Article Critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Article Critique - Essay Example In their article, Jehlen and Kopkowski identify two major factors that are driving the push to disband large urban high schools in favor of small schools of less than 400 students. These factors are No Child Left Behind and large grants given by the Bill Gates Foundation. The article presents a brief overview of the positives and negatives of the small high school approach and then examines two sample high schools and presents interviews with the educators in these schools. One major issue the article does not address is the exact reasons that No Child Left Behind and the Bill Gates Foundation are causing such an impact on school reform. The authors mention that No Child Left Behind calls for increasing consequences for schools with lagging achievement and then state that these consequences force the schools to do something, regardless of what that something is but provide no additional details. Also, Jehlen and Kopkowski state that the Gates Foundation provides money to promote the building of smaller schools, but then contradict this information by revealing that the Foundation is no longer in support of smaller schools but is in support of more qualified faculty. A breakdown of the amount of money that the Gates Foundation donates to school districts would help the reader understand the amount of influence the foundation has. In the first of two high schools that are the focus of the article, the authors present Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kansas. The school was a large high school with discipline problems ranging from arson to assault. After breaking the school into small learning communities, discipline problems plummeted and test scores rose. Jehlen and Kopkowski interview several teachers who all agree that the reform was positive. The only problem with the analysis is that the authors present such an extreme case. Very few schools deal with arson and assaults on the faculty with any regularity. The teachers working in this school admitted that they did not want to return the next day to teach. With subjects such as these, the study is biased. In such a difficult school, teachers would vastly overestimate the value of any reform that had any positive results. Any reduction in behavioral problems would be lauded by staff and administration. The second high school that Jehlen and Kopkowski focus on is Life Academy in Oakland, California. In Oakland, the school budget is being cut and the school illustrates the negatives of moving to the small school format. The teachers are forced to teach multiple preps, there is very little variety in the curriculum, and there are very few extracurricular activities. The analysis of Life Academy suffers for the same reason as that of Wyandotte High School. Few systems are in the extreme budget crunch of Oakland, and teachers who are in underfunded schools are more likely to report negatives of any reform. So, it is unsurprising that the interviews that Jehlen and Kopkowski conducted at Li fe Academy were primarily pessimistic. Overall, I believe that the current idea in school reform is a move forward in technology. School districts are still attempting to create smaller schools, but the push is for online education. Smaller schools cost more in resources, personnel, and other factors. Online education is much cheaper and requires fewer resources than smaller schools. Since districts are now concerned with saving money, the current school reform is online

Comparisons of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs Essay Example for Free

Comparisons of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs Essay I think the decisions of both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were unethical and wrong. To start with, they were both dropouts of college. Bill Gates was a drop out of Harvard University and Steve Jobs dropped out of Berkley University. Steve Jobs was adopted where as Bill Gates had his original family. Steve Jobs was a very odd man, to say the least. He was a hippie in the early days of his life. He did drugs such as acid. Bill Gates was a very plain boring person. He loved to play poker and was a very wreck less person in his actions. Steve Jobs did not develop the original ideas of Apple; instead, Steve Wazniack was the original inventor of the Apple Computer. Both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs went to MITS wanting to test out the Altair, the owner of MITS gave both Steve and Bill a Altair unit, Bill had to talk the owner into giving him one though because Bill wanted a $4,000 signing bonus. Bill Gates goes to IBM and offers to license them an operating system called DOS, little did IBM know that they did not even have it yet, IBM is willing to buy a license to DOS. Therefore, Bill Gates buys DOS from a Seattle worker for $50,000; when the worker hears that he is willing to give him $50,000 dollars, his jaw hits the floor, and he sells it right away. Steve Jobs is a giant jerk to his employees. He makes them work 90 hours weeks, screams, and yells when they do not accomplish a huge task on a small deadline. He made an employee so mad one time that the employee jumped up and slammed Jobs’ face off the wall. Bill gates on the other hand, is a very caring person when it comes to his employees, he is afraid to over work them and gives them lots of vacation time. Both men are married and have children. Steve Jobs’ tried to deny that he was the father of his first-born daughter Lisa. The Apple Lisa was named so because of her.

