Once More To The Lake By E.B. White Essays - Once More To The Lake

Once More To The Lake By E.B. White Once More to the Lake by E.B. White Once More to the Lake, by E.B. White was an essay in which a father struggles to find himself. The essay is about a little boy and his father. They go to a lake where the father had been in his childhood years. The father looks back at those years and tries to relive the moments through his son's eyes. He knows he can't, and has difficulty dealing with the fact that he can't go back in time. E.B. White's way of letting the reader know that the father is in a way depressed, is through great detail and description. The story mentions how the lake has changes since the father had seen it last. How the once gravel roads have been paved over, and the sail boats are now replace with boats with outboard motors. As the reader, one can sense a feeling of how the father isn't able to adapt to these changes. The little boy in the story, the son, also doesn't seem to appreciate the lake as much as the father did when he was growing up. Like how when he was a boy, he would wake up early to fish. Now the father wishes his son would do the same. It seemed the little boy just too the trip for granted. He didn't appear to be as appreciative as the father once was. The father describes the view as pretty much being the same. How things felt the same, like the moss on his feet and such. He didn't feel that the lake had changed any, but everything around it did. This is when the idea of a duel personality comes into picture. The father can almost see himself as a child, doing the things he wished his son would do. When he was young he would get up especially early to fix his fishing pole and even help set the dinner table. Then he realizes that his son doesn't do any of these things, making the father feel as if the trip just isn't the same. As the story progresses, the father begins to point out the differences of his once peaceful get-a way. How when arriving was something to look forward to, seeing all of the other family's greet you, the madness of the train station, and the smells of the wilderness. All of those things were gone, replace by motor boats that would wake you up in the middle of a summer slumber. Lastly the father brings up the thunderstorm. To me this represents the birth of a new him. I say this because once the rain clears up and the dark skies disappear, he begins to look at his son, and the entire trip in a different light. He forgets the years of old, and realizes that he is not his son, he stops trying to live his life through his son's eyes. When at the end he feel the cold chill of death at his groin, I feel this is him letting the trip be just a trip, not pushing his son to do exactly what he once did. He lets the boy do what he wants, not do what the father had done all those years down by the lake. Book Reports

