Eng 125 Week 1 Assignment

ENG/125 8/6/2012 A Poem Poetry is not something that I would normally be interested in. I’ve tried writing poetry only to end up a dismal failure. I’ve tried to read poetry only to end up bored halfway through. I’ve always wanted to be one of those soulful poetic types who walk around with a serene look on their faces, snapping their fingers when something tickles their fancy but I’ve never quite made that transition. Poetry, to me, seems to be a fanciful, ethereal pursuit that has somehow always gone over my head no matter how hard I’ve tried.Since I’ve failed miserably at being a poet or even enjoying poetry, you can imagine my surprise when I read â€Å"Dog’s Death† and not only enjoyed it but it touched my heart. A good poem knows how to grab not only the reader’s attention but will snag the reader’s emotions and take them on a roller coaster; whether it has a happy or a sad ending the poem should keep the read er’s interest until the end. The poem â€Å"Dog’s Death† is a poem about a dog that has become a part of a family only to later be injured and die a slow death from a liver laceration.The author talks of how the dog learned to use the bathroom by going potty on newspapers and then moves on to being potty trained. The author talks of how the family plays with the dog though the dog is hemorrhaging the whole time. The author talks of how they finally saw that there was a problem and rushed the dog to the vet but the dog died on the way and, finally, the author talks of how the dog, in the last hours of her life, has diarrhea in the house but has found a discarded newspaper to go on so as not to soil the floor.The tone that the author uses is a ton of wistfulness and sadness. One might expect the author to use a tone of urgency as they rush the dog to the vet but the poet is remembering the event and the tone has been glazed over with a sadness that downplays the u rgency. The author also uses a poignant metaphor [Definition. (2005-2010)] when he says â€Å"As we teased her with play, blood was filling her skin/and her heart was learning to lie down forever†.I can clearly picture the dog trying her hardest to play with the family because she loves them so much but knowing that something is wrong and probably being in a lot of pain at the same time. The faithfulness that the dog shows is heart rending and so very sad but uplifting at the same time. The formalist approach to critiquing literature is the most widely used form [Clugston, R. W. (2010)]. In the formalist approach the reader is asked to look into the piece of literature to see what parts make the piece interesting.The formalist approach asks questions like â€Å"Was there a surprise? † â€Å"How were the characters described? † and â€Å"Why was the plot interesting? † [Clugston, R. W. (2010)]. The formalist approach really gets the reader thinking about w hy they liked the piece, what part was their favorite part and which was their favorite character. The formalist approach can really get to the heart of a piece of literature. In â€Å"Dog’s Death† the author uses the main character (we assume the male head of the family) to describe the dog’s beginning as well as the dog’s last moments in life.The character’s weren’t around for long so they didn’t have a lot of time to develop but we know that the dog was faithful and loving, the man was loving and kind and the rest of the family loved the dog very much. The setting was memorable because you very quickly realize that there is something wrong with the dog so the reader’s interest is quickly snagged and is snagged again at the end when the main character realizes that the dog had one last accident but used a discarded newspaper in order to keep the floor clean.The flow of the poem adds to the appeal because the meter of the poem makes the words roll off of the tongue without tripping over superfluous syllables or complicated words. The idea of the poem is a simple story of a family and their dog and the circumstances surrounding the dog’s demise. If the author had put large words with complicated meanings it would detract from the idea of the poem. A â€Å"Dog’s Death† is an emotional poem that is very well written, flows naturally and uses terms, tone and characters that all readers can relate too.The poem, told in the first person, is thought provoking, interesting, has highs and lows and leaves the reader really feeling the meaning of the poem; and that is what a poem is meant for. References Definition. (2005-2010). Retrieved from http://www. poetryarchive. org/poetryarchive/glossaryItem. do? letter=M&id=8079 Clugston, R. W. (2010). Journey into literature. San Diego, Ca: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Why May Protectionist Policies Increase Rather Than Decrease During a Period of Increasing Globalisation?

Why may protectionist policies increase rather than decrease during a period of increasing globalisation? Some countries may decide to protect their domestic market during a period of increasing globalisation, especially if economy is in a fragile state at that moment. One way they could protect themselves from cheaper imported goods and services import restrictions. These can be tariffs, for example a tax, or quotas, which limit the goods and services produces abroad and sold domestically.Governments may decide to restrict imports for different reasons. For many countries, tariffs provide a significant source for government revenues and money from taxes could be used to develop the economy, to make the domestic market more competitive and also to protect industries at moments of decline or the infant industries which are not enough mature nor large to be able to compete with international businesses.Governments may use import restrictions to protect population’s health and sa fety, or they may even ban all imports of a particular good if it is seen as a threat for the consumers, for example Red Bull was banned in France due to its high caffeine content and some experts thought that it may be deadly in some situations. Import restrictions protect domestic industries, having a positive effect on employment, as decreasing imports and increasing domestic production also increases domestic employment.Fewer unemployed people would decrease poverty rates and would increase wealth of those who are in work. Lower unemployment would decrease the amount of money spent on benefits and government could use the money to spend elsewhere, for example on health, education, public goods which would therefore increase welfare ever more. Quotas would protect local industries from foreign imports that may be sold at a lower price in the domestic industry, as the foreign producers may engage in unfair trade practises, such as dumping imports at prices lower that the costs of production. Read also Analyze the Ways in Which British Imperial PoliciesThese protectionist policies are usually good for the domestic economy, however for the consumers they are definitely not. Consumers have to pay higher prices for the imported goods. These restrictions reduce competition and local businesses may increase their prices, while firms will benefit from higher profits, consumers will suffer from loss of welfare, due to higher prices and restricted consumer choice.Firms will no longer have incentives to become more productively efficient or to engage in research and development, it may encourage inefficient allocation of resources. In reality is much more complicated, because if one country will start to use protectionist policies, other countries are likely to respond and start using them too. This would reduce international trade, having a negative effect on economy, employment and wages.

A Comparative Tragedy Study of Fatalism and Determinism: Oedipus Rex and Thunderstorm Essay