Computer Science Essays VB Net

Computer Science Essays VB Net Microsoft VB.NET is part of the .NETframework. Discuss the impact of VB.NET on the Visual Basic programmer. Abstract The impact of the introduction of the .NET framework withspecific reference to the effect on the Visual Basic programmer will beconsidered. A brief overview of the development of Visual Basic and the .NETframework will be given and a comparison of the two will be made withparticular focus on object orientation. Changes to web application developmentand database connectivity will be explored. Issues surrounding the portabilityof legacy Visual Basic code will be examined. Conclusions will be drawn onregarding changes to the role of the Visual Basic programmer. Visual Basic evolved from the Beginners All-PurposeSymbolic Instruction Code (BASIC) language created by John Kemeny and ThomasKurtz at Dartmouth College. BASIC began as compiled language and was used for asignificant amount of application development. A BASIC interpreter wasdeveloped by Paul Allen and Bill Gates of the Microsoft Corporation for theAltair. This was released in 1975 and began Microsofts long relationship withBASIC culminating in the release of Professional Development System BASIC.(Mack, G. 2004) In 1989 Bill Gates predicted, Futureversions of BASIC will increasingly provide support for this kind ofprogramming. The programs will look different from the BASIC were all used to.A visual BASIC program will be a mixture of code, programmer-written objects,and visually specified objects. (Jacobson, M) In 1987 Alan Worthcreated Ruby, a graphical programming environment that was combined with PDSBASIC to create Visual Basic. Visual Basic 1.0 was released in 1991 and wentthrough six incarnations leading to Visual Basic 6.0 in 1998. This marked thestart of a phase change in Microsofts programming architecture and six yearslater Visual Basic 7 was released as part of the .NET framework (Mack G, 2004,AddressOf, 2003). The purpose of the history listed above is to give contextto the installed base of Visual Basic code. Visual Basic has been extant for 14years and has remained unchanged for the last 6 of these. John Kemenys vision was to create a language of suchsimplicity that every computer user could write code. While this vision is yetto be realized Visual Basic 6.0 has the best claim on being its inheritor. Dueto its ease of use VB 6.0 has been used to create a vast installed base ofcode. This presents a number of issues to both the VB programmer and to theuser/owner of the system. VB 6.0 To address an issue like the impact of VB.NET on the VB 6.0programmer it is necessary to consider what purpose VB 6.0 serves. VB 6.0builds applications for the Windows environment. It is a fully-fledgedprogramming language with support for the standard control structures, datastorage and file I/O. VB 6.0 exhibits a degree of interoperability throughMicrosofts Component Object Model (COM) specification. VB 6.0 is object awareand can with careful programming be shoehorned into behaving as an objectorientated programming language (Deitel, H 1999). VB 6.0 is an appropriate language choice to support aproject team engaged in rapid prototyping or in the Windows environment. Theprefabricated components and drag and drop design tools allow GUI constructionin short time frames. VB 6.0 would also be an appropriate tool to supportprojects based Rapid Application Development paradigm for similar reasons. Inthe context of a RAD project other tools will either be integrated with VB 6.0or supplant it as some point in the project cycle. VB 6.0 has strong support for building web application andweb front-ends to server applications using sockets and TCP/UDP and HTTP. VBScript is supported in HTML. VB 6.0 would be an appropriate tool for e-commerceprojects. VB 6.0 may be an appropriate choice for SMEs attempting tocode a project in house given the simplicity of the language, the abundance oftutorial information available and the speed of development. SMEs that adoptthis approach may consider that having made the initial investment in VB 6.0technology and training continuing to support VB 6.0 makes good business senseparticularly if initial projects are successful. This attitude may continue,and involve VB 6.0 in project were it is not the most appropriate technologicalchoice. VB 6.0 excites a range of opinion among its users and thewider programming community. Supporters of VB 6.0 can reach evangelical fervourin its defence, to the extent that Microsofts decision to cease supporting VB6.0 resulted in a petition that has garnered close to six thousand signaturessince 8th March 05 including 243 Most Valued Professionals (MVPs)(Whitelist, 2005). Among such gurus VB is generally praised for its simplicityand is credited with encouraging non-programmers to become programmers. This isvery much in line with John Kemenys original vision. .NET .NET is heavily influenced by the ideas of portabilitygarnered from the Java project of Sun Microsystems. A Java program compiles toan intermediate bytecode that is then interpreted by the Java Virtual Machine(JVM) (Horstmann, C. 2001). .NET adopts a similar strategy of compilation ofcode to an intermediate language Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL). TheCommon Language Runtime (CLR) then compiles MSIL to native code. Where .NETbuilds upon the Java project is by including multiple front-end programminglanguages and giving them all the capability to build MSIL. With the .NET framework Microsoft has embraced ObjectOrientated philosophy. IL is fully OO compliant and fully supportsencapsulation, inheritance and polymorphism (MSDN 2005a). VB.NET Of the various front-end languages of the .NET frameworkVB.NET has undergone the most radical evolution. To take advantage of theinteroperability offered by the CLR (i.e. that code written in one language canfreely interact with code from another language) VB.NET has had to become fullyobject orientated. Comparing this with the previous method of achievinginteroperability, (i.e. COM, DCOM and ActiveX) a platform specific binarystandard, Microsoft considers the advantages of complete interoperabilitysufficient to warrant the wholesale change of the VB paradigm to OO. (Deitel, h1003) VB.NET introduces exception handling to the VB 6.0programmer. The advantages offered by exception handling are in improving thereadability of code and in improving the efficiency of code. This is in linewith Microsofts view that the .NET framework is designed for scalability. Theinline error handling of VB 6.0, particularly in large scale applications willcreate code that is difficult to maintain. The .NET framework Class Library makes concurrencyprimitives available to the .NET languages. VB.NET therefore allows thecreation of multithreaded applications. This capability represents asubstantial increase in the complexity of software that can be created by VB.NETover VB 6.0. The VB 6.0 graphics library has been supplanted by GraphicsDevice Interface (GDI)+ API. Although VB 6.0 is unlikely to be the graphicstool of choice it is worth noting that VB 6.0 graphics will not upgrade toVB.NET graphics, and will need to be rewritten in using the GDI+ vectorgraphics tools. These changes, while not syntactically or conceptuallyproblematic for previously object-oriented languages such as C++, have asignificant impact on VB. VB 6.0 can be described as object aware. It iscapable of creating classes and supports interfaces, but has no support fordirect method implementation inheritance. VB 6.0 is based on an event drivenprogramming model. In the previous section some of the difference between VB6.0 and VB.NET have been discussed. The following section considers the changebetween the two languages in the context of web development and databaseconnectivity. One of the most common uses of VB 6.0 was createapplications with database connectivity. Microsoft created a number ofconnection controls (e.g. DAO, RDO, ODBC and ADO). VB 6.0 supports each type ofconnection and the choice of connection is largely based on the supportprovided for it by the database. VB.NET includes a range of support for theseconnection types, with the exclusion of DAO and RDO data binding capability.VB.NET also includes support for ADO.NET. The changes offered by ADO.NET aresummarized in the following paragraph. The most significant change in ADO.NET the separationbetween the physical data model and the logical model used by the control.ADO.NET thus provides a disconnected programming model allowing for greaterscalability, which is particularly valuable for providing web access. ADO.NETis a rebuild of the ADO control incorporating XML support from the ground upwhich again contributes to its usability over the web. XML can be used to movedata between computer, which contributes to the interoperability of ADO.NETwith non-Windows platform and also solves the problem in ADO 2.0 of having tomove binary (COM) files across firewalls. The following paragraph considers theimpact of these changes on the VB programmer. (McManus, P. 2003) While ADO is separate from VB, it is included here due to itbeing a common use for VB programmers. The impact of ADO.NET as part of the.NET upgrade will be to allow VB programmers to continue building front-endapplications to databases with the added facility to support many moreconcurrent users and the added flexibility of XML. This provides an opportunityfor VB 6.0 programmers to continue their professional development with familiarsyntax and programming philosophy but at the same time begin to consider objectconcepts. Another area that has seen significant change with theintroduction of the .NET framework is web programming. ASP.NET now supportsVB.NET code rather than the older model where ASP add-ons would be written inVB Script, a subset of VB 6.0. This gives the VB.NET programmer access to allof the features of the language when running server-side applications. Additionally, VB.NET can be used to create Web services.These are class libraries that can be access via a Remote Procedure Call (RPC).The VB.NET programmer can therefore produce SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol- an open XML compliant standard) compliant services or consume them via theInternet (WC3, 2004, Buyens, J. 2002). VB 6.0 has been around for six years and VB since 1991. Itis arguably the worlds most popular programming language. There is therefore asubstantial volume of VB 6.0 code in use today. VB will continue withoutsupport for some years hence but Microsoft is encouraging users to upgrade toVB.NET. Part of Microsofts strategy to facilitate this upgrade is theprovision of a code conversion tool within the VB.NET IDE. Microsoft claimsthat 95% of code will upgrade without difficulty and for that which does notthey have provided a simple to use tagging system with dynamic help to allowthe programmer to refactor the code quickly. The issues raised by the code convertermay be trivial type conversion issues or non-trivial issues such as connectingto legacy COM files. The code converter assumes that the VB 6.0 programmer isready to work in the OO paradigm and leads to an oversimplified view ofconversio (Piquet, L. 2002). While the automated code converter is a useful tool forquickly arriving at code that will build and run, it does not address issuessuch as the refactoring required to make the original source comply with theprinciples of object orientated design, the extensive retesting of working(possibly mission critical) code that would be required before substitutioncould occur or the extensive retraining program required for VB 6.0 programmerswithout wider language exposure to be confident in using VB.NET (MSDN, 2005b). Conclusion For the purposes of this discussion VB 6.0 programmers arecategorised into the following groups; formally trained (Computer Sciencegraduates), work based trained (other graduates/non graduates using VB 6.0 in aprofessional context). For formally trained graduates in CS then the changes inVB.NET may not be significant. CS graduates are likely to be aware of ObjectOrientation and have had exposure to a variety of programming languages. Theseprogrammers are more likely to view VB as a tool and be using it for what it isbest suited for i.e. prototyping in RAD projects and building desktopfront-ends to other more powerful applications (e.g. databases). For the second class of programmers with exposure only to VB6.0 there will one of two reactions. Some will see the enhancement to thefunctionality in VB.NET as an opportunity to develop new skills, to integratemore effectively into project teams and to take on more responsibility withinprojects. Others may see the added complexity and conceptual jump to OO asbarriers to productivity, progression and job security. Microsoft has committed to the .NET framework and looks setto make object orientation the dominant programming paradigm for theforeseeable future. The impact of VB.NET on the VB 6.0 programmer will besignificant in the medium to long term. RAD will continue to be a widely useddesign methodology and VB.NET programmers with an understanding of OO will havea valuable skill set in rapid prototyping. Microsoft is expecting the marketfor Web services to undergo significant growth. VB.NET will remain a strongcontender for developing web applications and database front ends on thedesktop. The future of a VB 6.0 programmer is as any other programmerin their ability to adapt to new programming paradigm, learn new skills andfind new opportunities, so the impact of .NET will depend ultimately on whetherthe programmer sees opportunities or barriers. References and Bibliography AddressOf.com (2003) Timeline: BASIC to Visual Basic .NEThttp://addressof.com/blog/articles/VBTimeline.aspx(accessed 26/04/05) Buyens, J. (2002), Web Database Development Step by Step,Microsoft Press, Redmond, Washington Deitel, H.; Deitel, P. and Nieto, T., (1999), VisualBasic 6 How To Program, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey Deitel, H.; Deitel, P. and Nieto, T., (2002) Visual Basic.NET How To Program, 2nd edition, Prentice Hall, Upper SaddleRiver, New Jersey Horstmann, C. and Cornell, G. (2001) Core Java Volume 1 -Fundamentals, Sun Microsystems, Palo Alto, California Jacobson, M. A History of Basic, http://www.softexsolutions.com/crc/programming/historyOfBasic.doc(accessed 26/040/05) Jones, P. (2003), Visual Basic .NET A Complete Object-OrientedProgramming Course Including Unified Modelling Language (UML), Continuum,York Road, London Mack, G. (2004), The History of Visual Basic and BASIC onthe PC, http://dc37.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/compsci/gmack/info/VBHistory.htm(accessed 26/04/05) McManus, P. and Goldstein, J., (2003), Database Accesswith Visual Basic .NET 3rd edition, Addison-Wesley, Boston MSDN (2005a) Overview of the .NET framework, http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpguide/html/cpovrintroductiontonetframeworksdk.asp(accessed 27/04/05) MSDN (2005b) Migrating, http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/using/migrating/default.aspx(accessed 27/04/05) Piquet, L. (2002), Abandoning the Fantasy of VB MigrationWizardry, http://www.devx.com/vb/article/16822(accessed 27/04/05) WC3 (2003), SOAP Version 1.2, http://www.w3.org/TR/soap12-part1/(accessed 27/04/05) (2005) A Petition For TheDevelopment Of Unmanaged Visual Basic And Visual Basic For Applications, http://classicvb.org/petition/(accessed 27/04/05)

Mona Hatoum :: Artist Mona Hatoum Essays

Mona Hatoum Most art scholars and critics examine the work of Mona Hatoum in relation to her ethnic and geopolitically charged background. In her own writings and interviews, however, Hatoum cautions against this "journalistic" approach. For her, the most important element of her art is its relationship to the body. When Hatoum immigrated from the Middle East to England, she immediately felt a sense of displacement when she perceived a mind/body disjunct that contradicted her own cultural experience: †¦it became immediately apparent to me that people were quite divorced from their bodies and very caught up in their heads, like disembodied intellectuals. So I was always very insistent on the physical in my work (Hatoum/Brett, 59). We relate to the world through our senses. You first experience an artwork physically†¦Meanings, connotations and associations come after the initial physical imagination, intellect, psyche are fired off by what you've seen (Hatoum/Archer, 8). I weigh this statement against theory by performance scholar Nelly Richard: The body is the physical agent of the structures of everyday experience. It is the transmitter of cultural messages†¦a repository of memories, an actor in the theatre of power, a tissue of affects and feelings. Because the body is at the boundary between biology and society†¦in terms of power, biography and history, it is the site 'par excellence' for transgressing the constraints of meaning (Richard, 208). Focusing on four works by Hatoum, I take a position that respects the artist's own intent and uses the body as a starting point for analyzing her work. However, I argue that it is necessary to consider her background in relation to the content of her art; it is because of her background as an exile from political violence that so much of Hatoum's work evokes a sense of danger by eliciting a visceral response from the viewer. I also argue that Hatoum's work insists that the viewer recognizes a second body, the implicit body of the oppressed. That insistence comes primarily from two elements of her background: her direct experience of living in the shadow of oppression, and her experience with feminist groups as an art student in London. Thus, in Hatoum's work, two bodies-the body of the viewer and an implicit body--engage in a dialectic. Necessarily then, I offer a brief glimpse into the background of Mona Hatoum. She is a Palestinian whose parents were exiled to Lebanon before she was born.

