Food Inc, opinion paper Essay

Question 1: Based on your viewing of Food, Inc., how does your view of â€Å"farm-fresh† and other marketing messages that suggest a more organic flow of food products relate to the realities of 21st-century marketing channels for food? The American Marketing Association defines marketing as â€Å"the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large† (https://www.ama.org/AboutAMA/Pages/Definition-of-Marketing.aspx). The marketing mix consists of product, price, place, promotion, which means that a company needs to sell the right product at the right price and in the right place, using the best promotion. Because of all of this, â€Å"farm-fresh† and organic foods must fight in the marketplace against traditionally farmed foods. Looking at the product: what exactly makes a food organic? Organic can mean different things to different people, and even has a different meaning between companies. According to organic.org, the USDA defines organic food as that which is produced with emphasized use of renewable resources, plus conservation of soil and water. Organic food is produced without conventional pesticides, fertilizers made with synthetics or waste, bioengineered, or ionized radiation. â€Å"Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones† (http://www.organic.org/home/faq). A government-approved certifier must inspect farms where organic foods are grown to assure that the farmer follows all USDA rules and meets organic standards. Price is a large factor when most people go grocery shopping, especially during these tough economic times. Many, including myself, can argue that organic or â€Å"farm-fresh† foods are just too expensive to buy on a regular basis, or even at all. Personally, I will buy whichever brand is cheapest, without paying attention to where or how it is produced. According to organic.org, one should consider the following facts when wondering why an organic product might cost more than it’s traditionally grown counterpart: Conventional farmers receive federal subsidies, while organic farmers do not, so the price of organic food reflects the true cost of growing. Environmental cleanups, that we pay for with our tax dollars, is not reflected in conventional food. Organic production is more labor and management intensive. And finally, organic farms do not benefit from the economies of scale that larger, more conventional farmers receive. The placement of organic foods is generally next to conventional foods in most grocery stores. Some stores may have a separate organic section, or the organic product could be placed next to its conventionally grown counterpart. Some grocery stores, such as Natural Grocers, only sell USDA approved organic or naturally grown produce and meat, and would not be concerned with placement. Organic foods are generally promoted as being more nutritious than conventional foods. Although, organic.org admits that there is not research to back this claim, at this time, there are studies that show that organic food has a higher nutritional value. This makes since, considering they are grown more naturally, with less chemicals. This film does expose something about organic or â€Å"farm-fresh† foods: the American food industry is supposed to be protected by the USDA and FDA, but they have been allowing these suppliers to focus on profit and put aside consumer health, the environment, and worker safety. Question 2: Based on your answer to Question 1, are you likely to change how and where you procure your foods (i.e., grocery stores, farmers’ markets, fast-food outlets)? Please explain your reasons. I have never been concerned about how my food was made or where it came from. I have never paid attention to organic foods, GMOs, all-natural, or anything related to the production of the foods I eat. As far as I know, my parents never paid attention to these things either. Because of this, â€Å"farm-fresh† and other marketing of organic foods has not affected me. I just purchase the foods that I want and pay no attention to whether they are â€Å"farm-fresh†, organic, locally grown, etc. I will buy whatever is cheapest,  not whatever is healthiest, most natural, or whatever. My opinion and food purchasing habits will most likely not change after viewing this movie. This question reminds me of high school health class, where we had to watch â€Å"Supersize Me.† Everyone started saying how gross it is, that they are never eating at McDonalds again, or whatever other promises they were making. All I could think was that I could totally go for some McNuggets after school that day! I guess it is just because I have never worried about where the food I eat comes from. However, I have always paid attention to salmonella and E. coli recalls. I remember not eating beef or spinach or peanut butter when there was an outbreak in their plants, because why would I want to get sick? So, I would say no, I will not change where or how I procure my groceries. I will not say that I did not get sad watching those little baby chicks die, or the chickens getting slung around. And those poor cows getting slaughtered, and that one that had that hole and the guy was digging around in her stomach, and said that she was not in pain†¦how does he know?! He’s just cut a big hole in her and is sticking his hand in her stomach, and she cannot tell you that she is in pain! Question 3: Finally, do you think there are any ethical and/or social responsibility issues that confront marketing channels for food distribution? Chicken are manipulated to grow bigger breasts, tomatoes are genetically engineered to not go bad by being picked while they are green, then ripened with chemicals. Tens of thousands of Americans get sick from new strains of E. coli every year. Levels of obesity are shooting upwards, and diabetes in adults and children have reached epidemic proportions. If Americans knew how corporations used subsidies and exploited laws to make more money, would they think more carefully about what they are eating? The truth is, most people have no clue where their foods come from. Below, I will list secrets and other things that the public should know about the food that they are putting into their bodies. I found a list on www.takepart.com (http://www.takepart.com/photos/food-inc-facts/the-impact-of-food-inc-lives-on-) of 18 â€Å"Food, Inc.† facts that everyone should know, which I have compared  with my notes and compiled the following paragraphs. I feel that if everyone was aware of these facts, it would increase the social responsibility of these companies, and people would have trust in them. These facts pertain to the slaughterhouses and meat packers. In the 1970s, the top five beef packers controlled about 25% of the market, while today, more than 80% of the market is controlled by the top four. In the 1970s, there were thousands of slaughterhouses producing the majority of beef sold, while today, there are only 13. In 1972, the FDA conducted 50,000 food safety inspections. Approximately 32,000 hogs a day are killed in Smithfield Hog Processing Plant in Tar Heel, NC, the largest slaughterhouse in the world. In 2006, the FDA only conducted 9,164. These facts pertain to Monsanto and the USDA. Prior to renaming itself an agribusiness company, Monsanto was a chemical company. In 1996 when Monsanto introduced Round-Up Ready Soybeans, the company controlled only 2% of the U.S. soybean market. Now, over 90% of soybeans contain Monsanto’s patented gene in the United States. In 1998, the USDA implemented microbial testing for salmonella and an E. coli strain so that the USDA could shut down the plant if they repeatedly failed these tests; the USDA no longer has this power after being taken to court by the meat and poultry associations. These facts pertain to the FDA, USDA, and congressmen. During the Bush administration, the head of the FDA was the former executive vice president of the National Food Processors Association. Also during the Bush administration, the chief staff at the USDA was the former chief lobbyist for the beef industry in Washington. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was an attorney at Monsanto from 1976-1979; after his appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Thomas wrote the majority opinion in a case that helped Monsanto enforce its seed patents. The SB63 Consumer Right to Know measure, requiring all food derived from cloned animals to be labeled as such, passed the California state legislature before being vetoed in 2007 by Governor Schwarzenegger, who said that he couldn’t sign a bill that pre-empted federal law. The rest of these facts are just interesting. The average chicken farmer (with two poultry houses) invests over $500,000, but only makes $18,000 a year. The average American eats over 200 pounds of meat each year. The modern supermarket stocks, on average 47,000 products, most of which are being produced by only a handful of food companies. About 70% of processed have some genetically modified ingredients. According to the American Diabetes Association, 1 in 3 Americans born after 2000 will contract early onset diabetes. Among minorities, the rate will be 1 in 2. E. coli and salmonella outbreaks have been more frequent in America. In 2007, there were 73,000 people wicked by the E. coli bacteria. Organics is the fastest growing food segment, increasing 20% annually.

Good cancer pain management can help patients feel better Essay

Most cancer patients suffer from pain in varying degrees during their illness. The management of this pain and its relationship in improving the wellbeing of the patient is the primary focus of this study. This paper approached the study by researching articles that dealt with pain management from different angles. After critical analysis of these articles this paper will arrive at a conclusion that addresses the research question.   The topics reviewed included: 1. The use of a clinical instruction module (CLIM) for hospice nurses to upgrade their skills (Plymale, M. et al, 2001) 2. The role of cognition in promoting the psychological well being of the patient (Chen, Mei-Ling. 2002) 3. The use of pain management autobiographies to discover how best to deal with pain management (Schumacher, K. et al. 2001) 4. Overcoming patient related barriers to pain management by educating them (Chang, Ming-Chuan. 2002) 5. Providing a description of advanced cancer pain in home hospice subjects to enable the caregivers to alleviate their suffering (Dobratz, M. 2001) The material for this study was searched from the University of Wollongong database of Medline. The key words in the search for journal articles were nursing, research and cancer pain.   Articles were chosen for their relevance to the research question and the findings they came up with. Information that was obtained from these studies enabled the writer to draw important conclusions as concerns pain management in cancer patients with pain. The research is of extreme importance to the writer. I lost my husband to cancer. The trauma we all went through watching him in pain gave me a new impetus to do all in my power to ensure that no other patient will need to go through the same suffering as he did. As I continue to practice, I would like to contribute to breaking new ground in pain management in cancer patients; especially as concerns alleviating their pain and improving their quality of life. Article 1 In an article entitled ‘Cancer Pain Education: A Structured Clinical Instruction Module For Hospice Nurses’, appearing in the journal ‘Cancer Nursing ‘,Plymale M. et al (2001) studied the effect of pain education on the quality of service by caregivers. The research aimed to determine whether educating nurses on pain management will improve their ability to assess and manage pain in cancer patients. A clinical instruction module (CLIM) based on cancer pain management and assessment skills was administered to 25 hospice nurses whose average field practice was 4.1 years (Plymale M. et al. 2001, p. 424).The course involved the nurses going round 8 stations focussing on   different aspects of cancer pain, assessing 5 cancer survivors and one actor. They carried out tests on various aspects of pain management. Prior to and after the exercise the nurses self assessed their skills in pain management using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1(not competent) to 5(v ery competent). They also evaluated the CLIM on a similar scale. (1= strongly disagree; 5= strongly agree) All participants agreed that the course helped improve their competence in the teaching items that were being addressed. The use of patients with cancer was considered more beneficial as opposed to having actors. Nurses that felt competent enough before the course did not perceive any noticeable improvement in their abilities in the post exercise self assessment. This finding is consistent with the view that hospice nurses are more competent in dealing with cancer pain management than those nurses working in hospitals. Those who assessed themselves as not competent indicated a higher assessment of themselves after the course. In a further study conducted among post instruction medical students, those trained using a CLIM on pain management did better than those schooled it traditional methods. (Sloan P.A. et al., 2001, 112)     Ã‚  There is an urgent need to introduce CLIM’s addressing pain assessment and management in the teaching courses for all nurses and caregivers in a bid to improve their skills and service delivery. The more competent the nurses the better will be the treatment of patients in prolonging their lives and alleviating the pain they go through. A significant observation of this study is the competence level of hospice nurses was higher than that of their counterparts. It is advisable to seek their input in developing manuals and modules of this nature as they have first hand knowledge that is invaluable to this area of study. Article 2 ‘Pain And Hope in Patients with Cancer’, an article written by Chen, Mei-Ling and appearing in the journal ‘Cancer Nursing’ (2003) examines the relationship between pain and hope in cancer patients. Hope is a therapeutic factor in the treatment of any disease including cancer. Patients with high levels of hope coped better with the disease than did those who dwelt on the hopelessness of their situation. The hopeful patients on average tended to live longer and had extended periods of remission. This study had three main purposes; i. Examine the effect of disease status on hope levels among patients with cancer who have pain ii. Compare the level of hope between patients with cancer that have pain and those who do not iii. Determine which dimensions of pain are associated with hope (Chen, Mei-Ling. 2002, p.62) The conceptual framework for the study was based on the ‘self- regulation model of coping with health threats’. (Chen, Mei-Ling. 2002, p.62) The main emphasis is on how people cope with their health problems in their own unique ways. Personal beliefs, religious orientation, cultural practises and previous experiences all work to determine a patient’s attitude towards his illness.(Donavan, H.S., Ward, S., 2001, pp. 211 – 216) Any one of the factors mentioned will have a bearing on the hope levels of the individual. The study employed the use of the Herth Hope Index (HHI) to assess the level of hope. It sampled 274 inpatients with cancer at two medical centres in Taiwan. 226 of them finalised the survey and the analysis was based on their responses. The study used Perceived Meaning of Cancer Pain Inventory (PMCPI) to measure the meanings that patients ascribed to their pain. Four subscales were used and these were challenge, threat, spiritual awareness and loss. The findings showed that in cancer patients with pain and those without pain, the hope levels did not differ. However, sensory dimensions of pain showed a link between the bearable pain intensity and level of hope (Chen, Mei-Ling. 2002, p. 65) The findings supported the view that the hope levels in patients were higher in those who were able to tolerate more pain. Perception of one’s pain played an important role in the way one held on to hope. Those who viewed the pain as a challenge were more hopeful than those who took it from a negative perspective. In assessing one’s reaction to treatment, it is notable that the findings showed no difference in hope levels for those patients who were unsure of the effect of treatment and those who affirmed that the treatment was working positively.