The Thunderstorm and Oedipus Rex, the representatives of Chinese and Greek play, both tell tragic stories about incest and unexpected destiny. The two masterpieces reveal much about the literature patterns and philosophical implications of the different cultures. The exploration of the two plays could help further understand the oneness of world literature and the tragedy of unlike culture. This paper will compare two famous tragic dramas—Oedipus Rex and The Thunderstorm to analyze the similarities and differences in terms of the tragic themes—fatalism and determinism. The process of textual analysis will be associated with the basic literature theory of tragedy and philosophy. Over the centuries, Oedipus Rex, which is a famous Greek drama written by one of three ancient Greek tragedians Sophocles, has come to be regarded as the Greek tragedy par excellence. It chronicles the story of Oedipus, a man who becomes the king of Thebes and was destined from birth to murder his father Laius and marry his mother Jocasta. The play is an example of a classic tragedy, noticeably containing an emphasis on the power of oracle on human destiny and how Oedipus’s own flaws contribute to the tragic hero’s downfall. The Thunderstorm is written by renowned Chinese playwright Cao Yu, often regarded as China’s most important play of the 20th century. The subject matter of The Thunderstorm is the complex relationships between the members of two households, centering on the Zhou family’s psychological and physical destruction as a result of incest, as perpetrated at the hands of its morally depraved and corrupt patriarch. It is considered to be one of the most mature and popular plays in contemporary China. In this paper, the theory being used and the previous study of the two plays will be first presented in the literature review. In the main part of my analysis, I will compare the two plays from the perspective of the contraction between fatalism and determinism. From the analysis of two dramas, we could examine some similarities and differences in the tragic topics. Both Oedipus Rex and The Thunderstorm concern the fatalism and determinism in the tragedy themes; however, they lay different stress on the two topics. 2. BACKGROUND STUDY AND LITERATURE REVIEW One of the most important studies of tragedy is Aristotle’s Poetics. Aristotle states that â€Å"A tragedy, then, is an artistic imitation of an action that is serious, complete in itself, and of an adequate magnitude.† (2) The magnificence of tragedy can be revealed in different aspects, and the tragic theme that considers fatalism and determinism of protagonists is one of the most important elements. The dispute between fatalism and determinism has been long lasting in the development of tragedy study. Fatalism is one of the most eternal themes of tragedy in general. It is the belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable in person’s life. Determinism is the belief that all actions and events result from other actions, events, or situations, so people cannot in fact choose what to do, which is a creation of Hellenistic thought (Dodds 42). Homeric heroes have their predetermined â€Å"portion of life† and they must die for some predetermined reason, but it never occurs to the poet or his audience that this prevents them from being free agents. As Bernard Knox put it, â€Å"the gods know the future, but they do not order it. (122)† Concerning fatalism and determinism, previous scholars have done many researches on the two plays. Martin Kallich (1966), in his article â€Å"Oedipus: From Man to Archetype,† interprets the philosophical theme of Sophocles’ play as a mild agnosticism or neutral fatalism. Oedipus, he declares, behaves normally, commits an error in ignorance, and brings suffering upon himself. However, he fails to include the religious belief in his essay to give a full view of the tragic spirit of Oedipus Rex. From another perspective, E. Lefà ¨vre and A. Schmitt (2007), in the article â€Å"Interpretation of Oedipus Rex† argues that the old and popular formula that Oedipus is â€Å"guiltlessly guilty† is untenable, and they propose instead that his fall results from his behavior—his wrong behavior—brought about by passion. However, they mainly discuss from their own understanding and fail to employ strong tragedy theory to support their viewpoints. Foreign scholars do not conduct many researches on The Thunderstorm. Nevertheless, Chinese scholars have looked deeply into this drama. Both Xin Xianxi (1981) and Wang Linlin (2009) argue that Cao Yu is strongly influenced by the traditional Greek tragedy and Christianity religious belief so that the play has mystical idea of fate, which adds to the impressiveness of the play. However, they fail to take the social background into account when analyzing the tragic spirit of The Thunderstorm. Wan Ping (2010) classifies the tragic spirit of The Thunderstorm into three different categories: the tragedy of love, fate and personality and all the tree aspects of the play make it an intense plot and dramatic artistic effect. Also, he doesn’t consider the social background, which is important part of the play. From the above, we could see that the two plays are well studied by western and eastern scholars. Yet, not so many researchers discuss the similarities and differences between this specific two plays or even the Greek and Chinese drama in general. 3. ANALYSIS OF TRAGIC THEMES: FATALISM AND DETERMINISM The conflicts between fatalism and determinism are fully presented in the two plays, which can also be called the god-made tragedy and human-made tragedy. However, the two holds different proportion of two elements—Oedipus Rex putting more emphasis on fate, while The Thunderstorm underlining the importance of human factors. 3.1 Analysis on Oedipus Rex 3.1.1 The Voice of Fate Oedipus Rex has been almost universally regarded as the classic example of the â€Å"tragedy of fate.† Sir Maurice Bowra’s idea that the gods force on Oedipus the knowledge of what he has done strongly supports the idea of fatalism (390).Through his priests at Delphi, Apollo told Laius that he would be killed by his own son, and later told Oedipus that he would kill his father and marry his mother. At the beginning of the play Apollo tells Creon that Thebes will be saved from the plague only when the murderer of Laius is found and expelled. Although everyone in this play try to do something to avoid the realization of the oracle, in the end, everything comes true. Its power was based on a widespread, indeed in early time’s universal belief in the efficacy of divine prophecy. Sophocles himself also believes in this point: Unless these prophecies all come true for all mankind to point toward in wonder†¦ They are dying, the old oracles sent to Laius, Now our masters strike them off the rolls. Nowhere Apollo’s golden glory now— The gods, the gods go down. (Sophocles 989-97) When chose as the subject of his story about a man who tried to avoid the fulfillment of a prophecy of Apollo, Oedipus believes he had succeeded and casts scorn on all the oracles, only to find out that he had fulfilled that prophecy long ago. The voice of destiny in the play is the oracle of Apollo and Oedipus, to some extent, is the innocent victim of a doom which he cannot avoid. 3.1.2 Hamartia and Loyalty To the rationalist critics of the eighteenth century and still more to the firm believers in human progress of the nineteenth, this aspect of the play was a historical curiosity, to be discounted; in Oedipus Rex, although the fate is God-made to a great degree, it must be clarified that he has his own free will and he is not mere a puppet in the hands of the gods who pull the strings that make him dance. This is a crucial idea of further development of determinism, on which we could give two varied explanations—hamartia and loyalty. The single Greek word, hamartia, lays the emphasis upon the want of insight within a man. The human frailty which is said to bring sufferings beyond the ordinary lot of men is represented in translation by â€Å"blindness of heart†. The conception in the Poetics of an ideal tragic person with his imperfect insight, proper for tragedy, can be constructed in the personality of Oedipus (39). He turns upon a certain blindness of impulse, which at length is recognized the man himself—whereupon he puts out his own eyes. On the other hand, Oedipus’ loyalty to truth and to Thebes leads him to seek the truth tirelessly. Even though Creon, Jocasta, and the prophet try to stop him all the way, Oedipus, who is struggling in the pursuit of truth, insists on reading the last riddle, the riddle of his own life. The immediate cause of Oedipus’ ruin is not just â€Å"Fate†Ã¢â‚¬â€no oracle said that he must discover the truth—and still less does it lie in his own weakness; sometimes it is suggested that Oedipus would not have avoided his misery by having been a better man, but he could have remained prosperous and happy if he had been a less good man. What cause his ruin are his own strength and courage, his loyalty to Thebes, and his loyalty to truth. 3. 2. Analysis on The Thunderstorm 3.2.1 Destiny or Coincidences Similarly, in traditional Chinese literature, destiny, which often translated into Tian [Ã¥ ¤ ©], also has a deep implication in the formation of tragedy. Famous critic Li Jiangwu said, â€Å"This play has the most potent but invisible power—destiny, which we feel all the time. (48)† And Cao Yu writes in the preface of The Thunderstorm, â€Å"I am a spiritually poor man, but I invited my audiences to be god of my play to look sympathetically on ‘those moving creatures’ on the stage, to look how they argue with each other blindly, how they helplessly struggle in the battle of love. (2)† Two families’ destinies fall into tragedy because of some unexpected coincidences. If Sifeng does not go to the Zhou’s family to work as a servant or if Lu Dahai does not come to visit Zhou Puyuan, or if any detail in the play changes, the whole story may not happen. The fate plays an important part in the development of the plot and contributes much to t he tragic effect. 3.2.2 Social Tragedy Although there is the fate that works in the play, what the characters have done is the main pusher of the plot. Cao Yu also states that this play is not about retribution or karma (3). While, in The Thunderstorm, the determinism presents in a different direction. Zhou Pin cannot endure the suppression of his father, but he does not show it and bear it inside. He feels repent and wants to get out of the secret relationship with his stepmother, but he only chooses to escape the reality, so that he falls in love with Sifeng, which is also a person that he cannot love. Similar as Oedipus, what he tries to avoid finally leads him to destruction. From what the play presents, Zhou Pin is more like a coward escaping the tragic results of his life. His evasion contributes to the tragic ending. Zhou Fanyi, who is also a tragic character in the play, marries Zhou Puyuan, but she is not able to feel love until she loses her heart to Zhou Pin. What is more tragic is that Zhou Pin cannot love her wholeheartedly either. She mistakenly put the happiness of her whole life to a person that cannot company and care for her aboveboard. Her tragedy is the social tragedy, at which time women’s social status is low and they do not have the ability to pursue their felicities on their own. Fanyi’s personal flaws and the social environment lead to the tragedy of herself. While writing this play, Cao Yu underlines the social background, in order to further reveal the social problems, which offer people no freedom of choice. That’s why everyone’s wrong choice results in the destruction of the whole family. 5. Conclusion Different from the previous study, as we could examine from the analysis, this paper regards the tragedy as a combination of fatalism and determinism. What is similar between Oedipus Rex and The Thunderstorm is that they both stress the necessity the factor of destiny in the plot of a tragedy. Destiny is a universal theme of all tragedies in the history and all around the world. What is different about the two plays is that the determinism is presented in distinct way. Oedipus Rex embeds the tragic elements into the â€Å"tragic flaws† of Oedipus. Through building the downfall of Oedipus as a hero but somewhat ignorant person, readers may feel more regret and grieved. While in The Thunderstorm, the social background, in which the story was carried on and which people who are unable to avoid and revolt, contributes more to the happening of tragedy. This difference shows the different concerns in Chinese and western culture: Chinese literature works tend to focus on the social problems through revealing the personal life, while the western literature puts the emphasis on the image of the whole person. (Word Counting: 2190 words) Works Cited Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. Lane Cooper. New York: Cornell University Press, 1947. Print. Bowra, Maurice. â€Å"Dance, Drama, and the Spoken Word† The Royal Society: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 251.772, (1966): 390. ProQuest. Web. 15 May 2013. Cao Yu. The Thunderstorm. Beijing: People’s Literature Publishing House, 1994. Print. Dodds, E.R. â€Å"On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex.† Cambridge University Press: Greece & Rome, Second Series13.1 (1966): 42. Jstor. Web. 26 April 2012. E. Lefà ¨vre and A. Schmitt. Interpretation of â€Å"Oedipus Rex†[Die Suche nach der Schuld. Sophokles’ â€Å"Oedipus Rex†, Aristoteles’ â€Å"Poetik† und das Tragà ¶dienverstà ¤ndnis der Neuzeit] The Classical Review 57.1(2007):18-20. Jstor. Web. 1 May 2013. Kallich, Martin. â€Å"Oedipus: From Man to Archetype.† Comparative Literature Studies 3.1 (1966): 33-35. Rpt. in Drama for Students. Ed. David M. Galens and Lynn M. Spampinato. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Literature Resource Center. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. Knox, Bernard. â€Å"Introduction to Oedipus the King.† Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House. 2007. 71-90. Print. Li Jianwu. â€Å"The characteristics of drama† [Xiju De Tezheng] Beijing: Literary Criticism: 3(1963): 42-52. CNKI. Web. 2 May 2013. Ma Xiaozhao. The Entanglement between History and Human Relation: the comparison between the aesthetics meaning of western and Chinese tragedy. [Lishi Yu Renlun De Tongku Jiuchan: Bijiao Yanjiu Zhongxi Beiju De Shengmei Yiyun] Beijing: China Social Sciences Publishing House, 2008. Print. Sophocles. Oedipus the King. Trans. Stephen Berg and Diskin Clay. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. Print. Wang Linlin. â€Å"The Unavoidable destiny tragedy—the textual analysis on The Thunderstorm.† [Nanyi Duobi De Mingyun Beiju—Leiyu Wenben Fenxi] Taiyuan: Masterpieces Review: 14 (2009): 85-88. CNKI. Web. 1 May 2013. Wan Ping. â€Å"A tentative study on the tragic essence of The Thunderstorm† [Shilun Leiyu De Beiju Yiyun] Beijing: Literary Criticism: 3 (2010): 134. CNKI. Web. 1 May 2013. Xin Xianxi. â€Å"A Discussion on several questions of The Thunderstorm.† [Guanyu Leiyu Ruogan Wenti De Tantao] Beijing: Studies on Modern Chinese Literature: 1(1981). CNKI. Web. 1 May 2013. View as multi-pages