Beautiful art

In my presentation paper am going to describe how the artistic movements of early 1900s and the symbolism in Gustav Klimt’s painting†Pallas Athena† of 1898. I will view the Artist’s artistic representation in Greek mythology. Introduction. Gustav Klimt was an artist who was highly interested in the woman body rather than the essence of woman.From his works it is clear that he was so much interested in the feminist in the female body. To him the female body was something to look at and was not self sufficient. It is seen from his earlier drawings that the aspect of shame was absent.It is also evident that only his paintings were designed for the general public. An example is the painting of the kiss made in 1907/08. In this painting Klimt does a couple that is bound up. We can see various shades of gold and symbols. The couple is sharing a kiss against a bronze background. The male figure is depicted dominating the female and he is holding her face to bestow a kiss. The couple is situated at the edge of an escarpment that is highly flowered. The man is dressed in neutral colored rectangles and has a crown made of vines.The woman has a brightly colored tangent circles and her hair is full of flowers. I can interpret here that the painting shows the beauty, unity and finally selflessness that a couple can have when they first kiss. It is all about the combining forces and the unity of two. On the other hand we are going to have a look at Klimt’s other painting famously known as Pallas Athena. In this painting we see a total contrast of what Klimt enjoys doing rather prefers doing. The female perception is very different from what we get from the previous painting.Sexuality of a woman or heterosexuality is none of the themes in this painting. This research is going top so much dwell on the mythology behind this painting, Pallas Athena, and the iconography that is employed in the same. We are going to attempt to answer the question; what is the unique thing that is depicted in this painting? Why did Klimt sway from his normal theme? What is the female picture in all about in these painting? why does Klimt seem fascinated by powerful, threatening and dangerous female figures? Main Body Overview of the Goddess AthenaThe cult of Athena existed since time immemorial in Greece. Myths regarding this goddess were often rewritten to adapt the different cultural changing times in ancient Greek traditions. Between 42and 347 B. C. E one of the Greek philosophers, Plato,made identified This goddess with the Egyptian deity and Neith the Libyan deity as a goddess of hunting and war. This was during the early times referred to as predynastic. With time philosophy was applied with cult and hence Athena was referred to as the goddess of wisdom. This happened during the fifth century.She was also represented as the patroness of crafts and weaving, famously known as Athena Ergane. It his believed that she initiated the creation o f metals. She is perceived to have had wisdom over the cunning intelligence of some of other figures e. g. Oddysseus. At most times she is accompanied by Nike, who is a goddess of victory who in established icons, as we shall see later, offers Athena an extended hand. And she is also attended by an owl. In late myths, Athena wears a goatskin breastplate which is believed to have been given to her by Zeus her father. The goatskin breastplate was known as the Aegis.In most works she is seen with a helmet and a shield bearing the head of Gorgon Medusa who was referred to as the goddess Gorgoneion and was the hallmark of the early goddess cult in Greece. This shield as we shall see later is believed to be a votive gift of Perseus. We also see that a serpent is always accompanying the goddess and is shown at the base of the staff of her lace. There exists a less in frequency of association of ships, horses as well as chariots with this goddess. Athena is believed by Greeks as a goddess w ho is a helper of the many other gods and goddesses including Heracles, Oddysseus and Jason.She is also believed, accoding to the classical myth of the Greeks as a goddess without a lover, hence the name Athena Parthenos. A synonym of this is Athena the virgin. There exists an archaic myth that she was the mother of Erichthonius who she conceived by an attempted rape of Hephaestus, which as said to have failed. Another variation story of the serpent, also Erichthonius, say that he was born to Gaia the earth, when the rape to Athena failed and the semen landed on Gaia. Gaia became pregnant and after giving birth he was, the serpent, given to Athena by Gaia.In performing her roles and one of them being the protector of the city, she is also referred to as Athena Polias, meaning Athena of the city. She is believed to have had a special relationship with Athens. This is because of the etymological connection that exists in the names between the goddess and the city. Mythology of Athena Her birth According to Robert Graves an his book, the Greek myths he tells us about some of the early myths of Athena. She is believed to be a goddess who originated from Libya. Her worship to the Greeks came after the visitation of Crete as early as 4 000 BC.It is clear from his book that Hesiod (700bc) had a strong relation of Athena as a parthenogenesis daughter of Metis. Metis is a representation of wisdom or knowledge. He is a Titan who is believed to have ruled the planet mercury and the fourth day. Other variants argue that Zeus became the consort of Metis when his cult became dominant is said that Zeus swallowed Metis so that she could not bear any offspring. And also to avoid prophesy when change occurred that Metis was greater that Him. It was further believed that Metis was already pregnant.Metis is believed to have given birth to Athena and natured her inside Zeus. It reached a point when Athena finally busted from Zeus’s forehead. The Olympian version of the birt h of Athena It is believed according to this version of Athena birth, that she was a remade favorite daughter of Zeus. Where she was born fully armed from the swallowing of her mother, who was pregnant at the time. The story of her birth is seen in several versions. One of the commonly cited versions states that after Zeus had laid with Metis, who was perceived as the goddess of wisdom, thought and crafty, he immediately feared the consequences.He feared that Metis would eventually bore heirs who would be more powerful than himself. So as to avoid these consequences Zeus decided to swallow Metis all of a sudden. This happened when it was already too late and Metis had already conceived a child. Finally it is believed that Zeus was ion great pain and one of the many gods; Hephaestus, Palaemon among others, depending on the source cut Zeus head with a double headed axe, Minoan in nature. Athena finally leaped from Zeus head and she was fully grown. She was also armed and made a loud s hout of war.Ouranos heard Athena cry and was so trembled with fear. According to Plato, the Minoan culture of Crete was a source of the cult of Athena, from which saw the dawn of the Greek culture. It is also believed that, Hera, got so annoyed at the time. Apparently because Zeus produced a child by his own. She forced herself into conceiving and bearing herself a child. The child was known as Hephaestus. It is stated that Metis never bore any child after this incident. Therefore Zeus retained his supremacy in reigning in the mountain of Olympus. Greek myths became static at this point.The Pallas Athena story One of the major origin stories of Pallas Athena involves her mysterious epithets. There is belief that there existed a separate entity called Pallas who is invoked and it is not really defined whether he is Athena’s brother, sister or opponent. They are engaged in a fight and finally Athena wins and takes the name for her. . Gustav Klimt and Pallas Athena Gustav Klimt was born in Vienna on July 14; 1862. He was an Austrian symbolist painter. Klimt's main subject was the female body He is a product of a time when great change was taking place.This great change was known as a â€Å"self indulgent metropolis(Comini page 6)†. During this period people were listening what was known as Strauss’s operas. They were occasionally debating over sex made by Freud wherein startling postulations were. There existed a famous association during this time whose philosophy was known as â€Å"to the age its art and to art its freedom†. Klimpt belonged to this association. He had both talent and message. Klimt therefore decided that he was going to take eroticism to a step least expected by people of that period.As we can read from Comini page 8 we can clearly see that Gustav Klimt was a man who really wanted not anything les than personal freedom. He had a strong desire to denounce establishment. He once said†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Enough of censorship†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. I want to get free†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦out of all these unrefreshing absurdities that hinder my work, and get back to freedom†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦I denounce everything. † He is seen from his art work that he was a man who was highly provocative. His works are seen to be alluring. His works had different themes ranging from beauty themes to haunting themes.He is seen as one of the most brilliant erotic artists of all time. In his art works and especially the human psyche we can see that he has expressed the inside contained fears and longings of man. His work portrays a contrast of several aspects of humanity e. g. : combination of beauty that is extremely imaginable and horrid ugliness at the same time; dualism of love and fear; insufferability of evil and hopefulness of good. Klimt has used natural figures and natural backgrounds at the same time to manifest the interplay within the above aspects.He has richly used su mptuous jewelry e. g. gold and startling color to give a beautiful touch to his works. Among his paintings are the ravishing paintings of beautiful women, sprawling figures in constant movement and demonstrations of demons of the unconscious mind. Gustav Klimt has applied the use of classical myth iconography as a derivative of antiquity in his many images of Athena. It is evident that Klimt took his inspiration from the 16th century water jar or the famous Attic-style hydria during those times. This work has an innovative aspect of iconography.It is neither inspired by classical myth