developed. Interpretation is the foundation of how the Bible is received, however. The Bible was written in languages with meanings that have changed, and has been translated into the common modern tongue of every written language. Therefore, the translation is used to determined interpretation. As an example, the shortened comment â€Å"spare the rod, spoil the child† is often used as biblical wisdom, but this phrase is a shortened version of several in the Bible. One of the verses that this phrase comes from the section that states â€Å"he who spares the rod, hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him (New International Version Bible: Proverbs 13:24). The word for ‘rod’ is ‘shebet’, which is a reference to the Hebrew for shepherd’s staff. The staff was not used to beat the sheep, but to guide them and to fend off predators when the sheep were vulnerable (Nicholson and Parker 217). As an example, the shortened comment â€Å"spare the rod, spoil the child† is often used as biblical wisdom, but this phrase is a shortened version.... The problem with the concept of Biblical Christianity is that it still depends on the interpretations of someone within the group in order to create beliefs and meaning. The belief in the superiority that is assigned by claiming to only use the Bible as a resource for worship is the first belief that connects the members of the groups. All aspects of life are informed through the wisdom that is provided in the Bible, with agreements on interpretation being taken as absolutes. Some interpretations of Biblical Christianity are based upon the idea that the beliefs are developed through believing what the Bible says and not making adjustments for the state of modern life. The concept of heresy is determined through assessing beliefs that are outside of the bible wisdoms, that are â€Å"held in opposition to the commonly received doctrine and tending to promote division or dissention† (Ridenour 15). Therefore, whatever falls outside of what is believed by those who adhere to Biblic al wisdom is considered heresy. Therefore, in believing that the form of Christianity that is being practiced is Biblical is to believe that all of the interpretations made by the group adhere to strict and literal references to the Bible. Another example can be found in Timothy I. The statement that â€Å"In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modes apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety: not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;† has been used to control the dress of women in some Christian groups (King James Version, I Timothy 2:9). In literal form, this suggests that wearing such items is an affront to God. However, once again, when put into context,

вторник, 29 октября 2019 г.

Progress Of Chinese Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Progress Of Chinese Economy - Essay Example China has experienced massive growth ever since the government has changed its agenda towards liberalization of the economy. Poverty has been reduced and human development has improved along with the other indicators which show that China is on the path to progress. However, this growth has clearly come from the private sector therefore support must be given to continuing growth while also getting the public sector to join in. Reforms in the financial architecture of the country would certainly help since they would allow the country to have a more flexible exchange rate and revamp the banking sector. These measures have to be taken since China is not without its own problems which are political, social as well as economic. Sustained growth for decades has certainly put inflationary and other pressures on the economy while the first moves towards a free market have certainly met with success. Further steps would require the government to essentially move out of owning parts of variou s companies and focusing their attention on more social issues such as the aging population of the country. It seems that the OECD is suggesting quite clearly to China that future development of the country is going to depend on the nature and the measure of human development experienced by China. While it is easy to agree with this position of the OECD, it must be kept in mind that the human development in China can be directly linked to the economic development of the country. Therefore, both have to become equally important for the state if sustained development is to be made in either of the two.

воскресенье, 27 октября 2019 г.

