Evaluating Change at Alegent Health

Alegent Health (AH) conducted six large group interventions or â€Å"decision accelerators† (DA) to generate innovative strategies for the six clinical service areas. Researchers at USC’s Center for effective organizations contracted with AH to assess the impact of the interventions and help the organization learn how to leverage further change. The implementation feedback involved executive interviews and surveys from people who participated in the â€Å"review DAs†, thus reflecting on implementation progress and plan future changes and support a positive assessment of overall progress. People generally agreed that the implementation of the clinical strategies was going well. They were positive about social capital that had been created by the DAs, especially between managers and physicians, as well as evidence of culture change. Overall the majority of persons believed that the DAs were a great energizer for the organization, generated comprehensive strategies and catalyzed important changes. However the strengths of the DAs were mostly felt by top management while the perception of the DAs was weak in the middle of the organization. The absence of formal change management processes made important resource allocation decisions, trade-offs on technology, and coordination of quality processes across the systems more difficult. When the DA had more community participants, there were broader participation in the discussions, the debates were more intense, and the DA stayed on track. The results from the survey data revealed that the higher percentage of physicians the result was less comprehensive on the other hand when the DA had a high concentration of community participants, the vision was more comprehensive. Overall the DA affected a variety of changes in organization either directly or indirectly. The organization’s initial use of the DA process as a strategic visioning intervention persists in the minds of most organization members. DAs cannot do everything and complementary governance and implementation processes are necessary. Discus the strengths and weaknesses of the assessment. Once the intervention is done it should be evaluated to determine if it is producing the intended results. Feedback gives the desired result if the implementation of the interventions were correct. The strengths of the evaluation were collected through interviews and surveys whose results were positive. Almost everyone â€Å"buy into† the clinical strategies, the DAs were a great energizer hence a high level of commitment. Clarity was gained at the top management level and many physicians. The involvement of community participants resulted in a more comprehensive vision. While the weaknesses involve the organization’s ability to leverage the change, the data revealed a more complex set of issues, weak perception in the middle of the organization, the absence of formal change management and the outcomes of meeting with top management and physicians revealed a less comprehensive vision. Participants thought that the strategy should be more aggressive business oriented How could it have been improved? Their needed to be more internal support to leverage the change, hence people would not feel so overwhelmed by the changes. The changes needed to be programmable to facilitate a formal implementation of the intervention process. Their needed to be more sensing and calibration as it was evident that the community participants produce a more comprehensive vision. There also need to be more internal support to assist the middle of the organization. Reward allocation could be used to gain more support from the middle organization. How much confidence do you have in the lessons learned for this organization? I have a high level of confidence in the lessons from this case because the intervention characteristics were evident and the researchers made use of the institutionalization processes.

Accounting Materiality Case Essay

After the release of the SFAC No. 8, your definition of materiality has been brought into question. In the past, your rule for determining materiality was based solely on quantitative data, where an event was only material if its impact was more than a given percentage of the income statement amounts. Using a quantitative measure is effective because it keeps the process objective; however there are also times when the quantitative difference doesn’t adequately demonstrate the true effect of an action. For this reason, â€Å"materiality is an entity-specific aspect of relevance based on the nature [quality] or magnitude [quantity] or both items,† as stated in Q:11 of the SFAC No. 8. For The Framework Company each of the following closing entries must be judged on a case-by-case level on the parameters of whether it could influence decisions that our users make. See more: Ethnic groups and racism essay 1)In this entry, the company is paying a fine of a foreign subsidiary. The amount is less than 3% of net income, making it quantitatively immaterial. The description of the case lists that after the fine is paid, business will go back to normal with only slight changes. However, this is qualitatively material because it shows that the company did something unlawful which makes users question the company’s integrity and ethical standards. 2)This entry shows an investment in an expansion of the company. The impact on the company amounts to only 4.3% of its total assets (it was predetermined that the bar for materiality is 5%) so it is not quantitatively material. However, in terms of this action affecting a user’s decision about the company, this entry is definitely material. It represents an expansion of the company which users can either see as promising for future growth or frightening because it’s a risky investment. 3)Generally a loss, no matter the size isn’t seen as material due to the fact that it tends to be a one-time thing, compared to an expense that occurs regularly. However, in this case the amount of the loss proves to be material both quantitatively and qualitatively. Its impact on net income is above the 3% predetermined materiality threshold, making it quantitatively material. Also, it was determined that more of these losses may be coming in the near future for this line and that it’s becoming more delinquent. These two qualitative aspects are very impactful for a user’s decision regarding the company because they show serious problems with one of the company’s most profitable line and puts huge question marks on the quality of the product. 4)In this entry, the management made the decision to self regulate based on a court case of a similar company. The amount of additional expense accounts for 4% of the net income, making it a quantitatively material. The main reason this decision is also qualitative is due to the fact that the additional $200,000 in expenses needs to be explained to the user to show that The Framework Company is being responsible and cautious by policing themselves. 5)The ruling in a litigation case is that The Framework Company owes credit customers 325,000 in damages, which is 6.5% of net income. The company plans to appeal the case and believes they have a good defense in that appeal. A large portion of their customer base was involved in this case, meaning if the ruling is overturned some of their customers could take their business elsewhere. That makes this entry both quantitative and qualitatively material. 6)This 200,000 dollar loan that didn’t show up in the financial statements would only increase the assets by 0.08%, making it quantitatively immaterial. This event is a one-time occurrence for the company, because the chance of a payment being â€Å"mishandled† should be small. Since it is a small portion of the balance sheet and is something that won’t frequently happen, this entry is quantitatively and qualitatively immaterial. Based on The Framework Company’s current accounting standards, this set of post-closing entries is quantitatively material because the sum of all the changes is greater than 3% of their net income and equal to 5% of assets. Even if the sum of the changes didn’t surpass the preset threshold, it would still be smart to report these entries based on the idea of conservatism. The accountants are responsible for the information released, so if they leave something out that a user would deem important, they are liable. So, when in doubt, it’s best to release the information. The SFAC No. 8 mentions a number of times that cases of materiality, such as this one, cannot be decided by a general set of standards. The concept of materiality is too difficult to restrain. Under our current system, the expansion branch (entry 2) would be considered immaterial due to is size relative to our total assets. However, this entry really is material because it means so much to the future of the company and that’s what financial report users are looking for. The only standard that can be set when dealing with materiality is does this entry â€Å"influence decisions that users make on the basis of the financial information† (SFAC No. 8, Q:11).

