Marshmallow Lab

Sabrina Gournaris Period 3 March 27, 2012 Marshmallow: The Snack That Acts Like A Gas Objective: Record and observe marshmallow and compare it to Boyle’s law. Materials: -2 mini marshmallows -1 syringe -A pen Experimental Procedure: 1. Take out marshmallow. 2. Draw face on marshmallow. 3. Open stopcock. 4. Pull plunger out. 5. Put marhmallow in syringe. 6. Put plunger back into syringe. 7. Push plunger so it’s barely touching the marshmallow. 8.Pull plunger back and record observations. 9. Remove marshmallow and replace it with the second marshmallow. 10. Close stopcock and push plunger so it’s barely touching the marshmallow again. 11. Record observations. Data Table: Trial| Open| Closed| 1 (without marshmallow)| Nothing, Easy to push. | Nothing happened. | 2| Nothing, Easy to push. | Marshmallow got bigger. | 3| Nothing, Easy to push. | Marshmallow got bigger. | 4| Nothing, Easy to push. | Marshmallow got bigger. | 5| Nothing, Easy to push. | Marshmallow got b igger. | Observations:Every time you push with the marshmallow in the tube, the air inside the marshmallow is released. The marshmallow decreases in size. Conclusion: Boyle’s law states that for a fixed amount a gas at a fixed temperature volume is opposite to its pressure. The air in the marshmallow is what follows Boyle’s law. The marshmallow is similar to a gas because when the pressure in the syringe is decreased the pressure in the marshmallow is increased. The volume increases in the marshmallow. So basically when the plunger is pulled out the pressure in the syringe decreases and the volume of the marshmallow increases.