Critical Review Determination Of Accounting Standards Accounting Essay

Critical Review Determination Of Accounting Standards Accounting Essay Ross L. Watts and Jerold L. Zimmerman explore factors that motivate companies in lobbying on accounting standards and examine whether their opinion on certain standards are associated with their size. They use data from the companies which submit comments to the FASBs Discussion Memorandum on General Price Level Adjustment. The empirical evidence supports the argument that the firms tend to choose accounting standards which report lower earnings due to political and regulatory considerations. Their findings also confirm that big firms are more likely to be subjected to governmental interference. However, the paper might not be based on strong theoretical foundations. Moreover, some assumptions used in the paper could decrease the external validity of the research. I. Introduction Ross L. Watts and Jerold L. Zimmerman have written a remarkable paper in accounting research which attempt to provide positive theory about factors influencing companies in lobbying on accounting standards. The paper also discuss the question whether the size of the companies affect their opinion on certain standards. This paper is important because it makes contribution to the positive accounting theory development. It might be the first paper which attempt to provide empirical evidence on positive accounting theory about factors influencing management attitude on certain accounting standards. The data and the issues discussed were new in that period. It contributes to a literature that has uncovered empirical regularities in accounting practice (Holthausen and Leftwich, 1983 and Watts and Zimmerman, 1986 as discussed in Watts and Zimmerman, 1990 p 131). The literature has been developing since the publication of this paper in 1978 (Watts and Zimmerman, 1990 p 132). Though, the pape r also brought considerable debate among researchers. This essay intends provide critical review and highlights some important points from the paper by reviewing in four main areas: (i) research paradigm, (ii) theoretical framework, (iii) methodology, and (iv) research findings. The following section discusses about research paradigm used in the paper. The next section explores criticisms on the theoretical framework of the research. Section four reviews the methodology used in the research. Section five examines important finding from this paper. Finally, the last section presents some conclusion about the paper. II. Research Paradigm The researchers discussed an interesting topic in accounting theory. They use positivism paradigm in the research. This paradigm gets many criticisms when it is used in the social science research. According to Collis and Hussey (2009), positivism is criticized based on five main arguments. First, it is impossible to separate people from the social context in which they exist. Second, people cannot be understood without examining the perceptions they have of their own activities. Third, a highly structured research design imposes constrains on the results and may ignore other relevant findings. Fourth, researchers are not subjective, but part of what they observe. They bring their own interests and values to the research. Fifth, capturing complex phenomena in a single measure is misleading(Collis and Hussey, 2009, p. 56). Furthermore, Sterling (1990, p. 98) argued that Instead of trying to determine how to improve the present state of accounting we are told to try to determine the pr esent state of accounting. However, Watts and Zimmerman argued that they adopted the label positive from economics where it was used to distinguish research aimed at explanation and prediction from research whose objective was prescription (Watts and Zimmerman, 1990, p.148). Therefore, the evidence generated from researches using this paradigm will improve the development of accounting theory by providing explanations and predictions for normative research. Moreover, positivism as one of paradigm in research is used for many researches in social science today (Collis and Hussy, 2009). This paradigm is underpinned by the belief that reality is independent of us and the goal is the discovery of theories, based on empirical research (Collis and Hussy, 2009). III. Theoretical Framework The paper starts with the discussion about factors determining management attitudes toward financial accounting standards. The discussion based on two assumptions. First, individuals act to maximize their own utility(Watts and Zimmerman, 1978, p.113). This assumption means that management attitudes on certain accounting standards are based on its interest to maximize its own utility. Second, managements utility is a positive function of the expected compensation in the future periods (or wealth) and a negative function of the dispersion of future compensation (or wealth) (Watts and Zimmerman, 1978, p.114). The expected forms of compensation for management that are used in this research are incentive compensation and share price increase. The discussion then continues with the description of factors affecting management wealth. Those factors are taxes, regulation, political costs, information production costs, and management compensation plans. Each factor gives different impact on the way management chooses accounting standards. The researchers argue that management tend to choose accounting standards which report lower earnings (thereby increasing cashflows, firm value and their welfare) due to tax, political, and regulatory considerations than to choose accounting standard which report higher earnings and, thereby, increase their incentive compensation(Watts and Zimmerman, 1978, p.118). They also argue that this prediction depend on the political pressure on the firms and whether they are regulated or not. Another consideration that management should consider is the cost of information production as a consequence of the implementation of new standards. Based on the combination of factors affecting management wealth, they created two models that describe two possible conditions. The first model depicts the condition when the change in accounting standards will decrease the earnings of the firms and the second model depicts the condition when the earnings are increase. In short, the theory pronounces that there are three possible attitudes of the companies when the change in accounting standards decreases their earnings: submit favorable