Intertextual Relationship Between Renoir’s Parte de Campagne Essay

France can be credited as the home to the film industry. French film directors can be said to have invented the whole concept of cinema. For instance, as early as 1895, Lumiere brothers produced a 50 seconds film titled The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station and this led to pundits to name it as the first bold step in the cinema industry. They continued in their production until the First World War where they shifted focus to producing documentaries films and newsreel. However they had already laid the bedrock for the advancement of the film industry and other pioneers took it in the 1930’s. (Hortelano, 2011, p.256) While during the First World War, the cinema industry seemed to have grounded to a halt, the period after 1920 going to 1930’s show emergence of younger film directors with much enthusiasm in the industry. Such included Marcel Carne, Rene Clair and Jean Renoir (Conley 2007 p.166). He adds that they experimented on wide styles and cinematic themes in the process. However, France was plunged into the Second World War in 1939 which consequently led to slow down the evolution of the cinema industry. This did not pick up until 1950’s where again France show emergence of young budding enthusiastic film directors who are regarded as the new wave, Nouvelle Vague, of cinema industry. This included among others, Jacques Rivette, Jean lucques Godard, Loius Malle, Francois Truffaut and Alain Resnais. This group of film makers believed that a filmmaker has possession of the film without interference from either studios or producers. This paper will discuss Partie de Campagne and Les Mistons., two films made by two great French film makers, Jean Renoir and Francois Truffaut respectively. Renoir’s Partie de Campagne is a forty-minute film produced in 1936. It is regarded as the greatest unfinished film ever made. While many films are abandoned and fail to break the ground due to unreliability of financiers or filmmaker’s own volition to abandon the project, Parte de Campagne was abandoned due to persistent bad weather (Miller, 2006, p.3). However, despite it being unfinished, it was released ten years down the line. Renoir is famed for producing films with lots of realism and satirical content (Hortelano, 2011, p.257). Just like Truffaut’s film, the film Parte de Campagne is a romance filled film based on a story by Guy de Maupassant and the plot of the film revolves around a family that decides to take sometime in the country side. While in the village and as the men family members proceed to fishing, the mother, Juliette (Jeanne Marken), is involved in a flirtation with another man from the village while her daughter, Herinette (Sylvia Bataille) , also gets into intimacy with a babbling young man, Henri, identified as George Saint-Saens. However, being a vacation, the family leaves and never to return in the same place any sooner. When they did fourteen years later, so much had changed. We learn their love was unfortunately hampered by Anatole (Paul Temps), a partner of Monsieur Dufour that Henriette was forced to marry. The former lover, George Saint-Saens, undertook to renew the initial relationship but to no avail. They both try to catch up but the family heads to the city. Episodes on what happened were never shot as the project was abandoned (Miller, 2006, p.5) Exemplar, the shots of the summer storm and the long sequence of the rain firing the river that, underlying the explosion of passion of the natural element, and between Henry and Henriette. The sequence leads the film to the next encounter of the lovers, dramatically resulting in the resigned acceptation of the course that social norms have imposed on their existences. It has been argued that the film captures the importance details of the French history, at a time when there were no hostilities, in the 1900’s. Being produced 1936, no one would ever think what lay ahead in 1939 when France was involved in the war and Paris fell in 1940. The film captures the serenity of the moment when people were relatively care- free before the world fell into disgrace (Hortelano, 2011, p.258). On the other hand, Truffaut’s Les Mistons delves onto the lives of children. It was shot in 1957, when Truffaut was only twenty five years old. Unlike Renoir, Truffaut represents the second phase of French new wave in the cinema industry. However, the two seem to put emphasis on the theme of love. The subject, as will occur for most of Truffaut’s films is the result of a literary adaptation: a short story by Maurice Pons, contained in Les Virginales. But adaptation is not so much based on the principles of inventing without betraying the spirit of the text, but rather by the need to filter the situations offered by inspiration through the feelings and concerns of the author, by combining the elements of the story to traits of his personality. Telling the story of five teenagers who spend their time to monitor and harass a pair of lovers, during a sunny summer in a small town in the south of France (Nà ®mes), the film disposes to surprise and record, with participation and detachment together, the disturbances produced by a nascent sensuality, awakened by all the more insinuating and fleeting images, a new tenderness full of mystery fuelled by sweet visions of bare legs showing under fluttering skirts, of still images of breasts, furtive kisses exchanged in the dark of a movie theatre and of embraces favoured by the complicity of a deep forest. Bernadette is the origin and object of a prestigious discovery, symbol of a bright sensuality, mysterious and fascinating personification of the dark dreams and secret imaginations that populate the nights of adolescents in Nà ®mes. She becomes the victim of a hostile crowd as soon as the brats learn the impossibility to possess the object of desire, the sense of their strangeness as jealous witnesses, forced to only spy kisses and desire hoped tenderness. The camera takes on this helpless anger, clutching close behind the five Mistons, following them lovingly. The destruction of the couple has a remote character, is projected out of the exclusive world of adolescents: there is just a little bitterness, pity perhaps, only as a memory of the adventures of adolescence. Thematically, the film seems to anticipate, in an inaugural gesture, the main obsessions that make up the universe of director’s film: the cruelty of childhood, the fleeting nature of happiness, the unstoppable flight of time, the purity of feelings and the instability of the couple. Claude Beylie, in â€Å"Cahiers du cinà ©ma† comments upon the film â€Å"I ​​like this sincerity on the skin that follows them like the look of someone who has not forgotten his childhood, this luminous sensuality that they pursue (and the camera with them) without having the exact consciousness, this unbridled eroticism sifted through a demanding purity †¦ For me, some say, is like little pieces of wood. With small pieces of wood and a crazy talent put together, Truffaut reinvents cinema â€Å". (Alberto Barbera, Franà §ois Truffaut, Il Castoro Cinema, 1976) The film was the foundation of what Truffaut would be viewed in future as a romanticist. He attempted to make the film as sensuous as possible using affects such as reverse motion and slow motion in for instance the scene where Gerald is seen kissing Bernadette on the balcony (Dixon, 2006, p.6). Just like his hero Renoir, the shooting of the film was grounded for some time, as the cast took a ten days break and came back to continue as if nothing had happened. Being twenty five years then, it captures the moment of the time as it displays his love for the youth and relationships. It being shot in black and white does not diminish its feel. It adequately captures the serenity of the summer time and the bouncy energy of the youthful age (Hortelano, 2011, p.258). Truffaut’s creatively is portrayed in the fact that no boy stands out as the main play and hence they could be used interchangeably to play their role of admiration. So well was the synchronization that any boy chosen to appear on the scene would be seen to be representative of the entire idea of all boys’ infatuation (Conley 2007 p.166). This is based on his approach in acquiring the cast where he conducted interviews with boys in the age bracket eleven to fourteen, where he was looking for raw talent and best fits into the cast rather than theatrical experience. His desire to grow and uplift young people saw him recruit a young person for the position of director of production, his friend and collaborator Bazin (Dixon, 2006, p.5). In Les Mistons another feature that has accompanied the entire work of director is evident: quotes from other movies, but never a pure a cinephile divertissement but rather they are the filmic transposition of the sympathies and antipathies of Truffaut as a critic. You could almost say that the French director never fails to be a film critic and does so on newsprint, continuing to write about cinema, and in film, when substituting the typewriter with the camera. The film captures evident homages to the Lumià ¨re brothers, Jean Vigo, Roger Vadim, his friend Jacques Rivette, of which the two lovers see at the cinema Le coup du berger , but also a fierce critic to Chiens perdus sans collier, film by Jean Delannoy already crushed by Truffaut. In fact, one of the boys out of the cinema rips the poster while the others sing Colliers perdus sans chiens, reversing the lyrics of Paul Edmond Bacri Misraki which is part of the soundtrack of the film by Delannoy. Both Renoir, and years later, Truffaut managed to convey the message on the ‘frailty of human nature, the uncertain journey of human heart and the inevitability of passion taking over convectional social mores and the mutability of love’ (Miller, 2006, p.4). Both aueturs treat similar themes in a natural framework, signature of both’s poetic realism. Conclusion From the discussion above, it becomes apparent that both films can be categorized as short films. Yet they captured all the essence of a full blown film. Though both the films are short, the writers have been able to capture the theme ad impression intended. They were shot at a time when commercialization of film was not entrenched and as such, they are as authentic as they can be. In addition, coverage of the films was done in the natural setting using not so advanced technology and hence, they have both been regarded as masterpieces up-to-date. Reference Conley 2007, Cartographic cinema, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Dixon-Winston 2006, Senses of Cinema. [Online]. Available at: http://sensesofcinema.com/2006/cteq/mistons/ Hortelano, TJ 2011, Directory of World Cinema: Spain, Intellect, Bristol Miller, K 2006, Parte de Campagne. [Online]. Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028445/reviews

Middle East - 2 questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Middle East - 2 questions - Essay Example The discussion establishes that the Arab Spring has led to the formation of Islamic monarchs that instill democratic governance systems to ensure devolution of the region’s resources towards equated development. It is critical to acknowledge that the Palestinian and Israeli differences that in the present state revolve around the issues of terrorism and inhuman political practices. The Arab Spring has influenced the constituent countries’ political ideologies and administration practices to acknowledge the new changes in the contemporary society. Arguably, the presented research asserts that the organization has forced the countries to deviate from the full enforcement of the Sharia law. Further, the Middle East nations have been against the controversial relationships that have been stimulating warfare and terrorism activities between the Palestine and Israel nations, while blaming Israel for the atrocities. Therefore, it is evident that the Arab Spring has influenced the heated differences between the Middle East and Western economies. The Islam religion has been subject to criticism concerning its support for terrorism. Critically, the accusations are demeaning to ensure that the Muslim faith loses its significance over other religions; hence, reducing the chances by which others may adapt the faith2. The Arab Spring’s ideologies and support for the constituent nations’ political structures and practices have spurred the political unrest in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. The contemporary society has united towards the active demonstration against the inhuman activities being conducted by the nations in the above named Muslim nations3. It is known that religion is a choice to every human being, and the Arab Spring nations should deviate from engaging their disguised political interests towards the fight against the different ideologies.

Court Report Criminal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Court Report Criminal - Essay Example Paul’s Cathedral. The Old Bailey street would be on your left if you walk from Waterloo after crossing the Waterloo Bridge, turn right and keep going. It has two public gallery networks. Daily lists are in the notice board on the outside wall. Security is very strict so read the warning I have set out below. In Old Bailey Court you can wander in and out of dozens of courtrooms and see the most important judges like the Lord Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls at work. Daily lists and lots of information are in the main hall (Anonymous, 2012). My Visit to the Central Criminal Court (â€Å"Old Bailey†) I went to visit a murder case at the Old Bailey criminal court on 3rd, October 2012 and followed the case again on 10th, October 2012. I went to court number 14 and sat in the public gallery where I was allowed to take notes about this case. In my first visit to the court on 3rd of October 2012, there was the cross examination of the Manzar Juma who was charged with m urder of Ruby Love. The prosecution was giving cell site evidence to the jury, and showing all the text messaging that was exchanged between Juma and deceased women Ruby Love. Prosecution gave copies of all relevant material such as text messages, mobile coverage and addresses to the jury as well as to the QC and counsel of the Mr Juma, both the judge and Mr Juma see all the copies and read them out one by one. Cell site evidence contained all the information regarding where Mr Juma was a day before the death of Ruby and all the text messaging that came along with all recorded times and the time of their conversation. It was heard that there were changing of unpleasant words you could say, that they were having an argument as such (Kelly and Camber, 2011). The judge seemed to have matters well under control in his courtroom and went on the legal proceeding moving forward expeditiously. The jury heard that on the day of Ruby’s death, where Juma was located and how he had two m obile phones that he communicated with Ruby and in one of the text messages he had arranged to pick her up (Darbyshire, 2011). On 29th of December 2011, police rang the phone number that they had found on the mobile of Ruby love and that number belonged to Mr Juma. Shortly after the cell site evidence the prosecution gave an indication and evidence of both Juma’s blood examination of any indication of drugs, and also Ruby’s blood evidence was read out (Hardiman, 2012). The forensic toxicologists’ examination showed that the blood of Ruby Love had traces of Methadone, heroin, Cocaine, Ecstasy pills, cannabis and alcohol. The blood of Mr. Juma was also examined and tested for alcohol and drugs and indicated that he had traces of basic drugs such as cannabis and alcohol in his blood. In addition to this, experts also gave evidence of Ruby’s body fluid. As the prosecution was finished giving his evidence, the QC of Mr Juma called Mr Juma to the stand and he w as asked many questions from his counsel (Kirk, 2012). The prosecutor provided a big contrast to the defence attorney. Mr Juma said that he did not have a very good relationship with his father, and only saw him up until he was 15 years old. He denies murder. His QC asked him whether he had any trouble at school whilst growing up, and he replied, yes he did, from the moment he found out that his mother had tumour and he became very angry and upset, therefore he did not do very well at