Brazilian Democratic Transition And Consolidation

Brazilian Democratic Transition And Consolidation Brazil, which is the largest country in South America and fifth largest country in the world, is also a political and economic leader in its continent. However, among the many nascent Latin American democracies, Brazil’s road to democracy was the most challenging (Linz and Stepan, 1996, p 166). Its democratization (1974-89) followed a cyclical pattern which alternated back and forth between quasi-democratic and authoritarian systems (Huntington, 1991, p 41). After a brief period of electoral democracy in the 1930s, military coups took control of the nation. The next three decades witnessed Brazil’s long authoritarian rule that was governed by a series of stable but harsh dictatorial regimes. In the 20th century, Brazil embarked on the path to electoral democracy, which was led by Vargas, the elected President. However, his rule plagued Brazil with several rebellions caused by military officers, the spread of communism across the country, and brutal tortures by governme nt agents. Thus, the short period of democracy ended and Vargas established a populist dictatorship. In 1945, military coup supported by the Brazilian oligarchy finally overthrew the ineffective and harsh leader. Brazil then plunged into a long authoritarian rule from 1964 to 1985, in which the military government held power and democratized Brazil through five major stages (Codato, 2006). It was this period of uncertainty and unrest caused by violent prolonged military dictatorship that created the climate for political compromise and democratic obligation. Causes for the breakdown of authoritarianism such as splits in the military led to the demand for re-democratization in Brazil. Democratization finally occurred in 1974 and coincided with the ‘Third Wave’ of democracy. One will be surprised and wonder how Brazil’s long period of authoritarianism under the reign of three capable leaders, Branco, Silva, and Medici’s leadership sparked a possible shift to a democracy. What factors pressured each successive military leader to concede to democratization? After a long military dictatorship, what caused the next administration, Geisel, to democratize Brazil? Finally, to what extent has democracy been consolidated? This paper will attempt to answer the above questions. I will first give a contextual knowledge about Brazil’s political transition which occurred in five stages, over the span of thirty years. Next, I will explain the reasons that caused the breakdown of authoritarianism in Brazil. Finally, I will evaluate the extent to which democracy in Brazil is consolidated based on its obstacles and threats, and suggest ways in which the democracy can be stabilized. History of Brazil’s Political Transition Establishing military dictatorship The first stage of Brazil’s political transition corresponds to the Castello Branco and Costa e Silva administrations (March, 1964 – December, 1968). The military ceased it s leadership in 1961 when vice president Joà £o Goulart resigned from presidency. He resigned with hopes of being reinstated again by popular demand, but was denied by the military’s fear of him being a communist. Following his resignation, the regime encountered difficulties in finding a new leader as no civilian politician was suitable for the existing revolutionary factions in governance. After fifteen days, Branco became the new president and managed to reform the political-economic system (Hudson, 1997). Being anti-Goulart and disapproving of his ruling methods, Branco rejected the extension of his presidency beyond Goulart’s term, or the institutionalization of the military’s power.

Shangri-La Hotels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Shangri-La Hotels - Essay Example This issue of the Chinese employees being shy about making executive decisions even in cases where they are given the power to do was becoming even more emphasized now that western hoteliers were coming to town. Apart from that, wages are being driven up by the new hotels arriving here and poaching their employees. This added to the new challenges the hotel was already having. Not only were the new hoteliers raising the standards with regard to human resource, especially frontline personnel, but they were also a risk in that they were now driving employee turnover rates for Shangri-La Hotels which prior to this were always low and way below the industry average. Started in the 1971 by a Malaysians-Chinese tycoon, the name of the hotel means eternal youth, peace and tranquility. This is one tradition that Shangri-La Hotels has tried to live by since its inception in 1971. The Shangri-La Hotels has expanded over the years and by 2006, it was the biggest hotel in luxury hotels subsector in south Asia. Although the Shangri-La Hotels has continued to expand its business elsewhere, it has maintained its growth in the East Asian market and especially in China. China had the best and favorable economic conditions which inspired growth due to the growing urban wages as the Chinese economy booming since the 1080s. as a result, the hospitality sector was being boomed as more tourists, both local and international increased demand for hospitality services. This helped the firms to protect itself from the economic recession that hit South Asia in 1997-1998 because during this time China was spared from the Asian economic recession and thus Shangri-La Hotels, having placed its foundation mainly in China was in a safe haven. In its priority, Shangri-La Hotels wants to make sure that it is able to give the best services to the customers. This is challenged by a number of

Selling Poor Steven Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Selling Poor Steven - Essay Example Many others, however, bought slaves for the same reason that white men did, which was to make a profit. This was done as a form of assimilation in a mistrustful social atmosphere (186). Slavery for freed black men was a different affair from the slavery invoked by white men. Black slaveowners bought family members as slaves to protect them and to free them a few years later. Similarly, black slaveowners would marry a slave, start a family, and then offer to purchase them from the original slaveowner. After the black slaveowner bought his family, he would free them. However, being able to buy and sell family members also had its downsides, being used as more of a threat if a family member were to get out of line or misbehave. All the same, freed black men were able to use their power to own slaves for humanitarian purposes, bringing an end to slavery for many others. Then there were the black slaveowners that treated their slaves no differently than white slaveowners treated their own . Black slaveowners still exploited the people that were lesser than them, regardless of having the same skin color. This caused great mistrust between slaves and freed black men alike. It was assumed that these prior slaves would understand what it felt like to be slaves to cruel and vicious people, which would prompt them to treat their own slaves with kindness and respect. This, however, was not always the case, and not all of the slaves were treated with compassion (192). A journal left by black slaveowner William Johnson revealed a resentment towards white slaveowners, but also revealed the need to fit in among them, which is why slaves were treated as they were by black slaveowners. â€Å"The story of black slaveowners gives powerful evidence that slavery was just as complex an institution for them [...] as it was for whites (192).† When the Civil War approached, life became difficult for slaveowners of all color. When the Emancipation Proclamation was signed and implem ented in 1863, which freed all slaves, every slaveowner had something bad to say about it. Even the black slaveowners who bought their families for protection were unhappy at the thought of losing their servants despite the reason they had boughten them to begin with. Though the concept of black slaveowners was short lived, it still caused a great impact on the institution of slavery while it lasted. The purpose of Philip Burnham’s article is to show the many reasons that black slaveowners kept slaves in comparison to the reasons that white men kept slaves, all of which were previously stated. Burnham uses historical evidence, such as journals kept by black slaveowners and records about which slaveowners bought which slaves, to support his thesis. Also included were snippets from some of the wills of these slaveowners, which often mentioned the freeing of their slaves after the death of the owner. Or, if slaves were to be passed on to family, some of the wills declared that t he slaves must be treated kindly and released after a certain amount of years. Some of the information provided by Burnham may have been simply assumptions, but they were still backed up by the historical facts and documents that were left by others. Burnham proved his theory to my satisfaction, and I agree with his statements as to the conditions and reasons that black slaveowners bought slaves. Newly made black slaveowners

It depends what you choose for report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

It depends what you choose for report - Essay Example Walgreens was founded in 1901 and it has established its drug stores in forty seven states. In the Fortunes magazine Most Admired List (2015), Walgreens Company was ranked fifth in the food and drugstores category. The company was also ranked number three among food and drugstores in the Fortune magazine 500 largest U.S based companies (2015) (Fortune magazine). Consequently the magazine also ranked Walgreens number thirty seven overall in terms of revenue. In the fiscal year 2014, Walgreens recorded $ 72217 million in revenues, $ 2450 million in profits, $ 35481 million in total assets, $ 62739 million market value and $ 19454 million in total shareholder equity (Fortune magazine). Consequently, the percentage profit for the fiscal year was 3.4 percent on sales and 6.9 percent on assets. This report gives a deep insight of Walgreens Company and gives a better understanding of the company in relation to its operations, business practices, organizational strategies and growth prospects. Knowledge of Walgreens Company is vital in helping and guiding a prospective employee to make informed decision about whether to work for Walgreens or not. The primary strength that is enabling Walgreens to stays afloat is the fact that it is the market leader. This is attributed to many factors such as increase sale of generic drugs and favorable demographics. One of the major weaknesses that hinder Walgreens from operating optimally in the existence of fierce competition in the drug store industry. Although Walgreens is the current market leader, existing and new drug companies are reducing its market share. Another major weakness is the reduction in foot traffic to Walgreens drug stores. It is imperative for potential employees to carry out an assessment of the company they intend or aspire to work for so as to make informed and better decisions. The following are some of the considered factors: The compelling need for Walgreens to reorganize, reinvent and improve

