Wednesday, August 18, 2010

ARTIKEL DUNIA KERJA : BEHAVIOR

by englisharticles . info

Behavior is the way human beings and other organisms act. Many people use the word behavior to mean conduct–that is, how a person’s actions fit society’s idea of right and wrong. But in psychology and other behavioral sciences, behavior is regarded as any activity of a person or other living thing. This article reflects the more general usage and focuses on human behavior.

THE STUDY OF BEHAVIOR

Most human behavior results from a combination of many factors. For example, a person might shout at someone who has insulted him or her. This response probably results from more than just the insult. It may be caused partly by being tired or hungry or by having been hurt by someone similar to the person now doing the insulting.

Although behavior has many causes, most scientists seek to isolate single causes. This makes the scientific study of behavior hard. Many researchers in psychology use controlled experiments in which they can examine the effect of one factor at a time on a particular kind of behavior. Some investigators design experiments to test the behavioral effects of several factors in various combinations. Still other researchers study behavior in the “real” world by observing people in their daily activities. Observing behavior outside controlled experiments cannot prove that one thing causes another. But studying people in the real world often helps scientists see the ways in which causes identified in experiments actually operate in people’s daily lives. Specialists in many fields study behavior. Psychologists and some biologists study animal behavior in controlled experiments. Other psychologists study individuals or small groups of people in controlled games or tasks to understand many aspects of behavior, including the reasons for people’s feelings, thoughts, and motives. These studies help establish principles that can be used to explain, predict, and modify behavior. Educational researchers study how people behave in the classroom. In sociology, behavioral research focuses mainly on the behavior of people in large groups and social institutions, such as businesses, churches, governments, and hospitals. An anthropologist may live in an isolated community to study behavior patterns of a whole group.

Scientists from different fields carry out joint studies of specific problems of behavior. Many psychologists, educational researchers, sociologists, and anthropologists are concerned with the ways in which behavior is connected to physical illness. These scientists work together to learn why people adopt such harmful behavior patterns as smoking and overeating. The scientists also study how to encourage more healthy behavior.


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ARTIKEL DUNIA KERJA : Psychology and Spirituality

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“Psychology” or the “study of the soul” originated as a science less than one hundred years ago in the European and American culture attempting to answer the same questions man has been asking ever since the beginning of time, “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” “What is my purpose in life?” “Why do I suffer?” And, “What comes after this life?”

Rooted in the Greek culture, at one point this field was explicit in working with the soul in order to find answers to these difficult questions. However, Western psychologists have progressively shied away from turning to the soul. Instead, they have come to rely more on behavior and intellect in order to understand what makes a person whole. This shift in focus was partly due to gaining credibility in the scientific circle. In order for psychology to be seen as a science it had to follow strict, scientific methodology.

That is, it would need to become an experimental field where concrete, repeatable measurements and data could be generated and studied. The early psychologists realized that behavior could be empirically measured while matters pertaining to, or of the soul, could not. Thus, they left the more esoteric explanations to the clergy and the theologians to grapple with.

In the older Eastern traditions, indigenous cultures such as Persian, Arab, Indian, and Chinese, have much of the fabric of their society and culture build around spirituality. A spiritual outlook does not necessarily refer to a religious outlook on life per se. Rather, it adheres to the belief system that there is a greater, more creative life force energy permeating the universe. This life force exists beyond the personal and material aspect of nature. This force is considered to be transcendental in that it supersedes the powers of intellect and wisdom of all beings combined together.

While in the West, the predominant world view is that science is the path to understanding the mystery of the universe and ultimately to the understanding of us; in the East, it is the remembering and the re-connecting of the soul to its original source that will provide the same goal. In the West, inventions such as psychotherapy and psychoanalysis are used as pathways to understand the self, while in the East there are other means. Some of the ancient Persian-Sufi practices include meditation, contemplation, zekr and fekr.