Channel Design plan Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Channel Design plan - Term Paper Example A good channel distribution plan identifies the market segment that the products target, the preferences of the target customers, various market conditions and describes the appropriate structures that ought to be put in place so as to ensure efficient distribution of goods and services (John, 2002). Channel design planning enables products to grow from obscurity to become internationally recognized brands. This has made channel design planning one of the most demanded strategies in marketing in the contemporary world. The main essence of marketing channels is about making products and services available to consumers conveniently when, where and how they need them. A distribution channel entails a lot of strategies, most of which the consumer is not aware about because the consumer is only interested in getting the final product (Louis and David, 2000). The channels consist of very complex and dynamic systems which include distribution centers, technologies and strategies that are al l aimed at ensuring the customers can access the products and service more conveniently. This plan will focus on creating a channel design for my new business dealing in interior design. This is a new business that I have set up by establishing an interior design company. In this company I intend to create decor products for homes and sell the same on the website of my company. I also intend to offer a wide range of services relating to interior design. There is already an existing market for interior design with few companies already existing I the industry. The problem however is that the distribution channel is not well designed. Having my own channel design plan will make my business stand out and benefit more from because it will be much easier for me to get my services and other products to the target customers. I decided to take my company to the internet because this is turning to be one of the easiest ways to get products to consumers. More and more consumers are becoming a ware of buying goods from the internet making e-commerce one of the most popular business transactions. By selling my products on the internet I will be reaching out to consumers directly without the need of going through traditional middle men in the supply chain. This will make my products cheaper and attractive to my target consumers. A detailed analysis of the design plan is as shown below. The Market to be targeted by the new business Interior design is an emerging field that is gaining ground with a few established companies already offering their services to consumers. My new business hopes to grow quickly and become one of the leading businesses in the industry. In order to achieve this, it is important to identify my target consumers so as to be aware of the market segment that the business will be focusing on. The main consumers in the interior design industry include the real estate investors, home owners, event planners among others. There is a huge demand for decor mate rials, interior design advice among other services. Given this huge market the industry has, my business will only focus on events planners as the primary market segment. These events planner include planners of wedding receptions, birthday parties and other gatherings that need decor products. Since most of my products will be sold on the internet, a huge chunk of this segment will

Corporate Finance Coursework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Corporate Finance Coursework - Essay Example It is a given business and finance objective to maximize shareholder value. It appears that there are also non-financial objectives of business hence the debate on shareholder value and stakeholder society rages on. The application of corporate finance theory will therefore will dwell in determining how real is the debate in relation to investment decisions in China under the new draft of Chinese employment contract law? Tirole, Jean (1996) dissected corporate governance on a debate between shareholder value and stakeholder society. He mentioned that corporate governance could be framed in terms of â€Å"shareholder value† using the economists assertion that â€Å"prices reflect the scarcity of resources that management should aim at maximizing shareholder wealth.† On the other hand, he narrated that stakeholder society would approximate the non-economist view of what may appear as â€Å"oblivious to redistributional issues† narrow-minded- or â€Å"out of touch with social realities† as consequences of limiting corporate governance to shareholders’ value maximization. To support the stakeholder society concept, he cited a prevalent view in politics and public opinion that â€Å"corporations should serve a larger purpose and â€Å"be responsible† that is they should reach out to other stakeholders not only to shareholders† (Tirole, 1996) (Paraphrasing made). In discussing therefore â€Å"The Corporate Social Responsibility View†, Tirole (1996) discussed ways under which an â€Å"economist would rephrase the position of the proponents of the stakeholder society† as could recommending â€Å"that management and directors internalize the externalities that their decision impose on various groups.† He thus cited examples of such externalities and concomitant duties toward stakeholders, according to the proponents of the stakeholder society. One is the duties toward employees where he argued that â€Å"firms should refrain from laying off workers when they make

Voting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Voting - Essay Example Therefore, the other option is indirect democracy. In indirect democracy, people vote to choose representatives, and the representatives then take decisions to govern the country. Similarly, the United States of America is an indirect democratic country. In the country, to elect a president people cast their votes. Nonetheless, there are some issues regarding the voter turnout. A low turnout rate has become a dilemma for several past decades. Thus, the claim to become a role model for the rest of the world has become almost shattered. It is evident that the turnout was policy-based, which affected the election of 1988. Thus, in an election we may discern a link between the policy preferences of individuals and their voting ratio. Definition of voter turnout First, we will have to define a voter turnout. Voter turnout refers to the overall number of people who cast their vote in any election. The turnout, generally, exhibits with percentage; however, there are other methods to ascerta in the turnout rate of voters. The most general way to evaluate turnout of voters is counting the overall number of votes. This method is known as Total Vote. Obviously, this is the most direct way to count the vote and measure the turnout. However, this method has some setbacks; for example, it counts all votes whether valid or invalid (Pintor et al., 2002). In addition, the method is unable to supplement comparison aspects. The residency requirement for new citizens after that they would be able to cast a vote is another reason for a lower turnout. In 2003, the issue of new residents arose in 44 states. However, these requirements of residency have been set to 30 days before the federal election, yet there are still chances that several eligible voters would not be able to cast their votes (Patterson, 2009). The Election of 1988 in United States In the 1988 presidential election, the voter turnout was 50.1%. The turnout was lower than the standards of American presidential electio n. They were several reasons for the lower turnout, which will be discussed latter on; however, the present question is who suffered due to the low turnout, George Bush (Republican) or Michael Dukakis (Democrat). The statistical calculations exhibit Dukakis was going to win the election of 1988 if the individuals took part fully in the elections. Most of the individuals who remained unmoved during the elections were the supporters of Democrats. Briefly, one can observe the Republican had the advantage of low turnout of votes; thus, it can be concluded that the election of 1988 – specifically, its result – was not the real picture of the preferences of people. In this regard, in the current paper Radcliff’s aggregate study on the presidential elections from 1928 to 1980 has been examined to evaluate the American National Election of 1988. It has been identified in the current study that the minimum turnout shows harmful results and suggests encouraging voters to take part in voting. Citizens should understand that their votes are a representative of their choice. The lower turnout of the voters has become a significant debatable issue in American society. Moreover, researchers and scholars are being pressurized to find out the real reason of individual voter absentees. In addition, a significant relation is found between Democratic vote division and turnout (DeNardo, 1980). Furthermore, in presidential elec

Which Research Design I Can Use in My Profession Paper

Which Design I Can Use in My Profession - Research Paper Example Currently, scholars are using the design to measure student s’ performance based on other learning disabilities and language level of understanding (Hattie, 2012). This design is mainly used by educationists in matters of education disparities among people within a given community. One significant factor to put into consideration when describing gaps in education is the level education benchmarks. As stated in the Education Week, several communities have not been able to solve these gaps in education brought because of race of economic status, racial discrimination, teacher’s professional competence, and learners’ intellectual backgrounds (Hattie, 2012). This disparity has been found to exist between children in early childhood schools, secondary schools, and even in the eighth grade in middle schools (Clotfelter, Helen and Jacob, 2009). Some of the recommendations made to reduce the achievement gap between students include reduced class sizes, developing small learning environments that teachers can easily handle, developing comprehensive early childhood programs, taking teachers for in service training and raising academic standards for all students (Johnson, 2002). All these recommendations can only be achieved through use of information obtained using the achievement gap design. It is important to look at information obtained in terms of evaluating studies from the academic literature that can be used to bridge the gap (Hattie, 2012). This is important because it produces information obtained from comprehensive research conducted by education experts. Schools can also use the information obtained to solve problems that generate the achievement gaps within the schools. Finally, the information obtained can be used to evaluate students’ performance. It is through the information that teachers can know how t o handle students in the classroom (Hattie, 2012). This

Mason Multi agent model to visualize the bonus culture strategy over Dissertation

