Their Eyes Were Watching God And The Road - 851 Words

Unknown Forces and Their Impact The books, Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Road, seem to be completely different from each other for various reasons. One takes place in the south during the early 1900’s while the other takes place in the future after an apocalyptic event. However, both books share a similar idea. In both books the main characters have spiritual connections with an unknown force that is the main cause of both their misfortune and their happiness. Overall, both authors from Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Road believe that there is a higher being that has control over both the good and bad aspects of life. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston follows a young African-American woman named Janie as she tells her friend Pheoby about her past experiences. It can be assumed that nature as well higher being or unknown force drives Janie’s morals and shapes her experiences. The first instance where Janie connects with nature in a significa nt way was an experience she had when she was sixteen. She was lying under the pear tree in her backyard when she noticed the bees around the tree. â€Å"She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation (Hurston 10). Something out of Janie’s control broughtShow MoreRelated Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay1546 Words   |  7 PagesTheir Eyes Were Watching God Often in stories of self-realization and self-love, there is an incident that is often overlooked. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, such is the case. While many people tend to believe that Janie’s relationship with Teacake was the central time when she realized who she was, Her marriage with Joe Starks is often ignored in the big picture. Janie realized what she didn’t want and not to settle and that helped her accept Teacake later on in the book. Jody’s idealsRead MoreOprah Had No Eyes to See Her Make a Monstrosity1500 Words   |  6 PagesOprah Had No Eyes to See Her Make a Monstrosity Oprah’s movie did Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, an injustice when Oprah changed the entire purpose of the book. The changes made to characters, relationships, and the effects of symbolism makes the story unrecognizable. Their Eyes Were Watching God transforms into a love story and the title changes which alters the entire plot, even some settings change. Oprah truly slaughtered a work of art and her ignorance of the meaningRead MoreEssay A Changing Era of Religion in The Great Gatsby666 Words   |  3 Pagesbefore the 1920s so these views were carried over. Some turned to god, while others turned away. Morals were changing in that people spent their time and money on completely different things now. Religion had been the basis of many people’s lives before this, making this way of thinking and acting brand new. In The Great Gatsby, Doctor T. J. Eckleburg’s eyes symbolize god and how traditional religion and morality are sinki ng away from everyday life. Eckleburg’s eyes first appear at the beginningRead MoreGender Roles in Their Eyes Were Watching God1087 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Gender Roles in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God During the 1900’s, women, specifically black women, were considered to be property of men in the United States, especially down south, in states such as Florida and Georgia. Legally, women had no voice. For example, if a woman was abused by her husband, the court system would not acknowledge it even if it did really happen. In the article â€Å"Sexism in the Early 1900’s†, Becca Woltemath states that â€Å"†¦a woman’s job is to take care of the houseRead MoreThe Life of American Women in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God895 Words   |  4 PagesZora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel illustrating the life of an African American woman that finds her voice through many trials and tribulations. At the heart of the story, Hurston portrays a protagonist who moves from a passive state to independence, from passive woman with no voice who is dominated by her husband to a woman who can think and act for herself. Hurston achieves the greater theme of Their Eyes Were Watching God, of self-expression and independence throughRead More Janie and the Pear Tree in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston917 Words   |  4 PagesJanie and the Pear Tree in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Zora Neale Hurstons Their Eyes Were Watching God, the image of a pear tree reverberates throughout the novel. The pear tree is not only a representation of Janies life - blossoming, death, metamorphosis, and rebirth - but also the spark of curiosity that sets Janie on her quest for self-discovery. Janie is essentially rootless at the beginning of her life, never having known her mother or father andRead MoreThe Sentiment of Oprah, Not Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God1502 Words   |  7 PagesOprah took a magnum opus, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and remade it into an entirely different story that did not comply with the book. By altering Janie’s character, moral fiber, relationships, and public acts, it changed the meaning of the novel. The symbolism and the significance of the title varied from the book and the story morphed into a tale of love when made into a movie. Zora Neale Hurston’s book held a disparate meaning before it fell into the hands of Oprah, who annihilated it. Janie’sRead MoreExamples Of Greed In The Great Gatsby1195 Words   |  5 PagesGod’s eyes. By utilizing eye motif, repetitions of sight words, and tone changes, F. Scott Fitzgerald justifies that avarice will always end in vain and amoral decisions will always end in regrets. Through the repetition of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg’s eyes, it becomes clear that the motif is a symbol for God’s eyes, taking in account of all unethical decisions one had made in exchange for own benefits. Furthermore, immoral behaviors are extremely common in the Roaring Twenties, when people were fixatedRead MoreThe Green Light Symbolism In The Great Gatsby796 Words   |  4 Pagestwisted and was more about becoming rich than being happy. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s â€Å"The Great Gatsby†, several symbols are used to illustrate the corruption of the American Dream. These symbols include the green light, the valley of ashes and the eyes of Dr. TJ Eckleberg. A symbol that is repeated multiple times throughout the novel is the green light. The green light is the light at the end of the Buchanan’s dock across the bay from Gatsby’s house. In the night, Gatsby looks across and stares atRead More Powerful Symbols in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston1407 Words   |  6 PagesPowerful Symbols in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston       In 1937, upon the first publication of Their Eyes Were Watching God, the most influential black writer of his time, Richard Wright, stated that the novel carries no theme, no message, [and] no thought.   Wrights powerful critique epitomized a nations attitude toward Zora Neale Hurstons second novel. African-American critics read a book that they felt satisfied the white mans stereotype of African-American culture