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Leadership - Does Gender Matter Essay Example for Free

Leadership Does Gender Matter Essay Does gender affect the ability of an individual to become an effective leader? Some researchers believe that effective leaders are just born while others believe that effective leadership can be learned. But few of these researchers discuss the difference that gender may make in becoming good leaders. When we take a look back through history, we can see that the evaluation of women leaders was slow. Today, only 2. 4 percent (Gettings, Johnson, Brunner, Frantz, 2009) of the Fortune 500 Companys are lead by women which is an increase from the 1. percent (www. money. cnn. com) of female Chief Executive Officers in 2002. The gender differences in the corporate world posses several issues for the Human Resource Managers such as management style differences, pay equity, promotion fairness, and work-life balance. Women began entering the workforce in the late 1800s. During that time, women were employed in what society considered female specific careers such as teachers, nurses, and seamstresses and women made up a very small portion of the workforce. This all changed with the on-set of World War II. While the men left to fulfill their military obligations, women stepped up to the plate and filled positions in industrial factories across the nation doing jobs typically performed by men. Following World War II, many females continued to work and over the decades have set career aspirations which have led them to the top. As time went on, it became obvious that the gender differences in the work place required Human Resource Management intervention. Historically, the workplace was predominantly masculine when it came to organizational theory. Organizations were structured on centralized authority, specialization and expertise, and division of labor. Aggressive and dominating leadership styles became less popular among organizations. The era of masculine leadership styles then gave way to the newly desired feminine way (Lowen, 2007) of leading. In the late 1900s, organizations became more feminine in nature utilizing concepts such as delegation of authority, collaboration, and empowerment. In addition, interpersonal relations became a focus for organizations and such things as trust, openness and concern for the whole person kicked off the feminization of leadership (Frankel, 2007) and in 1963 the Equal Pay Act was created which mandated equal pay, regardless of gender, for workers performing the same job. This became extremely important as women began to hold top level positions within organizations. Women possess many gender specific qualities and characteristics which enhance their leader effectiveness in todays feminized leadership. According to a study conducted by Caliper, a Princeton based management consulting group, women leaders are more empathic, flexible and possess stronger interpersonal skills. The strong interpersonal skills of women enable them to be objective in taking in information from all sides and then take this information and weighing the concerns and objectives of their people. Empathy and genuine concern make subordinates feel valued, supporte d, and understood. In addition, this same study noted that women were able to be more persuasive and assertive in taking risks as compared to their male counter parts. This often leads to women coming up with more innovative solutions to problems, and ultimately, getting things accomplished. Many studies conducted across the country within various businesses have concluded that women executives are rated higher than men in the areas of producing high quality work, setting and achieving goals, and mentoring subordinates (Sharpe, 2000). These studies also found that women were not as concerned with self-interest as men and did not accomplish tasks or achieve goals based on what was in it for them, but instead for the mere enjoyment of their success. It is this type of attitude which inspires companies to employee women in their executive positions. In addition, one of the areas in these studies showed that women excelled at teamwork and motivating teams in getting results. But these studies also included areas where men were stronger such as strategic and technical ability. Men also seemed to be better at giving punishment and were found to issue double the amount of punishments as compared to women. With so many differences in management styles between men and women, it was necessary for Human Resource Managers to design diversity programs which included education on gender differences, as well as, racism, discrimination, etc. Women are slowly making their way into the corporate ranks of Fortune 500 Companies. According to CNN Money, there are currently 13 female Chief Executive Officers in the Fortune 500 and 26 female Chief Executive Officers in the Fortune 1,000. Believe it or not, the number of female Chief Executive Officers has doubled compared to 5 years ago when there were only 6 female Chief Executive Officers in the Fortune 500. But, if women make equally effective leaders as compared to men, then why are there so few employed in top management positions? In Tischler’s article â€Å"Where are the Women? ,† she talks about how women â€Å"scale† back their work in exchange for a balanced personal life (Tischler, 2007). She also discusses the competiveness of men compared to women and how that might contribute to the larger number of men holding top executive level positions. Most often, women simply dont want to deal with the work-life balance. Top executives put in grueling long days and their lives are controlled by the companys success or failure. Women have a natural instinct to nurture and often put their family life before their career. When I read Morris’ article, â€Å"Trophy Husbands,† it made me stop and think how husbands could assist in helping their spouse to balance the work-life balance. In Morris’ article, she discusses how husbands have given up their careers to assist their female spouses in reaching the top (Morris, 2002). I think that this is a huge step in elevating women to the top ranks of the corporate world. These husbands stepped down for many reasons, but some stepped down because they knew their wives had the potential and determination to fill these top positions. They were supportive and wanted to assist by elevating any family related stress by ensuring that things on the home front were taken care of. In fact, although the number of female Chief Executive Officers appears to be low, the truth is women are successful leaders. There are over 9 million women-owned businesses in the United States and women hold over 45 percent of the managerial positions within large corporations. Indeed, women can and are successful at leading. Yet there is still a large difference in the pay scale of female and male executives. Is it simply a blatant decisions that these companies make, or is it a simply mistake because these organizations do not have an established pay scale system? Human Resource Managers need to be cognizant of pay differences and promotion bias. According to Stites article, one way to avoid this dilemma is to establish systematic pay systems, ensure equal access to promotions, and document discrepancies with legitimate business reasons (Stites, May 2005). So, does gender matter when considering leadership effectiveness? According to the text, men and women are equally effective at leading, but each gender utilizes different styles in their leadership abilities (Northouse, 2007). It is my position that gender is neutral. Males and females can both possess the skills necessary to be effective leaders and I believe that women can lead companies to success just as well as men. To be an effective leader, one must know how and when to apply the many different styles and characteristics to each unique situation. Both men and women have unique qualities about them, but the ability to learn from the opposite gender will enhance ones leadership abilities. I believe that men and women can combine and adapt their unique styles of leadership to maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses within the workplace. Regardless of gender, developing a leadership style is a difficult and challenging feat for all managers. In researching the many definitions of leadership, I have determined that leaders are defined as those who inspire workers and develop their skills and creativity to achieve goals. Of the many definitions I read, not one referred to male or female gender when defining a leader. Male or female gender shouldnt matter when it comes to determining an individuals ability to lead. The Human Resource Manager must ensure that they are concerned and aware of the gender differences and difficulties which must be dealt with in the business world. Indeed, gender does matter, especially since women have become a large percentage of the work force and are now moving up the corporate ladder into top level positions. Gender differences create many issues that Human Resource Managers must be able to prevent, mitigate, and/or resolve. Today’s Human Resource Management education programs have increased the ability of individuals to fill these vital management positions. In order for Human Resource Managers to accomplish this task, they must be aware of gender specific management styles, pay equity, promotion fairness, and work-life balance.

