Rebirth of Art, Religion and Education in Europe

The â€Å"rebirth† of art, religion, and education in Europe is known as the Renaissance. During this time of rebirth, Renaissance thinkers dismissed the medieval period as a dark age of worthlessness. Instead, a style of classical age inspired a respect for order, perspective, proportion, and principles to the artist’s work. The Renaissance also had a time of rebirth in people’s religion and beliefs. The people became closer to God and began to worship Him in their own ways. There was a drastic change in education during this time also. A push for the citizen to become ducated became a big deal. Books were given out, any many libraries were developed in an attempt to educate their people(Bowman 325-330). The Renaissance truly changed the art work, religion, and education throughout Europe. The European art emerged from its medieval precedents during the course of the thirteenth century. Before this time European art work were based on fixed, conventional forms art. This showed figures as stiff and flat; it showed the objects as unrealistic and lifeless. The artwork did not show great detail. Landscapes were decorative but unrealistic. The artist no longer worked only on small paintings but broadened his work to masterpieces. Masterpieces would be a piece of art that sometime would take an artist his whole life to complete. Their masterpieces would be placed in cathedrals, on buildings and would cover entire walls and ceilings. Many of the paintings would tell a story, often from the Bible. The artist would spend years working to finish his masterpieces. Often he would die before completing the paintings all the The status of artists rose as they began to work more for nobility and the wealthy. No longer anonymous, artists developed personal styles and experimented adventurously with new techniques(â€Å"Renaissance† 1989). The use of color also was changed through the Renaissance. Europe was going through a time of dark colors and lifeless paintings. Scholars of this time knew that the color and paintings had to be changed. They knew that the painting had to liven up. They chose to develop new colors, colors that were brighter and full of life. The artist chose colors that would draw attention to their They also knew that they should adopt techniques to ake their work more realistic looking. Techniques such as perspective, proportion, and size was adopted. They would make their paintings appear as you would see them in real life, as if you were looking at the object not a The artwork that was produced took massive amounts of time. The artist would complete very few amounts of large jobs in his life time. Often a job would be to paint a cathedral. This included the ceilings, altar, walls, and the floor. The artist would spend countless years completing his job to perfection(Murray and Murray 12-14). The artwork was spread throughout Europe by paintings, sculptures and buildings. Artist would be well-known for their paintings. A patron would hire an artist and ask him to create a series of paintings or sculptures. The artist would be paid a great deal if he was loyal and worked hard for his patron(Murray and Murray 14). Artwork went trough a great change, but this wouldn’t be the only perspective that would be changed during the Renaissance. Religion also changed a great deal during the Renaissance. During the Dark Ages, which was the time eriod directly before the Renaissance, people began to drift away from Christianity. The Dark Ages sent many people into a time of depression. Artists sought ways to help people in their religious quest. They often would center their work around a religious theme. Their works would tell of Bible stories or pictures from the Bible. Religion became popular throughout Europe, and people began to worship on a regular basis. They would often visit the cathedrals many times a day to pray. People began to have a new respect for religion through artwork, writing, and song(â€Å"Renaissance† 1999). The cathedrals were really important to the people of Europe. The cathedrals were a magnificent sight to the people, and they thought that they cathedrals were a main part of worship. They often had lectures based on the stories that were told on the walls, floors, and ceilings of the cathedrals. The cathedrals were kept open by donations from families, similar to the offertory given in today’s society. Many of the families had a pew in the cathedrals dedicated to their families. The cathedrals were a main part of the worship of the people during this time(â€Å"Renaissance† 1999). Education also changed a great deal during the Renaissance. Books were written by authors during the Dark Ages, but to publish them one had to write the entire book over and over again because there was not a way in which to make copies easily. The Renaissance would change this forever. The scholars knew that to educate people, one had to come up with a way to distribute books. To write them over took too much time, and they needed a quicker and more effective way. The printing press was soon adopted by the people. In printing press, the letters in the book were laced on wooden blocks and a page was laid on the table. After all the letters formed all the words and were in place, the next occurred. Printers would then pour ink onto the blocks and stamp the pages. The words would be printed out on the page. After this was repeated for all the pages, they were gathered and bound together in a book. This made books become more popular and affordable by common people. Through this, libraries were formed, and people could obtain books easier. This allowed people to become more educated and literate(â€Å"Renaissance† 1999). The Renaissance was indeed a remarkable time period throughout Europe. It changed Europe a great deal and will be remembered throughout the future. Europe was suffering before this period and was in desperate need of a reformation. The Renaissance gave Europe just what it needed, a rebirth. Art work, religion, and education thrived through this period. The paintings and sculptures, in particular, were remarkable and illustrate great talent, â€Å"Renaissance is a word which is generally understood, but which few people would care to define very closely† (Murray 7).