or tradition. Klimt is inspired by the spirit of creative conflict. I will discuss this aspect using his 1898 painting known as Pallas Athena. Athena or sometimes called Pallas was a goddess of ancient Greeks. She was believed to be a war goddess. The Romans also referred to her as Minerva and placed her in the third position after Jupiter and Juno who were also their gods. The Greeks and Romans worshi ped her as the goddess of craft in both weaving and spinning. According to mythology she was a favorite daughter of Zeus, the greatest of the gods in Greek.She was usually shown dressed in a helmet and in her hands a spear and shield. She also wore a goatskin breastplate that bore magic powers just like her father. The breastplate, fringed with several snakes, was believed to produce thunderbolts when shaken. She was also believed to be a representation of the civilized and intellectual aspects of war unlike the war god Ares. The Greeks believed that Athens was capable of protecting all the cities and states. According to this myth it is clear that Athena possesses a curious genderless power.It is why one is left to wonder, is she male or is he male? Maybe her myth persona is just uncertain. To the normal people and maybe non-Greeks war and wisdom might look like strange mindmates of Athena. But it is just fascinating how this persona works in her In his painting Gustav Klimt presen ts the image of Athena as a different persona since classical antiquity. She is outstanding among his other paintings of the famous femmes. It is unlike the other femme fatals e. g. Judith that was done in 1991 and Danae 1907-8 that expressed so much the overwhelmingness in their sexuality.Klimt was so much interested in the divinity in Athena than her sexuality. Maybe, to Klimt, divinity is the catalyst role those power plays in sexuality. This might be true since over the time it has been found that power is an ingredient to sexual stimuli in human behavior. It is also been found that sexual desire and the desire for power are strongly connected. This posses Athena, an asexual Greek goddess, as Klimt’s most powerful female art figure. He appears to have followed the myth iconography at a fairly strict manner in the Pallas Athene 1989 painting.In his painting we see all the primary and secondary attributes. There is the helmet, an owl, aegis with gorgoneion and the spear. Th ere is an aspect of originality in this painting because of the accomplishments he has done with these images. He has made many statements with the enigmatic nature of this painting. We can derive the element of less romance and more symbolism in Klimt’s classicism. Klimt’s adoption method is seen to have evolved from whole figures and objects used by artists in the 18 through to the 19th centuries.In his subsidiary decoration Klimt has used a remarkable combination of objects. He has successfully merged past and present into a single synthesis. It seems ironic the way Klimt brings up the concept of archaism in this painting. Previously in some of the art works, Athena bore almond eyes an archaic smile and wavy eyebrows. Klimt ensures that there is the philosophical aspect of an older icon bearing greater value than the present icon. He exercises deliberate archaism. He attempts to hack back to the older heavier model possessed by the goddess who was highly and truly w orshiped than later.Klimt gets a Homeric trope from previous representation of Athena in â€Å"Child of Zeus of the Aegis† and â€Å"The grim goddess† and adopts the iconography in them. It is also possible that Klimt deliberately chose a helmet that is of a particular Corinthian period for Athena. This helmet seems as an extension of Athena’s head where we see the parting of her coppery hair following from the bronze. This division seems like it was solely activated by mental prowess that is divine oriented. It is evident therefore from this art work that Klimt portrays Anthena as a personified source of power but not as a lover.We can see some aspects of dimensional in Klimt’s work. He has so much prioritized the importance of eyes and this can be seen as scale of sightedness. There is the aspect of mortality in the painting; this can be seen in the left hand side of the painting where the human female is seen on a two dimensional black figure backgroun d. We can not see the goddesses’ eyes in this side of the painting. On the right hand side of the painting is Herakles and Triton-Achelous who are wrestling. They are presented on a two dimensional background. This is a representation of the goddess Athena, in a more powerful position than the heroic Heracles.Athena is very powerful such that the monster Medusa and Gorgon, that could turn mortals into stones, is reduced to a bronze ornament on Athena’s breast. We can also see from the painting that Bobus the owl possesses clear eyes that are nocturnal and look like they belong to a human being. They seem like they have been given an animation power by the goddess. These eyes have a very powerful power of penetrating the darkness. And finally we can perceive that the eyes of the goddess are more powerful and full of life. This brings out the immortality and three dimensionality in her as a goddess.In his work, Pallas Athena seems to be more frightening. One is left to w onder, what is the dreadful figure; is it the goddess or the monster? We can see that both faces have been filled with coppery hair. I can say that this shows the aspect of full divinity in Athena as compared to the partial divinity in the monster. Actually Athena is a portray of an epitome of apotropaism. She is not a simple goddess who we can oppose in mind or weapon. She is not a mere mask that is designed to chase away evil but she is seen as the real thing. She is seen by a viewer as a friend, a companion maybe.She possesses strong eyes that look so right with a mortal. She is a figure of strength and wisdom and one is obligated to worshiping her. Another major theme that can be derived from Klimt’s painting is the power of the goddess authority over politics and culture. It is seen from the bottom left corner of the painting that there stands a nude woman that has a mirror of modern man. In the right background is Hercules who looks like a wrestles Triton. Klimt present s Athena with unbridled red hair and a golden helmet. She is emerging from a bluish shadow which is a femme fatele Klimt which Klimt was fond of painting.On his chest is a medusa head that extends its tongue in ridicule of the failures of succession of power. Another theme from the Pallas Athena painting is the theme of Struggle against ignorance. His iconography in this painting is not just an order but imposes the reality of punishment at the hands of sunken eyes and naked female fatales. Though in a deep but yet spaceless world, the victim of justice is seen consumed by a polyp that is womb like. There is an unmasking of law and a fair judgment as an instinctual vengeance and in words respectivelyThough mythological imagery was largely implied by Klimt in his painting it is evident in Pallas Athena where we see the goddess possessing very powerful eyes which are also stiff. This stance in Athena’s face is very compelling. There is juxtaposition of the Asiatic face and the classical Greek figure which is excellently presented. Mythological imagery was a frequent topic of Klimt's oeuvre. I find the glaring eyes and stiff, powerful stance of his Athena to be quite compelling. I love the juxtaposition of the classical Greek figure in the background with the vaguely Asiatic face on her breastplate.Summary Gustav Klimt is highly appreciated as one of the greatest decorative painters of the 20th century and an art Nouveau at the same time. He has a place in erotic art through his artistic themes of the female sexuality in the female figure. George Fliedel comments that â€Å"there is no denying that erotic represented one of Klimt’s most important sources of inspiration†. But in Pallas Athena is a totally different representation of the female fatele. His use of iconology is Klimt’s representation of Athena as the goddess of wisdom who is a representation of an embodiment of enlightened philosophy.This representation is designed to impa rt light to the Austrian nation which is politically and socially ravaged . The Austrian nation was so much in the spiritual and cultural darkness. It is no wonder Klimt decided that the ignorance of people would be subjected to confronting illness of Viennese society through a pictorial concept. He often presented simultaneous ideas that there was a possibility of escaping from the demoralized situation and a possibility of attaining an ideal existence within themselves. Conclusion Gustav Klimt was a highly renowned symbolist artist of the symbolism period.He used to major on the female figure as his central figure for art. He mostly painted and drew the female sexualism as his theme. But it is evident from his representation of the female figure Athena, a goddess of the Greek people, that he had nothing to do with erocism when he was doing this painting. He has implemented iconography to represent the different myths as perceived by the Greece. At the same time he is addressing th e modern world and tries to tell people, through his painting, that we should embrace the present in as much as the past was there.Vast themes are ranging from feminine power and wisdom through to the general theme of ignorance and judgment. He remains among us though long dead through his works that gives us life teachings. If he were here today, maybe he would have done one of those themes, politics, which have always done the women proud. Maybe Hillary Clinton as Millennium Athena or what is your opinion? References 1. Mark P. O Marford, Robert J Lenardon, Classical mythology; Oxford University Press, 2002. 2. Herbet Jennings Rose, A handbook of Greek Mythology; Routledge, 1991. 3.Carlos parade, Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology; P A Stroms Forloag, 1993. 4. Lucilla Burn, Greek myths; University of Texas press, 1990. 5. Gilles Neret, Gustav Klimt: 1862-1918; Taschen, 2000. 6. Colin B, Bailey, Gustav Klimt: Modernism in the making; Harry N Abrams Art, Modern, 2001. 7. Tatjana Paul; Gustav Klimt; Rizzoli International publications, 2001. 8. Nina Kransel, Gustav Klimt; Prestel Publishing Artists, 2007. 9. Gabriel James Worth, Pallas Athene:A book of Attic Greek;Uniiversity Press,1928 10. Karl Kerenyi,Athene:Virgin and Mother;A study of Pallas Athene;Spring Athena(Greek Deity)

