Modern America was shaped

Modern America was born in the 1920s Looking back at the 1920s we see the birth of modern America. Women started dressing differently, the invention of household cleaning tools were emerging, and athletes were becoming heroes of many. The Jazz Age also came about In the 1 920s and influenced different types of music we have today such as: Rock and Roll, Hip- Hop, and R&B. Although, many new inventions and social changes were coming about, nothing/no one shaped modern America more than Henry Ford and his impact on the automobiles, the media, and the start of a public education.Henry Ford, American Industrialist, greatly influenced production. wages, working conditions, and daily life. With his development of the assembly line, a technique used for mass production, Henry Ford made cars faster and cheaper than ever before. He allowed both wealthy and non-wealthy to afford cars. Today, thanks to automobiles, people are able to live farther from their jobs and the demand for car parts or necessities has fueled the economy by an increase of Jobs and businesses, In addition to this, automobiles have played a key role in the development of many cities, motels, and highway systems of today.Having not only an Impact on automobiles, Ford also provided better working conditions and wages for his workers. Doubling wages to $5 a day, reducing workdays from 9 hours to 8, and giving the weekends off, was how Henry Ford Influenced working conditions of today. Along with automobiles, the media also helped shaped modern America. The Inventions of the radio and sound films have greatly influenced America's lifestyle of today. The radio as well as sound films are probably one of the most used inventions of all time. When the radio first came about it was used by many as a leisurely thing.People would listen to music, religious sermons, news, and sports games. Today the radio is used by almost everyone; it is used in cars, stores, houses, and parties, it Is a form of entertainment. The radio has influenced many other electronic devices of today such as the iPod. Sound films are another popular invention that we still use today. With the help of sound films, movie theaters arose and shaped the American tradition of going out to the movies. Today there are about 18,000 movie theaters in the U. S that help fuel our economy and keep America entertain with new releases every week.In addition to leisurely Inventions, public education became more important in the 1920s. Before the 1920s a public education was not the maln concern of people as It Is today. In the 1920s public education became more important when people realized that, â€Å"Mastery of mathematics and language could spell the difference between a low-paying Job, unskilled Job and a higher paying position as an office worker. † (p. )This idea has greatly prospered over the years and led to many public schools and unlversltles of today. In the 1900s the percentage of students graduating rom high sc hool was 6. and tripled during the 1920s. Today children, teens, and adults continue to go to school to receive an education and a higher paying Job. During the 1920s the theory of evolution also became known during the scopes trial t Of2 ata scnool In lennessee. I nls Idea 0T evolutlon vs. rellglon Is stlll around today ana continues to be challenged. It is safe to say that the 1920s affected America greatly and continues to do so today. The invention of the automobile still affects modern America today and has greatly impacted the economy financially and socially.It has defined America's structure and changed the way we do things. The radio and sound films have changed the lifestyles of many and have become an American custom. Its businesses continue to grow today and are thriving. Education has also become very important to America and plays as key to architecture, health, and politics of today. Education has challenged many ideas and influences the way we think, positively.

Discussing the Front Piece of the Leviathan

Salah Rushdy POLI 357 Discussing the front piece of the leviathan The Latin quote on the book cover translates into â€Å"There is no power on earth to be compared to him†. According to my own interpretation, in this front piece of Thomas Hobbes leviathan, the sea monster is presented as the absolute sovereign. He rules the people that form his being. All the people of that state are looking up to him in the image as to express their submission and acceptance of the social contract to be ruled. In the front piece, the leviathan holds two objects in his hand which are a crosier and a sword. A crosier in Christianity is a symbol of the governing office of the bishop or apostle. Here, one can assume that what Hobbes meant by the leviathan holding a crosier is that the absolute sovereign of the state will be in charge of the spiritual side of the state to prevent any disagreements or religious wars. One has to understand as well that the era by which Thomas Hobbes was living in witnessed a century worth of religious warfare and the book itself was written during the English civil war. So a lot of his philosophy regarding the state of nature and social contract was a solution to the war existed at his era. The sword resembles power by which all has to abide or else will be obligated to face the consequences raised by breaking the social contract which will be perceived as a threat to the stability of the sovereignty as a whole.

Evaluation of factors determining the setting of wages for British Essay

Evaluation of factors determining the setting of wages for British expatriates - Essay Example Human resources can be termed as a critical concern to all managers. It is a crucial resource that exploits all the other resources to produce the desired result in the organization. Thus, the accurate placement of employees is a key element of any organization, which makes the firm to have a competitive edge. The application of the human resource function in multinational companies becomes controversial due to the need to formulate human resource guidelines and structures. The dissimilarity among the nations where branch is located complicates the process of hiring both local and expatriate employees (Baruch 2002, p. 239). This paper will discuss the factors that a human resource director should consider while setting wages for local and expatriate employees working in a multinational corporation. Evaluation of factors to be considered in setting the wages for British expatriate managers and engineers Many Multinational Companies desire to send their current employees to work in a d ifferent nation for a number of factors. First, the citizens in the new nation may not have the knowledge and expertise required in the job. In addition, the expatriate, being a present employee of the organization, has vast skills of the company for organizing all the company’s businesses in the new branch with the mother company (Thite 2009, p. 269). Thirdly, it helps offer the supervisors and senior management with the image needed to be a key decision maker in this global economy. As a human resource director, determining the wages to be paid to expatriates is not an easy task as it incorporates many factors to be considered (Baruch (2002, p. 240). As Caligiuri (2007, p. 294) notes, the calculation of the wages of any expatriate need a careful thought of many factors before one arrives at a wage structure that incorporates all factors. As the human resource of this British Multinational, I will distinguish between the internal and external influences of these wage determi nation strategies. The internal determinants include the rank of employee in the organization, the stage of the family development and the labour category of the employee. Regarding the first factor, I will develop expatriates wages with regard to their ranks in the organization. For instance, I would set different wages for senior managers, middle-level managers and supervisors. Secondly, I would develop a good strategy to categorise wages based on the marital status of the expatriate. I would also consider the nationality of the employee in developing different remuneration structures. The background of the expatriate will also be a significant factor in setting the wages; it would help me come up with the appropriate wage structures. I would highly insist that the young and new expatriates be remunerated like employees of the host country. The highly skilled and experienced expatriates can be remunerated with add-ons, adjustments and incentives, as well as bonuses to their wages. The characteristics of the work assigned can also be the foundation for the wage setting. On this regard, those given complex tasks should earn higher wages than those whose duties are not complex (Friedman 2009, p. 252). The social factors are also remarkable in influencing the wages to be paid to expatriates; these include the society and present discussion structures, for instance, state or industry-broad, local or company. The latter can often tremendously affect the degree of pay diversity and distinct kinds of remuneration and appraisal are satisfactory. Regarding expatriate remuneration, the origin of the company is not likely to have an impact on the wage calculation (Van Der Heijden, 2009 p. 831). Globalization makes

Life Expectancy differs with the Environment Essay

Life Expectancy differs with the Environment - Essay Example In this respect, it means that individual life expectancies should be obtained in order to obtain their mean or average. Life expectancy of an individual can be established at birth when the age is 0 and assuming that the person is going to live for a given numer of years, ?. The life expectancy of an individual who will leave for ? years depend on the life probability at time t for the individual surviving from the 0 age to age ? (the highest age attained). Therefore, life expectancy at birth is a function of the age at that time and the highest age likely to be attained, which is illustrated as ; where L ­e is the life expectancy at a particular age, x, and it is a function of O age and time, t. Based on the fact that life expectancy of an individual is a function of current age and the time he/she is likely to leave, the formula for life expectancy of an individual is as follows; In the above function, is the lifetable probability that the individual in question at time t will s urvive from birth to age a, and attain the highest possible age, ?. This is the formula for calculating the life expectancy of an individual at birth to a given age and possible the highest attained age. As will become apparent at the end of this study, life expectancy differs across different countries. At the same time, there is a clear difference between life expectancy levels of both males and females5. The differences in these two instances are caused by the same factors. The most significant factors are herewith discussed6. One of the most cited factors are differences in socioeconomic status. Most countries and individuals in these countries are at different economic stages. Some are more economically disadvantaged than others. It has been found... As will become apparent at the end of this study, life expectancy differs across different countries. At the same time, there is a clear difference between life expectancy levels of both males and females . The differences in these two instances are caused by the same factors. The most significant factors are herewith discussed . One of the most cited factors are differences in socioeconomic status.   Most countries and individuals in these countries are at different economic stages. Some are more economically disadvantaged than others. It has been found that individuals or countries that have historically been economically disadvantaged, exhibited by such factors as unequal access to educational and occupational opportunity have   lower life expectancies .   This is because disadvantages often mean that these individuals cannot access important opportunities, such as employer-based health insurance and thus high mortality rates. Lastly, economically challenged countries or ind ividuals have   prevalence of diseases a factor which increases mortality rates reducing life expectancy. In most studies, it has also become quite apparent that there is a clear variation in life expectancy arising from gender differences. As will be seen in subsequent representations, at every age, females have a higher life expectancy level than males. The biological explanation is founded on the premise that females have a physiological advantage that translates to higher longevity. Each of these explanations has evidence supporting their positions.