Ralph Nader's book unsafe at any speed Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Ralph Nader's book unsafe at any speed - Essay Example The book itself outlines in the title that people are unsafe at any speed they drive at. What is notable strange in the act of taking these safety measures is that even though others are effective, others are not effective at all; or even liked to the occurrence of accidents. Automobile industry is made up of profit making companies. For this to be possible revenue must be maximized, and costs must be minimized. Installing inbuilt features to add safety to drivers, especially in a case that they were not incorporated in the previous designs, meant that it was a move that only added cost to the production. No manufacturer embraces added costs and if it obliged, the companies had to look for other measures to cub the cost. According to this fact, the reason to some feature’s ineffectiveness is the use of cheap material and technology to design and manufacture them. Companies only make cheap safety features that only appealed the buyer’s perception but having little to protect them in case of accidents. The worst part of it all is that the customers trust the features and are not ready to take extra precautions, which further put the in more risk with accidents. Safety features in motor vehicles alone cannot help in reducing the general prevalence of deadly accidents. There are other factors that need to be observed in order to compliment safety measures in providing safety to both motor vehicle occupants and non-occupants (National Academy, 2000). Rules and policies should be enacted in respective countries to help cub motor vehicle accidents. When people only depend on safety measures to give them road safety, they are not doing themselves any favours, but exposing themselves to even more accidents. Relevant authorities should look into this issue other than only supporting the use of safety measures. Road accidents do not always involve single sides, but are

Apache Metals, Inc. Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Apache Metals, Inc. Case Study - Essay Example The fact that project managers can come from anywhere within the company is causing the problems experience in the company. Not everyone can act as a project manager because the work is technical and it requires special skills for a company to achieve excellence (Heerkens, 2007). The assigned project leaders in this company take care of too many projects at the same time, which causes inconveniences for the firm. It is not possible for a project leader to deal with as many as ten orders because each order requires considerable amount of time to be accomplished effectively. The company at one time appointed trainees to oversee the running of the operations leading to poor results. Financiers analyze projects and their management to determine the need to offer funding for the company. Therefore, it is important that directors of Apache Metals concentrate on project management to receive the funding. Literature and research review Apache Metals seems has been failing on its project mana gement and it is only after failing miserably that the company began to take keen interest on project management. Project management involves planning, organizing, and managing resources in the most effective and efficient manner to achieve stated goals for the company (Lock, 2007). A company’s board of directors is involved in determining the best people that can execute the project and appointing the project managers. Successful project managers should ensure that they manage resources, time, scope, and the finance of the project efficiently (Lock, 2007). These elements are essential in ensuring the company gets funds other projects and renewed contracts because of good management of the above elements. The scope of the project involves the objectives of the project and the budget in terms of money and time for achieving the stated objectives (Rosen, 2004). Not every person in the company can be a project leader because of the skills required in the job. A project manager s hould have the right people and communication skills in order to achieve the stated goals effectively. The board of directors should scrutinize the existing personnel thoroughly in order to recruit the required people in the project management team (Rosen, 2004). A project is often a short endeavor and thus mistakes are unacceptable because they can ruin the image of the rest of the company. Project managers have a vision and their aim is to share the vision with other members executing the project. The company can improve the effectiveness of these project leaders through providing formal training for them and their members. In addition to training project managers, they also need to be at the center of the organization’s concern. Project managers have a greater task of defining the project and executing it and hence they require support from the entire organization to accomplish their goals (Rosen, 2004). Project managers need to have expertise and experience in the field a nd thus, junior trainees cannot work effectively as project leaders. Project managers need team building and problem solving skills in order to execute the project effectively. Thus, to achieve funding for other projects, directors should ensure they have a working project team in place. Analysis The board of directors of the company is responsible for electing the senior

Boots Plc and Sainsbury Plc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Boots Plc and Sainsbury Plc - Essay Example At the end of the report, the financial and non-financial factors that are critical to the future performance of both the companies are presented. Both the companies, Boots and Sainsbury are well-known names in retail industry. United Kingdom is the centre of the companies’ major business operations and although both the companies run their business outside the country also, but most of the companies’ sales are from the UK segment. The Boots Plc Group’s major activities include retailing of chemists’ merchandise, the provision of opticians’ and other healthcare services, the development, manufacture and marketing of healthcare and consumer products. The group’s major business segments include Boots The Chemists, Boots Opticians, Boots Healthcare International and Boots Retail International (Boots Plc Annual Reports, accessed 23/11/2005) Boots the Chemist operates over 1,400 stores, where in nearly every store there is a pharmacist to offer guidance and help on healthcare matters. J Sainsbury Plc is a leading UK food retailer with interests in financial services. It consists of Sainsbury's Supermarkets, Sainsbury's Local, Bells Stores, Jacksons Stores and JB Beaumont, Sainsbury's to You and Sainsbury's Bank. It employs 153,000 people A large Sainsbury's Supermarket offers around 30,000 products, 50% of these are Sainsbury's own brand including fresh produce. In addition to a wide rang e of quality food and grocery products, many stores offer delicatessen, meat and fish counters, pharmacies, coffee shops, restaurants and petrol stations (Company Overview, accessed 24/11/2005) The comparison and analysis of these two companies' financial performance and position has been broken down into sections so as to be useful for various users of the company's financial statements. It will be of assistance to the companies' management in assessing their performance over the recent year and making plans to overcome any future risks and failures. The companies' investors would find this comparison beneficial in order to decide on which company to choose for investment and which company offers better investment potential. The lenders would benefit from this report in terms of being aware of the companies' solvency and liquidity position. PART B: FINANCIAL ANALYSIS Analysis From Management's Viewpoint A company's management is concerned with the financial results of its performance over the year that shows the management's capability and efficiency to generate sales and profit for the business effectively. The following ratios would be helpful in analysing both the companies from the management's viewpoint: Return on Capital Employed Boots Plc Sainsbury Plc 18.83% 1.64% The Return on Capital Employed ratio shows how much a company earns on the investment made in the assets. Boots Plc's return on capital employed ratio reveals a much profitable snapshot of the company's performance whereas Sainsbury Plc's financial results exhibit a much weaker position of the company in utilising its assets towards profit generation as compared to Boots Plc. Gross Profit Ratio Boots Plc Sainsbury Plc 46.13% 4.12% The Gross Profit ratio analyses the company's profit margin before accounting for various operating costs. Therefore, it represents the profit margin after accounting for cost of sales. Here, Boots Plc's financial results show that company is getting more profit on its sales after accounting

Learning and education Essay Example for Free

Learning and education Essay Learning and education are some of the most prized assets any person could have. Many parents consider these assets to be the primary treasure which they can give to their children to face the challenges of the future. However, there are some instances in which education becomes unreachable due to some hindrances like learning disabilities. It may become a concern not only for the individual but for the family as well.   Fortunately there are still some available steps in order to combat the possible dilemmas learning disabilities might bring.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On the part of Tony, it seems that he is not really that ready enough to become a part of the larger scope of education structure. He used to have a separated domain of learning which highlighted his interests to accommodate knowledge. The one-on-one teaching method provided by Ms. Brumbley became the most comfortable realm for Tony to achieve success. However, in order to develop more, he needs to take a few more steps of the education ladder. In middle school and beyond, school works are more complex and require more diligence in following directions. Add to that the extremely dynamic social nature of the class where students will tend to stabilize their roles and projections towards other members of the society. Because of such factors, Tony may have a hard time adjusting to the situation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In order to accommodate Tony to perform his ultimate best, what can be done is to at least set some modifications in the classroom. First is to introduce the basic foundations of new lessons for discussion. For example, a lesson in Math can first take a course of simple arithmetic to fraction computations. This may seem too easy relative for the whole class but exampling to them the importance of the strong math foundation will not impose an obvious aspect that the procedure is intended for Tony to refresh what he has previously learned. It is also possible to provide Tony a separate customized textbook and assignments so that he can gradually adjust to the lessons involved in middle school education. This approach is not intended for a long term basis so that he can actually progress to entertain newer and more complex lessons in middle school subjects. Lastly, as a concerned teacher, he will be provided with at least an hour of academic assistance everyday after class. A consultation form of conversation is best for him so that he could provide any feedback about the class procedures.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In order to support the standing of Tony in middle school through high school, coordinating with his other teachers would be the best practice to do. This will help the whole learning sector to have a single approach in fulfilling the special needs of Tony. Even if after he has completed the year level in a particular class, a complete coordination between his previous teachers and the ones who will be handling him should be initiated.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Basing on some studies and personal observations, individuals like Tony do not simply experience learning problems. The nearest dilemma apart from education concerns is the social interaction aspect of the person. Primarily, if one is not able to acquire the supposedly pace of learning rates in education, then most probably there will be a certain problem within his core interactive capabilities. Of course, it was noted that he exemplifies a certain degree of fondness in dealing with people in a comical way but deep inside, Tony might also have some concerns in having an interaction with people in a serious manner. If he will realize his disadvantages over the people he will constantly interact with, he might experience a sense of inferiority or discrimination. Compassionate encouragement and kindness can minimize the inferiority factor this dilemma might induce (Kentucky Education Cabinet).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Helping the students to explore their capabilities is one way to nurture their personalities. But for individuals who have a relative disadvantage in learning, utmost assistance and care is needed beyond teaching. References Kentucky Education Cabinet. N.D. Learning Disabilities. Kentucky.gov. Retrieved February 4, 2008 from http://ada.ky.gov/learning_dis_def.htm.