Mason Multi agent model to visualize the bonus culture strategy over the traders' incentives - Dissertation Example As the global economy begins to record significant rise over the years, businesses and organizations are doing everything possible to get their fair share of the rise in profits. These people are indeed right to react as such as the world saw worse forms of economic meltdown in the past five years. However, it takes the putting together of a lot of factors to earn a place in the world’s current climate. To producers and manufactures, determining the economic desires of their traders and customers and reacting in a manner that meets these desires is very crucial. It has been said that one of the best ways producers and manufacturers can satisfy their traders and customers is by putting in place very attractive incentives. Incentives come in different forms and it has been argued that the kind of incentive put in place for traders and customers actually determine the kind of behavior that is going to be displayed by traders and customers in their service to manufacturers and pro ducers. To this effect, it has also been argued among most corporate researchers that the bonus culture is a kind of incentive that has massive impact in ensuring that traders dance according to the rhythm of their masters. This is basically to say that bonus culture is an effective way of motivating traders. All said and than, it is important for entrepreneurs and corporate managers to have systems in place that checks the behavior of traders and the impact it makes on their business. The research problem covers three major important components of literature. Firstly, there is the issue of the multi-agent based model. With this, it is worth emphasizing that the multi-agent model shall be the Mason Multi agent model. With the model understudy, the researcher shall have the opportunity to analyze the impact of the technological growth that the world is experiencing now. This is to say that the mason multi-agent model is an innovation in information and communication technology that has come to ease the task of assessing the performance of any business or corporate outfit. The second concept shall be on issue of bonus culture as relates to traders. Under this, the research shall draw a line between bonus culture and trader incentive to see if it is actually possible adopting bonus culture as a workable form of incentive for traders and other business associates. Finally, the issue of trader behavior shall be looked at. Trader behavior is actually going to be the foc al point of the research. This is because the first two concepts are all related to trader behavior in one way or the other. In the light of this, the Mason multi-agent model shall be used to analyze the behavior of given traders of a given organization over a given period of time. Depending on the outcome of the visualization of the model on the trader behavior, the bonus culture shall be employed as an intervention for either bettering the trader behavior or improving it. Main Objective The research has been set out mainly to have an intervention in place to better the behavior traders of a given company. The progress of the intervention shall be analyzed using the Mason Multi-Agent Model. To achieve this all important objective, there are a series of specific objectives that need to achieved in order achieve the overall objective. Specific Objectives The review of related literature, collection of data for the research as well as data analysis shall be done based on the specific objectives set below. More to this, the achievement of the specific objectives shall amount to the achievement of the overall main objective of the research. The specific objectives are: 1. Explore the meaning of the Mason Multi-agent model 2. Find the role of the Mason multi-agent model in business monitoring and evaluation 3. Identify the different behaviors that could

Ancient Egyptians Essay Example for Free

Ancient Egyptians Essay Bill Wilke Egyptians are highly known for their glorious pyramids, powerful pharaohs, and endless amounts of gold and Jewels. When we think of Egyptians we also think of tombs, curses, and cats being a source of protection. However, it is not known to many that they have not only defined the art, but also the meaning behind tattooing. Tattoos are the one thing still captured on the bodies of mummies, in which were discovered from over a millennium ago. Females in particular, had specific tattoos which were used as a therapeutic role during pregnancy and birth. Each tattoo had specific color and significance behind the symbols. Handmade tools were also used in the craft of tattooing during the Egyptian era. Now they have evolved to more dynamic equipment and use of substance. From care to the final product there is a lot of work that goes into preserving tattoos. Written records, physical remains, and works of art have changed our understanding of Egyptian culture. There is good reason to believe that Egyptians were beyond their intellectual ability. Their process of preparing a human as a mummy required countless steps and organization. Ancient writers and modern scientists have both attributed to the knowledge of how this Ancient tradition came about. The remains of Egyptians have been kept preserved because of their tedious attempt in the process of mummification. Mummies, for example, had the protection from chemical exposure, extreme cold conditions, very low humidity, and lack of air when submerged in tombs. The discovery of mummies from Ancient Egypt has also shown us the presence of tattooing. Research and discoveries have pointed out that the art of tattooing was known to Egyptians, and was one of the common practices that were adopted by them. The tattoos found on their remaining bodies were known to be in many sizes, shapes, and colors. One of the earliest evidence of tattoos was identified on mummies dating all the way back from 2000 B. C. The majority of mummies discovered were identified as female, in which were covered with dot like patterns throughout their bodies. Evidence points to the fact that tattoos were an exclusively used practice among females. One of the most famous mummies ever written about was Amunet, who was known as a deity or rather a highly known Goddess (Taylor, 1998). Other than being a traditional royal subject, tattoos had significance for female Egyptians. Lineberry (2007), The tattooing of Ancient Egyptian women had a therapeutic role, and functioned as a permanent form of amulet during the very difficult time of pregnancy and birth (Tattoos, para 5). Pregnancy and birth can be a life changing experience, and for Egyptian women it was also a particular time that they felt the need for protecting themselves. The areas in which were most commonly noted with tattoos during this difficult time were on the thighs, breasts, were placed over wrapped mummies to protect them. She also points out that, it signified keeping everything in (Tattoos, para 5). This pattern is also known as a cicatrix pattern, in which was typically located over the lower pubic region. Tattoos on the abdomen of women, for example, safeguarded them during their pregnancy. As any conscious mother would do for her child, she protects her unborn willingly from harms way. Ancient Egyptian tattoos had many other meanings behind their symbols. Traditionally, Egyptians would use specific drawings as a tribute of sacrifice to a deity. This would mean that an individual would be professing his or her entire belief for someone higher or greater than themselves. Tattoos were presumed to be part of a permanent amulet that could not be lost. An amulet is defined as a trinket, or piece of Jewelry that was thought to have magical protection against evil or disease. In other instances disease would have been another reason that Egyptian females would have acquired a tattoo as well, simply to protect their health while carrying a child. Their significance in symbols also ranged from medical protection to fertility for women. Many tattoos that were used by Egyptians derived from their writing system, which consisted of pictures and symbols. The Scarab, also known as a eetle, was considered a symbol for renewing life. Madhura (2010), It was also considered as one of the many royal titles used by the Pharaohs and was also found to be used by Tutankhamen, one of the most famous Egyptian Pharaohs (Egyptian Tattoo Designs, para 4). He also explains a symbol used called the eye. Madhura (2010), The Ankh or the eye is a widely identified and used symbol of Egyptian culture. In the ancient times, it represented life and was hence one of the respected symbols. Among the different designs of the Ankh, the eye of the Horus is more popular as it stands for the good luck. The eye of Horus, also known as the eye of the Ra, is believed to be the all-seeing eye that was also used in amulets worn by the ancient Egyptians. The Egyptian cross or the Ankh also stands for rebirth or reincarnation. The Egyptian eye tattoo represents light, power and royalty and hence, is a favorite tattoo symbol (Egyptian Tattoo Designs, para 3). Other noted symbols in which were commonly used were the Serket. The Serket is identified as a female fgure with a scorpion on her head. Also used were Kings and Queens, such as Cleopatra, and the Egyptian eye which represents light. Through Egyptian eyes, attoos satisfied various needs and interest as they do today. Their style is captivating and vivid, leading many to believe that this form of art was easily adaptive. The instruments and tools in which were used for tattooing were dated all the way back to 3000 B. C. An Archaeologist by the name of W. M. F Petrie, discovered a tool with a wooden handle and sharp edge at the site of what was called Abydos. He had noted that the tools resembled wide, flattened needles that could potentially make the pattern of multiple dots. Typically these tools would have been used for areas of the ody that females were tattooed for their pregnancy and childbirth protection. The consistency and color was that of dark or black pigment such as soot. It has been said that the Inuit tribe used darker pigmentation or bright colors such as yellow for their tattooing. Inuits are also known for their face tattoos. The tools that are used today have evolved into more intricate ways of use. For example, several needles are used rather than a flat wide needle as the Egyptians had. The more needles you have, the detailed work. Wide range of coloring brings symbols to life as it tells a story. The etails make it look real in a 3D type of way. Instead of soot, ink is the one form of substance that provides color. There are several different types of ink. One type of ink, for example, is black light ink. When the tattoo is under a black light lamp, it will glow. Colors range from the basic primary and secondary colors to different shades. Another option today is the ability to numb the area in which is being tattooed. Egyptians had no means of covering the painful process in which tattoos involved. The care that we provide today goes into the preservation of the tattoo, making it able o last longer. In order for the tattoo to heal correctly you cannot scrub the area, expose it to sun, and it must be able to breathe. Care consists of wiping the skin with antibacterial soap, and then applying petroleum Jelly. Petroleum Jelly is more of a pure substance with no additives and it is easier to work with. It is used widely because it does not cause allergic reactions or pull the ink out. Other forms of Jelly include clear AD Ointment and Bag Balm. No matter what gender a human is, tattoos are more popular today than they were a millennium ago. They represent a erson as an individual, rather than a means for protection. Technology today has given us the ability to express the art of tattooing on a whole new level. Egyptians introduced this ability, in order for individuals to use tattoos to define their stories or personal experiences. Tattoos were once known as frightening and repulsive, and have come a long way since then. Symbols in Egyptian times have been considered generic compared to todays variety. More attention goes into the care of tattoos in todays society during and afterwards. Care is what aids in the conservation of a eautiful piece of art, whether it is a symbol, picture, or words. From medical protection to therapeutic means, tattoos were widely used among Egyptians. With the help of discoveries, female mummies have revealed the remains of tattooing on bodies. We can now understand where tattoos originated from, and how meaningful they were so long ago.