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Los Reyes Magos essays Los Reyes Magos is the third of the three Christmas-time celebrations. The first is Los Pasados, which is a twelve-day celebration from December 12 to the 24. Following Los Pasados is of course, Christmas. After Christmas is Los Reyes Magos. Los Reyes Magos is a Latin American, post-Christmas celebration of the three kings, or Magi that visited Christ. On January 8, the whole family gathers at a family members house for a huge feast. There is much celebration and music and traditional food. The festivities are topped off with and enormous, traditional cake-like bread filled and covered with candies and fruits. Before the bread is baked, a small figurine of a child is hidden in the dough. After being baked, the bread-cake is sliced and distributed amongst the family, whoever gets the child or the largest piece of the child has to host the Los Reyes Magos party the following year. The best description of Los Reyes Magos I found happened to be in poem form and is as follows. Los Reyes Magos when Santa Clause has delivered his toys To all you lucky Northern girls and boys And you think that Christmas is all done In Latin America, the holiday has just begun Well, yes, it's true we haven't got Christmas snow But we've got twelve more jolly days to go Before our own celebration is through In Latin America, there's so much more to look forward to Oh, Los Reyes Magos, our three kings We thank you for the memories and wonderful new things Oh, Los Reyes Magos, our three kings You bring Los Reyes Magos on their camels so fair Fill every one of our shoeboxes with care Then stop to snack on the grass we left for them In Latin America, like long ago in Bethlehem You know, it's not that Christmas isn't grand But the day of three kings, that's what lights up our homeland Once found the Christ child under a star ...

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The Impact of St. Augustine's Life Research Paper

The Impact of St. Augustine's Life - Research Paper Example The Life of Augustine Augustine’s life dates from 354 to 430. His father (Patricius) was a pagan of Roman decent and a member of the council while his mother (Monica) on the other hand was a Christian. This indicates that he had to deal with contrasting situations very early in his life and is possibly an indication of the reason for his engagement with several religions. He grew up in humble circumstances in Thagaste which is now Souk Ahras, Algeria where he lived from 354-366. This little town was nothing compared to the centers of learning in the Roman Empire which is known for cultivating scholars (Smith 2008, 1). However, it was the place of birth of one of the most exemplary individual that graced the earth and who would later become an Archbishop. It was while living in Thagaste that he studied Greek and Latin. 2.1 Madaurus 366 - 370 He lived in Madaurus from 366-370 when he attended secondary school. He also studied Latin and Literature in Madaurus. It was during this period that he came under the influence of the doctrine of Cicero which he credited for his rather lengthy association with philosophy, psychology, human nature and religion (EGS Digital Library). Augustine went back to Thagaste for a short while since his parents did not have the money to send him on to university. While there he was engaged in practices that were similar to his father. Although his mother dissuaded him, he persisted. This he spoke of in Book ll of Confessions. It was at this time that he engaged in telling lies, stealing and irresponsible sexual behavior. 2.3 Carthage 371 – 383 Augustine was only about 17 years of age he went to Carthage to study rhetoric at the University of Carthage. It was while there that he came under the influence of the Manichaean religion. He also met his lover of over 13 years while he resided in Carthage. This relationship resulted in a son – Adeodatus in 372. This was the woman he referred to one of his famous writings â⠂¬â€œ Confessiones (which when translated to English means Confessions). After returning to his home town of Thagaste for a short while he went back to Carthage and stayed there until his departure to Rome in 383 where he sought new challenges. 2.4 Italy 383 - 387 While in Rome he suffered some disappointments. However, he left soon after left for Milan to work in the court as an orator to the emperor. He broke his relationship with his son’s mother in preparation to get married to someone else (Willis 2001, 4). Having read the Biography of St. Anthony of the Desert, he finally embraced Christianity in its totality. At this point he gave up an arranged marriage which was in the making; a promising career in rhetoric; and other privileges. In 386 he was converted to Christianity in Italy. On Easter Day in 387 he and his son was baptized by Ambrose who was tat that time a friend and bishop of Milan. He later returned to Thagaste. 2.5 Thagaste 387- 390 Augustine returned to Thag aste where he gave away his inheritance to the poor. He then turned his house into a Monastery where he prayed and studied with others of the same belief. He was later called from this life of solitude to be the priest of Hippo. 2.6 Hippo 390-430 Augustine was latter ordained as the priest of Hippo and subsequently became Bishop of Hippo Regius which is now the city of Annaba in Algeria in 395. He

Research Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Research - Assignment Example bad credit history, the rate charged may be higher. It is however, mostly based upon how a company view and rate its customer and subsequently decide what rate to be offered to a customer. Even the interest rates charged on different cards issued by same company differ from each other depending upon the way a customer is rated by the company. Companies attract customers in different manner and according to their target market. Once the target market is identified, there are different means through which companies can attract their target market. One important method for attracting the customers is the rate of interest charged on the credit cards- i.e. if company’s target market is to secure prime customers, they will offer cards at lower rates to attract their desired customers. Further, balance transfer facilities at lower rates are also an important way through which companies attract their customers. When a person applies for any type of loan facility including credit cards and personal loans, financial institutions obtain a copy of credit report of the customer. A credit report is basically just a report which mentions all the obligations of a customer that he or she has to pay off to the financial and other institutions from where borrowing has been made. It not only provides the credit history of the borrower but also give a true picture of the total monthly debt obligations, total debts to be paid by the borrower and any defaults made in the past. (AIE, 2010) In a sense, credit report is the most essential document which determines whether a person can obtain the credit or not. This is so because companies, based on the credit report, not only determine how much loan to be given but also get a clear insight into the probability that whether the customer will pay off the debt or not. Most financial institutions do not extend loans to customers with poor

Milosz v. Pienkowski Essay Example for Free

Milosz v. Pienkowski Essay â€Å"These damn Jews! They’re rotten and don’t belong here! We need to remove them all from Poland and send them to concentration camps! † â€Å"Whoah. You are misinformed about the history of your own country. Firstly, the Jews definitely belong here. For centuries Poland has had the largest and most prominent Jewish population in the world. Although religious tolerance did end with the partitioning of Poland by the Russian empire, Judaism is still extremely prevalent. It is even the second largest religion in the Wilno area. † â€Å"Whatever! They are single-handedly causing economic stagnation and poverty in my naturally prosperous country! † â€Å"This is also untrue. When Poland was under Pilsudski’s leadership, the economy grew significantly despite other world economic crises. He was opposed to anti-Semitism and believed that devotion to the Polish republic could be created from all ethnic and religious groups. Maybe the economic stagnation is due to other factors, such as Poland being partitioned into three estranged areas representing different power structures from Austria, Germany, and Russia. This causes problems for sustaining a united government and school systems. Also, foreigners utilizing cheap labor to make a quick buck are exploiting Polish industrial centers. Western countries will only offer their aid if it reduces some kind of threat to themselves. This situation would cause any country to disintegrate. The Jews were most certainly not the problem. † â€Å"You are just infected with socialism and are a Jew-lover! Pilsudski means nothing! It’s Dmowski who had the right idea! Poles are the best! Race is above everything! The first thing we need to do is energize the Polish population with nationalism and exercise our spiritual, physical, and material domination! † â€Å"Actually, in my youth I was conditioned to hate Jews as well, but I soon realized that I was the product of my environment. Although my relatives flamboyantly encouraged anti-Semitism, I outgrew those family arrogances and began to realize why anti-Semitism developed. The first reason is the way the youth is taught. Only Polish texts are read in schools, and textbooks are extremely biased, as nationalists write them. This makes other cultures seem inferior by exclusion, and even if Jewish literature is published, it is either disregarded or doesn’t reach the larger population of Poland. Furthermore, anti-Semitism perpetuates with continuous streams of Jewish jokes and Christians whispering about Judaism as if it was a shameful disease. The real responsibility of regarding the Jews as different nationality, however, lies with nationalist writers and journalists, as they can influence schools, books, and even ‘change history’ through their writing by providing biased accounts of historical events. † â€Å"That’s not true! There aren’t enough nationalists, because Jews still occupy all managerial and leadership positions and have tainted the entire state system! Screw their books! The only reason I’d want to learn about Jews would be to overthrow them! † â€Å"Actually, Jews are discriminated against for many positions, including the Army and medical school slots. And, on the contrary, if you did learn about Jewish literature, it might help remove prejudice against them. Instead of seeing them as inferior, Jewish literature may convince you that Jews are worthy and intelligent. Instead of judging Jews through familiar stereotypes, propaganda, biased teaching, opposite truths, and ignorance, try judging different ethnicities based on merit. This is what I did in college with my literary alliances, and it allowed me to see past ethnic differences and realize that Jews aren’t a different nationality. They just have different beliefs. But together, we can become one, unified country. † â€Å"Blegh. You are way behind your time. I won’t waste my time speaking to an imbecile any longer. † Word Count: 598 Part Two In order to write this dialogue, I read Pienkowski’s text and wrote down all of the arguments and nationalistic comments that I could find. Next, I did an extremely close reading of the text and highlighted parts that I thought best countered these arguments. Then, I made an outline. The first point on my outline was the history of ethnic minorities in Poland, including the Pilsudski discussion on page 51, and the political anti-Semitism history on page 92. I also used notes that I took in class to help with basic background knowledge. My next point on the outline was how and why anti-Semitism developed. I talked about how schools, teachers, and children were exposed to this discrimination (98), and how biased textbooks (97) and Jewish literature played a huge role (98). Relatives also had a large impact on Milosz (96), and it seemed that everybody in society was exposed to anti-Semitism, perpetuating prejudice through jokes and whispers (94-99). The brunt of the responsibility, however, lied with the nationalist writers and journalists (106). I then went on to my next point, about how economic degradation was not due to the Jews. In fact, there are many alternate reasons for economic stagnation, which appear on page 61. For my next point, I took note of how Milosz, as a child, was conditioned by society and relatives to dislike Jews. However, at the university, his opinions changed, which brought me to my next point: What needs to be done in order to eliminate anti-Sematic beliefs? The information for the last point didn’t specifically come from the text. Instead, I predicted what Milosz would say based off of what he wrote. I gathered that to squash ethnic assimilation, one should end the brainwashing, propaganda, biased teaching, opposite truths (where one country/area teaches an aspect of history completely different from another country/area), and ignorance. Instead, people should become educated about different cultures, and not focus on racial or religious unity. Instead, they should focus on state unity, like Pilsudski believed. One should also judge by merit, like Milosz did when he went to the university (102). Then I created tone for each character (Milosz being rational and Pienkowski being rash, impatient, and rude), and created an argument! Word Count: 373.