Proteins from Mammalian Cells Extraction

Proteins from Mammalian Cells Extraction Introduction: The aim of this practical was to generate protein material from Caco-2 cells and measuring the amount collected by using a bicinchinonic assay (BCA assay). The Caco-2 cell line is widely used in laboratories since it has very similar morphologic characteristics to normal enterocytes. This provides the cells with similar functions such as transport of nutrients and enterocytic differentiation when cultured in a monolayer in vitro. Therefore, Caco-2 cells have been shown to be a suitable model system to investigate the structure and function of the small intestinal epithelium (Ismael J. HIDALGO). By breaking up these cells, the collected components can be analysed in further experiments. This is usually done by using a detergent based solution to lyse the cell but other methods can also be used such as electrical lysis. Once this process has undergone, a homogenous extract of the broken-down cell is obtained and various techniques can be performed to analyse the components. The first use of the broken-down cell material in this practical was in a BCA assay to help measure the amount of protein yielded from the extraction step. The BCA technique is very commonly used in laboratories to measure the total protein concentration of a sample by comparing it to a protein standard. This method is popular because it can not only accurately determine the protein concentration of most sample types, but can also have various other applications such as measuring column fractions after performing an affinity chromatography or studying protein to protein interactions. The method measures the concentration of protein by analysing the reduction of Cu2+ to Cu1+ in an alkaline environment (known as the biuret reaction) combined with the colorimetric detection of Cu1+ by the bicinchoninic acid. This produces a signal that can be read by a spectrophotometer. The results can then be analysed to determine the concentration of the protein sample (Measure of protein using bca, PK SMITH RI KROHN). Protein extraction Materials Pipettes and tips Deionized water NaCl Trizma base lot#SLBH1724V (sigma) opened on 13/12/2013 Triton-x-100 lot#48H0208 (sigma) Sodium dodecyl sulphate Protease inhibitor Caco-2 cell culture plate (2 wells) Cell scraper Centrifuge tube 3x 1,5mL, 1x 50mL Plate reader Method Firstly, a buffer was prepared by adding 0.174g of NaCl with 0.303g of Tris to a 50mL plastic tube. 2,5mL of triton-x-100 and 0,5mL of Sodium dodecyl sulphate were then added to the tube. Water was finally added to create a final volume of 25mL. The buffer pH was then measured using a standard pH meter. Hydrogen ions were slowly added combined with a continuous monitoring of the pH change to obtain a final pH of 8,6. Buffer calculations: NaCL (Mr=58) 120mM needed => (58g/M)x(0.12M) =6.96g 6.96g/40=0.174g for 25mL Tris (Mr=121) 100mM needed => (121g/M)x(0.1M) =12.1g 12.1g/40=0.3025g for 25mL Triton-x-100 1% needed from 10% stock solution => 25mL/100 (to get to 1%) =0.25mL 0.2510 (10% stock solution) =2.5mL Sodium dodecyl sulphate 0.2% needed from 10% stock solution => 25mL/500 (to get to 0.2%) =0.05mL 0.05mlx10 (10%stock solution) =0.5mL Next, 1mL of protease inhibitor solution was prepared by adding 10 µl of protease inhibitor to 1mL of the buffer prepared earlier in a 1.5mL Eppendorf tube. The tube was then placed on ice. The next step was the addition of 200 µl of protease inhibitor buffer each to 2 wells of the caco-2 cells followed by vigorous scraping at the bottom of the well using a cell scraper. The cell suspension was then removed and placed into a microfuge tube and placed on ice. The tube containing the cell suspension was left to incubate on ice for 30 minutes receiving a resuspension by inverting the tube every 10 minutes. The tube was then centrifuged at 13000 rpm for 5 minutes.   After noticing that the sample needed more centrifugation, the tube was centrifuged for another 3 minutes at 13000rpm. The supernatant was then collected into a fresh tube. BCA assay Materials Pipettes 1x 96 well plate Bovine serum albumin (BSA) 2mg/mL Deionized water BCA reagents A and B Ependorf tubes Extracted protein Method Firstly, 6 standards were prepared by diluting Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) (2mg/mL) with water as followed: Table 1. Preparation of standards volumes Concentration (mg/mL) BSA (mL) Water (mL) 0 0 100 0.25 12.5 85.5 0.5 25 75 1 50 50 1.5 75 25 2 100 0 25  µl of each standard was loaded on the 96 well plate in duplicate as shown below. 5 µl of cell extract mixed with 20 µl of water to create a 1/5 dilution of the extracted protein was then loaded in 3 separate wells. Also, 2.5 µl of cell extract mixed with 22.5 µl of water to create a 1/10 dilution of the extracted protein was also added to three separate wells of the plate. Table 2. 96 well plate distribution 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 A 0 0 Sample 1 (1/5) Sample 1 (1/5) Sample 1 (1/5) B 0.25 0.25 Sample 2 (1/10) Sample 2 (1/10) Sample 2 (1/10) C 0.5 0.5 D 1 1 E 1.5 1.5 F 2 2 G H The next step was to prepare a working reagent which was made by mixing 5mL of BCA reagent A with 100 µl of BCA reagent B. 200 µl of this BCA reagent was added to all the wells containing standards and samples. And the plate was then incubated at room temperature for 30 minutes. Finally, the plate was read at 540nm on a plate reader. The remaining cell extract was stored at -20C for further experiments. Results After cell extraction and the BSA assay, the sample absorbance results from the plate were as followed: Standards: Table 3. Standards absorbance Standards (mg/ml) 0.000 0.250 0.500 1.000 1.500 2.000 Absorbance Date: 23/01/2017 0.077 0.338 0.495 0.828 1.083 1.438 Date: 23/01/2017 0.083 0.348 0.500 0.799 1.056 1.469 Mean 0.080 0.343 0.498 0.814 1.070 1.454 Standard deviation (n=2) 0.004 0.007 0.004 0.021 0.019 0.022 CV % (n=2) 5.303 2.062 0.711 2.521 1.785 1.508 Table 4. Standards mean absorbance recapitulative Standards Concentration Mean Abs 1 0 0.08 2 0.25 0.343 3 0.5 0.498 4 1 0.814 5 1.5 1.07 6 2 1.454 Using these results, a standard curve was plotted (Figure2.). Figure 1. Standard Curve (Absorbance over concentration) Samples: Table 5. Samples absorbance results and mean Absorbance Results Sample 1 (1/5) (n=3) Sample 2 (1/10) (n=3) 0.529 0.319 0.539 0.332 0.536 0.368 Mean 0.535 0.340 By extrapolating the known absorbances obtained from the samples on the standard curve, a final absorption can be calculated. Note that the dilution factor is considered to create an end concentration and the mean of both samples was calculated to finalise the measurement of extracted protein (Table 6.). Table 6. Final extracted protein concentration Sample 1(1/5) sample 2 (1/10) End concentration (mg/ml) absorbance 0.535 0.34 Sample 1 sample 2 mg/ml Concentration (mg/mL) 0.609 0.312 3.04 3.12 Mean 3.08 Total error (n=2) 0.057 CV % (n=2) 1.837 Finally, after the extraction of the protein from the caco-2 cells and the BCA assay we can affirm that the amount of protein yielded had a concentration of 3.08 mg/ml. Discussion This practical shows the essential mechanisms involved in breaking down a cell to analyse its material. This is firstly done by lysing the cell to release its contents. The most common method in doing so is by using a detergent-based solution such as sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS). Sodium dodecyl sulphate is used in many methods such as in gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE see practical 2) or nucleic acid extraction. The structure of SDS gives it an amphiphilic property, meaning it is both hydrophilic and lipophilic, both essential properties to be used as a detergent. It works by disrupting non-covalent bonds of proteins which produces dissociation of protein complexes. This results in the solubilisation of cell membrane proteins for example. There are different types of detergents, some can be denaturing reagents such as SDS, and others can be non-denaturing. The other detergent used in this practical is Triton X-100 which is a non-denaturing, non-ionic detergent. This detergent contrib utes to maintaining the protein structures to a minimum (size and charge) (thermos fischer SDS). Another important step in the extraction of cell material is the centrifugation of the cell suspension following cell lysis. The centrifugation step is used to separate the components of a homogenate, in this case, the cell suspension. The extract is rotated at high speeds, creating a separation of the components by size and density. The larger the component, the greater centrifugal force will be applied, hence they will move the most rapidly. By altering the speed of centrifugation, different components can be isolated. Using this technique, we can collect the components by forming a pellet. If the pellet is impure, as it was during the experiment, repeated centrifugation may improve its quality (fractioning of cells, molecular biology of the cell 4th edition). After successfully obtaining the cell extract and performing the BCA assay, a standard curve can be plotted. But how accurate and precise is this curve? This depends on the quality of the results from the BCA assay standards. In other words, the precision of these. The precision of the standards was determined by testing two replicates on the plate. And was expressed as a coefficient of variation percentage (CV% where CV=standard deviation (SD)/mean) (Desvignes). Figure 2. Comparison of the coefficient of variations of the standard duplicates As shown above, the CV% for all standards were very low (usually acceptable below 20%). This means that the precision of the results was good and that the standard curve is precise(Desilva)(EMEA). In this experiment, the cell line that was used were Caco-2 cells derived from a tumour of the human gut epithelium and are a model of enterocytes. (The human intestinal epithelial cell line Caco-2; pharmacological and pharmacokinetic applications) A monolayer of caco-2 cells exhibit very similar characteristics to the cells found in the small intestine due to its morphology. For example, they express microvillus hydrolases and nutrient transporters commonly found in the small-intestine. This makes them very useful in mimicking the gut in a laboratory setting. Conclusion         Ã‚   By using a detergent based solution, it is possible to break up cells to collect their material for further analysis. The quantification of the material can be achieved by performing a BCA assay which involves various techniques such as centrifugation followed by plotting a standard curve using standards prepared. This material can then be used in further experiments to analyse their components. In this experiment, the Caco-2 cell line was used, this cell line was derived from a tumour of the human gut epithelium and share various similarities with the cells commonly found in the small intestine.

Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) :: e-commerce Internet IPO Essays

Initial Public Offerings (IPO's) The term "IPO" slipped into everyday speech during the tech bull market of the late 1990s. Back then, it seemed you couldn't go a day without hearing about a dozen new dot-com millionaires in Silicon Valley cashing in on their latest IPO. The phenomenon spawned the term "siliconaire," which described the dot-com entrepreneurs in their early 20s and 30s who suddenly found themselves living large due to IPOs from their Internet companies. So, what is an IPO anyway? How did everybody get so rich so fast? And, most importantly, is it possible for mere mortals like us to get in on an IPO? All these questions and more will be answered in this tutorial. Before we continue, we suggest you check out our stock basics tutorial as well as brokers and online trading if you don't have a solid understanding of stocks and how they trade. IPO Basics: What is an IPO? Selling Stock IPO is an acronym for Initial Public Offering. This is the first sale of stock by a company to the public. A company can raise money by issuing either debt (bonds) or equity. If the company has never issued equity to the public, it's known as an IPO. Companies fall into two broad categories: private and public. A privately held company has fewer shareholders and its owners don't have to disclose much information about the company. Anybody can go out and incorporate a company: just put in some money, file the right legal documents, and follow the reporting rules of your jurisdiction. Most small businesses are privately held. But large companies can be private too. Did you know that IKEA, Domino's Pizza, and Hallmark Cards are all privately held? It usually isn't possible to buy shares in a private company. You can approach the owners about investing, but they're not obligated to sell you anything. Public companies, on the other hand, have sold at least a portion of themselves to the public and trade on a stock exchange. This is why doing an IPO is also referred to as "going public." Public companies have thousands of shareholders and are subject to strict rules and regulations. They must have a board of directors and they must report financial information every quarter. In the United States, public companies report to the SEC. In other countries, public companies are overseen by governing bodies similar to the SEC. From an investor's standpoint, the most exciting thing about a public company is that the stock is traded in the open market, like any other commodity.