Women’s Fight Equality Essay - 1693 Words

Women’s Fight Equality During the pre-civil war period of 1820-1860, vast changes in society were occurring. Conflicts between the North and South were increasing in number and intensity, and many advocators of abolition and women’s rights began to gain recognition and supporters. This was a period of great change in the United States, particularly for women. In fact, this is when women began to actively give their support to a wide-range of reforms. Many supported the abolition movement and the temperance movement. With the majority of women advocating for the highly visible abolition and temperance movements, disunity fell upon the women’s right movement.†¦show more content†¦However, by 1860 women were receiving the same educational privileges as men, therefore accomplishing their goal of educational equality. A woman by the name of Elizabeth Blackwell was the first modern woman to graduate from medical school in 1849, proving that women can be as intelligent as men, and sometimes even their superior. (Franck 134) In the early 1800’s, family sizes were enormous, averaging seven children per household, and women knew very little of how to control pregnancy. The wide-spread knowledge of contraception was not present until the late 1820’s when speeches and books were starting to appear. The first book, Moral Physiology, advocating Birth Control was published in 1830 by Robert Owens. After that there was an abundance of books dealing with contraception. Fanny Wright was a well-known public speaker and motivator for women’s rights who spoke out about contraception. (Rappaport 113-114)These methods helped to educate women on how to prevent pregnancy. If women did not have a huge family to look after they would be more available to work and receive a higher education. â€Å"As the sizes of families shrank, the demands on women correspondingly diminished†¦a women who delayed pregnancy for several years†¦had aShow MoreRelatedWomens Fight For Equality1153 Words   |  5 Pageswere seen fit to do during war time was helping on the home front. But, what’s happening now? Women are fighting, not on the front lines, but in the background and not for their country, but for themselves. Women today are fighting the battle for equality. They reached a milestone in this battle years ago when they reserved the right to vote, but it continues today in a way that even some women don’t want it to. The question being: should women be in combat units? Both men and women are on eitherRead MoreWomens Fight for Gender Equality1133 Words   |  5 Pagesthey contain now without the help from women. Even though men have the trai t of overruling women, women continue to prove that they work diligently in their household and their workforce, and society must treat them as equals. In â€Å"Greater gender equality,† Adema points out that women devote just as much hard work as men do in life. No matter what employment gap women have from men in the workforce, women apply equal or more hours into not just one but two jobs (issue). Adema explains how differentRead MoreWomens Fight for Respect and Equality in the Workplace Essay673 Words   |  3 Pagesthe heavy industry in the workforce and the question is, how many people were behind this statement and why do only two million out of seven or more were involved in the heavy industry workforce? â€Å"For more than a few decades, women have fought for equality in the workplace. Men are told to think like women and women are instructed to act like men. But the council tends to reinforce stereotypical traits like empathy for women and aggression toward men.† Cannon (2012) Sayed (2009) believes that womenRead MoreWomen s Rights During The 19th Amendment1414 Words   |  6 Pageswomen. Two of the women were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady. The women got the right to vote because they have been fighting for their rights since 1775, women were striking for their rights at their job to so that they can be equal as men, the women’s right convention that opened the new possibility for women, and the 4 states that gave women rights before the 19th amendment. Women have been fighting for their right to vote ever since 1775. They have been fighting for their rights becauseRead MoreWomen s Degradation By Elizabeth Cady Stanton928 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"Women’s degradation is in man’s idea of his sexual rights. Our religion, laws and customs are all founded on the belief that woman was made for man† (Stanton) Believed to be one of the greatest and most influential feminists of not only her generation, but of all time, Elizabeth Cady Stanton paved the way for women and their rights in a time when they had none. Elizabeth, was one of the first feminist theorists in America and through her beliefs that women deserve equality and equal rights, sheRead MoreFrederick Douglass And The Fight For Women s Suffrage1357 Words   |  6 Pagesblack-male voice in the fight for women’s suffrage. Douglass unlike many men believed that women too were people and deserved all of the rights a man was given. He bel ieved this because black men were previously apart from the equality of all men, and they too should be apart in gaining this equality for all. Douglass, along with other strong willed women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, among others, they became the forefront of Women’s Suffrage in the 1848Read MoreWomen s Rights And Gender Equality Essay1506 Words   |  7 Pages All men and women were created equal. However, this obvious truth is not universally shared. Fortunately, there is a very real fight for gender equality that we are currently engaged in, and a participant in that fight that holds a fundamental role are non-governmental organizations (NGOs). NGOs exist as private, voluntary organizations that function without government restriction and bias because they are not for profit and not funded by the government. These organizations coordinate strategiesRead MoreIntroduction. Women Across The World Struggle To Make Their1454 Words   |  6 Pagesstruggle to make their voices heard so that today’s challenges can be an aspiration in equality for the future. To understand the struggle women are facing around the world, individuals look to feminists and conflict theories that empower and drive domination and oppression. Feminist theorists like West and Zimmerman, MacKinnon, and Smith defend women’s rights and call for an open and organized society that promotes equality for all genders, ethnic, cultural, and religious groups. Additionally, one of theRead MoreDescribing Canada1135 Words   |  5 Pagesabout the most change and significance are: the persons case of 1928, the womens liberation movement throughout the 1960s and 70s and the ratification of the Treaty for Rights of Women (CEDAW) in 1981. These three events in Canadas history brought about many crucial changes for the woman of Canada. After woman won the persons case in 1929, Canada finally considered women to be legal persons. Awa reness of womens equality came to the fore front during the womans liberation movement in the 1960sRead MoreA Woman s Crusade And The Battle For The Ballot1431 Words   |  6 Pagesactively know the history with their equality rights, and how Alice Paul and other women fought so hard for those rights throughout time. All through time women have fought for the right to vote, equal rights in the workplace, and rights for our own body, these fights have been so important for woman to move on in our society to been seen as equals and not the weaker sex. Moving back in time with Mary Walton’s book â€Å"A Woman’s Crusade,† in the early stages of women’s suffrage is an inspiring crusade of

Environmental problems caused by gold mining and treatment Free Essays

Gold Mining inevitable damage to the environment, to induce a variety of negative effects of geological environments. Currently, the shortage of resources, population growth, environmental pollution and other issues facing humanity increasingly prominent, visible, in-depth study of mining development and its negative effects induced comprehensive treatment is necessary, its far-reaching. Gold mining-induced negative effects of geological environment, gold mining-induced negative effects of water environment, gold mining-induced negative ecological effects, so eople must be the comprehensive management of the gold mining environment. We will write a custom essay sample on Environmental problems caused by gold mining and treatment or any similar topic only for you Order Now First, you can adopt Vertical Roller Mill for Slag Grinding tailings produced a comprehensive recycling, making people get the maximum benefits. Help people refine utilization of valuable metals or other components. Because many abandoned gold ores and tailings contain some Cu, Pb, Zn, etc. the use of advanced technologies and integrated approach can reclaim this part of the useful elements. One thing is very important that we must understand a lot of the equipment operating rocedures, these appliances and equipment for the treatment and long-term use of the latter part of the environment are very useful. For vertical slag grinding it can refer to the Depth study of occurrence can mine ore, and mechanical properties, and the impact of construction on the mine, predicted negative effects caused by mining to prevent rock moves in the mining process. Already collapsed, sliding rock should be reinforced or filled to prevent it expand. Help restore the ecological balance. When on the selection of mining on the environment more friendly Gold Separation Equipment, in order to mine the aste caused due to mining should be integrated governance, multi-level integrated approach to achieve the waste land reclamation standards, planting plants, recovery ecological balance. Mining is a mineral resource development process necessary means insurmountable, how to reduce the negative effects of the mining process, the development of the mine has effects arising from the comprehensive treatment is necessary, its far-reaching. So, should further strengthen the process of gold mining induced geological environment and its negative effect of Integrated Management of work. How to cite Environmental problems caused by gold mining and treatment, Papers

Balancing family and work free essay sample

With very little time in a day that we spend awake, life can seem like a complicated juggling act. Most of us have more balls in the air than we can handle. We drop a ball from time to time even more or less depending on how balanced or unbalanced our life is. Some of the balls are more important than others, dropping the important ones can be disastrous. While dropping the less important ones might not matter at all. It helps to think of our responsibilities as glass or rubber balls. A juggler would never want to drop a glass ball because it would surely break. But he would know that its not a disaster to drop a rubber ball. I would like to think of our family as a glass ball, a person would never want to disappoint our family because they are important. Rubber balls on the other hand wont break and can bounce back when needed. We will write a custom essay sample on Balancing family and work or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page For example, work would be the rubber ball you can drop it when you are home with family and then bounce it back in your hand when you are working. For balancing family and work it might appear easy to discern which responsibilities are glass balls and which are rubber. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love and compassion. These principles tell us that our marriages and families come first. When we make them our top priority, it will be easier to balance the other responsibilities in our lives.

Subsidizing Art free essay sample

The government of the UK spends about ? 220 million a year supporting museums and galleries and the similar amount of money subsidizing the visual and performing arts like theaters and exhibitions. â€Å"This is a huge sum to spend on minority interests, and the money would be better spent on more important things. It should be up to the people who enjoy cultural attractions to pay for them. † Of course this is a solid sum of money, but to call such important cultural events minority interests is a big, serious and thereby silly mistake. It is known that for every country such cultural events like galleries, exhibitions and theaters especially for the Great Britain are very important for its society because exactly this country has a rich history closely connected with culture. And not to develop it means to show disrespect to own history, ancestors, art and, in addition to this, not to think about future generations. We will write a custom essay sample on Subsidizing Art or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page That is why the government of the UK should give appropriate consideration for maintenance of all these entertainments but at the same time it should not forget about safety, education and public health. People who really enjoy all these attractions also should give support to it and they do. For evidence another absolutely different country like Japan can be observed. Japan has none the less rich history also closely connected with its culture. For example Japanese folk theater Kabuki and exhibitions of ancient gravures, which are the universally recognized cultural events, also financed by government what naturally requests considerable amount of money. At the same time country makes significant progresses in science and technology development like no one in the world, has one of the most long-living and educated populations. To sum up everything, every developed country tries to spend significant amount of money in order to support its cultural entertainments thereby making population more educated and culturally aware. Meanwhile country should not forget about other important things like safety, education and public health. 320 words

