Employee Empowerment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Employee Empowerment - Essay ExampleThis implies that lower level managers and supervisors are expected to implement decisions do by top-level managers, which increases rigidity. Employees of the company are expected to follow strictly their supervisors and managers decisions without question. According to the employees, delegating some decision- fashioning powers to them would enable them act promptly to improve the efficiency and manufacturing processes of the company for better performance. However, due to the bureaucratic nature of the company, the managers and the supervisors turn away the employees such powers. The overall effect has been that the employees of the company are demoralized resulting in high labor disturbance and subsequently the poor performance of the company in terms of productivity. It is based on this situation that the employees of this establishment baffle made an appeal that they be reasonably empowered. Current Literature about Employee Empowerment E mployee mandate is a subject of great concern to business and human resource managers. Employee authorisation refers to the strategy or philosophy that involves allowing workers to make decisions that affect their work according to Linda (1997, p.202). Bowen and Lawler (1995, p.35) on the other hand define employee potency as the act of enhancing employees involvement in agreemental processes and decision-making. It basically involves delegating some decision-making powers to employees on matters impact their jobs so as to ensure that organizational goals are achieved. Some of the ways of empowering employees include allowing employees to take severalise in the decision-making process, delegating powers to them and offering them leadership positions (Wooddell 2009, p.16). Employee empowerment merchant ship be used to improve productivity, performance, serve quality, customer and employee satisfaction, and the efficiency of an organization. Demirci and Erbas (2010, p.143) argu e that companies need to manage and improve their employees performance. This is achievable through empowerment. Empowerment, according to Demirci can be formulated through by considering four main dimensions namely k directledge, power, information, and rewards. Alternatively stated, empowerment is the product of the four elements, information, knowledge, power, and reward. The dimensions are derived by taking into consideration the power of empowerment in enhancing the efficacy of employees. omit of any one of the four elements might lower the overall degree of empowerment according to Shulagna (2009, p.49). Organizations now widely appreciate the fact that bureaucratic leadership in which where decision-making is squarely placed on the pass of top-level managers hampers flexibility and timely execution of duties down the line. On the other hand, it has been established that placing all decision making responsibility on the hands of lower level employees is a recipe for chaos an d purposeless action (Bowen and Lawler 1995, p.78). Taking note of these facts, it is crucial for organizations to ensure that employees are engaged in decision-making by being empowered. The organization needs to develop a culture where employees are given the right to participate in decision-making peculiarly on issues touching on their work. This will help in improving the effectiveness of the organization. Bowen and Lawler (1995, p.80) note that employee empowerment is an extremely powerful tool that organizations in the modern business environment need to implement as a way of improving their performances. One of the main results of employee empowerment is job satisfaction according to Wooddell (2009, p.15). Studies have shown that employee empowerment has a direct relationship with job satisfaction. In this regard, empowerment increases the satisfaction

Mobile Computing and Social Networks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Mobile Computing and Social Networks - Essay ExampleIn addition to this, these applications effectively upload to a specific processing server without the use of any background knowledge form and application. These applications have several benefits realisticized by the users due to the ability to get entranceway to the single data and information through mobile applications. There are several challenges too that have been turn to in this essay.Run of mobile applications in small screen-sized mobile give the axe be considered as real challenge. There are several mobile platforms, such as iPhone, Windows Phone, Android and iPad. This essay has described serviceable methods, which preserve be utilized to decide that which of these platforms are supportable. It is true that mobile application generally requires gritty availability aspect as the users significantly need to have continuous conflict free access to IS and IT systems. Therefore, it is important to identify and impl ement the ways of ensuring high availability aspect. It is true that, hacking of mobile devices has become a significant challenge. Therefore, the essay has described the methods to make the existing mobile devices more secure.Geo- place technology can be considered as one of the most significant trends in the field of social networking. It helps an individual to address the status of other intended individuals. It also helps people to locate popular places or institutions close to the physical location of an individual. Now-a-days, people are able to rebuke the locations on their mobile devices and Smartphone without the help of a desktop system or application to pull up Google maps or MapQuest in order to get directions to required addresses or places. People generally find addresses through the use of these apps on desktop and print outs. But, now these can be avoided due to availability of Smartphone, which can help individuals to find exact location and people can carry this S martphone with them.Geo-location data also reveals important

Strategic HRM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Strategic HRM - Essay ExampleThe third principle reflects that a positive approach should be developed by an governing body in terms of human resource caution for defining the objectives of the organization and the plans as to how these objectives can be attained.This report is prep ared with the aim of identifying the core strategic issues in one of the fastest growing and largest companies operating in the Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) industry, Foxconn Technology Group. The core strategic issues in the company which have acted as impediments in the way of successful management of the company are identified and evaluated with the use of established strategic HRM theories and concepts. The report also includes the identification of suitable solutions for the existing strategic problems in the company which are presented as recommendations to the management. The report is concluded with a summary of the overall content study analysis.Strategic HRM is a process which in cludes the formulation of suitable approaches for developing human resource strategies in an organization (Smit and Trigeorgis, 2004). The development of strategic human resource systems and processes is important for every organization because strategic HRM is considered to be a major source of generating competitive advantage. Also, the human resource strategies can be vertically compound with the business and corporate strategies and horizontally integrated among the different groups of strategic HRM strategies. These strategies are aimed at defining the plans of the organization with respect to the specific business considerations like people management, organizational effectiveness, employee relations management, reward and appraisal systems, information and development, resource management etc. (CCH Australia, 2011).Foxconn Technology Group is a leading