The Harlem Renaissance Essay -- essays research papers fc

HARLEM RENAISSANCE Throughout the history of African Americans, there have been important historical figures as well as times. Revered and inspirational leaders and eras like, Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement, Nat Turner and the slave revolt, or Huey Newton and the Black Panther Party. One such period that will always remain a significant part of black art and culture is the Harlem Renaissance. It changed the meaning of art and poetry, as it was known then. Furthermore, the Harlem Renaissance forever left a mark on the evolution of the black culture. The Harlem Renaissance found its birth in the early 1920’s, in Harlem, New York. The period has been thought of as one of African Americans greatest times in writing. After War World I in 1918, African Americans were faced with one of the lowest points in history since the end of slavery. Poverty increased greatly in the South, as did the number of lynchings. The fear of race riots in the South caused large number of African Americans to move North between 1919 and 1926, to cities such as Chicago and Washington D.C. The idea that an educated black person should lead blacks to liberation was first founded from the works of W.E.B. DuBois. He also believed that blacks could not gain social equality by imitating the ideas of white people. Equality would have to be achieved by teaching black racial pride with an emphasis on black cultural heritage. The Cultural Revolution began as a series of literacy discussions in bars and coffee shops of lower Manhattan (Greenwich Village) and (Upper Manhattan) Harlem. Jean Toomer did one of the first and highly praised works. This would be Toomer’s only contribution to a time that he would later reject. Toomer is also known for his exquisite poetry like; Cotton Song, Evening Song, Georgia Dusk and Reapers. Jane Weldon Johnson had written the controversial â€Å"Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man† in 1924 and he had also edited â€Å" The Book of American Negro Poetry.† This collection included many of the Renaissance’s most talented poets. Included was Claude McKay, a Jamaican born writer. Weldon’s collection also included a young talented poet named Langston Hughes. Hughes had a love for music, mainly the blues, which became a bridge between African American Literature and Folk music. Zora Neale Hurston, an anthropologist originally... ... Furthermore, with that knowledge going on to have racial esteem, to do great things and influence others, thus making a mark on the world. The Harlem Renaissance taught future artist to look at art from an all-encompassing view. It knocked down barriers between literary and musical expression. The Renaissance added a new chapter in American History. A chapter that would highlight the African American thoughts and feelings as well as display their many talents. Bibliography Huggins, Nathan Irvin. Harlem Renaissance. New York: Oxford University Press.1971. Lewis, David Levering. When Harlem was in vogue. New York: Oxford University Press.1979. Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 9: Harlem Renaissance - An Introduction." PAL: perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. URL: http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/9intro.html, 1999. Roses, Lorraine E. Harlem Renaissance and Beyond: Literary Biographies of 100 Black women Writers, 1900-1945. Boston: Gik. Hall, 1990. Tate, Claudia. Domestic allegories of political desire: The black heroine's text at the turn of the century. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Women in The Laxdaela Saga Essay -- essays research papers

Women in the Laxdaela Saga   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Men and women interact and make the world go around every single day. The idea of one gender being more important is very difficult to judge because men and women contribute equally and in different ways. The Laxdaela Saga is no exception to the interaction of men and women; much of the story depends upon these relationships. Although in medieval times women did not play a large role in society, they are very important in the Laxdaela Saga. Without the various gender related interactions the culture of medieval Iceland would not be as clearly understood one thousand years after the events have taken place.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first woman of importance and really the first character of importance is Unn the Deep-Minded and the fortunes of her descendents. Unn is a very influential pioneer of the saga; she establishes dynasties in Scotland, the Faroe Islands and Orkney by marrying off her granddaughters to the men of her choice. Unn also laid claim to Breidafjord, an enormous area of land on the west coast of Iceland. Unn later gave away parts of Breidafjord to her followers according to their social standing and lineage. When Unn died she left her estate to her grandson Olaf Feilan. Following Unn’s death her name slowly fades out of the saga. Her tight control over her land and granddaughters is the entire story line of the first part of the Laxdaela Saga.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Other important...

The Japanese Culture

The Japanese culture in unlike any other in the world. It has long been known for its excellence in education and its strong background of family and religion.The Japanese culture dates back to 10,000 BC with many fascinating periods and events. They span from the days of the samurai and shogun, to 1945 when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Although a bomb would be a devastating blow for any country, rapid industrialization and aid from the United States brought Japan to the forefront of world affairs. Japan is roughly the size of California with a population of 120 million Japanese, 670,000 Koreans and 130,000 of other nationalities. The capital of Japan is Tokyo and the government is a parliamentary democracy, made up of elected representatives. Chinese culture has about five thousand years history which is an extremely long period of time. The Chinese civilization was growing with these periods of time and it will continues greater than ever and it one of the oldest continuous civilizations in history and dominant cultural center of East Asia is China. Chinese Kung Fu, also known as Chinese martial arts, is an important part of traditional Chinese culture. It is probably one of the earliest and longest lasting sports, which utilizes both brawn and brain3Japan's economic freedom score is 72.3, making its economy the 30th freest in the 2018 Index. Its overall score has increased by 2.7 points, with dramatic deficit reduction improving the score for fiscal health and far outpacing a decline in government integrity. Japan is ranked 8th among 43 countries in the Asia–Pacific region, and its overall score is above the regional and world averages.The economy of Japan is a highly developed and market-oriented economy. It is the third-largest in the world by nominal GDP and the fourth-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP), and is the world's second largest developed economy.Japan is a member of the G7. According to the International Monetary Fund, the country's per capita GDP (PPP) was at $37,519, the 28th highest in 2014, down from the 22nd position in 2012. Due to a volatile currency exchange rate, Japan's GDP as measured in dollars fluctuates widely. Accounting for these fluctuations through use of the Atlas method, Japan is estimated to have a GDP per capita of around $38,490.China's economic liberty score is 57.8, making its economy the 110th freest in the 2018 Index. Its overall score has increased by 0.4 point, with developed scores for government honesty and legal effectiveness more than balancing declines in fiscal health, labor freedom, and property rights. China is graded 24th between 43 countries in the Asia–Pacific region, and its overall score is below the regional and world averages.4The low standard of living permits companies in China to pay their workers less than American workers. That makes products cheaper, which lures overseas producers to outsource jobs to China.

Flashy Flashers Essay

Flashy Flashers supplies approximately 95 auto parts stores with automotive electrical components. The firm values customer service but has recently had a problem with late orders. Jobs are scheduled by earliest due date, but the due dates are not updated in the system to reflect unexpected events such as scrap losses, shortages, urgent customer requests or shipment problems. The MRP system also cannot recognize capacity issues. This is causing problems on the shop floor as people are forced to work overtime to meet scheduled order receipts or there is not enough scheduled work to utilize employees. Analysis Review of the MRP explosion for headlamps and sidelamps, reveals that orders for 11 items will be released in week 1 (Char 1). Two of those orders must be expedited: flasher cable grommet and receptacle and flasher bulb each have 100 less in inventory than required for week 1. The planned receipt of subframe assemblies can be delayed until week 3. The released order schedule shows a very uneven workload over the coming weeks. Any urgent customer orders or delays impacting week 1 will most likely result in overtime. The MRP system has been effective for monitoring inventory but has not improved the utilization of labor. The system must be updated to reflect changes in scheduled receipts. The system should also be updated to include capacity limits. The shopfloor should identify bottleneck items and utilize downtime to increase safety stock of those items so that productions can proceed smoothly. Recommendation Since customer service is a company priority, safety stock of popular end products should be increased so that backorders and stockouts do not occur and urgent orders can be accommodated. References Krajewski, L., Ritzman, L., & Malhotra, M. (2013).Operations management: Processes and supply chains. (Tenth ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Chagrin, Woman versus the Society