Biography of Jack Johnson, American Boxing Champion

Biography of Jack Johnson, American Boxing Champion Jack Johnson (March 31, 1878–June 10, 1946) was an American boxer who became the worlds first African-American heavyweight champion. He came to fame during the Jim Crow era, when the South was still racially segregated. Johnsons success in the ring made him one of the most famous African-Americans of his time. Fast Facts: Jack Johnson Known For: Johnson was an African-American boxer who reigned as the heavyweight champion from 1908 to 1915.Also Known As: John Arthur Johnson, Galveston GiantBorn: March 31, 1878 in Galveston, TexasParents: Henry and Tina JohnsonDied: June 10, 1946 in Raleigh, North CarolinaPublished Works: My Life and Battles (1914), Jack Johnson: In the Ring and Out (1927)Awards and Honors: International Boxing Hall of FameSpouse(s): Etta Terry Duryea (m. 1911-1912), Lucille Cameron (m. 1912-1924), Irene Pineau (m. 1925-1946) Early Life Jack Johnson was born John Arthur Johnson on March 31, 1878, in Galveston, Texas. His parents Henry and Tina Johnson were former slaves; his father worked as a janitor and his mother worked as a dishwasher. Johnson left school after only a few years and went to work at the docks. He later moved to Dallas, where he first began learning how to box, and then Manhattan, where he roomed with boxer Barbados Joe Walcott. Johnson eventually returned to Galveston, where he participated in his first professional match on November 1, 1898. Johnson won the fight. Boxing Career Johnson boxed professionally from 1898 through 1928 and in exhibition matches until 1945. He fought 113 fights, winning 79 matches, 44 of them by knockouts. He defeated Canadian Tommy Burns on December 26, 1908, in the World Boxing Championship held in Sydney, Australia. This began a quest to find a Great White Hope to defeat him. James Jeffries, a leading white fighter, came out of retirement to answer the challenge. The ensuing match- known as the Fight of the Century- took place on July 4, 1910, in Reno, Nevada, in front of a crowd of 20,000 people. The fight went on for 15 rounds, with Jeffries growing wearier and wearier. He was even knocked down- for the first time in his career- twice. His team decided to surrender to save Jeffries from having a knockout on his record. For the fight, Johnson earned $65,000. News of Jeffries defeat ignited numerous incidents of white violence against blacks, but black poet William Waring Cuney captured the exuberant African-American reaction in his poem â€Å"My Lord, What a Morning: O my Lord,What a morning,O my Lord,What a feeling,When Jack JohnsonTurned Jim JeffriesSnow-white faceto the ceiling. The Johnson-Jefferies fight was filmed and became one of the most popular motion pictures of the era. However, there was a strong movement to censor the film, as many people did not want to publicize the news of Johnsons victory. Johnson won the heavyweight title when he knocked out Tommy Burns in 1908, and he held onto  the title until April 5, 1915, when he was knocked out by Jess Willard in the 26th round of the world championship fight in Havana, Cuba. Johnson defended his heavyweight championship three times in Paris before his fight against Jess Willard.  He continued boxing professionally until 1938, when, well past his prime, he lost his final match to Walter Price. Johnson was known for his defensive fighting style; he preferred to gradually wear down his opponents rather than going for a knockout. With each passing round, as his opponents became more exhausted, Johnson would ratchet up his attacks until going for the final blow. Personal Life Johnson received bad publicity because of his three marriages, all to Caucasian women. Interracial marriages were prohibited in most of America at the time. He was convicted of violating the Mann Act in 1912 when he transported his wife across state lines before their marriage and was sentenced to a year in prison. Fearing for his safety, Johnson escaped while he was out on appeal. Posing as a member of a black baseball team, he fled to Canada and later to Europe and  remained a fugitive for seven years. Wrench Patent In 1920, Johnson decided to return to the U.S. to serve his sentence. It was during this time that, searching for a tool that would tighten or loosen nuts and bolts, he made improvements  to the design of the monkey wrench. Johnson received a patent for his innovations in 1922. Johnson’s wrench was unique in that it could be easily taken apart for cleaning or repair and its gripping action was superior to that of other tools on the market at the time. Johnson is credited with coining the term â€Å"wrench.† Later Years After his release from prison, Jack Johnsons boxing career declined. He worked in vaudeville to make ends meet, even appearing with a trained flea act. He opened a night club in Harlem in 1920; it was later purchased from him and renamed the Cotton Club. Johnson wrote two memoirs, Mes Combats in 1914, and Jack Johnson: In the Ring and Out in 1927. Death On June 10, 1946, Johnson was in an automobile accident near Raleigh, North Carolina, after speeding away from a diner where he was refused service. He was rushed to the nearest black hospital, where he died at the age of 68. Johnson was buried in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago. Legacy Johnson was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954, followed by the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. His career inspired numerous people, including heavyweight champion Muhammed Ali and jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, who recorded an album in 1971 called A Tribute to Jack Johnson. The 1910 film of Johnsons famous fight against James Jefferies was added to the National Film Registry in 2005. Johnsons life was the inspiration for the 1970 film The Great White Hope. On May 24, 2018, President Donald Trump issued a posthumous pardon for Johnsons 1912 conviction. Trump called the heavyweight champion one of the greatest that ever lived and a truly great fighter. Sources Johnson, Jack.  Jack Johnson: in the Ring and Out. Kessinger Pub., 2007.â€Å"Remarks by President Trump at Pardoning of John Arthur ‘Jack’ Johnson.† The White House, The United States Government.Ward, Geoffrey C.  Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. Yellow Jersey Press, 2015.

Reinventing the Wheel at Ryan Door Company Essay

Reinventing the Wheel at Ryan Door Company - Essay Example on between the time rate of employees before the training and the time rate of the same employees after the training: with all other factors remaining the same. Should there be an improvement in the work rate; Ryan can be assured that there has been an improvement resulting from the training. The next type of outcome to use is the adherence to instructions. Employees often show since of refusal to stick to instructions if they are not conversant with the technicalities of the work assigned to them (The Guardian, 2012). Training has however been identified to solve such a problem. In this regard, the employees should gain more command over the technicalities of the designing work they do after the training program by adhering more to instructions. Once this is done, it will be a proof that employees now understand the instructions given out to them. Then again, the cost of production should be reduced drastically. If employees gain any improvement in their training process, they will come to understand the importance of value for money. For this reason, they will be mindful of the cost of production as the cost of production goes a long way to determine the output of gain that will be made at the end of each production (Koduah, 2001). There exist a number of evaluation designs that can be implemented by Ryan in assessing the impact of the training program instituted. But for a type of design that meets the current needs of the company, the outcome or impact evaluation design is the most preferred. This is because the aim of using an impact evaluation design is to assess the level of impact that any given program has had on its members (Koduah, 2001). Considering the present urgent need for change in place at the company, such an impact evaluation design will come with a lot of advantage for the company especially as the company is a profit making one and must have value for all its programs and initiatives such as the present training program. With the said impact

Using foreign financial statements Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Using foreign financial statements - Article Example The article is about a very important field in contemporary financial world,the skills' requirements to read financial statements of foreign companies and extracting information of interest from these financialsThe article presents some techniques that organizations usually employ when their financial statements are provided to foreign users. This ranges from doing nothing (in which case the financial statements might be in non-English language with figures shown in local currency and might not follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles - GAAP, or International Financial Reporting Standards - IFRS) to a completely new set of statements, explicitly prepared for United States. Known as secondary statements, these are developed to provide statements in United States English, with the use of either US GAAP or international standards on Accounting. The purpose is to give users a similar sort of statement that they are used to deal with in United States.The article moves on to identif y the differences in financial statements' presentation layout and style that might appear in financial statements of a foreign company based on its particular location, usage of accounting standards, and norms in the country. A CPA or financial analyst must be equipped with relevant skills and necessary expertise to be able to deal with these differences in the financial statements presentations.... The article, too, describes the importance of being able to read and understand the financial statements of a foreign firm. Similarly, as per CON 2, the information that should be provided in financial statements should have a comparability aspect; that is, it could be compared with information from other entities to make an informed decision. As noted in the article, one of the purposes of developing a secondary statement is to enable the readers to compare statements of one company in one country with statements of others that might be in some other countries. If the currency, form and presentation, and standards of which the financial statements are developed are similar, it will provide an ease in comparing apple to apple. Otherwise, one might end up comparing US Dollars with Japanese Yen. Similarly, other elements of the coursework like financial accounting environment, financial statements like balance sheet and income statements and their forms, and the reporting standards are discussed in the article with a perspective of foreign financial statements and international reporting. 3. Learning Lessons The article provides common approaches the companies take when they provide their financial statements to foreign users. These approaches include doing nothing (explained above), developing primary statements using United States GAAP, translating the financial statements into English for easy reading, some might also change the currency to US dollars to provide the ease of comparability that might be required (convenience statements), others might include the details of this conversion and show the rate at which currency is converted (limited restatement). In addition, companies might completely redo their statements to align these

