America The Most Powerful Nation Media Essay

America The Most Powerful Nation Media Essay America is arguably, the most powerful nation on Earth, having one of the largest military forces and in addition to this, American culture saturates the market, almost drowning out cultural exports from other countries, both developed and developing, this cultural overshadowing of the rest of the globe allows America to, in effect be the power house of the entire World. There is not a major urban metropolis on the planet without a McDonalds or a Starbucks. This Globalisation has also helped to cement Americas position as the most powerful nation on Earth. Many authors have attempted to identify precisely why and how America achieved this fantastical global domination, including Ziauddin Sardar who lists The Ten Laws of American Mythology in his text, American Dream/Global Nightmare. Rather than examine every one of Sardars laws of American Mythology, I have instead decided to merely look at five examples and see if they support Sardar claims that every citizen in the world is a citizen of America. Sardars first law of American Mythology is that; Fear is Essential (Sardar, 2004, pp.21) and living in this modern age of terror, it is hard not to see that law applied across the Globe. Terrorists, so we are told, can strike anywhere, at anytime and can be absolutely anyone. This atmosphere of fear and distrust, very similar to that which was created under McCarthy in America in the Nineteen Fifties, or even ironically under Stalin in Communist Russia. Sardar states that; To live in America is to be beset by fear, anxiety and insecurity, to be surrounded by potential harm, enemies and evil intent. (Sardar, 2004, pp.21) This fear of terrorism and general atmosphere of fear is supported by the news media, who spend the entirety of their time either reporting on stupid n onsense, of absolutely zero interest or significance on anyones life, which is also an American influence, worship of the cult of celebrity, or alternatively forming a state of fear, creating folk devils and moral panics, much as they did with hoodies in the early years of the Twenty-First Century, or punks before that in the Nineteen Seventies. Sardars second law of Americana also supports the theory that everyone is a citizen of America; Escape is the reason for being (Sardar, 2004, pp.21) Sardar states that America was created for people; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦in search of room to breathe, in search of a place to recreate themselves and shape a new lifestyle free from constraints. (Sardar, 2004, pp.21) This especially applies in the modern world where escapism seems to be virtually everyones ultimate goal, people can even have entire virtual lives on the internet, generally playing American made games. Even if someone decides to experience some escapism at a lower level, maybe some light reading or watching a film, chances are they are American made as well, and will almost undoubtedly portray an American bias, either in the spellings, or the pronunciations or possibly even just the cultural standards that everyone needs to reference in order to fully appreciate and enjoy a work of art. War is a necessity (Sardar, 2004, pp.25) America is probably the most pro war nation on the planet, having, in the last twenty years, sent troops into: Iraq , Somalia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, The Philippines, Iraq again and most recently Libya. As Sardar states; Even before 9/11, [America] had waged war on over half the nations of the globe. [Americas] economy is a war economy. Its science and technology is deeply entrenched in the military machine. (Sardar, 2004, pp.25) Arguably most of the wars in Americas recent history, havent even been waged for ideological reasons, or for any necessary reason, but instead for money, and to further advance or merely enable the atmosphere of terror that Sardar identified in his first law. Sardars seventh and eighth laws, namely that; Cinema is the engine of empire and that; Celebrity is the common currency of empire (Sardar, 2004, pp.24) both support his theory; The [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] notion that America is the idea of nation, was formalised and made manifest in cinema. And this standardised, industrialised, manufactured product became Americas greatest export, the idea of Self it represented to the world, and through which it demonised, appropriated and brought other cultures within its own purview. (Sardar, 2004, pp.24) The dominance of America in the world of Cinema is staggering, as well as owning one of the worlds greatest movie-making and movie exporting locations, Hollywood. In the very early days of cinema almost all films were American made, and this legacy has not gone away, the film world is incredibly America-centric, and so of course the country itself profits greatly from this exportation of film. In addition to being the location of the movie capital of the world, American films are translated and shipped all over the world. As well as this, many big American films are simply remade by large foreign studios, such as Bollywood. However, this trend has begun to reverse in recent years, with the apparent lack of original thinking in Hollywood leading to an exceptional number of remakes of foreign films. It is impossible to speak about American films, without mentioning celebrities, the passengers for whom these vehicles are crafted. American celebrities, and celebrities in general all over the world, perform little basic function in the real world but are universally praised regardless of their talent or charisma, and there is no shortage of opportunities to applaud them, such as the Oscars, as Sardar states; They