The Sme Growth Strategies Economics Essay

The Sme Growth Strategies Economics Essay This paper focuses on factors affecting the growth and performance of small and medium enterprises. The aim was to identify strategic factors differentiating young and long-lived growth SMEs. The empirical data consisted of 32 young (8 years or less) and 33 long-lived (20 years or more) growth SMEs. A comparison of the two groups of growth SMEs revealed strategic differences with important implications between young and long-lived SMEs. The results suggest that firm age does matter for SME growth strategies. The results increase our understanding of the factors affecting SME growth and performance in two different contexts. Keywords: growth; performance; strategies; small and medium enterprises INTRODUCTION Firm growth is a central focus area in strategy, organizational and entrepreneurship research. Much research effort has been targeted particularly at investigating the factors affecting firm growth, but to date there is no comprehensive theory to explain which firms will grow or how they grow (e.g. Garnsey, 1996). It seems that not even very strong explanatory factors have been identified, though various explanatory approaches have been presented. The research community largely shares the view that growth SMEs have a special importance in the economy (see e.g. Storey, 1994). During the last ten years, the research on firm growth has largely focused on high-growth SMEs. It is argued that a relatively small proportion of all small firms are responsible for the major part of the small firm contribution to net new jobs (Storey, 1994; Birch et al., 1993). These firms have been described as gazelles, fliers, growers and winners, and the targeting of effort towards them has been described as picking, stimulating, or backing winners (see e.g. Gibb, 1997; Freel, 1998; Beaver Jennings, 1995). More recently, the role of fast-growing small firms has been questioned, and the issue is known as the mice vs. gazelles (Birch et al., 1993) or flyers vs. trundlers (Storey, 1994) debate. In other words, the debate has focused on the question: which of these actually has the major impact on net employment (Davidsson Delmar, 1998)? On the other hand, it has been recognized that attending exclusively to firm-level growth and jobs may be too narrow an approach. Firms, even very small and non-growing ones, can have different strategic roles or positions in the local economic system (Laukkanen 1999). Some are critical facilitators of other firms growth or of their very emergence, and thus are important for job creation at the local level. In fact, previous research reveals that firm growth is a multidimensional phenomenon. There is substantial heterogeneity in a number of factors associated with firm growth and related research (Delmar et al., 2003). The most recent research on firm growth has increased our understanding of different growth patterns. As Delmar et al. (2003) have shown, firm growth patterns are related to the demographic characteristics of firms such as firm age. SME growth is often closely associated with firm overall success and survival (e.g. Johannisson, 1993; Phillips Kirchhoff, 1989). Growth has been used as a simple measure of success in business (e.g. Storey, 1994). Also, as Brush and Vanderwerf (1992) suggest, growth is the most appropriate indicator of the performance for surviving small firms. Moreover, growth is an important precondition for the achievement of other financial goals of business (de Geus, 1997: 53; Storey, 1994; Reynolds, 1993; Day, 1992: 128; Phillips Kirchhoff, 1989). From the point of view of an SME, growth is usually a critical precondition for its longevity (Storey, 1994: 158). Phillips and Kirchhoff (1989) found that young firms that grow have twice the probability of survival as young non-growing firms. It has been also found that strong growth may reduce the firms profitability temporarily, but increase it in the long run (McDougall et al., 1994; cf. MacMillan Day, 1987). However, there are several conceptual and empirical challenges in the study of firm growth (see e.g. Davidsson Wiklund, 2000; Delmar, 1997). Firm growth in general refers to increase in size. In research, firm growth has been operationalized in many ways and different measures have been used. This may be one reason for the contradictory results reported by previous studies (Weinzimmer et al., 1998: 235), though other explanations have also been presented (see Delmar et al., 2003; see also Davidsson Wiklund, 2000). The most frequently used measure for growth has been change in the firms turnover (e.g. Weinzimmer et al., 1998: 238; Hubbard Bromiley, 1995; Hoy et al., 1992; Venkatraman Ramanujam, 1986). Another typical measure for growth has been change in the number of employees. However, it has been found that these measures, which are frequently used in the SME context, are strongly intercorrelated (North Smallbone, 1993; Storey et al., 1987). Such an intercorrelation may not exist among capital-intensive large companies. Most studies of firm growth have focused on large companies or new venture, while the growth of established, long-lived SMEs seems to have attracted much less attention. In fact, many organizational life cycle models present growth as one stage of development in the organizational life cycle. On the other hand, it has been shown that most new jobs are created by existing, not new, SMEs (e.g. Davidsson et al., 1993; see also North et al., 1992). However, previous studies of SME performance have focused on the performance of new ventures rather than on existing SMEs and on the factors behind their longevity and growth (e.g. Tsai et al., 1991; Duchesneau Gartner, 1990; Keeley Roure, 1990). This study takes a holistic and extensive approach to factors affecting SME growth and performance. Firm growth and performance are much affected by strategy, which involves choices along a number of dimensions and can be represented by a firms overall collection of individual business-related decisions and actions (Mintzberg, 1978; Miles Snow, 1978). Though there is a variety of definitions of the term of strategy, it can accurately be conceptualized as a pattern of strategic variables, because the elements of strategy the individual business-related decisions and actions are interdependent and interactive (Galbraith Schendel, 1983). It is argued that the identification of strategy patterns permits a more complete and accurate depiction of overall strategic behavior (see e.g. Hambrick, 1983; Robinson Pearce, 1988). Previous research has suggested that the paths to growth can differ systematically by firm-level factors such as firm age (Fisher and Reuber, 2003; Delmar Davidsson, 1998). In fact, already in the late fifties Penrose (1959) presented the view that a firms growth pattern is dependent on its age, size, and industry affiliation (see Delmar et al., 2003; also Stinchcombe, 1965). As Delmar et al. (2003) suggest, it is probable that different growth patterns have different implications for management and possibly also for the long-term performance of the firm. In this light it seems useful to compare young growth SMEs and long-lived growth SMEs and determine whether they differ in characteristics and strategies. The central research question is, how do young and long-lived growth SMEs differ in their strategic attributes? In other words, the aim of this paper is to investigate whether firm age plays a role in firm characteristics and strategies. The findings will increase our understanding of the factors associated with firm growth and performance in these two different contexts. FACTORS AFFECTING SME GROWTH Although there has been much interest in understanding small firm growth during the last ten years (e.g. Davidsson Delmar, 1999; Delmar, 1997; Wiklund, 1998), there is still not much of a common body of well-founded knowledge about the causes, effects or processes of growth (Davidsson Wiklund, 2000). Moreover, although several determinants of firm growth have been suggested, researchers have been unable to achieve a consensus regarding the factors leading to firm growth (Weinzimmer, 2000). Most of the research work in this area fails to provide convincing evidence of the determinants of small firm growth as a basis for informing policy makers (Gibb Davies, 1990: 26). Attempts to build models for predicting the future growth of the firm, i.e. picking winners, have not been particularly successful. Moreover, as Spilling (2001) reminds us, the status of being a growth firm may be rather temporary. Early studies of growth focused on large companies and their diversification strategies. However, small firms are not small big firms. In large companies the role of diversification, for example, may be significantly bigger than in the case of SMEs. Indeed, growth through diversification may be necessary for the growth of a large company (Kay, 1997). The existing research on the growth and strategy of SMEs has focused mainly on new ventures (Olson Bokor, 1995). There are few studies of the growth of established SMEs: one instance is Davidsson (1989), who studied the subsequent growth of an SME from the psychological point of view. Maybe the most comprehensive compilation of results of previous studies focusing on small firm growth is that presented by Storey (1994). Several classifications of factors affecting firm growth have been presented. The general preconditions for growth have been suggested to be (1) entrepreneurs growth orientation; (2) adequate firm resources for growth; and (3) the existence of the market opportunity for growth (cf. Davidsson, 1991). Storey (1994: 158) claims that there are three key influences on the growth rate of a small independent firm: (1) the background and access to resources of the entrepreneur(s); (2) the firm itself; and (3) the strategic decisions taken by the firm once it is trading. The most important factors associated with an entrepreneur are motivation, education, the firm having more than a single owner, and the firm having middle-aged business owners. The growth of the smallest and youngest firms is the most rapid. The location and industry sector also affect the growth. The most important strategic factors are shared ownership, an ability to identify market niches and introduce new products, and an ability to build an efficient management team. Storey argues that these three components need to be combined appropriately for growth to be achieved. Gibb and Davies (1990: 16-17), on the other