Writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Writing - Essay Example An excellent example is this: there are many stories told about historical events that nobody has ever participated in, and many authors have written about things that happened long time ago. Most people believe that these things are true although they do not have evidence to proof that. This is the intuition. In â€Å"Predictable Irrationality† by Dan Ariely, the author gives an example of his own experience in the hands of nurses. He narrates about a period when he was in a hospital after having suffered 70 percent body burn. He tells of the manner in which nurses would bandage and un-bandage his wounds. He would try to ask them to do it slowly or to give him some time to rest but they could not. According to him, the nurses ought to have ripped the bandages slowly. He thought the nurses were wrong and so he advised them to do it his way, but since the nurses thought they were right, they believed that their way of ripping of the bandages was the best for a patient of Ariely’s kind. This caused him a lot of pain. The experience also led him into researching on how to take off bandages from burn wounds. He bought a carpenter’s vice with which he could crunch people’s fingers at the workshop for short and long periods of time and then test all the different typ es of pain they felt. Upon carrying out numerous experiments with different people and objects, Ariely realized that ripping off bandages from burn wounds at a low intensity and over a long time combined with allowing patients some time in between to rest reduced pain a lot. The facts he got after the research showed that the nurses’ way of doing it was wrong indeed. Although the nurses were wrong, they all along had been thinking that they were right, since they believed their intuition to be correct simply because they had strong but untested beliefs. In most cases, we make a decision through intuition and we believe it to be right. What can be said about the general

Market and Social Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Market and Social Research - Essay Example The word frequently means daily in a week. Alcohol is the drug that many youths prefer; this is because of many young people like experimenting that leads to experiencing many consequences of too much drinking. As a result, underage drinking is currently rated the first public health problem in the country(Norman 2011, pg. 504). According to the latest survey of 2005 of monitoring the future, showed that youths as young as eight years were getting involved in drinking of alcohol. Moreover, when they drink they use to drink intensively, often consuming five to six drinks at one time. The research result showed that average age of engaging in the use of alcohol was 14 as compared to 17 years in1960 and serious drinking that was associated with middle age begun to appear during the young adulthood and occasional adolescence. In United Kingdom, many researchers have been done to answer the question why young adults get involved in binge drinking. One of the explanations was that; as adolescence move to young adulthood they occasionally encounter a full dramatic change in their lives. These changes include physical, lifestyle, independence and emotional changes. Such developmental transitions have associated them with drug use mostly alcohol abuse. Therefore just being a young adult is a risk factor for drinking dangerously(Courtney & Polich 2009, pg. 146). With the continuous rise of alcohol abuse among the young adults and teenagers, there is a need that should be taken to prevent the vice from escalating further. It means that the study must be performed to determine the knowledge and awareness of the population at risk of alcohol abuse, and the methods that can be used to prevent the vice. Some methods that can be used include; introducing stringent rules in pubs regarding drinking alcohol, collaborating with landlords to evict those young adults who are the worst drinkers, and changing the outlet to

Outcome Essay Example for Free

Outcome Essay Identify non medical incidents and emergencies that may occur in the work setting Non medical incidents and emergencies that may occur in work settings could be a fire, a flood or a lack of electricity/water/gas/heat. 3. 2. A. Outline the actions to take in response to in the following situations; fire If there was a fire in your nursery setting, you would have to do the simple fire drill. If you discover the fire, you would have to raise the alarm. Once you have raised the alarm, you would have to immediately evacuate the building using the nearest safe exit, someone would have to pick up the register on the way out. Staff would lead the children out in a nice straight line and you would go to the designated assembly point. The manager would then check all areas in the building (toilets, staff room, baby changing area, sleep room, play areas) etc to check there is no other children in the building. You would close all doors behind you and dial 999 and ask for the fire service. Whilst waiting for the fire service you would check the register to make sure you have all your children. If the fire was only small, you could attempt to put it out. If it was too dangerous to put out, you would leave it and evacuate ASAP with all the children in a single fire. 3. 2. B. Outline the actions to take in response to in the following situations; security incident If there was a security incident in your nursery there is a procedure you have to take. 3. 2. C. Outline the actions to take in response to in the following situations; emergency incident