are collective ritual where obeisance is made to the engine of empire. The ritual performance of the Oscar ceremony is a demonstration of global power and domination that will provide headlines, column inches and immense economic rewards around the globe for the year to come. (Sardar, 2004, pp.24-25) There is little doubt that America has a massive effect on the rest of the world and on citizens of all nationalities, but especially upon Great Britain. America has dragged Britain into many ill-ventured Wars in the last two decades, including; Iraq, Afghanistan, and most recently Libya. How many of these military ventures would Great Britain have been involved in if not for America and the special relationship that exists between the two countries. There are many possible reasons for this to have occurred, not least of which, in my opinion, is due to fear on the part of British politicians and leaders, fear of America and the power that America can wield, after all fear is essential according to Sardar. However the War on Terror was not something that purely affected America, while the destruction of the World Trade Centre was undoubtedly a tragedy and spurred America into taking action against virtually the entire of the Middle East and a large portion on the rest of the world, there were also other terrorist attacks on major European capital cities, there was the bombing of the London Underground and the number 30 Bus on the Seventh of July 2005, and the bombing of the Cercanias in Madrid on the Eleventh of March 2004, but it was definitely America that led the charge against the perceived threat of terrorism. However America did nothing when there were terrorist attacks that did not affect or threaten them, such as the campaign by the Real Irish Republican Army; including the Banbridge bombing on the First of August 1998, and the Omagh bombing of the Fifteenth of the same month, even continuing their hands-off attitude towards world security when the Real IRA began their campaign against London in the year 2000. But maybe this carelessness on the part of America was for the best as their response to terrorism has been heavy handed at best, War on Terror has already become deeply embedded in laws, policies, and the practices of government agencies, But nearly eight years since the 9/11 attacks, US charities are still treated as a threat to security. Although, the change in administration in Washington gave hope that the US government would adopt more measured responses to the threat of terrorism, (Howell, 2009. Pp53) Another way in which America is slowly but surely wearing away any sense of individuality in any other country is Globalisation and the impact that America has on the rest of the world economically. The recent economic crisis that has plagued the entirety of the world, has its roots in America, on Wall Street, and the greed of American bankers sending the world economy into a meltdown. Much like the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed it, the economy of the entire world looks to Wall Street for its cues, economically, and when that collapses the entire world follows suit, not just in the United Kingdom, across the entirety of Europe national economies have collapsed completely and require bailing out. This is in contrast to the way in which America affected so many countries before the breakdown, with its material security; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the availability and expansion of material security and comfort enabled early American social patterns and culture to expand and solidify, to both delineate and spread an American national character. With growth, more people could participate in that distinctive culture more fully and could become more American (Fischer, 2010) This greed of America has other less deep effects, rather than the drastic nature of an economic meltdown, the desire for greater profits means that many American companies subcontract work abroad, where they have to pay workers less money for doing the same work; Most American computer firms now subcontract basic work to Bangalore, (Wes, 1996, pp.49) The ultimate result of this is that foreign workers have a loyalty to America for providing them work and allowing them to feed their families, and as they have to speak the language and think about America for the majority of their day. Inevitably American culture and sensibilities work their way into the daily life of these foreign workers. Americas globalisation is not only confined to high street outlets, as was mentioned in my introduction, but in actual fact goes much deeper than that. The majority of household brands consumed in England are American in origin, such as Mars, and every subsidy of that which comprises most of the chocolate eaten in the country and Coke and Pepsi which together produce the majority of all soft drinks. Even brands which ostensibly appear to be British are in fact American, such as the fact that ASDA is actually owned by Wal-Mart. Globalization as an economic phenomenon has been the dominant force for economic integration and the main driver of growth worldwide for many decades, although the speed of globalization- taken to include trade, finance, flows of information and technology, and offshoring- is unprecedented in modern economic history. The increased economic interconnections between countries are widely credited as one of the driving forces that significantly reduced poverty in China and Vietnam, enabled the poorer nations of Europe to ride the European Union train to higher incomes, and gave hope to some African countries. (Spence, M. 2010. Pp 4) However, as Spence states, Globalisation is not merely a one way system with America pushing its culture onto the rest of the