James Joyce’s â€Å"Clay† and Guy de Maupassant’s â€Å"The Diamond Necklace† satirize the conflict between woman and society. They illustrate the lives of two very physically different women of the common class and how they struggle against their environment, for society and fate seal their lives with chagrin. Joyce is more effective than Maupassant in revealing the fictional character in relation to community and social environment, because Joyce uses plot, design, perspective, and language to show subtly what the clay means in the story, wherein the clay depicts Maria’s frailty and commonness, and a life of conflict with herself and her environment, which she is not aware of, while Maupassant employs more of plot, narration, and character to enact a woman’s satirical lifelong struggle to resist her fate, which led her, paradoxically, to become her destiny, after all. Joyce does not reveal the meaning of the title â€Å"Clay† in the plot, which makes it quite difficult to understand the plot and its connection with clay. Soon the plot exposes itself- it is a story about how something so simple can be so complicated too. Maria’s simple life has its own complications, because she struggles with society and her destiny. Joyce provides details about Maria’s life and how she goes about it, day in and day out. For Maria, she is an efficient and reliable person, and a peacemaker. She feels proud of her work, which is portrayed in the barmbracks that she confirms she made herself. She also states that she is happy with her life, even if she has no companion, and she tells Fleming that â€Å"she didn’t want any ring or man either† (Joyce 184). The ring represents the synecdoche for marriage. The ring is also mentioned several times in the story, once by Fleming, once by Maria, and then during the game at Joe’s house. This ring represents Maria’s struggle. Apparently, there exists a gap between her self-perceptions and social perceptions of herself. Maria thinks of herself as more superior. She views Fleming as having the â€Å"notions of a common woman† (Joyce 184), and yet Maria herself is exceedingly common. When Maria thinks about how many minutes her travels are, â€Å"twenty minutes† here and there, it underscores how empty her life is in that she fills it with ordinary numbers. Maria also wants to think that she is happy with being single, but when Fleming jokes her about it, she â€Å"laughed†¦. with disappointed shyness† (Joyce 184). â€Å"Disappointed† juxtaposes with the satisfaction that Maria feels, which accentuates that she is not at all content with her life. The plot expresses, nevertheless, the cluelessness of Maria about herself, which makes it more effective to depict chagrin in several ways. Readers will also feel chagrin, because Maria is not just physically frail; she is also mentally and emotionally frail too. Maupassant employs plot that also does not readily give away the ending. His story satirizes a woman’s struggle to resist her fate, which led her, ironically, to become her destiny. Loisel feels that she is born for something greater, and yet, as Maupassant illustrates, she was born: â€Å"as if through an error of destiny, into a family of clerks† (Maupassant 297). This â€Å"error† implies how Loisel sees her whole life: a huge â€Å"error† of fate. But â€Å"error† takes in a new life, as Loisel makes the biggest of all- borrowing Mme. Forestier’s diamond necklace. This necklace brings Loisel the happiest day of her life, when she receives the life she dreams of- attention, richness, and fame. Ironically, this necklace also seals Loisel’s fate to poverty and toil, both of which she detests. She loses the diamond necklace and she and her husband paid for it for ten years, only to discover in the ending, that the necklace is false. The ending shows the climax of the struggle and underlines that women cannot fight society and their destinies. The language that Joyce uses portrays the common language of Maria’s class. Joyce uses the words â€Å"spick and span† and â€Å"nice and bright,† which are words of commoners and their life of toil (Commentary 192). Words are also frequently repeated, which symbolizes the lack of sophistication in Maria’s life. The repetitive use of â€Å"And†¦And†¦. And† and â€Å"always†¦always† (Joyce 183) is a â€Å"syntactical pattern† (Commentary 192) of the disproportionate plainness of Maria’s viewpoint of her life, and how readers also come to understand how â€Å"boring† her life is. The language reinforces the plot that depicts Maria’s humdrum life, and exposes the struggle against society and fate. Maria ardently believes that she needs no man or ring, but when a common man gives her some attention, she floats in the air enough to forget her expensive plum cake. Thus, Maria cannot deny it; she yearns for a lifelong companion, someone her fate has denied her, and someone society is quick to point out as the source of her loneliness and unhappiness. Maupassant uses narration to illustrate the satire of Loisel’s conflict with her life. He narrates the thoughts of a woman’s yearning for a wealthy life. Loisel dreams of â€Å"elegant dinners, of the shining silver† (Maupassant 298). This narration represents the perspective of Loisel and her endless chagrin. The narration contrasts her life before and after, however, of a dream come true. Before the diamond necklace, Loisel has at least a maid and comfortable lodgings. After the loss of the diamond necklace, Loisel is forced to be who she does not want to be- a common working woman. Furthermore, Maupassant also uses strong characterization, as he narrates the changes in Loisel. From a â€Å"charming† young woman, Loisel transforms into â€Å"strong, hard woman, the crude woman of the poor household† (Maupassant 303). Loisel has become the person she hates, and she has learned to embrace the life she could not ever cherish. Maupassant, however, seems to want to rub it in on Loisel, when he ends the story with the revelation of the false diamond necklace. Loisel must have fainted, or even unsurprisingly, died from chagrin, after this revelation. Joyce predominantly uses the perspective of Maria, from his choice of words, although in a way, it is also revealed that Maria is not who she thinks she is, in the viewpoint of other people. In general, she believes that: â€Å"Everyone was so fond of Maria† (Joyce 183). However, the snide remarks about her spinsterhood, in the laundry shop and at her friend’s home, accentuates that people look down on her or pity her, because of her homeliness and state of singlehood. When Joyce says: â€Å"the tip of her nose nearly met the tip of her chin,† this remarks of how people slate her homely features (Joyce 183). Joyce also designs the story in a way that is not always too obvious, and he compels readers to do extra work, which makes the story more effective in revealing the character’s need for companionship. As readers analyze and research about the missing lines of the song â€Å"I Dreamt that I Dwelt,† this pursuit for something more about Maria ironically responds to the â€Å"attention† that Maria craves for. Joyce’s story design is also different from Maupassant’s â€Å"Moonlight,† because â€Å"Clay† has a different and more meaningful connotation. The clay represents Maria’s emotional and mental frailty. When she chooses clay, a joke of the next-door girls on her, and which is not even directly stated by Joyce, clay represents the mortality of human beings (Commentary 190). Clay also reinforces the meaning of the omitted song lines. Joyce illustrates that Maria unconsciously forgets these lines, because it tells of â€Å"suitors† and â€Å"vows† that fate neglected to give her. Clay hints that Maria will soon die without living life, wherein society says that a lived life equals to a married life. Joyce is more effective than Maupassant in disclosing the fictional character in relation to community and social environment, because Joyce uses plot, design, perspective, and language to show delicately what the clay indicates in the story. The clay portrays Maria’s frailty and commonness, and her conflict with her society and destiny. It is also a suggestion of her mortality, which is limited to a life of loneliness that she has to bear with. Maupassant, on the other hand, addresses the same conflict with dark humor and satire. Of the two, Joyce creates a more distinctive image of a woman who has nothing, who is more pitiable, because of her lack of awareness and admission of her life’s perpetual struggles.

“School Ties” Film Analysis

I have decided to watch movie† School Ties† because it talks about Americans college students from 1950s and their way of looking at race and religion. ‘School Ties' addresses the prevalent anti-Semitism views in the USA. But it also presents discrimination and social pressure to ‘fit in', the urge to deny one's ideals and beliefs in order to be accepted by environment. Main character of the movie David Green is a Jewish kid who is very talented in football, this skill gets him a full scholarship to an exclusive New England Prep School and thereby a one in a million chance to get into Harvard.At the beginning of the movie we can see that David has to pay a high price because of his Jewish heritage. Before living to school David stopped at the local teen hangout to say goodbye to his friends, while doing it he get taunted by a member of a rival gang and called â€Å"Jewish buster†, after hearing that remark David fought him, it seems like he is used to g etting respect from others by force. On the arrival day at the new school, David is advised by the sports coach to keep his Jewishness to himself.It is upsetting to know that even school officials are not able to tolerate his religion. Later, in the dormitory, David meets his upper-class schoolmates who are patently anti-Semitic, more because it's the commonly accepted attitude than for any specific, personal reasons. Their casually spoken remarks bother David, but he does not react to it because he wants to fit in. He realizes that they'll tolerate his not being as rich or as connected as them better than the fact of him being Jewish.David is willing to sacrifice a lot in order to be part of the group, even though it compromises his upbringing. He hides his Jewishness because he knows the reaction it will provoke. Yet he still sneaks off in the middle of the night to celebrate the Jewish New Year. In the middle of the movie fact of David being a Jew comes out and at that moment his world falls apart. Each of David's classmates reacts differently to the realization that they have made friends with a Jew. These reactions vary from cautious acceptance to outright condemnation .Although most of David's classmates, blatantly and continuously proclaims that Jews are dirty, greedy, and worthless. His new friends do not want to have anything to do with him, his girlfriend dumps him and explains that she does not want to be ridiculed by others and hear comments of† how it is to kiss a Jew† David has a hard time understanding entire situation; he's still the same person after all. He confronts his room-mate Chris, who tries to pretend it isn't so much about being a Jew as about having lied to them.According to him David should have told him from the beginning that he was a Jew. David defends himself by pointing out that Chris hadn't told him about being a Methodist. Ostracized on all sides, David now faces harassment nasty remarks in the dining room and the n a Nazi banner in his room saying â€Å"Go home Jew† During the history exam one of the boys cheats and loses a copy chit he was using, Professor finds it and requires the cheater to admit; unfortunately no one is ready to take the blame. Therefore boys trying to decide themselves which one of them is guilty.Boys spending long time debating and their votes are divided between David and Dillon. By the end they decide to blame David because of his Jewish heritage, when David’s roommate is trying to defend him one of the boys makes a mean remark toward him saying â€Å"You rather give up one of us for the price of a stupid Jew†. Boys ending up in favor of Dillon and force David to admit something he had not done. David is told to go and admit his ‘crime' to the Principal. Deeply hurt, David sees no other way than to comply with this obvious ganging up. He goes to the Principal's Office and takes the blame.But, fortunately, the truth came out because one of t he boys who saw Dillon cheated informs school officials before David admits. Dillon is summarily expelled and David is asked to stay on. The Principal wants to ‘forget' the incident even happened, but David refuses to do so. â€Å"You used me for football†, he says, â€Å"Now I'll use you to get into Harvard†. The movie presents many types of microagression while analyzing it we can easily distinguish microassault that refers to verbal and nonverbal attack to convey discriminatory and biased sentiments.In the movie boys intentionally attack David verbally and nonverbally when they find out that he is Jewish, it is definitely an example of overt discrimination. On every occasion they freely express derogatory feelings and opinions that they hold against David’s â€Å"otherness†. It is really upsetting that actions like that are going on in one of the most prestigious Colleges that should actually be an example to others of how to treat diversity, ins tead of discriminating it should teach acceptance and tolerance.I really enjoy a movie and I believe It well presents a struggle that every one of us could have facing such a great opportunities. Deciding between religion which is part of our identity or being successful in academic career can be pretty challenging task. I think film â€Å"School ties† brought into a discussion a real issue which is very relevant, we all want to be part of dominant group and in order to do so we often must gave up some part of our identity which is distinct, unfortunately such a decision will never make us fully satisfied with ourselves.

Comparative politics and political ideas Assignment

Comparative politics and political ideas - Assignment Example he political system in North Korea does not function to benefit the people that it ought to serve and, therefore, an active presidential democracy should be established where political leaders would be chosen by the universal salvage rather than the current handpicked hereditarily authority. Democracy ensures that the most suitable candidate is elected to office to actualize the needs of the people. Political representation also ensures leaders to work hard because they would face the people in the next election. Political representation has been working efficiently in majority of the nations, in the world and would work well, in North Korea. Presidential system has the most accountable democracies in the world. They ensure that public resources are accounted, unlike a totalitarian dictatorial system. Dictatorship thrives in wastage and engagement, in selfish agenda that ruin the economic fundamentals of the country. Presidential systems thrive better in a free market economy. This help in equitably allocating the scarce resources to the most deserving sectors in the economy. There is no agreed definition of democracy, but it is that system of government that exercises power on behalf of the people. It is a system of government that respects the freedom and rights of individuals. China has been exercising de facto totalitarian authority in the expense of democracy. Though the country has denied people political liberty, it has expanded its economic freedom to citizens and local and foreign companies. Both Israel and Palestine have a genuine argument on the conflict between the two warring communities. As it has been said the most deadly conflict have been the clash between right and right and not right and wrong. Therefore, the mediation of the conflict has found it difficult to find common ground for which both parties can agree on. However, it is the understanding of the causes of the conflict that can help address the situations. The original composition of

Mobile Online Gambling in the United States Essay

Mobile Online Gambling in the United States - Essay Example Mobile online gambling in the United States has become so outrageously flared up with traditional gambling being translated into mobile online applications that are carried out with simple touches and delicate presses. Although it was initially denied legalization way back in 2002, online gambling, particularly mobile online gambling has been decriminalized with a lower court dissenting that the Federal Wire Act does not rule out online gambling on a game of chance. As a result, various online platforms have designed various mobile online gambling that includes poker, casinos, sports betting, bingo, lotteries, and horse racing betting among others. The most common tools used to participate in a mobile online gambling are tablet computers, smart phones, and even mobile phones. And in 2011, it has been found that there are more than twelve online casinos doing gambling operations. These mobile casino games are able to rake billions of dollars out from the pocket of mobile gambling enthusiasts. The money is generated by participants making bets on a particular game, which are then paid through credit cards, debit cards or through various electronic commerce business companies such as PayPal or Skrill. Many signs have confirmed the rapidly increasing participation of gamblers in mobile gambling. In the United States, the surge cropped up as a result of the repealing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement of 2006, allowing people to reengage in mobile online gambling. Projections come out to show that more and more people are drawn to involve in the online gambling market activities, especially with many smart phones and tablet computers upgrading their features. Although, many casinos use simulated monies in carrying out online gambling, today there are over 100 mobile online games that allow the use of genuine money. This ongoing development in the mobile gambling is projected to rise indefinitely. The projections can