Air Cargo Forecasts: The MergeGlobal Forecast

The MergeGlobal forecast entitled Steady Climb speaks of the air freight tonnage growth after the traffic boom of 2004, following years of stagnation in 2002 and 2003 because of the dot-com bubble and collapse in technological spending in 2001 (Clancy & Hoppin, 2006, p.65).After the global traffic boom came the slow but positive growth since 2005 until 2010 (Clancy & Hoppin, 2006, p.65).   What we ask therefore, is how long it would take before the next downturn of growth rate begins again.MergeGlobal, however, forecasts that â€Å"[G]lobal traffic growth is most likely to maintain and to gently accelerate over the next five years† (Clancy & Hoppin, 2006, p.65).   Because of sustained economic growth in North America, Europe, and Japan, there would be an additional demand in world intercontinental air freight, while increasing metric tons by 3.0% from 2000 to 2005, and by 6.4% from 2005 to 2010 (p.65).Industrial goods production from North America and Europe would be trans ported to Asia via air freight because of persistent congestion and delay problems in the ocean transport system, and thus, creating a positive upgrade and effect to the world intercontinental air freight.As indicated above, the absence of a downturn would lead to a compound average growth rate that is 6.4% that is double the growth rate from 2000 to 2005.This is more than twice the forecasted growth rate in 2000, and slightly above the long-term growth trend of the air cargo tonnage.   As indicated too, â€Å"the single most important driver of air freight traffic growth is consumption growth, broadly measured by Gross Domestic Product† (p.66).Because there appears to be sustained positive GDP growth in the world’s most important air freight regions (except China), then it is presumed that, consistent with the historical patterns of the globe, the air freight tonnage is expecting steady growth until 2010.Majority of the new traffic is expected to boom in the Asian r egions for trade and industry.   This includes Australia and the Indian subcontinent; while Mexico is put in the Latin America category.Reference:Clancy, B., & Hoppin, D. (2006, August). Steady climb: MergeGlobal forecasts accelerating intercontinental air freight demand growth through 2010. Retrieved July 30, 2009, from the MergeGlobal database: http://www.mergeglobal.com/articles/2006-08_Steady-Climb_Article.pdf.