world, there are many other cultures with a huge influence over the worldwide ethos, such as Japan and the huge influence Manga and Anime have over the fields of western animation and comic books, or the influence of J-Pop and J-Rock on music or the fashion sensibilities of Japans youth subcultures. It certainly appears that America has a far greater influence on other cultures than any other country, but I believe that this is simply because America is, comparatively, a newer country, having only existed independently for two-hundred and thirty-five years, and rather than gradually coming into being like most other countries, America came into being with a bang with the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th 1776. Therefore, rather than gradually affecting neighbouring countries through occupation or the spread of changing languages, the use of foreign words in the English language is not seen as dominance of other cultures, American culture has had a much more sudden influence on the rest of the world. In regards to language, American words; sidewalk instead of pavement and American spellings of English words; color instead of colour for example have for the most part completely failed to influence the English language in any way. However there are many words in the English language which are actually foreign words in origin, for example French, abandon, abattoir and abbreviation, and German words such as, zeitgeist. However this may be due to historical concerns, the American language is essentially a slight variation on the English language which would explain why there has been little influence, and the fact that approximately thirty percent of the words in a standard English dictionary have a French origin is due to the Norman conquest in the 11th Century. Another reason for the dominance of American culture is the fact that, as a nation, America has entered the Empire building stage of their development during a time in which Empire building is strongly discouraged by the international community, all other countries that have had extensive Empires; Rome, Great Britain and Mongolia, greatly spread their culture around the Globe through sheer force and domination of the natives. Whereas America has to be more subtle in the ways in which American culture is spread, it is no longer acceptable to conquer a country and force the local populace to speak your language and follow your customs, so America has to make itself seem like the ideal, Sardar in fact refers to this with the title of his essay; American Dream/ Global Nightmare The American Dream in many ways, is the ultimate goal of every person on the globe, regardless of nationality or creed, to be allowed to support yourself and live how you want to live, but by naming it The America n Dream gives the impression that to be American is in itself the ultimate goal, this dream can only be achieved in America, The Land of the Free supposedly. However I do not believe that this submission to American cultural dominance is a necessity as Sardar claims it is, while it would undoubtedly be difficult to remove all American influences from your life, it would not be impossible. American culture is not as essential to life as oxygen or food or water, but the influence it has, both directly; such as the import of American brands and culture, like books and films, and also indirectly; such as the influences that American culture has had on books and films created in other countries, for example, as was mentioned earlier in this essay, the news media now reports either stupid nonsense of terrifying stories of horrific violence. This has come from an American influence, the cult of the celebrity is definitely American in origin, and possibly serves to fill the void left by the lack of a monarchy. In conclusion I believe that while America undoubtedly has a massive influence on the rest of the world and that the difference between American and non-American citizens is rapidly decreasing, but that doesnt mean that everyone is becoming an American citizen, it merely means that everyone is a citizen of the World. The increasing availability and dominance of technology means that communication across the world is now incredibly simple and the dominance of the internet means that practically anyone can interact with anyone else on the globe without actually having to meet them. In addition to this, Nietzsches Death of God, and the increasing redundancy of National Identity means that there is very little loyalty to either country or religion, only loyalty to ones self and ones family, this in itself is Americas greatest influence over the rest of the world. This combination of atheism and almost a self loathing of your country of origin, is what is causing many people to seem like American citizens, even when they are not. Americas worldwide domination is undoubtedly on the decline, the rising powers of India and China are threatening Americas hold over the culture of the world, in addition to this, Americas military imperialism is causing many people, both in America and throughout the World, to question the way in which the country is run, the torture committed at Guantanamo Bay and the suspension of civil liberties in the name of fighting terrorism is causing America to be painted as the real villain of the World building on the image sketched out by the war in Vietnam and the Watergate scandal. The blind, heartfelt patriotism of Americans who willingly went to die on foreign soil in the Second World War for Uncle Sam and Moms Apple Pie is well and truly dead, modern Americans are much more likely to question their country and their place in the world as is exemplified by the work of modern artists; such as film directors and rappers.