The Family dynamic has impact on child development Research Paper - 1

The Family dynamic has impact on child development - Research Paper Example It is my theory that the family dynamic does affect child development and the factors that affect the family dynamic the most are financial security of a family, birth order, family structure, parental involvement and parental employment. These factors all seem to play a major role in Child development. FINANCIAL SECURITY: The first article that will be examined is the Canadian Council on Learning (2007) Report on the State of Early Childhood Learning and pertains to family income and how it impacts the family dynamic & childhood learning. Income is not as important as is developing countries a significant discrepancy was demonstrated in this study. Firstly in a study, 19% of children from low-income families were considered to have delayed (Academic) development compared to 14% of other children. Moreover the paper also demonstrated that 28% of young learners from low-income families demonstrated delayed development in Number Knowledge Assessment as opposed to 14% of other (Non-low income) families. Although this study mainly focused on the effect of poverty on young families and what this poverty would mean for young learners probably the most important point that was excluded is the current economic climate of North America. This article was published in 2007 when the economy wa s performing much better than it is right now and ultimately one could postulate that the declining economic condition in the global economy means that more and more young learners are going to be negatively affected and ultimately we may see sliding results on number knowledge assessment and delayed (academic) development. BIRTH ORDER: The next main article that will be covered is Vercilo’s (2010) article which postulated that birth order affects the characteristics and physiological development of Children. Ultimately there are three schools of though on this mater insofar as some psychologist believe that birth order has no effect, modest effect or a great deal of effect on a

Coaching and mentoring for leadership and Management; Evaluative Essay

Coaching and mentoring for leadership and Management; Evaluative report - The role of coaching and mentoring in organisational development and knowledge management - Essay Example ing those individual who tend to be more experienced in a particular field along with relatively less knowledgeable individuals who do not have much knowledge in the similar field (National College for School Leadership, 2010). The main task of a manager is to get results through people as well as other resources. Since most of the industries are becoming more reliant upon knowledge as well as service, people as well as their skill and performance are a top managerial concern. Companies possess greater interest in the capabilities of their employees that they endeavour to develop by means of formal and on-the-job training and progressive job assignments. They further expect managers as well as supervisors to develop employee capacity by means of coaching and mentoring. The main objective of the report is to identify whether or not the adoption of coaching and mentoring system can be utilised in order to train the staffs required to occupy the highly skilled positions that organisations might find it increasingly difficult to fill in the near future. The report will further attempt at offering numerous definitions regarding what coaching and mentoring are and how they must be utilised as part of the organisations knowledge management system. The costs as well as benefits associated to the organisation in introducing such systems will also be highlighted. Furthermore, the report’s objective will be to outline how organisations can deliver high quality coaching and mentoring to the employees and the key performance indicators that organisations can utilise to judge the ongoing success of such a system. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) views mentoring as a development of abilities as well as potentials in the role to be played by an individual rather than developing their performance and skills. It can be comprehended as specific learning along with development interference that can be utilised in a wide way however in a specific situation

Film Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Film Review - Essay Example t and only movie I have seen to have shown the mindless portrayal of blonde people, only to have the blonde actually prove herself to all her detractors. This movie in effect, empowers the blondes to break out of the mold and show the world that the color of one’s hair does not define intellect or personality. Legally Blonde was first shown in cinemas in 2001 and starred Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods, the titular blonde. Based on the novel by Amanda Brown, Director Robert Luketic helmed the picture that also starred Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Victor Garber, Jennifer Coolidge, Holland Taylor, and Ali Larter. In the movie, Witherspoon plays Elle Woods, a typical blonde who seems to be an airhead but proves to be knowledgeable about more than just fashion once given a chance to shine in the courtroom. Although shot along the vein of Clueless, another dumb blonde triumphs movie, Legally Blonde stands alone in its genre as being the first movie of its kind to have pushed its female lead to succeed in order to prove a point to those who had been putting her down because of her hair color and its accompanying stigma. With the resurgence of female empowerment movies in our present day, it is important to note that Legally Blonde was not just trying to deliver the basic point that anything a man can do, a woman can do better. Instead, this film has proven to be intelligent in its own right. Not once does the film ever veer into sexual joke territory. Although the plot is ridiculous to most people, the comedic timing of those acting in the film is simply divine. Not a single joke ever fell flat nor lost its meaning. The movie dares to tackle serious issues relating to the trials and tribulations of people who do not fit into a certain social mold or opinion. Elle is the embodiment of every woman who has found herself in such a situation. Finding herself on the receiving end of bullying at Harvard Law School, Elle manages to teach a lesson along her way to discovering

Assignment AdvanceTopicManagement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Assignment AdvanceTopicManagement - Essay Example According, employees interest such as legal right has been compromised to customer and employers interest. Based on three journals regarding CSR, it carries out investigation on this common CSR misbehaviour problems by Chinese manufacturers, analyzes reason, current development and solution for this matter. Fiedman & Lee (2013) introduce that agency theory is a concept that explains why behavior or decisions by member of group, it provides a platform to explain relationship between agency and shareholders. It suggests that management of firms is undertaken on behalf of shareholder can improve the operation efficiency and increase profitability. In another hand, they explain that agency theory can be used to explain the failure CSR. The first article is about the Harmonious Society and its relations on Chinese CSR by Kok 2009. The second article is about Remaking the World of Chinese Labour and it deals with the key problems in the Chinese manufacturing industry by (Friedman and Lee 2013). The third article is Agency theory and it reviews the business problems in China. This article is a Strategic CSR or stakeholder theory emphasizes the balance among varieties of stakeholders, emphasizes the balance between social impact and economic impact during CSR implementation (Kok,2009). The article is a Comparative literature reviews on CSR development, exploration, to explore that how Harmonious Society will contribute to increasing CSR engagement. However, as employee, customer and employer etc are located in different positions. It is accompanying with power and interest conflicts, which is hard to be balanced (Martin Samy, 2010). The paper concluded that Hu Jintaos harmonious society is unlikely to promote CSR in China. Despite the harmonious society created by Chine President, the country still continues to violate labor laws which are leading to poor working conditions. This is with regard to the large number of manufacturing

Treasure of the Sierra Madre Book versus Film Essay

Treasure of the Sierra Madre Book versus Film - Essay Example This makes the storyline more interesting as it captures the viewers’ attention more. Many screen adaptations and ancillary elements are also culled for the movie (Huston). The elements which are regarded as the factors which led to the oppression of the native Mexicans, establishes and provides a persuasive and unifying theme that is more intense than it is in the novel. This gives an interesting and enriching counterpoint to the story of the main and central characters. The novel depicts a more forceful, unpretentious and sophisticated political awareness than the film. This is because the film mainly focuses on the adventures and forgets about the finer details of the situation. The novel is also easier and more interesting because of Traven’s writing style. He is very straight forward and keen on giving details. This makes the novel to be more convincing and moving than the movie. The detailed portrayal of the Mexican society seemed to be accurate in the novel than in the movie. The parallel between the Mexican oil field workers and the gold prospectors gets shown more clearly in the book. Also in the book one gets an understanding how they came to exist. In the movie’s train robbery scene, the bandits led by Hat, attack the train but they were fought off by the passengers including Howard, Curtin and Dobbs. In the book, Howard, Dobbs and Curtin never met Hat until where he said, â€Å"I don’t have to show you any badges† (Traven 205). When McCormick cheated Curtin and Dobbs of their wages they confronted him. In the novel he pays them without a fight after he discovered that they had intentions to beat him up if he failed to pay up. In the movie they attacked and beat him up before taking the amount of money that he owed them (Huston). This proved that they were honest men as they could have taken whole the money that McCormick had. This scene was the one that made the movie more eventful and interesting.