Carrying the Fire Individuation Toward the Mature Masculine

Carrying the Fire Individuation Toward the Mature Masculine and Telos of Cultural Myth in Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men and The Road maggie bortz So everything is necessary. Every least thing. This is the hard lesson. Nothing can be dispensed with. Nothing despised. Because the seams are hid from us, you see. The joinery. The way in which the world is made. (McCarthy, 1999b, 143) It was good that God kept the truths of life from the young as they were starting out or else they’d have no heart to start at all. (McCarthy 1999a, 284)Although many critics consider Cormac McCarthy to be the greatest living novelist in America, his dark, compelling vision did not reach a mass audience until the film adaptation of his novel No Country for Old Men (2005) was released in 2007. The film, directed by Ethan and Joel Coen (2007), won the Academy Award for Best Picture. A film adaptation of his latest novel, The Road (2006), which won the Pulitzer Prize, was released in la te 2009. McCarthy now has the public’s rapt attention. McCarthy’s visionary works can be read as dreams of our contemporary culture.Great works of art, like dreams, perform a compensatory function to the conscious attitudes of a society and may carry teleological implications. Jung viewed great art as an aperture to the collective unconscious, through which the role of the archetypes in shaping the psychological development of individuals and societies might be discerned (1930/1966, CW 15,  ¶Ã‚ ¶157, 161). McCarthy’s later novels, speaking in image and myth, the language of the unconscious, frame the collective psychic dissociation that prevents us, individually and collectively, from growing up.The final, transcendent image in No Country for Old Men, which appears in an old man’s dream, and the father-son imagery in The Road suggest that a reunion and recalibration of the inner Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche, Volume 5, Number 4, pp. 28–42, ISSN 1934-2039, e-ISSN 1934-2047.  © 2011 Virginia Allan Detloff Library, C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Rights and Permissions website at www. ucpressjournals. com/reprintinfo/asp.DOI: 10. 1525/jung. 2011. 5. 4. 28. Maggie Bortz, Telos in No Country for Old Men and The Road 29 father and son, representing a â€Å"union of sames† in the split masculine archetype, constitute the requisite path of healing and maturation. This imagery may prefigure the emergence of a new cultural myth. Jungian analyst Joseph Henderson identified specific thresholds of initiation or psychological rites of passage â€Å"which make possible the transition from childhood to adolescence, from adolescence to early maturity, and from maturity to the experience of individuation† (2005, 11).Our culture, however, remains dominated by male adolescent energy, seemingly arrested in anachronistic identification with the uninitiated hero, still living out a negative mother complex: a myth of male regeneration through escalating violence inflicted on a feminine earth and on humanity. This entrenched cultural complex manifests in and is reinforced by social constructs of what it means to be male in modern America, including the myth of the self-made man and the ethic of individualism. This complex also bears â€Å"a revolutionary unattached shadow that would smash all fetters† (Hillman 2005, 56–57).To give a clinical example, some of my clients, on parole from the Oregon Youth Authority, are very likable boys for the most part who, at 14 or 15, have already spent a year behind bars in the state’s â€Å"baby† prison system. Their yearnings for identity are shaped by a culture of outer action devoid of inner meaning. The lack of connection to an inner life also appears in adult male populations in presenting symptoms like workaholism, anger issues, substance abuse, relationship problems, and sexual obsession. In older men, the dissociative phenomenon is related to the common tragedy of suicidal depression.Women, of course, are not immune to any of these things. It is axiomatic that masculine cultural dominants affect women’s lives and impact their relationships with men. On a deeper level, masculine psychological energy is present and problematic in the female psyche as well. Jung personified the unconscious masculine energy in a woman as an interior male image, the animus. â€Å"Her unconsciousness has, so to speak, a masculine imprint† (1951/1968, CW 9ii,  ¶29). James Hillman personified â€Å"the psychological foundation of the problem of history† in the archetypal magery of the senex (old man) and puer (young man) (2005, 35). Old men and young men are ubiquitous images in McCarthy’s work. No Country for Old Men and The Road appear to validate Hillman’s theory that a split in the masculine senex-puer archetype underlies the psychic malaise of our time and that work toward a â€Å"union of sames† must begin at the senex pole of that archetype. Although the reticent McCarthy seems to write from a Jungian-informed perspective, I was unable to discover any biographical data linking him to an interest in Jungian psychology.However, he frequently associates with physicists at the interdisciplinary Santa Fe Institute, a think tank located at the former site of the Manhattan Project, a collaboration McCarthy has tersely attributed to his enduring interest â€Å"in the way things work† (Voice of America 2008). C. G. Jung collaborated with Nobel 30 jung journal: culture & psyche 5:4 / fall 2011 Prize-winning physicist Wolfgang Pauli and was struck by the cogent parallels between quantum physics and his psychological theory (Pauli and Jung 1992/2001).Beyond the shared observer effect and the subject-object bond , quantum physics and Jungian psychology both venture into depths where the distinctions between energy and matter collapse. Following the development of nuclear weapons, Jung and Pauli also shared a deep concern about the future: they feared that in the absence of a greater understanding of man’s potential for evil, humanity would â€Å"destroy itself through the might of its own technology and science† (1957/1970, CW 10,  ¶585). Although McCarthy’s canon garners critical acclaim, his work also provokes controversy.Yale literary critic Harold Bloom admits to a â€Å"fierce† passion for Blood Meridian (1985), which he considers a masterpiece of American literature. Bloom also confesses that he had a hard time finishing the book because he â€Å"flinched from the overwhelming carnage that McCarthy portrays† (2009, 1). Literary critic Morris Philipson has written: â€Å"For culture, just as for therapy, symbols are not intuitions by themselves; th ey are only brute facts that must be interpreted† (1992, 226–227). There are brute facts aplenty inMcCarthy’s canon: scalping, massacres, executions, necrophilia, cannibalism, every imaginable kind of human evil, but his artistic vision reflects the ultimate mystery of the unconscious and does not lend itself to facile reduction. Symbolic images, whether interpreted or not, affect us. They represent living psychological dynamics that we experience as feelings, emotions, ideas, and impulses toward action. McCarthy’s earlier work is often celebrated for its lyrical style and long, commafree sentences.Critic Steven Frye wrote that, â€Å"for many of us that artistry, his mastery of beauty in language, is the only compensating factor for the bleak and uncompromising world he forces us to confront† (2005, 16). But in No Country for Old Men, the prose is clipped and minimalistic. The unconscious tends to turn up the music as required to equilibrate the co nscious attitude. Compensatory dreams may become repetitious or disturbing; symptoms may become more severe.Perhaps McCarthy’s style has changed because we have missed the subtler messages of the collective unconscious, and it is getting more obviously archetypal in its self-regulatory attempts. As if mirroring a quaternity, the pattern of psychic wholeness, No Country for Old Men contains four major characters. The landscape, as character, presents the energy of the dark, chthonic feminine. Llewelyn Moss, the hunter who becomes prey, embodies the immature masculine energy of the hero, a puer spirit contaminated by a negative mother complex. Anton Chigurh, the psychopathic killer, personifies evil in its human and god-like dimensions.The psychological protagonist, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, is a senex figure with positive and negative attributes who struggles against his own nature to assimilate his shadow and to individuate toward the mature masculine. Each represents an autonomou s complex at work inside the collective psyche. Complexes are split-off parts of the personality or culture that â€Å" behave like independent Maggie Bortz, Telos in No Country for Old Men and The Road 31 beings† ( Jung 1937/1969, CW 8,  ¶253). The ultimate meaning of the quaternity in this cultural dream remains ambiguous. Jung thought that the automatic eneration of quaternary images, â€Å"whether consciously or in dreams and fantasies, can indicate the ego’s capacity to assimilate unconscious material. But they may also be essentially apotropaic, an attempt by the psyche to prevent itself from disintegrating† (Sharp 1991, 111). Both possibilities, further evolution and collective psychosis, must be entertained in reading the work. The interpretation of a dream often begins with a careful consideration of the setting. No Country for Old Men unfolds in 1980 in the wild, scrubby borderlands of South Texas and Mexico.The landscape is a raw, barren land of spr awling desert plain, lava scree, red dirt, and creosote, sparsely inhabited by Mojave rattlesnakes, scorpions, and birds of prey. The image of the border itself suggests an unstable and volatile place between two worlds where the usual rules do not apply, a sort of psychological no-man’s-land where consciousness and unconscious meet. Borders are the domain of the archetypal Trickster, who incites psychic change through creative and destructive interventions that disturb the established psychological order.The archetypal feminine is always a silent, powerful, brooding presence in McCarthy’s work. In his novels, anima or soul is sometimes represented by animals, feral creatures who need human protection, like the pregnant wolf that Billy finds trapped at the beginning of The Crossing (1999b). Sometimes, and usually briefly, followed by tragic consequences, the anima is projected onto young women in McCarthy’s novels. But the chthonic feminine, as landscape, is alw ays present in his novels, both as a primitive force of nature and as a deeply unconscious psychological dynamic in the characters’ psyches.Anima figures fare pretty poorly in McCarthy’s work. Billy must kill the beloved wolf in The Crossing to save her from a slow, agonizing death in a dog pit, where she has become the main act in a blood sport that entertains older men. In The Road, anima as landscape has been killed off entirely: the chthonic feminine is a fading memory, a charred and ruined relic. In No Country for Old Men, anima appears as landscape in foreboding form: High bloodweeds along the road. Wiregrass and sacahuista. Beyond in the stone arroyos the tracks of dragons.The raw rock mountains shadowed in the late sun and to the east the shimmering abscissa of the desert plains under a sky where raincurtains hung dark as soot all along the quadrant. That god lives in silence who has scoured the following land with salt and ash. (McCarthy 2005, 45) The dark fem inine landscape in No Country for Old Men mirrors the alchemical process of calcinatio and its products: salt, a metaphor for bitterness or wisdom, and soot and ash, the residue of fire. â€Å"The calcinatio is performed on the primitive shadow side, which harbors hungry, instinctual desirousness and is contaminated with the unconscious.The fire for the process comes from the frustration of these instinctual desires† (Edinger 1994, 21–22). 32 jung journal: culture & psyche 5:4 / fall 2011 The characters in No Country for Old Men are ambivalent about the landscape. Uncle Ellis tells the sheriff: This country was hard on people. But they never seem to hold it to account. In a way that seems peculiar. That they didnt . . . How come people dont feel like this country has got a lot to answer for? They dont. You can say that the country is just the country, it dont actively do nothing, but that dont mean much . . This country will kill you in a heartbeat and still people lov e it. (McCarthy 2005, 271) On one hand, the landscape represents a terrible archetypal mother, the surrealistic backdrop of a burgeoning drug war, which is itself the continuation of many barbaric historical slaughters. In other respects, the characters identify positively with the landscape. She still nurtures according to her increasingly limited abilities. Moss can still find antelope in her deep interior space and a river saves him from certain death early in the book.All of the novel’s central male characters are veterans: they have gone to war and risked their lives to protect â€Å"the country. † The power of the landscape, however, is muted in No Country for Old Men as opposed to McCarthy’s earlier Western novels. Even the moon, the symbol of feminine consciousness, is disfigured. It is as though man’s relentless dominance, his continual conquests, savagery, and ever forward â€Å"progress† have effectively depotentiated the chthonic femini ne, and she has regressed more deeply into the unconscious.Behind the mask of our technological society lurks a negative mother complex, a dissociation from and opposition to the feminine principle. Complexes are not ours to eliminate. On the contrary, they commonly persist beyond the life of the individual and perpetuate themselves across generations. According to Jung, â€Å"A complex can be really overcome only if it is lived out to the full . . . If we are to develop further we have to draw to us and drink down to the very dregs what . . . we have held at a distance† (1954/1968, CW 9i,  ¶184).Unconsciously living out this collective negative mother complex is a dangerous and precarious proposition: it means consuming the natural world and each other in the process. The second major character, Llewelyn Moss, a welder and Viet Nam veteran, is hunting antelope in the desert when he stumbles across the surreal, slaughterhouse scene of a failed drug deal. Moss finds a case o f money, a load of heroin, and one dying Hispanic man pleading for water. He takes the money, but his conscience nags him and he comes back to the scene that night with a jug of water for the dying man.His belated act of compassion commences the novel’s ostensible journey: Moss runs with the money, pursued by Anton Chigurh, a rival hoard of drug dealers, and Sheriff Bell. Classical Jungian theory links both the puer and the hero to the Great Mother: the puer via regressive attachment, the hero via opposition. James Hillman argued, however, that whereas the hero is always bound up in a battle with the mother, the puer spirit is defined in relationship to the father and is not heroic in the classical sense. Maggie Bortz, Telos in No Country for Old Men and The Road 33Puer consciousness is a masculine psychological energy representing, in alchemical terms, â€Å"a new spirit born of an old spirit† (2005, 117). Hillman contended that whereas the emergent masculine ego migh t pattern itself in association with either archetype, an alchemical â€Å"union of sames† in the puer-senex archetype represents the requisite path of individuation toward the mature masculine. Moss initially seems to reflect qualities of the archetypal puer-like opportunist. Like other mythological puer figures, such as Icarus or Bellerophon,1 he does not recognize his limitations and is more vulnerable than he realizes.During his first encounter with the drug dealers, Moss injures his feet by walking barefoot in the river gravel and then traversing the country in wet boots. A gunshot wound suffered during his first encounter with Chigurh further lames him for the abbreviated duration of his life. The classic puer injury to the foot suggests a fatal weakness where this immature consciousness meets the world. Once Moss takes the money, however, his thoughts, feelings, and behaviors clearly pattern boy or uninitiated hero psychological energy.His heroic quest is about cashâ⠂¬â€his spirit is literalized in currency. Moss is skillful with weapons, which are described in elaborate detail. Literary critic Jay Ellis astutely observed the technological fetishism with which McCarthy describes Moss’ preoccupation with weapons and tools: To pre-adolescent (and increasingly, adolescent and older) male readers still uncertain about their vulnerability and power in the world . . . the minutiae surrounding objects that afford their user power in the world become all-important . . .Anything that can be added on to an already desirable object that will afford greater lethality, great speed, greater vision, or more information, fills in for what young men fear they lack. (2009, 138) Ellis noted that these powerful weapons and tools ultimately do little for Moss: he misses his opening shot at an antelope and is ultimately gunned down by drug dealers at a cheap hotel. Sheriff Bell, in contrast, is dubious of sophisticated weaponry. â€Å"Tools that comes into our hands comes into theirs too . . . Some of the old time sheriffs wouldnt even carry a firearm† (McCarthy 2005, 62–63).Moss’ interactions with women betray an oblique hostility and adolescent insecurity. He uses sarcasm to dismiss and deflect his young wife. Moss mentions â€Å"mother† specifically twice in the book, both times in relation to death, and appears to dialogue with her elsewhere. Shortly before he is murdered, Moss picks up a teenage girl who is hitchhiking. The mother complex speaking through Moss tells the girl: â€Å"Most people’ll run from their own mother to get to hug death by the neck. They can’t wait to see him† (McCarthy 2005, 234).Moss’ unconsciousness of his own limitations, of any transpersonal ideals, and of the insurmountable evil he both confronts and secretly carries within him, costs him his own life; the collateral damage includes the deaths of his wife and the young hitchhiker. 34 jung journal: culture & psyche 5:4 / fall 2011 At this point in the senescence of our culture, McCarthy seems to say, the hero is as good as dead. Although Moss’ heroic tale entices the reader into the novel, as critic Jay Ellis (2009) has noted, this part of the story collapses midway through with Moss’ death when Sheriff Bell’s process emerges to dominate.This apparent literary dismissal of the heroic neurosis may reflect its psychological status as a secondary pathology, as a symptom of failed initiation that masks a religious problem: the missing God â€Å"who offered a focus for spiritual things† (Hillman 2005, 121). The third major character, Anton Chigurh, psychopath and assassin, represents the most potent force in the collective psyche at this time. He is a complex, quasiarchetypal shadow figure, a paradoxical psychic presence who acts as the dynamist or catalyst in the larger psychological process of the novel.When the reader meets Chigurh, he is a prisoner i n a small, rural county jail. While the arresting deputy chats on the phone, Chigurh, in one fluid move, gets his manacled hands in front of his body and around the jailor’s neck. After the grisly murder, Chigurh nonchalantly uses the bathroom, binds his injured wrists with tape and paper towels, and sits at the desk â€Å"studying the dead man gaping up from the floor† (McCarthy 2005, 6). There is no emotion in the scene beyond the horror it evokes in the reader. The motif of the murdered jailor has appeared elsewhere in McCarthy’s work.Here, Chigurh represents an archetypal impulse or tendency that has been banished, repressed, â€Å"locked up,† but has now freed itself to act. Chigurh, unlike Moss, is not motivated by money. When he eventually recovers the satchel of stolen cash, he returns it. Killing people is Chigurh’s job. The world is his abattoir. He is the quintessential bounty hunter, a contemporary iteration of the scalp hunters in Bloo d Meridian. He prefers to dispatch his victims (and to open doors) with a cattlegun. Other people become objects or livestock to him, and in this way, he prefigures the cannibals in The Road.Anton Chigurh seems to embody shadow qualities properly belonging to the personal unconscious of the other characters, as though the archetypal split between the contaminated puer and ineffectual senex created a psychological void that he is obligated, through some inscrutable psychological rule, to fill. In some respects, he is like a photographic negative of Moss. He even mirrors Moss’ limp, sustaining a leg injury while inflicting one. When Chigurh is injured in a car crash late in the book, he buys a boy’s shirt to make a sling for his broken arm, mirroring Moss’ earlier purchase of a boy’s coat on the Mexican border.Chigurh certainly needs no help from anyone. Women who spend too much time around Chigurh, like those who become involved with Moss, wind up dead. An aura of the negative hero seems to radiate around him. At the same time, Chigurh seems to carry some qualities of the negative senex that seem related to Sheriff Bell. As a senex figure, Bell represents, among other things, Maggie Bortz, Telos in No Country for Old Men and The Road 35 justice, law, and the process whereby these concepts are enforced in human affairs through the sometimes arbitrary power of an established order.Within an individual psyche, these ordering and moral functions are often associated with the senex archetype, and, inevitably, a murky shadow accompanies them. â€Å"A morality based on senexconsciousness will always be dubious. No matter what strict code of ethical purity it asserts, in the execution of its lofty principles there will be a balancing loathsome horror not far away† (Hillman 2005, 260). (The first line of the book suggests as much: â€Å"I sent one boy to the gaschamber at Huntsville† [McCarthy 2005, 3]. Like a dark reflection of the senex compulsion for law, order, and measurement, Chigurh is a man of exacting principles: â€Å"principles that transcend money or drugs or anything like that† (153). As Moss’ wife begs for her life, Chigurh shakes his head. â€Å"You’re asking that I make myself vulnerable and that I can never do. I have only one way to live and it doesn’t allow for special cases† (259). Anton Chigurh serves as a vehicle of unconscious projection for the reader. His sadistic acts and complete emotional detachment inspire terror. This character, so indefinably foreign, o marginally human, does not seem like one of us, but he is an irrefutable psychological truth that belongs to our culture. He represents something we should know about ourselves that remains unconscious, like a not yet understood dream. While Chigurh’s vulnerability to physical injury suggests a human shadow figure, his disappearing acts, miraculous escapes, and his association with fat e lend him a supernatural aura that suggests the archetypal shadow. By the end of the novel, Bell comes to believe that Satan â€Å"explains a lot of