Immigration at Ellis Island Essay

Specific Purpose: to inform my audience about the immigration process at Ellis Island Central Idea: The immigration process at Ellis Island had four main steps: arriving at Ellis Island, the medical examination, interrogation, and actually leaving the island Method of Organization: chronological Introduction Have you ever wondered where your family history lies and how your ancestors ended up in America? Well, chances are that your ancestors traveled to America and entered through Ellis Island in New York City. Ellis Island opened on January 1, 1892 and became our nation’s most popular immigration station. Up until its closing in 1954, the station processed over 12 million immigrants. In order to become a citizen, though, there were four main steps in the process of immigration at Ellis Island: arriving to America, a medical examination, interrogation, and actually leaving the island. Transition: First I will tell you about the first step of immigration. Body I. The first step in the immigration process at Ellis Island is actually arriving to Amrtica. a. Once the ship arrived in New York Harbor, inspectors came on board to inspect the first and second class passengers. i. The inspectors checked for any contagious diseases plague, measles, and typhoid fever, as well as others. ii. If any passenger was suspected of having a disease, they were sent further on to Ellis Island, which happened very rarely. iii. According to ellisisland.org, the theory was that if a person could afford to purchase a first or second class ticket, they were less likely to become a public charge in America due to medical or legal reasons. b. This first step was far different for â€Å"steerage† or third class passengers. i. After the first and second class passengers disembarked in the harbor of New York, the third class passengers were then sent to Ellis  Island for a thorough inspection. ii. They were transported to Ellis Island by a ferry that could tak e only 30 passengers at a time. iii. Before boarding the ferry, each emigrant received a nametag with their individual manifest number that was then stuck to their clothes. Transition: Next I will tell you about the second step of immigration. II. The second step in the immigration process at Ellis Island is the medical examination. a. Once on the island, the immigrants were viewed quickly by doctors to look for weakness, heavy breathing, which was an indication of heart problems, and signs of mental illness. b. After every immigrant passed, a doctor with the help of an interpreter examined the hair, face, neck, and hands of every person. i. If the doctor noticed something abnormal, he would write a letter on the immigrant’s clothing as a sign that an area needed to be checked more thoroughly. ii. About 2 of 10 immigrants got a letter on their clothing. iii. This check was known as the â€Å"six second physical.† c. Next was the eye exam.  i. The eye doctors searched for a disease of the eyes called trachoma, which is an eye disease that can cause blindness and can lead to death. ii. According to the Ellis Island information website, the nearly 50% of those who had to be examined further before registration was due to this eye disease. d. If an immigrant had other diseases or was too sick or weak to manage work, they were not allowed to enter the United States. i. Sick children 12 years of age and older were sent back by themselves to their home country. ii. Children under 12 years of age that were not allowed to stay in the United States were forced to go back with one parent. Transition: Now I will tell you about the third step of immigration. III. The third step in the immigration process at Ellis Island is interrogation. a. After the check-up with the doctors, the immigrants were sent to the registry room to stand in lines to wait for the interrogation. i. Here the inspectors would double check the name, age, religion, last  residence, sex, civil stats and if the immigrant should meet up with some other relative. ii. Every inspector had only approximately two minutes with each immigrant to determine that the information was correct and that the person could take care of himself and fulfil the demands to be able to stay in the United States. iii. Due to the time with each immigrant being short, this is where the spelling of some immigrant’s names would end up being spelled wrong. Transition: Lastly, I will tell you about the fourth and final step of immigration. IV. The fourth step in the immigration process at Ellis Island is getting to leave the island. a. After approval and receiving their â€Å"landing card†, it was time to prepare to leave the island and continue to their final destination. b. Before leaving the island, immigrants were able to exchange money, buy travel tickets, and claim their luggage. i. Immigrants were able to exchange gold, silver, and foreign currency for American dollars. ii. For those immigrants who wanted to travel to further cities outside of New York would buy train tickets to get to their destination. iii. After everything was said and done, immigrants were able to claim their luggage and leave the island. Conclusion With their landing card, American money, train ticket, and luggage in hand, the immigrants were ready to leave Ellis Island and embark on their journey in America. If you are ever bored some Sunday afternoon I suggest going to Ellis Island’s website where you can enter your ancestor’s name and do a passenger search. According to thestatueofliberty.com, today, over 40% of America’s population can trace their ancestry through Ellis Island. I found all of my great-great grandparents’ names and their information on the manifest sheets, and it truly is amazing to see.