Microl8 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Microl8 - Essay Example (c) The slope of demand function is – 2. It tells that with the increase in quantity demanded by 1 unit, price of that good or service decreases by $2 (or 2 currency units). (d) The slope of supply function is 1. It tells that with the increase in quantity supplied by 1 unit, price of that good or service increases by $1 (or 1 currency unit). ... That’s why any change in prices of food is prominent and significant for them, which makes their food demand flexible in response to its price changes; i.e. with the changes in price, they vary their food consumption accordingly. However, U.S. is a high-income country. Its consumption is diversely distributed to variety of luxury goods in addition to the necessity goods. Thus, food consumption of American people comprises of a smaller portion of their income; in fact it is much smaller if compared with a low-income country as Tanzania. That’s why any change in food prices is not so observed by them which makes their food demand almost irresponsive to price. In short, high elasticity of food demand in Tanzania imply higher level of its foods purchases as compared to that in U.S. where food purchases are not so higher as compared to the purchases of other goods – luxury goods (Parkin n.d., p. 95). Taxes S’ (= S+T) P S D Q With the imposition of tax, supply c urve shifts left as tax serves as increasing cost of production for producers. Now, the price paid by the consumer (PD) is not the same as that received by the supplier (PS) as the difference is to be paid as a tax; there would be no equilibrium now (The Impact of an Excise Tax or Subsidy on Price n.d.). It can be illustrated here in the graph that since the customer has to pay more price than before and since suppliers cost increases due to the tax, the market price would be increased and due to the increase in price, there would be leftward movement along the demand curve and thus the quantity demanded would be decreased. (a) Tax revenue would be greater from the good for which price increase would not much

Trespass On The Person; Battery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Trespass On The Person; Battery - Essay Example In the case of Wilkinson v Downtan [1897] 2 QB 57Â  emotional anguish was held to be battery, irrespective of the fact that there was no physical contact with the claimant. The defendant told the claimant as a form of bad joke that her husband had been seriously injured. The claimant suffered emotional distress and had to be taken to the hospital due to the shock suffered. The person being battered may not necessary be aware of the act or the harmful nature of the action being carried out against his/her person and causation may be direct or indirect. It is further not necessary to prove damage in order to get an award. The degree of offensive or harmful standard is measured against what a reasonable man in the omnibus would deem offensive or harmful, when he analyses the contact objectively. Further battery does not have to entail physical to physical contact, this is because, touching an object that is construed to be intimately connected to another person with the owners consent is also deemed to be battery. Further, there may be a disconnect of events between the defendants actions and the plaintiff damage; and still the court will construe battery to have occurred. If for example person A sets a trap for person B in the form of a mouse trap, battery occurs when person B is actually caught in the trap. As stated earlier it not material that the victim is aware that the tort is being carried out. A good example is when a doctor is performing a caesarian section and in the process decides to and the doctor for his own personal reasons decides to take uterus, then battery has occurred. Further battery occurs when the doctor allows the his visiting housewife to help with the operation, this is because the consent to the procedure only entails persons to who the patient agreed to and not persons she could not have anticipated take part in the process. Intent is another principle relevant to the tort of trespass to the person. It means that the person carrying o ut the tortuous act desires the consequences of his action. The American law institute further echoes this definition by construing intent to mean the consequences of the act rather than the act itself. There are various types of intents depending on the nature of one’s action consequences. Specific intent refers to a situation where A intended the actions arising from his conduct. A good example is when A, loads a gun, aims and fires at B. The subjective state that person A intended the consequence of his actions. General intent on the other hand refers to a situation where the consequences are far more reaching than the original though the actor was certain, or substantially certain of a degree of consequence. Then in such a case the law will conclude that he intended the magnitude of the consequences of his action. However, if the probability of a consequence occurring are minimal, then he the law will construe that it was mere negligence. Transferred intent occurs in a si tuation where a person A intends to assault person B but in the process, batters person C. There law will transfer intentions of A as to intending to also batter C. This was established in the case of Livingston v Ministry of defenc [1984] NILR 356 , A intended to hit B with a Baton, he accidentally missed and hit C instead. It was held that A battered C. The doctrine of transfer intent occurs in the cases of assault and battery, where an intended assault becomes a battery after the

Federal Protective Service (FPS) Research Paper

Federal Protective Service (FPS) - Research Paper Example Today, the question that remains is whether the DHS has served its role by ensuring high security standards, or if it has failed to perform its role as a security body (Haulley, 2005). The Federal Protective Services (FPS) is under the DHS, and serves the purpose of providing security and services of law enforcement to the federal buildings, property, facilities, and other state assets. In order to serve this purpose, FPS has a mission statement that emphasizes their purpose and objectives, which are mainly concerned with security. FPS has therefore, employed close to 1,300 employees. These comprise of police officers, criminal investigators, support personnel, and law enforcement security officers. In addition, FPS has contracted approximately 15,000 security guards, who are in charge of the security of more than 9,000 buildings and their occupants (Haulley, 2005). In order to offer protection and security to federal facilities and personnel, FPS employs a variety of security measur es, found in its physical security program. These include installation of magnetometers, alarm systems, as well as entry control systems, which are operational in federal buildings every day. In addition, the FPS provides uniformed police response to security concerns, and provides follow-ups on such concerns through further investigations. Different seminars on crime prevention are offered to a variety of agencies by the FPS, depending on their organizational needs. FPS has hoped that all these will propel it to becoming a world-class security agency (Goldstein, 2009). In providing buildings security and protection of other critical infrastructure, the FPS uses strategies that enable detection, deterrence, disruption, and investigation of threats using authorities concerned with law enforcement. Additionally, FPS mainly relies on its risk management program, which is supposed to be set to the standards of Interagency Security Committee and the National Infrastructure Protection Pla n. Additionally, FPS ensures effective communication and coordination among its law enforcement personnel, by using the MegaCenter, its central communication point (Goldstein, 2009). Although the FPS works to ensure the security of federal buildings, it has not come up with comprehensive measures to address the security concerns in these buildings. For instance, the software FPS has adopted for security inspections is ineffective in achieving high security standards. The Modified Infrastructure Survey Tool (Mist) is a security software that FPS used to inspect federal buildings and expose any security threats. This included simplistic tests, which were then uploaded in a centralized database, after recommendations from the software. This software was unreliable, as it did not allow for comparison of security risks, between different federal buildings. Additionally, this software cannot address terrorism threats, since it lacks the capability to factor their potential consequences (G oldstein, 2009). Apart from Mist, the FPS developed another system called the Risk Assessment and Management Program (Ramp), which would be used to test federal buildings for security threats, but equally failed. In its initial use, this software caused the mysterious loss of recorded inspections from its database. In addition, ramp could not connect to its servers in remote areas. Therefore, the inspectors lacked a way of ensuring that the

Central Park Five and Scotts Brothers Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Central Park Five and Scotts Brothers - Article Example From this paper it is clear that the crime of rape/sexual assault in the context of these two cases is a race crime. It is imagined that since the Black and Latino  boys were around when the rape cases occurred, they are expected to have a link with the occurrence. Black and Latino  have long been linked to crime cases.This study outlines that  for Scottsboro Boys, the press mobilized the public to always consider the sentence on the boys a miscarriage of justice. The media always questioned the way in which the case was conducted. The same applied for The Central Park Five that had the press always insisting that the boys were innocent and the case was simply made-up. For the two cases, the fact that the reporter considers most contemptible is the reality that the youth of the boys in question was robbed. For The Central Park Five, he is shocked that the police ignored there existing no physical evidence. For Scottsboro Boys, I am surprised that only black boys were arrested.   Miscarriage of justice is evident in the two cases. As Burns et al indicate, it is true that Raymond, Kevin, Antron, Yusef and Kharey witnessed weird behaviors in the park. Forcing them to confess to the rape case is indeed illegal. The same applies to Scottsboro Boys who were falsely accused of the rape of two women in 1931 whilst on a train. The constitutional right to have proper evidence prior to sentencing was violated.

Joe Keller Character Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Joe Keller Character Analysis - Essay Example In the play’s plot, there exists other characters who play significant roles in the story’s development, characters who will help in expounding on this papers thesis that revolves around dynamism and static nature. This paper will look in depth at the dynamic character of Chris, who is the son to Joe and Katie. Chris is a dynamic person because of his anticipation to see change, his romantic relationship with Kate and because of his heroism in the war. Chris Keller was a soldier who found his way home after the war and was disturbed by what he saw when he came back. He was principally troubled by the fact that the world and in specificity his parents’ home and neighborhood was unperturbed regardless of the war ordeals. He is naturally dynamic because of his anticipation to see change as a result of the war in which he had fought hard to survive. Chris is portrayed as a man who had succumbed to change as a result of the war in which he had observed some of his col leagues fight do hard but eventually died. â€Å"We used to shoot a man who acted like a dog, but honor was real there ...But here? This is the land of the great big dogs, you don't love a man here, and you eat him. That's the principle; the only one we live by - it just happened to kill a few people this time, that's all. The world's that way...† (Andrew 167). ... Chris Keller is a dynamic person on the basis of his romantic relationship to Ann, who is a former girlfriend to Chris’ brother, Larry. In the beginning Chris and Ann had fallen in love as they used to write letters to each other. Chris even requested her to come to his home to propose marriage. Chris is a dynamic character because at first he wanted to be with Ann, but at the end of the play he no longer wants her, and this is illustrated in the conversation they have close to the end of the play. The conversation goes like â€Å"Ann: I am coming with you†¦Chris: No, Ann, I can’t make that†¦ Ann: I do not ask you to do anything about Joe. I swear I never will; Chris: Yes, you do. In you hart you always will.† Chris did not want to be with her anymore because he started thinking that she is going to look at him like in his dad. In the beginning he believed in honest of his father and at the end he changed his mind. At the end of the play, we find Chris to be a person who came to be devastated after learning of his father’s deceit and outright lies in the case of selling damaged cylinder heads to the American Air force fighting in World War two. For three years, Joe had lied about his involvement in the sale of the damaged cylinder heads and entirely blamed his business associate Steve Deever of the sub-standard products. Steve was found blameworthy and incarcerated whereas Gorge was set free. Fate would play its role when Steve’s son, George pays visits him (Steve) in jail. George learns from his father how Joe had set him up whereas he was innocent. The enraged George finds his way to Joe’s family house to face him and his family about his deceitful actions. It is in this scenario that