Free sample - The Untold Story of Welfare Fraud. translation missing

The Untold Story of Welfare Fraud. The Untold Story of Welfare FraudThe Untold Story of Welfare Fraud reviews the consequences of the implementation of the law concerning provision of financial aid to poor families. It reveals the imperfect character of the law which actually left no way out for people as they had to choose whether to keep to the law or to leave their families without food. According to Abramovitz (1988), women were not enough protected by the government and its laws as they could not make their own living without men. The following article presents two types of variables which are essential for understanding of the welfare fraud and the implementation of the Welfare Fraud Diversion Program. The dependent variable is the amount of people who broke the law subject to difficult life circumstances as well as those who were convicted of welfare frauds and received criminal records without breaking the law. The independent variables are the complexity of the application and compliance procedures, the sex and education level of the parents accused of welfare frauds, illegal actions of the controlling authorities. The article shows that the amount of frauds was influenced by the implementation of strict limits and measures which were in fact aimed at decreasing of the number of people enjoying state financial aid. The unit of analysis of this study is the process of law enforcement that was caused by the present law which was aimed at making an exact division according to the degree of the conducted crimes. According to Gatta (2005), the other reviewed issue is the impact of the welfare reform to the number of related crimes. According to the article, low-income women were greatly influenced by the law. Their lives and future of their families was under the risk of extinction because of low quality level of life and financial problems which occurred at those times. The article describes â€Å"the realities of the women caught in the web of welfare fraud prosecution after the 1996 changes to the welfare law†. O’Connor (2001) presents a kind of knowledge â€Å"grounded in practice, in activism, and in the experience not only of the material deprivation but on the everyday workings of the economy†. The influence of the imperfect law on the number of violations was researched through the quantitative and qualitative study of the welfare frauds' cases. The authors conducted a content analysis of the Public Defender’s welfare fraud case files for the year 2001. They also researched qualitative data of the year 2005. It was done in order to find out any differences which could have taken place since the conduction of the first research in 2001. The results of both studies were used to create the complete image of reasons leading to fraud conviction. According to the case study the people accused of welfare frauds may be divided into several groups. The first group involves people who intentionally broke the law in order to receive money. Usually, they pretended to be mistreated or mislead social workers about their actual income and, thus, cheated the government. The second group comprises of people who did everything possible to keep to the law but could not provide information about the income of their spouses or partners as they did not keep in touch with them. Applicants also often violated the rules as they could not clearly understand the procedure of income reporting. Such cases were very common taking into account that all women accused of welfare fraud did not attend colleges. In some cases the profit of the family in the subsequent month was higher than the financial aid threshold and woman was consequently accused of welfare fraud though her annual income was still far below the poverty line. Those people did not have any intension to abuse the law or to commit a crime. Nevertheless, they were assumed to be guilty and received the same status of criminals as those people who had conducted welfare frauds intentionally. The third group includes individuals who were not allowed to provide any information about incomes of their spouses or partners. Such cases were also very common and usually husbands threatened their wives for reporting additional incomes. Women did not have any choice as the only income was brought by their husbands. The study of the cases of the second and third groups shows that those people did not commit any crimes but their criminalization was caused by the wrong government's policy. The government tried to stop the wave of law violations, and enforced so strict reporting and supervision policy that non-guilty people were charged of fraud as well. The amount of criminal records was so high at that period that supervising authorities had no time to check whether crime was intentional or non-intentional. Accused people had no funds for legal assistance and could not protect themselves properly. Consequently, people saw only the increasing number of criminals without the context producing this figure. It was widely used for justification of the law reform. In addition to the proceeding costs burden that was taken by non guilty individuals their criminal record precluded them from finding sufficient jobs and made them apply for the governmental aid and again commit fraud. Besides, authorities has developed special measures that allowed convicting of welfare fraud but at the same time violated the privacy of aid receivers. The â€Å"man in the house† method is an example of such methods that were widely used for looking for law-breakers. In case a man was found in the house of a woman receiving financial aid she was incriminated under report of income for the purpose of welfare fraud. It looked like a circle of poverty. The dependent variable of crimes' quantity was clearly influenced by the independent variables mentioned above. In diachronic perspective, such enforcement of rules and laws may be compared with the actions that lead to the discrimination. The methods applied by the authors allowed revealing the possible sexism and division for gender roles. It turned out that fathers convicted of welfare frauds were subject to civil responsibility while mothers were accused of crimes. This clearly proves gender discrimination. Nevertheless, these results were not discussed in the paper though they worth further consideration. The selection of the sample in the first study of 2001 cases may evidence that the authors managed to analyze comparatively small amount of information. On the other hand, such statistic data cannot be considered to be the only possible source of information as it does not give the whole picture of the problem. As it can be seen from the actual study, the roots of the problem may be found deep in the history. Consequently, the whole period starting from the implementation of the law until the present time should be analyzed for the clear understanding of the problem. The method of comparison of two different studies makes it easier to forecast future development of the law and allows scientists finding out the ways of the program's improvement. Despite the authors were good in the choice of variables, the system of their conclusions may become unstable if other factors will be chosen as key factors. There are other potential variables which might slightly change the prospective the research got. This research is based on the data collected in San Diego, California and the results may be different in other states of the US. The level of welfare fraud would be different in different states and correlates with the criminal rate of the state. The amount of welfare frauds may also vary taking into consideration the amount of working places and the average quality of life in the state. In such case, the research described in The Untold Story of Welfare Fraud would not reflect the situation in the US. In addition, the correlation between the amount of welfare frauds and a number of poor families should be researched. Perhaps the increasing number of frauds was caused not only by strict measures but also by the increased number of poor families. Finally, the share of second and third groups was not indicated in the study that excludes the possibility of the comparative assessment of the negative effects of the governmental policy. The problem of the interconnection between the legal status of people under financial aid and suspicions regarding their income level and the rate of the actual help from the government should be taken into consideration as the problem of discrimination according to the social status. The law enforcement system does not give any possibility for poor people to get out of the trouble they got in. It becomes difficult for them to find a well-paid job and to earn enough money for living. In addition, the law providing financial aid to ordinary people should be understandable for them. As it was already mentioned the reason of numerous violations was the lack of understanding of the law. To summarize everything mentioned, it would be useful to appeal to the law system and to make the process of helping people less difficult for understanding. As a result, the law would not be broken by people on a regular basis just because of the large amount of details but instead it will bring a clear vision of the line which separates law obeying citizens from criminals. The research might be continued in the future on the basis of the data collected from all over the country but not from the only city as the welfare reform spreads across the US. According to the research, it may be said that the general picture of issues related to the past welfare reform is presented, however additional surveys showing the state of things at the present moment should be conducted. The fast development of the legislation makes even slightly out of date information irrelevant for the research. It may be made in cooperation with politics and attorneys from the whole country. Each state may create a group which would focus on collecting of the data about this issue in order to form a precise picture of the legal environment in the country. They may also make proposals to legislative bodies concerning improvement of the law in accordance with the principle of stability of the functioning and the suitability for citizens. The general attitude towards poor people also nee ds to be reestablished as the present one indirectly makes them live in poverty and does not involve any cooperation with government and the police. In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that the research perfectly shows what is going on in the city but not nationwide. The implementation of the welfare reform is a next step on the way to the era of law and justice. Nevertheless, the violation of the law is caused not only by unintentional actions but also by the intentional ones. Consequently, the reduction of the welfare frauds' number may be achieved in several ways including elimination of stereotypes concerning poor women obtaining governmental aid. Labeling people is a wrong way of behavior as it leads to wrong statements about others caused by the unsupported generalization. Stigmatizing of a person belonging to certain class is in fact a discrimination which may be eliminated only by the implementation of new social behavior patterns and broadening of the outlook of the members of the society.

If a firm wants to maximize profits , it must give careful attention Essay

If a firm wants to maximize profits , it must give careful attention to its pricing decisions .under what conditions does this statement have relevance what a - Essay Example Profit is the difference between the total revenue and total costs of a business enterprise. Profits are considered to arise either as rewards for risk taking or due to the imperfections in the economy or as reward for innovations, according to economic theories (Dean 1977, pp. 5 – 9). Rewards for risk taking: Entrepreneurs are essentially people with the ability to take risks. The risk involved is, to be prepared to accept as their share of the (monetary) value of the enterprise activities, after all costs have been provided for. What is left may be losses or minimal profits or more than reasonable profits. It is this risk that entitles the entrepreneur to keep for himself whatever is left at the end of the day. This is his profit. A good example of the reward for risk taking is photocopying business. When the plain paper photocopying technique was invented, it was a risky business to invest in, as the future would be that of ‘computerized paperless offices’. Rank Xerox Corporation, on the other hand, was willing to accept the risk and acquired the technology and patent rights. The stupendous success of this decision and the great revenues that it brought to Rank Xerox, are legendary (www.xerox.com). Imperfections in economy: According to this view, profits arise due to ‘†¦the imperfections in the adjustment of economy to change’ (Dean 1977, p.8). Imperfection refers to the competitive situation. There is a time lag between the occurrence of a change and the return of the market to near-perfect competitive position or equilibrium, and it is during this time of absorbing the change that profits accrue. An example of this type of opportunity is the occasional shortage in supply of food grains due to bad weather or crop failure and the time lag before a government takes corrective actions for increasing supplies through imports etc. Reward for innovation: In this third view on how profits arise, it is postulated that profits are what the