opinion, submit unfavorable opinion, or do no submit opinion. On the other hand, only two possible attitudes of the companies if the change in accounting standards increases their earnings: submit unfavorable opinion or do no submit opinion. The choice taken by the companies depends on the size of the companies. One of the important points explained in the paper is that the researchers omit some variables in developing the theory. Two of them are described in their paper. First, they realized that, generally, the factors influencing the regulation cost of utility companies is not only net income but also operating earnings. Second, they omit political sensitivity of the firms industry because there is no underlying theory to discuss this factor at that time. The theories used on this research got many criticisms. It needs verification and replication (Holthausen and Leftwitch, 1983 p. 100). The researchers should be able to understand and explained it well before conducting their research (Christenson, 1983 p. 20). Hines (1988 p. 661) suggested clarifying whether their theories were universal or probabilistic, and if the latter, explained on what conceptual grounds they should be held to be so. Therefore, it is better to test the theories first using another hypothesis before analyzing data using the theories (Hines. 1988 p. 661). However, Watts and Zimmerman argue that although the criticisms are relevant, those criticisms placed unreasonable demand on study (Watts and Zimmerman, 1990, p.149). In addition, their theories provide theoretical basis for other researches in accounting. For instance, Milne (2002, p.371) argued the theories provide the stated theoretical basis for a number of social disclosure studies. Moreover, this paper was probably the only paper which predicts corporate lobbying behavior as a function of firm-specific factors' (Holthausen and Leftwitch, 1983 p. 95). Another important point in the paper is that the researchers only focus on shareholders, creditors, and government in explaining some factors influencing management accounting choice. In fact, there are many users of financial statements have not discussed thoroughly in the paper. Those are employee, analyst-adviser, supplier and trade creditor, customer, competitors, and the public. The public includes taxpayers, consumers and other community and special interest groups, such as political parties, consumer and environmental protection societies and regional pressure groups. Each user has different interest on the firms. Therefore, they might influence the accounting choice. For instance, the accounting choice taken by the firm which has a significant impact on increasing its earnings will stimulate employees to ask for bonuses or even increase in their salaries. Conversely, if the accounting choice taken by firm has a significant impact on decreasing its earnings, it will make emplo yees worry about their job security. Then, it might increase employee the turnover in the firm. Finally, it would be interesting if the paper also discuss cultural differences between companies. It could be one important factor influencing management accounting choice. Each firm consists of groups of people who share their culture based on their top managements policies. This culture will also determine the firm accounting choice. The link between accounting value and cultural value (Alexander et all. (2009) discussed research by Gray (1988) based on Hofstede (1984) classification scheme) could be used to analyze the accounting choice of the firm. For instance, some firms might choose a more conservative accounting choice because their cultural characteristic is uncertainty avoidance. It might also explain why some big size companies did not submit their opinion on the discussion memorandum. IV. Methodology The researchers used voluntary disclosure regarding GPLA Statements for some companies that published such disclosure to predict the position of the companies on the new standard. For the others companies, they used the studies from Davidson and Weil (1975) and Davidson, Stickney, and Weil (1976) who develop an adjusting procedure which relies solely on published financial statements and GNP deflators. Furthermore, they also constructed proxy variables based on unadjusted depreciation and net monetary assets. They argue that these proxy variables can serve as a surrogate for the effect of GPLA earnings. One of main the problems is the dependent variable used by the researchers. They divided the responses into two categories, the companies which agree and disagree with the memorandum. This dichotomy does not represent the actual condition since some responses might consist of agreement on certain points in the memorandum but disagreement on other points (Holthausen and Leftwitch, 1983 p. 104). Another problem is the assumption that the companies which did not mention the compensation or reply the questioner assumed no compensation plans. This assumption may lead to the conclusion bias. The next important point is the use of firms size to proxy for political cost. The decision to use this method might be affected by condition at the time the paper was written. During the 1970s, oil companies dominated the largest of the US companies, and they were also subject to much public outrage and political scrutiny during and immediately following the oil crisis of 1973 (Milne, 2002, p.374). However, Hilnes suggested to avoid the use of crude proxies such as the use of firm size to operationalize the concept of political cost' (Hines. 