Conventional High Rise Buildings in Hong Kong

Introduction Modernism ever emphasize that the signifier of infinite to be developed based on the nonsubjective conditions of the external environment, the architectural signifier can be to the full reflected as a consequence of its map, nevertheless, such type of architectural signifier which dominated by functionalism was progressively being questioned in modern times, some of the designers attempt to happen new waies from the abstract philosophical idea, and developed the alleged deconstruction. The Godhead of the theory of deconstruction was Jacques Derrida, he was a philosopher who questioned against the tightness of Manichaean thought in Western idea, and stressed the uncertainness of the text in ideological looks, he thought a deconstructive reading can analyse the binary resistances in metaphysics, and a new construction can besides be generated though the dismantlement processes. The Hung Hom Bay Campus of Hong Kong Community College is situated at the junction of Hung Lok Road and Hung Lai Road, Hung Hom, Hong Kong. The edifice is developed on a brown field site which was antecedently utilized by KCRC as a workshop. The adjacent edifices of the premises is the Royal Peninsula residential belongings in the North of the site ( near Hung Hom South Road ) and the Hung Hom Peninsula residential belongings in the sou'-east ( near Hung Lok Road ) . The designer of Hung Hom Bay Campus ( HKCC ) attempted to reflect upon the development of the urbanism of Hong Kong while the construct was in development phase in order to look for new possibilities. Attempted to research the function of deconstruction theory though analysis of the edifices in the metropolis. In Hong Kong, a metropolis with a high edifice denseness, institutional edifices are nevertheless usually low-rise. The Hong Kong Community College ( Hung Hom Bay Campus ) introduced a new alone construct in high-rise institutional tower typology, solid and null beat was applied in the high tower ; it besides introduced a new manner for learning and larning by spacial agreements of the edifice and provided gardens in the air, to supply a big figure of common infinites for sharing and interaction of the instructors and pupils. Background Conventional high rise edifice in Hong Kong With the growing of architecture design and edifice engineering, the skyscrapers are built higher and higher. Hong Kong, as the richest and fast working velocity metropolis in the universe, covers 1000s of skyscrapers and high-rise edifices in its limited land. In Hong Kong, the designers used to utilize light steel to build the edifices. And the exterior wall is covered by glass drape. This sort of design is beautiful and modern, but has some possible restrictions. Some analysis of the architecture exterior lift design in the universe reveals that the glass drape wall introduces successful solutions for the modern issue in the modern-day architecture. Yet, at the degree of architecture individuality and metropolis image, concrete exterior wall was non popular in the architecture design. Some inventive but frankly chilling signifiers of utmost urbanism were emerging as engineers invent constructs for of all time larger and more dumbly populated metropoliss like Hong Kong, but their signifier was merely for visual aspect and could non semiotically represent it ‘s map. With the building engineering developed, glass drape wall has become a necessary architecture design in the universe. Particularly the high-rise edifice and skyscraper all prefer to utilize the glass drape as the exterior wall. In Hong Kong, there are more than two thousand edifices that use the glass drape wall. However, there are some jobs to this architecture design particularly the light pollution which affects human life. The ornament of glass drape wall is like a elephantine glass mirror standing beside the street. This architecture design is really modern and beautiful, it could promote the city’s value and set it to a higher place. Some celebrated skyscrapers like International Finance Center, Central Plaza, Bank of China, The Center, Nina Tower etc. topographic point Hong Kong among the first metropoliss. But as the Hong Kong occupants mentioned, they do non prefer the edifice decorated with the glass drape wall merely, it is non healthy and causes many problems for the people who live inside and outside. The designer of Hung Hum Bay Campus attempted to dispute these conventional high rise edifices in Hong Kong, and to develop a new typology of high rise tower by interrupting down the elements in skyscrapers through deconstruction and reorganise it by his analysis, alternatively of merely utilizing glass drape walls to finish the design.The typical â€Å"Millennium† schoolsHong Kong was holding a bound of land, most of the land was in a incline and merely little figure of them are level. The population in Hong Kong requires a batch of institutional installations, therefore, it was wasteful and non easy to plan every school campus unambiguously. In the twelvemonth of 2000, most of the building of Hong Kong ‘s public schools were harmonizing to the authorities ‘s standard design, those campus called the criterion â€Å" millenary † schools, and this â€Å" criterion † besides reflects the changing of clip, turning of the importance of societal instruction. A typical â€Å" millenary † campus occupies six thousand square metres, with a sum of 30 criterion schoolrooms