Stakeholders Analysis On Nintendo In 2006 Media Essay

Stakeholders Analysis On Nintendo In 2006 Media Essay Nintendo has implemented a strategy, which encourages people around the world to play video games regardless of their age, gender or cultural background (Nintendo, 2006) and appeal even to people who arent interested in games (Business Week, 2006) and smiles on peoples faces (Nintendo, 2008). Nintendo Co Ltd (Nintendo) and its new president Satoru Iwata believed due the complexity of games there are a lot of potential for gaming by other segments. Originally the games were built merely on action and targeted towards traditional over 18 year old male population (ESA, 2006). Nintendo decided to bring in the non-gamers and create an all-new consumer segment. Simplicity was the game and uses real live situations in the game such as Wii Fit. Nintendo designed and marketed Wii as an entertainment centre for the family. The average age of those purchasing games was 33 in 2005 compared to 38 in 2006 and 2007, 40 (ESA, 2006, 2007 and 2008). The games are devised to involve all age and gender groups including those who would like to spectators. It also seems that this had encouraged not only young people of the family asking parents to buy gaming devises, but the elders as well started to show keen interest in buying Wii. ESA (2007) indicates that 67% of American head of households play a video or computer game. Further it indicates that only 28.2% of the games are below the age of 18 and 62% of the total games are male. Wii created a competitive advantage by luring female and NPD (2009) indicated that 5% point increase in female gamers during 2009 compared to previous year and underscores the successes of Wii and other adult population who has not yet entered the gaming experience. Moreover Nintendo, also look of attracting customers above 50 years old and therefore they must create games that attract these groups. Health conscious people has also bought in gaming as they integrate into their life style and found to be beneficial. It has move from the notion that games create couch potatoes (obesity). Company Following the entrance of Sony and Microsoft into the industry, as new players there were not many success stories but rather fights over who would become the number one game. Nintendos net sales stagnated since 2004 and shot up with the introduction of Wii in November 2006. The vision of the new leadership was very crucial and was tested with launch of Nintendo DS and its other variants with the biggest change happening with Nintendo Wii in November 2006 (Joshi and Tsang, 2009). The company financial results grew tremendously with net income tripling by end of 2008 (914.9 M US$ in March 2006 to 2.393.3 M US$ by March 2008) (Joshi and Tsang, 2009)). Cash dividends of 1,260 Japanese yen in 2008, almost 3 times higher than year 2006 (390 Japanese yen) (Nintendo, 2009 and 2006). Companys stock prices rose to 64,500 Japanese Yen by end of 2008 from 17,880 Japanese Yen in year 2006 (Nintendo, 2009). Since the November launch of Wii until September 2009, company has sold over 53.97 M representing 48% of the total hardware sales by three main competitors (X Box 360, PS3 and Wii). Nintendo doesnt manufacture all of its own parts but depend on others. It usually buys parts from companies such as IBM (processors) and Panasonic (batteries) and so on. Nintendo has to keep good relations with these companies. Nintendo also focus on technology that would achieve more with less. The software designers where at the helm of the hardware development that ensure there are sufficient games and that they suit the development concepts. Competition The irony is that instead of going head to head with Microsoft and Sony Nintendo more or less created its own niche market. Sony and Microsoft have pursued that combination of computing power and graphics of its game, which Nintendo viewed it as a limiting factor to success and targeting the non-gamers. Nintendo to all our surprise used a combination of blue tooth technology, infrared, and motion sensor instead to create a user friendly and easy set up console. Moreover the simplicity reduced the cost and made it easy for its developers to design new games, which gave Nintendo a competitive advantage over its rivals. Nintendo gave a feeling of personalization by allowing users to create characters. The lack of high-end graphics such as HD could have been a competitive threat, but turned out to be an advantage since HD would take year to be established in homes. A threat to Nintendo is the ever increasing online and computer games market. During 2006 51% of the frequent game players were also seen to be gaming online as well (ESA 2006). The Low price of Nintendo has proved to be its biggest competitive advantage. There is a huge threat on the supply and demand of Wii, which could damage the market share of Nintendo through customer frustrations although Nintendo is quite comfortable with the current limited supply of the console. In the latest figures from NPD (NDP, 2010), sales of games are recovering from -20 to 5 