1988 p. 661). Watts and Zimmerman (1990) as discussed by Milne (2002, p.377) finally realized that the size is too noisy as a proxy. Subsequent to their research, empirical studies have tended to use or suggest a wider range of measures to proxy for political costs (Milne, 2002, p.377). They may needs to elaborate the effect of firms stage of growth in accounting choice. The nature of managements solution (including the accounting choice) to each revolutionary period determines whether a company will move forward into its next stage of evolutionary growth (Greiner, 1972). The firm should choose the right solution (including accounting choice) in order to survive. Companies which are in the earlier stage of development will tend to maximize their profit while more mature companies will focus on sustainability issues. The focus on sustainability issues might stimulate companies to respond differently in order to survive in their environment. This argument could be an explanation why companies with different size have different respond to certain standards (Watts and Zimmerman, 1978). In terms of analysis, the focuses of the research on political cost especially on the effect of government intervention might reduce its external validity. The analyses conducted in isolation of other factors are inappropriate because accounting is used for many purposes (Fields et all. 2001, p. 300). The proposition that corporations will do anything to support the decision of accounting procedures that minimize reported earnings might not suitable for the companies with accounting-based debt covenants. The empirical evidence shows that those companies are more likely to choose income-increasing accounting methods (Begley, 1990 p. 138). Another research by Sweeney (1994) on the companies which violated debt covenants found that managers tend to do accounting change to increase the income figure in the years surrounding technical defaults. In summary, the researchers should be careful in using assumptions. They have to realize that their focus on political cost especially on the effect of government intervention might reduce external validity of the research. V. Research Findings Finally, the research provides important findings generated from this research. First, the empirical evidence supports the argument that the firms tend to choose accounting standards which report lower earnings due to political and regulatory considerations. Those firms are the firms that have contact with the government directly through regulation or indirectly through possible government intervention. Their findings also confirm that big firms are more likely to be subjected to governmental interference. The existence of costs generated by government intervention may have more fundamental and important effects on its investment-production decision if the potential costs of government interference become large. Based on this research, McKee et all. (1984. P. 658) then replicate the research using a larger sample. Unfortunately, the results from this research are not satisfactory. The evidences do not support the theories provided by this research. McKee et all. (1984. P. 647) argued that there are some problems regarding the test procedures and its underlying theories. However, the findings generated from this research are now become important consideration in conducting researches in accounting especially regarding earnings management. Research in this topic usually aims to find companies that tend to choose accounting standards which will affect their earnings. Therefore, most of researchers in this topic eliminate companies in regulated industries (utilities and financial companies) from their sample to minimize the effects of political and regulatory considerations (For example: Madhogarhia et all., 2009; Roychowdhury, 2006). Conclusion In summary, this paper is a remarkable paper in accounting research. It gives starting point in the development of positive theory in accounting. It might be the first research that investigates factors influencing management accounting choice. Though, there are some important points need to be improved in this research. The most important point is the improvement in theoretical framework. Based on the discussion on the paper, it could be concluded that accounting choice is a function of internal and external influences. Internal influences comprise some factors such as culture and stages of growth of the companies while external influences comprise changes in tax, regulation, information production cost, and management compensation costs. Combination of those influences affects the attitude of the company to certain changes, including the attitude toward the change of certain accounting standards. Iin order to improve the development of the theory in this topic, Fields et all. (2001, p. 299-300) made three recommendations. First, researchers should give more efforts to investigate the nature of the implications of alternative accounting methods rather than just testing the implications. Then, the research should not focus only to one accounting issue or one goal. Even though the tasks become more complex, they will give a better contribution to the development of theoretical framework in accounting. Finally, the researchers should develop more powerful statistical techniques and improve research design (Fields et all. 2001, p. 300). References: Alexander, D., Anne B., and A. Jorissen (2009) International Financial Reporting and Analysis, Cengage Learning, Hampshire, UK. Begley, J., (1990) Debt Covenant and Accounting Choice, Journal of Accounting and Economics 12, 125-139. Christenson, C., (1983) The methodology of positive accounting, The Accounting Review, Vol.58, N0.1, pp 1-22. Collis. J., and Roger H., (2009) Business Research: A Practical Guide for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students, Palgrave Macmillan, UK. Fields, T., Lys, T., and Vincent, L., (2001) Empirical Research on Accounting Choice, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Vol. 31, pp. 255-307. Greiner, L. E., (1972) Evolution and Revolution as Organization Grow, Harvard Business Review (July-August): 37 -46. Madhogarhia, P., Ninon K. S., and Theodor K., (2009) Earnings Management Practices Among Growth and Value Firms, Applied Financial Economics, 19, 1767-1778. Hines. R. D. (1988) Poppers methodology of falsificationism and accounting research, The Accounting Review, (October): 657-662. Holthausen. R. W. and R. W. Leftwich. 1983 The economic consequences of accounting choice: Implications of costly contracting and monitoring, Journal of Accounting Economics, (August): 77-117. McKee. A. J., Jr., T. B. Bell, and J. R. Boatsman (1984) Management preferences over accounting standards: A replication and additional tests, The Accounting Review, (October):647-659. Roychowdhury, S. (2006) Earnings Management Through Real Activities Manipulation, Journal of Accounting and Economics 42, 335-370. Sterling, R., (1990), Positive accounting: An assessment, Abacus, Vol.26, pp. 97-135. Sweeney, A. P. (1994), Debt-covenant violations and managers accounting responses, Journal of Accounting and Economics, 17, 281-308. Watts, R. L. and J. L. Zimmerman, (1978), Towards a positive theory of the determination of accounting standards, The Accounting Review, (January): 112-134. Watts, R., Zimmerman, J., (1990), Positive accounting theory: A ten year perspective, The Accounting Review 65, 131-156.