things that otherwise dont have no explanation† (McCarthy 2005, 218).Chigurh himself confesses that he has found â€Å"it useful to model himself after God† (257). For our culture at this time, we might say Chigurh is God, the dark God grown more human, closer to consciousness. Chigurh resembles the God-image Jung discovered in the Book of Job. Jung found that Yahweh, egged on by Satan, possessed, in part, â€Å"an animal nature† (1952/1969, CW 11,  ¶600) and, in this way, was â€Å"less than human† ( ¶599). Like Yahweh, Chigurh is guilty of â€Å"murder, bodily injury with premeditation, and denial of a fair trial† ( ¶581).For Jung, Yahweh’s cruelty to Job is â€Å"further exacerbated by the fact that Yahweh displays no compunction, remorse, or compassion, but only ruthlessness and brut ality† ( ¶581); we find the same divine heartlessness, fed by the unconscious, in Chigurh. Chigurh shares another trait with Yahweh: â€Å"Nowhere does he come up against an insuperable obstacle that would force him to hesitate and hence make him reflect on himself † ( ¶579). In Jung’s view, the Christ symbol represents only an intermediate stage in a process of divine development in which God effectively dissociated from his own dark side.Identification with the exclusively â€Å"good,† loving aspects of the divinity â€Å"is bound 36 jung journal: culture & psyche 5:4 / fall 2011 to lead to a dangerous accumulation of evil† (1952/1969, CW 11,  ¶653). Anton Chigurh symbolizes that magnetic, irrational pull to incarnate God’s darkness, â€Å"the ultimate source of evil, its absolute home† (Stein 1995, 144). Chigurh slays the cultural hero and provokes Bell’s psychological development: he is the dynamic agent, the terrorist , and instigator of Bell’s emergent connection to the unconscious. The realization of the self as an autonomous psychic factor is often stimulated by the irruption of contents over which the ego has no control† (Sharp 1991, 120). The irruption of contents like this can destroy the ego. In his Trickster role, Chigurh is not unlike Satan in the Book of Job or the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Evil serves a psychological function. â€Å"The stirring up of conflict is a Luciferian virtue in the true sense of the word. Conflict engenders fire, the fire of affects and emotions, and like every other fire it has two aspects, that of combustion and that of creating light† ( Jung 1954/1968, CW 9i,  ¶179).The conscious attitude determines whether the conflict is ultimately illuminating or destructive: we either evolve from our mistakes or we unconsciously dig deeper into our accustomed defenses. Sheriff Bell, a country lawman approaching sixty, is the novel’s psyc hological protagonist. As a senex figure, Bell seems to represent, at least in part, the conservative function of the archetype, â€Å"the fastness of our habits† (Hillman 2005, 48), â€Å"the principle of long-lasting survival through order† (284). Psychological movement, once incited by Chigurh, depends entirely on Bell’s interior process.Paradoxically, the path of psychic evolution begins with the senex in a process of disintegration. The novel takes its title from the first line of W. B. Yeats’ most celebrated poem, â€Å"Sailing to Byzantium,† which contrasts the material world with the transcendent world of art from the viewpoint of an aged man. It urges a belated attention to one’s soul. To the extent that art is an aperture to the collective unconscious, the journey to Byzantium implies an intrapsychic movement from the ego toward the Self.Critic John Vanderheide has observed that the renunciation of the physical world expressed in à ¢â‚¬Å"Sailing to Byzantium† and No Country for Old Men is forced on the narrator by old age and approaching death, conditions he is powerless to change (2005). Consume my heart away; sick with desire And fastened to a dying animal It knows not what it is; and gather me Into the artifice of eternity (Yeats 1926/1952, 490, stanza III, ll. 21–24) This felt sense of mortality, hopelessness, and limitation is often the cue that ignites the process of individuation.The collective unconscious calls aged men; whether they will respond and how is another matter entirely, but this painful territory is no country for young men. Maggie Bortz, Telos in No Country for Old Men and The Road 37 As senex figure, Bell is the ostensible boundary keeper of the cultural psyche, but he is flooded with content that he cannot repress. Bafflement pervades his monologues. He longs for times past when the world made more sense to him, but Bell’s nostalgia is more than a regressive symptom, it implies â€Å"a separation of halves, a missing conjunction† (Hillman 2005, 182).Bell carries notable qualities of the positive senex. His most authentic self is related to others. He sees himself as a shepherd to the people assigned to his care. â€Å"I’ve thought about why it was that I wanted to be a lawman. There was always some part of me that wanted people to listen to what I had to say. But there was a part of me too that just wanted to pull everybody in the boat† (McCarthy 2005, 296). His psyche is anchored in an imago of the positive feminine in the form of his anima figure, his wife of thirtyone years, Loretta.The escalating violence, his inability to contain it, and the imperatives of his own interior process force Bell to examine the psychological orientation that has guided his life. Bell confronts his own provisional life, an adulthood founded on a lie. As a young soldier in France during World War II, he fought bravely, but in the face of overw helming odds and certain death, fled the battlefield and his dead companions. He was awarded a Bronze Star for his service, an honor he tried to refuse. His election as county sheriff followed from this heroic misidentification.Bell confesses this history to his Uncle Ellis, an elderly lawman disabled in the line of duty, late in the book. â€Å"I didn’t know you could steal your own life,† he says (McCarthy 2005, 278). Bell concludes that his history resurfaces because â€Å"sometimes people would rather have a bad answer about things than no answer at all† (282). Bell endures the part of the alchemical process associated with the death and decay of the old substance, the old way of being in the world. He experiences his growing edge of consciousness as a defeat.Bell makes a final break with the inauthentic hero and our culture’s idea of what it means to be a man: he quits in the middle of the hunt. His decision to retire reflects an understanding of his own limitations and is guided by a deeper psychic injunction. I always knew that you had to be willin to die to even do this job. That was always true. . . . If you aint they’ll know it in a heartbeat. I think it is more like what you are willin to become. And I think that a man would have to put his soul at hazard. And I wont do that. I think now that maybe I never would. (McCarthy 2005, 4)Bell begins to acquiesce to and participate in his interior process, going back through his memories, paying attention to his dreams, engaging in active imagination. He ponders the memory of an image he encountered on the battlefield in France, â€Å"a stone water trough† carved â€Å"to last ten thousand years† (307). A trough contains water, a symbol of the unconscious, perhaps the personal unconscious, but perhaps the collective one. The trough symbolizes a way of understanding content arising from the unconscious and resonates as a religious symbol. For Jung, 38 jung jou rnal: culture & psyche 5:4 / fall 2011 an had the need for a felt connection to something larger than his ego deeply embedded into the fabric of his being, but man lost his sense of larger meaning and purpose somewhere amid the horrors and upheavals of the twentieth century. Jung believed that the modern collective failure to channel this instinct, to carve another indestructible stone trough, was both symptom and root cause of our collective dissociation. Bell rejects the notion of carving a trough himself; it must be a collective enterprise, and no new myth has yet emerged to replace the dying God-image of our culture.Bell’s only child, a daughter, died as an infant thirty years before the story begins. Childlessness is associated with the negative senex. â€Å"When the senex has lost its child . . . A dying complex infects all psychic life† (Hillman 2005, 263). Late in the book, Bell confides to the reader that for many years he has dialogued with this dead infant d aughter (McCarthy 2005, 285). In Jungian theory, that imaginary child would be considered a psychic reality. The novel’s ultimate meaning resides in two dreams about his dead father.In the first dream, â€Å"he give me some money and I think I lost it† (McCarthy 2005, 309). His father imparted something of great value to him for safekeeping, but he misplaced it, perhaps irretrievably. The second dream is a powerful reiteration of the first and evokes Jung’s famous dream of carrying a small light in the fog (Jung 1961/1965, 88). The setting is a cold, snowy night in a remote mountain pass. Bell and his father ride horseback. It was like we was both back in older times and I was on horseback goin through this pass in the mountains.It was cold and there was snow on the ground and he rode past me and kept on goin. Never said nothing. He just rode on past and he had this blanket wrapped around him and his head down and when he rode past I seen he was carryin fire in a horn the way people used to do and I could see the horn from the light inside of it. About the color of the moon. And in the dream I knew that he was goin on ahead and that he was fixin to make a fire somewhere out there in all that dark and all that cold and I knew that whenever I got there he would be there. (McCarthy 2005, 309)Although the dream can be viewed as regressive, in that it invokes Bell’s childhood relationship and a longing to live out an old, honorable myth that has become irrelevant in the modern world, it clearly carries teleological implications. Bell goes forward into the dark night, into the unknown, toward death. He and his father ride horses, numinous animals in McCarthy’s work that suggest connection to anima or soul. Horses also represent an older and an arguably more connected way of moving through the world. Bell’s father carries fire, a symbol for the light of consciousness or spirit, in a horn, a Gnostic symbol of maturity. The hor n is a dual symbol: from one point of view it is penetrating in shape and therefore active and masculine in significance; and from the other it is shaped like a receptacle, which is feminine in meaning† (Cirlot 1962/1971, 151). While the image of the horn may suggest a new hieros gamos, a union of masculine and feminine energy, the dead father carries it, not the dream ego Maggie Bortz, Telos in No Country for Old Men and The Road 39 itself. Bell’s passivity in the dream seems problematic. On the other hand, it is conceivable that Bell’s lack of agency is an auspicious sign. In the absence of ego and into its emptiness an imaginal stream can flow, providing mythical solutions between the senexpuer contradictions† (Hillman 2005, 66). Bell’s own father aspects are deeply unconscious: he has no living children and, in this respect, has lost his father’s â€Å"inheritance,† a future presence in the chain of life. Paradoxically, behind Bellà ¢â‚¬â„¢s senex mask we find a son looking for the father within. As in most of McCarthy’s books, the missing psychic presence is the father: there is never a shortage of symbolically fatherless boys in his work.However, in this novel, the puer appears in the form of Bell as an old man. Bell’s unconscious frames its message in terms of a reunion and recalibration of the father and the son, as though directly addressing the split masculine archetype that appears to block the evolution of our culture. â€Å"This split gives us . . . the search of the son for his father and the longing of the father for his son, which is the search and longing for one’s own meaning† (Hillman 2005, 61). The dream image suggests a path of potential healing, a â€Å"union of sames† in this split archetype, and might represent the nascent emergence of a new myth.In the end, the dream’s telos remains hauntingly ambiguous. We are only at the beginning of a process. In the face of such pervasive and unbridled evil and unconsciousness, one man’s individuation seems like a very small thing, a very small thing that requires much effort, attention, devotion, and suffering. The last line of the book immediately follows the second dream: â€Å"Then I woke up† (McCarthy 2005, 309). â€Å"Waking up,† increasing consciousness, is the entire point. And thus the novel ends on a slender strand of hope.We must dream this dream on, in the Jungian tradition, and look toward the next dream for further clarification. McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel, The Road, is properly understood as a psychological progression of No Country for Old Men. In The Road, McCarthy resolves the ambiguity of the quaternity image presented in No Country for Old Men. It becomes clear that the imagery portends a collective psychosis and, at the same time, the possibility that some individuals may be ready to assimilate unconscious content. In The Road, the ch thonic feminine as landscape has een killed off entirely in an unnamed catastrophe marked only by â€Å"a long shear of light and then a series of low concussions† (McCarthy 2006, 45). Given McCarthy’s long preoccupation with man’s proclivity toward evil, the apocalypse was likely manmade: perhaps an all-out nuclear war. There are few survivors. Civilization itself is a fading memory. A nameless father and son wander the scorched landscape, â€Å"the cauterized terrain,† hoping to scavenge enough canned food to survive while evading roving bands of cannibals (12). The boy’s mother has committed suicide in despair. 40 jung journal: culture & psyche 5:4 / fall 2011McCarthy seems to suggest that the feminine will be eradicated from the picture entirely, the negative mother complex played out to its inevitable conclusion in man’s escalating shadow enactments before work on the fundamental problem can begin in what is left of humanity. As Anton C higurh says, â€Å"one’s path through the world seldom changes and even more seldom will it change abruptly† (McCarthy 2005, 259). Despite the horrors, a new symbol, the image of a divine child, an elaboration of the dream imagery of No Country for Old Men, does emerge out of the ruin and ashes of The Road.This symbol arises from the ground of catastrophic loss. The end of the via longissima is the child. But the child begins in the realm of Saturn, in lead or rock, ashes or blackness, and it is there the child is realized. It is warmed to life in a bath of cinders, for only when a problem is finally worn to nothing, wasted and dry can it reveal a wholly unexpected essence. Out of the darkest, coldest, most remote burnt out state of the complex the phoenix rises. Petra genetrix: out of the stone a child is born. (Hillman 2005, 64)In The Road, the father and son are â€Å"each other’s world entire† (McCarthy 2006, 5), representing a â€Å"union of samesâ €  in the masculine archetype and, possibly, the beginning of a new cultural myth. The nameless father in The Road struggles to â€Å"evoke the forms. Where you’ve nothing else construct ceremonies out of the air and breathe upon them† (63). He views his son as a sacred being. As he is dying, the father sees his son â€Å"standing there in the road looking back at him from some unimaginable future, glowing in that waste like a tabernacle† (230). Unlike Jesus, this son is not sacrificed back to the father. In the puer is a father drive—not to find him, reconcile with him, be loved and receive a blessing, but rather to transcend the father which act redeems the father’s limitations† (Hillman 2005, 161). The father’s job is to initiate the son before he dies: to provide a sense of meaning that makes existence tolerable. In The Road, individual meaning is symbolized in the son’s sacred responsibility to carry the light of conscio usness, the only thing of value in a post-apocalyptic world, into the overwhelming darkness that confronts him. This fragile possibility, however, resides in the individual, not within a culture or group.Critic Kenneth Lincoln saw McCarthy’s novels as â€Å"lamentational canticles of warning, not directives† (2009, 2). Part of Bell’s function is prophetic: he hints at â€Å"where we’re headed† (McCarthy 2005, 303). â€Å"I know as certain as death that there aint nothin short of the second comin of Christ that can slow this train† (159). McCarthy is first and foremost a storyteller. He is not an activist and does not make prescriptive statements, and it is a mistake to read him that way. The blind man in The Crossing explains the function of storytellers. â€Å"He said that they had no desire to entertain him nor yet even to instruct him.He said that it was their whole bent only to tell what was true and that otherwise they had no purpose a t all† (McCarthy 1999b, 284). I imagine that McCarthy shares the blind man’s views and also those of Jung, who in writing about art Maggie Bortz, Telos in No Country for Old Men and The Road 41 underscored the fundamental depth psychological tenet that â€Å"a dream never says ‘you ought’ or ‘this is the truth. ’ It presents an image in much the same way as nature allows a plant to grow, and it is up to us to draw conclusions† (1930/1966, CW 15,  ¶161).Those of us who are conscious enough to draw conclusions from this work must do so now and prepare ourselves as best we can for the dark new world to come. endnote 1. Bellerophon, son of the King of Corinth, was the hero of Greek mythology who killed the Chimera. Bellerophon, inflated by his triumph, felt entitled to join the gods on Mount Olympus and attempted to fly there on the winged horse, Pegasus. His presumption offended Zeus, who orchestrated the hero’s dismount. Belleroph on plummeted to earth, crippled in the fall. note References to The Collected Works of C. G. Jung are cited in the text as CW, volume number, and paragraph number.The Collected Works are published in English by Routledge (UK) and Princeton University Press (USA). bibliography Bloom, Harold. 2009. Bloom’s modern critical views: Cormac McCarthy. New York: Infobase Publishing. Cirlot, Juan Eduardo. 1962/1971. A dictionary of symbols. Trans. Jack Sage. New York: Philosophical Library. Edinger, Edward F. 1994. Anatomy of the psyche: Alchemical symbolism in psychotherapy. Chicago: Open Court. Ellis, Jay. 2009. Fetish and collapse in No country for old men. In Bloom’s modern critical views: Cormac McCarthy, ed. Harold Bloom, 133–170. New York: Infobase Publishing. Frye, Steven. 2005.Yeats’ â€Å"Sailing to Byzantium† and McCarthy’s No country for old men: Art and artifice in the new novel. The Cormac McCarthy Journal, 5, 1: 14–20. Henderson, Joseph. 2005. Thresholds of initiation. Wilmette, IL: Chiron Publications. Hillman, James. 2005. Senex and puer. Putnam, CT: Spring. Jung, C. G. 1930/1966. Psychology and literature. The spirit in man, art, and literature. CW 15. ———. 1937/1969. Psychological factors determining human behavior. The structure and dynamics of the psyche. CW 8. ———. 1951/1968. The syzygy: Anima and animus. Aion. CW 9ii. ———. 1952/1969. Answer to Job. Psychology and religion: West and East.CW 11. ———. 1954/1968. Psychological aspects of the mother archetype. The archetypes and the collective unconscious. CW 9i. ———. 1957/1970. The undiscovered self (present and future). Civilization in transition. CW 10. ———. 1961/1965. Memories, dreams, reflections. Recorded and ed. by Aniela Jaffe. Trans. Richard and Clara Winston. New York: Vintage Books. Lincoln, Kenneth. 2009. Cormac McCart hy: American canticles. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. McCarthy, Cormac. 1985. Blood meridian: Or the evening redness in the west. New York: Random House. 42 jung journal: culture & psyche 5:4 / fall 2011 McCarthy, Cormac. 1999a.All the pretty horses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ———. 1999b. The crossing. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ———. 2005. No country for old men. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ———. 2006. The road. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. No country for old men. 2007. Screenplay by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen. Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, No country for old men, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. Directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen. Pauli, Wolfgang, and C. G. Jung. 1992/2001. Atom and archetype: The Pauli/Jung letters, 1932– 1958. Eds. Carl Alfred Meier, Charles Paul Enz, and Markus Fierz. Trans. David Roscoe. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Philipson, Morris. 1992. Outline of Jungian aesthetics. In Jungian literary criticism, ed. Richard Sugg, 214–227. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. Sharp, Daryl. 1991. C. G. Jung lexicon: A primer of terms and concepts. Toronto: Inner City Books. Stein, Murray. 1995. Jung on evil. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Vanderheide, John. 2005. Varieties of renunciation in the works of Cormac McCarthy. The Cormac McCarthy Journal, 5, 1: 30–35. Voice of America. 2008. Cormac McCarthy and Thomas McGuane write stories set in the American west. Interviewed by B. Klein and S. Ember. Radio broadcast (February 11), voanews. om (accessed October 27, 2009). Yeats, William Butler. 1926/1952. Sailing to Byzantium. In Immortal poems of the English language, ed. Oscar Williams, 490. New York: Washington Square Press. maggie bortz earned an M. A. in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, Carpinteria, California, and an M. J. in Journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism. She is a Qualified Mental Health Professional (QMHP) working toward licensure as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) at the Center for Family Development in Eugene, Oregon.She plans to open a private counseling practice in Portland in 2012. Correspondence: 5873 SW Terwilliger Blvd. , Portland, OR 97239. abstract This alchemical hermeneutical study analyzes Cormac McCarthy’s novels No Country for Old Men and The Road as cultural dreams using Jungian and post-Jungian theory. McCarthy’s work elucidates the archetypal process of individuation toward the mature masculine in our time. Following McCarthy’s imagery and James Hillman’s work, I focus on the split in the senex-puer archetype that structures the masculine psyche as the ultimate psychological site of our cultural dissociation.I also examine the teleological implications in the novel regarding the evolution of the God-image, which reflects manâ€℠¢s understanding of the objective psyche, as well as the nature and psychological function of human evil. key words alchemy, archetypal psychology, chthonic feminine, Coen brothers, cultural psychology, dream interpretation, Jungian interpretation of literature, landscape, literature as cultural dreaming, masculine archetypes, Cormac McCarthy, mechanization, No Country for Old Men, puer, The Road, senex, symbol Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