and 16 particular suites. in add-on to common music room or art room, the campuses besides provide information and engineering acquisition centres, linguistic communication acquisition room, etc. The pupil resort areas are at the land floor, staff suites are at the top ( 7th floor ) , and the criterion schoolrooms are separated separately. Although the installations of the â€Å" millenary † campus were doubtless more comprehensive than in the yesteryear, it ‘s basically was still a â€Å" shaped â€Å" design, it reflected the inflexibleness of â€Å" shaped â€Å" instruction in Hong Kong. Mr. Patrick Lau, the caput of Hong Kong architectural, appraising and urban Planning section who has been involved in a figure of international schools edifices, said that an designer should understand the demand of infinite, educational doctrine and learning methods of the school in order to plan a corresponding campus for the school.The designer of Hung Hom Bay Campus of Hong Kong Community College had questioned about the ground of utilizing â€Å" millenary † design. Since the authorities said it was convenience, and it can accommodate every schools. But it had really affected the instruction policy which both the building of the campus and the survey classs are â€Å" shaped â€Å" . Although the standard â€Å" millenary † campus allowed School patronizing organic structures to affect in the design, the result were still stereotyped, and the designs did n't let pupils to interact since the resort areas, schoolrooms, activities suites and staff suites are seperat ed. So the designer of Hung Hom Bay Campus ( HKCC ) broke down and reorganized the points and maps of the traditional â€Å"Millennium† campus and worked out the new design.Polytechnic University SemioticsHong Kong Community College is a subdivision of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, to analyze how the Hung Hom Bay Campus ( HKCC ) to be semiotically acknowledging and stand foring Polytechnic University, this paper surveies the semiologies of other campus of Polytechnic University.MAIN CAMPUS:The chief campus was the earliest reinforced campus of Polytechnic University, it was situated in the denseness metropolis of Hong Kong, the series of edifices were designed in simple regular forms and cylinders, no curves or irregular form was in the signifier of the edifices. They are all appeared in ruddy bricks lift, it was an alone and representative acknowledgment for Polytechnic University. Stripe patterns besides appeared on it ‘s facade design as a acknowledgment.West Kow loon Campus ( HKCC ) :West Kowloon Campus was another campus of Hong Kong Community College, both Hung Hom bay campus and it were designed in simple rectangular boxes faculties and applied solid and nothingness in the design while West Kowloon Campus was seting rectangular blocks together, and Hung Hom bay campus was undermining rectangular nothingnesss out ; they were both seting the gardens in the air which exposed to the lifts.Discussion Deconstruction means anti-structure, to defuse the nucleus of the construction ; which is characterized by anti-centrality, anti-dualistic resistance and anti-authority. The design of the Hung Hom Bay Campus of Hong Kong Community College had semiotically defused the definition of a high rise tower, there was no Manichaean resistance significances between the plan of the design, different installations can be connected to portion. The designer had understood the educational doctrine and learning method of the Hong Kong Community College before the beginning of the design, he studied and referenced the learning methods in American instruction, which accent on unfastened look, esteeming the pupil ‘s thoughts, and to mix with the relationship of instructor and pupils. The design of the campus besides provided more infinites for pupils to sit down to chew the fat with the instructors. This paper will discourse the significance of it ‘s spacial agreement, the semiotic of it ‘s lifts and the signifier, the representation and semiotical significance of it ‘s material, in order to happen out how the edifice still be able to understand as a campus, and stand foring Hong Kong Polytechnic University through deconstruction. It can be perceived from the exterior lifts of the campus, a uninterrupted spiral concatenation of communal sky gardens along the tower block fringe was widening from the lower land floor to the seventeenth floor, they created loosen uping and pleasant infinites, which can be semiotically understood as a topographic point for larning. Alternatively of those, the agreement of the sky gardens besides re-interpretated the designer ‘s apprehension of out-of-door acquisition infinites and public infinites. Growthing workss on the sky gardens can be used as afforestation and enhanced sunlight acquiring in, a batch of afforestation embodies greening consequence and on the other manus brought out a feeling of daze and wonderful. Meaning of Space Throughout the deconstruction took topographic point in the design procedure, the Hung Hom Bay Campus of Hong Kong Community College provided new significances to the institutional edifice by spacial agreements. The designers of Hung Hom Bay Campus ( HKCC ) , AD+RG ( Architecture Design and Research Group ) , had created a modular planning design for the edifice, they developed a flexible â€Å"modular system of spacial combination† in the design, it was capable of future transmutation to ease the demand of