In the past thirty years, a new field of study has been steadily growing in the United States. This emerging field embraces both world views and believes it is the combination of Western thought and Eastern mysticism that can promote the well being of individuals. Transpersonal psychology (Trans: beyond or through) is an example of one of the schools of thought that bridges science and spirit.

Most, though not all transper-sonal therapists, believe an individual soul comes to earth in order to be “schooled”. Just as we go through conventional schooling to expand our mind and grow intellectually, our soul also goes to school so it too can grow and expand in awareness. While intellectual growth helps us gain more personal freedom through the choices available to us, spiritual growth helps create greater inner joy and peace through the love and compassion that is acquired.

Life itself is the school for the soul bringing about this inner love. Through its many trials and tribulations the soul learns to trust, surrender, forgive, love and ultimately have compassion for the self and others. The more a person is able to experience love and compassion, the more personal joy and fulfillment is gained.

However, the attainment of these higher states of consciousness is no easy task. Often times it requires years of hard work to overcome the pain, bitterness, anger and resentment most individuals harbor throughout their life. But once the person is able to release these blockages, the results gained are profound.

 In the ancient Persian tradition, the heart is believed to be the center of healing. It is believed that once a person’s heart opens up, many problems or difficulties they are facing will change. One of the most important goals of transpersonal therapy is to help the person have a heart-opening experience. There are many ways to do this. The most common way practiced in this culture is through getting in touch with the unconscious mind. Based on the teachings of Sigmund Freud, we now know that the unconscious mind stores much of the past and forgotten traumas in life.

This repressed material is what stops individuals from connecting to the heart. Instead, it keeps people bound to past pain and suffering. Some of the ways to uncover unconscious material is through dream work, guided meditations and imagery, as well as entering hypnotic and trance states. As these hidden aspects of our selves are revealed, there is room for change. The more a person is able to release old wounds and hurts, the more readily they can experience love. As a result of this heart opening, the individual gradually becomes a healthier, happier and more loving person. 


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ARTIKEL DUNIA KERJA: Stress, Anxiety and Depression

by englisharticles . info

Stress can be defined as a physical, emotional or mental tension. 63% of Americans work more than 40 hours per week (according to a study done by Expedia). 40% of Americans work more than 50 hours per week (according to a study done by the National Sleep Foundation). We work 2.5 more weeks a year than the Japanese and three months more than the Europeans. No wonder we drop dead from stress! It happens via coronary disease, autoimmune diseases, cancer and long-term anxiety and depression that are typically covered up by pharmaceutical drugs.

Anxiety is a neurotic disorder characterized by apprehension, uncertainty and fear. Anxieties can be elevated to attacks of intense panic. In acute panic attacks a person experiences an alarm of terror for no obvious reason which may supercede rational thought. Somatic changes can be present with this type of anxiety including heart palpitations, chest pains, cold sweats, tremors, dizziness, nausea, diarrhea, hyperventilation, generalized fatigue, insomnia, pains, hypoglycemia and problems maintaining concentration. Anxiety can be a result of long-term unresolved stress.

Depression can be characterized by a loss of interest or pleasure in most or all of usual activities. Associated symptoms may include: feeling hopeless, decreased or increased appetite, weight loss or gain, insomnia, agitation, decreased libido or energy, feelings of guilt, inability to make a decision and repeated thoughts of death. Depression can come on suddenly or over a long period of time.

The bad news is that most people have a combination of all three rather than just one. Long term unresolved stress and emotional upheavals will eventually cause a serious disease. Is throwing pharmaceutical drugs on top of this going to resolve it? Of course not, but this is the only option offered by traditional medicine. The good news is there are alternatives that are more powerful, better lasting, actually healing and not just relieving that don’t have dangerous side effects.