Policy Recommendation Essay Example for Free

Policy Recommendation Essay The difficulty with any definition of poverty involves the meaning of minimum needs and the amount of money required to satisfy these needs. (Ansel M. Sharp, 2010) Those in poverty sometimes face an additional obstacle to earning an adequate income. Discrimination as we use it means that equals are treated unequally or that the ‘unequal’s are treated equally. Discrimination exists in the labor market when people with equal productivity are paid different wages or people with differences in productivity are paid equal wages. Discrimination can also exist in the product market when consumers pay different prices for the same product. (Ansel M. Sharp, Evidence of Discrimination in Our Economy, 2010) Discuss the major impact to society of the problem. In 2001, some six-point-eight million families, or nine-point-two percent of all families, lived in poverty. This translates into more than thirty-two-point-nine million individuals, a staggering number to many Americans who have never been personally touched by poverty. Indeed, some have characterized those who live in poverty as the hidden poor. Studies have shown that there is a significant turnover in the poverty population: Families and single individuals move into and out of poverty several times throughout the years in response to significant life events. Although no reliable estimate exists for the number of hardcore poverty cases, the incidence of poverty can be easily seen to vary dramatically across a number of demographic characteristics. (Ansel M. Sharp, What is Poverty? , 2010) Just imagine searching through heaping piles of refuse at landfills, looking for anything that could seem partly edible, to satisfy an unending hunger. Many people around the world face this situation every day of their lives. What could have caused a situation like this to occur? The education and skill level, health or handicap status, and discrimination play a vital role in poverty. A major factor determining whether someone will end up living in poverty, education or skill level can make or break an income. Education plays a vital role in acquiring jobs, learning new skills, and bringing home necessities and comforts of life. A person who doesn’t receive an education has a very small chance of making much money and acquiring skills that would bring home a desirable income. Many who do not have an education bring their family into a cycle of poverty, where their posterity doesn’t necessarily have the income to go to college or even don’t have a desire to acquire a high school diploma. Poverty rates are higher among families with only one parent or head of household present. Poverty is also related to age, those very young and those very old have higher rates of poverty than those in their prime and middle-age years. The economic cause of poverty is family incomes depend on the quantities of resources that families can place in employment and the prices received for those resources. To understand poverty, then, it is important to understand what determines the prices paid for human and capital resources and what determines the quantities that can be employed. Under competitive market conditions, the basic principle of wage rate determination is that units of any kind of labor tend to be paid a price equal to any one worker’s contribution to an employer’s total receipts. In other words, workers are paid about what they are worth to employers. What a worker is worth to an employer is referred to by economists as the marginal revenue product of labor. (Ansel M. Sharp, The Economic Causes of Poverty, 2010) Market discrimination may be traced to two primary sources. These are the power to discriminate in the market and the desire to discriminate. In our complex market economy, the wages of workers vary widely. Even workers hired by the same employer to perform similar jobs are often paid different wage rates. The meaning of wage discrimination is clear enough: unequal pay for equal contributions. But proving discrimination depends on being able to distinguish among individuals on the basis of individual efforts and productivity. Generally, humans are paid pproximately what they are worth in a competitive economy. (Ansel M. Sharp, Evidence of Discrimination in Our Economy, 2010) Employment discrimination means that some people are not hired because of non-economic characteristics such as race or gender. Two individuals with the same training, education, and experience apply for a job, however one is black and one is white. If both do not have the same chance of getting the job, discrimination has entered into the decision-making process. There is a growing belief that discriminatory differences in pay, especially gender differences in pay, occur largely because of occupational segregation. In general, men work in occupations that employ very few women, and women work in occupations that employ very few men. The economic results of occupational segregation for women are low wages. Women are often relegated to occupations where productivity and experience have little to do with their status and where opportunities for overtime and premium pay are limited. Price discrimination occurs when people of different races or genders are forced to pay different prices for the same good or service, provided the differences are not due to differences in cost of serving the consumer. (Ansel M.

Madonna and Child Paintings Throughout History

Madonna and Child Paintings Throughout History Through history, people had used art as a reflection of their religious beliefs and culture values. The illustration of Madonna and Child had been one of the most recurring arts in Christianity and European art in general. According to Christian beliefs, Madonna represents the virgin marry and the child represents baby Jesus. Thought these religious paintings and sculptures of The Madonna and Child may be along the same lines in their depiction of Christian iconography and artistic style, each carries a different taste and reflects the different time periods and the different artists that had created them. Three examples of these paintings are Madonna and Child, created by Berlinghiero from the Italian Maniera Greca period, Madonna and Child created by Duccio during the Italian Proto-Renaissance, and Madonna and Child with Angels created Cosimo Rosselli during the Early Italian Renaissance periods. When a viewer observe these three Italian paintings, the viewer would recognize a deve lopment that takes place through the three time periods which is from the early thirteenth century to later fifteenth century. Differences in these three paintings include the illustrations of the figures, drapery style, treatment of space, and inclusion or the exclusion of the viewer. Nonetheless, the paintings represent similar religious and cultural values since they all depict the Christian iconography of the Virgin Marry with baby Jesus. Madonna and Child is a very common Christian iconography that was seen through history since the Byzantine Empire. The painting Madonna and Child was painted around 1230 during the Italian Maniera Greca period by Berlinghiero, the outstanding painter of the thirteenth-century Lucca (Museum Label). This painting is tempera on wood with the two figures on front of a gold background. Madonna is wearing a huge dark blue cloak with golden decorations which covers most of her body and a reddish dress underneath the cloak that can only be seen in her arms. To show her modesty the only things that can be seen from her body are her face, neck, and hands. Her face shows a depressed feeling with the lines around her eyes and her small mouth that depicts a frown. Her hand has an unrealistic look which are elongated and skinny. According to the Museum label, Berlinghiero was always open to Byzantine influence, and this Madonna is of the Byzantine type known as the Hodegefria, in which the Madonna points to the child as the way to salvation. The Hodegefria illustrate the Christian values and the value of the B yzantine art. The Child is wearing an orange Clock that covers most of his body. He is seated on top of one of his mothers hands with his body tilted towards his mother and his head facing the viewer. One of his hand points towards the right and in the other hand he is holding a scroll that represent the religious scriptures, which carries a Christian iconography in which the scriptures represents the bible. Thought his is suppose to be a child his face is an adult like face, which also can be a religious iconography that show Jesus as a mature child who leads people to salvation. Berlinghieros Madonna and Child is inorganic and unrealistic when it comes to the drapery of the clothing and the treatment of space. The figures are also set in an awkward way with inorganic style of the body. There are many folds in the figures clothes which extreme for a realist dress. The treatment of space is missing in this painting, where the figures seem to be flat and the light source is not clear in depicting the space and atmosphere. This painting is similar in its drapery and treatment of space to the painting Madonna and Child Enthroned with Angels which is from the same time period. Thought the painting is unrealistic, it is still considered as a very great artistic work that depicts cultural and religious values of that time. Duccios Madonna and Child was created during the Italian Proto-Renaissance around 1300. Like the Berlinghieros painting, Duccios painting is tempera on wood with golden background. Moreover, Madonna is wearing a blue cloak with golden lines on the edges which covers most of her body. Madonna is looking at the Child who is trying to play with her checks and holding him with both of her hands. She seems to have a sad look with her tilted head towards her child. The Child or Jesus is also wearing an orange dress with a red cloak over his shoulders. Compare to the child from Berlinghieros painting, Duccios child is looks more like a normal child. We can see that the depiction of the child has developed to a more realistic and organic one. In this painting not only does the child looks realistic in his facial characteristics but with his childish movement while playing with his mother checks. The drapery style is more organic than that of Berlinghiero but is not totally realistic. It has a very heavy and earthy feeling with its huge curves and wrinkles. This painting also lacks the emphases of space, since the figures looks like flat on the golden background. This painting can be compared with Giottos paining Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Saints, which is from the same time period, where we can see similar drapery style and facial characteristics of the child. Furthermore, this painting also shows the counting religious values of Italian art. This painting, like all the Madonna and Child paintings, has the Christian values. The third painting is the Early Italian Renaissance painting Madonna and Child with Angels by Cosimo Rosselli which dates about 1480 to 1482. Thought this painting is made of tempera and gold on wood, it is much more complex than both of the other paintings. In this painting Madonna is dressed in a light red cloth and a light blue cloak floating over her head and shoulders while the child is shown nude, which is different than that of Berlingiero and Duccios paintings. The posture of the figures is also different; Madonna is holding the child with both of her hands to make him stand on top of a table. Although, the childs body is a little disproportional, the bodies of both figures are more organic and natural. The bodies do not have a longitude hands and awkward faces like the other two paintings, which show the development in artistic design of the figures. Moreover, Rossellis painting has a more developed drapery style and space treatment. The drapery is more organic with ordinary looking wrinkles. The treatment of space is also a lot more developed than the other two paintings. Since the other two paintings had the figures as if they are flat, this painting is more organic because the viewer can feel like the figures are close while the background is seems far. This painting also has a vanishing point that gives the painting the feeling of space. As seen in the three paintings of the Madonna and Child, we can see that art develops through the years. Even thought the paintings of Madonna and Child carries the same religious cultural values, one can see how the style of the painting changes over periods of time in its drapery style, space treatment, figures characteristics, and even the postures of the figures. As a result, we saw that the depiction of the Madonna and Child in the late fifteenth century is more complex and organic than that of the early thirteenth century.