Allegory of the Cave Essay Example for Free

Allegory of the Cave Essay

Symbolism of Education in Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

Symbolism of Education in Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi Pinocchio is a childrens story, and the primary purpose of most childrens stories are to be taking some kind of educational responsibility. For many of us the story will exist only in our mind and imagination, nevertheless it is helpful, when reading a childrens story, to have in mind the practical problems faced by the producers or the characters trying to interpret the story. Certainly the plot of Pinocchio is exciting and full of education. We would not, of course, expect education to be the dominating theme of a childrens story which seeks to explore how a child like Pinnochio grows up rather than merely to excite the spectator. Yet some educational scenarios are important dramatically in Pinocchio and it is not artificially contrived. Thus it seems that Carlo Collodi, the author of Pinocchio tend to offer clues towards his ideas of the puzzling aspect of childrens educational processes. It is brought about by the natural behaviour of characters, and often by the unpredictability of Pinocchio. This essay is going to explore whether Carlo Collodi wants to promote or critique educational processes through Pinocchio. The story begins with master Anthony finds a piece of wood which is able to speak, laugh and cry, then he gives this piece of magic wood to his friend Old Joe, who always longs for a piece of wood that can be turned to a fabulous puppet. It is noticeable here, that why Collodi has to introduce two men relate to Pinocchio as he could have had only Old Joe himself alone finds the wood and uses the piece of wood to create Pinocchio? And if we look back to the moment when Master Anthony encounters Old Joe, these two old fellows even fights twice for some funny reasons! Perhaps Collodi would like to remind us of the impact of family background can have on a child: Pinocchio is born in a single parent family. Being parents is a job hard enough, but I reckon doing it alone just doubles the difficulty. The phenomenon of single parent family is not as common in Collodis time as it is in our time now, but possibly Collodi might have already noticed the effect a single parent family may bring o n a child. Then the story continues with sort of chaos, when the puppet Pinocchio runs away from home after he is just completed and given a name. This naughty (or even worse rebellious) personality of Pinocchio marks his fortune and the relative education he is going to accept as the story unfolds. Unlike any infant or new born kids that symbolize pureness and naivety, Pinocchio seems to be very distinctive because of his wildness and naughtiness. The scenario of Pinocchio runs away also leads to poor Old Joes life in jail for a few days, yet it is worth noticing that Old Joe does not condemn Pinocchio for his wildness. Perhaps it is because the miserable experience Pinocchio has while Old Joe is in jail distracts his attention. It is what normally happens when parents see their children get hurt even it is their own accounts. Possibly Collodi is not criticizing if it is right or wrong, yet according to Old Joes attitude towards Pinocchio more or less indicate Collodis acquiesce i n parent spoiling their children. Pinocchios naughtiness and wildness leads his father Old Joe to think about letting Pinocchio go to school. But Old Joe makes up his mind too soon, in despite of considering the possibility and availability. At this point Collodi shows his mastery of creating touching and emotional scenario: Poor Old Joe sells his cape to buy Pinocchio an alphabet book. As a father, no doubt that he wishes his child could learn to be a sensible and amenable child. Nevertheless it appears this kind of orthodox education process does not work on Pinocchio. Thus one may argue, is going to school the only way to teach children to behave properly and be sensible? It is reasonable to speculate that Collodis answer is likely to be: No! Because in fact even until the end of the story when Pinocchio eventually becomes a real boy and behaves appropriately, school is something never has any obvious positive effect on him.   Though going to school is a daily requirement in his life, however he is in constant m ental battle whether to go or not. There is just too much temptation ahead of him, such as puppet play, the land of toy, etc. In order to watch the puppet play he sells his book which costs his father the only cape and he takes the risk of not becoming a real boy to go to the land of toy, where he and his ‘friend Candle-Wick turned donkeys. His desire of becoming a real boy is so strong, yet his remarks are always inconsistent with what he promises. In a way Pinocchio stands for ordinary immature children, who need proper guide and appropriate help from the adults. However the images of ‘adults are pretty grim throughout the whole story, apart from his father Old Joe, the talking cricket and the Fairy. Considering those adults from the beginning: the careless police who puts Old Joe into jail; the puppeteer Swallowfire almost makes Pinocchio a great contribution to his dinner (but he could be positive as he shows his mercy by giving Pinocchio 5 gold coins); the fox and cat swindles Pinocchios money, etc. I do not think Collodi is being cynical but surely he shows his concerns of the social environment, in which children grow up. What shall we expect from children when they are growing up in a society which is full of dishonesty, lies and incredibility? Furthermore, it is funny that we hardly see any glimpse of Old Joe as the action progresses. As Pinocchios only family, Old Joe is bound to teach Pinocchio things like how t o tell right from wrong or how to avoid mixing with wrong people. Whereas until Old Joe joins the reunions with Pinocchio inside fish, he scarcely appears and his role is ironically fulfilled by the talking cricket and the Fairy. In this crucial stage of growing up, it is quite a pity there is hardly any trace of Old Joe. Despite his wildness and rebelliousness, Pinocchio does not seem to be a precocious child and he gives an impression of genuine simplicity and naivety, particularly when it looks as if everything is so convincible to him. Nevertheless there is one thing is highly noticeable, that is he is unable to tell any lie. Of course it is the way the Fairy helps him to always tell the truth and learn to be honest, but is it not too cruel for a child, when he must be totally honest otherwise his nose gets longer as punishment? It seems the world have no mercy on him, because his destiny is to be an honest man. When the story comes to the end, Pinocchio finally becomes a real virtuous boy, but the price for it, I am afraid, is a bit too high, as he makes his dream come true by overcoming too many troubles like a yoke which is too heavy for a child to bear. Moreover, even though he is merely a puppet, he has the human traits. He shows true warmth and love towards his father Old Joe and the Fairy. In conclusion, of course the whole story of Pinocchio is rather an example of the kind of presence of mind with which educational stories are wont to amaze the children and thus successfully becoming a real boy is a tribute to Pinocchios tireless effort to behave properly and learn to be a virtuous boy, however the progress of his grow-up is riveting. Yet with the examples of traditional education processes presented by the author in the story, and his occasional critiques on the society in which children are brought up, the confrontation remains as we dare not assert if Carlo Collodi himself is promoting or criticizing educational processes. Thus it is reasonable to argue, that the balance between promoting and criticizing educational processes is well maintained by Collodi. Bibliography Collodi, C., (1996). The Adventure of Pinocchio. trans. A.L.Lucas. Oxford: Oxford University Press Stewart Steinberg, S., (2007). The Pinocchio Effect: on making Italians 1860 1920. Chicago: University of Chicago Press Zipes, J.D., (2007). When dreams came true: classical fairy tales and their tradition. New York: Routledge

Essay --

Factory Farming: Mass Production or According to the Organic Consumers Association, in 1970 there were approximately 900,000 family farms in the United States; by 1997 there were only 139,000 family farms. This number is continually decreasing by the year. Why is this a problem? Factory farms promote abusive practices in order to maximize production at minimal cost at the expense of the environment, the community, and even our personal health. They house thousands of animals and inject them with hormones in order to maximize their growth and food output. The techniques being used are inhumane and are used thousands of times a day. According to the Organic Consumers Association, two out of every three animal products in stores come from factory farms. Factory farms dominate food production throughout the country. Animals most commonly consumed that require large-scale farming practices are cows, chickens and pigs. The methods of farming are not only bad for the animals themselves, but it’s affecting the meat we put into our bodies, and is therefore affecting one’s health. Factory farms ultimately have a negative effect on the health of both the animal and the consumer of the animal product. In today’s traditional factory farms, beef cattle are being raised in cruel living environments. In an article written by Berry Estabrook titled Feedlots vs Pastures: Two Very Different Ways to Fatten Beef Cattle, published in â€Å"The Atlantic† written December 28th, 2011 says that most of Americas beef comes from factory farms. They are crammed by the thousands into crowded, confined dirt lots. The cattle have hardly any room to move around and are forced to live in piles of their own excrement. Due to the many cows, they are deprived from ve... ...hat can be made towards stopping factory farming corporations from taking over. One of those ways could be to discovering how animal products are made. You can research companies that you commonly buy to make educating purchasing decisions when buying items from a grocery store. If you decide to buy an animal product, look up if the animals were forced to live in confined environments or if they were raised in open fields in their natural habitats. We can also spread the word to others. Talk to them about the problems with factory farming and the issues and encourage them to take action. This can range to anyone from a small audience like your family, to a much larger audience like a local school. By taking these small steps you will impact animals that are being abused, your personal health, the health of loved ones, and the health of others throughout the country.

Is yawning contagious :: essays research papers

Is Yawning Contagious? Yawning is contagious. You can "catch" a yawn. I had to stifle many yawns as I read and wrote about this phenomenon. Yawning is probably programmed into us as stated by Dr. William Broughton, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at the University of S. Alabama Knollwood Hospital. Yawning is not contagious from species to species. You will not see a baboon for instance yawn when he sees a human yawn. If a chimpanzee or baboon yawns another will follow. And vise versa. The only animal that had an affect on the human response was the yawn of the lion. Observing people with their mouth wide open does not produce a yawn, but show a person with his or her mouth wide open and covered with a hand has a yawning effect. This is a visual response. Most people will tell you that a good yawn gives them great satisfaction. Especially when it involves stretching the body along with the facial muscles. A stifled yawn is unsatisfactory and leaves us incomplete and irritated. Not everyone exposed to yawning, whether visually or simply reading about it will be affected. A persons personality enters into the equation. People who are sensitive to another persons dilemma or problem are most likely to be contagious yawners. The level of empathy for others seems to be directly related. Yet excessive yawning may be a warning to a disease such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's disease. This study also suggests that to yawn is to be aware of oneself. We can identify ourselves in a mirror for instance. An infant does not have that ability so the success of a contagious yawn is small. I observed older people in a nursing home. Many cannot identify themselves in the mirror. Yawning to them created no reaction. They had a rather "flat" effect. People with schizophrenic tendencies also had no reaction to visual yawning. Schizophrenia being one of many psychotic disorders that make it impossible to deal in reality, withdrawal, delusions. A study on the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) showed the higher the SPQ score the lower number of contagious yawns. So the question remains.... Why do we yawn? The answer seems to lie in our brains. Our behavior and state of mind will make us more vulnerable to catching a yawn.