пятница, 25 октября 2019 г.

Immigration and Language in Call it Sleep Essay -- essays papers

Immigration and Language in Call it sleep Immigrant Allegory: Language and the Symbolism of Being Lost The symbolism of being lost is a universal immigrant theme that occurs throughout many immigrant literatures, particularly in Henry Roth’s Call it Sleep. Language, or lack of understanding it, has a profound contribution to the process of being lost. This contribution is shown earlier in the book, in a passage where David is lost trying to find his way home (Passage 1) and is mirrored later on in the book, when David and Aunt Bertha are lost in a museum (Passage 2). The restriction of the usage of language in both passages portrays to us the inevitable and ubiquitous immigrant dilemma: I talk, eat, and live like this new country with the intention of assimilation, but my lack of freedom with the language parallels my lack of freedom and acceptance in this new country – how can I overcome it? The similarities, differences, and dramatic ironic symbolism in these two passages will attempt to answer that question. The first obvious similarity between these two passages is that both of them deal with the superficial and latent meanings of being lost. In Passage 1, David is lost on the streets and is desperately trying to find his way to a familiar neighborhood. He asks a white gentleman (such an inference is due to the book’s description of the man having a blond moustache and his good command of the English language) whether or not he knows where Bodder Street is. Pronunciation differences between the two lead David on, what seems to be, a never-ending quest to find his house. The superficial meaning is that David is lost, trying to find his house. The latent meaning is that David is lost, trying to find a home: a place ... ...come the difficulty of belonging to this new culture because of his lack of freedom with the English language. It is this downfall that causes David to become lost in these two passages. In most cases, people who share the same language also share a similar culture, therefore forming a community. That community’s bond is in its language, which facilitates communication between its members. When a person who is not familiar with this community’s language is placed in it, that person will most certainly feel lost. David has shown us that the link between language and being lost is a universal immigrant theme that can be understood as follows: an immigrant can look, eat, and live like his new country but still feel lost, unless that immigrant learns to become completely fluent with the usage of his new country’s language. Bibliography: Henry Roth, Call it sleep

четверг, 24 октября 2019 г.