hand, have grouped the factors explaining growth into four types of approach (Gibb, 1997: 2-3; Pistrui et al., 1997; Poutziouris et al., 1999). These are: (1) personality-dominated approaches, which explore the impact of personality and capability on growth, including the entrepreneurs personal goals and strategic business aspirations (e.g. Chell Haworth, 1991; 1992); (2) firm development approaches, which seek to characterize the growth pattern of the firm across stages of development and the influence of factors affecting growth process (e.g. Scott Bruce, 1987); (3) business management approaches, which pay attention to the importance of business skills and the role of functional management, planning, control and formal strategic orientation in terms of shaping the growth and performance of the firm in the marketplace (e.g. Bamberger, 1989; 1983); and (4) sectoral and broader market-led approaches which focus largely on the identificati on of growth constraints and opportunities relating to small firm growth in the context of regional development or the development of specific industrial sectors such as high-technology small firms (e.g. Smallbone et al., 1993). The entrepreneur and growth intention The behavior of entrepreneurs is strongly affected by intentions (e.g. Krueger Carsrud, 1993: 315; Bird, 1988: 442). The firms strategic behavior and subsequent growth is understandable in the light of its growth intention. Therefore, firm growth is based not merely on chance, but on the managements conscious decision making and choice. Naturally, the firm can grow even though it is not the managements aim, but in such a case the growth is not planned and so may include more risks. Planning helps in managing growth. In general, goals and objectives can be divided into two categories. On the one hand, there are final goals which are valuable as such. On the other hand, there are goals which have instrumental value for achieving some other goals. Growth can be regarded as the second most important goal of a firm, the most important one being firm survival, i.e. the continuity of the business. Moreover, growth is an important precondition for a firms longevity. Negative growth of an SME is often a sign of problems, while stagnation, i.e. a situation where growth has stopped, is usually indicative of problems that a firm will face in the future. As a matter of fact, growth often has instrumental value. For new ventures, firm growth is needed to ensure an adequate production volume for profitable business. Growth can serve as an instrument for increasing profitability by enlargening the firms market-share. Other similar goals include securing the continuity of business in the conditions of growing demand or achieving economies of scale. Moreover, growth may bring the firm new business opportunities (cf. the corridor principle, Timmons 1999), and a larger size enhances its credibility in the market. Also, achieving a higher net value of the firm can be regarded as a motive for firm growth. In SMEs, growth objectives are often bound up with the owner-managers personal goals (e.g. Jennings Beaver, 1997), and so it is important that they support each other. Much has been written about the importance of the entrepreneurs growth motivation (e.g. Perren, 2000; Davidsson, 1991; Miner, 1990). The close connection between an owner-manager and the firm is the dominant characteristic of small firms (Vesalainen, 1995: 18). Instead of profit maximization or growth, a firms primary goal may be the entrepreneurs independence or self-realization (see e.g. Foley Green, 1989). Moreover, there may be no adequate resources for growth, or the expected increase in business risks may limit a firms growth willingness. However, aversion to growth has been said to be the principal reason why most SMEs stagnate and decline (Clark et al., 2001). In several typologies, entrepreneurs and firms are categorized by their business goals, so growth has been a widely used dimension in many typologies. There are two broad approaches in the studies of small firm success: (1) the business professionals model, and (2) the small business proprietors model (Bridge et al., 1998: 140-142). These two approaches can be identified in several typologies of entrepreneurs (e.g. Smith, 1967; Stanworth Curran, 1976). According to the business professionals model, a successful firm is one that achieves its highest potential in terms of growth, market share, productivity, profitability, return on capital invested or other measures of the performance of the firm itself. In the small business proprietors model, the owner-managers main concern is whether the firm is providing them with the benefits they want from it. These benefits are often associated with a lifestyle and an income level to maintain it. In the latter model, firm success therefore mean s being able to reach a level of comfort rather than achieving the businesss maximum potential. Firm development In firm development approaches, firms are seen as temporal phenomena which are born, grow, mature, decline and die. Firm growth is the basic dimension of the models of organizational life cycles (e.g. Greiner, 1972; 1998; Mintzberg, 1979; Churchill Lewis, 1983; 1991; Miller Friesen, 1983b; Scott Bruce, 1987). Numerous models of organizational life cycles have been presented, e.g. a three stage model (Smith et al., 1985), four stage models (Quinn Cameron, 1983; Kazanjian, 1988), five stage models (Greiner, 1972; Galbraith, 1982; Churchill Lewis, 1983; Scott Bruce, 1987), and a seven stage model (Flamholtz, 1986). These multistage models use a diverse array of characteristics to explain organizational growth and development. Organizational life cycle models is one application of the configurational approach in describing the stages of life cycles and the transformation from one stage to another (Mintzberg et al., 1998). Common to these growth pattern models is the claim that changes in an organization follow a pattern characterized by discrete stages of development (Dodge et al., 1994). Typical of these patterns are the sequence of events that show how things change over time, a hierarchical progression that is not easily reversed, and a composite of a broad range of organizational activities and structures. Organizational life cycle models are important in understanding the differences in success factors of the firm between the stages of the life cycle. However, organizational life cycle models have been criticized because of their extreme simplification of reality: in some cases not all stages of development are found, some stages of development may occur several times, the stages of development may occur in an irregular order, and there is a lack of empirical evidence to support the theories (e.g. Gibb Davies, 1990; Bridge et al., 1998: 105; Eggers et al., 1994; Birley Westhead, 1990; Miller Friesen, 1983a; Vinnell Hamilton, 1999; cf. Dodge et al., 1994). In addition, on the basis of the results of their study of high-growth firms, Willard et al. (1992) concluded that the applicability of conventional wisdom regarding the leadership crisis in rapid growth entrepreneurial firms may no longer be valid, if, in fact, it ever was. Despite the critiques of organizational life cycle models, strategic management and entrepreneurship research has demonstrated life cycle theory to be one of the most powerful tools for understanding and predicting venture performance. According to Greiner (1972; 1998), for example, a firms failure to adapt to a series of crises caused by growth is one of the principal causes of firm failure. Growth strategies Several growth strategies related to business management approaches have been presented in the literature. Managing growth is a major strategic issue for a growing firm (see e.g. Arbaugh Camp, 2000). Strategy is the most important determinant of firm growth (Weinzimmer, 2000). Among high-growth firms, Dsouza (1990) identified three primary strategic clusters: (1) build strategy, i.e. emphasis on vertical integration; (2) expand strategy, i.e. emphasis on resource allocation and product differentiation; and (3) maintain strategy, i.e. emphasis on market dominance and/or efficiency. Thompson (2001: 563-565) presents four growth strategies: (1) organic growth; (2) acquisition; (3) strategic alliance; and (4) joint venture. On the other hand, when looking at the product/market strategy, four options can be seen: (1) market penetration; (2) new product development; (3) new market development; and (4) moving into new markets with new products (Burns, 1989: 47). However, there is a lack of agreement in empirical findings concerning product- and market-based strategies. While Sandberg and Hofer (1987) argue that product-based strategies work better than focused strategies, Cooper (1993) claim that focused strategies outperform differentiated product strategies (Pistrui et al., 1997). Perry (1986/87) investigated growth strategies for an established small firm, and concluded that the most appropriate growth strategies are niche strategies, i.e. market development and product development strategies, in that order. However, it seems that most empirical studies focus on new venture strategies. Studies of competitive strategies related to firm growth have been carried out in the new venture context by McDougall and Robinson (1990), McDougall et al. (1992), Carter et al. (1994), and Ostgaard and Birley (1995), among others. As opposed to the organic growth strategy, acquisitions are regarded rather as a large company growth strategy which can be either synergistic or nonsynergistic (Anslinger Copeland, 1996). Forward or backward vertical integration means that the acquired firm is located at a different level of the value-addition chain, i.e. the acquired firm is a customer or supplier of the firm. In contrast, horizontal integration refers to a firm which is at the same level of value-addition, i.e. it is a competitor. Lateral integrations refer to unrelated businesses which represent a diversification strategy. In addition to becoming bigger and thus acquiring greater market power, there might be several other reasons for acquisitions, e.g. acquiring synergies, industry restructuring, reduction of business risk, acquiring new knowledge and other necessary resources, overcoming barriers to entry, and entering new markets quickly (see Vermeulen Barkema, 2001; Empson, 2000; Birkinshaw, 1999; Tetenbaum, 1999; Chatterjee, 1992). Despite the fact that growth through acquisitions is more typical of larger firms than smaller