I use concentrated liquid botanical extracts from Australia because the environment there is so much cleaner. These concentrated liquid herbs are therapeutic, meaning they work very quickly (typically you will notice a difference within a few days) and you will not have to wait weeks or months for symptoms to subside as you would with traditional pharmaceutical drugs. I also use pre-digested proteins called amino acids, a very powerful group of nutrients. Among them you will find fat metabolizers, brain neuro-transmitter activators, energizers and sedatives. All you need to do is use them in a therapeutic manner. Most over-the-counter supplements are not what would be classified as therapeutic doses (dosages that actually work and heal), which is why people who experiment with herbs, vitamins and supplements do not get the dramatic results you would with an experienced Naturopath. The good news is stress, anxiety and depression are one of the easier conditions to successfully resolve with Naturopathy.

We actually treated many illnesses with herbs and natural remedies for hundreds of years, but since WWII we got so excited by the new antibiotic drugs that we forgot all about these natural remedies. A lot of these pharmaceutical approaches are wonderful discoveries, but we shouldn’t throw out these ancient natural remedies that have been working for thousands of years.

Guess what? Herbs have been healing people without any scientific studies approved by the FDA. Who cares why they work? Herbs heal with no side effects. They were provided on earth by God to eat and heal. It’s funny how we have forgotten this. Could it be because we cannot patent it and make billions of dollars off of one type of drug that would treat stress, anxiety or depression?

If you have tried everything, either orthodox or holistic approaches, and are still not well, there is a reliable, safe and happy alternative. These concentrated liquid botanicals nourish your central nerve system, your autonomic nerve system, your adrenal glands, and take care of your stress, anxiety and depression. Since these liquid botanicals and nutrients are loaded with vitamins, minerals and micro-nutrients that are so powerful the side effects will be enhanced memory, younger looking skin, better concentration, and more energy. Now aren’t these side effects you can live with?


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ARTIKEL DUNIA KERJA : The Advantages of 3G Technology

by englisharticles . info

3G (Third Generation) is the latest wireless technology. It is also known as UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), an improvement over 2G (Second Generation) providing wireless access to the data and information to the users from any where and anytime. It is the latest mobile technology and in fact it is describe by Cellular (2004) as being a generic name for the host of mobile technologies.
3G cellular phones were first launched in Japan in October 2001. This 3G phone was designed so users would be able to surf the Internet, view pictures of the people they are talking to, watch movies and listen to music on their handsets .

What are the benefits of 3G?
You can perform all those functions that you perform at present with your mobile devices but at much higher speed than before. It provides you with faster connectivity, faster internet access, and music entertainment with improved quality. The benefits are immense. You can avail the benefits of video calling. You can call you friend and have a video call facility. The clarity is better and the facility can be enjoyed as long as both of you are using the 3G technology.

With 3G technology it is possible to access any site on the Internet by using your phone as a modem for your computer or laptop and mail the important documents. Downloading games and songs is much faster with this technology. You can download your favorite games into your mobile and start playing. You can also download the music videos or simply the songs. The technology enable for much faster download. Hence it will take only few minutes to download movie clips or albums.

You can use your favourite search engines to find information on news headlines, get information about the evening weather so that you can plan your party. You can find out the latest baseball score and any latest news about your favorite sport. The 3G phones with their advanced feature will also enable you to watch exciting highlights of your favorite sport. With the increased speed and improved quality of the services provided in the 3G phones, you can view the multimedia data applications like movie clips and the music videos with more clear picture than with the 2.5G technology mobiles.

The 3G technology provide you with the data transmission speed of up to 2Mbps when you are using the phone on stationary mode. It also provides significantly faster data transfer rates of connectivity and increased networking and most importantly the resistance to noise.

The technology has in fact increased the bit rate thus enabling the service providers to provide high speed internet facilities, increased call volumes and host of the multimedia applications to their customers. All these services can be provided to the customers on the basis of the amount of data they transmit and not on the time for which they use the service thus making the services cheaper for us.

A great deal of potential exists for new applications in the future as 3G packet based networks will allow users to be on line all the time. The capabilities of wireless networks in terms of bandwidth must still, however, be improved upon (3GNewsroom.com, n.d.).

3G is an exciting new technology that is being incorporated into mobile devices across the globe. Users are now able to make person-to-person calls, download data and do a variety of other tasks they never imagined possible all via their 3G cell phones.