Insurance law Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words - 1

Insurance law - Research Paper Example al law of contract.2 This essay discusses the relevance of the doctrine of utmost good faith in the face of a fast-changing business environment that requires flexibility and equal commitment from all parties to a contract. In order to achieve this, the author provides a background to the topic, and discusses the application of the doctrine in face of both the insurance and contract laws. Stages of the contract process are then interrogated to seek the different and similar requirements that necessitate application of the doctrine. Further, the views of scholars on the doctrine are explored so as to shed light on the apparent controversy that the doctrine has created among researchers and practitioners. The author remarks that the explored literature does not provide a strong basis to warrant a review of the doctrine. Consequently, its applicability in insurance law should remain as it is, even as more modern provisions of law are sought. The U.K. has some of the oldest, formalized insurance laws governing the insurance sector. The law on insurance has been evolving fast over the last century, with major developments intended to rhyme with the evolving geo-political scenes taking centre stage.3 For instance, the Maritime Insurance Act (1906) has recently been overhauled and the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act (2012) enacted as the industry’s new regulatory framework in order to respond to a growing significance of previously non-existent industries and harmonize the various provisions of the insurance law.4 While different countries have adopted slightly varying versions of the insurance law, the maritime insurance law appears to follow a close-global script. The general script is largely similar to the UK Marine Insurance Act (1906) whose framework has been widely consulted to create equally competent laws for insurance industries in other jurisdictions.5 Perhaps this apparent similari ty in the way different jurisdictions draft their