Advanced human resource Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Advanced human resource - Essay Example In 2014, Toyota has a net capital of 397.05 billion yen and it has 338,875 employees operating for accomplishing the organisational objectives (Toyota Motor Corporation, 2015). Toyota has been operating with highest market share in the world in the present day context. The company is also identified to be one of the largest companies in terms of revenue. Human Resource Department of the company has been identified to be facing Human Resource (HR) issues, which has been adversely affecting the operations of the business to a certain extent. For a company, human resource is ascertaining to be the main asset to develop and grow, as human resource facilitates in performing operations in accordance with organisational objective (Ekshan & Othman, 2009). The three HR issues faced by the company include training, negative behaviour, and employee engagement and commitment (Austenfeld, 2006). For making the employee perfect and efficient, effective training is needed to be provided, so that the employees are able to perform their tasks effectively and efficiently for accomplishing organisational objectives. Providing better training to the employees of the company helps in building up the right skills and knowledge of the subsequent products that are to be offered for meeting the preferences of the customers. Training is an important aspect for motivating as well as developing the competency of the employees, so that the employees are able to perform their operations on the basis of organisational needs. The objective of training involves mostly acquisition of knowledge needed for the staff to perform their function in a better way (Dyer, 2008). Negative behaviour in the organisation could affect the growth of the company. In addition, it affects the productivity and profitability of the organisation. In the organisation, the employees develop negative behaviour at the time

Translation Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Translation Studies - Essay Example With the advent of television, dubbing of TV programs also became popular, so that by the late 1970s, most major European and Latin American markets were watching television and cinema productions made in Hollywood in their local languages. Today, in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey-and increasingly in the major East European nations-audiences see Hollywood productions in their local languages, rather than subtitles, as a result of concern for audience size and linguistic purity.1 As Ramez Maluf the director of the Beirut Institute for Media Arts at the Lebanese American University comments that subtitling required readers to read and gave them a feeling that they were watching a foreign production and could not attract a huge market. Dubbing was used sufficiently and persuasively in this regard. The revival period of the Disney animations resulted in production of all time hit genres like the Beauty and the Beast, The Alladin, The Simpsons and the Lion King. These animations were popular throughout the world and were translated in a number of languages to suit the needs of varying publics. The research proposal aims at studying the translations of English versions of Disney Genres into Arabic through dubbing. 'The Simpsons', the popular American animated series for more than seventeen years now, will be studied and analyzed as part of the study. 'The Simpsons' The 1990s saw the beginnings of a new wave of animated series targeted primarily to adults, after a lack of such a focus for over a decade. In 1989, The Simpsons, based on a short animated cartoon segment of The Tracey Ullman Show, became the first prime-time animated series since The Flintstones to capture a sizable viewing audience. It was the first major hit series for the fledgling Fox network, and it caused a minor sensation, entering popular culture and gaining wide acceptance. Currently, The Simpsons appears to show no signs of stopping and at this rate may surpass Gunsmoke, as the longest-running fictional program in American television history. The Simpsons success has been attributed by many to the two faced quality of its theme. It is a silly cartoon with witty socio-political commentary. Micheal Hastings of All Movie Guide describes it in following words "A tale of five-member, four-fingered, dysfunctional nuclear family" Simpsons popularity could be deemed by the fact that it is responsible for the introduction of a number of phrases and words into the American Culture like D'oh! Jebus, Kwyjibo, Meh, Okily-Dokily and Yoink! These phrases have found their way into popular use, to varying degrees and are a norm for any American adult. Simpsons attained worldwide popularity primarily in America, as it highlighted various social and historical