in term of % change in dollars sales from Oct 2009 to December 2009. These present significant opportunities for Nintendo. Community From the information available there was no major regulatory restriction on the major markets areas. The market seems free to operate and to take the full advantage to capture a high market share in Europe and the US. The simplicity of the games made it easy for the programmers to design more and more games at very low cost. Nintendo has also open up Nintendo to private engineers and has now over 792 games. In terms of standards and guidelines for the industry The Commission of the European Communities announced to impose a fine of EUR149 million on October 30, 2002 referring that Nintendos past trade practices in Europe until 1998 fell upon limitation of competition within the EU common market which is prohibited by Article 81 in the EU treaty (Nintendo, 2006). The media can at times be a businesss enemy or a friend. Regardless which side it is on at any given time, the publicity the media gives helps position Nintendo and its products into the minds of consumers. Nintendo doesnt make all of its own components for the game. It buys parts from companies such as Panasonic, IBM and ATI. In addition, Nintendo may sell some of its own products online, but the majority of it sells is through other retailers (Walmart, Amazon, airport duty free shops, etc. are responsible for selling Nintendos products like the Wii. The product is a simple console with a simple wand. The wand type thing was the unique feature that was able to recognize the human body motions. It requires physical movement from players, which was good for health conscious parents especially for the kids. It is one of the reasons why this product was excellent for the family. The motion detectors would turn the hand movements into an on screen action simulating a real life experience. The product further evolved and included keeping fit as well whereby there is a combination of action on the screen together with physical exercise. The games were simpler to understand with a shallow learning curve. Price Nintendo was indeed right to understand that we do more with the little technology. Wii did not require heavy graphics and came with only a small 512MB flash drive. This enabled Nintendo to keep its console production cost low. Couple with that was a lower software cost as well. Wii was launched for USD 250 only, well below USD 399 being charged for XBOX 360 and USD 499 for a PS3 (Joshi and Tsang, 2009). Recently it is understood that they have reduce the Wii by USD 50. Nintendo due to lower cost generated profits from both hardware and software. Furthermore Nintendo was able to generate profits of up to USD 49 per console in US, Sony and Microsoft were loosing USD 300 and USD 125 per console at their respective launch prices (Joshi and Tsang, 2009). Place Wii were able to place and display the product at major super markets and shopping malls. However, after a year of its launch Nintendo failed in meeting the demand for the game. Nintendo has realized the uniqueness of the product, the willingness of consumers to wait to buy this product rather than look for alternatives. It seems the experience with Wii is unique that it is a game in a different league. Promotion Wii was designed for all age and gender and its advertisement reflected this philosophy. Nintendo used word of mouth (Joshi and Tsang, 2009) as its advertisement strategy. They made families (father to the child), hard-core gamers and modern moms as their ambassadors. They would play and share experiences with others. A number of kiosks were set up at many shopping malls show casing its features. Moreover their Commercials always showed groups of people, including generations of families, playing and interacting with each other. A classic example was the grandfather who mistook the Wii for the TV remote control and got stuck with the Wii. Nintendo has used all the classic methods of sales promotions, such as discount voucher and holidays give-ways. According to Sliwinski (2006) Nintendo expected to spend over USD 200 m in all of its promotional activity over the next year and is the largest advertising campaign in Nintendos history. About 80 percent of the budget will be spent convincing adults to purchase the system and shaking off Nintendos traditional consumer perception of being for children and teens. 4. If you were the VP of Marketing for Sony, how would you respond to the Wii. In its current state, the gaming industry is an attractive one with a total market opportunity of over $49.9 billion projected for 2001 and $85.7 billion in 2006 Joshi and Tsang, 2009) In the short term as the VP for Marketing is convince the developers to see how reduce the cost of X Box without diminishing its high quality. It might be an excellent to do like Nintendo bridge the gap between hardware and software development. New games should be introduced to attract women players. In the long-term as the VP for Marketing X-box should move in the same direction as Nintendo, the motion sensor technology and compete directly with Nintendo. This would be an additional functionality on the X-Box. We should move on the basis for doing more with X-box for less. The X-box should also be able to integrate with Windows operating system allowing interoperability between the system and become one.