adaptability or flexibleness. The premises target to provide of all time altering learning demands in hereafter every bit good as developing engineerings. In order to use a upper limit of available infinites above a limited country of land, Hung Hom Bay Campus ( HKCC ) had designed a new spacial layout, it broke down the conventional resort areas or gardens on the land floor, and put them onto the tower to do it go sky gardens. Then insert popular assemblage activities adjacent to the gardens such as canteen, Student Union installations, etc. , in order to convey the popularity together to the upper steps of the campus efficaciously, which could follow the architectural design construct of perpendicular development. In add-on, the sky gardens on the edifice was non merely for making an ideal environment for the campus, it encouraged pupils to be inaugural to larn, besides heighten the pupil ‘s sense of belonging, and even made it a good topographic point for pupils treatment and to interchange their cognition. The campus design had made good usage of spacial layout, it used high rise building for perpendicular development, roof gardens was set nearby the populace installations such as schoolrooms, canteen, coffeehouse and library, unlike the criterion â€Å" millenary † campuses which the installations were separated without any connexions and interactions, it provided a new visual aspect for higher instruction establishments. In order to forestall congestions and holds occurs at the lift anterooms and chief entrywaies in this multi storey high rise campus at the extremum times, therefore, the spacial agreement, distribution and place of lifts, and escalators had item considerated when planing the edifice. All major talk suites were located at the lower block beside the platform, it can assist pupils get away efficaciously. Classrooms and installations for staffs was situated environing the public infinites, it means the designers encourage the communicating between instructors and pupils. Two big places were peculiar featured on the land floor and 4th floor as chief outdoor activities infinites, with the talk theatres, pupil brotherhood activity Centre, and providing countries environing, increased the Cohesiveness of the place. Elevation semiologies The coiling communal infinite organisation in the modular lift design was articulated by square shaped be aftering faculties to fit the communal infinite organisation and enhance air flow across the edifice mass. The design had integrated verdure into the lifts, characteristic trees and thenars were located at the semi unfastened communal infinites to heighten natural airing and besides as a focal point to make a alone landmark for orientation. The frontage design besides complied the semiotic characteristics of the chief campus of Polytechnic University, which stripe forms was applied to the exterior lift design of the solid parts as a acknowledgment of campus of the university. Semioticss of Form Unlike other modern-day high rise edifices or skyscrapers, the signifier of the Hung Hom Bay Campus ( HKCC ) was non merely designed for overdone or unnatural to pull attendings, it composes of assorted learning blocks stacked spirally in the air, which are separated with sky gardens at different degrees. The uninterrupted spiral concatenation of communal sky gardens could be perceived along the tower block fringe widening from the lower-ground floor to the upper-most floors. The gardens enrich the edifice lift with a natural, pleasant environment and aid to make a different unfastened acquisition and communal environment. In order to do good usage of all available infinites within a limited land, the Hung Hom Bay Campus ( HKCC ) was composted with a lower platform and a high rise tower connecting by lifts at the centre of the edifice, it provided the natural airing and allowed adequate sunshine or daytime traveling into interior on the one manus, it could besides forestall the next edifices barricading the position of the architecture. The indoor garden without glass drape wall enhanced the interior position and permeableness. By seting sky gardens into different floors and places, beside supplying public acquisition infinites for pupils and instructors of the college, the semi unfastened sky gardens besides made the campus semiotically became an alone landmark in the metropolis. The public green place located at land floor and 4th floor were the nodes of the campus, achieved the organic combination of both unreal afforestation and natural ecology. The workss growing on the sky gardens were non merely for afforestation, in add-on, they were allowing Sun visible radiations get into the inside and supplying a natural and peaceable ambiance for survey. It had complied greening consequence to the perpendicular development of institutional edifice, provided much fresh air to the inside, and even provided a comfy ocular enjoyment for pupils, instructors, and other users. Material representation The material choice of the Hung Hom Bay Campus ( HKCC ) had been through a careful consideration, in order to accomplish a entity and crystalline ocular contrast between the solid and nothingnesss of the campus. The lift attempted to utilize two different stuffs, high transparence glass walls and the extremely entity traditional ruby colored bricks of Polytechnic University, which did non merely created different transparences, but besides benefits to command the strength of sunlight