Run a Better Business with Accounting Essay Example for Free

Run a Better Business with Accounting Essay Accountants are a crucial part to my business success. The key is finding the right professional to provide the services that my business needs to advance. ( http://www. wahm. com, paragraph 1) I as a business owner/manager must educate myself on the questions to ask and the services that will help me achieve my goals. I realize that it can become a little overwhelming, but here are 5 things you need to consider before you hire that accountant. ) Does the accountant demonstrate the ability to help find ways to get you financial gain? 2) Will the accountant be accurate and trustworthy? 3) Is the accountant up to date with their own taxable responsibilities? 4) What tools does the accountant harbor that will help you in your financial gains and losses? 5) Does the accountant’s references hold credibility? These are crucial questions to use when searching for the right financial advice and planning. The accountant or accounting classes are crucial to keep finances, documents, and records balanced, as well as being organized. It is proof for the operation of any business. Financial statements show the physical numbers of the cash flow and losses, they also make it easier to prove to a bank if ever a loan is needed. (http://www. oakhillbp. com paragraph 2) Having an accountant or the skills of one is beneficial and highly crucial to keep your business clear and clean for government and mind. The three other reasons accounting knowledge is helpful to a business owner or a person starting his/hers business are knowing where the money is going to be used on. Knowing what your cash flow is and how much you have in bank accounts here in the states or over seas Of all the troubled businesses I have looked at, I have never seen one that had a good up-to-date small business accounting system in place. Good accounting may have kept them out of trouble all along. And yet, it is one of the single most important aspects of starting up and operating your small business.

A Failure To Communicate

A Failure To Communicate What we have here is a failure to communicate. This famous quote from the 1967 film, Cool Hand Luke, characterizes the plight of the characters in the short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri. A Temporary Matter, When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine, and Interpreter of Maladies, three stories in Lahiris book Interpreter of Maladies, demonstrate how a failure to communicate dooms the relationships between the characters in each story. Not every breakdown in communication is for the same reason, but it is usually neglect for the partners interests. This failure of the relationships is portrayed in these stories as due to a failure of one or both of the partners of the relationship to realize the needs and desires of the other. Lahiri portrays her characters as oblivious to the other partners feelings or self-directed, only focusing on their own situation. In Lahiris stories she lets us walk in the shoes of another person where she points out the obvious flaws that the protagonists seem to miss. The story, A Temporary Matter, begins with a notice that for five day electricity would be cut off for an hour in the neighborhood of Shukumar and Shoba, a young Indian couple. After the death of their baby, who died at birth, the two are going through depressions. They constantly avoid each other, only meeting up to have a silent dinner or have an awkward check-up on the other. The love in their relationship had become none-existent and the images of when they did love each other haunt Shukumar. Before the night of the first blackout Shukumar prepared dinner for Shoba, hoping to rekindle something between them. They had dinner by candle-light in silence, until Shoba brought up a little game where they had to tell each other something they had never told the other before. They did this every night until the first night after the blackouts. Shukumar had set up the dinner table as if the blackouts were still happening, but Shoba turned on the lights and brought up a serious subject. Sh e revealed to Shukumar that she was preparing for a life without him. Shukumar then retorted with something that was equally as hurtful. Lahiri ends the story with the two sitting at the table weeping. Lahiri uses her first story to illustrate to the reader how the neglect of one or both people in the relationship can cause it to fail; the inability to meet someones needs or make sacrifices in a relationship ultimately dooms it. By the time of the nightly power outages, they had become experts at avoiding each other, neither Shukumar nor Shoba was willing to face the other for fear of having to deal with the tragic loss of their baby (4). In their mutual depression they are both unwilling to help themselves and unable to relieve the stress they are living under, much less helping each other. They refused to let go of this tragedy, The film in his camera still contained pictures of Shoba, in the yard, when she was pregnant (15). The pictures represent a happier, idealized time in their relationship, and by keeping the pictures in his camera it shows that he is unwilling let go of this image and face the reality of the present. He cannot accept that their relationship is failing and neither can Shoba. They are unwilling and unable to move forward, dragged back into depression by the constant reminders of the death of their baby. The more they could not help themselves move on, the more they could not help the partner. Shukumar is stuck in a malaise and Shoba does everything to distract herself. They did not have the ability or the willpower to help themselves or each other; therefore they were stuck in a dying relationship. To illustrate the fact that Shukumar and Shoba are too busy wallowing in their self-centered misery Lahiri snuck in the image of the dying plant in dried up dirt in the midst of all this misery, Even though the plant was inches away from the tap, the soil was so dryà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ he had to water it first before the candle would stand straight (10). The plant and soil are a metaphor for the relationship. His relationship had life and many chances, but he neglected those chances. He was unwilling to water the plant, just like he unwilling to help his relationship. Even at the end, the plant is dead but he is still using the soil. He does not even watering the plant for the plants sake, but using it for his own needs; just like when they have these intimate moments during the blackouts, he is not to keep his marriage alive, he is doing it to get his doubts and secrets off his chest, It happened over fifteen years ago. He felt relief now, having told her (17). These confessions were not meant to help mend the relationship but were used instead to relieve their conscience and ultimately ended up hurting each other, Our baby was a boyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ he promised himself that day (the day the baby was born) he would never tell Shoba, because he still loved her then (22). He knew this would hurt Shoba, but now he did it for personal gain and vengeance. Their self-centered attitude toward their relationship ultimately drove them apart. In the short story When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine, the title character, Mr. Pirzada, a botanist from Dacca, India, leaves his wife and six daughters behind to study plant life in New England. Ten year old Lilia and her parents, an Indian family, invite Mr. Pirzada to come over to have dinner with them. While in the U.S. a war broke out in India and Dacca was hit. Mr. Pirzada would come every night to the house of Lilia and eat dinner with them. One of those nights in October, Lilia began to accept his constant visits, and even carved a pumpkin with him. On Halloween night Lilia was about to venture out trick-or-treating for her first time alone until Mr. Pirzada got worried and asked if he should go. Fearing losing her independence she told him not to worry, he sulked back surprised into the doorway. They do not talk again, and the family does not hear from him for months until one day they receive a letter from Mr. Pirzada telling them that he found his family and all were safe. When Mr. Pirzada finds that the communication between him and his family is flawed, he slowly opens channels with Lilias family. Mr. Pirzadas need for communication was shown Each week [when] Mr. Pirzada wrote a letter to his wife, and sent comic books for his seven daughters (24). However this proves to be an unsatisfying way of communication because it is one way communication; therefore he looks toward Lilia and her family to fill the void of the lost relationship with his daughters and his family. As Mr. Pirzada begins to go to dinners, he starts to treat Lilia more and more like his daughter. The turning point in their relationship is the carving of the pumpkin, Yes, lets carve it,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ For the first time we all gathered around the dining table (35). Before the carving of the pumpkin the height of the interaction between Mr. Pirzada and Lilia was when he gave her candy each night. They realized that they had to give up a little bit of comfort for him. He accepted the f amily because they took him in during his time of need. The whole family and Mr. Pirzada gathering around that table represented that Mr. Pirzada was part of the family. Through Mr. Pirzadas interactions, Lahiri illustrates that when one loses a line of communication, they look for it somewhere else. A relationship is doomed to failure if one of the sides of the relationship neglects the needs of the other side. On Halloween night, fearful of losing her independence, Lilia chooses to spend the night with her friend instead of spending it with Mr. Pirzada (something typical for the American culture, but difficult for Mr. Pirzada to understand), and tells him, Dont worry' (38). Disregarding Mr. Pirzadas fear that hell lose another daughter, Lilia neglects his needs and his pains. This act shows that she lacks the understanding that in order to help Mr. Pirzada she needs to sacrifice some things in order to keep her relationship with him alive. The communication between the two is broken down due to her obliviousness to the causes of this self-centered act. As such, their relationship fails: For a long time we did not hear from him. Our evenings went on as usual, with dinners in front of the news (41). Through her failure in communication, their relationship disintegrated. Throughou t the days with Lilias family, Mr. Pirzadas ties with them deepen, but when Lilia becomes oblivious to his needs, the relationship fails. In Lahiris third story Interpreter of Maladies, Mr. Kapasi is a working man in India with two jobs, an interpreter for a doctor and a tour guide. He is stuck in a dysfunctional relationship after the doctor could not prevent the death of his child. One day he is assigned the Dass, a young, irresponsible, and equally dysfunctional couple with nothing that holds them together except three children. Mr. Kapasi is made aware of this very early on in the story, with the Dass allowing their children to do whatever they want. Midway through the trip, Mr. Kapasi tells them about his job as an interpreter. Mrs. Das takes a sudden interest in Mr. Kapasi that she did not display with her husband or kids, saying that his job seems à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦so romantic (50). Mr. Kapasi becomes deeply enamored with Mrs. Das, feeling that her interest means that she loves him. He spends the rest of the story fantasizing about how their friendship would bloom, and worrying about leaving Mrs. Das or losing her interest. In order to spend more time with the family, he takes the family to the Sun Temple. Once there Mrs. Das stays in the car with Mr. Kapasi, where Mrs. Das confesses her failing relationship, her inability to get her stress off her chest, her affair, and that her youngest is not actually Mr. Dass. She asks Mr. Kapasi for a cure to make her feel better and make the pain go away, but Mr. Kapasi asks her, Is it really pain you feelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ or is it guilt? (66). She becomes angered by this and storms off to her family, where she finds that her son has been beaten by the monkeys for his food. The story ends with Mrs. Das kneeling down to take care of her child as the paper with the address of Mr. Kapasi (that she was going to use to mail him) flutters out of her bag. Lahiri brings these two dysfunctional relationships together to display the different types of neglect: neglecting another and neglecting ones self. Through these two different types of neglect, she shows that without neglect a relationship is much more functional. In the very beginning Mr. Kapasi realizes that Mr. and Mrs. Das were a bad match, just as he and his wife wereà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the bickering, the indifference, the protracted silenceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (53). Although we see Mr. Kapasi care for and try to help his depression stricken wife, The countless other ways he tried to console his wife and to keep her from crying in her sleepà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, he knew that his wife had little regard for his careerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (53). Lahiri brings up the point that it only takes one to neglect and ruin a relationship. He began to understand that the reason he does not get along with his wife is because she neglects his feelings and help. The indifference for his job and the constant bicke ring is due to the wifes jealousy and self-centered thinking, she resented the other lives he helpedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (53). This is why Mr. Kapasi is love-stricken by Mrs. Das, When Mr. Kapasi thought once again about how she had said, romantic, the feeling of intoxication grew, because she seems to respect him and seems to makes him feel like his job is actually something worthwhile (53). The bickering, indifference, and silence was non-existent; she seemed genuinely interested in him. He feels like she realizes his troubles and does not neglect them like his wife does, therefore his affection grew. Due to the fact that his wife neglects his needs for respect, he looks for a new relationship elsewhere. However in the same story, Lahiri reveals the other side of the spectrum: how neglecting ones self can tear apart a relationship. Mrs. Das reveals her unwillingness to reach out and search for an outlet or a friend, when she tells Mr. Kapasi that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦she did not make many close friends. There was no one to confide in about [her husband] at the end of a difficult day, or share a passing thought or worry (63). Simply put, she neglected her own needs. Instead of going to the trouble of finding someone to fill this need, she decided to cheat. She felt the ability to relieve herself of some of her stress, but this is ultimately unsatisfactory. In her continuing effort to relieve stress, she tells Mr. Kapasi some of her stories and secrets. It is only after the talk with Mr. Kapasi, she realizes that she is neglecting her own needs and neglecting the needs of her family, When she whipped out the hair-brush, the slip of paper with Mr. Kapasis address on it fluttered away in the w indà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (69). She realizes that she needs a loving family and he children need her. She stops neglecting her children by the act of brushing the hair of her beaten boy. It is clear that the communication had been rekindled between her and her family from there. The paper fluttering away represents that Mr. Kapasi will be unneeded as an outlet for communication because now she has her family. She is no longer oblivious to the fact that she needs her family as an outlet. Mrs. Das realizes that due to her neglecting herself she is neglecting her family, and therefore chooses to fix her problem of communication by reviving the relationship with her family. In these three stories by Lahiri, failure of communication is caused by neglect. This is demonstrated by either one or both of the characters in the relationship acting oblivious to the other persons needs and/or is self-centered enough to not care. Oblivious neglect is the inability to recognize the needs of another and self-centered neglect is when one is unwilling to help or recognize these needs. The communication between Shukumar and Shoba breaks down due to their inability and unwillingness to help themselves or each other. The relationship between Lilia and Mr. Pirzada fails due to Lilias obliviousness to the effects of her self-centered want for independence from Mr. Pirzada and her family. The failure between Mrs. Das and her family was caused by her obliviousness to her own need for an outlet of stress, while Mr. Kapasi failing relationship is due to his wifes selfishness and unwillingness to let Mr. Kapasi help her. Each of these relationships is different, yet the common thread is communication, or the lack thereof.