My Brain Tumor :: Personal Narrative Essays

My Brain Tumor "I am not an animal, I am a human being!" - The Elephant Man I am different, so accept me. Even though I have physical disabilities I am still a human being. When I was four I had a brain tumor. The surgery left me with a paralyzed arm, crossed eye and a deaf ear. To make matters worse, the paralyzed arm was also my writing hand and I had to learn to be right-handed. When I was transferred from North Shore Hospital to Rusk Institute for Rehabilitation in New York City, I learned to use a wheelchair and was fitted for a brace that extended from my hips to my ankles. After a year of that imprisonment, I started school. At school, I saw the other kids walking and I knew that I had to be able to walk also. My therapist, Phil Koch, gave me a walker and cut the bars that connected the brace to my hips to enable me to walk. Over the years, I became a rebel and often disagreed with my elders. If I didn't like something, I fought against it until I won. One example, when I started Stewart School, I had to wear a helmet for protection. I hated it because I knew I could walk without it. From second to fourth grade, I protested wearing the helmet. I kept fighting, but I knew I needed an event that would show others the injustice of having to wear a helmet. That occurred on my fourth grade field day. I was about to run the one hundred yard dash when my aide, Mr. Maddan, insisted we had to go inside to get my helmet. When I came back, the race was over and I was mad. I refused to participate in the rest of the events in protest. When I got home, I called my neighborhood friends and asked them to come over to help me destroy the helmet. For twenty minutes we played baseball with the helmet and my metal crutch. We simply destroyed it. Events like this helped me to show people that I can be normal. I'm now entering my tenth year since the surgery, but its effects still live on. After eleven surgeries, I still look strange and my walk is affected, but I always try to be normal.

Junk Food Research Papaer

It too can be tied in with so many children eating junk food and fast food. There are many reasons that American children suffer from obesity, like not eating healthy meals at home or school, no one to prepare healthy meals for them or simply, love to eat fast food and junk food. Despite limited evidence, there is a growing concern that junk food in schools has contributed to the childhood obesity epidemic. The IBM (body mass index) is a collected weight and height measurements of children who are overweight by eating fast food and junk food.They can run down to the local corner tore and grab chips and a coke for a meal which can lead to unhealthy results later. Studies have shown, that junk foods can lead to certain illness and diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, fatigue and even different types of cancers. Can relate to the serious disease, type II diabetes too well. My father and my late husband was diagnosed with the disease. Watched both my father and my husband gorg e on junk foods and unhealthy foods, then go give themselves insulin shots. I never understood the irony of that concept.Overtime, high levels of sugar and carbohydrates in junk food can lead to type II diabetes. Type II diabetes occurs when your pancreas makes little or no insulin, which help keeps your blood sugar level in the right range for your body. Having type II diabetes can potentially lead to other health risks if the blood sugar level gets too high and too often. High blood sugar levels can also have serious effects on your blood vessels by thinning the lining of them. Believe it or not, thinning blood vessels can lead to heart attacks and stoke in people.One of the main reasons that some men have erectile dysfunction is because the thin lining that the blood vessels and could be an early sign of something more to come. Because junk food doesn't contain the protein or complex carbohydrates that your body needs to maintain consistent blood sugar levels, your blood sugar le vels will drop suddenly soon after eating. You'll crave sugar and likely end up eating more junk food. Over time, this stress damages your body's ability to use the insulin secreted by your pancreas.A healthy diet can help maintain your body's insulin sensitivity. You may wonder if you have to give up all fast food once you've been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Common sense says that fast food is not likely to be on the preferred foods list for people with diabetes. A typical fast food breakfast can put you at or over your daily limit for fat, cholesterol, and carbohydrates. There are, better choices you can make to get the nutrition you need and take advantage of fast food's convenience. First of all, fast food doesn't have to mean eating the fatty offerings.Planning ahead is the key. Many fast food chains now feature healthier choices to eat and these are the restaurants you want to go to grab a quick and fast healthy meal. Doesn't seem like high blood pressure and diabetes go h and and hand. High blood pressure is also one of the leading cause and major risks of heart attacks and strokes. Fast food contains unhealthy amounts of sodium and fat, which can negatively affect blood pressure. About 90 percent of Americans eat too much sodium, according to the Centers for Disease Control.It's estimated that Americans eat on average 3,300 milliards of sodium each day, which is more than the recommended intake of 2,300 milliards, according to the CDC. Roughly a quarter of the sodium you eat comes from restaurant foods, estimates the CDC. Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against blood vessel walls. The heart pumps blood into the arteries (blood vessels) which carry the blood throughout the body. High blood pressure, also called hypertension, means the pressure in your arteries is above the normal range. In most cases, no one knows what causes high blood pressure.What you eat can affect your blood pressure. Controlling your sodium intake is particularly c ritical as you get older, since blood pressure increases naturally with age. The risk of high blood pressure more than doubles once you reach age 35 and over. A single high fat, fast food could meal have a negative effect on blood pressure, according to a study published in â€Å"The Journal of Nutrition† in April 2007. In the study, healthy participants et two fast food meals containing 42 grams of fat on separate occasions, or two low-fat, non-fast food meals.The high fat, fast food meals caused blood pressure to rise and the heart to beat faster, compared the group who ate a low-fat meal. This data supports evidence that excess fat, particular saturated fat, contributes to sustained high blood pressure, according to the study. As you can see, national studies show how junk food can really be a negative substance to the body, no matter how good the taste.. Have you ever notice that you tired and fatigue, but you're getting plenty of est. every night, could junk food make yo u lazy or does being lazy make you eat junk food.Let's find out which one is more than other. A new study finds eating too much junk food doesn't only make you fat, it may also make you mentally slower or less motivated. At least that seems to be true in lab rats. New research from UCLA points found that eating sugary, processed, and high-fat foods can actually cause tiredness, a lack of motivation and decreased performance, according to a study published in the April 10 issue of Physiology & Behavior. In a study, thirty-two female rats were placed on one of two diets for six months.The first was a standard rat's diet of unprocessed foods like ground corn and fish meal. The second was made up of highly processed foods that included substantially more sugar, similar to a human junk food diet. After three months, the 16 rats on the junk food diet became much fatter than the others and they got lazier too. As part of the study, the rats were given a task in which they were required to press a lever to receive a food or water reward. The rats on the junk food diet demonstrated impaired performance, taking longer breaks than the lean rats before returning to the task.In a 30-minute session, the overweight rats took areas that were nearly twice as long as the lean ones. After six months, the rats' diets were switched, and the overweight rats were given the more nutritious diet for nine days. This change, however, didn't help reduce their weight or improve their responses. The reverse was also true: Placing the lean rats on the junk food diet for nine days didn't increase their weight noticeably or result in any reduction in their motivation on the lever task.These findings suggest that a pattern of consuming junk food, not just the occasional binge, is responsible for obesity and cognitive impairments. Have you heard of the term: you are what you eat? Well a person that eats fast food and foods that are high in fat and sugar tends to have a higher risk of contractin g bowel cancer. Although those high levels fast foods. Even though cancer us usually caused by genetic damage that happens inside an individual cell. There are so many different types of cancer that one can have like, skin cancer, blood cancers, colon cancer and even infectious cancer diseases such as AIDS.Some cancer can be contributed to high levels of fat in diets and unhealthy meals. Cancer is caused by a number factors, some of which we can control, and mom we cannot. One of the uncontrollable factors is the presence of gene mutations. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (APPC) recently filed suit against seven major restaurants and fast-food chains in the State Of California. McDonald's, Burger King, Chick-fill-A, Chili's, Applause's, Outback Steakhouse and T. G. I. Friday's. The reason for the suit?These companies are knowingly serving food containing carcinogens without a health warning to the consumer. The APPC commissioned an independent laboratory to test gr illed chicken products from California outlets of all seven chains. Pulp (one of a group of carcinogenic compounds called heterocyclic amines) was found in every grilled chicken sample provided for testing. Heterocyclic amines were added to the list of known carcinogens in 2005 and Pulp specifically has been on the California governor's list of chemicals known to cause cancer for more than a decade. Grilled chicken can cause cancer and consumers deserve to know that this supposedly healthy