Low cost strategy and differentiation strategy on HR

Low cost strategy and differentiation strategy on HR Executive Summary: The report will develop key points using the Porter competitive model as a guide. It will describe low cost strategy and differentiation strategy and its impact in key HR function such as HR planning, recruitment and selection, orientation, training and development, career planning, performance management, compensation management, Health and safety and International Operations. Theory description: Michael Porter made a major contribution to the field of strategic management by grouping the different positions organizations can compete in five competitive strategies. Porters business strategy concentrates itself with the product and the market scope. The importance of gaining a competitive advantage is extreme in the economy and it grows out from the value an organization is able to for their consumer that exceeds the firms cost of creating it.  [1]   The five forces govern the profit structure of an industry by determining how the economic value it creates is apportioned. That value may be drained away through the rivalry among existing competitors, of course, but it can also be bargained away through the power of suppliers or the power of customers or be constrained by the threat of new entrants or the threat of substitutes. Strategy can be viewed as building defenses against the competitive forces or as finding a position in an industry where the forces are weaker. Changes in the strength of the forces signal changes in the competitive landscape critical to ongoing strategy formulation.  [2]   Low-cost Provider Strategy the goal of this strategy is to provide a product or service at a price lower than that of competitors while appealing to a broad range of customers. Low cost strategy is centered on the capability of the company to produce and deliver products of competitive quality at lower costs. Cost leadership strategy is much more than cost reduction initiatives that get lot of prominence in strategic planning and review session of any company as a means to improve the bottom line of a company by improving its efficiency. Some companies use their efficient cost structures to protect their markets from the competitors by responding to competitors move of making in-roads in the market space by reducing prices. Such reactive response may make a company predominantly inward focused. Positioning low cost strategy Better way to strategically position a company on the advantage of cost is to increase market share by transforming from lowest cost producer to lowest cost supplier of products. This way the company translates its cost advantage into price advantage for its customers and thereby improves the market share. The prospect of increasing the market share provides a great opportunity for the company to leverage the economies of scale coupled with the ruthless cost cutting measures it plans to execute. More the competitive space it occupies which also means that more competitors eliminated more effective are economies of scale and as a result the costs are driven still lower. When a company is able to transform the efforts of cost reduction into cost advantage for customers the company can be said to be successfully pursuing low cost leadership strategy. Wal-Mart is one company that continuously strives to reduce costs and in the market place it has got the image of supplier of products at the lowest prices. This is how Wal-Mart captures the markets and eliminates the competitors and improves revenues and market share. Economies of scale and efficiency form the core around which Wal-Mart executes its strategy. Companies pursuing cost leadership strategy compare each and every activity along their value chain with competitors and are committed to surpass them. Innovation in such companies is focused on process improvements rather than on products .Therefore, companies pursuing cost leadership strategy target mass markets with proven products.  [3]   Differentiation strategy an organization employing this strategy seeks to differentiate its products from other competitors products in ways that will appeal to a broad range of customers.  [4]  Examples of suceesful organizations are Examples of the successful use of a differentiation strategy are Hero Honda, Asian Paints, HLL, Nike athletic shoes, Perstorp BioProducts, Apple Computer, and Mercedes-Benz automobiles. HR functions and Porters strategies: Human resources Planning can be defined as a process by which an organization ensures that it has the right number and kinds of people, at the right place, at the right time, capable of effectively and efficiently completing those tasks that will help the organization achieve its overall objectives or in other words HRP can be defined as planning for the future personnel needs of an organization, taking into account both internal activities and factors in the external environment. When adopting low cost strategy organizations the product must be perceived by consumers as comparable to the ones offered by the competition and have a price advantage. The objective is to gain market share or to earn higher profit margin, this options have direct impact in HR Planning. When analyzing the function we can observe that at entry level succession planning is minimal. Outside labor markets are monitored to satisfy entry level needs and resource to fringe workers.  [5]  On the other hand, Or ganizations that adopt a differentiation strategy the impact in HR planning, is the following the company recognizes that people are the key in gaining a competitive advantage in the market and their strategies reflect that concern. Succession management is vital in this environment is critical, employees need to possess certain competencies and skills to advance in the company, with this organizations invest in developing skills is part of the promotion policy. HR management focuses on career and training and job security and employee loyalty is very with these organizations.  [6]   Recruitment and Selection function incorporates the process to discover the sources of manpower to meet the requirements of the staffing the sources of manpower to meet the requirements of the staffing schedule and employ effective measures for attracting the manpower in adequate numbers to facilitate effective selection of an effective working force. Selection is the process of choosing the most suitable candidates from those who apply for the job. It is a process of offering jobs to desired candidates. Organizations that adopt low cost strategy focus less Recruitment and selection. It is mostly done at level entry and the pool is the surrounding labor market pool and recruitment and selection budgets are lower organizations that adopt differentiation strategies. Recruitment methods are based on mouth to mouth and on-site applications, resource to local newspapers. Career paths are narrow and positions that are not entry level are filled in house.  [7]  When adopting a differentiation strategy an organization reaffirms that human capital is key in gaining your competitive advantage it centralizes the importance of Recruitment and Selection. In this picture, the strategy reflects the need for a pool of employees with a broad range of skills and competencies. The employee that they seek is one that will need less supervision and with an innovative mind and ability to work in teams. On the other hand, the selection process involves team interviews and behaviorally based evidence of innovative performance and resources to testing may occur.  [8]   Orientation Training and Development is the field concerned with organizational activity aimed at bettering the performance of individuals and groups in organizational settings.  [9]  This concept is differs from company to company , low cost strategy will incorporate a training and development process focused on increasing the efficiency of the job, training is provide in a minimal delivery due to the skills to perform the job being lower. Investment in career development is few and the focus in acquiring new skills is non existence. If we analyze the food industry, this is the predominant rule. Employees are trained to perform a job and their trained on the basis in delivering a service. While in a differentiation organization, employees are viewed as the key for their success and investment in training and career development are higher. In organizations as Apple INC have developed training and development programs that will focus on skills and attitudes, decision making, ability to work i n teams, creative thinking, it is aimed to be a process that will incite innovation and creativity. Apples training and development can range from training the staff or employees on how to use a new piece of software, complete a form, give good customer service or write a professional letter. Training and development programs are an essential component of a learning environment that can improve the Apple Inc.s ability to attract and retain employees with the skills and competencies needed to achieve results for the benefit of the company. Training and developing new and current staff to fill up new roles and work in dissimilar ways will be a decisive part in the endeavors of the company to meet its transformation challenges. Ways that employees learn and achieve results will also continue to transform how Apple Inc. do business and engage or force the employees in further innovation and improvements in line with its objectives.  [10]   Career Planning includes the steps an individual undergoes in an organization during working period, which takes the person through the hierarchic ladder with expansion in duties and responsibilities with resultant increase in pay and status. It is a process which enables an organization to meet its current and future manpower requirement through provision of career opportunities for its employees. Planned and systematized progression of events in the field of work of Individuals during their employable periods of life.  [11]  Low cost organizations will invest little in career planning due to the fact their aim is to provide a low cost service and investing in career planning will increase their costs. Although, at the corporate level some techniques maybe visible. In a differentiation strategy organization career planning is a tool to improve employee motivation and loyalty. Methods as career development workshop, human resources planning and forecasting, succession planning, career development pathing programs and mentoring are set in place to guide employees.  [12]   Performance management is the process of creating a work environment or setting in which people are enabled to perform to the best of their abilities. Performance management is a whole work system that begins when a job is defined as needed. It ends when an employee leaves your organization.  [13]  Low strategy organizations develop performance management plans that are standard are measured by standard criteria, when executing performance reviews the feedback is immediate, specific in the form a review and accountability is implemented. Appraisals are performed by the direct supervisor not utilizing the 360 appraisal method the objective here is for promotion consideration. These plans are implemented in the food and restaurant industry where positions normally are less complex in the bottom level. As in differentiation environment like Apple INC performance management is based on long term implications of behavior, the objective is geared to implement behavior that will have long term efficient behaviors. The plan tries to encourage empowerment, diversity, and team work, innovation that will reach efficient and effective outcomes. Performance reviews are 360, evaluation is done by measuring group work in terms of objectives not defragmenting the individual effort.  [14]   Compensation Management is an important task for HR; it is complex task that is performed periodically which configures each employees compensation in order to be included in the payroll process. Organizations with low cost strategies manage their compensation strategy in order to monitor the wages offered by organizations in their market; they incorporate lower wages and fringe benefits and adopt a lag strategy by utilizing outsourcing to countries or states where wages are lower. The reduction in wages can be achieved by using part time employees, because they do not receive fringe benefits. In pay performance dimension is used to reward individual effort in low cost organizations. Companies with differentiation strategies develop their compensation strategy very carefully. Wages can be slightly below the market average, but the opportunities to increase your pay through other means are plenty for example incentive pay. By placing yourself as a differentiation focused company pay p erformance is incorporate and it depends on individual, group and corporate achievements.  [15]   Health and Safety policies are extremely important in the Canadian workplace environment. Organizations will comply with the legal requirements and will ensure employees have a safe and healthy work environment. Where organizations differ is their level of complexity of HS practices. In low cost driven organizations the investment in health and safety is used as the main goal of achieving legal compliance. Manufacturing sector gear their practices to ensure the safety requirements are met. As in a differentiation organization we see the reach to a next step by implementing employee wellness programs and use health and safety to increase their competitive advantage by positioning as going beyond the limits. International Operations Conclusion:

War :: essays research papers fc

Recent photographs of Iraqi Prisoners Of War (POWs) being humiliated and abused by United States armed forces have caused uproar and disgust throughout the world. The sole purpose of any war is to win; either through destroying the enemy, or the achieving a specific goal. Why then should coalition forces be held to a higher standard in regard to treatment of POWs than the rest of the world? To fully explore this question we must understand the history of POWs, and the role that the United States plays in world affairs. During the 1991 Gulf War, pictures of American pilots beaten and bleeding were shown to the world. Civilized nations were outraged. As Major Rhonda Cornum told of being molested, Colonel Jeff Tice told of being electrocuted, and other American and British pilots read scripted statements on television (PBS), civilized nations were appalled. Throughout the years, prisoners have been interrogated and mistreated by their captors. Vietnamese soldiers housed prisoners in substandard shelter or even pits throughout their country. The most famous POW camp was known as the â€Å"Hanoi Hilton†. Here, POWs where beaten, tortured and humiliated for years. Brainwashing techniques were perfected by North Korea during The Korean Conflict. World War I POWs were forced into labor camps or systematically murdered through â€Å"death marches† where guards would force prisoners to march until they died from exhaustion in an effort to reduce the number of prisoners in the camps. World War I I POWs were killed, or used for medical experiments. The United Sates Department of Defense recognizes table below outlines the prominent type of torture administered during each of the official US Wars (DoD, 47). After the wars ended, and it was discovered just how badly the POWs were treated, civilized nations convinced themselves that torture and abuse were the acts of uncivilized nations ruled by madmen. Principal Wars in which the US Participated Official War  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Torture technique Revolutionary War  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Murder, destruction of property War of 1812  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Rape, theft, Arson Indian Wars  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Scalping, murder, rape Mexican War  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Murder Civil War  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hanging, destruction of property Spanish-American War  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  providing only saltwater to drink-causing dehydration and hallucinations World War I  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sleep deprivation, murder World War II  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (sexual) enslavement, medical experiments, death marches Korean War  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  re-education, Bataan Death March, physical torture Vietnam War  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  cutting off various body parts to get other prisoners to talk, Sleep deprivation, bamboo under fingernails Gulf War-1991  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Electrocution, humiliation, beatings, Sleep deprivation Gulf War-2003  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Religious and sexual abuse, humiliation, beatings, sleep deprivation The United States has, from the onset of the Civil war, led the moral and ethical charge for proper care and treatment of prisoners of War.

Operational Management at Mcdonald Essay

One aspect of facilities layout for McDonald’s is that when customers come into the building, they line up in one of several lines and wait to be served. In contrast, customers at Wendy’s are asked to stand in one line that snakes around the front of the counter and to wait for a server to become available. a) What is the rationale for each approach? b) Which approach do you favour from (1) a customer’s perspective and (2) management’s perspective? Explain. A Rationale for McDonald approach McDonald’s success had been built on four pillars: limited menu, fresh food, fast service and affordable price. Intense competition and demands for a wider menu drive-through and sit-down meals – encouraged the fast food giant to customize product variety without hampering the efficacy of its supply chain. McDonalds use assembly line procedures in their kitchen for mass production so as to keep prices low. Speed, service and cleanliness is one of the critical success factors of the business. Lining up in one of the several lines tied into McDonald’s capability statement on speedy service, efficiency and good customer service. Each staff at McDonald is trained to change roles within shifts and this makes resource management during peak and off peak hours manageable. At all times there is enough staff on hand to take care of business and overall effectiveness is improved Drawback to this approach includes huge rental space to accommodate large operational facility. It could also become very costly on staff training. Workforce productivity are not usually related to the number of staff working on a task, and productivity variance may tilt negatively for McDonalds on this. Operating cost are very high and unless this is well managed, it may not necessarily be profitable. Rational for Wendy’s approach The rationale for Wendy’s â€Å"old fashioned† hamburgers could be traced to the history of unsuccessful attempts to outperform the competition which created the low profile structure. Wendy’s headquarters shifted to Dublin after a merger with Triac, Arby’s parent company and the very conservative style of  European business. Structure of business is very simple and easier to manage; it does not envisage much growth and cater mainly for the bottom line. It will require less space and resources to manage. Also less inventory and therefore less operating cost, however this will also impact on profitability. Drawback to this approach includes disorganized premises during peak hours, unsatisfied customers due to longer wait times for service. Wendy at some point was also suspect for cleanliness and this approach would add more to the problem. Managers Perspective The two approaches shows different business and strategic objectives. McDonald approach depicts a growth oriented organisation that wants to create market dominance in the sector. Wendy concentrates on its core traditional product, so that those who appreciate the product will be kept in the customer chain. The McDonalds style will require acquisition of new business skills and technology while Wendy traditional styles will require less technology. Looking at the management styles, McDonalds is poised to remain the leader in the food chain industry with concentration on their supply chain system and product differentiation methods. McDonalds work with farmers to ensure that produce are sized right and grow to specification, while Wendy concentrates mostly on the beef. With these different styles, McDonalds will be my preference for growth and bottom line. Wendy cannot compare to Mac in the business because more and more happy customers are trooping to Mac for what they see as 21 cent ury improvements.