Dutch Slave Trade Essay -- essays research papers

Dutch Slave Trade   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During the 17th and 18th centuries, mercantilism was the emerging economic policy through which the slave trade developed in Europe. In the Netherlands many historical events gave rise to a desire for domination of international trade. They were serious tradesman and were heavily involved in the profitable business of slavery. The Dutch, intelligent and self-ruling tradesmen took no time in displaying their dominance over rival countries, Portugal, England and Spain, in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. They established their international superiority in trade and impacted today’s society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  From 1609 to 1713, the Dutch Republic was going through â€Å"The Golden Age.† It was a time of economic wealth, and a higher standard of life compared to most European countries. However, the Netherlands had the highest cost of living out of all European countries. It was the period in which mercantilism expanded, and domination of trading power was necessity. England, France, and Portugal were also expanding their boundaries of trade, which will begin a long fight for mastery at sea. The Dutch was the trading capital of the world at this time; in which is represented in this quote,† Although the Dutch tenaciously resisted the new competition, the long distance trading system of Europe was transformed from one largely conducted through the Netherlands, with the Dutch as universal buyer-seller and shipper, to one of multiple routes and fierce competitiveness.†(Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 24, pg. 890). The Netherlands operated in 7 provinces, k nown as the United Provinces, and the Dutch society was mainly consisted of bourgeoisie, sailors, and merchants. Because of the major trade industry in Holland, and that agricultural was secondary to the trading industry, the Dutch people were taxed extremely high for goods. However, a wave of culture flowed through Dutch Society, influenced by the economic profit that the Dutch gained from trade. The production of sugarcane and cotton in the New World increased the urgency for laborers in the new colonies, in which led to the major importation of African slaves. These plantations and farms, in the New World sparked the golden business of slave trading, a business that will guide the Dutch to economic wealth. The Dutch entered the slave trade around the 16th... ... ocean. These diseases were due to the minimum ventilation, light, food, and sanitation necessary to survive the trip across the ocean. The slaves were also chained to prevent revolts and committing suicides by jumping over-board. Traders even hired freed blacks to spy on the slaves, to prevent an uprising to occur. Nearly 1/4th of the slaves died during the journey across the Atlantic, which was an average of 2-3 months. The slave ship then had either two paths to take; one to the American colonies or to the West Indies. When the ship reached fresh water and land, the slaves were cheerful, explained here: It was reported that slaves danced with joy when they saw land and green trees again. For the managers of the slave ships, it was important that the slaves were in good spirits and looked healthy as they were prepared for the market. (Postma 168) When the slave ships arrived in the West, they had to be checked of any diseases that the slaves may have. Sometimes this inspection took almost 2 months. For example, the Vergenoegen was denied entrance into Surinam because of diseases. Once the disease had resided the ship was allowed to enter the harbor, and to sell its human cargo.

Galileo :: essays research papers

Galileo Galileo was born in Pisa in 1564, the son of Vincenzo Galilei, well known for his studies of music. He studied at Pisa, where he later held the chair in mathematics from 1589 - 1592. He was then appointed to the chair of mathematics at the University of Padua, where he remained until 1610. During these years he carried out studies and experiments in mechanics, and also built a thermoscope. He devised and constructed a geometrical and military compass, and wrote a handbook, which describes how to use this instrument. In 1594 he obtained the patent for a machine to raise water levels. He invented the microscope, and built a telescope with which he made celestial observations, the most spectacular of which was his discovery of the satellites of Jupiter. In 1610 he was nominated the foremost Mathematician of the University of Pisa and given the title of mathematician to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. He studied Saturn and observed the phases of Venus. In 1611 he went to Rome. He became a mem ber of the Academia dei Lincei and observed the sunspots. In 1612 he began to encounter serious opposition to his theory of the motion of the earth that he taught after Copernicus. In 1614, Father Tommaso Caccini denounced the opinions of Galileo on the motion of the Earth from the pulpit of Santa Maria Novella, judging them to be erroneous. Galileo therefore went to Rome, where he defended himself against charges that had been made against him but in 1616, he was admonished by Cardinal Bellarmino and told that he could not defend Copernican astronomy because it went against the doctrine of the Church. In 1622 he wrote the Saggiatore (The Assayer), which was approved and published in 1623. In 1630 he returned to Rome to obtain the right to publish his Dialogue on the two chief world systems, which was eventually published in Florence in 1632. In October of 1632 the Holy Office to Rome summoned him. The tribunal passed a sentence condemning him and compelled Galileo to solemnly abjur e his theory. He was sent to exile in Siena and finally, in December of 1633, he was allowed to retire to his villa in Arcetri, the Gioiello. His health condition was steadily declining, - by 1638 he was completely blind, and also by now bereft of the support of his daughter, Sister Maria Celeste, who died in 1634.