Children of the World †Romero Britto Essay

The art of Romero Britto gathers symbiotic elements of popular culture from Pernambuco – a state in Brazil -with sophisticated graphic composition, in the presence of the hybridism of the postmodern art and the â€Å"glocalization† (global and local) culture of the Contemporary. Romero started drawing very young, copying the works of other artists he saw in books. He used to articulate compositions in a way that was simplified and naive, but always in bright colors. When he was about twenty-five years old he had the opportunity to go to Europe and then he moved to Miami, in the United States. There, he was painting walls and selling his paintings through the streets to survive. His amazing compositions with cheerful colors were pleasing to the public of this city. In 1989, Michel Roux, American importer of Absolut Vodka, saw his work and hired him to do the advertising campaign of the drink. The three works created by the artist were broadcast in over 60 international publications, promoting the drink quickly on the world stage. From this event on he has not stopped. He was satisfying to universal desires to live happily. In 1995 he did the campaign for Pepsi and had his designs printed on 1. million cans of soft drinks. In 1997 he was hired to portray the stars of Disney within the context of his art. He has also developed projects for IBM and Apple. His works have been printed on various products from packaging to cars and even fabrics and accessories for the fashion industry. Romero Britto settled in Miami, married an American, and built the first gallery of his various galleries in Brazil, Europe and USA. In the United States the artist seems to have turned the country idol of Pop Art, with collectors and admirers in high places in Hollywood and American government. For example: Eillen Guggenheim, a descendant of the founders of the Guggenheim Museum, considers him as a Pop artist at the same level of Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Roy Lichtenstein. The themes depicted in his works are daily, with simple lines and colors that give the artist an aspect of fun and humor to the figures portrayed. The character of his works publicity and array of colors, shades, and lines put him in the pop art scene and some call it neo pop. The painting explored in this work, called â€Å"Children of the World†, was created in 2006, in celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15). It was in exhibition in the Governor’s Gallery by Miami Beach artist Romero Britto. This exhibition was part of a statewide celebration initiated by Governor Jeb Bush to commemorate five centuries of Hispanic history, culture, and prosperity in Florida. The Colors The painting contains numerous colors. It is hard to define the predominant one, so a bunch of them will be defined to try to explain better the message of this painting. We can see the pink in different tonalities. Pink is the color of universal love. Also, pink is a quiet color and brings calm feelings, acceptance, contentment, relaxation, and neutralized disorder. This is one of the colors most evident in the painting, and those meanings define the purpose which is the celebration of a foreign culture (the Hispanic one) in the USA, in harmony with the American one. It wouldn’t be possible without the disorder neutralized, the acceptance of the differences, and mainly, love. Another color in evidence is the purple. According to Crystalcure. com, â€Å"Purple is the color of good judgment. Purple has been used to symbolize magic and mystery, as well as royalty. † Also, most children love this color. I believe that Britto used this color because it is well accepted by children, and they are one of the focuses in the painting. This color is also used because of the good judgment necessary to deal with the differences when you have opposite cultures. The yellow is also another evident color in the art. Yellow symbolizes wisdom, joy and happiness. This is the message that Romero Britto wants to show in all his paintings – the celebration of a happy life. We can observe a little bit of blue on the globe that the children are holding, which represents the ocean, but also we can observe it on the children’s body, with another meaning. The dark blue is the color of truth and moderation. The turquoise, found on the hair of the boy is the symbol of youth, and also the color of communication. It contains the growth quality of green with the blue quality of communication. Finally, the aqua is the color of high ideals. Brown and green are other colors found in the art. Combined, they represent wholesomeness and earthiness. They can signify growth and represent the simplicity, friendliness, dependability, renewal, and environment. The Shapes and Lines Talking about the lines, we can observe that the picture contains curves, parallel lines, and diagonal lines. Analyzing the shapes, we can find circles and organic shapes (for example, the flowers). Circles represent the eternal whole and in every culture are the form that represents the sun, the earth, the moon, and the universe. They have free movement, are warm, comforting and give a sense of sensuality and love. Their movement suggests energy and power. Their completeness suggests the infinite, unity, and harmony. Finally, they offer safety and connection. Circles suggest community, integrity, and perfection. The Organic shapes are irregular. They have more curves and are uneven. They tend to be pleasing, comforting and lovely. They are free and asymmetrical form and bring feelings of spontaneity. Organic shapes add interest and reinforce themes. In this case, the flowers reinforce the theme of purity, since children are one of the focuses in the art. Another organic shape found is the wing around the globe, which represents the freedom for people in the earth. The curved lines are softer than straight lines. They can be calm or dynamic depending on how much they curve. The less active the curve is the calmer is the feeling. In this art the lines are less active and represents calmer feelings and peace. The parallel lines are combined with the diagonal lines. Parallel lines of uniform width and spacing create a static and orderly effect. The diagonal lines are unbalanced though. They are filled with restless and uncontrolled energy. They can appear to be either rising or falling and convey action and motion. Diagonal lines are more dramatic than either horizontal or vertical lines. Light and Space The feeling of space in a drawing or painting is always an illusion. The artists combine the use of light and dark value with other techniques. One of these found in the art is the simple overlapping, with the globe on the children’s hand. This simple overlapping partially hides an object that’s supposed to be behind it. The globe and its wings are covering part of the hair of the children and their hand as well, so that makes it look like is closer to us. Also, the asymmetrical balance is used, so that means the patterns are placed an unbalanced way in the composition. It promotes feelings of stress, energy and excitement. The light reveals shape, texture, and color. A flat light attempt to eliminate all shadows of the image, and it’s what we can observe in the art. Romero Britto hardly uses Chiaroscuro’s lighting (this one creates strong shadows and is typically associated with emotion or suspense). His works are known mainly because of the brightness and live colors, which make his arts more happy and alive. Conclusion  This art was created by Britto to celebrate the National Hispanic Heritage Month. He decided to have two children as his focus, who were happy and in harmony despite their different culture (we can see by their eyes that one is oriental and the other one is not. The name of the art also brings this notion that they are from different parts of the world. ). The children are holding a globe, which has white wings. This action represents the world is moving toward peace and freedom, and the children can be the agents for that. The colors used combined bring harmony to the art. The pink represents the love, calm feelings, acceptance and contentment. If combined with the purple, good judgment becomes easier, which is the main meaning of this color. The happiness created by the yellow join with the youth and communication created by the blue, make the world a better place to live. The friendliness and the renewal represented by the green and the brown express the power that children have to have good relationships with everybody and make the next generation more harmonious. The circles represent the connection between people in the world, and the power that we have as well. We can find this shape everywhere in the art, so Britto wants to reinforce the idea of the integrity and community. That is the purpose of this art for this event in which it was exposed. The lines bring a contradiction though. At the same time that the parallel lines bring the order, the fact that they are in diagonal show restless and uncontrolled energy. That is exactly how the world looks. Right now it is not balanced and there are different forces coming from every direction. So, at the same time those children represent the next generation, the old one is still present and causing disorder. The soft curves balance the art bringing the peace and calm feelings to this conflicted world. The message passed by The Children Of The World went further than just a celebration of a month. It went further than a celebration of Hispanics living health in the USA. The message is that actually this new generation filled with love, energy, good feelings and friendliness has the power to change the future, and maybe one day all the world will be able to live in harmony and peace, not only this Hispanic community in the USA.