entries alternatively of merely utilizing â€Å" beautiful and modern † drape walls. Decision It was concluded that the Hung Hom Bay Campus of Hong Kong Community College can be semiotically understood as a new type of high rise institutional tower through deconstruction, and it can be easy recognized as a campus of Polytechnic University in consequence. The design broke down the elements of modern-day skyscrapers and high rise edifices and the conventional standard typical â€Å" millenary â€Å" schools campuses which was popular in Hong Kong through deconstruction. After analysis and reorganise those elements, the signifier of the edifice can still pull attendings from public, but it was in a simple manner but non in exaggerate or unnatural irregular forms ; schoolroom, staff room, gardens and resort areas still exists in the new campus, but became everyplace and synergistic, it provides a pleasant ambiance for both the users and the edifice lifts, which made the edifice semiotically understood as a campus for acquisition ; the traditional ruby colored bricks of Polytechnic University and the modern glass drape walls had still used, but they were looking in matching places, it enhanced the entity and crystalline ocular contrast between the solid and nothingnesss in add-on. The chief construct of Hung Hom Bay Campus of Hong Kong Community college was to bring forth an alone landmark of green edifice and present a new type of high rise institutional edifice through deconstruction, it was to the full demonstrated that a high rise building can still be successfully integrated with the elements of natural environment in a metropolis with extremist denseness. The campus shows the multiple benefits of a high rise green tower. This design non merely heighten the public presentation of the edifice and bettering the environmental comfort, on the other manus it provided a greening consequence as an oasis to the complex urban environment in Hong Kong. The advanced design uniting with the environmental mark of the undertaking was effectual and resulted as a favourable consequence. As a public architecture, the semi unfastened sky gardens and green place provided an Significant, impressive and gratifying green infinite in the metropolis. BibliographyKate Nesbitt. Speculating a New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965 – 1995. Princeton Architectural Press. 1 Mar 1996Mallgrave, Harry Francis. An Introduction to Architectural Theory: 1968 to the Present. Wiley-Blackwell. 2011What is post-modernism Website, hypertext transfer protocol: //home.educities.edu.tw/tsuiyh/go/ depo01007.html ( Sourced 5th October, 2014 )Peter Chow.Green Building Case Study.( 2011 ) BEAM Society: Hong KongBernard V. Lim JP.The Hong Kong Community College.( 2009 ) The Hong Kong Institute of Facility Management: Hong KongLin Yunfeng.Urbanism and Architecture| Works of design.( 2009 ) AD+AG Ltd. : Hong KongLiu Wen Tao.Compare the difference of architecture design in Hong Kong and Penang.( 2014 ) University sains Malaysia: PenangZhang Weiping.City in Extreme—As the Prototype of † Asiatic Congestion Culture †.( 2007 ) World ArchitectureAD+AG Website, hypertext transfer protocol: //www.adrg.com.h k/magamedia.html ( Sourced 7th October, 2014 )College of Professionals and Continuing Educations Website, hypertext transfer protocol: //www.cpce – polyu.edu.hk/cpce/content.php? cms=905 ( Sourced 7th October, 2014 )

Are We Over Diagnosing Adhd - 2235 Words

Are we over-diagnosing ADHD? We have all witnessed children who cannot sit in their seat for a long period of time, have difficulties concentrating on their homework, talking excessively, easily distracted, and just daydreaming in class. The characteristics and behaviors mentioned are the diagnostic criteria for Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but every child displays one or more of those traits just by being children. For me these traits are all too common. When my son was five he shared some of these characteristics in school, he was disruptive in class, had a difficult time completing assignments, and very hyper. I was asked by his teacher if I ever had him tested for ADHD, and at that time, not being very†¦show more content†¦This is the reason why the diagnosis is so high in children. The rise of ADHD brings many child psychologists, parents, and teachers questioning the condition of ADHD and what is being ignored about the condition such as the related symptoms of ADHD with other behavior conditions, for example, gifted children, dyslexia and disruptive behavior disorder are all being categorized and diagnosed as ADHD. Moreover, many child psychologist and parents also question the over diagnosing of ADHD that leads to over medicating our children, which research shows can lead to adult psychosis (Moto-Castillo). In addition, parents need to be aware that there are many alternatives to adjust a child(s) behavior in school, and at home; alternatives will avoid the high statistics in ADHD. Normal misconduct often gets shuffled into the category of ADHD symptoms. ADHD has been a Band-Aid to many unsolved medical and behavioral conditions. Gifted Students share similar symptoms with ADHD that includes; Poor attention and daydreaming when bored, beginning many projects with few completion, Intensity may lead to power struggles with authorities, High activity level, and distraction. The symptoms of gifted children compared to ADHD have striking similarities and one can be