Herman Melvilles Moby Dick Essay -- Moby Dick Melville Death Essays

Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" In Moby Dick, by Herman Melville, a recurring theme of death is seen throughout the book. A coffin appears at the beginning of the book and at the end of the book, Ishmael sees a large oil painting that foreshadows and represents many things and events that follow in the book, and Fedallah makes a prophecy talking about hearses and predicts Ahab’s death. Ishmael stays at The Sprouter-Inn, whose proprietor was a man named Peter Coffin. In the end, Ishmael clings to a coffin for over a day until rescued by another boat. The picture Ishmael sees contains many things seen later in the book, such as a whale and a horrible storm. Fedallah’s prophecy of hearses and hemp prove to be true.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Moby Dick begins and ends with a coffin. At the beginning of the book, Ishmael talks to Peter Coffin, the proprietor of The Sprouter-Inn, for a place to stay. He does not have any open rooms so Ishmael is forced to room with Queequeg whom he does not meet until after he goes to sleep. When Queequeg walks in, Ishmael says, â€Å"Landlord, for God’s sake, Peter Coffin! Landlord! Watch! Coffin! Angels! save me!† (Melville, 23) This quotation foreshadows the event later in the story when Ishmael will again need a coffin’s help. In the epilogue, it is described, â€Å"the coffin life-buoy shot lengthwise from the sea, fell over, and floated by my side. Buoyed up by that coffin, for almost one whole day and night, I floated on a soft dirge-like main.† (Melvil...

Cohens Acting Power :: Essays Papers

Cohens Acting Power The main point of Cohen’s Acting Power is balance. In the book, he brings up concepts, sites examples, sometimes brings exercises to help his point, and restates the point. I personally did not like this book, but I did not hate it. At times, it was confusing, very vague, and hard to understand, but at the same time, this indicates the difficulty of the concepts Cohen is conveying. Many of the ideas and concepts in this book are hard to explain by word, much less typed word, so I gave this book more patience than I normally would with a regular textbook. One aspect that I did really like, was how Cohen brought everything back into focus in the last chapter on Alignment. Alignment is how an actor chooses to handle the four attributes to a performance; situation, character, style and performance. Proper alignment of how an actor handles the situation, the behavior and style of the character, and performing in front of an audience usually brings a good performance. It isn’t enough to get three out of four, because each attribute is important. Throughout the book, I found things that I had trouble grasping, and many times, they didn’t seem like they’re related to each other, but at the end of the book, the chapter on alignment, it all made much more sense to me. The book is structured like how alignment should be constructed. In the first two chapters it went through stuff about situations, then character, then style and performance. At the end, the book tied how everything relates. I think that the most important thing I got from this book, is the relacom concepts. I found if I translate almost every line of a scene, the intentions reveal themselves, and the delivery of line, is much more convincing. Another concept that I have always wanted to express, but couldn’t find the words, is the idea of ethno-centricity. I can’t remember which chapter it was in, but it explained that everyone thinks their own world is the center, and to properly build a character, sometimes you must lose this ethno-centiricity.

humor race and misunderstanding Essay -- essays research papers

Humor, Race and Misunderstanding â€Å"Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.† Peter Ustinov   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In â€Å"On Being Crazy†, DuBois defines crazy as behavior based on illogical perceptions. Both the narrator and wayfarer agree that the wayfarer walking in the mud and becoming muddy rather than walk along side a dirty nigger who is clean is crazy. DuBois illustrates that society prefers to cut off its nose to spite its face instead of fixing the nose. Twain builds much of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in the same manner. His commentary regarding the social injustice is buried within the story’s humor. While it isn’t readily available on the surface, if one is so inclined to look, it can be easily found. In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain satirizes the idiocy and cruelty of society in general. The language of the book, despite its accurate reflection of 19th century dialect, in and of itself is an illustration of misunderstanding. Nigger. Although it has acquired additional connotations in today’s society, at base, it still evokes an intense emotional and psychological response. Even now, in print or in speech, the word nigger causes one to cringe. Today, no one would tolerate being referred to as a nigger let alone called a nigger to their face. However, Jim and every other black, free or slave, endured that insult daily because it was a part of the social fabric. Even those with ‘good intentions’ used nigger as a utility word to desc...

Football and Sociology

American football as we know it originated from rugby played in Britain in the mid-19th century. The person who Americans consider the â€Å"Father of American Football† is Walter Camp. Professional football can be traced back to 1982, when there was a $500 contract for the Allegheny Athletic Association and the Pittsburgh Athletic Club to play a game against each other. Originally football was primarily a sport of the Midwestern industrial towns in the United State. In 1902, the American Professional Football Association was formed and two years later the National Football League. The competition was fierce between the two leagues, which led the two leagues to merge. Football eventually became national. When the two leagues merged is when the Super Bowl was formed. This is the most viewed event in the United States on a yearly basis. Football has grown for many years now and now has 32 teams. According to the Scarborough Research data, the NFL fans mirror the general United States population in many areas including age, race and income. There are a few discrepancies which include that men account for 49% of the general population, however the account for 58% of the NFL fans versus women who account for 51% of the general population but only account for $35-50K, in which they account for 19% of the fan base for the NFL. The report also states that there are more NFL fans that are married than non-married. The age group with the highest attendance whether on television or at the actual games is 35-44 years old. The Scarborough Report has a tremendous amount of statistics regarding NFL fans. The list goes from what they like to eat or drink to how many kids live in the household. I was very amazed by the information that was researched. In the society today, football affects almost every household. The impact of football has grown over the last few decades. The number of channels on the television in which sports can be watched has had a massive effect on the society. There are now channels just for specific sports and these channels only show that particular sport on that channel, all day. Football is a very physical sport. Youth like to see the physical part of the sport and they use the sports players as their role models. They all want to have muscles like the football players and be tough like the football players and of course they want to play football as well. The impact of football has both negative and positive factors. I found an article on the wives of the coaches of football. It was very interesting. In the article it states that in 1989, a group of women who were married to football coaches met at the American Football Coaches Association convention in Nashville, Tennessee (Tucker, 2001) and decided to form a support group. Evidently, they were feeling a little let out of the loop. For many men, football allows for violence and male bonding (Nelson, 1994), however, for women, football often means competing for men’s attention, or worrying about boyfriends, husbands or sons on the field. Within this article it also talks about how the spheres changed because men were known to leave the home and go outside to work and women stayed inside and were domesticated. Football is for men and it classifies them as performers and heroes, however women are classified as watchers and admirers. This article overall is showing the differences in men and women in regards to football. There were a lot of different opinions by different people who had heard about the organization of the American Football Coaches’ Wives Association. How this group puts together recipe books and visits the sick children in the hospital was a great asset to the group but they still don’t get the recognition that the football players get. This was a very tougher paper for me to write due to the fact that even though I like football, I have never looked at it in any other way than occasional entertainment. I am not a die-hard fan who watches the sport every chance that I get. Scarborough Research Examines NFL Fan Demos, QSR (2009, September) Preferences, http://www. sportsbusinessdaily. com/Daily/Issues/2009/09/Issue-12/The-Back-Of-The-Book/Scarborough-Research-Examines-NFL-Fan-Demos-QSR-Preferences. aspx Tucker, Diana, A Gender Drama in American Football Culture: The Case of the Coach’s Wife. , (2001) Football Studies, vol. 4 no. 2 http://www. la84foundation. org/SportsLibrary/FootballStudies/2001/FS0402g. pdf Nelson, M. B. (1994). The stronger women get, the more men love football: Sexism and the American culture of sports. New York: Avon.

How successfully did Weimar governments deal with Germany’s problems in the years 1920-1924 Essay

The Weimar governments were reasonably successful when it came to dealing with Germany’s problems within those four years. The government being taken over by Gustav Stresemann, in August 1923, made a huge, positive difference to Germany. Because of Stresemann, Germany was able to recover a lot quicker with his help. One of Germany’s major problems was hyperinflation. Germany having no more goods to trade, resulted in the government printing more money. There ended up being so much money, but not enough goods to buy with it, so prices and wages went up by a tremendous amount. This made the money worthless. The majority of Germany was ‘rich’. Stresemann dealt with this problem in a very helpful way. He immediately called off passive resistance and ordered the workers in the Ruhr to go back to work. He then burned all of the worthless marks and created, then replaced a new currency, known as the ‘Rentenmark’. The Dawes Plan of 1924 was formulated to take Weimar Germany out of hyperinflation and return Weimar’s economy to some form of stability. The main points of the Dawes Plan were simple in their effort to re-float Weimar Germany’s economy. The first main point of the Dawes plan was to return the Ruhr to Germany so that it was in their full control. Stresemann negotiated to receive American loans under the Dawes Plan, which also renegotiated the reparations bill from the Treaty of Versailles. For example, in 1924, the figure was set as fifty million in British pound sterling, as opposed to two billion of 1922. These were the first issues Stresemann dealt with as Chancellor, and due to his success, it was clear that Germany’s governments were in good hands. Another one of Germany’s problems was the attempts to overthrow the government. Luckily, for the government, they were unsuccessful. Spartacists week in 1919, the Kapp Putsch, and the Munich Putsch are all examples of attacks, from the left and right wing, which failed in the early years of the Weimar Republic. The fact that all of these attacks failed, shows that  Weimar governments were yet again successful, when it came to dealing with their problems. Although Weimar governments had many successes, before Stresemann and under his power, these problems still occurred and it was irresponsible of Weimar governments to allow these problems to get out of hand and out of their control, even if they did manage to recover. For starters, hyperinflation started. That, in itself, is a problem that could have been prevented, which caused major issues for Germany. It took a lot of work to recover from it and having a new currency was a big deal. It was as if a new currency was the only way to recover from that disaster. As well as this, pensioners on fixed incomes and people with savings were the most badly hit as they lost all of their money when the Rentenmark was introduced and the money was not returned to them. There was so much violence to fight against and so many attempts to overthrow the Weimar Republic. This also should have been prevented at an earlier stage. As a result of these attacks, there were deaths and severe injuries which were in the hands of the Weimar Republic, all because groups from the left wing and groups from the right wing didn’t agree with the way the government was running Germany. They could have found a way to avoid so much crime and violence. Another mishap from the Weimar Republic was the fail to pay back the reparations bill from the Treaty of Versailles. Although it was an extremely difficult bill to pay, considering the economic situation in Germany, they still failed. Their failure resulted in the French and Belgian troops going into the Ruhr and Germany couldn’t do much to stop them. In conclusion, Weimar Governments were overall successful when it came to dealing with Germany’s problems. Stresemann’s solutions resulted in Germany’s economy becoming stable again, so they dealt with the issues very successfully.