Annotated Bibliography on Virtual Classroom for Middle School Research Paper

Annotated Bibliography on Virtual Classroom for Middle School - Research Paper Example Generally, the findings of the study showed online learning are user-friendly and cost-effective. This study would be useful in this study, as it would supply resourceful insights to expand the critical dimensions of the study. Peterson, P., E. (2010). Saving Schools: From Horace Mann to Virtual Learning. New York: Harvard University Press. This book explored the subject of virtual learning within the overall perspective of the historical development of the American education system. The book analyzed the efforts of change advocated by prominent reformers from the eighteenth century to the current period. One general observation that the study makes is that the reform efforts did not yield the desired results as originally intended by the reformers. For instance the book argues that the falling standards of America’s education system is a result of the cumulative effects of past reform efforts. However, the study concludes that virtual learning has the potential of reversing t he damage done on the American education system. This source would be resourceful in analyzing the possible opportunities and pitfalls of virtual learning. Kupczynski, L., Mundy, M., A., Goswami, J., Meling, V. (2012). Cooperative Learning in Distance Learning: A Mixed Methods Study. International Journal of Instruction, 5, (2), 81-90. This study sought to determine the efficacy of cooperative learning within virtual settings. The study was conducted at a Hispanic Serving Institute. The study compared between the traditional forms of online learning and online cooperative learning on the score of effectiveness. The study consisted of 56 participants. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in the study. Regarding the quantitative results, the study established that there was no significant difference in performance between students from the traditional online approaches and those in the online cooperative learning category. However, qualitative results of this study show ed that a significant percentage of the respondents in the cooperative learning category were more satisfied than those in the traditional forms of online learning. The relevance of this source to the study is to be determined from the score of comparisons between the different forms of virtual learning in relation to its relevance in grade school. Sun, K. (2005). A study on learning effect among different learning styles in a Web-based lab of science at elementary schools. Advanced Learning Technologies. 80-82 This study sought to investigate the value of virtual learning within the field of science at the elementary level. The study involved a comparison of between two groups in a laboratory learning session. The intervention group was subjected to a web-based program of learning while the control group was limited to conventional forms of laboratory learning. The results showed that students from the web-based learning program showed better results than those in the conventional methods. The results also showed that the virtual learning model was suitable for different forms of learning. Further, the results of the study indicated that a majority of the students preferred to be subjected to the web-based models of learning than the other forms of learning. A significant majority expressed their displeasure in the exclusive use of the textbook model of teaching and argued in favor of

A global economic and financial boom in the 20th and 21st century Essay

A global economic and financial boom in the 20th and 21st century - Essay Example There was a global economic and financial boom in the 20th and 21st century.This resulted in tremendous growth of opportunities for businessmen, investors, governments, financial intermediaries and other financial institutions to invest their money. In other words, they needed to create a portfolio of assets that lead to high returns with assets that do not yield very high returns, but are safe. The major objective behind this investment strategy was to maximize the wealth and at the same time make sure that the investment would not lead to credit risk or risk of default. Before making any investment, investors are required to price the assets clearly. This requires knowledge of financial statement analysis and security analysis. Those investors who lack the financial guile and knowledge suffered in the long-run. Investment analysis is a detailed field of study. It combines theory of financial evaluation with the practical implications. The task is tough, but it is by no means imposs ible. Analysts combine various financial techniques such as NPV, security valuations, IRR and other tools of investment appraisal to evaluate the investment opportunities they have. The investment decision is usually based on the return on investment and safety of investment. However, there is a negative correlation between the two. High yielding assets are usually not very safe. Safe assets usually do not have very high yields. Investors face a dilemma, either to go for riskier assets and earn high rate of return or to go for safe assets at the cost of high rates of return. The final decision is based on the risk appetite of the investors. However, in the modern world, very few investors choose to invest in one kind of asset. Investors usually create portfolios to make sure that their investment is safe and at the same time it earn them sufficient rate of return (Investopedia.com, 2011). The other considerations for making investment decisions include liquidity of the security, obl igations, credit rating, past performance trends and risk mitigation. All of these measures are assessed carefully in order to make rational investment decisions. There are three types of financial statements that are usually used for making the financial decisions. These include balance sheet, profit and loss (income statement) and cash flow statement. These statements give accurate picture of the financial position of the firm along with its financial performance and the liquidity of the firm. Balance sheet consists of three main sections. The firm section gives the picture of the short-term and long-term assets of the firm. These assets enable the firm to earn money in the future. The second part of the balance sheet describes the liabilities of a firm. These represent the long-term and short-term obligations of the company. This money is owed by the firm to its creditors and failure to meet these obligations can result in bankruptcy of the firm. The third part of the balance she et represents the owner’s equity. This part represents the claim on the assets by the owner’s. The second statement used by the financial analysts is the income statement. Income statement usually describes the profitability of the firm. It is calculated by deducting revenues from expenditures. The third statement used by the financial analysts is the cash flow statement. This statement represents the liquidity position of the organization. This statement shows the actual movement of the cash in the organization. Since most of the organizations are using the accrual based accounting system, the profit figure becomes irrelevant without using the cash flow statement. Hence, income statement and cash flow sta