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ARTIKEL DUNIA KERJA : Internet TV

by englisharticles . info

Internet TV most often refers to television shows that are available to watch on the Internet via downloading or streaming video. In broader terms, Internet TV may also refer to movies, viral videos, clips, and other video content available on the Internet.

Although YouTube is the Internet’s most popular video site, it is not widely considered to be the best site for watching Internet TV. Major television networks such as NBC enforce copyright laws which prohibit YouTube users from uploading many of their TV shows onto YouTube, minimizing YouTube’s selection of popular programs. Most networks now feature their television programs on Internet TV sections of the show’s official website; however, these are often only viewable to Internet users located within the United States. As well, YouTube has limited its videos in the past to a maximum length of 10 minutes each, which can require that Internet TV episodes be split up into at least three separate videos. Like other streaming video sites, such as MySpace, Google Videos, and Metacafe, YouTube sometimes also buffers its data when users are watching on a slow connection.

Unlike streaming video, downloadable video allows users to keep the video content on their computers, and is the most popular method of watching Internet TV. BitTorrent has become a major way of facilitating Internet TV downloads, by allowing users to share and transfer video content in file form. Major television networks such as HBO have sought legal action against BitTorrent for distributing their content. Meanwhile, other networks and Hollywood studios have worked around these obstacles by signing deals with BitTorrent. In 2008, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) became North America’s first public broadcaster to make a full program (Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister) available for Internet TV download on BitTorrent.

The major benefits of Internet TV include programming selection and flexibility. Unlike regular television, Internet TV users can select virtually any program and episode they choose to watch at any given time, including shows that have long been canceled. Internet TV watchers also don’t need to record programs with a digital video recorder (DVR) in order to pause, rewind or fast forward through certain sections – both streaming and download sites allow users these capabilities with Internet TV.


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Friday, August 13, 2010

10 Architectural Landmarks: World’s Best Tourist Attractions

10 Architectural Landmarks: World’s Best Tourist Attractions
by englisharticles .info

Travel the world and see some of its most beautiful architectural landmarks. These landmarks may not belong to the highest bracket of the most famous but certainly they aren’t less beautiful. As a matter of fact, these landmarks belong to the most visited places in the world.

Travel the world and see some of its most beautiful architectural landmarks. These landmarks may not belong to the highest bracket of the most famous but certainly they aren’t less beautiful. As a matter of fact, these landmarks belong to the most visited places in the world.

1. Wat Phra Kaew


Thailand, known as “The land of The Free”, is one of the most visited countries in the world. One of its beautiful architectural landmarks that attract tourists from all over the world is the Wat Phra Kaew or Temple of the Emerald Buddha in English. It is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand. It is located in the historic center of the country’s capital – Bangkok.

2. The Great Bath and The Roman Bath in the city of Bath

The Roman Empire had been gone for so long but scores of its structural legacy like aqueducts, triumphal arches, baths and others can still be found anywhere else in its former colonies around the world. .One of the surviving structures built by the Romans is the Roman Baths complex, a site of historical interest in the English city of Bath. The complex is a very well-preserved Roman site of public bathing. The Baths are now a major tourist attraction and, together with the Pump Room, receive more than one million visitors a year. Visitors can see the Baths and Museum but cannot enter the water. An audio guide is available in several languages.

3. Persepolis

Persia is the ancient name of a country which is now known as Iran, a country located in the Middle East. One of the major attractions of this country is the Persepolis. It was the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire during the Achaemenid dynasty. The UNESCO declared the citadel of Persepolis a World Heritage Site in 1979. Persepolis is a major tourist site because of its historical significance.

4. Hagia Sophia
Turkey is a country which is located in two continents, part of it belongs to Asia and the other part belongs to Europe. It is one of the most historic countries in the world and has so many natural and structural landmarks to offer, one of which is the Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom). It is one of the most visited structural landmarks in the world. Hagia Sophiais a former patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. Famous in particular for its massive dome, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture. It was the largest cathedral ever built in the world for nearly a thousand years, until the completion of the Medieval Seville Cathedral in 1520.