Literary Minimalism and Jean François Lyotard :: Free Essays Online

Literary Minimalism and Jean Franà §ois Lyotard 1. Anne Beattie has been called a writer of minimalist fiction. Jean Franà §ois Lyotard’s theories concerning postmodern expression have many similarities to this style. In this paper some of Lyotard’s philosophical contributions to postmodernism will be presented as mission statements for, and/or an explanations of, the minimalist style. 2. First, minimalism as a style will be explained through examples from Anne Beattie’s story "Girl Talk" along with other commentary. To begin, minimalism, as Madison Smart Bell wrote . . . may fairly be described as a school because its representative work contains, as if by prescription, a number of specific elements: A trim, ‘minimal style, an obsessive concern for surface detail, a tendency to ignore or eliminate distinctions among the people it renders and a studiedly deterministic, at times nihilistic, vision of the world’ (Rebein 34). 3. Indeed, the minimalist style of writing is one that lacks distinct amounts of color. It is this tedious pen that writes stories such as "Girl Talk," by Anne Beattie, in which a pregnant woman narrates her experience at her boyfriend’s mother’s birthday party. The attention to surface detail that Bell notes can be seen Beattie’s almost page long description of each of the characters’ toes sitting at a table after dinner. The narrator describes each person in detail: "The twins that are not twins have baby toes that curl under" "Craig has square toenails" "Barbara has long toenails" (31). In this segment there does not seem to be anything below the surface --such as social commentary or opinion of humanity--just feet. This devotion to almost pointless description without commentary fits the minimalist style, as Robert Rebein says in his book Hicks, Tribes, and Dirty Realists that minimalism "is neither insightful nor even reasonably articulate" (37). 4. This lack of articulation can also be seen in the opening lines of the story, "Barbara is her chaise. Something is wrong with the pool. . ." (Beattie 28). These lines merely describe things lazily and without meaning, not even using the description that is devoted to toes later in the story. 5. Bell also mentions an aspect of nihilism in regard to minimalism. Among its definitions, Webster’s Dictionary defines nihilism as the belief that "all existence is senseless and there is no possibility of an objective basis for truth." This definition can be applied to minimalism in that the writing style never purports to reveal a truth about the world it creates.

Hero’s Heart Essay

â€Å"Not the glittering weapon fights the fight, but rather the hero’s heart. † (Proverbs Quotes) I agree with Proverbs, that the hero’s heart fights the fight because I believe that a hero can be a hero without having to use a weapon. I believe that a hero is someone that is mentally strong and has the ability to lead, that it is showing dedication to a quest, and that is not giving up even when the world around you seems like it has given up on you. Heroism is being capable of being mentally strong and has the ability to be a leader. In the poem A Man by Nina Cassian a man has lost an arm in while fighting for his country. The man knows that he â€Å"shall only be able to do things by halves. † (Line 3) Even though â€Å"the man† has lost an arm he realized that he had to â€Å"set himself to do everything with twice as much enthusiasm. † The man recognizes his limitations but still has the will in his mind to push forward and never stop living life just because of one little set back. Also, a daughter writes about her mother, Ana, who is struggling through cancer. Ana’s daughter says that even though she is going through cancer again â€Å"she gets up with a smile and still has the strength to be a mother to me. † This shows that Ana is mentally strong because she is able to care for her loved ones as for someone else they would most likely give up and not want to deal with the pain any longer, especially if they have already gone through cancer and it has come back. In addition, in the movie Mulan, the main character has to be strong and take her father’s place in the army to save his life. She has to be mentally strong to deal with all of the things that she may face when she goes to war. Examples of heroism are when people, whether they are real people in movies or characters out of books dedicate their lives to a quest. In the Odyssey, Odysseus goes on the quest of killing the Cyclops. He has to go on this quest so that he can protect the people in his village. He is a hero because he gave the Cyclops wine â€Å"so that he could taste the sort of drink he carried on his ship. † This shows he is a hero that goes on a quest because he had to give the Cyclops wine in order to kill him once he became drunk. Another example of heroism is Mulan the movie. In the movie Mulan, Mulan goes on a quest with the Chinese army to take the place of her father because he was too sick to fight; therefor Mulan chose to dress up as man to save her father’s life. In the passages written by Ana’s family members, they all feel that she is â€Å"strong† and that she has the â€Å"strength to carry on each an everyday. † Ana’s quest makes her a hero because even though she going through a rough patch she never gives up. Heroism is not giving up when the world around you seems as if they have given up on you. For in the poem A Man, he does not give up living his life even though he has lost an arm. He has turned this accident into a positive. He believes that â€Å"where the arm had been torn away a wing grew. † (Lines 17-18) I believe that this shows the man not giving up because he could have easily let his arm that was lost be the thing that he focuses on most every day but instead makes it a good thing. The man â€Å"set himself to do everything with twice as much enthusiasm. † Also, Ana, a cancer patient has to stay strong for her family. The only thing keeping Ana from giving up is her loving family. Ana’s daughter states that her mother says â€Å"keep going; keep going, like a giant guardian angel above the roaring crowd. † (Piece 3- lines 5-6) Lastly in Moco Limping, a dog named Moco had a dead leg. Moco wants his owner to love him as much as he loves him. â€Å"I feel his warm fur and his imperfection is forgotten. † In present day life the pop culture makes everything seem like if you don’t get fame for it then it is not important. Heroism isn’t about the fame and fortune, it’s about doing something for someone else or just for yourself; meaning that a hero is someone that is brave and has noble qualities. Being a hero can be as simple as saving one’s cat from a tree, pulling a dog out of a whole, or even fighting a deathly disease like cancer. When you have the will power and the courage to do something to help someone else or protect them you could be considered that person’s hero. You never know if you are a hero until you do something heroic. Throughout the process of analyzing these heroic qualities I have realized that a hero can be an everyday person in everyday life. If I am ever given the task to rise up and become a hero like the people and things I analyzed I hope I will have the courage like my characters did.

Polymer

1. Important characteristics required for materials in Automotive Engineering Polymers have been used in the automotive industry for many decades. It is regarded as an efficient material as it is very durable and could significantly reduce production costs. However, as technology advances, new polymers are found and better alternatives are paved for the automotive industry. The vehicles we see today are very different than that of the yesteryears. This proves how far the automotive industry has advanced through technology. This eventually improved the built quality of vehicles in terms of safety, comfort, and performance.Plastics have greatly contributed to the advancement of the automotive industry. Although some may perceive that plastics yield a poorer built quality (though in some cases, it may be true), it actually is a better alternative in an engineer’s point of view. The reason why we have a contrast of opinions regarding the use of plastics is because of the type of p lastics being used. Therefore, the characteristics of the material are a very important factor in achieving good built quality. The automotive industry is constantly looking for alternatives to keep the production costs low.In order to achieve that, the engineers adapted to the use of plastics on certain parts. The question was – was this a good idea? Over the years, it became evident that it really is. Hence, we see modern cars with plastic bumpers, plastic door handles, plastic mirror housing, etc. The engineers had to bear in mind that what they require is a durable and robust plastic material. They had to consider something that is able to deform upon minor collisions, and be able to return back to its original shape (reversibly deformable). The benefit of this idea is so that vehicle owners do not have to change the bumper for minor accidents.However, plastics have a limit to their reversible-deformation property. It could tolerate impacts of up to a certain degree, but beyond that, it would be a permanent deformation. But then again, it is a lot better than to repair a bumper made of metal isn’t it? Thus, the bumpers are made of materials that are able to withstand light and medium impacts. Considering the fact that plastic parts are relatively lighter than metal or wooden parts, this would improve a vehicle’s performance, which will eventually make the machine more efficient.As of today, plastic parts are known to be the most effective material that could save weight and yet be strong and durable. Cost has always been a challenge in the automotive industry. For many years, engineers have been working on alternative materials. A good example is the use of wood for certain parts like the steering. It would certainly be cheaper than steel, but come to think about the time taken to craft a circular shape out of wood, it would in the long run cost more than the latter.Thus today, we find polymers used to replace these parts because it is in fact a lot cheaper and a lot easier to build. Some car owners of the 50’s and 60’s experienced this little problem when they park their cars out in the sun. They would return to their car and grab their stainless steel door handle and â€Å"ooh!! †. Yes, it is a very good heat conductor. Very obviously, replacing a stainless steel door handle or gear knob or steering wheel with a plastic material is a brilliant idea. But the problem is whether or not it is able to withstand the heat.Many first perceived plastic products to be inferior to high temperatures. However, technology proved them wrong. We have cars today with many plastic exterior parts that are able to withstand heat for years. It is indeed very important to analyze the feasibility of the use of a different material which has not been tested before. Many considerations are taken so that the parts used are well suited for its intended purpose. Plastics have proved to be a great alternative in automo tive engineering, paving a bright path towards the future.