Violence in Schools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Violence in Schools - Essay ExampleWhether public or private, unfortunately, the rate of violence is educates is escalating. School violence exists along a lengthy continuum, at one shoemakers last marked by minor incidents involving everyday fighting, name-calling, bullying, and minor property destruction and at the early(a) determination marked by extortion, rape, homicide, and mass murder. (Gerler and Gerler, 2004, pg. xxxii)To asses the current problem of violence in schools it is necessary to know how voluminous the problem is. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation the statistics for violence in schools and colleges reveals that Of the 17,065,074 incidents reported through the NIBRS by law enforcement from 2000 to 2004, 558,219 (3.3 percent) occurred at schools. (Noonan and Vavra, 2007) The most offenders belonged to the 13 to 15 age assembly and the next highest number of offenders was in the 16 to 18 age group. By looking at only those offenders for whom the a ge was known, offenders 18 geezerhood of age or younger were 4.5 times more likely to be involved in offensive activity at schools than older offenders. (Noonan and Vavra, 2007) Looking at offenders according to gender it was presented that males were more likely to be offenders than females at a 3.3 ratio. In categorizing according to by slipstream, white offenders accounted for 71.1 percent (280,178) black offenders, 27.4 percent (107,878) and all other races combined, less than 2 percent (6,117). (Noonan and Vavra, 2007) Another factor important in understanding the reason wherefore these crimes exist is to examine victim-to-offender relationship. By far, the relationship type most often reported for crime in schools was Acquaintance, with 107,533 instances occurring during the 5-year study period. (Noonan and Vavra, 2007)All of these statistics combined give us perspective into the current problem of why school violence takes place. It helps us target middle school and high school going children as the group of people who need most aid in battling this type of violence. It also reveals pertinent facts related to gender, race and relationship issues when violence is inflicted. Recently, the issue of violence in school has been getting a lot of attention from the media. The first big incident related to school violence committed by the generation Ys is aquilegia where two students went around on a shooting rampage killing about 13 students and a teacher. The incident kindled a huge debate over the use of guns in America and became the breathing in for director Michael Moore documentary Bowling for Columbine. According to psychologist Arnold Lazarus violence occurs due to several reasons once of which is behavior. This aspect of his hypothesis discusses the fact that certain kinds of behavior receive attention. Extraordinary misbehavior, for example, often elicits significant attention from peers, from teachers and school administrators, and -in spec ially noteworthy cases- from the media. (Gerler and Gerler, 2004)On the other side of the coin, accomplishments in academia are sometimes not given as much importance. In other words, although school accomplishments get attention they are

High School vs College Essay Example for Free

towering School vs College EssayThe transition from exalted discipline to college is not only an exciting and challenging time, exactly also a great milestvirtuoso in sensations sustenance. on that point be several(prenominal) differences amid the lives of graduate(prenominal) nurture and college students. Some individuals will be able to jump right in and adjust to this change seamlessly, while others may take years to adapt, or never even hitch hold of the whole college experience at all. High school and College are both educational grand for a student to grow and enrich their lives with knowledge. Both are like puzzle pieces on one side they fit together, but on the other side they are something completely different. High school is a continuation of elementary and middle school, wherein students learn what is expected of them in regards to the standard of education nonplus by the government.Up until the age of eighteen, students have no choice but to attend scho ol as it is required by law. During school hours there are rules and regulations which one essential follow, or be reprimanded differently. There is also a strict schedule that students must follow. Along with basic classes, there is also mixer learning that takes place at the same time. Students must still understand how to react to certain situations, such as if it is rude to talk over someone else who started talking first. High school also presents a wide variety of activities and field trips. With four years of experience and routine, adolescents become sufficiently acclimated to last school.College, contrarily, is a new experience all together. Individuals are not legally required to attend college, but those who assume to do so have the opportunity to select which university he/she wishes to attend. Acceptance is not always guaranteed, of course. If one is accepted, one bottom pick and choose which classes to take. Aside from core curriculum, these classes usually corr espond to a specialised degree that a student declares, allowingone the opportunity to build their school schedule around their otherwise busy lives. People can really see the distinctive differences these two phase in life however, there are also some similarities you will carry on during your transition into college lives.Friends from your high school will always be there for you especially when you keep a constant connection between them. Studying habits such as cramming for test or homework, creating during a test or copying some other students homework, breaking the rules and disciplinary sanctions are still evident in both high school and college. We all know that everyone goes through high school and college. We can compare that college is much to a greater extent(prenominal) challenging and complex than high school. This is a higher level of learning, thus, requiring more time, effort as well as devotion to studies. Even though college is very tiring at times, I still a ccept that college is much more enjoyable and exciting. To have that kind of freedom in your schedule is very recognize however, proper judgment is a must since we are all mature students now.High School students tire outt need to brook tuition government-funded. Dont need to yield for residence, rent or other accommodation such (e.g. can live at home for free dont need to pay for books) books are provided by school in high school. Student has fewer assignments on average of 1-3 assignments per week. Student dont nee Body Paragraphs (A) College (B) High school (1) Cost publication sentence College is more expensive than high school because of tuition, living expenses, and books. tuition $1,500 $2,000 per term must pay for residence, rent, or other accommodation if living away from home o e.g. rent can be $400-$600 per month residence $2,000 per term must pay for books $300-500 per term dont need to pay tuition governmentfunded dont need to pay for residence, rent, or other acc ommodation o e.g. can live at home for free dont need to pay for books o e.g. books provided by school (2) Workload Topic SentenceThe workload in college is more challenging than the workload in high school. more assignments average of 3-5 assignments per week more time and effort needed to complete assignments successfully o e.g. because assignments are more challenging, they take on average 2-8 hours to complete assignments worth greater region of final target o e.g. every assignment worth an average of 25-50% of final grade fewer assignments average of 1-3 assignments per week less time and effort neededto complete assignments successfully o e.g. assignments are less challenging and can be completed quickly before class assignments were a decline percentage of final grade o e.g. every assignment worth an average of 5-20% of final grade (3) Social Aspects Topic Sentence College offers more activities, sports, and clubs than high school. can play on varsity sports teams or make use of athletic facilities o Hockey, volleyball, football o Work out in gym, pool, and slant room can attend pub nights at on-campus pub o specialHalloween, Christmas, and Valentines sidereal day pub nights can get to know fellow students through social activities, such as penchant week there are many sports teams, but no varsity teams o hockey, volleyball, football o no workout facilities, pool, or weight room there are no pubs on-campus at high school because too many students are underage. in order to meet a variety of students, must participate in activities outside of class e.g. no orientation week Thesis Statement College is more expensive, presents more academic challenges, and offers a more social environment than high school. Concluding Sentence When college and high school are contrasted on the basis of financial, academic, and social aspects, it becomes clear that college is more costly, more academically challenging and more socially stimulating that high school envir onment.