Interracial Relationships Essay -- Interracial Couples Marriage

Why do people stare at interracial couples and feel betrayed by the person of the same race? How must the couple feel when people stare at them everywhere they go? In June of 1958, a white man and a half African-American and half American-Indian woman, both native citizens of Virginia, wed in South America. Not long after the marriage the couple returned back to the state of Virginia where they decided to establish a happy family. In October of 1958 the couple received an indictment charge, stating that the marriage had violated Virginia’s law of no interracial marriages. The couple was found guilty and was sentenced to one year in jail; however, the judge saw no harm in the marriage. If the couple would leave the state of Virginia, and not come back until another twenty-five years, he would suspend the sentence. Interracial marriages go through trials and tribulations. Family acceptance is important to interracial relationships. One way a couple can tell if their family approves of the wedding is by how many people attend the ceremony. â€Å"Of these ceremonies, whether religious or civil, the gatherings were small with only a few close relatives or friends attending† (Porterfield 103). Family members, who do not agree with interracial relationships, will show how they feel by not attending the wedding. Close family members will support the bride and groom but not the marriage itself. After the marriage, the newly weds will sense tension at one another’s family gatherings (Porterfield 105). A newlywed couple needs to feel a substantial amount of acceptance because marriage is one of the biggest steps in one’s life, and newlyweds need to know they have not made the wrong decision. The family of one’s partner can cau... ...cult to do in society. Society figures that once a person has a drop of black in them, they are considered black not white. As part of life in this society, they must learn to deal with conflict such as racism directed towards them from the individuals, who need to fit everyone into a particular category (Rosenblatt, Karis, Powell 193). If a parent was to check the white box and the appearance of their child seems to be blacker than white, it can be seen as a problem. In conclusion, society needs to consider the feelings of interracial couples. A person may not agree with interracial relationships, but they do not need to discriminate against them. Even today in the year 2002, society has its problems with interracial relationships. Through education and the way couples raise their children, the problem or problems facing interracial couples will diminish.

Jack Kevorkian

I think that one of the biggest miscarriages of Justice that I witnessed in my lifetime was that of Dr. Jack Kevorkian receiving a 10 to 25 year sentence for wanting to help end the suffering of a helpless human-being. Dubbed â€Å"Dr. Death† by the media frenzy that followed the actions of the controversial physician, he received this sentence for helping to end the life of 52 year old Thomas Youk. who was fighting a hopeless battle with Lou Gehrig's disease. Dr.Kevorkian set up his â€Å"suicide machine† In order for the person to knowllngly and voluntarily disperse the chemical concoction that would end the suffering of the victim his family. Although Dr. Kevorkian assisted In the death of 35 people, It was the Thomas Youk case that brought national attention and thus the wrath of the criminal Justice system of the state of Michigan. Similar to phsyclan-sulclde Is the Issue of both voluntary and Involuntary active euthanasia. Both of these Involve carrying out the de ath of another human being, who either knowingly or unknowllngly makes that decision.What makes the case of Dr. Kevorkian different is that he met with all of his patients and recorded the fact that they were coherent and able to make their own decision about the ending their life. I am guessing that when the Thomas Youk story aired on 60 Minutes in 1 998, it brought national scutiny and a mockery of the laws in the eyes of the Michigan criminal justice system. I wanted to better understand this concept the particulars about this case and what the overwhelming public opinion on the topic was nationally and within the state of Michigan.Thomas Young had been suffering for years with Lou Gehrig's diesease, a slow killing disease that eventually takes al dignity away from the individual. In recent months he had been losing major parts of his lung functions and been choking on his own salive. This man, together with his family, made a conscious decision to end the suffering that came wit h this terrible disease. Many members of his family spoke in support of Dr. Kevorkian at the trial and during the sentencing producure. Youk's brother Terry said † Kevorkian was the only person with the â€Å"courage and fortitude to defy those indequate and unjust laws. According to the article nearly 2 to 1 Michigan residents supported the law banning this type of action by a physican an this Is pretty close to the national level regarding this topic. According to our text â€Å"A survey of 988 terminally ill patients found that 60. % said they they supported euthanasian or physician-assisted suicide In general, but only 10. 6% reported seriously considering it for themselves† (Rathus, p. 397) I think this goes to show that despite the fact that many people support It, they are reluctant to pursue It for many types of reasons.I Imagine that one of the most popular reasons Is linked to relglous faith and how that would be viewed In the eyes of God. I guess everyone ha s their personal opinion on the matter and Ilkewlse should have their personal choice on how to die with dignity without putting a further emotional and financial burden upon their family. I never understood that as a society we can be considered humane by putting an animal to death if it is dealing with a terminal disease, but when this same type of thought comes to people, the attitude drastically changes.Dr. Kevorkian served 8 years of this sentence for what I view as a total injustice Schiavo case, where she was left on life support for many years, causing a legal battle between her family and her husband have brought many â€Å"end of life† issue to the forefront. I am an advocated for personal choice on many matters and I certainly would have to agree with Dr. Kevorkian, Thomas Youk, and the many other people he elped to die with dignity. I think that the major mistake that Dr.Kevorkain made was his willingness to bring this topic to national media. Although this brough t attention to the topic at hand, it also aggravated the authorities of the state where her performed the physician-assisted suicide. Another aspect of the Youk case that makes it unique is that Dr. Kevorkain actually started the â€Å"suicide machine† because Youk could not physically do it because of his illness. This minor detail made the case more Justifiable in a legal manner since he actually initiated the chemicals to flow in to Youk's body. Jack Kevorkian Jack Sovereign assisted patients with suicide using a euthanasia device he invented named the â€Å"Damnation†, named after the word â€Å"Atonally' meaning â€Å"The study of death†. Another device DRP. Sovereign used was the â€Å"Immersion† (mercy machine), invented by Thomas Yuk, a patient of DRP. Asseveration's.The way the Damnation machine works is three canisters are mounted to the device in which one is full of a saline solution, another is full of a barbiturate called sodium developmental, and the last canister is full of a combination of potassium chloride, which stops the earth and pandemonium bromide, a muscle relaxed that prevents spasms during the dying process. An assistant will begin the saline solution flow, and then the patient will deliver the barbiturates by way of a switch, button, or pulling a string.And last, some kind of trigger or timer will deliver the lethal dose of the last canister. Death is painless and occurs within 2 minutes. The Immersion is a basic device containing a canister of carbon monoxide attached too face mask with a tube. A valve or an improvised handle, depending on the patient's disability, is released or turned to low the flow of the gas. This method took about 10 minutes and patients were encouraged to take sedatives before, to calm and relax them.Jack Sovereign had no regrets about assisting his patients; he Just wished he would have done It earlier In his life so he wouldn't have spent the last few years of his life in prison. DRP. Sovereign had no intentions of ever assisting patients again with suicide though because in his words, It wasn't worth â€Å"suffering† In prison. He felt It was a waste of his time because no other doctors were brave enough to stand with him In his beliefs.

The Standards of Professionals

While reflecting on the moral questions posed by the statement ‘when a reporter makes a mistake in a magazine article, you can run a correction; but when a health care worker makes a mistake, someone can die’, it is relevant to delve into the idea that some professionals should be held to a higher standard than others. This is not a correct ideology in assuming that morality is more important at any one time or place or by one person over another.Just as the previous reflection on morality revealed the importance of individual sovereignty, the application of this should be noted in that this is the only universal ethic that can and should be placed on all individuals. The strength of this position of moral sovereignty is that each person has a humanistic right and responsibility to follow their ethical reasoning without outside interference. A health care worker is morally responsible for caring for patients in a competent way, but a reporter is just as much affected, if not more so, by individual decision making.Reporters may feel threatened by superiors to report inaccurate news and in doing so this could have intense ramifications for dispensing disinformation. This can lead to character assassination for a political candidate, as one example. The disadvantages of looking at this model, is that as stated previously, the responsibility of a reporter can be held to a higher degree of standards, due to the fact that health care workers are not coerced into saving lives, they simply must. In contrast, reporters must weigh in their journalistic pieces on outside influence, such as their superiors and their audience.Individual sovereignty is still a standard that can be used universally, as the true illustration of a moral and rational actor is the ethical actions taken without influence or coercion in any profession. This means thinking and acting individually with only the altruistic motives of those around this actor in mind. As well, individuals i n all professions can reap the benefits of their right to sovereignty and successful actions while the price to pay, individually, is the effects of their errors. References Joseph Joel., (2003) Business Ethics: An Introduction. New York, Blackwell Publishers.