Evaluating Human Resource Planning At Shandrani Hotel

Evaluating Human Resource Planning At Shandrani Hotel For any business to perform well, it must acquire and optimize the deployment of people with talent. Identifying the right talent to fill particular positions and roles is critical to an organizations effective functioning. All, too often, though, businesses fail to devote sufficient attention to this issue. Organizations and jobs will never be the same eternally. Changes are based on the global economy, on changing technology, on our changing work force, on cultural and demographic changes, and on the changing nature of work itself. We need to learn new skills and develop new abilities, to respond to these changes in our lives, our careers, and our organizations. HR planning is a decision making process that combines three important activities which are: identifying and acquiring the right number of people with the proper skills, motivating them to achieve high performance and creating interactive links between business objectives and people planning activities. The purpose of this assignment is to document on the human resource planning at Shandrani Hotel as HR planning is based on the belief that people are an organizations most important strategic resource. We will try to show how far theory can be put into practice as it is difficult to predict the future and also the policies and strategies within the organization can shift suddenly from one priority to the other. Moreover there is lack of evidence that Human Resource Planning really works as there has been little research evidence of increased use or of its success. To assess future requirement of new staff both in terms of numbers and of levels of skills and competences, formulating and implementing plans to meet those requirements through proper recruitment and training. Due to huge competition and globalisation around the world, managers have, to train and develop their employees to make them more efficient in the workplace. Human resource planning refers to the process of employing the right person for the right job. In all industry, organisation have now realised the importance of human resource planning, and all organisation may have different approach to HRP, however, this assignment lays focus in one particular sector, that is the tourism sector. Tourism sector which is labour intensive compared to other industries, for instance, sugar industry which is machine intensive. Therefore the application of human resource planning shall differ and be applied according to the need of the organisation. Chapter 1 gives an idea about what is the position of tourism in Mauritius, we can therefore deduce from past figures that tourism industry is growing, thus very profitable for Mauritian economy Chapter 2 defines the Human Resource planning since its year of introduction to its actual use in the market. We have compiled the views of various theorists on HRP. Chapter 3 shows the procedures followed to gather information for the assignment, with particular reference to Shandrani Resort and Spa. Chapter 4 gives an overview about Beachcomber group and presents Shandrani Resorts and Spa. Chapter 5 will focus on the process of Human Resource Planning at Shandrani Resort and Spa. CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF TOURISM SECTOR IN MAURITIUS The tourism sector, besides facing cut-throat competition knew an excellent performance for the first semester of 2010. Figures from the Central Statistical Office (CSO) of Mauritius has revealed that tourists arrivals for the period January-June 2010, has attained its 439,150 compared to 413,504 in the corresponding year of 2009, thus representing an increase of 6.2%. The tourism industry is of such paramount importance for the Mauritian economy, that the figures indicating the importance for the Mauritian economy towards GDP is expected to rise from 26.5% (MUR 77.8bn) to 32.4% (MUR216.4bn) in 2010. The credits of the massive increases go to a combination of factors, such as aggressive advertising campaigns abroad, the opening up of air access to the country coupled with the increased capacity of airlines already serving the route and the greater consensus amongst all the industry stakeholders. At the end of June 2010, there were 104 registered hotels in Mauritius, with a total room capacity of 11,362 and 23,168 bed places. For the first semester of 2010, the room occupancy rate for all hotels averaged to 64% compared to 59% in the corresponding semester of 2009 while the bed occupancy rate was 56% against 52%. Data from Bank of Mauritius indicates that gross tourism receipts for the first semester of 2010 were MUR 19,869m that is an increase of 8.5% compared to MUR18.249m for the same period of 2009. Based on data available on tourist arrivals for the first six months of the year 2010 and information gathered from various stakeholders, the Central Statistical Office (CSO) and the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) forecast of receiving nearly 1 million tourists this year, representing 5% year on year. According to Bank of Mauritius, tourism receipts for this year will be around MUR 935 millions, representing an increase of 6.3% over last year figures. Moreover, in order to tap the hospitality industry in Mauritius, major Indian hotel chains are aggressively setting up hotels in the country. According to Vijaye Haulder, Deputy Director, Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA), about 5 major hospitality chains in India are in talks with the Mauritian government for getting land to build hotels. All these hotels are expected to add about 1500 rooms in the next three-four years. The Sagar Hotel Group which is already running two luxury hotels in Mauritius is planning another hotel spread over 20 acres in the country. The tourism industry is a colossal pillar for the Mauritian economy because we have a lot to give, sell and share with the world. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 Introducing HRP Organizations are presently operating in a rapidly changing and competitive environment. Managers have to optimize the use of the available employees in order to be competitive. HRP therefore attempts to reconcile organisations needs for resources with available supply of labour. HRP therefore results in matching people to the job, that is, the right people doing the right thing. HRP needs to be adjusted from time to time because the goals and objectives of an organization are not stable due to various uncertainties. 2.1 Defining HRP Walker (1980) defines it as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦a management process of analyzing an organisations human resource needs under changing conditions and developing the activities necessary to satisfy these needs. Similarly, Vetter (1967), Burrack and Mathys (1985) define it as a process aimed at assisting management to determine how the organization should move from its current staffing position to its desired position. Nel et al (2008:216) maintains that HR planning ensures that a predetermined amount of employees with appropriate skills, knowledge and abilities are available at a specified time in the future à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Hr planning therefore systematically identifies what is needed to be able to guarantee their availability. As defined by Bulla and Scott (1994), it is the process for ensuring that the human resource requirements of an organization are identified and plans are made for satisfying those requirements. From the definitions of Human Resource planning proposed by the various researchers and practitioners, it is possible to attempt to define what HRP is in todays circumstances. It is in our terms a management process designed to translate strategic objectives into targeted quantitative and qualitative skill requirements, to identify the human resource strategies and objectives necessary to fulfill these requirements over both the shorter and the longer terms, As Quinn Mills indicates, human resource planning is a decision-making process that combines three important activities: 1) Identifying and acquiring the right number of people with the proper skills, 2) Motivating them to achieve high performance, and 3) Creating interactive links between business objectives and people-planning activities. However, it must be recognized that although the notion of human resource planning is well established in the HRM vocabulary it does not seem to be established as a key HR activity. As Rothwell (1995) suggests: Apart from isolated examples, there has been little research evidence of increased use or of its success. She explains the gap between theory and practice as arising from: The impact of change and the difficulty of predicting the future the need for planning may be the inverse proportion of its feasibility; The shifting kaleidoscope of policy priorities and strategies within organizations; The distrust displayed by many managers of theory or planning- they often prefer pragmatic adaptation to conceptualization; The lack of evidence that human resource planning really works.and to provide necessary feedback mechanism to assess progress. Overall the purpose of the planning is to invoke an institutional learning process and to generate information which can be utilized to support management decision-making in all staffing areas. 2.2 The process of Human Resource Planning (HRP) Organizations engage in the process of HRP to identify HR needs and the ways of meeting those needs. Business strategic plan; Defining future activity levels and initiatives demanding new skills. Resourcing strategy; Contributes to the formulation and implementation of business strategies. It refers to planning in order to achieve competitive advantage by developing intellectual capital employing more people than rivals; these people will have a wider and deeper range of skills and behave in ways that maximize their contribution-The organisation attracts such people by being an employer of choice. Scenario planning; assessing in broad terms where the organisation is going in its environment and the implications for human resource requirement. Scenario planning has been fairly described as a formal process but it can also be regarded as an informal approach to thinking about the future in broad terms, based upon an analysis of likely changes in the external and internal environment.(Armstrong 2001) The next stage in the process involves predicting how the need for and the availability of Human resource is likely to change in the future. Demand forecasting; estimating the future quantity and quality of people required. The ideal basis of the forecast is an annual budget and longer term business plan, translated into activity levels for each function and department or decisions on downsizing. Various demand forecasting methods are available and they will be analyzed below: managerial or expert judgment This is the most common method and it simply requires management to sit down and estimate the human resources necessary to achieve corporate goals. ratio-trend analysis It is carried out by identifying past trends, using statistical and mathematical techniques and project these into the future to determine requirements. work-study techniques This is effective when individual components of jobs can be measured. This job is broken down into discrete tasks, measure the time taken to complete each component and calculating the amount of labour required. modeling Mathematical modeling techniques using computers help to prepare demand forecast. Supply forecasting; measuring the number of people likely to be available from within and outside the organization having allowed for absenteeism, internal movements, and promotions among others. The forecast will be based on: 1) An analysis of the existing human resources in terms of skills, occupations 2) Forecast losses to existing resources through attrition/labour wastage. 3) Forecast changes to existing resources through internal promotions 4) Effects of changing condition of work and absenteeism 5) Source of supply from within the organization 6) Source of supply from outside the organization in national and local labour market Analysing internal human resources The review of current resources needs to cut organizational and occupational boundaries to provide inventories of skills and potential. It may be important 1) To know how many people with potential promotion exist and where they can be found 2) To know how many people have special skills and abilities in the organization 3) To identify the problems that may arise from retirement In fact the above can help to ensure that the organization is making the most efficient use of its existing resources and can help to identify any potential problem areas. Analysing external supply External supply of potential employees needs to be indentifies- some factors which can have important impacts on the supply of manpower at local and national market are: Population densities within reach of company The attractiveness of the company as a place to work in The effect of changing educational patterns, students staying longer in schools Analysing demand and supply forecasts The demand and supply forecast can then be analyzed to determine whether there are any deficits or surpluses in human resource. This provides the basis for recruitment, retention and if unavoidable, downsizing plans. It refers to the analysis of the number of people leaving the organisation. It provides data for use in supply forecasting, so that calculations can be made on the number of people lost who may have to be replaced. Moreover, an analysis of the number of leavers and the reasons behind their leaving the company will indicate whether actions are needed to improve retention rates. The most common method of measuring labour turnover is expressed as follows: Number of leavers in a specific period x 100 Average number of employees during same period This measure is used most effectively on a comparative basis and frequently provides the basis for internal and external benchmarking. Investigations into reasons for turnover are undertaken via exit interviews and leaver questionnaires or even through attitude surveys. Reasons for leaving are: More pay Better career prospects More security Poor relationships with manager or team leader Bullying, harassment Labour turnover can be very costly since it represents an opportunity cost of time spent by HR and Line Manager in recruitment, loss arising from reduce input from new starters until they are fully-trained, direct costs of introducing induction course. Work-environment analysis It refers to the analysis of the environment in which the people work in terms of scope it provides for them to use and develop their skills and achieve satisfaction. Operational effectiveness analysis Analysing productivity, the utilisation of people and the scope for increasing flexibility to respond to new and changing demand. Human Resource Plans The HR plans are derived from the resourcing strategy and takes into account data from a combination of scenario planning, demand and supply and forecasting and labour turnover analysis. Again there is a lack of certainty and predictability. The plans often have to be short term and flexible because of the difficulty of making firm predictions about HR requirement in times of rapid change. (Armstrong 2001: 375) Plans need to be prepared in the areas of resourcing, flexibility, retention, downsizing and productivity Resource planning This is primarily concerned with preparing plans for finding people from within the organisation, recruiting externally and attracting high quality candidates as the employer choice Internal resourcing is the first step to analyse the availability of suitable people from within the organisation, by referring t assessments of potential and a skill database- decisions can be made to promote, redeploy and provide extra training to eligible staffs. The recruitment plan would include the number and type of employees required to make up any deficits and when they are needed. The likely sources of recruits are colleges, advertising. Plan for trapping alternative sources such as part timers How recruitment programme will be conducted Employer of choice plan Recruitment plans should include plan for attracting good candidates by ensuring that the organization will become an employer of choice. Initiatives to become an employer of choice might include Providing opportunities for development and career progression Addressing work life balance issue Better remuneration packages Retention Plan Man Fred De Vries (cited in Williams 2000:28) stated that todays high performers are like frogs in a wheelbarrow: they can jump anytime Various organizations recognize this and are turning their attention to key staff. Retention measures can include the following: Pay and benefit competitive rates of pay, flexible benefits Recruitment and selection set appropriate standards, match people to posts, provide an accurate picture of the job Training and development good induction processes, provision of development opportunities to meet the needs of the individual and the organizations. Job design, provision of interesting work as much autonomy and ream working as possible. Management ensures that managers and supervisors have the skills to manage efficiently. Flexibility Plan Planning for increased flexibility in the use of Human Resource to enable the organization to make the best of its people and adapt swiftly to changing circumstances. Armstrong suggests that the aim of the flexibility plan should be to Provide for greater operational flexibility Improve the utilization of employees skills and capabilities Reduce employment costs Help to achieve downsizing smoothly and avoid the need for compulsory redundancies Increase productivity Thus strategies like job sharing, home working, tele working, subcontracting and employing part time workers should be implemented. Productivity Plan It sets out programmes for improving productivity and reducing employment costs in such areas as: Improving methods, systems and processes Mechanization, automation and computerization The use of financial and non financial incentives Downsizing plan The downsizing plan is implemented as last resort if all else fails It may be necessary to deal with unacceptable employment costs/surplus number of employees by downsizing. The downsizing plan should be based on timing of reductions and the process itself. The plan should set out the following: The number of people who have to go and when and where this need to take place A forecast of the likely numbers who will be volunteer to leave Arrangement for informing and consulting with employees and their trade unions 2.3 Aims of HRP Planning of human resource is extremely important as it enables the optimum use of the most valuable asset of an organization in the attainment of its objectives and goals. To find gaps and devise solutions. As we say, nobody plans to fail; they just fail to plan. To attract and retain the number of people with the appropriate skills, expertise and competencies To anticipate the problems of potential surplus and deficits of people To develop a well trained and flexible workforce, thus contributing to the organizations ability to adapt to an uncertain and changing environment To reduce dependence on external recruitment when key skills are in short supply by formulating retention as well as employee development strategies. 2.4 Factors affecting HRP Employment HRP is affected by the employment situation in the country i.e. in countries where there is greater unemployment; there may be more pressure on the company, from government to appoint more people. Similarly some company may force shortage of skilled labour and they may have to appoint people from other countries. Technical changes in the society Technology changes at a very fast speed and new people having the required knowledge are required for the company. In some cases, company may retain existing employees and teach them the new technology and in some cases, the company has to remove existing people and appoint new. Organizational changes Changes take place within the organization from time to time i.e. the company diversify into new products or close down business in some areas etc. in such cases the HRP process i.e. appointing or removing people will change according to situation. Demographic changes Demographic changes refer to things referring to age, population, composition of work force etc. A number of people retire every year. A new batch of graduates with specialization turns out every year. This can change the appointment or the removal in the company. Shortage of skill due to labour turnover Industries having high labour turnover rate, the HRP will change constantly i.e. many new appointments will take place. This also affects the way HRP is implemented. Multicultural workforce Workers from different countries travel to other countries in search of job. When a company plans its HRP it needs to take into account this factor also. Pressure groups Company has to keep in mind certain pleasure. Groups like human rights activist, woman activist, media etc. as they are very capable for creating problems for the company, when issues concerning these groups arise, appointment or 2.5 Human resource activities Human Resource (HR) planning is imperative to an organizations success. It serves as an analysis of the current and future needs of the organization. This process helps guide an organization in several areas, such as staffing, development, training, and benefits and compensation designs. Staffing Staff, or personnel, planning is one of the most common activities conducted by HR departments, according to an article on AllBusiness.com. It typically is comprised of using the current staff size and design to predict staffing levels for the upcoming year. HR departments may utilize a companys strategic plan as a resource for information. For example, if an organization intends to launch a new interactive website in the following year, the HR department will budget for additional staff to build and maintain the website. Training and Development HR departments create training and employee development plans as well. This type of planning must be conducted in advance of the companys needs in order to prepare for them, both from financial and resource perspectives. Training for new employees and product rollouts may be included. Teaching current employees new skills is considered an aspect of development. Organizations benefit from having streamlined and consistent training programs Career Development Career development is imperative in order to prepare an organization for upcoming retirements, as well as to retain long-term employees. Companies need to have a strategic plan on how they intend to replace their management with qualified leaders. This means that current employees should have career road maps and plans that incorporate both short-term and long-term goals. For example, if an organization is grooming a top, young salesperson for the management track in five years, training should begin now. This may include time management courses, classes on how to coach others and a mentor program. Downsizings When companies foresee an upcoming need to downsize, its in their best interest to have their HR departments plan for it in advance to ensure that the process is smooth and orderly, and complies with all legal requirements. This type of planning also may prevent loss of knowledge and resources. Some companies begin the downsizing process by eliminating non-essential personnel. Others lay off administrative staff, but keep money-generating positions. Organizations may be hit by lawsuits and high unemployment costs if downsizing is not strategically planned. 2.6 Advantages and disadvantages of HRP HRP, in both its traditional and more contemporary forms, can be perceived to have a number of distinct advantages. Firstly, it is argued that planning can help to reduce uncertainty as long as plans are adaptable. Although unpredictable events do occur, the majority of organizational change does not happen overnight so the planning process can provide an element of control, even if it is relatively short term. Taylor (2002 : 73-74) suggests that in the HR field there is potentially more scope for change and adaptation in six months than there is in relation to capital investment in new plant and machinery. Thus he argues that many of the assumptions about the difficulties of planning generally are less relevant to HR. Other advantages relate to the contribution of planning to organizational performance, for ex, the planning process can make a significant contribution to the integration of HR policies and practices with each other and with the business strategy, i.e. horizontal and vertical integration. Marchington and Wilkinson (2002: 280) suggest that HR plans can be developed to fit with strategic goals or they can contribute to the development of the business strategy, but conclude that either way, HRP is perceived as a major facilitator of competitive advantage. Another way that HRP can contribute is by helping to build flexibility into the organization, either through the use of more flexible forms of work or through identification of the skills and qualities required in employees. IRS (2002c) report that a number of organizations have predicted that jobs are likely to change radically over the next few years and so are using selection techniques to assess core values rather than job-specific skills. 2.7 Difficulties in implementing HRP Planners face significant barriers while formulating a Human Resource Planning. The major ones are the following: People question the importance of making human resource practices future oriented and the role assigned to the practitioners in formulation of the organisational strategies. Their argument is simple- there are people when needed offer attractive package of benefits to quit when you find them in surplus. HR practitioners are perceived as experts in handling personnel matter, but are not experts in managing business. The personnel plan conceived and formulated by the HR practitioners when enmeshed with organisational plan, might make the overall strategic plan itself defective. HR information often is incompatible with the information used in strategy formulation. Strategic planning efforts have long been oriented towards financial forecasting often to the exclusion of other types of information. Conflicting may exist between short-term and long-term HR needs. For example, there arises a conflict between the pressure of getting work done on time and the long term needs, such as preparing people assuming greater responsibilities. Many mangers are of the belief that HR needs can be met immediately because skills are available on the market as long as wages and salaries are competitive. These managers fail to recognise that by resorting to hiring or promoting depending on short term needs alone, long term issues are neglected. There is conflict between quantitative and qualitative approach to HRP. Some people view HRP as a number game designed to track flow of people across the departments. These people are strictly quantitative approach to planning. Others take a qualitative approach and focus on individual employee concerns such as promotability and career development. Best results are accrued if there is a balance between the qualitative and quantitative approaches. Non involvement of operating managers renders HRP ineffective. HRP is not strictly an HR department function. Successful planning needs a coordinated effort on the part of operating managers and HR personnel. CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY This chapter examines the methodology used to carry out the research survey so as to collect data for the topic under consideration that is the process of Human Resource Planning with particular reference to Shandrani Resorts and Spa, member of the Beachcomber Hotels. It involves the examination of the whole research process from beginning to end. 3.1 Problem definition A problem well defined is half-solved.Kotter. Human resource planning is assumed to consist of 4 clear steps: 1)forecasting future needs, 2)analyzing the availability and supply of labour, 3)drawing up plans to meet supply to demand, 4) monitoring the implementation of the plan. The main issue of this assignment is to analyse the process of human resource planning and the focus of the research is on the hotel industry. 3.2 Research objectives The survey was most specifically carried out at Shandrani Resort and Spa and its objective is To assess future people requirements both in terms of numbers and level of skills and competences, formulating and implementing plans to meet those requirements in terms of recruitment and training. 3.3 Research design For the purpose of this assignment, the most appropriate strategies used were exploratory and descriptive as the research is analysing the process of HRP. On a first instance, an exploratory research was made to reach a better understanding of the research of the research problem. It took the form of an in-depth interview with professionals working at Shandrani, and for the Beachcomber hotels as well. The in-depth interview took the form of a question list with open-ended questions. 3.4 Data collection methods Secondary data Secondary data were collected from books, journals, articles, and appropriate websites. Information about the hotel has been collected from Shandrani Resorts and Spa documents, namely the Beachcomber group manual and Shandranis Livret Daccueil. Primary data An interview was carried out with top management to gather primary data. A questionnaire was therefore designed for this purpose. (See Appendix) Other primary researches Interview with the Director of Shandrani . Face to face interview with Director of Human Resource. Interview with Director of Beachcomber Training Academy for 3 hours. Interview with the Quality assurance manager. Int