Implications of Watching Foreign Movies Essay Example for Free

Implications of Watching Foreign Movies hearABSTRACTThis theater of operations looked at the relationship mingled with honoring immaterial film, dramas, or variant specify habits and the students faculty member carrying into actions. To determine whether its exposure benefitted the students or non, a reliable explore has to be conducted. Considering students differences factors and strategies while probeing, the results might be differ from m some(prenominal) aspects. The individual skills include how frequent they go out the celluloid, how pertinacious they spent their sequence and what types of merriment that they favored the roughly. An argument about the uses of visual aids much(prenominal) movie shows and otherwises goat raise the academic performances allow for be temperedtled on after the results of this excogitate had been serve welled.A pilot study was conducted first to check whether there was any problem regarding this issue. about 3 to 5 st udents were tested. Finally a survey was conducted at the boys and girls hostels in Kolej Profesional MARA Indera Mahkota where 40 students consist of 15 phallic students and 25 female students. This survey was conducted by distri justing a set of drumheadnaires to all the respondents. In general, this study was a big success where absolute majority of the students agreed that this method of skill can enhance their academic performances. braid up, some(prenominal) suggestion, opinion and recommendations were recorded in the finishing part of the report.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSI would like to express my excess thanks to my advisor, Madam Jamilah Binti Abdul Manan, who provided me with detailed and insightful feedback for all(prenominal) draft, who spent an enormous amount of time class period and editing my investigation, and to a greater extent importantly, who set an example for me to be a prudent presenter. I also inadequacy to thank her for her encouragement and assistance by means ofout the entire graduate program.I would also like to thank my family especially my auntie, noraini Binti Abdul Wahab for her assistance and suggestions in helping me to better understand the concept of visual study and and so forth Also, I want to thank my p bents for their great encouragement throughout the writing of this research. I want to intend a tremendous thank you to all my friends and anyone who has contributingthemselves in this study. I will remember your exertion and assistance in helping me finish this program. I treasure your friendship and support.1.0. Introduction2.1. Background of the breedingWatching movies and dramas has been a prune nowadays in students life especially in KPMIM. This habit does influence the students result in academic studies. By practicing this hobby, students manage to fill their free time. scarce the question is what the implications of this attitude are. Is it compulsive or negative impact towards the students themselves ? A research has been done by Christine Canning Wilson from the Centre of Excellence for Research and Training, Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi. In her research, it has been stated that audio-visual aids can enhance the manner of speaking encyclopaedism operate. It said that none-taking studies are less successful nowadays. Instead of that, advanced visual organizers much(prenominal) as groomingal videos or any other related matters helped the savantsimprove comprehension and aid in the storage of information.Students also like learning language through the use of videos. unmatched of the result is scholarly persons prefer action mechanism/entertainment films in the classroom. In addition, this shows that visuals can be utilize to help enhance the meaning of the means to be conveyed by the speakers. By providing this kind of learning method, learners whitethorn be benefitted by seeing fast meaning in legal injury of vocabulary recognition in the first languag e. Besides that, it is easier for them to clarify the cognitive content and clarify the gist of the stories. However, individuals process information in different ways. The strategies used by one learner are likely to differ from a nonher. Thus, further investigation needs to be done in disposition to identify the real impact of reflection movies/dramas and the relationship between these habits towards the students academic performances will be headstrong after the research has been carried out.2.2. Statement Of The ProblemThe problematic issue of this study is to identify the implications of ceremony alien movies or films towards students. Besides that, the increase or any decrease in academic performance will be observed and to be concluded after this study has been completed. There is also an argument that challenge about either it is a kind of waste productful activity for KPMIM students. So a reliable research needs to be carried out regarding this issue.2.3. Purpose Of The StudySince watching movies, dramas and variety shows have been a trend nowadays in students life especially in KPMIM there may be some consequences for them curiously in academic performance. aside from piling up their free time, a research needs to be done to investigate whether it is a beneficial or a wasteful activity for them. The purpose of the study portrayed in this research report was to appraise the either lecturers and the students in training and learning process despite making them easier to understand and memorize all the input during language classes. Besides that, to makelearning process more interactive and enjoyable so that the students would think that education is not something that is too moody and boring.2.4. Objective Of The StudyThe objectives of this study are1. to find out whether it is beneficial activity during students leisure time or not 2. to investigate what is the relationship between this activity and students academic performance 3. to figur e out what types of movies/dramas that have been the students favorites 4. To make suggestion that it could be one of the effective medium of learning or pedagogy.2.5. Research QuestionThe questionnaires will be given to some random students at Kolej Profesional MARA. 40 respondents will answer this questionnaire based on the research project. 15 of them were males and another 25 were the female students. The question will be boil down on what are the impacts of the habit.* Is watching movies/ dramas a beneficial or waste type of hobby to students? * Does watching/movies really help the students in their academic studies? * What is the favorite categories/type of movies/dramas that some of the students like? * Should it be implemented as a medium for teaching and learning in education institutions?2.6. Significance Of The StudyThis finding will help the lecturers and students to be aware of learning and teaching process can be easily done in a simple and effective way by victimi sation visual aids. Furthermore, students will be managed to fill their schedule with some beneficial activities instead of doing zip. Apart from enhancing the students interest and enthusiasm in learning, students should be able to improve their vocabulary and other skills that are postulate inlanguage studies such listening skill and speaking skill. Authoritatively, this will help the college to introduce the concept of entertaining while studying so that students can have an enjoyable environment while in the class maybe. Last but not least, to increase the academic performance in college by adapting a new way of study for the students.2.7. Scope Of The StudyThe scope of this research is that the respondents are 40 masses of KPMIM students. 15 people of male students and another 25 are the female students. The solution or any recommendations about this topic will be decided after the selective information has been collected.2.0. Literature ReviewAbout few centuries ago langu age is hard to learn by mass of people. But a poet named Simonides has sustain out wit a great principle of learning which was Words are the images of things. His statement was almost similarly accurate as the famous great Aristotle perception, Without image, thinking is impossible. From here, we can clearly seen that some(prenominal) statement support the principle of visual aids towards ones ascertain and edifying skills. optic aids does enhance the language learning process. Video is one of the visual aids that usually used by a teacher, lecturer or a presenter to educate and instrcut pupils. Videos at best defined as the selection and sequence of messages in an audio-visual context. Research by Herron, Hanley and Cole (1995) indicates that the visual support in the form of descriptive pictures significantly improved comprehension heaps with language videos for position speaking students.The results of the study indicate that extensive listening is facilitated by the richn ess of the context that visual organizers, such as educational videos, provide. Heron (1994) finds that advanced organizers based on videos helped learners improve comprehension and aid in the retention of information. A recent large-scale survey by Canning-Wilson (2000) suggests that the students like learning language through the use of videos. One of the results of her survey shows that learners prefer action/entertainment films to language films ordocumentaries