среда, 23 октября 2019 г.

Wine Making

The differences between red and white wines include the kinds of grapes used, the fermentation and aging process, and the character and flavor of the wine. White wines are almost always made from white grapes, although they can be made from black grapes, since the juice in most black grapes is clear. When white wine is made, the skins of the grapes are separated from the juice when they are put into a crushing machine. After filtering etc, the wine is aged by storing it in stainless steel or occasionally oak containers and bottled after a few months. White wines, then, are made without skins or seeds and are essentially fermented grape juice. They have a light character and have crisp fruit flavors and aromas. They can be sweet or dry or somewhere in between Red wine is usually made from red or black grapes, although all the kinds of grapes usually have a clear juice. The process of making red wine is different from the one of making white wine. After the grapes have been in the crushing machine, the red grapes with their skins and everything sit in a fermentation vat for a period of time, typically about one to two weeks. . The skins tend to rise to the surface of the mixture and form a layer on top. The winemaker frequently mixes this layer back into the fermenting juice (which is called must). After fermentation is over, the new wine is taken from the vat. A little â€Å"free run† juice is allowed to pour and the rest of the must is squeezed into â€Å"press wine†. The wine is clarified and then is stored, usually in oak containers, for several months until it is ready to be bottled. The oak containers add additional wood tannins and flavors to the wine which help to intensify it and add richness to it. The result of this process is that red wines exhibit a set of rich flavors with spicy, herby, and even meaty characteristics. Late harvest ice wines are the exceptions in both hemispheres. The grapes are typically left on the vine to increase the sugar content and may be harvested up to a few months after the traditional harvest. An indigenous yeast fermentations starts by itself when wild yeast strains – originating in the vineyard – start fermenting. Wild yeast can take up to a week to begin the fermentation because their initial populations are small compared to an inoculated fermentation. But there is strenuous debate as to whether the wild yeast come in from the vineyard or are already present in the cellar on winemaking equipment.