Alvin Plantinga and Pluralism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Alvin Plantinga and Pluralism - Essay Example Religious pluralism can be seen as a policy or attitude that accepts the diversity of other religious belief systems, and their importance within the society. Religious pluralism can either be seen as a representation of the view that the religion of one individual is not the only source of truth. Pluralists believe that some other religions have an element of truth. Therefore, there is a need of referring to these religions and their values. This concept of religious pluralism has always existed since time immemorial. This is because the traditional societies used to worship many gods. An example is the leadership of the Roman Empire, which embraced the worship of many gods and other religions. The Roman priests used to borrow from other religious teachings, and incorporate them in their beliefs. For instance, the Romans worshipped Jupiter as the Supreme God. This was a supreme God of the ancient Greeks, and they referred to him as Zeus. Religious exclusivism, on the other hand, is a doctrine that teaches that only one religion is superior to other religions. It does not recognize or identify the principles of other religious beliefs. In its normative nature, exclusivism is the belief that the religion of an individual is superior to the religion of other individuals (Peterson, William, Bruce and David, 22). Exclusivists believe that the principles and teachings of other religions are wrong, and uncalled for. The exclusivist doctrine is always linked to the teaching of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

The initial stages of big business Essay Example for Free

The initial stages of big business Essay While the initial stages of big business trace back to pre-Civil War America, it was not until the post-Civil War time period that large corporations effected on American society. From Rockefeller to Vanderbilt to Carnegie and all in between, these men and their businesses had unprecedented influence on American life. John Rockefeller created the Standard Oil Trust, with the intention of his business, Standard Oil Company, becoming the oil monopoly; short after, The Homestead Strike against Carnegie Steel aroused massive public support for unions. Likewise, big businesses’ growth and influences brought about a decline in the cost of living and the birth of a new political party. As a whole, the rise of big business in post-Civil War America caused a downward economic spiral while simultaneously increasing American hostility toward government and corporations, ultimately leading to the birth of new political and philosophical movements. The growth of corporations in post-Civil War America led to economic deflation which subsequently widened the gap between the rich and the poor, paving the way for a change in labor and the relationships between social classes. The chart form Historical Statistics of the United States depicts the connection of the increase in big business with the improved innovations of mass production in agriculture. While improved farming equipment increased the crop production, the demand for produce declined, creating economic deflation. In response to the farmer’s plight, Charles Macune came up with the idea of the subtreasury plan, a plan that would allow farmers to store their nonperishable commodities in government warehouses until the market prices rose. Also, as a response to the farmer’s struggle the Farmer’s Alliance was created with the intention of alleviating farming hardships. Similar to agricultural mass production, Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie demonstrates how the rise in big business contributed to the mass production that spurred department stores. Department stores like Macy’s and Wanamaker’s sold mass amounts of the same product for rock-bottom prices. As opposed to the few that could afford the pricey handmade garments in years prior, these prices allowed the masses to engage in commercial activity. The growth of big businesses clearly goes hand-in-hand with consolidation, where there is an increase availability of consumer goods for society. In order for there to be department stores and an increase in agricultural innovations, there need to be a transition from specialized labor to mass production. David Well’s, Recent Economic Changes†¦ asserts the opinions of a corporation leader on the switch to mass production by comparing its effectiveness and necessity to that of a military. While Wells believes specialization of labor left workers unskilled and useless, mass production stripped the worker of his independence and decreased the worker’s pride in his craft. The economic demands for mass production created sweatshops as opposed to the one-man-owned small businesses that operated prior. The rise of big business changed labor production and impacted the economy with mass production; it also changed the labor force, allowing more opportunity for employment. Prior to this time, women generally were not active in the work force, yet the picture of female typists depicts a slew of women preforming the same task. Mass production allows for more labor opportunities because unspecialized labor entails little skill. By requiring more workers, big businesses have opened the doors for women in the workplace. Andrew Carnegie’s, â€Å"Wealth† displays how the general population felt the impact of big business through the theories of â€Å"Social Darwinism† and â€Å"Social Gospel. † Carnegie believed that the wealthy were fit for success and money which is why they should handle the finances as opposed to the poor, who were subject to elites’ decisions. However, the rich needed to use their surplus funds to better the community and the lives of the less fortunate because, â€Å"He who dies rich dies in disgrace. Carnegie was a model of â€Å"Social Gospel,† considering munificent donations to parks, universities, and museums. Due to these theories, the poor experienced a new financial relationship with the wealthy, where they received generous luxuries. The impacts of big business influenced the economy and lead to deflation, a larger economic gap between the rich and the poor, a change in labor, alterations in relationships between social classes , and ultimately contributed to shifts in government that spawned new political ideals. Similar to the economic alterations brought about by the growth of corporations, big businesses contributed to a corrupt government and a wave of unprecedented political movements. The cartoon, â€Å"Big Bosses of the Senate illustrates the public’s view of government being run by the leaders of large corporations and senators aligned with trusts. The issue with the senate was that senators were not directly elected by the people and the senate was close to less powerful citizens. This allowed men with their own financial goals ahead of the welfare of the people to be elected. Cartoonist Thomas Nast earned fame with a portrayal of senator â€Å"Boss† Tweed, New York City’s wealthy convicted fraud and extortionist, as a vulture devouring the city’s bones. In 1869, Tweed proved he was a corrupt politician when used his power to ensure his protege, John Hoffman won governor, bribed Republicans, and was convicted of forgery and larceny. Due to the corruption in government, the Sherman Anti-Trust act was created; this legislation outlawed trusts and monopolies that fixed prices. In response to the corruption the Congress passed the Pendleton Civil Service, where candidates for federal positions were thoroughly examined, and the Interstate Commerce Act, where the Interstate Commerce Commission oversaw the interstate practices of the railroad industry. Another issue with government that was directly related to big business was the lack of organized labor. George McNeil’s, The Labor Movement, explains how helpless laborers felt about the excess power of those in charge of large companies. To challenge the unrestrained power, Oliver Kelley founded the Grange, an organization intended to help farmers, â€Å"buy less and produce more, in order to make famers more self-sustaining. † The Grange focused their wrath on attacking railroads which charged higher rates for short runs as opposed to long hauls. In 1877, the Grange brought the court case Munn V. S. Illinois to the Supreme Court; the Supreme Court declared the â€Å"Granger Laws† (there appeals to the railroads) as constitutional and upheld the law that set a maximum rate for the storage of grain. While the Grange targeted some of the public’s issues with leader’s unrestrained power, most people felt like they were being exploited by large firms and wanted a way to stand up to the leaders. Samuel Gomper’s, What Does Labor Want addresses the public’s desire for unions that will ensure adequate wages and compensation for company’s negligence. Since so many American’s desired the right to directly elect senators and have the right to organize, the political party, the Populist Party, was formed with a platform containing the direct election of senators, civil service reform, and an eight-hour workday. The document, â€Å"People’s Party Platform,† discusses how the Populist Party was dedicated to returning the government to the people, ending oppression, injustice, and poverty, and strengthening central government. The Populist Party supported referendum, the policy where voters could enact a law or express their views a proposed measure, and the subtreasury plan. Major advocates of the Populist Party included James Weaver who was the president of the party and a presidential candidate in 1892, galvanized supporters, and forefront speaker Mary Lease who spoke about big businesses making Americans â€Å"wage slaves. Henceforth, the growth of big businesses’ contributions to a corrupt unrestrained government and newfound political movements consequently produced a plethora of sentiments from the American people. The effects of big business in post-Civil war America roused avid opinions from citizens in response to the third-class population and corporation leader’s excessive power. Carnegie’s â€Å"Wealth† exhibits the prominent turn-of-the-century philosophy of â€Å"Social Gospel,† the belief that great wealth comes with great responsibilities. The belief came about in response to the unprecedented surplus of wealth the wealthy acquired through their profitable business endeavors. Carnegie warned the public the, â€Å"The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced,† because men have the duty to regard their surplus fortunes as a trust to be administered for the benefit of the community. Despite the fact that Carnegie responded positively to the impacts of growing corporations, many people found themselves dissatisfied with their new working conditions. McNeil’s, Labor Movement, demonstrates the laborer’s belief that the leaders of big business obtain too much power and control over the workers. The leaders placed unfair monopolies on the food and fuel industries, corrupted the government, withheld lawful wages, and discharged and employee without cause. If employers tried to organize, corporation leaders could resort to blacklisting, a method in which he would close a factory to break a labor movement before a union could form. The majority of citizens did not respond well to the unrestrained power; Gomper’s, What Does Labor Want, documents labor’s demands for the right to organize, adequate wages, and compensation for company’s negligence. In response to the people’s demands, Terrence Powderly founded the Knights of Labor, an organization which attempted to unify all working men and women. The Knights of Labor denounced â€Å"wage-slavery† and encouraged workers to combine their wages so that they could collectively purchase mines, factories, and stores. After declining in national importance, the American Federation of Labor (AFL), an alliance of skilled workers in craft unions, began to grow. The AFL opposed political activity not directly related to the union and advocated its â€Å"bread and butter† goals such as higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions. Over time, the AFL grew to be America’s most powerful labor union and in 1904, Samuel Gompers was recognized as the national spokesman for American laborers. While many people’s plights were alleviated by these organizations, some people still were devastated by the expansion of big business. George Rice’s â€Å"How I was ruined by Rockefeller,† demonstrates how Rockefeller’s monopoly on oil poked major holes in Rice’s wallet. Rice could only by the Standard Oil Company’s oil, as opposed his prior oil that was not only the same quality oil, but also, it was three cents cheaper. This practice exemplified the â€Å"American Rose Theory,† where in order for a gardener to have the best rose, he needs to cut all the other roses; in order for a company to be the best, it needed to eliminate all of its competition. This theory also plays into vertical integration, where a company buys out its competitors in order to ensure that it is the greatest. As a whole, the growth of corporations’ effects on the economy and politics were the main reasons for new philosophies pertaining to the social classes and new political demands and ideals. From the severe economic deflation, to the increased political tensions, to the birth of new political and philosophical movements, the impacts of growing big business on all aspects of post-Civil War American life are truly evident. Had mass production not contributed to agricultural innovations, then the economic deflation would not have had such a profound effect on farmer’s livelihoods. If the government was not controlled by large corporation leaders and senators aligned with trusts, then there is a large possibility that the Populist Party would have never been born. If the people were not perturbed by leader’s power, then labor movements such as the American Federation of Labor would not have occurred. Overall, the rise of big business completely changed the face and functions of American society.