in the classroom. She states although these films may seem to cumber student interest, she believes that it could be inferred that student comprehension of the video may be due to the visual clues instead of the auditory components.Heron, Hanley and Cole also hypothesize that the more meaningful an advanced organizer is the more impact it can have on comprehension and retention. Their results of using twelve different videos with foreign language learners indicates that scores improved when advanced organizers, such as a pictures and/or visual stimuli, are used with the video. mayhap the findings from these studies can be attributed to the fact that video offers contextual support and/or helps learners to visualize words as well as meanings. Individuals process information in different ways. The strategies used by one learner are likely to differ from those used by a different learner. It has been proven that what benefits one classify of learners may actually hinder the performance of a different group of learners (Bovy, 1981). Issues of the value of video as a teaching tool are often questioned.Omaggio (1979) suggests that the profession has virtually no empirical earth for promoting the use of visuals as aids to comprehension in the second language we know practically nothing about how students benefit from visuals (1979, p.107). Recently, in a lecture on the use of visuals in research, Canning-Wilson (2000) claims that the use of illustrations, visuals, pictures, perceptions, intellectual im ages, figures, impressions, likenesses, cartoons, charts, graphs, colors, replicas, reproductions, or anything else used to help one see an immediate meaning in the language may benefit the learner by helping to clarify the message, provided the visual works in a positive way to enhance or supplement the language point. She reports that images contextualized in video or on its take can help to reinforce the language, provided the learner can see immediate meaning in terms of vocabulary recognition in the first language.Furthermore, her research suggests that visuals can be used to help enhance the meaning of the message trying to be conveyed by the speakers through the use of paralinguistic cues. Last but not least, additional factors must be considered when looking at video as an instructional medium to teach a foreign or second language. Balatovas studies indicated that visual cues form in videos were informative and heighten comprehension in general, but did not necessarily sti mulate the understanding of a text. It was also found that teaching with video had some affective advantages. If the results of their findings are true and the selfsame(prenominal) results can be replicated, perhaps practitioners will no longer have to rely solely on anecdotal evidence. .3.0. Research methodology4.8. IntroductionThis section discusses the methodology of the research. The main purpose of the research is to investigate the relationship between watching movies, dramas or variety shows and the academic performance among KPMIM students. Does it really affect the educational outcome or not? Besides that, to assess the students and lecturers in teaching or learning process apart from making them easier to absorb, severalise and memorize the entire thing that they should. The selective information for the research were collected through questionnaires distribution.4.9. Research InstrumentsThis research utilize both the quantitative and qualitative research methodology. The instrument used to collect data was questionnaires. A set of questionnaires containing 13 questions divided into 2 parts. Different types of questions such as ranking, yes no questions, listing and were used in the questionnaires. The questionnaires were piloted to five students to assess its validity before it was distributed.The qualitative data for the research come at unrestricted questions.4.10. respondents of the StudyThe respondents of the study were several students at Kolej Profesional Mara Indera Mahkota, KPMIM. In March 2012, a total of 40 questionnaires were distributed to students randomly.4.11. Research ProcedureBefore the actual data collection phase, a pilot study was conducted to assess the validity of the research instruments. A total of five students were involved in the pilot study elect at randomly at Kolej professional Mara Indera Mahkota.During the actual study, the questionnaires were distributed at various locations on campus such as library, caf, cla sses and dormitories.4.12. Data AnalysisTo analyze the data, a several variables were taken into consideration namely the duration, effectiveness, relative frequency of the students watching their favored movie, dramas or variety shows, and from which countries.besides that, major immpacts of this study were also been questioned. For examples, does it improve students vocab and lexis in literary works, set creative thinking, reasoning skill and crtical review and assist students to focus in class.The data were saved into the computer using Microsoft Excel software. Results were presented through frequency counts and other descriptive statistics. The data were get down accordingly.4.0. Findings and DiscussionThis section will discuss the results of the research that had been done to determine whether it is an effective way as a method of learning and teaching towards KPMIM students. These findings received responses from 40 students which were 25 females and 15 males.FIGURE ANumb er of Respondent (Students) run across A shows the proportion of male and female students who were involved in this research. 15 of them were males and another 25 of them were thefemales. The trades union of them were 40 and the percentage that has been calculated as shown in the figure above.FIGURE BPercentage of students who watch movies/ dramas/ variety shows during free time.Figure B shows how many of students watch their favored shows during their leisure time. Majority of them watch movies and etc. during free time. 100 percent of male students did watch the movies while 92 percent of the female students who did the same thing. Only few of the female students did not watch the movies, dramas or variety shows. Maybe because of unnecessarily circumstances.Figure C Types of entertainment that mostly watched by the studentsThe figure above shows the type of entertainments that mostly watched by KPMIM students. To sum up, majority of the respondents preffered variety shows as thei r most favored types of entertainment. It is because it has been a phenomenon nowadays. Not only in KPMIM but all over Malaysia educational institutes. Maybe because the show is really funny and make them laugh every time they watch it. Nevertheless, it educates while entertaining. That is the most important. Otherwise, the data for other type of entertainments that prefferably watch by the students are shown in the figure above. Films at the 2nd rank followed by animation series as the tertiary and dramas was the least.Figure DForeign Entertainments that most InfluentialBased on the figure above, the well-influenced foreign entertainment among male students in KPMIM is the Bollywood followed by English, Korean and Japanese as the least. The reason why they chose Bollywood as their favoured foreign entertainment, it is because the eye-catching lyrics from pleasurable songs and it teaches a lot of moral and values. For the female respondents, majority of them pick English as their favored entertainment followed by Korean, Bollywood and Japanese.FIGURE EFrequencies of Sudents watch their Favored ShowsAs shown in the figure above, the female students often watch their favored shows for only 3 time a week whereas the male students watch their preffered entertainments 7 times a week which is everyday.FIGURE FTime outlay for each sessionsFrom the figure above, it is shown that majority of the male students spend their time about 4 to 5 hours for each session. For the female students, they only spent about 3 to 4 hours for their leisure movie times. This shows the females were good in managing their times compared tom the males. Notwithstanding, as long as the shows that they watched flirt some benefits to them, it is alright.FIGURE GHelp them in improving the Vocabs and Lexis in WrtingsGreater part of the respondents agree with the hypothesis, by watching movies, dramas or variety shows, they can improve their vocabularies and lexis in their writings. When they watched foreign shows or movies, they learned by reading the subtitles and find the meaning of words that they do not understand. By doing that, although it looks like a disinclined way of improving their vocabs, it really helps them in their examination. Especially in writing and speaking skills.FIGURE HDevelop notional thinking, Reasoning skills and Critical ReviewFor this section, 98 percent of the respondents agreed with the hypothesis by practising this habbit, they can develop their creative thinking, reasoning skills and critical review. Only 2 percent of them did not agree with the statement. The figure indicates that, majority of them could develop some of the useful skills especially in language classes. This means that watching movies, dramas and variety shows is not wasteful activity during leisure time.FIGURE IAssists to Focus and Improve Academic PerformanceBased on the figure above, 88 percent of the students do agree with the hypothesis of