Columbia Space Shuttle- Final Mission :: American History, NASA

Columbia Final Mission Wayne Hale, Deputy Shuttle Manager Wrote: "Last year we dropped the torch through our complacency, our arrogance, self assurance, sheer stupidity and through our continuing attempt to please everyone". "Seven of our friends and colleagues paid the ultimate price for our failure. Yet the nation is giving us another chanceÂ…..We must not Fail" More then three years ago the Space Shuttle Columbia went down in flames, due to the damage caused but not limited to, a piece of insulating foam that broke off the external tank and struck the wing's leading edge. The foam struck with enough force to create an opening in the wing which allowed hot plasma to enter during reentry. No one thought that foam could cause this much damage since nothing like this had resulted from previous instances where the foam had come off. In the beginning NASA was faced with a tight budget given to them by the government. This budget was large enough to build a state of the art air craft but wasn't enough to develop an escape system that might of proving to be useful in this case. The culture of NASA was a factor that created this mistake, "The mantra "Prove to me that there's something wrong". The chain of command was not equal; the small guys couldn't voice their opinions and concerns because of the position they held in the organization. Another concern was that they miscalculated the risk of the foam creating any damage just because it never destroyed another shuttle. The facts were clear that the foam had the ability to create some damage, and this was apparent in many other space shuttle launches. Foam debris was classified as an "in-family" event- a problem within NASA experience base that was not considered a safety of flight issue. NASA even knew that foam debris tended to fall off the left bipod ramp and t hat ten percent of the fights recorded loss foam from this area. Over the years NASA decided to put their concerns of foam damage to the side and called it an acceptable thing to happen during common flight procedures instead of finding a way to prevent it. On its first day in orbit NASA engineers came to the conclusion that the foam debris that hit the left wing might have caused severe damage to the shuttle and could prevent it from a safe reentry.