product is actually just as bad for them as high-fat fried chicken,† says APPC President Neal Bernard, MD. â€Å"Even a grilled chicken salad increases the risk of breast cancer, prostate cancer and other forms of his lethal disease. McDonald's, Burger King and Wend's were accused in a lawsuit of selling chicken they know contains a chemical that can cause cancer even in small amounts. McDonald's, the world's biggest restaurant company, and the other dining chains were sued in a state court in Hartford, Connecticut.The complaint, filed by Washington based Cancer Project on behalf of two Connecticut residents, seeking a class action lawsuit on the behalf of people who bought or ate the grilled chicken from October 2006. It's time to consider that the only way fast-food restaurants will start sharing our growing concern for healthier eating choices is if we stop going. It's time to seriously consider the risk to ourselves and our children, and weigh those risks against the â€Å"convenience† being offered by fast food. We have other options.Fast food is not the only choice for busy parents. If you have a busy life and can't believe there are other option Fast food is relatively cheap, comparing with traditional food. It may cost as low as a few dollars with no service charges or tips at all. It is highly accessible, which many of those fast food restaurants open 24 hours a day 7 says a week with no prior reservation required, and is ready to serve as soon as when people have just finished their orders. People have the choice of to dine in, take away or even drive through for their meals.These advantages, which fit and match the city life style seamlessly, make fast food so attractive and irreplaceable. However, as the raising awareness of people's health in recent days, fast food has been accused as one of the major harms to a healthy life. Fast food, usually serves with oversized hamburgers and fries, contains excessive fat, both trans-fat and non-trans fat, causing serious illnesses such as obesity and earth diseases, and beverages, like cream soda and coke, contains overdosed sweetener, is one of the major reasons causing diabetic.Moreover, preservatives and flavor enhancers mixed into those frozen ingredients would significantly decrease the nutrition value of the meals. In conclusion, fast food is definitely quick, cheap and highly accessible. It is always ready on the fly, and seems to be a very good and simple option when people hope to squeeze their packed schedules for some time. However, people might mistakenly overlook the quality of food, in particular ingredients and nutrition facts, and jeopardize and risk their health.

Duchamp’s Nude Ladies, Sexual Organs And `Morbid` Double Aesthetic Standards

Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) was a French artist whose ideas and works had a phenomenal influence on modern art forms. Though Duchamp’s work, ideas, and associations have been linked notably to Dadaism and also to Surrealism, his works could be considered to be very peculiar, and thus defies specific or typical categorisations. Art had a strong influence in Duchamp’s upbringing. His maternal grandfather, Emile Nicolle, was a painter and engraver and Duchamp was exposed to his works from infancy. Two of his senior brothers were also artists – Jacques Villon (1875-1963) who was a painter and a printmaker, and Raymond Duchamp-Villon (1876-1918), who was a sculptor. After schooling at the Lycee Corneille in Rouen, France, for seven years (aged 17), Duchamp decided to be an artist though he had showed impressive academic acumen in mathematics. Duchamp was influenced by various art movements. His early paintings while he schooled at Lycee Corneille were more aligned towards Post-Impressionism, Fauvism and Cubism. Some of these works were drawings and watercolour paintings that showed his sister, Suzanne, in different poses. The work of Odilon Redon, a symbolist painter, also influenced Duchamp during his early years of painting. Though Redon’s works were not overtly unacademic, they were quite individualistic. Between 1904 to 1905 when Duchamp was studying at the Academie Julian, he drew and sold humorous cartoons that combined visual and verbal puns to create effect. Also, his association with his eldest brother’s (Jacques Villon) discussion group – the Puteaux Group – may have influenced the Cubist styles that featured in works like Coffee Mill (1911) and Portrait of Chess Players (1911). Read this – Puns in the Importance The Cubic depictions of overlapping frames and the use of multiple perspective featured in these paintings of Duchamp. The first work of Duchamp that caused a major stir and controversy in the art world was his painting – Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (1912). It could be said to be the fist in a series of artworks that caused ‘explosive’ sentiments about his works – some of admiration and some of abhorrence. The painting depicted a mechanistic nude figure in motion. Cubic influences of fragmentation and synthesis featured prominently in this painting. Duchamp had first presented the painting for exhibition at the Cubist Salon des Independants in France but had to withdraw it, as he was not prepared to change the title of the