by applying this type of inclination, they tend to focus during classes. Only minority of them, 15 percent did not agree. Besides that, for sure, it will also aiding their academic performance. From this situation, we can conclude that this kind of practice lead to success for the students whom put run through it.Open cease question-Visual Aids (Movies/dramas/etc.) should be one of the effective mediums of learning or teaching because it brings a ton of advantages preferably than disfavors.Give your opinion/ comments regarding this issue. Please state the reasons why did you support or struggle this statement.Based on all the anwers, most of them are all the positive comments. This shown that, Visual Aids such Movies, dramas, and etc. are really should be implemented as one of the effective mediums of learning and teaching in any KPMIM since it bequeath loads of benefit rather than disfavors.5.0. ConclusionThis research investigated the relationship between the methods of using visual aids as learning p rocess and the academic performance towards KPMIM students. Primary data were collected by randomly with distributing a set of questionnaires to 40 students. As has been mentioned earlier in the introduction, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of using visual aids in teaching and learning towards the academic performance of students The following conlusions can be drawn based on the findings of the study 1. This study shows that watching movies/ dramas/ variety shows, students managed to perform well in their academic performance. 2. By practicing this habit, educatees can improve their vocabularies and lexis in writings instead of developing their creative thinking, critical reviews and reasoning skills. 3. Last of all, this method of learning and teaching is ought to be implemented in every educational institutions.The results of this study indicate that teaching and learning by using visual aids as a method compulsarily implemented in KPMIM especially in English subject. This is because after a thorough study has been investigated, it bring a a lot more benefits rather than detriment to students or even lecturers. However, this findings are only true for KPMIM students. The same study needs to be done with students from other educational institutes to see if there are any similarities with the impact of watching foreign movies, dramas and variety shows habit towards the academic performances.6.0RECOMMENDATIONS6.1Recommendations based on FindingsBased on the findings and conclusions of the study, here are several recommendations to be considered 1. Visual Aids such (Movie Reviews / Documentaries /etc.) should be one of the effective mediums of learning because it brings a ton of advantages rather than disfavors. 2. Educators are also counseled to use this method of teaching as it makes edifying process more simpler, cooler, interactive and valuable.6.2Recommendations for Future ResearchSince this study only focussed on KPMIM stude nts, it is highly recommended that further reseach be carried out for other students from another colleges or universities to explore whether there might some differences in the study or similarities in the findings. Besides that, the implementation of this method of learning and teaching could be the worldwide most effective way in teaching English because it is essential for all walks of life. Lastly, M.O.E or any other parties could impart some expenses and provide new high-tech facilities to all education institution.BIBLIOGRAPHY* Richard Cameron Dolati Roman. (2010). Harnessing the Use of Visual tuition Aids in the English Language Classroom. Retrieved December 15th, 2010 from the Arab World English Journal. * Koren, S. (1996). Vocabulary instruction through hypertext Are there advantages over conventional methods of teaching?.TESL-EJ, 4(1), 1- 14. * Mayer, R. Simes, V. (1994). For whom is a picture worth a molar concentration words? Extensions of a dualcoding theory of mul timedia learning. Journal of Educational Technology, 86, 389-401. * The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. VI, No. 11, November 2000 http//iteslj.org/

The Modern Era Essay Example for Free

The groundbrea force Era Essay ear perchst refreshful(a) WorldHistorians approximatelytimes refer to the succession between the pre sensitive(a) (or medieval) and late sweet-made whiles as the aboriginal fresh dry land. The world during this season was increasingly united by the projection of atomic number 63an indicator abroad, especially in the the Statess. Although archaeozoic sophisticated europiumans still had subaltern k straightledge of, let alone hegemony (influence) over, the inland regions of Africa and Asia, the links created and dominated by atomic number 63ans made the entire world a stage for fundamental historical processes.Historians debate, or lean over in silence, the problem of determining the precise starting and revokeing dates of the early mod world and bind produced moreover the vaguest consensus. Roughly, the era of the early modern font world began during the fifteenth century with the Timurid (relating to the Turkic conqueror T imur) and Italian cultural renaissances. The division 1405 serves as a convenient starting date because it marks not only the death of Timur, the last great central Asiatic conqueror to join farmers and nomads into a star imperium, but also the bugger off-go of the Chinese admiral Zheng Hes (c. 13711435) naval expeditions to the western almostern Oceans.The era force be taken to end in the late eighteenth century with the French and industrial revolutions, both European purgets of orbiculate consequence in the late modern world. The uncertainty of this periodization derives in fail from the concept of an early modern Europe, with its own uncertain chronological boundaries, and in part from the unconsidered expression in which both articulates entered historical scholarship.Origins of the ConceptAlthough conceptually the phrase early modern world is an addition of the phrase early modern Europe, the initial histories of both phrases capture some surprises. The earlies t known look of the phrase early modern world occurs in Willard Fishers capital and Credit authorship in the Modern Marketfrom The diary of Political frugality (1895).Although Fisher writes, We all know that the body of bank credits and bank money, which was introduced into the great commercialized centers of the early modern world, has now attained a quite marvelous development (1895, 391), the geographic sense of his statement is strictly, if implicitly, European. On the other hand, the phrase early modern Europe first shows up twenty years later, in Dixon Ryan Foxs Foundations of West India Policy in Political learning Quarterly (1915). Fox remarks, It was now realized by students of compound history that in the Caribbean the West India of the articles title might best be traced the application of those principles which throw away the bestowing basis for the old empires of early modern Europe (1915, 663). Ironically, the phrase early modern Europe first appe atomic nu mber 18d in the Caribbean, in the globular context of colonialism, in an article advocating trans-Atlantic history. In their debuts each phrase bore something of the others sense.Foxs usage was an anomaly, and when the phrase early modern Europe arrived in Europe, it had come to stay. The phrase early modern world, however, for decades would imply world to mean, in an indefinite way, present(prenominal) rather than global surroundings because this historical scholarship dealt with European subjects, the early modern world was in fact early modern Europe. The early modern world became global only with C. F. Strongs grammar school textbook The advance(prenominal) Modern World (1955) and S. Harrison Thomsons 1964 review of J. H. Parrys The senesce of Reconnaissance, in which Thomson uses the phrase to describe the story of the successive expansion of European venture, from Africa to the reaches of the Indian Ocean by Arabs and Lusitanian by sea, the movement westward to the the St atess and the early transition from discovery to fishing, calling, and exploitation(1964, 188). The first considered abridgment of the early modern world came after the posthumous publication of Joseph Fletchers article Integrative fib in 1985. Such analysis has tended to adopt either a deductive or an inductive approach.deductive ApproachA deductive approach to the early modern world compares premodernity and late modernity, devises the signs necessary to twain the two stages, and only then callks confirmation in the historical record.This approach assumes the existence of a modernizing trajectory, which the early modern world shared with (and perhaps inherited from) early modern Europe. Informed by a Marxist perspective, the essentials of the early modern world would highlight transitions from feudal to bourgeois, from serfdom to wage-earning proletariat, and from local subsistence to regional market economies. A functionalist understanding of modernity, of the sort theorize d by the German sociologist Max Weber, the U.S. sociologist Talcott Parsons, or the French sociologist Emile Durkheim, explains brotherly phenomena in terms of their ability to fulfill social ask and broadens this base beyond the mode of production. here(predicate) the critical shifts would be from teaching in miracles to belief in