History of the Great Wall of China

Introduction I foremost went to China last twelvemonth to analyze for a semester.The feeling I had when I arrived at that place, was something that can non be explained in words.I felt frightened because I was so little in such a large city.Day by twenty-four hours, I started to experience much more comfy, to go more familiar with the topographic points, the people and even with Chinese food.Back so, I did non recognize what this experience would intend to me. After analyzing a semester in a metropolis near Shanghai, I decided to travel to see Beijing, the great capital of China. There, I had the chance to see the Great Wall and I was impressed by its enormousness, hence my ground for taking this subject for my concluding paper. Known as the â€Å"7th admiration of the universeâ€Å" , the Great Wall, which stretches for over Chinese district of more than 7000 kilometres, is the largest edifice of the ancient military defence and it took longer to construct. This colossal wall began to lift in the ninth century. The people who dominated the cardinal fields, for illustration, the center and lower basin of the Yellow River, decided to support themselves from the onslaughts of the northern small town with a wall that joined the walls, the beacons and palaces located along the boundary line and from which they could watch the motions of the enemy. In the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States, between 700 and 221 BC, the feudal Godheads lived locked in eternal wars to accomplish hegemony. The most powerful Godheads defended each other with walls that rose landforms advantage of boundary line countries. After 221 BC, when Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty unified China, the bing walls were linked. The formidable defensive barrier therefore formed, traversing the mountains of the northern boundary line, served to drive the onslaughts of the mobile cultural groups mounted on horseback, from the Mongolian steppes. At that clip, the length of the Great Wall was good over 5000 stat mis. The Han Dynasty, replacement to the Qin, was lengthened to more than 10 1000 kilometres. Over the following 2000 old ages, the entire length of the different subdivisions of the Great Wall reached more than 50 1000 kilometres, plenty to circle the Earth length. Today when we talk about the Great Wall, we frequently refer to the constructed during the Ming Dynasty ( 1368-1644 ) .It starts at the Jiayu Pass in western Gansu Province, through 9 states, municipalities and independent parts, and ends on the Bankss of Yalu River in the northeasterly state of Liaoning. Its length is 7,300 kilometres, or 14 thousand Li, hence besides known as the Great Wall of 10,000 Li. The wall, built with immense bricks, masonry, crushed rock and loess, has a tallness of about 10 metres. The breadth of the top between 4 and 5 metres, leting the coincident measure 4 equestrians and therefore facilitated the motion of combat units such as the conveyance of grain and arms. Inside the walls were stepss and corridors taking to the doors. The wall was punctuated by towers that were used to hive away arms and cereal for the remainder of the soldiers and as a safety in clip of war. It is besides used as beacons to warn of the presence of enemy fire or fume signals. Of class, today the Great Wall no longer meets any military map. But its arresting architecture has won and continues to win the bosom of many people. The beauty of the Great Wall is manifested in its stateliness, its strength, its illustriousness and its naturalness. Seen from a distance, the high wall extends along the ridges of mountain ranges clearly following the silhouette of a elephantine winging firedrake, shut up position, the powerful entreaty of your fabulous study, formed by enforcing stairss, walls that appear to travel in sensed zigzag and steep ups and platforms.In one word, a comeliness. To the historical and cultural value of the Great Wall we can add besides the touristry value. The Chinese frequently say: â€Å"He who has non climbed the Great Wall is non a existent individual. † Tourists, whether Chinese or aliens, are proud to hold gone to the Great Wall. The many caputs of province and authorities who have visited China are no exclusion. Several well-preserved subdivisions have become points of tourer involvement, which every twelvemonth attracts 1000s of visitants. Among the best known include Badaling Pass, Platform Shimatai, Mutianyu, Shanhaiguan Pass, besides known as First Measure of China, and Jiayuguan Pass, the western terminal of the Great Wall. The Great Wall of China is an internationally recognizable icon and is a permeant metaphor used to specify modern China’s national character, political attitude. Is a set of monumental semisynthetic constructions that has stood the trial of clip, much like the centuries’ old Chinese civilization. It has besides come to incarnate the rich history of the Chinese people, declarative mood of their strength and ability as a state. This Wall has come to stand for quintessential Chinese attributes in modern-day society and it is cardinal to how China defines itself. However, there is no individual ‘Great Wall’ . It is a set of walls, as I said before, built periodically over 1000s of old ages by different dynasties for changing intents. The Great Wall, crystallisation of wisdom, difficult work, blood and perspiration of 1000000s of workers in ancient China, has worthily survived over a thousand old ages of vicissitudes. Her ageless Martial and timeless entreaty have become a symbol of the spirit of the Chinese state. Since 1987, the Great Wall is considered a universe heritage. Chapter one The history of The Great Wall Year of building The history of the Great Wall began in 221 BC during the Qin dynasty when were foremost built 5,000 stat mis in two phases from four to six old ages ( 214-210 B.C ) . During the 2nd phase, the wall was built along the Yellow and the Tao River, at the same time being built 44 metropoliss and established 44 administrative units.The population brought in these metropoliss had provided the care and the enlargement of the wall.During the Han Dynasty, its length reached 10,000 kilometers.Only few subdivisions of the impressive building of Han Dynasty had been kept until today.The new subdivision of the Great Wall dates from the Ming Dynasty, and in 270 old ages, the emperors opened 50 topographic points in which people had the chance to work.The wall, during the Ming Dynasty, crossed nine states and independent parts by mensurating 8851.8 kilometer and holding the best proficient and military qualities. From the full length over 6,000 stat mis were built by Ming emperor’s people. Types of wall building To construct, , the 7th admiration of the world’’ , the Chinese have used five types of wall building. The first 1 was rammed Earth, an old building technique, used in the loess tableland from Datong to Jiayuguan and in Inner Mongolia. In kernel, the rammed Earth was prevailing.Other types used were adobe, rock, brick and drop. It is said that a fifth of China ‘s population at some point participated in its building. It is besides said that the Great Wall of China is the largest graveyard in the universe, because during its building more than 10 million workers died and were buried at that place. If were taken all the bricks that were used to construct the Great Wall of China during the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese could construct a high wall that can give five bends to Earth. The chief trouble was that, to accomplish a strategic advantage, they had to took advantage of the terrain ( bring forthing accidents ) , and in the tops of the mountains were localized munitions that could keep a good surveillance of the land, and at that place was where soldiers lived and where they had commissariats and armaments. The stuffs they used were different and depended on what could be used in each country they built. The Qin and Han was built chiefly with dirt, clay, reeds, wood and rocks. The Ming, 15 centuries subsequently, used clay bricks and carven rocks. In some subdivisions of the Wall, to attest the quality of the bricks, each maker imprinted his seal on them, and the day of the month of bringing. Rock pavers were cut and shipped from distant preies, some of them came to weigh a ton and were up to 3 metres. The Ming built in two phases: foremost raised two walls and so the infinite between them was filled. The base was wider than the top. Then were built garrisons and crenelations where guns were placed. To forestall eroding by rain, a whole drainage system was devised. The boring work, the hapless diet, the whether, and the enemies that continually kept coming, affected the workers. It is estimated that Ming took advantage of 100 workers. The nomads attacked and broke the defences in many parts of the Wall, but he had already fulfilled the undertaking of directing the dismay to the topographic point where the ground forces was placed. They had a system of fume signals in detailing the onslaught and how many enemies were destroyed. Later, the Ming, in add-on to smoke signals, had used a codification for guns to give the dismay. The wall has a tallness between seven and 10 metres. Its base steps about seven metres and six upper manus. The floors were paved utilizing a mixture of rock and howitzer, supported by tree short pantss rollers arranged in several beds. At regular intervals terraced towers were built and this thing allowed the guards made aˆâ€ ¹aˆâ€ ¹ optical signals which offered them a great communicating that stretched for stat mis. A wall is interrupted at some points so they can hold defence points, to which the soldiers could withdraw if necessary. Each tower has alone and hard stepss to entree in order to confound the enemy. The barracks and administrative centres were located at greater distances. In add-on to its defensive map, the Great Wall played an instrumental function as a mean of communicating and commercialism opening the doors of China to the Western universe.The celebrated â€Å" Silk Road â€Å" passed trough China, and merchandisers from the Persian Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean who traveled to the E could non make their finishs without traveling through the wall. The stuffs used are those available around the edifice. Near Beijing was used limestone and was besides used granite or fired brick.That made the wall really immune to impacts of siege arms. Defense The Great Wall is non merely a wall, but a defense mechanism system that integrated assorted walls, watchtowers and towers of fire for describing under the control of military degrees defined. For illustration, under the Ming, there were nine subdivisions of different military duties that are described as, ,Nine critical defense mechanisms in the borders’’ . It was assigned a commanding officer, describing straight to the National Ministry of Defence. About one million military personnels were deployed along the Great Wall to continue the state. During 2,000 old ages of building of the wall, the Chinese people learned a batch about defense mechanisms ( harmonisation with the topography and location of military forces, edifice stuffs, etc. ) The format of the walls varied depending on the topography and defense mechanism demands. In the strategic transitions, the walls were really high and solid, although they were low and narrow in high and steep mountains to cut down t he costs in money and labour. In some topographic points like Juyongguan or the Badaling subdivision, general regulation, the walls have seven to eight metres in tallness, four to five metres thick at the top and six to seven meters down. Inside the upper portion, there is a parapet of a meter barrier which prevented the soldiers fall, niches two meters high, every bit good as holes for pull or throw stones. In the strategic subdivisions, the upper portion is blocked by a series of cross walls to forestall the enemy to mount. During the dynasty of the Ming, General Qi Jiguang, celebrated for get the better ofing Nipponese plagiarists, improved the defence of the wall system, by adding towers, watchtower and the warehouses for arms and weaponry. Base on ballss are defensive strategic points throughout the wall.Fire coverage towers constituted one of the indispensable constituents of the defence system and an effectual agencies of conveying military information. During the Ming, sound s of detonation were added to heighten the consequence. As a defense mechanism system, the Great Wall crosses mountains, comeuppances and prairies, drops and rivers and harmonizes its construction to the complexness of the topography. It is a wonder of ancient architecture. The wall remained standing, so, for a long clip. Under the great Han dynasty became a great topographic point for the conflicts against the Huns, China utilizing projectiles countless ground forcess. During the following dynasty, the Chinese generals seized the immense wall as a base from which to come on in Hun Mongol heartland in Central Asia. That was the great migration of Germanic peoples. The building whose being had produced such effects spread over continents, merely partly protected China, and from its diminution in the 13th century was less protected. When in 1368 succumbed the Mongol dynasty in China under force per unit area from the Chinese reserves and riders steppe retreated to Central Asia, one of the first tasks the new Ming dynasty ( 1348-1644 ) aimed strictly Chinese, was the Reconstruction of the enforcing wall.