Deviations of Marxism

The problem of a man’s economic and political freedom has been widely discussed by specialists throughout centuries. Chomsky (1987), Bakunin (1934), Rousseau (1960), Humbold (in Botting 1973) have all questioned the issue whether a man can ever be free in the society. The theory of Marxism can be regarded as a synthesis and conclusion of classical political economy, particularly of utopian socialist authors from which Marx borrowed many ideas. â€Å"The teaching of Marx is all-powerful because it is true.It is complete and symmetrical, offering an integrated view of the world, irreconcilable with any superstition, with any reactionism, or with any defense of bourgeois oppression. † (Eastman, Marx 1959, p. xxi). The problem of freeing man from the curse of economic exploitation and political and social enslavement in Marx’s works has been discussed by Highs (2004), Kozyn (1987), Sayer (1991), Suny (1993), and Wood (1997). As the sources argue, according to the opi nion of Marx, this problem can be solved, but only after many changes take place in the society.Capitalism is destined to fail and be replaced by socialism which can put an end to contradiction between two social classes- bourgeoisie and the working class. Opposite to the system of capitalism, socialism was going to be based on the principles radically different from the principles of capitalist society, and thus end economic exploitation. According to Marx, people could become free if they were free economically, and thus the end of economic exploitation was going to determine the freedom for people.In â€Å"The Criticism of the Gotha Program† Marx devotes major attention to the analysis of ownership and the problem of workers’ estrangement of the results of their work as the major feature of exploitation: â€Å"Within the cooperative society, based upon the common ownership of the means of production, the producers do not exchange their products; †¦ the labor o f the individual becomes, no longer in a roundabout way, but directly, a component part of the total labor. † (Eastman, Marx, 1959, p. 5).According to Marx, the exploitation of workers provided on all levels of production, their estrangement from the results of work all were the reasons of the inevitable changes in the future. The fact that surplus value was obtained by the capitalist was also one of the arguments for the future change in the structure. The class of workers realized that the results of their work were taken by the capitalist even though they were the ones who actually created the value. Therefore, they were eventually destined to struggle for their economic freedom, which would also lead to their social and political freedom.The dialectics argues that contradictions are the driving force of progress. Once contradictions appear in some system, the system will need to undergo many changes and develop until the new level in which the synthesis of new qualities wi ll be finally reached. Therefore, as it was correctly noticed by Marx, the phase of capitalism could not be completely over- it would just develop until its new phase socialism and the most positive features of both systems would be present in the final synthesis of the two systems.People would reach the freedom only after the final stage of evolution, because earlier stages would still contain some features from the earlier system. Marx argues that communist society â€Å"still bears, in every respect, economic, moral and intellectual, the birthmarks of the old society from whose womb it is issuing† (Eastman, Marx, 1959, p. 5). Therefore, it is impossible to conclude that communism entirely frees people from economic exploitation and political and social enslavement. Communism is not a completely new system and has connection with the previous system of capitalism.It interacts with it in some ways but at the same time it has many new features which are beneficial for the wor king class and liberates people in many aspects of life. In â€Å"The Poverty of Philosophy† Marx argues that eventually, communism is going to give political freedom to people. â€Å"The working class will substitute, in the course of its development, for the old order of civil society, an association which will exclude classes and their antagonism, and there will no longer be political power. † (Eastman, Marx, 1959, p.2). The author also states that in the new socialistic society, all of the assets will be expropriated from the capitalists and thus they will not be able to obtain the benefits of the surplus value anymore. Therefore, economic exploitation will be finally brought to an end. Another feature of socialism is the equality of people, when they are able to work according to their abilities for themselves and the state they live in. The socialist society is not divided into classes because it regards people equal in all the ways.Marx mentioned that unfortunat ely, all of the major developments needed to happen not as the result of evolution but as the results of struggles and revolutions because they were the only ways of destruction of the old system. Marx did not deny the role of evolution in the process of freeing people but he had very radical views and thus regarded revolution as the best tool of speeding up the evolution process which was going to lead to the long-waited changes in any case. As the author stated, the final end to capitalism could be put and the new socialist society could be established only with the help of arms.A remarkable feature of Marx’s theory of capitalism development and evolution into socialism is that he does not share the opinions of utopian writers on this issue. Many utopian writers considered that social changes could be originated by the government of the country or by a class of â€Å"educated† capitalists. Marx was completely against these theories because he was confident that the f ormer capitalists and members of government were unable to bring any changes into the country’s social structure.In order to form the new society, the new principles needed to be established and those people who belonged to the rival class of the workers were unable to bring any of the mentioned changes. It is also necessary to investigate the problem of freeing man from the curse of economic exploitation and political and social enslavement in Soviet Union. As the experience of the country shows, application of Marxism theory in Soviet Union completely failed to achieve its goals.As it was mentioned by Geoffrey (1997), Grigor (1993), Khazanov (1992), Lieven (1998), Kon (1993), one of the major mistakes made in Soviet Union was connected with â€Å"Russian exceptionalism†. As Grigor (1993) states, Soviet Union applied the concept of Marxist â€Å"nationless† society in a way completely different from its original meaning. Instead of â€Å"freeing† citizen s of the country as Marxism stated, Soviet leaders oppressed all of the nations except Russians. Russia was the major center of all activities going in the country.Soviet Union was a very peculiar structure because it united a large number of nations which were very different in many ways. Some of the nations included in the country were quite close to one another (Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine), while other republics in the Soviet Union structure were very different by their cultures. For example, Eastern republics, like Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan belonged to Muslim countries, and had very different traditions from Russians, but Russian nation forced all of them to act according to the traditions of the dominant nation.This was one of the major reasons of the â€Å"empire’s† failure in the following years. â€Å"Sovietology paid far too little attention for far too long to the non-Russian peoples, to the extrapolitical social environment, and to the part icular contexts, contingencies, and conjunctures of the Soviet past. † (Grigor, 1993: 3) According to Marxists, all the nations within the Soviet Union had to be completely alike and without any differences between them. Soviet leaders took the features of the Russian nation as the basic features. Therefore, all other nations had to adapt to the new culture which was not very familiar to them.The â€Å"nationless† society in reality turned out a â€Å"Russian† society with total dominance of the Russian nation in all the ways. All the nations other than Russians were oppressed greatly. They were all considered a step lower in the society ladder due to their origin, and did not have any political freedom. Policy of the country was in many ways channeled to the development of Russia and its cities. The largest sums from the budget were assigned to the development of Russia. While Russia’s economy was booming, particularly the economy of Moscow, all other eco nomies were at a much lower level of development.Besides exceptionalism, there were many other problems with application of Marxist theory in Soviet Union. For example, Soviet leaders did their best to apply the principle according to which every person was required to contribute to the wealth of the country at his best and would get services from the state in the maximum amount. Instead, it was easy to notice that leaders of the communist party got all of the benefits from the state while working people got only the minimum. As Lieven (1998) states, the reality of Soviet Union was very far from giving any freedom to its citizens.During capitalism workers were oppressed greatly and did not have a chance to satisfy all of their needs. The situation did not change much when Soviet leaders brought communism to the country because the oppression remained the same; it just came not from capitalists but from communist leaders. Communist leaders in Vietnam also failed to implement principl es of Marxism in the country. Similar to Lenin’s Soviet Union, Ho Chi Minh’s Vietnam failed to liberate people from economic exploitation and did not give them social and political freedom. According to Anh (1995, p.126), one of the major reasons of communism’s failure in Vietnam is lack of background for it in the country. Marxism required the struggle between classes as the basis of the future revolution. In rural Vietnam, there were no antagonist classes similar to industrial Britain or Russia. The â€Å"liberation† of people in Vietnam could not be solely based on Marx’s principles due to the radical differences between the British society which Marxism based his theory on and the Vietnamese society. There was no working class in Vietnam looking for liberation from capitalist exploitation.The major figure in Vietnamese society was a peasant fighting against the exploitation by foreigners oppressors. â€Å"At the centre of Vietnamese history, s tands the peasant, tenacious and heroic defender of the land inherited from the ancestors against the foreign invaders, but recurrently rising up against the masters from within in an endless rebellion. † (Le Vietnam traditionnel. Quelques etapes historiques, 1971, p. 170). Communism in Vietnam was supposed to serve the interests of peasants in their fight against French oppressors.â€Å"The highly destructive system of economic exploitation installed by the colonial regime gave birth to new social forces, while aggravating the situation of the rural masses. † (Institute of Historical Studies, Vietnamese peasantry and rural society in the modern period, 1990, p. 35). Despite the attempts of application of Marx’s theory in Vietnam, it was destined to fail because Vietnam was eventually liberated from oppressors, and any basis for the struggle between antagonist classes disappeared.In conclusion, it is necessary to mark that in its pure version, Marxism provides an answer to the question of how to liberate people from economic, political and social oppression. Liberation of people from economic exploitation comes first and as long as it is achieved, political and social freedom can also be targeted. However, the attempts of the application of Marxism in Soviet Union and Vietnam have showed that people’s freedom cannot be achieved in real life due to fatal mistakes made by communist leaders in the application of Marxism.