The Bottom Billion: Why the poorest countries are failing and what can be done about it by Paul Collier Oxford University Press (2007)

â€Å"I have a little boy who is six. I do not want him to grow up in a world with a vast running sore- a billion people stuck in desperate conditions alongside unprecedented prosperity. † (176. Paul Collier). It is a global nightmare and â€Å"a ghetto of misery and discontent† (collier) that would affect, not only Africa, but the world in general, â€Å"unless† the G8 (a group of 8 industrialized countries) and mass of informed ordinary citizens act seriously and responsibly to help these countries overcome the poverty trap they have been stuck in for decades; enable them to converge with the rest of the world and live up to the 21st century standards. Paul Collier is a professor of Economics and Director of the Center for the Study of African Economies at Oxford University, and former director of Development Research at the World Bank. In 2010, he was named by Foreign Policy Magazine to its list of top global thinkers. Collier holds a distinction award from Oxford University. Among his books The Plundered Planet published in May 2010, Wars, Guns, and Votes published in March 2009, and the Bottom Billion published in 2007. In the â€Å"Bottom Billion: why the poorest countries are failing and what can be done about it† Collier seeks to find out factors that are causing one billion of people to live in extreme poverty and have unproductive life. In the meanwhile he wants to shift the thinking of the industrialized countries from â€Å"alleviating [their] poverty† to â€Å"economic convergence†. Collier approaches his arguments through an empirical studies where he analyses statistically the correlation between factors he considers to be responsible to cause the sad reality which one billion of people live in – the â€Å"fourteenth century [characteristics of]: civil war, plague, ignorance. † He uses data from University of Michigan, his own resources and experiences as an Africa expert, and his colleagues’ resources. Collier gradually argues that there are four traps which are responsible to trap bottom billion countries and place them at the bottom of the global economic system. However Collier does also include solutions that are needed to be taken seriously and responsibly by both the G8 and the bottom billion government officials for any change to happen and to save the world from â€Å"sleepwalking into unnecessary catastrophe† in the future. What is the â€Å"bottom billion†? According to Collier, they are fifty-eight small countries Characterized by civil war, plague, and ignorance. Their population combined is fewer than China or India. Per capita income is very low, so the income of the typical country is negligible, less than that of most of the rich world cities. They are countries that do not form a geographic label, so Collier label them as â€Å"Africa+† as 70% of the people of the bottom billion are in Africa. The + sign refers to places such as Haiti, Bolivia, the Central Asian countries, Laos, Cambodia, Yemen, Burma, and North Korea. The average life expectancy is 50 yrs, the infant mortality is 14%, and proportion of children with symptoms of long-term mal nutrition is 36%. The misfortune one billion still is living in extreme poverty in a country affected by recurrent conflicts, resource curse, geographic isolation or bad governance. ) The conflict trap: according to Collier, 73% of people in the societies of the bottom billion have recently been in civil war or still in one. 50% of conflicts in the bottom billion are post conflict relapses. The low income, slow growth, and dependency upon primary commodity exports (oil, diamonds, or gold) are leading causes that increases the risk of civil war. Civil war destroys the economic of the society during war and post conflict war as collier calculates the average cost to be $ 64 billion. Examples of countries fail into conflicts are Cote d’Hivoir, Democratic Republic of the Congo- formerly Zaire, and Sierra Leone. The typical civil war last for a long time â€Å"something around a decade, more than 10 times as long as typical international war. † (Collier). It is very hard to stop it, when it does, possibility for another civil war, repeated civil war. Collier argues that political injustice is not what makes the society prone to a civil war, as Zimbabwe faces the injustice of political rights but there is no war, no rebellion civil war. Instead, Collier statistical analyses show that poverty, stagnation, and availability of valuable natural resources are the causes that seem to produce civil war rather than political injustice. ) Natural Resource Curse: Natural resource rich countries in Africa have ended up poor as a result of resource wealth that only the few (government officials and foreign extract agencies) to benefit from but not the majority (the citizen). The elites in these countries detach themselves from the interest and concerns of the majority of their population; they con trol and steal the revenues of primary commodities exports. All these revenues go to private pockets or foreign banks. According to Collier, it is estimated to be 38% of Africa’s wealth has fled the continent. Economists explain resource curse as a â€Å"Dutch disease†, because â€Å"the resource exports cause the country’s currency to rise in value against other currencies. This make the country’s other export activities uncompetitive. † Nigeria for example in 1970s, its oil revenues built up. Yet, the country’s other exports such as peanuts and cocoa became unprofitable. As Nigeria’s currency rise in value, the peanut and cocoa prices become higher for importers who might find another peanut and cocoa supplier cheaper from that of Nigeria. Therefore, Nigeria’s peanuts and Cocoa became unprofitable, and production rapidly collapsed. Failure to diversify the export products, the resource rich countries can’t break free from the dependency of exporting the primary commodities as they are source of big revenues. The government accountability is not transparent for its citizens as the latter are not taxed by their governments. Consequently, the citizenry are less likely to demand financial accountability. However, the natural resource is good source of wealth for the whole society when their governments have managed to use the resource wealth very well such as Canada, Norway, and Australia. ) Landlocked countries with bad neighbors: Countries that lack coastline are forced to sell to their neighboring countries’ markets. Example of Uganda and Switzerland, both are landlocked but the first one is poor and the second one is rich (respectively). Collier explains that neighbor matters for development, he continues explaining the fact that Switzerland is a rich country, despite the fact is a landlocked, bec ause it depends on its neighbors the Germany and Italian infrastructure. Whereas Uganda’s poor neighbors with their weak infrastructure make it hard for Uganda to access to the sea and integrate into global markets. Kenyan’s infrastructure is so important to Uganda’s access to the sea. Moreover, sometimes the neighbors not only are the transport corridor, they are also the markets themselves, like Germany, Italy, and France were the Switzerland market. While Uganda neighbors are Kenya, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Tanzania. All of Uganda’s neighboring countries are poor, and have been through genocide like Rwanda, stagnation of nearly three decade like in Kenya, Somalia that is completely