Entering Grooming Business in Hong Kong Pest Analysis

Personal management and human resource management (HRM) basically brings very similar meaning. The personnel who work for a company represent that company’s human resource. Human resource management (HRM) department didn’t actually exist until 1940s, the activities performed by these departments were not all brand new but in fact, quite a number of the human resource practices and programs that we see today top derivation in the earlier times. Human resource management (HRM) is historically known as personal management which deals with official system for the management of the people within the organization. Many renowned companies want to achieve the transformation of their workforce into a foundation of completive advantage. HR manager inevitably has concerns for their workers. These concerns consists of how to manage layoffs, address deduction of employee loyalty, generate a well trained highly motivated work force that can deliver HR mangers have many concerns regarding their workers. These concerns include how to mange layoffs, address reduced employee loyalty, generate a well trained highly motivated work force that can deliver higher quality and productivity. Mange and increase diverse workforce and contain health care cost. HRM has been undergoing transformation. In 1970s, the job of the HR manger was to keep their companies out of court and in compliance with the increasing number of regulations governing the work place. In the 1980s HR mangers had to address staffing costs related to mergers and acquisitions and downsizing. The economic issues related to an increasingly global and completive workplace characterize the 1990s. Beside these concerns Firms are also facing some other challenges regarding workforce before we take up the HR challenges that face managers, we need to define manager and say a word about where human resources fit into the organization. Managers are people who are in charge of others and are responsible for the timely and correct execution of actions that promote their units' successful performance. B. History of Personnel Management A group of people becomes an organization when they cooperate with each other to achieve common goals. Communication among them is therefore important. But people have individual motivations, which often differ, from the corporate goals. An effective organization is one which succeeds in getting people to accept that cooperating to achieve organizational goals also helps them to achieve their own goals provided they are adequately rewarded through extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. This is achieved primarily through leadership and motivation. Employers therefore increasingly view human resource management from a strategic perspective, and as an appropriate means through which the chasm between organizational and individual goals can be narrowed. As it has been aptly observed: â€Å"Part of the problem is that we have split off human resource management from the general management problem, as if there were some other kind of management other than human resource management. As long as organizations are based upon the coordinated action of two or more people, management is by definition human resource management. Despite the proliferation of writings and studies on HRM, there is a wide gap between the rhetoric and the reality, though the gap has been narrowing in the 1990s. There is as yet inadequate research to ascertain the extent to which practice matches corporate policy statements, and the impact of HRM policies and practices Page # 29 on employee behavior and morale. To have a major impact on enterprises, HRM has to be diffused across an economy, rather than remain islands of excellence. Nevertheless, promoting excellent models of HRM stimulates interest in better people management. HRM has three basic goals, which contribute to achieving management objectives. The first is integration of HRM in two senses: integrating HRM into an organization's corporate strategy, and ensuring an HRM view in the decisions and actions of line managers. Integration in the first sense involves selecting the HRM options consistent with (and which promote) the particular corporate strategy. The option is determined by the type of employee behavior expected (e. g. innovation) needed to further the corporate strategy. For instance, the HRM policies in relation to recruitment, appraisal, compensation, training, etc. iffer according to whether the business strategy is one of innovation, quality enhancement or cost reduction. A strategy of innovation may require a pay system less influenced by market rates but which rewards creativity, and the pay rates would even be low so long as there are ways of making up the earnings package. A cost reduction strategy may lead to pay rates being strongly influenced by market levels. Similarly, training and development would rec eive less emphasis in a cost reduction strategy than in one where the objective is innovation or quality. But such integration is difficult without securing the inclusion of a HRM view in the decisions and practices of line managers. This requires that HRM should not be a centralized function. A second goal of HRM is securing commitment through building strong cultures. This involves promoting organizational goals by uniting employees through a shared set of values (quality, service, innovation, etc. ) based on a convergence of employee and enterprise interests, which the larger Japanese enterprises have been particularly adept at. A third goal of HRM is to achieve flexibility and adaptability to manage change and innovation in response to rapid changes consequent upon globalization. Relevant to HRM policies in this regard are training and multi-skilling, re-organization of work and removal of narrow job classifications. Appropriate HRM policies are designed, for instance, to recruit, develop and retain quality staff, to formulate and implement agreed performance goals and measures, and to build a unified organizational culture. C. Shifting from Personnel Management to HRM The transformation is reflected by raising important role of HRM from the personal management purpose from one of focussing on employee welfare to one of managing people in a way, which matches organizational goal and individual goals and providing employees with intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Therefore Therefore, today Human Resource Management (HRM), historically known as personal management, deals with formal system for the management of the people within the organization. Many well-known companies report that they are trying to transform their workforce into a source of completive advantage. Stages of shifting of Personnel Management to HRM: First, HRM earlier reacted piece-meal to problems as they arose. Effective HRM seeks to link HRM issues to the overall strategy of the organization, with the most effective HRM policies and practices integrated into such corporate policies and strategies to reinforce or change an organization's culture. Integration is needed in two senses – integrating HRM issues in an organization's strategic plans and securing the acceptance and inclusion of a HRM view in the decisions of line managers. The HRM policies in respect of the various functions (e. g. recruitment, training, etc. ) should be internally consistent. They must also be consistent with the business strategies and should reflect the organization's core values. The problem of integrating HRM view business strategy arises, for example, in a diversified enterprise with different products and markets. In such cases it is difficult to match HRM policies with strategies that could vary among different business activities, each of which may call for different HRM policies. Second, building strong cultures is a way of promoting particular organizational goals, in that â€Å"a ‘strong culture' is aimed at uniting employees through a shared set of managerially sanctioned values (‘quality', ‘service', ‘innovation' etc. ) that assume an identification of employee and employer interests. However, there can be tension between a strong organizational culture and the need to adapt to changed Page # 30 ircumstances and to be flexible, particularly in the highly competitive and rapidly changing environment in which employers have to operate today. Rapid change demanded by the market is sometimes difficult in an organization with a strong culture. IBM has been cited as a case in point. Its firmly-held beliefs about products and services made it difficult for it to effect changes in time, i. e. when the market required a radical change in product and service (from mainframe, customized systems, salesmen as management consultants to customer-as-end-user, seeking quality of product and service) o personal computers (standardized product, cost competition, dealer as customer). Nevertheless, in the long term a strong organizational culture is preferable to a weak one. Third, the attitude that people are a variable cost is, in effective HRM, replaced by the view that people are a resource and that as social capital can be developed and can contribute to competitive advantage. Increasingly, it is accepted that competitive advantage is gained through well-educated and trained, motivated and committed employees at all levels. This recognition is now almost universal, and accounts for the plausible argument that training and development are, or will be, the central pillar of HRM. Fourth, the view that the interests of employees and management or shareholders are divergent and confliction – though substantially true in the past – is giving way to the view that this need not necessarily be so. As organization, which practices, effective HRM seeks to identify and promote a commonality of interests. Significant examples are training which enhances employment security and higher earning capacity for employees while at the same time increasing the employee's value to the enterprise's goals of better productivity and performance; pay systems which increase earnings without significant labor cost increases, and which at the same time promote higher performance levels; goal-setting through two-way communication which establishes unified goals and objectives and which provides intrinsic rewards to the employee through a participatory process. Fifth, top-down communication coupled with controlled information flow to keep power within the control of management giving way to a sharing of information and knowledge. This change facilitates the creation of trust and commitment and makes knowledge more productive. Control from the top is in effective HRM being replaced by increasing employee participation and policies, which foster commitment and flexibility that help organizations to change when necessary. The ways in which the larger Japanese enterprises have installed participatory schemes and introduced information-sharing and two-way communication systems are instructive in this regard. In enterprises that tend to have corporate philosophies or missions, and where there are underlying values that shape their corporate culture, HRM becomes a part of the strategy to achieve their objectives. In some types of enterprises such as ones in which continuous technological change takes place, the goal of successfully managing change at short intervals often requires employee cooperation through emphasis on communication and involvement. As this type of unit grows, â€Å"If there is strategic thinking in human resource management these units are likely to wish to develop employee-relations policies based on high individualism paying above market rates to recruit and retain the best labor, careful selection and recruitment systems to ensure high quality and skill potential, emphasis on internal training schemes to develop potential for further growth, payment system designed to reward individual performance and cooperation, performance and appraisal reviews, and strong emphasis on team work and communication †¦ In short, technical and capital investment is matched by human resource investments, at times reaching near the ideals of human resource management. Shift of personnel management to HRM took place in three stages: Records and 1. Records and Administration 2. Accountability Regulations 3. Competitive Advantage 1. Records and Administration In first stage the primary activities, which were carried out by personnel department, were, Planning Company picnics Scheduling vacations, Enrolling workers for health-are coverage, Planning retirement parties These concerns include how to mange layoffs, address reduced employee loyalty, create a well trained highly motivated work force that can deliver higher quality and productivity, mange and increase diverse workforce and contain health care cost. 2. Accountability Regulations During this stage primary framework of rules and regulations started emerging tin the organization. In 1970s, the job of the HR manger was to keep their companies out of court and in compliance with the increasing number of regulations governing the work place. In the 1980s HR mangers had to address staffing costs related to mergers and acquisitions and downsizing. The economic issues related to an increasingly global and completive workplace characterize the 1990s. Beside these concerns 3. Competitive Advantage The aim of this shift stage is from merely securing compliance to the more ambitious one of winning commitment. The employee resource, therefore, becomes worth investing in, and training and development thus assume a higher profile. These initiatives are associated with, and maybe are even predicated upon, a tendency to shift from a collective orientation to the management of the workforce to an individualistic one. Accordingly management looks for ‘flexibility' and seeks to reward differential performance in a differential way. Communication of managerial objectives and aspirations takes on a whole new importance. What separates or distinguishes HRM from the traditional personnel function is the integration of HRM into strategic management and the pre-occupation of HRM with utilizing the human resource to achieve strategic management objectives. HRM â€Å"seeks to eliminate the mediation role and adopts a generally unitary perspective. It emphasizes strategy and planning rather than problem solving and mediation, so that employee cooperation is delivered by programme of corporate culture, remuneration packaging, and team building and management development for core employees, while peripheral employees are kept at arm's length. HRM strategies may be influenced by the decisions taken on strategy (the nature of the business currently and in the future) and by the structure of the enterprise (the manner in which the enterprise is structured or organized to meet is objectives). In an enterprise with effective HRM polices and practices, the decisions on HRM are also strategic decisions influenced by strategy and structure, and by external factors such as trade unions, the labor market situation and the legal system. In reality most firms do not have such a well thought out sequential HRM model. But we are considering here is also effective HRM, and thus a model where HRM decisions are as strategic as the decisions on the type of business and structure. At conceptual level the interpretations of HRM indicate different emphases, which lead to concentration on different contents of the discipline. The various distinctions or interpretations indicate that HRM â€Å"Can be used in a restricted sense so reserving it as a label only for that approach to labor management which treats labor as a valued asset rather than a variable cost and which accordingly counsels investment in the labor resource through training and development and through measures designed to at tract and retain a committed workforce. Alternatively it is sometimes used in an extended way so as to refer to a whole array of recent managerial initiatives including measures to increase the flexible utilization of the labor resource and other measures, which are largely directed at the individual employee. But another distinction can also be drawn. This directs attention to the ‘hard' and ‘soft' versions of HRM. The ‘hard' one emphasizes the quantitative, calculative and business-strategic aspects of managing the headcounts resource in as ‘rational' a way as for any other economic factor. By contrast, the ‘soft' version traces its roots to the human-relations school; it emphasizes communication, motivation, and leadership. There are several ways in which HRM has changed earlier attitudes and assumptions of personnel management about managing people. The new model of HRM includes many elements vital to the basic management goal of achieving and maintaining