Madison Man Indicted for Possessing Guns despite Prior Mental Article

Madison Man Indicted for Possessing Guns despite Prior Mental Commitment - Article Example It was noted that Vaughan made a false statement regarding nondisclosure of the accurate information pertaining to his previous confinement in a mental institution.  For the offenses, if found guilty, Vaughan could be subjected to 10 years in prison with a fine of $250,000 for the offense of purchasing firearms after being found mentally unstable; and be penalized for five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for allegedly providing false statements to the firearms dealer (Madison Man Indicted for Possessing Guns Despite Prior Mental Commitment, 2013). The person being discussed in the article was James Wann Vaughan, who was reported to be 69 years of age, born in 1943 and lives in Madison (Madison Man Indicted for Possessing Guns Despite Prior Mental Commitment, 2013, par. 5). Likewise, when he filled in the ATF form, as required of people purchasing firearms, it was disclosed that he provided false statements after alleging that he was born in 1942 and that he lives in Scottsboro. The confounding predicament was that he was found to have been previously confined in a mental institution, therefore making him unfit to possess and purchase firearms, since he is a grave hazard to the society. 3. What impact will the information/event in the article affect the healthcare organization, healthcare profession or community improve its operation, services, the standard of care, compliance, or code of ethics and/or sense of awareness? 4. Does the article show or suggest a need for new standards that will help/enhance the medical environment or healthcare professional? Is there any current legislation already in practice or in a debate surrounding this issue? If so what is it?   

Italy and jobs Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Italy and jobs - Term Paper Example The hypothesis for this paper is distribution of public employment is distributed based on region and employment types. This paper seeks to explain how job allocations are done in Italy plus, job search and mobility within Italy in relation to job. The Italian welfare state system does not offer job security for the temporarily unemployed but highly favors retirees. As a result, temporary unemployment subsidy from the government offers incentives for job seekers (Picchio, 2008 pp.1). Conversely, permanent employment would not offer such incentives since public employment remains a lifelong endeavor and could hardly be lost. The use or misuse of disability pension in the South could lead to compensation on permanent unemployment. The South also remains over dependent on public employment that offers permanent job welfare. This substantial reliance on public employment creates a sequence of attitudes and educational choices towards risks that could support tendencies to escape from private employment sectors (Picchio, 2008 pp.1). Informal networks, which incorporate social ties between currently, employed and job seekers, letters of reference and intermediation have affected the Italian labor market (Boca et al., 2004 pp.7). First, informal networks have become more successful in relation to job seekers’ placements than any other job search strategies in Italy. However, these networks work effectively for small firms that offer low wages regardless of the skills since they remain less governed by governmental hiring regulations. Most negative impacts on earnings arising from informal networks could be due to links developed by informal networks especially with small ï ¬ rms and their contracts (Picchio, 2006 pp. 4). There exists a negative relationship between job search by informal networks and earnings (Picchio, 2008 pp.1). Hence, people with

Evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Evaluation - Essay Example †, always ready to laugh, a person with a habit of spending lots of time with his friends, in his friend’s apartment and a person who does not do what he says, like he says that he will go to the gym but never really goes to the gym. Thus, Youssef possesses good qualities in a human being like forgiveness, loving, a person with a good behavior etc. However, he also possesses some negative attributes like heedlessness in terms of enforcing his words in action, an orthodox, a person who wastes time by hanging out with friends, etc. Though Youssef has both negative and positive traits in him, yet the positive aspect of his basic character weighs more than his negative side, as the attribute of love can obscure many dark traits in a person’s character. If we shift our attention to his educational aspect, he is not very good in it as he is utmost careless as far as his education is concerned. He is careless about his classes and education. A person can never do much in any field as long as he is careless with it. Besides, a bad memory is a serious impediment in the path education. It really surprises me how he manages to study civil engineering. An entertaining characteristic which can be perceived in my friend is when he is judged with respect to his reaction to strangers.

General Fact Finding Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

General Fact Finding - Assignment Example Bloomberg Company has a global type of business because its investment is present across many countries. It uses Bloomberg government, Bloomberg BNA, and Bloomberg New Energy Finance to provide news, analytics, and data to decision makers across industries beyond finance. The Bloomberg provides more than 2400 news that covers multimedia professionals at one hundred and fifty bureaus across seventy three countries. The product of the company is marketed through television, mobile, Bloomberg business-week, Bloomberg professional service, Bloomberg pursuits and Bloomberg markets. The television network is available across 340 million homes worldwide. Its radio programs and reports are nationally syndicated to two hundred radio affiliates. In addition, it has a circulation of 375000 markets magazines and a global circulation of approximately 980000 business weeks (Turban & McLean, 1999). The Bloomberg Company is made up of teams that determines its success in the global market. These teams include: the tech and business innovators who create Bloomberg’s products; the news makers responsible for innovating and displaying stories; the sales drivers; and the culture and customer champions responsible for understanding the needs of Bloomberg’s clients. However, the teams are managed by two crucial bodies of leaders. The first one is the CEO called the Daniel L. Doctoroff. He is also the president of the Company. He is a great provider of financial information appointed as the president in 2008 and eventually as a CEO in 2011. The second one is the chief information officer called Paul Wood. He is responsible for overseeing all risk, client data security, and corporate compliance. Paul Wood also ensures that Bloomberg Company is protected from future risks by enhancing internal procedures (Turban & McLean, 1999). Apart from the Chief Information Officer, Mr. Paul, the Bloomberg

Business Strategy College Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business Strategy College - Case Study Example The OAG official airline guide data taken from the website www.oag.com shows a startling low cast data. Its study of low cost budget airline data released its report dated September 19, 2007 shows startling facts. The data indicates that that budget airline capacity has doubled in the last four years. The low cost growth of the same industry has increased by twenty percent. The study also shows that Europe, which includes the United Kingdom, is leading the world in the low cost /network balance scheme. Clearly, the OAG data shows a startling low cast data. The same OAG study covers a wide airline passenger seat sector. The study covers eleven million extra seats in over sixty six thousand more flights operated by the low cost sector. The industry shows a year on year increase of twenty four percent and twenty percent respectively. The financial data shows that the 2007 low cost flights comprise a higher sixteen percent of the total available airline seats in Europe for the prior accounting period. The prior period only generated a fourteen percent low cost comparative figure. In addition, the 2007 financial data also shows that twenty percent of the total worldwide airline covers is given to low cost flights. This is higher than the seventeen percent financial data of the prior year, 2006. Evidently, the OAG study covers a wide airline passenger seat sector. ... Three of the major forces in the European, Low -cost, budget airline sector are rivalry among competing sellers in the air travel industry, market attempts of companies in other industries to win customers and the potential entry of new air travel competitors.Rivalry among competing sellers in the air travel industry. There is s strong rivalry among the competing sellers in the low cost budget airline sectors. The air transportation industry is changing fundamentally. Low cost air passenger carriers are now slowly killing the competition. This long term trend has undermined the industry's prior structure, procedures, business models and these changes have consequences for airport access. Airlines and airports now have neither the money nor the appetite for grandiose projects. While massive airport buildings around the world planned many years ago are still being inaugurated. These inaugurated airports include Heathrow airport in London, Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, Barajas airpor t in Madrid, a Singapore airport and a Toronto airport. The current trend in the airline industry is to focus on low -cost airport buildings and facilities. Boston had built a $ 400 million passenger building to Delta air's specifications. It was opened shortly before the airline went bankrupt. As Delta air buckles under the pressure of shrinking its network and services, another competitor must be entertained to take over the leased airport spaces vacated by Delta Air. Low cost airline companies easily fit this description. Undoubtedly, there is strong rivalry among the competing sellers in the low cost budget airline sectors (De Neufville 2006).Market attempts of companies in other