Tituba, Black Witch of Salem: Oppression and Feminism

It is because of this that the most prominent themes of this novel to me are hat of oppression and feminism, which I find to be constantly tied together throughout the novel. Tuba, as well as many other female characters in this book are constantly pushed around and abused simply because they are women. It seems like anytime a women in this novel tries to defend her rights as a human being they are punished for it In the most extreme ways. Tuba's mother Bean Is the first example we see of this type of oppression.As I have previously stated Tuba is a child of rape and it is because of this that Bean has always been distant from her daughter. Bean was a beautiful woman and this tatty gets her unwanted attention from her owner who attempts to rape her. Bean defends herself and fights him off and it is because of this that she is hung and killed. This is where you truly see how being a woman during this time seemed to be a curse because of how little respect and compassion women received from men. Bean Is treated Like she has no rights at all.She is treated Like a piece of property who is supposed to do what she is ordered to do no matter what it is. Simply because Bean decided to defend her rights not only as a woman, but as a human being she is executed. This is one of the reasons why I feel feminism and oppression are constantly linked in this novel, Bean tries to defend herself from not only being raped but from being raped in front of her daughter and has to pay the ultimate price for It. The second a woman tries to stand up for herself she is shutdown Immediately and refused her right to a voice, freedom, and respect. N page 6 Tuba states, â€Å"My mother sorely regretted that I was not a boy. It seemed to her that a women's fate was even more painful than a man's. † When you read this novel it is unfortunate how true that statement proves to be to Tuba and several there women. Women of this time lived in constant fear of the men in their world. When T uba meets John Indian, the spirit of her mother and Mama Way warn her not to fall In love with him or any other man. On page 14 Mama Way tells Tuba, â€Å"Men do not love. They possess. They subjugate. † It is in that moment when you see the first hint of feminism in the book.Mama Way and Bean see that a woman does not need a man and that Tuba should have pride in her independence. To me they seem to act as Tuba's conscience, as if she knows what they are saying to be true but she cannot help but fall into temptation. If only Tuba had listened her future men around them. They give up their own independence for the companionship of a man, which is what Tuba does with John Indian. The men in this novel control the women and the women live in fear of not only the men themselves, but of the men leaving them.There is no sense of power for women without a man by their side. An example of this is Elizabeth Paris' constant fear of her abusive and terrible husband, Samuel Par's. On pa ge 38 Elizabeth shows her fear in a conversation with Tuba, are most fortunate if you believe that a husband can be a pleasing companion ND if touching his hand does not send shivers up your spine. ‘ There she stopped as if she had said too much. † It is this fear that bonds Tuba and Elizabeth giving Tuba her first real bond with a woman other than her mother or Mama Way, which in turn gives her a small sense of comfort.The most prominent character for feminism and oppression in this book is Hester Preen, Tuba's cellmate and the star of the book The Scarlet Letter. I find that Hester is a symbol for feminism and a reminder for Tuba that she does not need John Indian, nor any other man for that matter, to make her strong. Hester is a strong minder of the hardships that women have to face and the consequences of not abiding by the rules that the men have set up for them. She rejects all the ideas that are forced upon women in society, even how women are named.During Hester and Tuba's discussion it dawns on Tuba, â€Å"She was yet another case of a victim being branded guilty. Are women condemned to such a fate in this world? † (page 98). Hester Preen stands as a symbol for feminist thought, hope, and equality for women. The Salem Witch Trials are responsible for many innocent women's deaths. During these trials so many women were wrongfully accused of practicing witchcraft and hey were never even given the chance to defend themselves. All it took was one doubt and the women would be executed.The Salem witch trials took away all the rights of the women accused and stripped them of their voice. Oppression and feminism are constantly butting heads throughout this book. When feminism begins to rise there always seems to be a man or an obstacle waiting to tear it down again. A woman during this time was forbidden from fighting the restraints that were constantly against them. Women were property and had no real rights in the eyes of a man, especial ly a black woman. Tuba faces many struggles during her time. Everything seems to work against her and force her into a world of darkness, tragedy, and despair.Unfortunately Tuba was one of many women who lived in a world ruled by man's law. There was no choice other than to abide by those laws or pay the price with their lives. Unfortunately throughout this novel that is what happened to almost every woman, starting with Bean, then Hester, then the women of the witch trials, and finally Tuba herself. Feminist rights Just simply did not exist in this time but it is the fearless women like the ones shown in this novel that I believe are the reason women have the rights that they do today.

The Impacts of Economics Crisis in Indonesia

The economic crisis, which hit Indonesia, began in Thailand in June 1997. It rapidly spread, causing stocks to tumble and many Asian currencies to fall, the worst of all the Indonesian Rupiah. Indonesia†s worsening economic situation is mainly due to the sharp depreciation of Rupiah against the US dollar. Being out of our government†s control, the Rupiah keeps on sliding further and at its lowest point touched a level of Rp. 17,000 against the US dollar. Realizing that the economy will not recover overnight, it takes time and serious effort to bring back the economy on the right track. In order to cover the budget deficit, the Indonesian government asked the assistance from the International Monetary Fund. As for the revival of the economic crisis, Indonesia needs massive aid. The crisis has caused the banking sector to collapse dramatically. The large number of banks in my country might be one of the main problems as there are more than 265 units. The recent economic crisis has put more burdens on the banking sector so the government decided to close down 16 ailing private banks without a full guarantee on the return of their deposit funds. This has forced depositors to draw their savings and moved to foreign and government banks which resulted in a big rush for several private banks. Due to this, The Central Bank has to print new money for injection and bailing out the insolvent banks caused by the rush. By printing money, the government unintentionally prompted the outbreak of hyperinflation. Panicked by this, the Central Bank decided to raise interest rates. As a result, companies that were highly dependent on loans are forced to close down. Many Indonesian factories are facing financial difficulties due to the huge and extensive overseas debts and a tremendous dependence on importing raw material and supplies. We know that most factories have been too dependent on imports and their owners much too attracted to foreign capital without hedging. They are facing problems with loan repayment due to the drastic depreciation of the Rupiah. Even medium and small enterprises are facing the same problem. They have difficulty in running their businesses since they could not afford to pay the high interest rate. Meanwhile, the economy continues to deteriorate with the annual inflation rate once rising more than 100%. A lot of factories are closing down and the number of unemployed people increase. The increasing numbers of companies that went bankrupt and the factories, which are closing down, have intensified the quantity of jobless people and unemployment. To anticipate the long crisis, most companies have to restructure their management systems. It is important in the crisis era for companies to achieve efficiency and stick to market oriented operation. For efficiency, companies cannot avoid but reducing the operation cost and working hours. This resulted in the huge number of lay-off and cutting down number of employees. According to prediction, this crisis has caused at least 20 million people to become jobless, 20% of the school children are at serious risk of dropping out of school as a result of shrinking family incomes, soaring unemployment, and hyperinflation. Along with the severe drought, which threatened to push as many as 50 million people into poverty, increasing unemployment, hunger and poverty has also been created. This serious problem has incited crime, chaos, and social unrest. Poor people can no longer afford to buy staple food and basic essential commodities. Even subsidies could no longer assist with the people becoming more easily tempted and incited to commit crime. Stealing, robbing, looting, destroying, and burning could no longer be avoided. The tragedy was on May 14, 1998, when the mass riots started in Jakarta. The angry mobs started to loot, destroy and burn down shops, supermarkets, cars, housing complexes and even the Chinese minority became the target by being physically assaulted and abused. The reason is because most Chinese dominate the business factor. Direct losses are approximately US$ 909 million. This resulted in a stagnation of the business, transportation and distribution sector since most Chinese have fled the country. This mid-May riot has left a traumatic effect on me. I am deeply grieved that these things should happen to my own country and people. Motivated by this tragedy, I promise that I will contribute with my knowledge to help my country in difficult time like now. My strong commitment is to try to minimize the impact of the economic crisis.

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Literacy Narrative - Essay Example It was only much later that we got our first rudimentary lessons in English language. It was a bit tedious at first, because our entire class of grade schoolers had to learn all the basics of English grammar. The English teacher we had was quite good although admittedly her own diction and intonations were far from being perfect but it was acceptable anyway to us pupils who did not know any better. I can honestly say that the wonderful world beyond my country started to open up with all those lessons in English literature fit for our kiddies’ class. I still can remember how we laughed and giggled on some of the strange words and sounds we had to master as we went along in our English classes up to graduating from the elementary. I realized the importance of English proficiency when our batch reached high school. This was the time when we had to learn science, mathematics and biology so we need to learn and be proficient at a certain level of the English language to pass our ex aminations. At that time, there was not much pressure to really master the intricacies of English because we had not yet seen the direct relationship of English mastery to our future careers. In this regard, it can be safely said that all my English learning happened while I was still in my country of birth and therefore, English was spoken only occasionally and only when really necessary. If memory serves me right, it was probably in my sophomore or junior year when the importance of learning the English language first came into sharp focus. We were asked to do a literature essay in English this time and I had a hard time finishing my assignment. It must be borne in mind that our writing assignment need to be finished in an hour’s time or less and previously, I had been overly dependent on using an English dictionary to put my thought into paper. My other classmates had already turned in their papers and I was not yet even halfway through. I was already panicked at that poin t and my thoughts were a total jumble; one thing I can say is that I always have a lot of creative ideas on my mind. A chief difficulty was putting these thoughts down to a written paper that is understandable and connects to a reader. My high school teacher was standing nearby, all ready to get my paper once I finished. This was because I was the only one still left inside the classroom since I must admit honestly that I always struggled with my English since coming into contact with this lingua franca. The time was up for me and I had wanted to still write some more since I knew my paper was not yet good enough. It was at that point in my life when I realized and resolved to vastly improve my English language skills so I can get ahead in my career and with my life. At that time, my English language skills in terms of reading and writing were terrible and I really struggled. When I entered college, there were plenty of opportunities to improve my English skill in terms of speaking, reading, writing and most importantly, comprehension. In particular, the facility with English was vastly improved with my constant viewing of television shows that were broadcast in English without any native language sub-titles at the bottom of the screen. I knew right then that my English will improve someday but I decided to read a lot of books, magazines and newspapers printed in English precisely for this purpose. Secondly, I had what can be called a