ones (see e.g. Davidsson Delmar, 1998), it is one option for the growth of an SME. However, it seems that few studies focus on acquisitions made by small firms. Also, one often neglected way of growing is by setting up new firms. Studies using a firm as the unit of analysis have not been able to identify growth through a portfolio of firms as one way of growing (see Scott Rosa, 1996). However, it has been found that portfolio entrepreneurship appears to be more common than suspected, and that it is characteristic of entrepreneurs who own and manage growth firms (Pasanen, 2003b). Wiklund (1998: 239) concluded that growth through portfolios of firms does not seem to be an alternative to growing a single firm, but entrepreneurs leading rapidly growing firms tend more often to start subsidiaries and independent new firms and to grow these firms. Small business growth through geographic expansion is a challenging growth strategy, as during the course of opening a new geographical site an entrepreneur will be confronted with the task of managing an existing business and a start-up at the same time (Barringer Greening, 1998). Penrose (1959) proposed already in the late fifties that firm growth is constrained by the availability and quality of managerial resources. Many studies draw attention to the important role of an entrepreneurial team for firm growth (see Birley Stockley, 2000). Also, in their study of technology-based ventures, Eisenhardt and Schoonhoven (1990) found an association between a strong management team and firm growth (see also Weinzimmer, 1997). In addition to the importance of favourable firm-internal conditions, the strategies should be in harmony with the environmental conditions. Different growth environments may require different business strategies for SMEs. For instance, Chaganti (1987) found that for small manufacturing firms, different growth environments required distinctly different strategies. Interestingly, this was contrary to the findings concerning large companies. It was concluded that strategic flexibility is a critical requirement for small firms (Chaganti, 1987). Growth barriers Sectoral and broader market-led approaches focus largely on the identification of growth constraints and opportunities. It has been found, for instance, that economic fluctuations strongly affect the growth probability of small firms (Kangasharju, 2000). Also, for firm growth, it seems that aiming at growing market niches is more important than taking market shares from competitors (Wiklund, 1998). However, growth can happen only if there are no growth barriers. Such barriers can be related to firm-internal and firm-external factors (see e.g. Barber et al., 1989; Smallbone North, 1993a; Vaessen Keeble, 1995; Jones-Evans, 1996; Vesper, 1990: 174-175; Hay Kamshad, 1994). The growth barriers characteristic of small firms in peripheral locations have been presented by Birley and Westhead (1990: 538). In the study carried out by the Cambridge Small Business Research Centre (1992), the most common growth barriers were related to factors on the macro level. The most important growth barriers were related to difficulties in obtaining finance and the price of money, the level of and decrease in demand (also Perren, 2000), and tightening competition (also Hay Kamshad, 1994). Other growth barriers were caused by restrictions determined by authorities, problems in obtaining a skilled workforce, and the small number or lack of potential cooperation partners in the area. The firm-internal factors affecting unwillingness to grow include the entrepreneurs fear of losing her or his autonomy, difficulties in fitting together personal and the firms goals, and weak managerial or marketing skills (see also MacNabb, 1995; Perren, 2000). These issues are particularly ty pical when an entrepreneur transfers from the role of entrepreneur to that of manager, or when the firm hires a new manager. DATA AND METHODS This paper is based on data from a larger exploratory study of the factors affecting SME performance (Pasanen, 2003a). Empirical data were collected from 111 growing SMEs in Eastern Finland. The sample was split into quartiles, based on firm age. Lower and upper quartiles of firms were chosen for the final samples, in order to compare the firms in these quartiles with each other. The lower quartile consisted of 32 SMEs aged eight years or less (young firms), whereas the upper quartile consisted of 33 SMEs aged twenty years or more (long-lived firms). A growth firm was defined as a firm with actual growth in turnover during the past five years. Growth was measured as a change in turnover between two time points ignoring the regularity or irregularity of growth over time (see Delmar et al., 2003; Weinzimmer et al., 1998; Delmar, 1997). A mail questionnaire was directed to the CEOs of SMEs operating in the sectors of manufacturing, business services, and tourism. The response rate was 5 3.7 %. Firms in the samples shared the following features: (1) size: SMEs, i.e. they employed fewer than 250 persons; (2) performance: growth firms, i.e. they had grown in terms of turnover during past years; (3) location: peripheral, i.e. outside major cities and not in core areas; (4) ownership: independent firms, not subsidiaries of other companies; and (5) industry sector: operated in the sectors of manufacturing, business services, and tourism. The age of young firms ranged from 2 to 8 years, the average being 5.5 years with standard deviation of 1.7 years. The age of long-lived firms ranged from 20 to 120 years, the average being 40.4 years with standard deviation of 24.9 years. Half of the long-lived firms were less than 35 years old. A comparison of the two groups of SMEs was based on data referring to the characteristics of entrepreneurs and enterprises, their life cycles, the strategic choices made, the success factors of SMEs, and the nature of their environment (see Pasanen, 2003a). Several factors in these areas are associated with firm performance. The characteristics of entrepreneurs consist of variables relating to entrepreneurs education, experience and other demographic factors. Variables related to the characteristics of SMEs and their life cycles include the firms demographic characteristics and growth behavior indicators. For the strategic choices made by the firm, the focus was on innovativeness, internationalization, specialization and networking. These strategic choices include three important elements affecting SME performance: markets, products, and the way of doing business (Normann, 1976). Innovativeness refers to the products of the firm, internationalization to its markets, and specializatio n and networking to the way of doing business. The environment was approached by studying the characteristics of the customer, industry and location. The success factors of SMEs were presented as statements describing their importance in the firms competitive advantage. In identifying the differences between young and long-lived SMEs, approximately 150 variables were tested using appropriate statistical tests, depending on the variable: the t test, non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test, or chi-square test. These tests were conducted to test the differences between the two groups for each of the individual variables. In some analyses, the U test was used instead of the t test due to the skewness of the data. RESULTS A number of differences in characteristics of the owner-managers and firms and their success factors were found between young and long-lived growth SMEs. Three variables related to the characteristics of the owner-managers showed statistically significant differences between the two groups of SMEs (Table 1). Almost all young firms were led by the founder(s) of the firm, whereas this was the case for only half of the long-lived SMEs. Among young SMEs, owner-managers had less experience and were younger than their counterparts in long-lived SMEs. TABLE 1 Differences in characteristics of owner-managers between young and long-lived SMEs (p Variables Test p value Founder  Ã‚ £2 = 6.705 (df = 1) p = .010 Total length of experience as owner-manager U test (z = -2.546) p = .011 Age U test (z = -2.459) p = .014 Fourteen variables characterizing the SMEs showed statistically significant differences between young and long-lived SMEs (Table 2). Young firms had had more founders (means 3.3 vs. 2.1) and had more founders still involved in the firm at the time of the survey than long-lived SMEs had (means 2.9 vs. 1.1). Almost all young firms were founded by a team of owners, whereas half of the long-lived SMEs were founded by a single owner. Being a family firm was more typical of long-lived SMEs (58%) than of young firms (19%). Long-lived SMEs were bigger in size than their younger counterparts: the average full-time personnel was 84 employees in long-lived SMEs and 21 in young firms. Moreover, the number of establishments was bigger in long-lived SMEs than in young firms, averaging 3.5 and 1.7, respectively. Acquisitions or mergers were more typical of long-lived SMEs (39%) than of young SMEs (13%). Owner-managers in long-lived SMEs were more satisfied with their firms success than those in young firms. On a scale of 1 (fully satisfied) to 4 (not at all satisfied), owner-managers in the long-lived SMEs had an average satisfaction of 1.7, whereas among young firms the average was 2.1. During their life cycle, more than half of the long-lived SMEs (55%) had at least once faced a situation where the firms existence, i.e. survival, had been threatened, while only one fifth of the young SMEs (22%) reported that their existence had been threatened. Managerial know-how was considered to be higher in long-lived SMEs than in young firms. In long-lived SMEs, principles and practices of management had changed more than in young firms. Among young SMEs, almost all firms (91%) had stayed close to their original business, whereas among long-lived SMEs seven out of ten firms (70%) had stayed close to their original business. There were also differences in products and customer structures between young and long-lived SMEs. The proportion of products with declining volume was higher in long-lived SMEs (6% of their products), whereas such products accounted for 2% of the young firms products. Among young firms, the cumulative proportion of turnover due to the five biggest customers was 59% of the firms total turnover, whereas in long-lived SMEs it was clearly lower, 41%. TABLE 2 Differences in characteristics of firms between young