painting as demanded by the jurists of the exhibition. The following year in 1913, the ‘Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2’ was featured in the Armory Show in New York City where is caused much controversy and became the focus of the exhibition. The New York Herald described it as a â€Å"cyclone in a shingle factory†. (â€Å"Encyclopedia Britannica†, http://www. britannica. com/eb/topic-172862/Marcel-Duchamp) The ‘success’ in New York precipitated more exhibitions and works there and it was in New York that he became associated with Dadaism. Dadaism as an art form or movement, sort to present a radical way of liberating the individual from the confines of logic and reason. Hence, â€Å"Dada was spontaneous, contradictory and paradoxical; revolting against traditional social and artistic values. † (â€Å"Hsiu-Li Kuo†: 8) Duchamp himself, through his associations with Dadaism defined it as â€Å"the nonconformist spirit which has existed in every century, every period since man is man†. (quoted in Dada and Surrealism, 11) In pushing the boundaries of art beyond orthodoxy, Duchamp invented ‘ready-made art’. This entailed the use or presentation of everyday objects as a designation of art. Materials like wood, cardboard, nails, wire, paper, etc, were put together or assembled into sculptures. A typical example is Duchamp’s ‘Disturbed Balance’. The level of unconventionalism depicted in Duchamp’s work could be said to represent a ‘mockery’ of art. To Duchamp, the â€Å"significance of art was revealed in the act of making it, and this act should be able to critically challenge the existing value system. â€Å"Hsiu-Li Kuo†: 8) According to the Encyclopedia Britannica: â€Å"His irreverence for conventional aesthetic standards led him to devise his famous ready-mades and heralded an artistic revolution. † (http://www. britannica. com/eb/topic-172862/Marcel-Duchamp) Based on his invented ‘ready-made art’ Duchamp came up ‘ Bicycle Wheel’ in 1913. This ready-made art featured a bicycle wheel that had been mounted on a stool. In 1914, Duchamp produced another ready made art – the ‘Bottle Rack’ – a signed bottle drying rack, and in 1915, he produced ‘Prelude to a Broken Arm’. (â€Å"Calvin Tomkins†) Perhaps, the ready-made art that shocked the art world the most was ‘Fountain’ produced in 1917. The ‘Fountain’ was a urinal presented as an artwork, with a signed pseudonym, R. Mutt. (â€Å"Calvin Tomkins†) This work was rejected from being exhibited by the Society of Independent Artists causing Duchamp to resign from its board. The exhibition committee had held that the ‘Fountain’ was not an art work hence their decision not to allow it to be exhibited. Evidently, Duchamp’s concept of art kept causing uproars due to the unconventionalism that had been a notable with his work since the ‘Nude Descending a Staircase, No. ’. However, the fact that He did not particularly associate himself with a particular art form even if he ‘borrowed’ from it portrays the level of individualism that typified his work. Duchamp was for instance noted to detest the seriousness of the Cubists and thus abstained from contributi ng to theoretical discussions on Cubism in his brother’s study group – the Puteaux Group. (â€Å"Calvin Tomkins†) The lack of an overt ‘seriousness’ or reverence with which he approached art is perhaps summed up in his assertion about art – â€Å"I’m afraid I’m an agnostic when it comes to art. I don’t believe in it with all the mystical trimmings. As a drug it’s probably very useful for many people, very sedative, but as a religion it’s not even as good as God. † (Quoted in The World of Marcel Duchamp, 10) Duchamp’s early association with cartooning and the use of visual and verbal puns could also be seen in works that he did in later life. This was perhaps most evident in his 1920s artistic collaborations with Man Ray. Working under the pseudonym Rrose Selavy, Duchamp posed in a series of photographs where he dressed as a woman. These photographs were taken by his collaborator, Man Ray. The pseudonym – Rrose Selavy – played on language to carry across an erotic message. Rrose Selavy sounded like Eros, c'est la vie in French which translated to English means Eros, such is life. After the 1920s, Duchamp became less interested in art in general and concentrated on chess though he was noted to be involved in staging of exhibitions with the Surrealists in the 1940s. In1942 for example, his exhibition at the First Papers of Surrealism show in New York, included a woven three dimensional web in a spaces within rooms. Duchamp’s last artwork was ‘Given: 1 The Waterfall, 2. The Illuminating Gas’. This artwork could only be viewed by peeping through a hole in a wooden door, and it depicted a naked woman lying on her back with her legs spread apart and her face covered. The woman holds a gas lamp in one hand with a landscape in the background. This work was done secretly and was its exhibition came as a surprise to the art world as Duchamp was thought to have retired. (â€Å"Calvin Tomkins†) It may be argued that this last work of Duchamp not only characterised him as one of the most famous modern artists, but also a daring one who pushed the philosophical and aesthetic boundaries of art beyond conventional orthodox conceptions.