5. The Alhambra

Spain was once the mightiest country in the world. It contains plenty of beautiful and historic landmarks. One other most visited landmark of Spain and one of the most visited in the continent of Europe is The Alhambra. Literally, The Alhambra means “the red one”; the complete name is Qal’at al-Hambra, which means “The red fortress”. It is a palace and fortress complex of the Moorish rulers of Granada in southern Spain. It was once the residence of the Muslim rulers of Granada and their court, the Alhambra is now one of Spain’s major tourist attractions exhibiting the country’s most famous Islamic architecture, together with Christian 16th century and later interventions in buildings and gardens that marked its image as it can be seen today.

6. Christ The Redeemer

One of the largest countries in the world and the largest country in South America is Brazil. One of its major tourist attraction and one of the most famous architectural landmarks in the world, especially among Christians is the statue of Christ the Redeemer. It is a statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s former capital. This famous statue stands 38 meters (120 ft) tall weighs 700 short tons (635 tons), and is located at the peak of the 700 meters (2,300 ft)Concovado Mountain in the Tijauca Forest National Park overlooking the city. It is the tallest of its kind in the world. A symbol of Christianity, the statue has become an icon of Rio de Janeiro and Brazil

7. St. Peter’s Basilica

Vatican City is the smallest state in the world indeed but it attracts one of the highest numbers of tourists from around the world. One of its major attractions is the Basilica of Saint Peter. It occupies a unique position as one of the holiest sites and as “the greatest of all churches of Christendom”. St. Peter’s is famous as a place of pilgrimage, for its liturgical functions and for its historical associations. It is associated with the papacy, with the Counter-reformation and with numerous artists, most significantly Michelangelo. As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age. Contrary to popular misconception, Saint Peter’s is not a cathedral, as it is not the seat of a bishop. It is properly termed a basilica.

8. Statue of Liberty

One of the most visited places in the world is New York and when one visits New York, the Statue of Liberty is surelyincluded in the itinerary. Liberty Enlightening the World, commonly known as the Statue of Liberty is one of the most popular architectural landmarks in the world. Worldwide, the Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable icons of the United States and was, from 1886 until the jet age, often one of the first glimpses of the United States for millions of immigrants after ocean voyages from Europe. Visually, the Statue of Liberty appears to draw inspiration from the Colossus of Rhodes.

9. Vatican Museum

When you visit the “City within a City”, one of your major tourist destinations will be “The Vatican Museums”. It is located in Viale Vaticano in Rome, inside the Vatican City. Vatican Museums are one of the greatest museums in the world, since they display works from the immense collection built up by Roman Catholic Church throughout the centuries. The museums were founded in the 16th century by Pope Julius II. The Sistine Chapel and the Stabze della Segnatura decorated by Raphael are on the visitor route through the Vatican Museums. As of 2007, it was visited by 4,310,083 people for the year

10. National Mall & Washington Memorial Park

The United States of America, young compared to the historic countries in Europe and Asia but it contains some of the most popular landmarks frequently visited by tourist from all over the world. One of these landmarks is the “The National Mall”, an open-area national park in downtown Washington D.C., the capital of the US. Officially termed by the National Park Service the “National Mall & Memorial Parks”, the term commonly includes the areas that are officially part of West Potomac park and Constitution Gardens to the west, and often is taken to refer to the entire area between the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol, with the Washington Monument providing a division slightly west of the center. The world’s most familiar architectural landmarks in the world are the Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, Taj Mahal in India, Colosseum in Rome, The Great Wall of China, Eiffel Tower of Paris and the Parthenon of Athens in Greece.

Undoubtedly, these are the most famous architectural landmarks in the world but the above-mentioned architectural landmarks are popular as well.