If all the links in the Internet were to provide reliable delivry Essay

If all the links in the Internet were to provide reliable delivry service, would the TCP reliable delivery service be redundant, - Essay Example 2007). For instance, if workstation 1 is downloading a file from Workstation 2, after receiving a data packet, computer 2 sends an acknowledgement for receiving a packet to workstation 1. However, if workstation 1 do not receives an acknowledgement from workstation 2, TCP regenerates the packet again and send it to Workstation 2. In this way, the transmission is reliable and data is transmitted an in efficient manner. In a real world scenario, an executable file that is downloaded from the Internet must be complete in size in order to be operational and TCP is up for this task. Whereas, if any chunk of the executable file fails to download, it will not work and become corrupted. Whereas, User Datagram Protocol (UDP) a connection less protocol that is operational on a layer 4 of the OSI model. Likewise, UDP is not a reliable protocol for data transmission that supports transaction oriented services (User Datagram Protocol. 2007). However, UDP can be advantageous for application such a s live video streaming, VoIP services etc. likewise, if any frame is missed from a video, the video will still carry on resulting in high availability. Moreover, the response of UDP is faster, as no acknowledgment is made for every packet. Many of the functions of an adapter can be performed in software that runs on the node’s CPU. What are advantages and disadvantages of moving this functionality from the adapter to the node? As shown in fig 1.1, data link layer pertaining to the sender is responsible for hardware encapsulation. However, the source end is responsible for hardware valuation. Similarly, network layer pertaining to the sender is responsible for performing Network address translation (NAT). NAT is a method of mapping IP addresses from one group of users to another, at the same time ensuring transparency. Likewise, NAT is also used for privacy issues i.e. it cannot be used from the outbound network for security purposes (Network Address Translation. 2007). Moreov er, the receiver’s end on the network layer ensures network valuation, as shown in Fig 1.1. Moreover, the transport layer of both the sender and receiver’s end conducts port encapsulation and port valuation. Furthermore, session layer is responsible for establishing and terminating data sessions, followed by the presentation layer that ensures data compression and sequencing for both the sender’s and receiver’s end. However, there is a visible communication between the smallest program generating sequence and the amount of compression achieved (Sayood 2005) lastly, the presentation layer network interaction. Figure 1.1 A primary disadvantage comprises of computing a datagram from the application layer that relies on resources pertaining to central processing unit and memory integrated in a dedicated hardware i.e. Ethernet Adapter. However, an advantage would be to get more control of an application interacting with users that will work with dedicated hard ware resulting in a complex task. Moreover, software approach is more efficient for upgrading technology, as hardware upgrades only require a hardware replacement. Likewise, new hardware upgrades provide adequate abstraction for ensuring user protection. As illustrated in Fig 1.1, software based deployments require a large amount of metadata to analyze the requirements. As network access layer enforces overheads

Customer Service Supervisor Training Program Essay Example for Free

Customer Service Supervisor Training Program Essay KSA requirements  Ã‚   Program Objectives   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   At the program’s conclusion participants should: Knowledge   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   * be familiar with relevant university, state and federal policies, systems, procedures and regulations to ensure customer satisfaction Skill   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   * have all personal computer skills required to effectively work in the assigned work unit * be able to diffuse a variety of hostile and unpleasant customer situations * be competent in managing staff and the customer service work unit Ability * identify and adapt to different customer communication styles and cultural backgrounds and to recognize and resolve their needs      * adopt excellent time management procedures while adhering to relevant rules, processes and directives * assume effective problem solving procedures Program Agenda    Module and rationale Goals Training Methods 1. Policies and Procedures In order for a CSS to effectively operate within the work unit he/she must first be familiar and be able to work within   required polices and procedures. understand and work within the constraints of relevant university, state and federal policies, systems, procedures and regulations 1 day workshop PPT., individual, pair and group activities. (Participants will be provided with a folio all documentation for future reference.) 2. Personal Computer Skills In order for a CSS to effectively operate within the work unit he/she must be informed and able to use university information systems and databases, together with a number of software applications. obtain a competent working knowledge of word processing, spreadsheets, university information systems and databases, software applications 1 day workshop PPT, hands-on computer tuorial 4 ongoing weekly online tutorials 3. Understanding Customers and their needs Customers possess different styles of behaviour and learning how to adjust to those differing styles improves customer service and communication. understand the process of communication and the cultural differences that prevail, develop skills in overcoming barriers to communication, understand the importance of body language in communication,  ½ day workshop PPT, individual, pair and group activities  ½ day in the work unit role plays 4. Action Leadership    To be an effective leader,   a CSS needs to develop their own leadership skills and personal authority, as well as investigate tactics for building a strong and supportive team, handle difficult problems competently, and take accountability for end results. understand how to be an effective leader, understand how people are motivated, be better able to use the talents of individual members within the work unit, be able to develop realistic action plans 1 day workshop PPT, individual, pair group activities Take home ‘action plan’ assignment’ 5. Time Management    One of the biggest challenges a CSS has to face is managing their time.   They are often inundated with questions, queries and wants form all sides staff, customers and management.   The ability to identify and focus their attention on the most important tasks is often the difference between a successful or unsuccessful CSS. understand the importance of time in the role of CSS, identify priorities, allocate time between various activities, develop time schedules, deal with the unexpected . 1 day workshop PPT, individual, pair and group activities 6. Managing Conflict and problem solving    Not all customers are easy to manage and an effective CSS must develop effective conflict management and resolution skills to ensure customer satisfaction. These skills will also carry across to conflict issues within the work unit. understand the approach to problem solving, encourage prompt problem-solving through prompt personal action, evaluate the choices and choose the optimum solutions, understand the principles of negotiation  ½ day workshop PPT, individual, pair and group activities     ½ day in the work unit role plays       Evaluation    Participants will be given a series of scenarios, and at specific points they will be asked to indicate how they would respond. The scenarios will be realistic, using pictures, sound files, background information and video clips. In this was, a variety of behavioral measures will be gathered in a short period of time, and the process will not be dependent on the subjective judgments of examiners.