Mngt 5000 Term Paper

MNGT 5000 May 14, 2010 Term Paper There are many issues that companies face every day that could potentially be managed in a different way. The issue that I would like to review is an issue that is in the forefront of the news these days. It is hard to say when there might be some sort of resolution to this issue, based on the size and impact to the environment and economy. The most recent issue occurred on April 20, 2010. This was when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sunk into the Gulf of Mexico 2 days later. Along with this explosion, there were 11 people reported missing and are assumed dead.The larger problem that British Petroleum has experienced since this explosion is a blow out preventer (BOP) that failed. This failed BOP has caused a horrible oil leak that is gushing from the ocean floor. The initial estimates were that the leak would be around 1,000 barrels or 42,000 gallons per day. This number has since skyrocketed from the initial estimates. As of May 13, this number is now thought to be as high as 70,000 barrels per day, or 2,940,000 gallons. With the amount of oil that is leaking into the Gulf of Mexico from this incident give it the potential to be the worst oil spill in US history.The previous largest oil spill in US history was the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill that occurred on March 24, 1989. As a comparison, the Valdez spill lost 250,000 barrels of oil, or 10,500,000 gallons. It was not until 1992 that the clean up from this spill was completed. From the estimated numbers, the current spill will eclipse the Valdez spill in only a matter of days. Given the fact that the Valdez spill took 3 years to clean up, we can only speculate as to how long it might take to clean up the effects of the Deepwater Horizon. The main problem that BP is immediately faced with is how to control and stop the Deepwater Horizon leak.There have been many suggestions as to what approach they should take. British Petroleum has had to utilize the planning process a nd try to implement several different strategies since April 22, 2010. While the typical planning process might take several weeks or months, BP had to speed this process up. Their goal is to try and minimize the impact to the Gulf of Mexico and the surrounding environment. Planning is necessary to help drive a structured process for making decisions about the goal they are trying to reach. There are 6 main steps involved in a formal planning process.The first step in the planning process is situational analysis. This first step most likely started for BP on April 20th after the explosion happened. This is when all relevant information about the plan is gathered, interpreted and summarized. For this situation, it most likely included studying past events, the current conditions and trying to forecast future events. The next step in the planning process is to review alternative goals and plans that might have been identified through the situational analysis. A goal is a certain targe t that is set by a manager that they hope to reach.The alternative goal that BP needs to try to achieve as quickly as possible is to stop the leak that is gushing from the ocean floor. The book Management: Leading & Collaborating in the Competitive World outlines a very helpful acronym to ensure you gather certain qualities in the goals you set. The acronym identified is SMART. This stands for Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound. There are parts of this acronym that are a little more sensitive for BP than some of the other pieces. The time bound is the part that sticks out in my mind.The longer it takes to contain the leak from the ocean floor, the larger the impact to the environment and to BP financially. As of May 13, the oil has been leaking from the Deepwater Horizon site for 24 days. It appears that BP has come up with many alternative plans to try and address and contain the oil leak that the failed BOP has created. Next we will review the different pla ns that BP has established and how some of them have been working so far. A plan is defined as how the management staff plans to achieve the outlined goals. BP has presented several plans that they will use to try and achieve their goal.The first plan that they will try to implement is to lower a containment box over the leak that will then funnel the oil to the surface and into an oil tanker. This will be the quickest option that they can try to put in place to stop the leak. Another option that they will try to implement at the same time is to drill a relief well, but this could take up to 3 months to complete. Once the alternatives have been reviewed, we move to step three which is to evaluate the goals and plan. All of this planning has to be completed in a very tight time frame for BP, because as the time passes, the oil continues to leak.During this step, management will review the advantages and disadvantages of the alternative goals and plan from step 2. The drilling of a re lief well has a huge disadvantage due to the time frame. This step also includes prioritizing and potentially eliminating some of the goals. Step 4 is the Goal and Plan Selection. After having reviewed and prioritized the goals in the last step, this is where the decision will actually be made on which goal and plan is most feasible. After the selection has been made, the following step is to implement plans to achieve the goals that have been outlined.As of May 7, British Petroleum has started to implement their plan of lowering a container over the leaking well. Once everything is implemented, the final step is to monitor and control the work that is being done. The container was successfully lowered into place, however ice crystals started to form and blocked the pipe that would deliver the oil to the surface. BP has now had to resort to some of their back up or alternative plans. Some other ideas that have been presented in this process include using a smaller containment dome, shooting junk into the well to clog the hole, and siphoning the oil into a tanker at the surface.With these different plans in place, BP will have to ensure that they have a good strategy if another alternate fails. The definition of strategy is a pattern of actions and resource allocations designed to achieve the organization’s goals. Planning and strategy go hand in hand. BP will need to use some strategic management in dealing with this situation. Strategic management is basically a strategic planning process that has six major steps. The first step is to establish a mission, vision and goals. The mission is short statement that describes the purpose of the organization.The vision is what the organization hopes to accomplish in the future. BP has their company mission and vision statement listed on their site as their values. The sites states â€Å"BP wants to be recognized as a great company – competitively successful and a force for progress. We have a fundamenta l belief that we can make a difference in the world. We help the world meet its growing need for heat, light and mobility. We strive to do that by producing energy that is affordable, secure and doesn’t damage the environment.BP is progressive, responsible, innovative and performance driven. † The second step in this process is to do an analysis of external opportunities and threats. This includes understanding the different forces that might affect the company’s mission and vision. This is a unique situation for BP, due to the fact that they are trying to live up to their values, while trying to prevent an environmental disaster that could potentially tarnish their name for quite some time. After reviewing external factors, step 3 is to complete an analysis of internal strengths and weaknesses.There are many aspects to an organization that can be reviewed a couple of key parts to be reviewed would be resources available and core competencies. Resources can fall into two categories, tangible and intangible. Steps 2 and 3 provide a good foundation of information for step 4, which is SWOT Analysis and Strategy Formulation. Once the SWOT analysis is complete, there are several different strategies to consider based on the type of business that is in operation. For BP and this situation, I would think that they would need to implement a functional strategy.Once the type of strategy has been decided upon, step 5 is strategy implementation. During this step, BP would need to ensure that the strategy is being implemented efficiently and effectively. Once implemented, this takes us to the final step, which is strategic control. I believe this control will not be in place until the leak has been contained. In this final step, typically there is a system to help support management in evaluating how the organization is doing with the strategy. Overall, BP has an enormous task that they are faced with. It will take good planning and strategy to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.They are faced with having to contain one of the largest oil spills in US history. It is hard to accurately measure the true amount of oil that is leaking from the well; however there are several estimates of how much oil is leaking per day, ranging from 1000 to 70,000 barrels. As of May 13, 2010, BP has had to resort to alternate plans due to their initial attempt failing. It will be interesting to watch the news and see how BP continues to manage the situation. It is almost guaranteed that the government will intervene at some point, possibly by implementing new laws around off shore drilling.We can only hope that the impact to the environment is not too great, but there have already been reports of dead animals and tar balls washing ashore. It is hard to think that there would be no impact with so much oil leaking into the ocean. I still remember the images from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. I can only imagine we will start to see some of t he same images in the future from the Deepwater Horizon spill. Let’s hope that BP’s management staff has all the tools necessary to have a strong plan in place to rectify this problem. Bibliography Robertson, C & Lipton, E (2010, April 30). BP Is Criticized Over Oil Spill, but U.S. Missed Chances to Act. New York Times. Retrieved May 11, 2010, from http://www. nytimes. com/2010/05/01/us/01gulf. html The Valdez Oil Spill. (n. d. ). Retrieved May 11, 2010, from http://www. exxonmobil. com/corporate/about_issues_valdez. aspx Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. (n. d. ). Retrieved May 11, 2010, from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill Gulf Oil Spill Layers. (n. d. ). Retrieved May 13, 2010, from http://maps. google. com/maps/mpl? moduleurl=http://mw1. google. com/mw-earth-vectordb/disaster/gulf_oil_spill/gulf_oil_mapplet. xml&mapclient=google&hl=en Weber, H. amp; Burdeau, C (2010, May 6). Expedition to contain oil leak begins in Gulf. Associated Press. Retr ieved May 11, 2010, from http://www. google. com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gIXWYBTpLtSayJtg41LKXpxSxVPAD9FH9GN80 Resnick-Ault, J. & Polson, C (2010, May 11). BP to Try Again to Control Oil Leak as Hearings Start (Update3). Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved May 13, 2010, from http://www. businessweek. com/news/2010-05-11/bp-to-try-again-to-control-oil-leak-as-hearings-start-update3-. html What we stand for. (n. d. ). Retrieved May 13, 2010, from http://www. bp. com/sectiongenericarticle. do? categoryId=9002630&contentId=7005204