ollapsed, and Democratic Republic of the Congo that has catastrophic for it to change its name from Zaire. Therefore, Switzerland has been for a period of three decades in the better neighborhood. While Uganda’s neighbors are economically poor countries with weak infrastructure, which is absolutely don’t form good neighbor for Uganda. â€Å"Landlocked countries with poor infrastructure connections to their neighbors have limited market for their goods. † (Collier) 4- Bad Governance in a small country: bad policies adopted by bad government can destroy the economy of a country. The type of democracy practiced in these countries is dysfunctional democracy lack the check and balance system. Thus, the government officials seize each opportunity they have to build up a fortune from the natural resource revenues that are supposed to benefit the majority of the society not only the few in the government. The instability and lack of accountability especially in these small countries of the bottom billion discourage potential investors, who usually feel better when opt for better known countries such as china and India than unfamiliar countries with instability and risks. Chad is a landlocked country with aid and oil. Chad’s only option is their government to provide public services from the aid and oil revenues. However, 2004 survey tracked money released by the ministry of Finance â€Å"intended† for rural health clinics. Survey showed that â€Å"only1% of it reached the clinics and 99% failed to reach its destination. † In part 3 Chapter 6, Collier argues that globalization works for India and China but not the bottom billion that may have â€Å"missed the boat†. Globalization seem to work against the bottom billion, because of â€Å"economies of agglomeration† as Asia used labor-intensive manufacturing strategy to break into the global markets and makes competitive for â€Å"later comers† to compete with their products that seem to control the international markets. Bottom billion, in turn, become supplier of primary commodities, which just reinforce the natural resource trap. In the final section, Collier suggests in helping the poorest, there is a need to â€Å"narrow the target and broaden the instruments†. To focus only on the one billion that live below poverty line and experience no type of growth compared to the rest of the world; and to shift thinking from aid to an array of policy instruments such as aid delivery, military intervention, charter and laws, and trade policy, which are the instruments he proposes to help the bottom billion escape from the traps mentioned above. 1- Aid Policy: Aid causes intense political disagreements between the left and right. Left sees it as a part of solution they regard it to be as a reparations for colonialism, while the right sees it a part of problem when the feckless get rewarded. Collier believes that aid does â€Å"tend to speed up the growth process†. He reminds readers to the fact that United States was also that poor, and took it to get to where it is today about two hundred years. He believes in â€Å"aid for development† neither in â€Å"aid for reparations† nor â€Å"aid for the feckless†. However Collier insists to change the way the aid is provided, keeping in mind that statistical evidence generally suggests that aid is â€Å"subject to what is called â€Å"diminishing returns. † When aid reaches about 16 percent of GDP it is not anymore effective. In addition aid can be an inducement to rebellion and to coups, it is sometimes called â€Å"rents to sovereignty†. So to make it more effective, there is a need to form agencies just to supervise the aid money and to make sure it reaches its potentials for which is given. Aid money needs to be watched more closely so does not leak to military spending or be taken by coups. 2- Military intervention: it is the most controversial one in the list of instruments; however, the bottom billion countries â€Å"cannot provide their own security to an adequate fashion. That is the same strategy used 40 years ago, when North America provided supplies security to Europe after World War II. Collier mentions the tragedy of Rowanda when 800,000 died unnecessary due to rejection of military intervention. Yet the British military intervention in Sierra Leone end brutal long lasting civil war. Both the Sierra Leone government officials and its citizens welcome the military action that helped them to be in peace from the rebellion that recruit addicted teenagers and train them to hack the hands and the feet of villagers including women and children. -Laws and Charters: giving the fact these countries are very corrupt and far from the transparent to adopt laws that will benefit their citizens, Collier suggests in this case a voluntary of international standards that would put pressure within these societies to adopt them. Example of such law â€Å"the extract industry transparency† requires governments in the bottom billion to report to its own citizens what revenues are getting from natural resource extraction. Nigeria eformers adopted it and a lot other governments ha ve adopted it because of the pressure from below. It is that pressure on governments from within their own society that would lead some other governments to adopt them. 4- Trade Policies: also it is debated about especially the bottom billion countries are poor with zero tolerance; however, Collier believes that opening the west markets to bottom billion countries in much generous way, would absolute help their economy to succeed and to diversify to light manufactures and into a wide range of agricultural goods. As matter of fact, would enable them to break free from their dependency on exporting that narrow range of primary commodities. â€Å"The west countries have done it in the past- when rich countries opened its markets to each other, or when North America opens its markets to Europe so the latter could recover. The whole modern wealth of Europe, America, and Japan grew through that process of opening and sharing markets†. Trading policy that Collier proposes in the bottom billion would help the rich countries to be safer and more prosperous. Collier, I think he achieves his goals of building a mass of informed citizens as he thinks that it is a step forward for changes to happen and for better future for the bottom billion countries. About 50,000 copies of the bottom billion book were sold in just few months by different age groups. Also, the new paperback edition was being translated into Chinese, Japanese, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Korean, and Norwegian. Politicians may find it hard to get away with the classic political gestures of â€Å"flying in, kissing couple of babies, announcing some sort of Aid program, and then forgetting about it. † Now the well informed citizens are just a pressure on politicians’ decisions toward this part of the world. Collier also generates an astonishing political interest that the bottom billion countries now are benefiting from and their economic growth is being recognized by leaders such as Ban-Ki Moon, the Secretary General of the Unite Nations announced â€Å"let 2008 be the Year of the Bottom Billion. Robert Zoellick, the president of the World Bank, announced in his first Annual Meeting address that â€Å"a stronger focus on the bottom billion would now be a priority†, Douglas Alexander, British Secretary of State for Development â€Å"announced the creation of a massive international Growth Center for the poorest countries†¦etc. Bottom Billion is a must read book for whoever is interested