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Monday, August 9, 2010

ARTIKEL DUNIA KERJA: Microfinance

What is microfinance?
Microfinance are small, low cost financial services – loans (known as microcredit), savings, insurance and money transfers, available to poor people for whom these services are not generally available. Access to microfinance enables poor families, particularly women, to invest in small businesses, better nutrition, improved living conditions, and the health and education of their children and so climb out of the cycle of poverty.

The beginnings of microfinance
The idea of microfinance was developed as a survival strategy for the poor. Ela Bhatt established the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in India in 1974, while in 1976 Mohammed Yunus founded the Grameen Bank project in Bangladash. Ela Bhatt’s first loan was $1.50 to a woman who sold herbs, while Mohammed Yunus’ initial outlay was a total of $27 to forty-two poor people.

How microfinance works
Poor people often live from day to day, and have few reserves for major expenses such as illness, weddings, house repairs or education. They are often unable to save for these expenses, or have been unable to open a bank account that would enable them to build their savings, and therefore need to borrow, frequently at exorbitant rates, to meet these unexpected costs, further worsening their economic situation. Microcredit provides poor people with access to small loans at more manageable interest rates, and can lead to self-sufficiency and poverty alleviation. There are many models of microcredit. A common model is for small groups to form a collective and with a start up grant to provide an initial pool of money, which is augmented with regular savings and interest members pay on their small loans. One or two members take loans to develop small businesses, and, when they have repaid their loan, others are able to draw on the collective fund. They may be supported with business and other training to help make these micro-enterprises successful. The outside support and group pressure leads to a low default on repayments.
Where poor people are able to build their savings, they can often use these savings to meet their needs for lump sums of money, either to meet emergencies or to finance a productive investment. This is less risky than relying on credit, because it doesn’t involve going into debt. Saving and borrowing are really different ways of turning small amounts of money into lump sums. Saving involves building a lump sum by first accumulating smaller amounts; borrower is taking the lump sum first and then ‘saving’ afterwards in the form of loan repayments.

How does microfinance address poverty?
With less interest to repay, more profitable businesses and autonomy, poor people have been able to reduce debt burdens and break the cycle of poverty.
Studies of the impact of microfinance in more than 24 countries have found dramatic improvements in household income levels. These improvements take place mainly through growth in the borrower’s business. Access to microfinance allows the borrower to reduce costs with lower interest rates and bulk purchasing of raw materials. Income increases as the number of goods or services offered is expanded and reduced product costs increase sales.

Is it all good news?
Microfinance is not appropriate in all contexts.
For extremely poor people, providing essential infrastructure and basic health and education and reducing other barriers to economic participation may need to take place before microfinance has a role.
Maintaining a sustainable small loans program is costly, and the high interest rates take their toll on borrowers.
Microfinance fosters self-employment, but the self-employed are extremely vulnerable to fluctuations in the marketplace. Literacy and numeracy education, business training and support can be important so that loans can be effectively used.
While women have taken a high percentage of the loans and invested in their households, improving the health and education of their children, this has had a cost. Running a business has added to their workload and changed their role in the family, sometimes putting a strain on their marriage. Moreover, in some cases husbands have used the loans, but expected the women to repay them. It is important to include gender training as part of the microfinance program to address these problems.
Microfinance programs may enable poor people to improve their situation, but they do not eliminate the need for other basic social and infrastructure services. Microfinance can help poor households to reduce their vulnerability to economic shocks, but they do not eliminate such shocks. It helps the poor to take advantage of economic opportunities, but it does not create such opportunities. Microfinance can only ever be one part of a broader process of social and economic development.