вторник, 22 октября 2019 г.

Execute and Run Applications and Files From Delphi Code

Execute and Run Applications and Files From Delphi Code The Delphi programming language provides a quick way to write, compile, package, and deploy applications cross-platform. Although Delphi creates a graphical user interface, there are bound to be times you want to execute a program from your Delphi code. Lets say you have a database application that uses an external backup utility. The backup utility takes parameters from the  application and archives the data, while your program waits until the backup finishes. Maybe you want to open documents presented in a file list box  just by double-clicking on them  without opening the associated program first. Imagine a link label in your program that takes the user to your home page. What do you say about sending an email directly from your Delphi application through the default Windows email client program? ShellExecute To launch an application or execute a file in a Win32 environment, use the ShellExecute Windows API function. Check out the help on ShellExecute for a  full description of parameters and error codes returned. You can open any document without knowing which program is associated with it- the link is defined in the Windows Registry. Here are some shell examples.   Run Notepad uses ShellApi;...ShellExecute(Handle, open,c:\Windows\notepad.exe, nil, nil, SW_SHOWNORMAL) ; Open SomeText.txt With Notepad ShellExecute(Handle,open,c:\windows\notepad.exe,c:\SomeText.txt, nil, SW_SHOWNORMAL) ; Display the Contents of the "DelphiDownload" Folder ShellExecute(Handle,open, c:\DelphiDownload, nil, nil, SW_SHOWNORMAL) ; Execute a File According to Its Extension ShellExecute(Handle, open, c:\MyDocuments\Letter.doc,nil,nil,SW_SHOWNORMAL) ; Heres how to find an application associated with an extension. Open a Website or a *.htm File With the Default Web Explorer ShellExecute(Handle, open,http://delphi.about.com,nil,nil, SW_SHOWNORMAL) ; Send an Email With the Subject and the Message Body var em_subject, em_body, em_mail : string;begin em_subject : This is the subject line; em_body : Message body text goes here; em_mail : mailto:delphiaboutguide.com?subject em_subject body em_body ; ShellExecute(Handle,open, PChar(em_mail), nil, nil, SW_SHOWNORMAL) ;end; Heres how to send an email with the attachment. Execute a Program and Wait Until It Finishes The following example uses the ShellExecuteEx API function. // Execute the Windows Calculator and pop up// a message when the Calc is terminated.uses ShellApi;...var SEInfo: TShellExecuteInfo; ExitCode: DWORD; ExecuteFile, ParamString, StartInString: string;begin ExecuteFile:c:\Windows\Calc.exe; FillChar(SEInfo, SizeOf(SEInfo), 0) ; SEInfo.cbSize : SizeOf(TShellExecuteInfo) ; with SEInfo do begin fMask : SEE_MASK_NOCLOSEPROCESS; Wnd : Application.Handle; lpFile : PChar(ExecuteFile) ;{ParamString can contain theapplication parameters.}// lpParameters : PChar(ParamString) ;{StartInString specifies thename of the working directory.If ommited, the current directory is used.}// lpDirectory : PChar(StartInString) ; nShow : SW_SHOWNORMAL; end; if ShellExecuteEx(SEInfo) then begin repeat Application.ProcessMessages; GetExitCodeProcess(SEInfo.hProcess, ExitCode) ; until (ExitCode STILL_ACTIVE) or Application.Terminated; ShowMessage(Calculator terminated) ; end else ShowMessage(Error starting Calc!) ;end;