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Sociology Women and Crime - Essay Example The organization will use all potential tools that fit with its core values in order to integrate essential socio-economic, ethnic, and cultural ideals so that the total program will meet the highest standard in all interpersonal relationship with its benefactors, stakeholders, volunteers, beneficiaries, and the public as a whole. For the successful implementation of the program, roles will be assigned to individuals according to the area of their expertise. Comprehensive research on the area of its concern will be of major priority as it is essential for the program to gather accurate information and knowledge. In order to assess the effectiveness or impact of the program, it is necessary to collect feedbacks from the benefited groups. Questionnaire, personal interviews, and telephone interviews are the easiest and simplest methods of getting feedback from the target group. There will be central and regional offices to avail full time assistance through which public can share their complaints and

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Market Article Analysis - Essay Example The growth of mobile marketing upon which the Sorofman is stressing upon in his article can be substantiated by the following facts; There are 5x many cell phones in the world than PCs (Conner, 2013) 91% of adults keep their smart-phones within arm’s reach (Conner, 2013) By the end of 2013, there will be more mobile connected devices than there are people on earth (Brenner, 2013) The above mentioned facts authenticate the notion that mobile marketing has the tendency to emerge as the most powerful communication tool; with significant reach. It can be credited with innovative ways to connect with consumers and in giving a sales boost. A research conducted by Forrester Research in January 2013, depicts the increasing number of mobile commerce sales via smart-phones in American market (Siwicki,  2013). The author has further explained certain ‘ground rules’ to carry out an effective mobile marketing plan. He explains that bombarding smart-phone users with marketing content, by using location-based marketing, as soon as they enter a particular vicinity might be interpreted as ‘creepy’ and might be just simply ignored. ... Not to mention, that it might also dilute a brand’s image. This requires an integrated and holistic approach towards the marketing plan. Neil Richardson suggests that by adopting mobile marketing the marcomm activity would more effective, if the business’s website is accessible through a mobile phone. Because the consumers would not have to wait to log into their PCs or they would not have to take out specific time to go through a business website (Richardson, 2010) The businesses have to properly segment their potential market and identify the target audience, who should be specifically targeted. The nature of the content has to be carved out keeping in mind a particular set of target audience. Such a strategy has to be embedded in the overall communication plan of a brand. If the brands rely too heavily on discharging messages across fragmented media without adopting a properly devised strategy, then it might result have adverse affects such as; Wastage of time, costs , labor Misinterpretation of message Reaching wrong audience Reaching the right audience but failure to convey the message in the right way (Lieb, 2012) Sorofman has rightly said in his article that a combination of tools should be used rather than being â€Å"mono-focused†. This argument can be further supported by what Rachael Pashqua suggests in his book named ‘Mobile Marketing: An Hour a Day’ to integrate SMS in the overall marketing strategy of the firm (Pashqua & Elkin, 2013). This does not imply that the traditional mediums should be entirely ignored. The idea is to find a strategic fit between the traditional medium and the new mobile tools. The fundamentals of both the mediums should be well understood and its effects on customer response

Strategic management examination - case study of UK supermarkets and Essay

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Summary and response 1315 - Assignment Example Joe Posnanski expresses a sharp criticism of the well known baseball players such as Willie Mays who had received a lot of public recognition due to their exemplary performance on the pitch. In his opinion, such athletes are not genuine and their great performance is a result of the use of steroids which enhances their performance. Cheating in his opinion amounts to any form of divergence to the officially allowed rules of the game which some writers and athletes seem to ignore. The cheerleading aspect that Jennie Yabroff is against is that of the view that cheerleaders are generally people with low moral standards. The view has been in existence due to the conduct of some of the cheerleaders. The cheerleaders need to disapprove this general belief by being good examples and role models to the society. The argument is found in the second page in the last paragraph. Sara Maratta is of the opinion that sporting activities are still dominated by men. The view is supported in his book by sidelining of Andrea Kremer a football reported who has witnessed criticism for her comments on men’s game. Female fans do not receive a fair treatment from their male counterparts who tend to sideline them in their fan base despite having sacrificed to attend the

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Anti Tobacco and No-Smoking Essay When you smoke or use smokeless tobacco, your risk of oral cancer goes through the roof. In fact, tobacco use accounts for most oral cancers. Smoking cigarettes, cigars, or pipes; using chewing tobacco; and dipping snuff are all linked to oral cancer. Heavy smokers who use tobacco for a long time are most at risk. The risk increases for tobacco users who drink alcohol heavily. Even the slickest of tobacco executives cant deny the statistics. The bottom lineis that three out of four oral cancers occur in people who use alcohol or tobacco, or both alcohol and tobacco. 1 Tobacco in any form is the enemy of good dental health. This is serious business–dont wait. Schedule a checkup and cleaning with the dentist or hygienist. It’s not an option—dental examinations that include a screening for oral cancer save lives. Oral cancer screening that is part of a dental checkup catches oral cancer early. As with most cancers, the earlier oral cancer is detected, the better a person’s chances for survival! 2 The laundry list of problems associated with smokeless tobacco is long enough—bad breath, stained teeth, loss of taste and smell, mouth (canker) sores, failure of dental implants, and oral cancer. Yet smoking and chewing tobacco are also the main suspects in gum recession, bone loss, and tooth loss associated with periodontal (gum) disease. Smokers who smoke less than a half a pack of cigarettes per day are almost three times more likely than nonsmokers to have periodontitis, according to a study by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 3 Now that we have your full attention, we’d like you to check the warning signs of oral disease: * Bleeding gums during brushing * Red, swollen, or tender gums Gums that have pulled away from the teeth * Persistent bad breath * Pus between the teeth and gums * Loose or separating teeth * A change in the way your teeth fit together when you bite4 The theme of Dental Hygiene Month 2012 is Keep them healthy. Keep them clean. It highlights easy ways to fit first-rate oral health into an active and busy life. If you are thinking about quitting smokeless tobacco or smoking, you’ve actually taken a step toward keeping your mouth clean and healthy by reading this article! If you want to have a confidential chat with a trained professional about taking tobacco out of the picture,  you’re only a click away. You are young, strong, and able! Don’t give  smokeless tobacco  or cigarettes an inch, or they will take your smile. Celebrate Dental Hygiene Month or take action for healthy teeth and gums at any time by making your appointment for a check | Images of some people suffering from different diseases caused due to eating tobacco or smoking – | | | | | | | Stop eating tobacco and smoking†¦. Thank you

My Room Essay Example for Free

My Room Essay My room is my one and only domain where I carry out various leisure activities such as studying, watching films and television, listen to music, talk on the phone, surf the internet, etc. My room is painted all pink; also, most of the things in my room are all pink. As someone enters my room, the first thing that he or she will see is a cream dresser with a stylish design coated on it. In it, lie all my clothes and personal belongings. Then on the other side of my room, a black plasma television resided on the wall which I enjoy watching my favorite movies, and television shows. Opposite of that, is my full size bed which has pink covers. Also right behind it is the room window, which has sparkly and pink curtains. Next to my bed I have a nightstand where my stereo is on top of it; also on one of the drawers I have my favorite book. On the wall next to my bed, I have a huge sign that says PRINCESS, and around it are pictures from my sweet fifteen. Across from my bed I have my studying and relaxing area where I have a pink desk with my laptop and printer. Right next to it I have a beanbag chair with reading books around it, and thats where I relax, read, and study. Then I have a walk-in closet where I have lots of shoes, clothes, school supplies, and personal belongings. My room is my absolute favorite room in the house, thats where I study and relax. I enjoy my room, and I enjoy doing pretty much anything as long as its in my room!