ARTIKEL DUNIA KERJA: Supply, Demand, and Inflation

by englisharticles .info

Much thinking about inflation is rooted in the concept of the market elaborated by Adam Smith in the mid-i8th century. The mechanisms that rule the market, as Smith described it, are supply and demand, and prices hinge on the relation between the two. When the demand—that is, desire backed up by buying power—for a certain kind of merchandise exceeds the supply, its cost rises. This, however, is not the misfortune it might seem to be, at least according to Smith and his followers. Because the item brings more income to its producers, more people attempt to produce it. This in turn increases supply until it outstrips demand. Producers must now compete by lowering their prices. If 20 million fami¬lies lived in a country with only 10 million refrigerators and each family attempted to outbid the others for them, the price of a refrigerator might be very high. But if, in consequence of the high price, more workmen and money were to be drawn into the refrigerator business and an additional 20 million units were to be manufactured, a “buyer’s market” would eventually result, causing the price of re¬frigerators to plunge.
Other economists, however, deny that supply and demand really do have the effect that Smith attributed to them. This is not necessarily a moral criticism of the selfishness that animates the market; they simply assert that the ruling powers of private enterprise economies have in fact liberated themselves from the restraints of supply and demand.

In any case, whatever the relation between supply, de¬mand, and prices, it must be understood that the “supply” of an economy as a whole is its total output—meaning the volume of goods and services produced by the entire economy. Changes in this output from one period to another must be measured by means that enable us to distinguish between real growth in the volume of goods and services produced and apparent growth due simply to inflation. We can do this by differentiating the “real income” due to pro¬duction from the “nominal” or “money income.” Nominal income is obvious enough: It is the value of an economy’s total production at the prices it actually does fetch when sold. If, however, the general price level changes, the pur¬chasing power of the money embodied in nominal income will also change. Consequently, a rise (or fall) in nominal income does not indicate how much of any increase (or decrease) occurring from year to year was due to increased (or decreased) production of goods and services
and how much to inflation (or to its opposite, deflation). We can find out, however, by recalculating the income from two or more years that we wish to compare to make the pur¬chasing power of money equal in all of them.

Suppose, for example, that in one year an imaginary economy generated a nominal income of $20 billion. Five years later its nominal income had risen to $25 billion. It will be most simple if we use the dollar’s value in the first year as the base for our calculations. (In principle, how¬ever, any other year would serve just as well.) In this year, in other words, $1 = $1, and both the economy’s nominal and its real income amounted to $20 billion. When its nominal income had risen to $25 billion, however, its cur¬rency had lost, say, 20 percent of its value as a result of a corresponding rise in the general level of prices, so that % 1 = $0.80. The economy’s real income in the latter year was therefore only $20 billion. Inflation generated the whole of the increase in its nominal income; the pro¬duction of goods and services did not rise at all.

ARTIKEL DUNIA KERJA: Shopping Mall

by englisharticles .info

Today’s shopping mall has as its antecedents historical marketplaces, such as Greek agoras, European piazzas, and Asian bazaars. The purpose of these sites, as with the shopping mall, is both economic and social. People go not only to buy and sell wares, but also to be seen, catch up on news, and be part of the human drama. Both the marketplace and its descendant the mall might also contain restaurants, banks, theaters, and professional offices.

The mall is also the product of the creation of suburbs. Although villages outside of cities have existed since antiquity, it was the technological and transportation advances of the 19th century that gave rise to a conscious exodus of the population away from crowded, industrialized cities toward quieter, more rural towns. Since the suburbs typically have no centralized marketplace, shopping centers or malls were designed to fill the needs of the changing community, providing retail stores and services to an increasing suburban population.

The shopping mall differs from its ancient counterparts in a number of important ways. While piazzas and bazaars were open-air venues, the modern mall is usually enclosed. Since the suburbs are spread out geographically, shoppers drive to the mall, which means that parking areas must be an integral part of a mall’s design. Ancient marketplaces were often set up in public spaces, but shopping malls are designed, built, and maintained by a separate management firm as a unit. The first shopping mall was built by J. C. Nichols in 1922 near Kansas City, Missouri. The Country Club Plaza was designed to be an automobile-centered plaza, as its patrons drove their own cars to it, rather than take mass transportation as was often the case for city shoppers. It was constructed according to a unified plan, rather than as a random group of stores. Nichols’ company owned and operated the mall, leasing space to a variety of tenants.