Difference between memory and knowledge Essay

Memory is the mental faculty of retaining and recalling past experience. It’s a very complex system and to understand it there have been many theories that attempt to explain it. In order to help me answer this question, I will look at the theorist JM Gardiner, along with other theorists such as Tulving, Mandler and Schacter in order to help me conclude if they are the same thing, inter-related or completely different. Tulving (1985), distinguished between two quite different recollective experiences: remembering, which is someone’s concrete awareness of oneself (autonoetic consciousness) in the past, which is driven by the prefrontal cortex, allows people to mentally represent past, present, and future experiences in a highly personal and subjective manner. And knowing, which is your abstract knowledge (noetic consciousness) of the past, which is the feeling that we know certain information and that the information is objective rather than subjective. Gardiner and colleagues (Gardiner & Java, 1990, 1993; Gardiner, Richardson-Klavhen, & Ramponi, 1997) developed a test in which participants are given a recognition task for a list of common words viewed earlier and classify each of the recognized items as something they remember (R response) or know (K response), was on the study list. Participants received detailed instructions so that their R responses and K responses reflect retrieval from episodic and semantic memory. For example, participants are told to make R responses to test items that they can consciously reexperience from the study list (e.g., participants make R responses to test items because in their mind’s eye, they consciously recollect seeing those words on the study list). In contrast, participants are told to make K responses to test items if they (a) are certain those were on the study list but (b) have no specific personal or contextual recollection of the items’ previous presentation. The use of this technique has shown that some independent variables (e.g., dividing attention at study) affect the frequency of R, but not K, responses, whereas other variables have the exact opposite influence. Memory of a personal life event may be categorized as a K response, which is  relatively impersonal and objective. A memory qualifies as a K response if people know a great deal about the details of a previous event but do not mentally reexperience the exact perceptual, contextual, and emotional details of the original event. Gardiner’s remember-know distinction maps are similar to that of Mandler’s (1980) distinction between recognition by retrieval and recognition by familiarity. Recognition by retrieval involves remembering an event as an event, including the personal, time and place context in which the event occurred; in contrast, recognition by familiarity involves a feeling that some event occurred in the past, in the absence of conscious recollection of that event. For Gardiner, Remember judgments reflect recognition by retrieval, while Know judgments reflect recognition by familiarity. An alternative framework is provided by Schacter’s (1987) distinction between explicit and implicit memory. The hippocampus is important in the formation of explicit memories. They involve the conscious recollection of an experience from the past. Due to the hippocampus not fully developing until about the age of 3, this explains why we can’t remember events prior to this, a condition known as infantile amnesia. The cerebellum seems important in the formation of implicit memories which are memory-based changes in behaviour that occur independent of, and in the classic case in the absence of, conscious recollection. Contexual information can be defined as information associated with memory which enables that memory to be distinguished from all others. Hewitt (1973) proposed a distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic context. A change in intinsic arises when some aspect of the target changes (ie the colour of their hair), whereas a change in extrinsic is the change in information accompanying the target (ie meeting someone in somewhere you wouldn’t expect them to be). In Gardiner’s case, remembering reflects explicit memory, while knowing reflects implicit memory. There are at least three varieties of recollective experience: firstly remembering which involves the conscious recollection of some past event, as an explicit expression of episodic memory; knowing which is the abstract  knowledge of that event, as an item in semantic memory; and feeling is the intuition that an event occurred in the past, as an implicit expression of episodic memory. So for example, semantic memory enables a man to know what the term birthday refers to and that he celebrated his last birthday by having dinner at a particular restaurant with his wife, whereas episodic memory allows that same man to reexperience from a personal and subjective point of view the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings that accompanied that dinner. Metamemory is our ability to know whether or not our memories contain a particular piece of information. An example might be failing to recall the capital of France (Paris) but knowing that you would recognise it if you saw it – this is an ability known as a feeling of knowing. These experiences are familiar to anyone who has ever taken a multiple-choice test. Sometimes, we choose a response because we remember the circumstances under which we learnt it. Or on other occasions, we choose a response because we just know the answer, it’s part of our knowledge about the world, and we don’t remember the circumstances under which we learned the answer. Tulving and Gardiner believe that remember and know judgments are based on retrieval from different memory systems: episodic and semantic memory, perhaps, or explicit and implicit memory. However, it could also be that â€Å"remember† and â€Å"know† are based on retrieval from a single memory system, and that the categories of remember, know, and so forth are substitutes for different levels of confidence associated with the recognition judgments. Both Tulving (1985) and Gardiner (1988) have rejected this interpretation, even though Tulving actually gathered evidence favouring it. Tulving’s subjects studied 36 words, and then made Yes/No recognition judgments, confidence ratings (on a 3 point scale), and Remember/Know ratings. The average confidence rating associated with Remember judgments was 2.74, while that of Know judgments was 2.08. However, Gardiner & Java (1990) argued that confidence ratings affect Remember/Know judgments. People may base their confidence ratings on their recollective experience, so that the two are not independent. In their 2nd  experiment, the subjects studied 60 items, 30 words and 30 non words, and then made Yes/No recognition judgments followed by Remember/Know ratings. The result was a double dissociation: more words received remember than know judgments, while the reverse was true for nonwords. In the 3rd experiment which was identical to the 2nd, except the people being tested classified recognized items into â€Å"Sure† and â€Å"Unsure† categories. This time there was no dissociation. Rajaram (1993) performed a similar pair of experiments, with similar results, and came to same conclusion. Substituting Sure/Unsure ratings for Remember/Know judgments got rid of the dissociations observed with Remember/Know, so both Gardiner and Java (1990) and Rajaram (1993) conclude that Remember/Know is not merely a substitute for confidence. Although the Remember/Know distinction is commonly interpreted in terms of different memory systems, it is suspected instead that these different memories reflect retrieval of different information from a single common store. Know judgments require retrieval only of information from a list, while remember judgments seem to require retrieval of information about spatiotemporal context, and you need to experience the event yourself. Knowing and remembering something are very similar, the definition of to know is to have fixed in the mind, recognize and have experience of, and the definition of remember is to retain in memory, to think of again. In order to know something it can be quite impersonal, general information about things such as the is the prime minister, this is the semantic memory, however in order to remember something you need to know specific details about the event such as going on holiday, you remember the sights and sounds and the feelings you experienced, this is the episodic memory. In order to remember you need to be able to retrieve information, remember an event as an event, whereas to know you need to just be familiar with it, have a feeling that some event may have occurred before. So to say there is a difference between knowing and remembering something is hard, there are clear cut differences as explained, however without one we couldn’t have the other, they are inter-related. It is all the same memory system in which we use to know or to remember something. It is the different  processes and different levels of experience or relation to you that makes them different. References †¢Gardiner, J.M., & Java, R.I. (1990). Recollective experience in word and nonword recognition. Memory & Cognition, 18, 23-30. †¢Memory and amnesia, 2nd edition, Alan J Parker, page 17-18,33, 36,116†¢Memory observed, remembering in natural contexts, 2nd edition, Ulric Neisser, Ira E. Hayman, jr. Page 109†¢Psychology powerpoint – Memory II – Lecture 3: Theories of Short and Long Term Memory, 2005, University of Glamorgan. †¢Rybash, John M.; Monaghan, Brynn E, Episodic and semantic contributions to older adults’ autobiographical recall, The Journal of General Psychology. 126 no1 (Jan. ’99) p. 85-96. †¢Schacter, D.L. (1987). Implicit memory: History and current status. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 501-518. †¢Tulving, E. (1972). Episodic and semantic memory. In E. Tulving & W. Donaldson (Eds.), Organization of memory (pp. 381-403). New York: Academic Press. †¢Tulving, E. (1985). Memory and consciousness. Canadian Psychology, 1-12. †¢Your Memory A user’s guide, Alan Baddeley, Page 13, 75-76,81,94-95,