Challenges to the LEGO Group

Challenges to the LEGO Group In the recent times worldwide economy has become highly volatile and was vulnerable to a multitude issues. One such example is the latest financial crisis. Such volatility creates a variety of challenges to small and large enterprises around the globe. One of the biggest challenges for manufacturing companies is to deal with rapidly increasing globalization and competition. The solutions require the development of agile and rapid supply networks in order to cut costs and meet demand. Producers are becoming more aware of supply chain management. This awareness shifts the focus from internal logistics efficiency to the external network of relationships between various parties in the supply chain. The well-known Danish toy manufacturer LEGO has not been insusceptible to these changes. LEGO has faced major challenges, which required drastic changes within the organization. This included a transformation of the companys supply chain management system. LEGO Group had to deal with probably the most significant financial crisis since the company was founded in 1932. LEGOs crisis was not clearly visible from the outside. In fact LEGO had maintained brand recognition. This earned them the title Toy of the Century from the British Association of Toy Retailers and Fortune magazine. LEGO was the fourth largest toy manufacturer in the word and had sold US$1.35 billion worth of toys in 2004. In spite of this success, the company was losing money since 1998. LEGO had various internal operational issues. This included a complex and ineffective supply chain, which at one stage consisted of 11,000 contractors. In an attempt to address this problem, in 2004 LEGO board of directors set a goal t o cut 20 percent of logistic costs. This resulted in the risky decision to outsource a major part of the production to Flextronics, a Singaporean electronics manufacturing services provider. LEGO also established a single distribution center in the Czech Republic operated by DHL. (M. M. Larsen, T. Pedersen, D. Slepniov 2010; K. Oliver, E. Samakh, P. Heckmann 2007; J. A. Cooke 2009) Such a risky decision involved a long-term relationship with Flextronics that was not without challenges. In this research paper an overview of challenges and solutions of the case company LEGO Group will be presented. The main focus will be on LEGOs supply chain management system transformation, which was a major step towards success. The following research questions will serve as guidelines for this paper: What challenges did LEGO Group face and what decisions were made to address those problems? How did Supply Chain Management transformation helped to deal with these issues? In this paper we will first explore the Supply Chain Management (SCM) concepts. Next the case company LEGO Group will be introduced. We will then present overview of the challenges that LEGO Group has faced. The focus of this paper will be the SCM decisions that were made to deal with these problems. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT CONCEPT The globalization is increasing competition and forming new conditions for conducting business. This requires companies worldwide to rapidly respond to their customers demands and develop products. These companies must also apply information technologies in supply chain collaboration (J. S. Arlbjà ¸rn et al. 2006) Such conditions increased the importance of logistics and SCM role within organizations as it can become a major competitive advantage. Commonly, the major improvements in logistical functions may not be needed within the organization itself. It may be more beneficial to analyze the organizations supply chain. This involves various interdependent parties. SCM co-operation is gaining in major strategic importance and usually includes such characteristics: co-operating is based on end user requirements, long term co-operation and high trust between actors in the supply chains or networks, shared risks and benefits, cross coordination on various levels between companies, shared visions and similar company cultures. The advantage of such close co-operation is a more transparent supply chain. This can lead to reduced lead-time, lower uncertainty, optimization of stocks and higher capacity utilization. (T. Skjoett-Larsen 2000) The concept of SCM often represents the broader view of logistics as its main function is to ensure the smooth flow of materials from suppliers to organization and then out to customers through the operations within the organization (D. Waters 2003). The purpose of SCM can be described as to remove redundancies and communication barriers through coordination, monitoring and control functions (D. Power 2005). The supply chain usually consists of different organizations and processes, which are aimed to ensure the smooth flow of materials from the initial supplier to the end customer. In many cases, manufacturers get their materials from a large number of suppliers and sell to different customers, which is the case with LEGO Group. In figure 1, you can see an example of the supply chain around a manufacturer. Materials move from several tiers of suppliers though organization to several tiers of customers, such as wholesalers, retailers and end users. Figure 1: Supply chain of manufacturer (D. Waters 2003, 9) The toy industry is one of the oldest creative industries in the word. However, C. Y. Wong, J. S. Arlbjà ¸rnand J. Johansen in their study named Supply chain management practices in toy supply chains(2005) state that such creative business is very seasonal and volatile with strongly fluctuating demands, very short and specified selling windows as well as short product life cycles. Moreover, the toy industry can be described as intensely competitive on pricing and innovation, where retailers often start competing with their suppliers. The authors conclude that most retailers and manufacturers use a push business model. This model includes low utilization of technology and information sharing as well as slow implementation of supply chain initiatives. INTRODUCTION TO THE CASE COMPANY: LEGO GROUP LEGO can be certainly defined as one of the most famous brands in the toy industry. The Danish companys toys are enjoyed worldwide by children and adults alike, who use thousands of different pieces to construct buildings, robots and other toy. In 1932, Ole Kirk Christiansen, a Danish carpenter founded a company named LEGO (Danish words Leg and Godt, meaning play well). Originally a woodworking business for furniture, LEGO began producing childrens toys in 1934. The company presents itself by stating: It is LEGO philosophy that good play enriches a childs life and its subsequent adulthood. With this in mind, the LEGO Group has developed and marketed a wide range of products, all founded on the same basic philosophy of learning and developing through play. In figure 2 the core building blocks of LEGO Group are presented. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; LEGO Group, Corporate Communications 2009) Figure 2: The LEGO Company (LEGO Group 2010) Pursuing such a philosophy, LEGO has grown tremendously since its establishment. By 2009 the company was the worlds fifth largest toy manufacturer in terms of sale with 290 Million US Dollars in revenues and approximately 7000 employees around the globe. The LEGO brick which is possibly the best known toy was first introduced and patented in 1958. It has since then represented the core success and image of this company. With two just bricks there are 24 different combinations and with six there are 915 million possibilities. This enables limitless creativity. As previously stated, before LEGO brick was named as Toy of the century by Fortune magazine and later by British Association of Toy Retailers as well. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; J. Tidd, J. Bessant 2009) http://cache.lego.com/r/aboutus/-/media/About%20Us/Media%20Assets%20Library/Logos%20Bricks%20and%20Generic%20images/ts.20120125T101709.2x4brick_red.jpg Picture 1: Lego brick (source lego.com) Segmented product categories include: Pre-school products for the youngest children, who had not started the school yet, includes LEGO DUPLO products. Creative building sets or buckets of LEGO bricks without instructions. Play themes products the products with particular stories, such as airports, racing tracks and hospitals, including LEGO City line and BIONICLE. Licensed products related to movies and books, such Harry Potter, Star Wars and Indiana Jones. MINDSTORM NXT programmable robot kit. LEGO education products that are developed for educational purposes. LEGO Games new product line started in 2009 for board games. LEGO operates in over 130 countries worldwide. The companys largest market in the U.S., with together Australia, New Zealand and UK accounted for 30 percent of revenue in 2007. Despite constant challenges and growing popularity of consumer electronics, LEGO is continuing to expand. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010) Crisis and solutions In the late 1990s, the company started to have difficulties. This resulted in a major crisis and almost ended in bankruptcy by 2004. LEGO was losing huge sums of money every day, estimated at economic losses of 375.4 thousand U.S. dollars per day since 1998. When sales dropped 40 percent in 2004, it was clear that radical changes had to take place. There are many speculations, why such a well-known and previously successful company started running on tremendous losses. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010) One possible reason was increasing competition in their main product area. This was disruptive at its nature. One such example is the Canadian company Megabloks. This company offers a wide range of building toys at a highly competitive price. Also, the increasing popularity of computer games reduced the demand for traditional toys. Another possible factor was the over diversification of product line as LEGO moved into more areas like theme parks ,apparel, clothing, television and even computer games. Such diversification was a result of, as the company claims, a loss of confidence in their core product the Lego brick. The increased complexity of product portfolio confused not just the customers, but employees as well. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; J. Tidd, J. Bessant 2009; K. Oliver et al. 2007) It was mentioned before that LEGO GROUP had around 11,000 suppliers, which was twice the number that Boeing used to build its aircraft. Such inefficiency and inflexibility was soon recognized and attention was directed to the supply chain, which was 10 years out of date. Moreover, low quality customer service and product availability decreased the value of companys franchise. Jà ¸rgen Vig Knudstorp, newly appointed CEO, stated: From my perspective, the supply chain is a companys circulation system. You have to fix it to keep the blood flowing. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; K. Oliver et al. 2007) It was acknowledged that solving problems related to global supply chain could build a strong base for major changes in the organization. This could also be the needed step forward towards cost-effectiveness and an improved business model. However, such big changes are not easy to implement and presented significant challenges for LEGO Group Transformation of supply chain management LEGO Group decided to optimize their supply chain in order to deal with the most significant crisis in the companys history. LEGO realized that it was dragging behind retail giants such as Wal-Mart and Carrefour. These companies had invested huge amounts of recourses into sophisticated and efficient supply chain management systems. LEGO Group started losing the competition to companies, which optimized their costs and provided just-in-time services to its customers (K. Oliver et al. 2007). Transforming such a gigantic and complex supply chain as well as removing the inefficiencies was a very challenging goal. Keep in mind that by 2004 company had around 7000 employees working mainly in two factories and three packaging centers, located in different countries. Further issues and changes within different areas of supply chain management will be discussed, including product development, distribution and manufacturing. Product development Product development and innovation was extremely important for LEGO as it presented the core of what this company was really about. Changes in this field were difficult to implement. This was in part because of its delicate nature and inside resistance from employees. LEGOs development lab called Kitchen was steadily producing new innovative products and ideas. However, management realized that new products were returning less profit and cost more to produce. Developers and designers did not account for production and supply chain issues, in their designs. Consequently, the variety of various components and features as well as product complexity became overwhelming and started to cause major problems in manufacturing and distribution. LEGO bricks and other elements came in more than 100 color tones. LEGO sets became increasingly elaborate with thousands of different figures. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; K. Oliver et al. 2007) Such cost ineffective creativity caused problems like large stocks. This was because of seasonal demand fluctuations and short delivery times. Moreover, large amount of components and products required large investments in molds, while just 30 products generated 80 percent of companys sales. Therefore, LEGO decided to drastically cut down the number of components and features. This reduced costs in the supply chain and created a better opportunity for production outsourcing. Management revised a number of daily solutions in order to cut the costs, simplify production and eliminate inefficiencies. The palette was decreased to around 50 colors. A major reduction in variety of pirates, police officers and other figures was recommended as well. Moreover, resin-sourcing analyzes helped to cut its resin costs in half and reduce supplier number by 80 percent. Simultaneously, LEGO Groups operational team created cost matrixes and revised set of rules concerning creation of new colors, compon ents and ordering of new materials. Such step helped product developers to choose more cost-effective solutions and recognize the limitations. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; K. Oliver et al. 2007) Distribution Another area of LEGOs supply chain that required major improvements and cost reductions was distribution. At that time LEGO served thousands of smaller stores with a great responsibility. This came at a very high price, although those shops accounted just for one third of its revenue. Company had increasing amount of inventory and lost sales, because of multiple-tier inventory system to serve smaller customers from different distribution centers. The redefined distribution policies had to be developed in order to avoid costly small deliveries and labor costs associated with pick-packing in the distribution centers. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; K. Oliver et al. 2007) In order to serve customers in 130 countries around the world, LEGO had 11 warehouses and distribution centers in high-cost countries like Denmark, France, Germany and Switzerland. LEGO also employed 55 transportation providers for inbound and outbound shipments. In order to move its distributions closer to the customer and reduce exploding transportation costs, the company defined clear service policies. This helped to shift the focus to major retail chains. This also provided for more accurate demand forecasts, reduced complexity and certainly the costs of distribution. Furthermore, LEGO Group decided to centralize its distribution by closing five distribution centers in Europe, and creating a single distribution center near Prague in the Check Republic. The country was mainly chosen because of a high availability of skilled low cost labor. LEGO leased large buildings from the commercial realtor ProLogis. LEGO also decided to outsource operations to third-party logistics company D HL supply chain. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; K. Oliver et al. 2007; J. A. Cooke 2009) By 2007 a newly consolidated distribution center was serving all of LEGOs markets except the U.S., where Exel Inc. was responsible for distribution operations. Such changes reduced the complexity of supply chain, simplified the inventory optimization and reduced average distances to the market. This lead to increased customer satisfaction and significantly reduced overall logistics costs. Despite the outsourcing, LEGO maintained close collaboration with its carriers and still makes many decisions. The results of such collaboration are reduced negative effects of market seasonality. Moreover, by applying developed Web-based transportation management system LEGO was able to change the shipment scheduling and improve load consolidation. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; J. A. Cooke 2009) Manufacturing The improved production in the supply chain was probably the most important and complicated step. The challenges came from the way LEGO organized its production facilities and the complexity of manufacturing operations. In some way chaotic production operations resulted in low 70 percent of overall capacity utilization. There were hundreds of independent production units within the facilities that could place their orders in any manner. This was often without balancing supply capabilities, inventory levels and demand needs. Consequently, such fragmented system did not support long-term planning and resulted in high costs and low efficiency. Moreover, the production sites were located in high-cost countries as Denmark, United States and Switzerland, while just 10 percent of production was outsourced to China. Production sites mainly operated according the branding strategy, where, for example, Swiss factories only manufactured DUPLO and Technic products. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; K. Oliver et al. 2007) One of the first steps was to set clear production cycles for machines instead of having them available to produce any element at any time. This approach helped to reduce constant and costly retooling as well as balance production operations. Furthermore, orders were set in the monthly meetings in that way eliminating the number of changeovers (K. Oliver et al. 2007). However, the major decision concerning production operations was to outsource large part of the production to external packaging and manufacturing service providers. One of the reasons was to cut the costs by moving the production from high-cost countries. Another reason was to reduce the number of subcontractors and utilize the economies of scale, having in mind that LEGO was producing about 24 billion bricks per year (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010). Consequently, the production capacity in Denmark was reduced and sites in Korea and Switzerland closed. LEGO Group engaged into cooperation with packaging service suppliers: Sonoco, Greiner, Weldenhammer and 2B Pack. The most risky and complex partnership was made in 2006 with Flextronics, a Singaporean based electronics manufacturer. Several product lines, like Bionicle and Technic was still mainly retained by LEGO, but the higher volume and more simple Duplo and System lines were handed to Flextronics production sites in Hungary, Czech Republic and Mexico. This helped to reduce the distance to customers. However, the relationship was not successful and contract with Flextronics was terminated from January 1, 2009, while LEGO continued with smaller outsourcing contracts. The main reasons for the failure are connected with delicate nature of toy industry and could be described in short (H. B. Dinitzen, D. Bohlbro 2010, 71-72; M. M. Larsen et al. 2010): 65% percent of production had to be done during the third quarter of the year main holiday season. Products have a lifetime of 16-18 month. Sales uncertainty is around 30%. In figure 3, the timeline of LEGO and Flextronics cooperation is presented, including goals and challenges. Despite the failure, LEGO Group has learned a lot from this outsourcing attempt, which had a positive impact in the end. Figure 3: The timeline of LEGO and Flextronics collaboration (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010, 16) In 2008 LEGO started the process of sourcing back the production, while the first factory in the Czech Republic was taken over, followed by Hungarian and Mexican facilities. In Mexico, LEGO Group eventually moved the production to a new plant, which started operating in first quarter of 2009. The final benefits of collaboration were connected mainly with gained experience in various operational fields. It helped to establish new facilities in Mexico and Hungary, while production units were no longer following branded approach, but instead serving its respective markets. Moreover, LEGO significantly improved documentation and standardization of business processes. Standardization resulted in almost halved size of components, from 12,000 in 2004 to 6000 in 2008. This enabled more flexible, efficient and smoothly running supply chain. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010) CONCLUSIONS In the end it can be stated that by taking clearly defined and harsh restructuring strategy, LEGO Group was able to defeat the crisis and become one of the successful and largest toy producers again. This statement can be backed up by financial figures, which indicate that in 2008 and 2009 company reached profit of DKK 315.6 million and 375 million U.S. Dollars, respectively. This was the highest in LEGO Groups history. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010) A significantly restructured supply chain helped to increase the efficiency of major business operations as well as increase the overall customer satisfaction. LEGO managed to reach and, in some levels, even pass its competitors, while still cooperating with biggest retailers in such fields as joint forecasting, inventory management and mass customization. However, such transformations required dealing with many challenges, including terminated cooperation with Flextronics. Nevertheless, it gave LEGO valuable knowledge about outsourcing operations and its inner characteristics. In the end, unsuccessful outsourcing practice resulted in factories in Denmark, Czech Republic, Mexico and Hungary, which gave the needed supply chain flexibility in order to meet the global demands. Improved parts of supply chain such as product development, sourcing, distribution and manufacturing creates a well developed business model that serves as a major competitive advantage. Finally, after successful supply chain transformation, LEGO Group can shift more attention to increasing the satisfaction of its customers by developing well-liked toys for children and adults.