science, from household-based craft production berthed by muscle, dung, water, and wood to factory-based mass production powered by electricity and fossil fuels, and from government justified by tradition to government consciously invented. Even in the context of early modern Europe critics altercate the effectiveness of a deductive approach by condemning its implication of an inevitable progress from premodernity to modernity. A deductive approach takes little cognizance of the possibilities of various starting points, different destinations, and particular paths. In some twentieth-century cases the transition to modernity was less a progression than a violently dramatic smorgasbord. When expanded to a global context this approach becomes not only teleological (assuming a design or bearing in history), but also artificially Eurocentric.Inductive ApproachRather than specify theoretical factors to be sought in the time period, an inductive approach examines what happened in different places and extracts from what happened a set of car park features. Although such an approach removes the theoretical obstacle of a modernizing trajectory, the historian is left with the Herculean task of specifying processes that united all,most, or many of the worlds citizenrys. Such an approach need not focus on Europe, nor need it measure the success of various regions in terms of their progress along Europes path.How tightfittingly do the rough chronological parameters suggested here match the conventional historiographies (the writings of history) of the various regions distant Europe?Traditional periodizations in Afri post and Ameri privy history are directly linked to European expansion. Marked by a European presence that could not yet dominate the continent, an early modern Africa might last from the Portuguese capture of Ceuta, a port on the Moroc potentiometer side of the fling of Gibraltar (1415), until the development of quinine and steamships in the ordinal century. The first Niger steamship expedition returned without casualties in 1854.An early modern America might stretch from the encounters of 1492 until the period of independence movements, from 1776 to the independence of Brazil in 1822. An early modern India might begin with the fifth generation descendant of Timur, Zahir-ud-Din Muhammad Babur, whose ancestry inspired him to conquer northern India. The Mughal dynasty he founded (1526) would harness effectively for two centuries the British would take charge of its Delhi nucleus in 1803.An early modern lacquer stretches from the unification efforts of Oda Nobunaga (15341582) to the end of the Tokuga wa shogunate (the dictatorship of a Japanese military governor) in 1867. Other regional historiographies fit less indwellingly. Although the Ottomans 1453 conquest of Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Tur recognise) was timely, the Chinese Ming dynasty began too early (1368) and ended inconveniently in the middle of our early modern period (1644). Worse, key modernizing revolutions came late relative to the western European timetable the Chinese change in 1911, the Russian Bolshevik revolution in 1917, and the Kemalist (relating to the Turkish soldier and statesman Kemal Ataturk) revolution in Turkey in 1923.The actual use of the phrase early modern in the periodization of regional histories varies. right(prenominal) of Europe, it is most commonly used in Asia, especially in works on China, Japan, and, to a lesser extent, India. Historians of China sometimes extend the period into the twentieth century. Far fewer historians write of an early modern Africa or an early modern Braz il. This fact is due in part to the power of the word colonial to identify these time periods.Latin American periodization is so consistently divided into pre-Columbian, colonial, and national periods that there is no need for the phrase earlymodern, which should correspond to the middle, colonial period. In fact, the phrase early modern Mexico sometimes refers to the period immediately after independence. The divergence of these traditional periodizations of regional histories, so often linked to superior political history, should not surprise. The global historian in search of an early modern world can look beyond these periodizations to reckonk processes that enveloped wide swaths of the planet.Development of global Sea PassagesNothing is more than characteristic of the early modern world than the creation of truly global sea passages. Before 1492 the Americas remained essentially free from Eurasia. In 1788 the last key sea passage was completed by the first permanent reso lving power of Europeans in Australia. This passage also concluded the integration of the Pacific Ocean as a geographical concept, a process that began when the Spanish explorer Vasco Nuez de Balboa became the first European to see the Pacific from America in 1513. During the early fifteenth century the Europeans were unlikely candidates to fill the key role in this process of exploration.Portuguese exploration of the African coast was declining, and mariners were averse to sail out of sight of land. Even the overland excursions undertaken by Europeans had become more modest. Muslims still controlled southern Iberia, and in 1453 the Ottomans conquered Constantinople. Smart money would have looked rather at the Chinese admiral Zheng He, whose s until now expeditions between 1405 and 1433reached even the shores of eastern Africa. A change in Chinese imperial policy halted these expeditions, and the voyages that finally connected the world were directed by Europeans.In 1522 the surviv ors of the expedition of the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan completed the first circumnavigation of the globe. During the following centuries a s protrudeed captain and crew could navigate a ship from any port to any port and reasonably expect to arrive. In 1570 the Flemish cartographer Ortelius published what has been described as the first modern atlas, the Theatrum orbis terrarum (Theater of the World) this comprehensive yet handy and inexpensive work enjoyed immediate success. By the end of the period the best mapped region of the world would be China.Global demographic InterconnectionsThe worlds population doubled during the early modern period, from approximately 374 million (1400) to 968 million plenty (1800). Although demographic data are limited, some patterns emerge. Rapid growth was punctuated by a 17thcentury stemma in Europe, Russia, Iran, Central Asia, China, and Korea and recovery from this decline occurred globally, even in the Americas. The more populo us regions tended to grow more rapidly.The refreshful global sea passages set the stage for a transatlantic Columbian exchange (the biological and cultural exchange between the freshly World and the Old World that began with the 1492 voyage of Christopher Columbus) and for a transpacific Magellan exchange of crops and malady pathogens that put the peoples of the world in a more direct demographic relationship than ever before. The reaching of American maize and potatoes in Eurasia, and later in Africa, facilitated an intensive agricultural, and thus demographic, growth, and the appearance of tomatoes in Italy and chili peppers in India had important dietary and culinary consequences.Disease also became a global phenomenon. First appear in Europe in 1494, venereal syphilis reached India four years later, and by 1505 it hadoutraced the Portuguese to China. The unfermented Worlds isolation and limited bio vicissitude (biological diversity as indicated by numbers of species of pl ants and animals) did not submit to its indigenous peoples the same immunities enjoyed by Europeans, who as children were exposed to a multiplicity of infections. Measles, bantampox, and other diseases brought by Europeans triggered a long-term demographic catastrophe.The indigenous population of central Mexico declined from 30 million in 1518 to 1.6 million in 1620 a genocide unintended, misunderstood, and undesired by the Spanish who sought souls for salvation and laborers for their mines. Contact with the wider world work similar demographic calamities on other isolated peoples, including Pacific Islanders, Siberian tribes, and the Khoikhoi of southern Africa. Increased contacts distributed pathogens more evenly throughout the world and generally reduced susceptibility to epidemic disease.Development of a Global EconomyThe development of global sea passages integrated America into a truly global economy. speedily growing long distance commerce linked expanding economies on e very continent. Dutch merchants in capital of The Netherlands could purchase commodities anywhere in the world, bring them to Amsterdam, store them safely, add value through processing and packaging, and cover them for profit. Intensive production fueled by the commercialism of an increasingly global market gave new wideness to cash crops and sparked an unprecedented expansion in the slave trade.The movement of manufactured goods from eastern Asia toward Europe and America created a chain of balance-of-trade deficits, which funneled silver from American mines to China. Regular transpacific trade developed during the decades after the founding of manila paper in the Philippines in 1571 and followed the same pattern Exports of porcelain and silks from China created a trade imbalance that sucked silver from the Americas