Problem Solving Paper Essay

There are many steps in solving any problem at hand. People think that it is an easy process, unfortunately it’s not. A process was created in aiding in overcoming obstacles that may arise whenever an individual has to solve a problem. Solving any problem requires creativity in finding exactly what the challenge is in order to find a remedy to the problem. Throughout this paper, I will discuss the numerous stages in the creative process and select a personal challenge that I had to deal with throughout my life and venture through the creative process in order to solve the problem. Brainstorming is very important when it comes to solving a problem. By brainstorming it allows an individual to have many remedies to a problem no matter how difficult it may be. A person’s mind must be creative but in order for it to accomplish this there must be a challenge. Looking at chapter 5 of the course textbook I found that there are four stages of the creative process which are searching for challenges, expressing the problem, investigating the problem, and producing ideas. Stage one- searching for challenges: Serving my four years in the United States Marine Corps provided me with a challenge when it came to leading and solving problems quickly. One of my personal challenges that I had to deal with was when I was in Manama, Bahrain. I was a team leader with second fleet antiterrorism security team also known as FAST. We were tasked with having to provide security at the United States embassy. Upon arrival I knew that we were going to be faced with some challenges. I was a squad leader in charge of 25 Marines under me. In the military there is no point in planning because at the end of the day  plans fail and a person must improvise. Five days into providing embassy security my guys under me including myself was getting very sick from going outside into the heat and coming back into the freezing air of the embassy. I quickly had to make a decision on what I had to do to solve the problem fast. I set up a three-day post rotation splitting half my guys located at the outside and the other half located at post inside. I did this so it would minimize the exposure to the temperature changes that we were dealing with. A decision had to be made quickly on what needed to be done because protest was taking place outside the walls of the embassy and there could not be a lack when it came to security. Stage two- expressing the problem: For an individual to express a problem it takes a lot. At times it can be very difficult to point out a problem because of fear of getting into trouble. Bringing the issue up of my guys getting sick to leadership was a bit of a challenge because the Marine Corps do not like weak leaders. Leadership expects professionalism out of the squad leaders and they must depend on squad leaders to make good sound decisions. When I looked at the issue at hand it was a no-brainer I knew I would probably look weak but I was making a smart decision. If I wouldn’t had made a decision to prevent my guys from getting sick there would have been a lapse in security and that was an issue that was unacceptable to me and my leadership. Expressing the problem to my leadership gave me the confidence to go through with the plan and feel like I did the right thing. Stage three- investigating the problem: Looking at the problem I knew that it would be easy to implement the fix but I had to see if it was going to actually work. Now that we knew that going in and out of certain temperatures would make people sick we would know how to set up security positions with personnel that was available. The first three days didn’t go so well but after four days I noticed a dramatic difference in in the welfare of my Marines, including me. When I came to my leadership with the problem at hand and proposed the fix, they told me to really look at the problem and see if my plan would work. Upon investigation I concluded that the problem was fixed even though it took a little sacrificing. Fortunately, at the end of the day there was never a lapse in security and leadership was happy. Stage four- producing ideas: When coming up with a solution to the problem I checked with the leadership to make sure it was okay to implement my plan. Leadership told me not to over think the problem at hand, just come up with a quick fix to the problem considering we were only here for six months. Producing many ideas helped me have a choice of what I wanted to do. For an individual to come up with more than one idea gives an individual a broader choice, which makes solving a problem a whole lot easier. Being a leader is not hard to do; it’s about coming up with ideas, implementing them and leading from the front with integrity. Conclusion: Looking at and implementing each stage of the creative process gave me the opportunity to come up with a solution to the problem at hand. Making the right decision was important for me because it showed my leadership that I could perform under pressure. The creative process made me think of many ideas to the problem and what I had to do to fix the problem. If I would not have used the creative process the issue would not have been resolved. When you ask other people what their opinion is on an idea it shows a willingness to fix a problem at hand. Brainstorming is critical because it helps you come up with a solution and gives the individual many ideas on what they can do to fix the problem. Without the critical thinking process it would be difficult when it comes to solving problems. People depend on other people, but as long as you go through the steps of the creative thinking process anyone can find a fix to any problem that they may face in life. References Ruggiero, V.R. (2009). The Art of Thinking: A guide to critical and creative thought (9th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.

Performance Evaluations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Performance Evaluations - Essay Example Plant engineer performance can be evaluated on criteria such as central services’ design, provision of technical support to maintain plant equipment and facilities, energy saving and production cost of energy (Amrine, Ritchey, Moodie, and Kmec, 2009). Similarly, specific criteria should be used to evaluate the performance of the employees according to their position. Secondly, the evaluation of an individual’s behavior is very essential for the provision of good outcomes, employees must have good behavior with each other; because collective decision making, work sharing, putting ideas for improvement and taking extra responsibility; helps in making organization productive. Therefore, behaviors of one employee with work and with peers should be evaluated. Behavioral evaluation is necessary for plant engineer because he has to work with others and if employees are not happy with him; they will not help him in making satisfactory outcomes. Third, the performance evaluation should be based on individual traits. This is the weakest criteria, but still it is widely used by organizations. Traits such as looking busy, having a good attitude, coming on work on time or before time and having experience are not significantly connected with optimistic results of tasks or may be connected (Robbins, Judge and Sanghi, 2009). Fourth, professional development is also an important criterion for performance evaluation. In such criteria, it is considered that either employee is continuing with his/her education, struggling for excellence, searching for opportunities in order to learn and grow and other such factors. By using different criteria, company and managers identify the strengths and weaknesses of employees. Performance evaluation criterion is an effective tool for the betterment of the organization. From analyzing the outcomes of the tasks, organization can assess