Loves Labours Lost Essay -- Plays Shakespeare Papers

Love's Labour's Lost The Elizabethans thought of it merely as "a wittie and pleasant comedie" ; Samuel Johnson remarked that "all the editors have concurred to censure [it]" ; and William Hazlitt opined, "If we were to part with any of the author's comedies, it should be this." It was not until well into the twentieth century that Love's Labour's Lost really came into its own, and this fact alone may be enough to make a case for it as Shakespeare's most forward-looking play. It is its ending in particular, an unexpectedly grim conclusion in which nothing is actually concluded, that has appealed to modern sensibilities and made Love's Labour's Lost the Shakespeare play for the twentieth century. Trevor Nunn makes this point emphatically in a recent National Theatre production that presents Love's Labour's Lost as a tale of society's passage out of the nineteenth century in the devastation of World War I. Though neither this idea nor any other aspect of his production is entirely novel, it emerges as possi bly the darkest interpretation of the play yet presented, taking the disturbing qualities that have so delighted modern audiences and pressing them to their limits and beyond. Reading the play now, it seems hard to believe that the unusualness of the ending could have gone apparently unnoticed for so long. With the stage set for the usual comedic ending of multiple marriages, the news of the Princess's father's death comes as a complete shock: Marcadà © enters at a moment of such carefree mirth that the Princess playfully chides him, "thou interruptest our merriment" (5.2.712). A moment later, his news is told and the atmosphere of the play has noticeably changed, as Berowne himself acknowledges when he says, "The scene begin... ...ns. Ultimately, Nunn succeeds in making his dark vision of Love's Labour's Lost convincing, and in using the play to make the usual points (the fleeting nature of happiness and happy endings, the necessity of confronting difficult realities, the inevitability of death) with exceptional force. But these triumphs come at the price of two priceless aspects of Shakespeare's ending: its unanticipated overthrow of audience expectations and its startlingly modern open-endedness. Bibliography Gilbert, Miriam. Love's Labour's Lost. Shakespeare in Performance Series. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1993. Holland, Peter. English Shakespeares. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Peter, John. "Growing Pains," Sunday Times, Feb. 2003, p. 19. Woudhuysen, H. R., ed. Love's Labour's Lost. 3rd series. London: The Arden Shakespeare, 1998.