El estudio de proyectos

El estudio de proyectos 1 EL ESTUDIO DE PROYECTOS 1.1 Preparacià ³n y evaluacià ³n de proyectos Un proyecto es la bà ºsqueda de una solucià ³n inteligente al planteamiento de un problema tendiente a resolver, entre tantos, una necesidad humana. El proyecto surge como respuesta a una idea que busca la solucià ³n de un problema o la manera de aprovechar una oportunidad de negocios. Al preparar y evaluar un proyecto se pretende encontrar la mejor solucià ³n al â€Å"problema econà ³mico† que se ha planteado, y asà ­ conseguir que se disponga de antecedentes y la informacià ³n necesaria para asignar racionalmente los recursos escasos a la alternativa de solucià ³n mà ¡s eficiente y viable frente a una necesidad humana percibida. La Pre-inversià ³n consta de dos etapas. La primera etapa es la Preparacià ³n del proyecto, es decir, se determina magnitud de la inversià ³n, los costos y beneficios. La segunda etapa es la Evaluacià ³n del proyecto, en otras palabras, se mide la rentabilidad de la inversià ³n. Las causas del fracaso o del à ©xito pueden ser: * Cambios tecnolà ³gicos * Cambios en el contexto polà ­tico: cambios de gobierno o variaciones econà ³micas. * Cambios en las relaciones comerciales internacionales * Inestabilidad de la naturaleza * Entorno institucional * Normativa legal 1.2 La toma de decisiones asociadas con un proyecto No existe una concepcià ³n rà ­gida definida en tà ©rminos de establecer mecanismos precisos en la toma de decisiones asociadas con un proyecto. No obstante, resulta obvio seà ±alar que la adopcià ³n de decisiones exige disponer de un sinnà ºmero de antecedentes que permitan que esta se efectà ºe inteligentemente. Lo fundamental en la toma de decisiones es que à ©stas se encuentran cimentadas en antecedentes bà ¡sicos concretos que hagan que se adopten concienzudamente y con el mà ¡s pleno conocimiento de las distintas variables que entran en juego. Evaluacià ³n de proyectos consisten entonces, en un conjunto de antecedentes justificatorios, mediante los cuales se establecen las ventajas y desventajas que tiene la asignacià ³n de recursos para una idea o un objetivo determinado. 1.3 Tipologà ­a de los proyectos: Uno de los primeros problemas que se observan al evaluar un proyecto es la gran diversidad de tipos de proyectos que se pueden encontrar, dependiendo tanto del objetivo de estudio, como de la finalidad de la inversià ³n. Segà ºn el objetivo o finalidad del estudio, de acuerdo con lo que se espera medir con la evaluacià ³n, es posible identificar 3 tipos de proyectos que obligan a conocer 3 formas de obtener los flujos de caja para lograr el resultado deseado: 1. Estudios para medir la rentabilidad del proyecto, es decir, del total de la inversià ³n, independientemente de dà ³nde provengan los fondos. 2. Estudios para medir la rentabilidad de los recursos propios invertidos en el proyecto. 3. Estudios para medir la capacidad del propio proyecto para enfrentar los compromisos de pago asumidos en un eventual endeudamiento para su realizacià ³n. Para el evaluador de proyectos es necesario y fundamental diferenciar entre la rentabilidad del proyecto y la rentabilidad del inversionista. La rentabilidad del proyecto es la que busca medir la rentabilidad del negocio independientemente de quien lo haga, mientras que la rentabilidad del inversionista es la que busca medir la rentabilidad de los recursos propios del inversionista en la eventualidad de que se lleve a cabo el proyecto. Segà ºn la finalidad o el objeto de la inversià ³n, es decir, del objetivo de la asignacià ³n de recursos es posible distinguir entre: a) Proyectos que buscan crear nuevos negocios: en este caso, la evaluacià ³n se concentrarà ¡ en determinar todos los costos y beneficios asociados directamente con la inversià ³n. b) Proyectos que buscan evaluar un cambio, mejora o modernizacià ³n de empresas ya existentes: solo considerarà ¡ aquellos que son relevantes para la decisià ³n que se deberà ¡ tomar. a. Un proyecto de modernizacià ³n puede incluir: i. Externalidad ii. Internalizacià ³n iii. Reemplazo iv. Ampliacià ³n v. Abandono 1.4 La evaluacià ³n de proyectos Si se encarga la evaluacià ³n de un mismo proyecto a dos especialistas diferentes, seguramente ambos resultados serà ¡n distintos por el hecho de que la evaluacià ³n se basa en estimaciones de lo que se espera sean en el futuro los beneficios y costos que se asocian a un proyecto. La evaluacià ³n de proyectos pretende medir objetivamente ciertas magnitudes cuantitativas resultantes del estudio del proyecto, y dan origen a operaciones matemà ¡ticas que permiten diferentes coeficientes de evaluacià ³n. Lo realmente decisivo es poder plantear premisas y supuestos và ¡lidos que hayan sido sometidos a convalidacià ³n a travà ©s de distintos mecanismos y tà ©cnicas de comprobacià ³n. Por otra parte la clara definicià ³n de cuà ¡l es el objetivo que se persigue con la evaluacià ³n constituye un elemento clave para tener en cuenta en la correcta seleccià ³n del criterio evaluativo. Un proyecto puede tener diferentes apreciaciones desde el punto de vista privado y el social. Cualquiera que sea el marco en el que el proyecto està © inserto, siempre serà ¡ posible medir los costos de las distintas alternativas de asignacià ³n de recursos a travà ©s de un criterio econà ³mico que permita, en definitiva, conocer las ventajas y desventajas cualitativas y cuantitativas que implica la asignacià ³n de los recursos escasos a un determinado proyecto de inversià ³n. 2 EL PROCESO DE PREPARACIÓN Y EVALUACIÓN DE PROYECTOS El Estudio del proyecto pretende contestar el interrogante de si es o no conveniente realizar una determinada inversià ³n. El estudio de viabilidad debe simular con el mà ¡ximo de precisià ³n lo que sucederà ­a con el proyecto si este fuera implementado. 2.1 Alcances del estudio de proyectos En tà ©rminos generales, son varios los estudios particulares que deben realizarse para evaluar un proyecto: los de viabilidad comercial, tà ©cnica, legal, organizacional, de impacto ambiental y financiera. Por lo regular, el estudio de una inversià ³n se centra en la viabilidad econà ³mica o financiera, y toma el resto de las variables à ºnicamente como referencia. Estudio de viabilidad comercial: indicara si el mercado es sensible o no al bien producido u ofrecido por el proyecto y la aceptabilidad que tendrà ­a en su consumo o uso, permitiendo determinar la postergacià ³n o rechazo de un proyecto sin tener que asumir los costos que implica un estudio econà ³mico completo. Estudio de viabilidad tà ©cnica: analiza las posibilidades materiales, fà ­sicas o quà ­micas de producir el bien o servicio que desea generarse con el proyecto. Estudio de viabilidad legal: asegurar la existencia o ausencia de restricciones de carà ¡cter legal que impedirà ­an el funcionamiento del proyecto. Estudio de viabilidad organizacional: su objetivo es definir si existen condiciones mà ­nimas necesarias para garantizar la viabilidad de la implementacià ³n, tanto estructural como lo funcional. Estudio de viabilidad financiera: determina su aprobacià ³n o rechazo, mire la rentabilidad que retorna la inversià ³n, medido con base monetaria. Estudio de viabilidad del impacto ambiental: encontrar las normas impuestas en materia de regulacià ³n ambiental para impedir futuros impactos negativos derivados de una eventual compensacià ³n del daà ±o causado por una inversià ³n. 2.2 El estudio de proyecto como proceso cà ­clico El proceso de un proyecto reconoce 4 grandes etapas: idea, preinversià ³n, inversià ³n y operacià ³n. Idea: puede enfrentarse sistemà ¡ticamente bajo una modalidad de gerencia de beneficios, es decir, donde la organizacià ³n està ¡ estructurada operacionalmente bajo un esquema de bà ºsqueda permanente de nuevas ideas de proyectos. Preinversià ³n: se realizan los 3 estudios de viabilidad Perfil: se elabora a partir tanto de la informacià ³n existente, como del juicio comà ºn y de la opinià ³n que da la experiencia. En el estudio del perfil se busca determinar si existe alguna razà ³n que justifique el abandono de una idea antes de que se destinen recursos. Prefactibilidad: profundiza en la investigacià ³n, y se basa en informacià ³n de fuentes secundarias para definir las variables principales referidas al mercado, a las alternativas tà ©cnicas de produccià ³n y a la capacidad financiera de los inversionistas, entre otros. Se caracteriza fundamentalmente por descartar soluciones con mayores elementos de juicio. Como resultado de este estudio, sufre la recomendacià ³n de aprobacià ³n, abandono o postergacià ³n. Factibilidad: se elabora sobre la base de antecedentes precisos obtenidos mayoritariamente a travà ©s de fuentes de informacià ³n primarias. Este estudio constituye el paso final de la etapa de preinversià ³n. El estudio de proyectos, cualquiera que sea la profundidad con que se realice, distingue dos grandes etapas: la de formulacià ³n y preparacià ³n, y la de evaluacià ³n. La primera tiene dos objetivos: definir todas las caracterà ­sticas que tengan algà ºn grado de efecto en el flujo de ingresos y egresos monetarios del proyecto y calcular su magnitud. La segunda etapa, busca determinar la rentabilidad de la inversià ³n en el proyecto. En la etapa de evaluacià ³n, es posible distinguir tres sub-etapas: 1. Medicià ³n de la rentabilidad del proyecto 2. Anà ¡lisis de las variables cualitativas 3. Sensibilizacià ³n del proyecto El anà ¡lisis completo de un proyecto requiere de por lo menos la realizacià ³n de cuatro estudios complementarios: de mercado, tà ©cnico, organizacional-administrativo-legal y financiero. 2.3 Estudio tà ©cnico del proyecto Tiene como objeto proveer informacià ³n para cuantificar el monto de las inversiones y de los costos de operacià ³n pertinentes a esta à ¡rea. Una de sus conclusiones de este estudio es que se deberà ¡ definir la funcià ³n de produccià ³n que optimice el empleo de los recursos disponibles en la produccià ³n del bien o servicio del proyecto. Con este estudio se determinaran los requerimientos de equipos de fà ¡brica para la operacià ³n y el monto de la inversià ³n correspondiente. La descripcià ³n del proceso productivo posibilitarà ¡ conocer las materias primas y los insumos restantes que este demandarà ¡. La definicià ³n del tamaà ±o del proyecto es fundamental para la determinacià ³n de las inversiones y los costos que se derivan del estudio tà ©cnico. Las interrelaciones entre decisiones de carà ¡cter tà ©cnico se complican al tener que combinarse con decisiones derivadas de los restantes estudios particulares del proyecto. 2.4 El estudio de mercado Muchos costos de operacià ³n pueden preverse simulando la situacià ³n futura y especificando las polà ­ticas y los procedimientos que se utilizaran como estrategia comercial. Decisiones como el precio de introduccià ³n, las inversiones para fortalecer una imagen, el acondicionamiento de los locales de venta en funcià ³n de los requerimientos observados en el estudio de los clientes potenciales y las polà ­ticas de crà ©dito recomendadas por el mismo estudio, pueden constituirse en variables pertinentes para el resultado de la evaluacià ³n. Metodolà ³gicamente se deben estudiar 4 aspectos: a) El consumidor y las demandas del mercado y del proyecto, actuales y proyectadas. El anà ¡lisis del consumidor tiene por objeto caracterizar a los consumidores actuales y potenciales, identificando sus preferencias, hà ¡bitos de consumo, motivaciones, etc., para obtener un perfil sobre el cual pueda basarse la estrategia comercial. El anà ¡lisis de la demanda cuantifica el volumen de bienes o servicios que el consumidor podrà ­a adquirir de la produccià ³n del proyecto. b) La competencia y las ofertas del mercado y del proyecto, actuales y proyectadas. El estudio de la competencia es fundamental ya que la estrategia que se defina para el proyecto puede ser indiferente a esta. Es preciso conocer las estrategias que sigue la competencia para aprovechar sus ventajas y evitar sus desventajas. c) La comercializacià ³n del producto o servicio generado por el proyecto Deben tomarse decisiones sobre polà ­ticas de ventas y de crà ©dito, intereses, precio, canales de distribucià ³n, marca, estrategia publicitaria, inversiones en creacià ³n de la imagen, etc. d) Proveedores y la disponibilidad y el precio de los insumos, actuales y proyectados. Se debe determinar la disponibilidad de insumos y el precio que debe pagarse para su abastecimiento. 2.5 El estudio organizacional-administrativo-legal Para cada proyecto es posible definir la estructura organizativa que mà ¡s se adapte a los requerimientos de su posterior operacià ³n. Conocer esta estructura es fundamental para definir las necesidades de personal calificado para la gestià ³n y por tanto, estimar con mayor precisià ³n los costos indirectos de la mano de obra ejecutiva. La decisià ³n de desarrollar internamente actividades que pudieran subcontratarse influye directamente en los costos por la mayor cantidad de personal que pudiera necesitarse, la mayor inversià ³n en oficinas y equipamiento y el mayor costo en materiales y otros insumos. Los aspectos legales pueden restringir la localizacià ³n y obligar a mayores costos de transporte, o bien pueden otorgar franquicias para incentivar el desarrollo de determinadas zonas geogrà ¡ficas donde el beneficio que obtendrà ­a el proyecto superarà ­a los mayores costos de transporte. Uno de los efectos mà ¡s directos de los factores legales y reglamentarios se refiere a los aspectos tributarios. 2.6 El estudio financiero Sus objetivos son: ordenar y sistematizar la informacià ³n de carà ¡cter monetario que proporcionan las etapas anteriores, elaborar los cuadros analà ­ticos y datos adicionales para la evaluacià ³n del proyecto y evaluar los antecedentes para determinar la rentabilidad. La sistematizacià ³n de la informacià ³n financiera consiste en identificar y ordenar todos los à ­tems de inversiones, costos e ingresos que puedan deducirse de los estudios previos. Los ingresos de operacià ³n se deducen de la informacià ³n de precios y demanda proyectada, calculados en el estudio de mercado, de las condiciones de venta, de las estimaciones de venta de residuos y del cà ¡lculo de ingresos por venta de equipos cuyo reemplazo esta previsto durante el periodo de evaluacià ³n del proyecto, segà ºn antecedentes que pudieran derivarse de los estudios tà ©cnicos, organizacional y de mercado. Los costos de operacià ³n se calculan con la informacià ³n de prà ¡cticamente todos los estudios anteriores. La evaluacià ³n del proyecto se realiza sobre la estimacià ³n del flujo de caja de los costos y beneficios. El resultado de la evolucià ³n se mide por medio de distintos criterios que, mà ¡s que operativos, son complementarios entre sà ­. 2.7 El estudio del impacto ambiental Se sugiere introducir en la evaluacià ³n de proyectos las normas ISO 14,000 las cuales consisten en una serie de procedimientos asociados con dar a los consumidores una mejora ambiental continua de los productos y servicios que proporcionara la inversià ³n, asociada con los menores costos futuro de una eventual reparacià ³n de los daà ±os causados sobre el medio ambiente. La gestià ³n del impacto ambiental se tiende a la bà ºsqueda de un proceso continuo de mejoramiento ambiental de toda la cadena de produccià ³n. El estudio de impacto ambiental como parte de la evaluacià ³n econà ³mica de un proyecto no ha sido lo suficientemente tratado, aunque se observan avances sustanciales en el à ºltimo tiempo. Una tipologà ­a de estudios de impacto ambiental permite identificar tres tipos: 1. Cualitativos: identifica, analizan y explican los impactos positivos y negativos que podrà ­a causar al ambiente la implementacià ³n del proyecto. 