and from Japan. through with(predicate) military-commercial giants such as the Dutch East India Company (founded in 1602), European merchants disrupted traditional t radingconditions in Africa and Asia to muscle into regional country trade. The expansion of settled populations, as well as the new ocean trade route alternatives to the Silk Road that linked China to the West, contributed to the decline of nomadism. The agriculture of settled peoples support large populations and tax bases that an efficient state could translate into permanent military strength.Development of Large and effectual StatesThe global trade in firearms and similar weapons contributed to the growth of large and efficient states, known as gunpowder empires. Expensive and complex, the most advanced weapons became a monopoly of centralized states, which employed them to weaken local opposition.During the mid-fifteenth century the king of France used artillery to reduce some sixty castles annually. Administrative procedures also became increasingly routinized and efficient. Ever more abstract notions of state authority accompanied the evolution of newsources of legitimacy. From the Irrawaddy River in Asia to the Seine River in Europe, ghostly uniformity served to reinforce and confirm centralized formula. The ideal of universal empire was native to America, Africa, and Eurasia. The early modern unification of England with Scotland and Ireland was paralleled throughout Europe. If in 1450 Europe contained six atomic number 6 independent political units (or more, dep mop up on the criteria), in the nineteenth century it contained somewhat twentyfive.About thirty independent city-states, khanates (state governed by a ruler with the Mongolian title khan), and princedoms were absorbed into the Russian empire. By 1600 the Tokugawa shogunate had unified Japan. Fourteenth century southeasterly Asia had two dozen independent states that evolved into Vietnam, Siam (Thailand), and Burma (Myanmar) by 1825. The Mughals unified India north of the Deccan Plateau for the first time since the Mauryan empire (c. 321185 BCE). Unification was also an overture to expa nsion.In addition to an increasing European presence worldwide, Qing China (16441912) invaded Xinjiang,Mongolia, Nepal, Burma, and Formosa, and during the seventeenth century Romanov Russia stretched out to the Pacific. The new unities led relentlessly to new fragmentations and hierarchies, and resistance to such centralizing political forces was equally universal. During the century between 1575 and 1675, for example, uprisings occurred in China, Japan, India, Armenia, Georgia, Kurdistan, Ukraine, the Balkans, the German lands, Switzerland, France, Catalonia, Portugal, England, Ireland, and Mexico. At the end of the period, the French Revolution (1789) would enjoy global influence as the first revolution modern in its progressive, absolute, and sudden nature.Intensification of Land riding habitThe concurrence of population growth, global markets, and aggressive states led to wider and more intensive use of land. Displacing or rank indigenous peoples, pioneers backed by aggressive states drained wetlands and cleared forests to create new lands for intensive commercial, agricultural, and plain regimes. (Similarly, commercial hunters pursued various species of flora and fauna to extinction for sale on a global market.)Oblivious to any land claims held by indigenous peoples, states would offer pioneers low taxes in exchange for answer and land rights. For example, the Mughal Empire provided land grants, Hindu merchants provided capital, and Sufi (Muslim mystic) brotherhoods provided leadership for the communities of Muslim pioneers who transformed the Bengal wetlands into a key rice-producing region. These efforts compensated for the extended disobliging weather patterns that plagued temperate zones throughout the Northern Hemisphere a little ice age affecting climate throughout the early modern world.Religious RevivalThe most distinctive religious characteristic of this era was the globalexpansion of Christianity. Indeed, the impetus driving the creation of global sea passages was religious as well as commercial. The efforts of Catholic religious orders predominated the great Protestant missionary societies would be founded only in the 1790s. Sufi brotherhoods such as the Naqshibandiyah expanded Islam in Africa, India, China, and southeastern Asia.Tibetan Buddhism pushed into north China, Manchuria, Mongolia, Buryatia, and to Kalmikya, on the shore of the Caspian Sea, which remains to solar day the only Buddhist republic in Europe.The increase speech pattern on orthodox and textual conventions of Latin Christendoms Reformation had a parallel in the Raskol stock split of the Russian Orthodox Church during the 1650s. Elsewhere, Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab (17031792) founded the Wahabbi movement to reform Sunni Islam under strict Quranic interpretation.Many people believed that the era that historians call early modern would be the last. Franciscan apocalyptic thought inspired Columbus, and the belief that the god Quetzalcoatl would r eturn from the East in a One Reed year led the Aztec self-reliant Montezuma II to regard the Spanish conqueror Hernn Corts and his comrades as divine envoys. A Jesuitical at the court of Akbar in 1581 found the Mughal ruler open to the idea of the imminent end because that year was eleven years from the thousandth anniversary of the Hijra, which was the journey the Prophet Muhammad took from Mecca to Medina in622 CE. The Jewish Sabbatian movement judge the end of the world in 1666. In late eighteenth-century central China the White Lotus auberge awaited the return of the Buddha to put an end to suffering. All these developments might best be understood in the context of notions of history in which significant change was either absent or sudden and awesome. first momentNeither a deductive nor an inductive approach to the early modern world isentirely satisfactory. A deductive approach expects to see the entire world following a Eurocentric roadmap to modernization (one that Europ e itself might not have followed). An inductive approach respects the diversity of historical experience, but this diversity itself can frustrate attempts to delineate a discrete list of unifying features. If historians can tolerate the inconveniences of regional exceptions to every global process, the idea of an early modern world has its attractions. Although a perspective that twists the world around a European center is unproductive, the regions of the early modern world were increasingly named (in America) and mapped (as in China) by Europeans.Nevertheless, in its application beyond Europe the idea of an early modern world redresses the distortions of the Orientalist assumption of parochial, timeless, and conservative inertias unmoved by European expansion. It recognizes that peoples of the early modern era in some ways had more in common with each other than with their own ancestors and descendents that time unites just as goodishly as place. It facilitates proportional an alysis and abets inquiry that trespasses across national boundaries. It sees the entire world as a stage, not only for comparative study, but also for the broadest possible analysis for a historians scrutiny.Further knowledgeBenton, L. (2002). Law and Colonial Cultures Legal Regimes in World History, 1400 1900. Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press.Black, J. (Ed.). (1999).War in The Early Modern World, 14501815. London UCL Press.Fisher,W. (1895). Money and Credit Paper in the Modern Market. The Journal of Political Economy, 3, 391413.Fletcher, J. (1985). Integrative History Parallels and Interconnections in the Early Modern Period, 15001800. Journal of Turkish Studies, 9, 3757. Flynn, D. O., Giraldez, A. (1995). Born with a Silver Spoon World look ats Origins in 1571. Journal of World History, 6(2), 201221.Fox, D. R. (1915). Foundations of West India Policy. Political ScienceQuarterly, 30, 661672.Frank, A. G. (1998). ReOrient Global Economy in the Asian Age. Berkeley and Los A ngeles University of California Press.Goldstone, J. A. (1991). Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World. Berkeley and Los Angeles University of California Press.Goldstone, J. A. (1998). The enigma of the Early Modern World. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 41, 249284.Huff,T. E. (1993). The switch off of Early Modern Science Islam, China and the West. Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press.Lieberman,V. (1997). Transc closing curtain East-West Dichotomies State and Culture Formation in Six Ostensibly Disparate Areas. Modern Asian Studies, 31(3), 463546. Mousnier, R. (1970). Peasant Uprisings in Seventeenth-Century France, Russia, and China (B. Pearce,Trans.). New York Harper and Row.Parker,G. (1996). The Military Revolution Military Innovation and the Rise of the West, 15001800 (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press. Pomeranz, K.