The first enclosed mall was the Galleria Vittoria Emanuele in Milan, Italy in 1865–77. Inspired by its design, Victor Gruen took the shopping and dining experience of the Galleria to a new level when he created the Southdale Center Mall in 1956. Located in a suburb of Minneapolis, it was intended to be a substitute for the traditional city center. The 95- acre, two-level structure had a constant climate-controlled temperature of 72 degrees, and included shops, restaurants, a school, a post office, and a skating rink. Works of art, decorative lighting, fountains, tropical plants, and flowers were placed throughout the mall. Southdale afforded people the opportunity to experience the pleasures of  urban life while protected from the harsh Minnesota weather.

In the 1980s, giant megamalls were developed. While Canada has had the distinction of being home to the largest of the megamalls for over twenty years, that honor will soon go to Dubai, where the Mall of Arabia is being completed at a cost of over five billion U.S. dollars. The 5.3 million square foot West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada, opened in 1981, with over 800 stores, 110 eating establishments, a hotel, an amusement park, a miniature-golf course, a church, a zoo, and a 438-foot-long lake. Often referred to as the “eighth wonder of the world,” the West Edmonton Mall is the number-one tourist attraction in the area, and will soon be expanded to include more retail space, including a facility for sports, trade shows, and conventions. The largest enclosed megamall in the United States is Bloomington, Minneapolis’s Mall of America, which employs over 12,000 people. It has over five hundred retail stores, an  musement park which includes an indoor roller coaster, a walk-through aquarium, a college, and a wedding chapel. The mall contributes over one billion dollars each year to the economy of the state of Minnesota. Its owners have proposed numerous expansion projects, but have been hampered by safety concerns due to the mall’s proximity to an airport.

ARTIKEL DUNIA KERJA: INVESTMENT TRUST

by englisharticles .info

A type of financial enterprise engaged in the business of investing in securities. In general, investment trusts sell their owjn securities to the public and use the proceeds to acquire a portfolio of other securities. The income of an investment trust consists of interest and divi¬dends on the securities it owns, to which may be added or subtracted profits or losses on sale of securities. From this income, after expenses of operation, dividends are paid on the shares of the trust. The basic economic functions of the investment trust are to provide diversification and, usually, management of investments for the small investor, who does not have enough funds to spread his investment risks eco¬nomically over a large number of securities and who fre¬quently also lacks the time or ability to select and supervise his investments properly. These needs are met in principle by the investment trust. By assembling funds from many investors, such an institution is able to invest in a diversified portfolio of securities, and by employing investment experts it is able to provide skilled management. Of course, the effective performance of these functions may vary from time to time and among different investment trusts.

Although investment trusts originated in England and Scotland in the latter part of the 19th century, their history in the United States dates only from the early 1920′s. During the great “bull market” of that decade, investment-trust securities became highly popular with American investors, and a large number of trusts of many varieties were organized. The stock market crash of 1929 and the depression of the 1930′s brought the inevitable reaction. Many trusts were liquidated or were merged with others. Furthermore, various abuses and undesirable practices in the promotion and management of invest¬ment trusts came to light. An investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission provided the basis for enactment in 1940 of the Investment Companies Act, which established federal regulation of investment trusts by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Previously, the Revenue Act of 1936 had established certain conditions under which investment trusts were exempted from the federal corporate income tax. This legislation did much to establish the basic pattern of operation for a large segment of the investment-trust business. The lessons of experience plus federal regulation have resulted in substantial correction of the earlier faults of investment trusts, and they have emerged as a reputable and well-regarded type of financial institution.

Although there are several variations of the basic principle of the investment trust, the management type became by far the most important during the period of development following the depression of the 1930′s. Its essential characteristic is that the directors or trustees exercise broad discretion in the investment of the trust assets, subject only to general restrictions provided in the charter. Investment policies vary widely. Broad diversification is the usual policy, but some invest largely in stocks, some largely in bonds, and some divide their commitments between these two general classes of securities. A few confine themselves to stocks of a single industry. Some place emphasis upon a stable income from the portfolio, and others seek appreciation in the value of their investments. 

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