A Dolls House essays

A Doll's House essays Henrik Ibsens, A Doll House, is a realistic play written in the mindset of realism. Throughout the play, lines of mockery and emphasis are present, giving the audience the feeling of fakeness and showing them a particular depiction of women in the 19th century. It is apparent that Ibsen set out to give a specific character, Nora, a role to play as the stereotypical 19th century woman, continually showing her need for individuality and lack of dependency. This is the main theme in A Doll House. From the first lines of the show, it is clear how Ibsen wants the audience to portray the role of women and continues to use this theme throughout the remainder of the show. As the show progresses, we see a parallel progression in the character of Nora. She has been babied her entire life, not only by her father but now by her husband, Torvald, whom only treats her as a pet, not as a wife. Her main struggle through the play is to find her independency and freedom as an individual. This is difficult for her, however, for she has never had to strain to get anything. Shes always had things handed to her and has always lived an over-comfortable lifestyle. Even through her dialogue, its easy to sense that all of her happiness is fake because she feels like a trapped animal, just living life as its given to her, instead of her taking the initiative to do things for herself. As a result of this upbringing, Nora is materialistic and impulsive. Over the duration of the play, however, the development of Noras character shows the audience that her ways are only a cover for the emptiness she feels each day. In the play, we find out that she secretly negoti ates a loan with Nils Krogstad, in order to pay for a trip to Italy for her husbands illness and recovery. Everyone thinks that Noras father funded the trip, but the audience finds, to their surprise, that it was she who actually paid for it. This...

Tort law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Tort law - Essay Example However, contact is the basic element of battery. Since contact is an essential element of battery, there must be an absence of contact for an assault. In other words loosing battery comes under the ambit of an assault2. As per the law of UK both the offenses can be booked under criminal and law of tort. Therefore, anyone who found guilty under the offenses is liable for prosecution under the criminal and civil law. Under the criminal law assault is an attempt to commit a battery one some one’s body3. Intention or motive behind an offense is necessary. The defendant or the attacker must have intention or motive to harm someone bodily. Assault and battery have two motives a) one in retaliation and b) in self defense. The intention or motive involved in assault and battery should appear on the body of the aggrieved person. If there is no intention or motive of a person to bodily harm another person, legally cannot be considered guilty of offenses as mentioned hereinabove4. Conse nt In all civilized states, consent is used in defense of civil assault and battery by the offenders. However, combating with mutual consensus does not deprive anybody of his or her legal right to sue. However, there is difference of opinion amongst the jurists whether the criminal assault or battery can be used in defense of any person. ... Self-Defense A commonly used term wherein a person can use a certain degree of force to save himself from bodily injuries inflicted upon by another person. Now it is up to jury to determine whether the degree of force used in self defense is valid and permissible under the law. If a man by his or her own will initiate fight without justified reasons against another person cannot be treated such fight in self dense. Here, the intention and motive of a person does matter6. As far as the use of force against the offender with an object to save himself or herself in retaliation of an aggressor’s attempt is justifiable under the law. In all the countries around the globe, a defender can use deadly weapon to save his or her life provided his or her life is in danger. In majority states, law provides support to a person who may stand in front of an aggressor to defend himself although the chances of safe escape from the scene are there7. The court will examine the degree of force use d by the defender against the offender under the circumstances was justified or not. The following factors should be taken into account by the jury while deciding the matter a) age b) size and c) strength of participants8. Defense of Others Helping out others in their turmoil or in case of need treated valid defense provided the defender was not at fault. In case of defending others, the defender’s right to claim self defense of a protected person cannot be undermined. In few cases the defender reasonably believes that he or she was in need of help to come out of the worst scenario9. The law of tort treats the assault and battery an attack on the security and safety of a person life hence the wrong done to the victims attracts compensation for the damages. Under the civil law, the

Financial Instruments disclosure Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 12000 words

Financial Instruments disclosure - Dissertation Example Transparency allows the users to view the implication and results of judgments, estimates and decisions undertaken by the management of an organization. Full disclosure of financial instruments refers to the exposure of all the necessary information followed while taking decisions, which would provide the investors with reasonable assurance and belief on the activities performed by the organization. Financial Statements and instruments published and issued by an organization must be comparable both with the industry standards and cross-sectional among firms over a given period of time (Pownall and Schipper, 1999, pp. 259-280). Eccher and Healy (2000), Gelb and Zarowin (2002) and Lang, Ready and Yetman (2003) investigated the relationship between accounting quality and share prices. Lang, Ready and Yetman (2003) stated from the research evidence that cross-listed firms as compared to non-cross-listed firms have higher accounting quality as the accounting data of cross-listed firms are more highly associated with price (Lang, Ready and Yetman, 2003, p.375). The relationship between share price and accounting quality is also found in different market segments around different culture, since share prices are affected by the financial disclosure of an organization. Gelb and Zarowin (2002) examined the relationship between the level of corporate disclosure of financial instruments and stock prices. This study found that organizations with more financial instruments disclosure attain higher Earnings Response Coefficient [ERC’s] (i.e. greater price information) in future as compared to organizations with less disclosure (Gelb and Zarowin, 2002, p.33). A controversial issue related to financial instruments is its valuation at fair value. Although fair value accounting is considered to be the most relevant information for predicting future cash flows, yet the reliability of the fair value measures has been questioned (Hitz, 2007, pp.323-362). Barth (1994) investig ated and found how disclosed fair value estimates of investment securities of bank, and gains and losses of securities are reflected in share price on being compared with their historical cost (Hassan and Mohd-Saleh, 2010, pp. 246-247). 1.1 Disclosure of Non-Proprietary Information Proprietary information is a type of information whose disclosure affects a company’s future earnings potentially and is beneficial to the shareholders occasionally (Dye, 1985, p.123). Managers are generally reluctant to disclose non-proprietary information about financial instruments since they feel that such disclosure may affect the annual earning and the share prices of the company (Dye, 1985, p.124). As market value of a company’s shares is affected with disclosure, so the shareholders may try to implement incentive contracts which encourage managers to suppress unfavourable information and release that information which could lead to rise in the market value of the shares. In this cont ract, when the investors are