(2001).The Great Divergence China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy. Princeton, NJ Princ eton University Press.Richards, J. F. (1997). Early Modern India and World History. Journal of World History, 8, 197209.Richards, J. F. (2003). The Unending Frontier An Environmental History of the Early Modern World. Berkeley and Los Angeles University of California Press. Starn, R. (2002). The Early Modern Muddle. Journal of Early Modern History, 6(3), 296307.Strong, C. F. (1955). The Early Modern World. London University of London Press. Subrahmanyam, S. (1997). Connected Histories Notes Towards a Reconfiguration of Early Modern Eurasia. Modern Asian Studies, 31(3), 735 762. Thomson, S. H. (1964). The Age of Reconnaissance, by J. H. Parry. The Journal of Modern History, 36(2), 187188.Wallerstein, I. (1974). The Modern World-System. New York Academic. Wiesner-Hanks, M. (2000). Christianity and sexual activity in the Early ModernWorld Regulating desire, reforming practice. London Routledge.Wills, J. E., Jr. (2001). 1688 A Global History. New York Norton.The Modern EraThe modern er a is the briefest and most turbulent of the three main eras of human history. Whereas the era of foragers lasted more than 200,000 years and the rural era astir(predicate) 10,000 years, the modern era has lasted just 250 years. Yet, during this brief era change has been more rapid and more fundamental than ever before indeed, populations have grown so betting that 20 share of all humans may have lived during these two and a half(prenominal) centuries.The modern era is also the most interconnected of the three eras. Whereas new ideas and technologies once took thousands of years to plenty the globe, today people from different continents can converse as easily as if they lived in a single global village. History has become world history in the most literal sense. For our purposes the modern era is assumed to begin about 1750.Yet, its roots lay deep in the agrarian era, and we could make a good case for a starting date of 1500 or even earlier.Determining the end date of the mode rn era is even trickier. Some scholars have argued that it ended during the twentieth century and that we now live in a postmodern era. Yet, many features of the modern era persist today and entrust persist for some time into the future thus, it makes more sense to see our contemporary period as part of the modern era. This fact means that we do not know when the modern era provide end, nor can we see its overall shape as clearly as we might wish. The fact that we cannot see the modern era as a whole makes it difficult to specify its main features, and justifies using the purposely vague label modern. At present the diagnostic feature of the modern era seems to be a sharp increase in rates of innovation.New technologies enhanced human control over natural resources and stimulated rapid population growth. In their turn, technological and demographic changes transformed lifeways, cultural and religious traditions, patterns ofwellness and aging, and social and political relationships . For world historians the modern era poses distinctive challenges. We are too close to see it clearly and objectively we have so much information that we have difficulty distinguishing trends from details and change has occurred faster than ever before and embraced all parts of the world. What follows is one attempt to construct a crystal clear overview, based on generalizations that have achieved broad acceptance among world historians.Major Features and Trends of the Modern EraThe modern era is the first to have generated a large body of statistical evidence thus, it is also the first in which we can quantify many of the larger changes.Increases in Population and ProductivityHuman populations have increased faster than ever before during the modern era, although growth rates slowed during the late twentieth century. in the midst of 1750 and 2000 the number of men and women in the world travel from approximately 770 million to almost 6 billion, close to an multiple increase i n just 250 years. This increase is the equivalent of a growth rate of about 0.8 percent per annum and represents a doublingtime of about eighty-five years. (Compare this with estimated doubling times of fourteen hundred years during the agrarian era and eight thousand to nine thousand years during the era of foragers.) An eight close down increase in human numbers was possible only because productivity rose even faster. The estimates of the economist Angus Maddison suggest that global gross domestic product rose more than ninety fold during three hundred years, whereas production per person rose nine fold.These astonishing increases in productivity lie behind all the most significant changes of the modern era. Productivity rose in part because new technologies were introduced. In agriculture, for example, food productionkept pace with population growth because of improved crop rotations, increased use of irrigation, widespread application of artificial fertilizers and pesticides, a nd the use of genetically modified crops. However, productivity also rose because humans learned to exploit new sources of energy.During the agrarian era each human controlled, on average, 12,000 kilocalories a day (about four times the energy needed to sustain a human body), and the most powerful prime movers available were domestic animals or wind-driven ships. During the modern era humans have learned to reap the commodious reserves of energy stored in fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas and even to exploit the power lurking within atomic nuclei. Today each person controls, on average, 230,000 kilocalories a daytwenty times as much as during the agrarian era. A world of planes, rockets, and nuclear power has replaced a world of horses, oxen, and wood fires.City SprawlAs populations have increased, so has the average sizing of human communities. In 1500 about fifty cities had more than 100,000 inhabitants, and none had more than a million. By 2000 several(prenominal) thousand cities had more than 100,000 inhabitants, about 411 had more than a million, and 41 had more than 5 million. During the agrarian era most people lived and worked in villages by the end of the twentieth century almost 50 percent of the worlds population lived in communities of at least five thousand people. The rapid decline of villages marked a fundamental transformation in the lives of most people on Earth. As during the agrarian era, the increasing size of communitiestransformed lifeways, beginning with patterns of employment Whereas most people during the agrarian world were small farmers, today most people support themselves by wage work in a huge variety of occupations.Innovations in transportation and communications have transformed relations between communities and regions. Before the nineteenth century no onetraveled faster than the pace of a horse (or a fast sailing ship), and the fastest way to transmit written messages was by state-sponsored courier systems that used relays of horses. Today messages can cross the world instantaneously, and even perishable goods can be transported from one end of the world to some other in just a few hours or days.Increasingly Complex and Powerful GovernmentsAs populations have grown and peoples lives have become more intertwined, more complex forms of regulation have become necessary, which is why the business of government has been revolutionized. Most premodern governments were content to manage war and taxes, leaving their subjects to get on with their livelihoods more or less unhindered, but the managerial tasks facing modern states are much more complex, and they have to spend more effort in mobilizing and regulating the lives of those they rule.The huge bureaucracies of modern states are one of the most important byproducts of the modern revolution. So, too, are the structures of democracy, which allow governments to align their policies more closely with the needs and capabilities of the large and varied populations they rule. Nationalismthe close emotional and intellectual identification of citizens with their governmentsis another by-product of these new relationships between governments and those they rule.The presence of democracy and nationalism may suggest that modern governments are more reluctant to impose their will by force, but, in fact, they have much more administrative and coercive power than did rulers of the agrarian era. No government of the agrarian era tried to track the births, deaths, and incomes of all the people it command or to impose compulsory schooling yet, many modern governments handle these colossal tasks routinely. Modern states can also inflict violence more effectively and on a larger scale than even the greatest empires of the agrarian era.Whereas an eighteenth century cannon could destroy a house or kill a closely packed group of soldiers, modern nuclear weapons can destroy entire citiesand millions of people, and the concert launch of man y nuclear weapons could end human history within just a few hours.A subtler change in the nature of power is the increased dependence of modern states on commercial success rather than raw coercion. Their power depends so much on the economic productivity of the societies they rule that modern governments have to be effective economic managers. The creation of more democratic systems of government, the declining importance of slavery, the ending of European imperial power during the twentieth century, the collapse of the Soviet command economy in 1991, and the ending of apartheid (racial segregation) in South Africa in 1990 and 1991 all reflected a growing awareness that successful economic wariness is more effective than crudely coercive forms of rule.