2. Cualitativo numà ©ricos: relaciona factores de ponderacià ³n en escala de valores numà ©ricos a las variables ambientales. 3. Cuantitativos: determinan tanto los costos asociados con las medidas de mitigacià ³n total o parcial como los daà ±os evitados, incluyendo ambos efectos dentro de los flujos de caja proyectados. Existen distintos mà ©todos que permiten incorporar el factor monetario al efecto ambiental: a) Mà ©todo de valoracià ³n contingente: busca determinar la disposicià ³n a pagar de las personas por los beneficios que se espera produzca el proyecto. b) Mà ©todo del costo evitado: considera que el costo asociado con una externalidad debe ser asumido por el proyecto que la ocasiona, para lo cual incorpora dentro de los costos el gasto de subsanar el daà ±o causado o, dentro de los beneficios, el costo que la inversià ³n evitarà ­a al resto de la comunidad. c) Mà ©todo de los precios hedà ³nicos: busca determinar todos los atributos de un bien que podrà ­a explicar el precio que las personas està ¡n dispuestas a pagar por el. Alcance del estudio: El estudio deberà ­a incluir todos los peligros, riesgos e impactos asociados con las personas, el medio ambiente, la comunidad del entorno y los bienes fà ­sicos donde se inserta el proyecto. 3 ESTRUCTURA ECONÓMICA DEL MERCADO El mercado està ¡ conformado por la totalidad de los compradores y vendedores potenciales del producto o servicio que se vaya a elaborar segà ºn el proyecto. La investigacià ³n de mercado entrega informacià ³n histà ³rica y actual tanto del comportamiento de los consumidores, proveedores, competidores, como de los canales de distribucià ³n para la comercializacià ³n del producto del proyecto. 3.1 Estructura de mercado El ambiente competitivo en que se desenvolverà ¡ el proyecto puede adquirir una de las siguientes formas generales: 1. Competencia perfecta: se caracteriza porque en el mercado de un determinado producto existen muchos compradores y vendedores que no pueden influir en el precio; el producto es idà ©ntico y homogà ©neo; existe movilidad perfecta de los recursos; no hay barreras de entrada o salida y los agentes econà ³micos està ¡n perfectamente informados de las condiciones del mercado. 2. Monopolio: un solo proveedor vende un producto para el que no hay sustitutos perfectos, y las dificultades para ingresar a esa industria son grandes. 3. Competencia monopà ³lica: existen numerosos vendedores de un producto diferenciado y, en el largo plazo, no hay dificultades para entrar o salid de la industria. 4. Oligopolio: hay pocos vendedores de un producto homogà ©neo o diferenciado y el ingreso o salida de la industria es posible pero con dificultades. 4 EL ESTUDIO DE MERCADO El concepto de estudio de mercado se identifica con la definicià ³n del precio al que los consumidores està ¡n dispuestos a comprar, como a la demanda. Los objetivos particulares del estudio de mercado serà ¡n ratificar la posibilidad real de colocar el producto o servicio que elaborarà ­a el proyecto en el mercado, conocer los canales de comercializacià ³n que usan o podrà ­an usarse en la comercializacià ³n de ellos, determinar la magnitud de la demanda que podrà ­a esperarse y conocer la composicià ³n, las caracterà ­sticas y la ubicacià ³n de los potenciales consumidores. 4.1 El mercado del proyecto Al estudiar el mercado de u proyecto es preciso reconocer los agentes que, con su actuacià ³n, tendrà ¡n algà ºn grado de influencia sobre las decisiones que se tomarà ¡n al definir su estrategia comercial. En este sentido son cinco los submercados que se reconocerà ¡n al realizar un estudio de factibilidad: proveedor, competidor, distribuidor, consumidor y externo. Mercado Proveedor: Deberà ¡n estudiarse todas las alternativas de obtencià ³n de materias primas, asà ­ como sus costos, condiciones de compra, sustitutos, durabilidad, necesidad de infraestructura especial para bodegaje, oportunidad y demoras en la recepcià ³n, disponibilidad, seguridad en recepcià ³n, etc. Es necesario conocer las proyecciones a futuro. Mercado Competidor: Se debe tener en cuenta que cuando la materia prima es escasa o los medios de transporte son escasos la competencia por ellos serà ¡ prioritaria. El mercado competidor directo son las empresas que elaboran y venden productos similares a los del proyecto. Es imprescindible conocer la estrategia comercial que à ©stas desarrollen para enfrentar la mejor manera su competencia en el mercado consumidor. El mercado distribuidor: es el que requiere un menor nà ºmero de variables pero no es menos importante. La disponibilidad de un sistema que garantice la entrega oportuna de los productos al consumidor es sumamente importante. Uno de los factores mà ¡s importantes son los costos de distribucià ³n y son los que determinan el precio al que llegarà ¡ el producto al consumidor y por lo tanto la demanda que deberà ¡ enfrentar el proyecto. El mercado consumidor: es probablemente el que mà ¡s tiempo requiere para su estudio. La complejidad del consumidor hace que se tornen imprescindibles varios estudios especà ­ficos sobre à ©l, ya que asà ­ podrà ¡n definirse diversos efectos sobre la composicià ³n del flujo de caja del proyecto. Se deben definir los hà ¡bitos y motivaciones de compra para definir tanto al consumidor real como al potencial. Mercado externo: recurrir a fuentes externas de abastecimiento de materias primas obliga a consideraciones y estudios especiales que se diferencian del abastecimiento en el mercado local. Ninguno de estos mercados puede analizarse exclusivamente sobre la base de lo ya existente. Siempre podrà ¡ haber proveedores que la competencia directa no haya tenido en cuenta o competidores potenciales que hoy no lo son, o nuevos sistemas de distribucià ³n no utilizados, e incluso mercados consumidores no cubiertos hasta el momento. 4.2 Objetivos del estudio de mercado Para fines de la preparacià ³n del proyecto, el estudio de cada una de las variables que se seà ±alaron en el apartado anterior, va dirigido principalmente a la recopilacià ³n de informacià ³n de carà ¡cter econà ³mico que repercuta en la composicià ³n del flujo de cada del proyecto. El objetivo del estudio del mercado como la reunià ³n de antecedentes para determinar su influencia en el flujo de caja, cada actividad del mismo deberà ¡ justificarse por proveer informacià ³n para calcular algà ºn à ­tem de inversià ³n, de costos de operacià ³n o de ingreso. Al existir opciones entre las cuales elegir, el estudio de mercado tambià ©n deberà ¡ analizar el entorno en el cual se mueve cada uno de los mercados para definir la estrategia comercial mà ¡s adecuada a la realidad en donde deberà ¡ situarse el proyecto una vez implementado. 4.3 Etapas del estudio de mercado Se definen 3 etapas: 1. Anà ¡lisis Histà ³rico: pretende lograr dos objetivos especà ­ficos: reunir informacià ³n de carà ¡cter estadà ­stico que pueda servir y evaluar el resultado de algunas decisiones tomadas por otros agentes del mercado, para identificar los efectos positivos o negativos que se lograron. 2. Anà ¡lisis de la situacià ³n vigente: es importante, porque es la base de cualquier prediccià ³n. Sin embargo, su importancia relativa es baja, ya que difà ­cilmente permitirà ¡ usar la informacià ³n para algo mà ¡s que eso. Esto se debe a que, por ser permanente la evolucià ³n del mercado puede tener cambios situacionales cuando el proyecto se està © implementando. 3. Anà ¡lisis de la situacià ³n proyectada: este es el que realmente tiene interà ©s el preparador y evaluador del proyecto. Los otros dos anà ¡lisis permiten proyectar una situacià ³n suponiendo el mantenimiento de un orden de cosas que con la sola implementacià ³n del proyecto se deberà ¡ modificar. Esto obliga a que en la situacià ³n proyectada se diferencie la situacià ³n futura sin el proyector y luego con la participacià ³n de à ©l, para concluir con la nueva definicià ³n del mercado. 6 ESTIMACIÓN DE COSTOS La estimacià ³n de los costos futuros constituye uno de los principales aspectos centrales del trabajo del evaluador, tanto por la importancia de ellos en la determinacià ³n de la rentabilidad del proyecto, como por la variedad de elementos sujetos a valorizacià ³n como desembolsos del proyecto. 6.6 Elementos relevantes de costos Aunque es posible, en tà ©rminos genà ©ricos, clasificar ciertos à ­tems de costos como relevantes, solo el examen exhaustivo de aquellos que influyen en el proyecto posibilitarà ¡ catalogarlos correctamente. Para identificar las diferencias inherentes a las alternativas, es recomendable que previamente se establezcan las funciones de costos de cada una de ellas. De su comparacià ³n resultarà ¡ la eliminacià ³n para efectos del estudio, de los costos inaplicables. Si hubiera que dirigir el estudio de las diferencias de costos, los siguientes deberà ­an considerarse como prioritarios: * Variaciones en los està ¡ndares de materia prima * Tasa de salario y requerimientos de personal para la operacià ³n directa * Necesidades de supervisià ³n e inspeccià ³n * Combustible y energà ­a * Volumen de produccià ³n y precio de venta * Desperdicio o mermas * Valor de adquisicià ³n * Valor residual del equipo en cada aà ±o de su vida à ºtil restante * Impuestos y seguros * Mantenimiento y reparaciones Es necesario insistir sobre el costo de oportunidad externo a las alternativas que pudiera repercutir de manera diferente en cada una de ellas. Todos los costos deben considerarse en tà ©rminos reales para lo cual debe incorporarse el factor tiempo. 6.11 Costos Contables Aunque en la preparacià ³n del proyecto deben considerase los costos efectivos y no los contables, estos à ºltimos son importantes para determinar la magnitud de los impuestos a las utilidades. Como el fisco no puede ir revisando el grado de deterioro de cada activo del paà ­s, define una pà ©rdida de valor promedio anual para activos similares, que denomina depreciacià ³n. La depreciacià ³n no constituye un egreso de caja pero es posible restarlo de los ingresos para reducir la utilidad y con ellos los impuestos. El preparador del proyecto debe velar por recoger en detalle la normativa legar que condicionarà ¡ la estimacià ³n de los tributos. El termino depreciacià ³n se utiliza para referirse a la pà ©rdida contable de valor de activos fijos. El mismo concepto referido a un activo intangible o nominal se denomina amortizacià ³n del activo intangible. La utilidad negativa, en el anà ¡lisis incremental, no significa necesariamente pà ©rdida, sino reduccià ³n de utilidad. Por eso, en el anà ¡lisis incremental, en vez de asociar cero impuestos a una utilidad negativa, se considerarà ¡ un ahorro de costo equivalente a ese porcentaje. Un proyecto de mejora que reduzca los costos de la empresa deberà ¡ considerar que el aumento, menos que proporcional, en las utilidades està ¡ asociado con un aumento en el impuesto que debe pagar. El costo de una deuda tambià ©n es deducible de impuestos y tiene un impacto tributario positivo que debe incluirse en el flujo de caja cuando se busca medir la rentabilidad de los recursos propios invertidos en un proyecto. Para calcular el impacto tributario de una deuda, se debe descomponer el monto total del servicio de la deuda en dos partes: Amortizacià ³n: corresponde a una devolucià ³n del prà ©stamo, y por tanto, no constituye un costo, ni està ¡ afecta a impuestos. Intereses: es un gasto financiero de similar comportamiento al arrendamiento de cualquier activo y està ¡ afecta a impuestos. 7 ANTECEDENTES ECONÓMICOS DEL ESTUDIO TÉCNICO Las diferencias de cada proyecto en su ingenierà ­a hacen muy complejo generalizar un procedimiento de anà ¡lisis que sea à ºtil a todos ellos. Sin embargo, es posible desarrollar un sistema de ordenacià ³n, clasificacià ³n y presentacià ³n de la informacià ³n econà ³mica derivada del estudio tà ©cnico. 7.1 Alcances del estudio de Ingenierà ­a El estudio de ingenierà ­a del proyecto debe llegar a determinar la funcià ³n de produccià ³n à ³ptima para la utilizacià ³n eficiente y eficaz de los recursos disponibles para la produccià ³n del bien o servicio deseado. De la seleccià ³n del proceso productivo à ³ptimo se derivarà ¡n las necesidades de equipo y maquinaria; de la determinacià ³n de su disposicià ³n en planta (layout) y del estudio de los requerimientos del personal que los operen, asà ­ como de su movilidad, podrà ­an definirse las necesidades de espacio y obras fà ­sicas. El cà ¡lculo de los costos de operacià ³n de mano de obra, insumos diversos, reparaciones, mantenimiento y otros se obtendrà ¡ directamente del estudio del proceso productivo seleccionado. 7.2 Proceso de Produccià ³n El proceso de produccià ³n se define como la forma en que una serie de insumos se transforman en productos mediante la participacià ³n de una determinada tecnologà ­a. Los distintos tipos de procesos productivos pueden clasificarse en funcià ³n de su flujo productivo: a) En serie: cuando ciertos productos, cuyo diseà ±o bà ¡sico es relativamente estable en el tiempo, y que està ¡n destinados a un gran mercado, permiten su produccià ³n para existencias. b) Por pedido: la produccià ³n sigue secuencias diferentes, que hacen necesaria su flexibilizacià ³n, a travà ©s de mano de obra y equipos suficientemente maleables para adaptarse a las caracterà ­sticas del pedido. c) Por proyecto: corresponde a un producto complejo de carà ¡cter à ºnico que, con tareas bien definidas en tà ©rminos de recursos y plazos, da origen, normalmente, a un estudio de factibilidad completo. 7.3 Efectos econà ³micos de la ingenierà ­a Las necesidades de inversià ³n en obra fà ­sica se determinan principalmente en funcià ³n de la distribucià ³n de los equipos productivos en el espacio fà ­sico (layout). Serà ¡ preciso considerar posibles ampliaciones futuras. La distribucià ³n en planta debe evitar los flujos innecesarios de materiales, productos en proceso o terminados, personal, etc. Los cà ¡lculos de requerimientos de obra fà ­sica para la planta, mas los estudios de và ­as de acceso, circulacià ³n, bodegas, estacionamientos, à ¡reas verdes, ampliaciones proyectadas y otros, serà ¡n algunos de los factores determinantes en la definicià ³n del tamaà ±o y las caracterà ­sticas del terreno. La relacià ³n entre costos de operacià ³n e inversià ³n serà ¡ mayor cuanto menos intensiva en capital sea la tecnologà ­a. En muchos casos, el estudio tà ©cnico debe proporcionar informacià ³n financiera relativa a ingresos de operacià ³n; es el caso de los equipos y las maquinarias que se deben reemplazar y que al ser dados de baja permiten su venta. En otros casos, los ingresos se generan por la renta de subproductos, como el desecho derivado de la elaboracià ³n de envases de hojalata, que se vende como chatarra. 7.4 Economà ­as de escala Para medir la capacidad para competir debe estimarse el costo fabril de los distintos niveles de capacidad de produccià ³n. Para ello, se debe definir los componentes mà ¡s relevantes del costo: consumo de materias primas y materiales, utilizacià ³n de mano de obra, mantenimiento y gastos fabriles en general. El costo fabril ya definido debe compararse con la capacidad de produccià ³n y el monto de la inversià ³n, a esta relacià ³n se le denomina â€Å"masa crà ­tica tà ©cnica†. Al relacionar el costo unitario de operacià ³n (P) con la capacidad de la planta (C), dado un nà ºmero de unidades de producto pro unidad de tiempo, resulta una expresià ³n de la siguiente forma: P2P1=C2C1-a Donde a es el factor de volumen. Costo unitario de operacià ³n frente a la capacidad Al relacional el costo en equipos por unidad de capacidad (Q), tenemos Q2Q1=C2C1-b Costo distribuido de los equipos por unidad de capacidad Al relacionar la capacidad (C) con la inversià ³n total (I) tenemos: I2I1=C2C1f Donde f es el factor de volumen Costo de adquisicià ³n asoc