Texting While Driving Essays

Texting While Driving Essays Texting While Driving Essay Texting While Driving Essay Imagine you are driving down the highway and suddenly a car hits the car in front of you. In that car there was one adult, one teenager, and toddler, and a newborn baby. The car that was hit got flipped over multiple times. No one in the car managed to survive that accident. This all happened because the driver decided to pull out their phone and text a simple mies. Texting and driving is a huge problem in the United States. Many laws have been passed to prevent texting and driving. It also causes many deaths and injuries. Many laws have been passed to prevent the danger of texting and driving. As said by Robert A Heinlein, l am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. am part of the generation that had a cell phone long before having a car. As a society, we have become more and more dependent upon the use of cell phones. They have enabled us to stay connected to the world. With smart phones, we can now check the weather, email, and that eBay item we really want to win in a bidding war. When we talk or kook at a cell phone, our attention span becomes very limited. The emotional stress while talking on a cell phone can lead to decreased awareness on what is happening around a person. Personally, I see no difference between talking on a cell phone and watching a television show. Every day, I see many people on cell phones while driving. I see drivers in cars, Subs, and semi trucks all holding a phone up to their ear while making one-handed turns. I think back to when I received my drivers license and how important it was to have my hands on the wheel at ten and two-o- clock. I remember being told by my driving instructor to always be aware of what is happening twelve seconds ahead of me. Looking at all of these cell phone users on the road, I cant imagine they even know what is going on five seconds ahead of them. I have heard that a persons attention span is decreased four times while talking on a cell phone. A decreased attention span of four times is also the same as a person with a blood alcohol level of . 08. Studies have shown that testing and driving is twice as risky as talking on a cell phone. With more and more teenagers acquiring cell hones, up to fifty percent of teens admit to testing while driving. In my personal opinion, we, as a society, should make cell phone use illegal while driving on the road. I have heard about all of the accidents associated with cell phone use and I am bewildered that we havent made any action to address this issue. I love the fact that hands-free devices are an option with new technology coming out; as of recently, we have developed voice activated calling thats now included in newer models of cars. Sure, Michigan has made it illegal to text while driving, but what about talking on a bile device? I cant help but think about all of the times I have been on the highway and have witnessed drivers making lane changes without looking because they had a phone up to their ear. Drivers on cell phones also have an eighteen percent slower reaction time to brake lights. Several states have already banned the use of cell phones while driving. The carelessness needs to stop! We need to reprimand those who are putting others lives at risk on the road. If we cant confront and enforce this issue, the deaths will Just keep on coming. Testing while driving By sparseness

The demand and supply essay

The demand and supply essay The demand and supply essay The demand and supply essayThe initial offer is the starting point of the contract and in the case of the seller of the land and the buyer, it is the seller, who made the offer first.The offer was made by the seller, who offered the potential buyer to sell the land and set the price the seller wanted to receive from the buyer. In the course of the negotiations, the buyer accepted the offer and the seller asked for further advances in the implementation of the contract. At the same time, the buyer expressed his interest in the land that could be viewed as the offer but the expression of desire to purchase the land did not involve the beginning of negotiations since the seller did not start negotiations immediately after the buyer expressed his interest in the land. Instead, it was the seller, who made the offer to the buyer being aware of the buyer’s interest to his land. After that the buyer started negotiations and the contract processes has started. In such a way, the buyer cannot be viewed as the initiator of the negotiations, who made the offer. Instead, he was just a hypothetical buyer, who expressed his interest to purchase the land of the seller. Instead, it was the seller, who took the decision to sell his land and wrote the letter to the buyer offering his land and setting the price. In addition, the seller noted that he is going to put his land on the market and sell it to the buyer, who is ready to pay the price set by the seller.

Economic and Health System Comparison between U.S.A and Canada Essay

Economic and Health System Comparison between U.S.A and Canada - Essay Example The Canada Department of finance publishes tax expenditure estimates and projections belonging to personal and corporate income taxes. In addition, the department also brings into the public domain goods and services tax (GST) since 1994. Finance Department does the publication in two different documents. The first document is known as tax expenditures and Evaluations. The document provides for a broader definition of estimates and projections of tax expenditures. Besides tax expenditures, it also outlines analytical papers that address particular tax measures. Tax expenditure is the second document that outlines the objective of tax expenditure and describes the calculations of projections and estimations of tax. The Department of Canada prepares this document annually and makes it available to its website. However, tax expenditures in America and Canada show a lot of variations and differences though there are a few notable similarities. The two states have almost similar sectors in which they redistribute their tax expenditure, but comparing them reveals different priorities. Such priorities are more pronounced in the education, health, medical, military, Social Security among other sectors. US tax expenditure has been growing over time since its introduction in 1960’s with a focus mainly given to the defense department. However, in the recent past, the focus is shifting from defense towards health care and Medicaid. Canada has also shown the same trend in tax expenditure increase since 1994 to date, though with the focus on different sectors. Both America and Canada have comprehensive health or medical tax expenditure coverage. However, the two states have various contrasts in the amount and manner of acquisition. Both Canada and the US have shown gradual growth in the health expenditure over the years since their introduction. Canada, for example, divided its health tax expenditure into four

Compare and Contrast Applied Research to Traditional Research Essay

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Health Policy and Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health Policy and Politics - Essay Example These are remarkable benefits surfacing the prevailing health care reform program of the government. However, amidst all of these good promises, there still remain rumors and continuing negative feedbacks about this program. This leaves a place to reconsider this issue. The Congressional Budget Office projected that the deficit under health care budget is said to reduce in the years to come. In fact, the projection is for each family to save maximum of $2,300 in 2014 with health care reform (Whitehouse.gov, 2011). This amount could hardly be achieved without health care reform program as indicated in the projection. There might be some truth to this. However, there are other essential environmental factors that need to be taken into account. Considering for instance the unpredictability of the economy, the costs of medicines and other related medical needs cannot be projected at some point. This only implies that the said reform needs to adhere to the prevailing economic condition and other relevant environmental factors prior to the realization of what affordability really means to people. It is true that with health care reform program the expansion of coverage is remarkable compared to the traditional health care system. In fact, young adults can now actually stay on their parents’ health insurance plan (Whitehouse.gov, 2011). This sounds good to hear, but there are other considerations when it comes to the bottom line. Insurers for instance do not just operate without taking into account how much profit they should make. Considering the dependents are increasing, there are only two remarkable impacts on this. The first is to increase member contribution and the other would be to put certain limit on the coverage or even cut something on the quality. This can still provide the benefits but the issue is about maximizing them. The people always have the final say on

Alcohol Research Paper Essay Example for Free

Alcohol Research Paper Essay Alcohol plays too significant a role in society today and should be an after thought as opposed to the most essential addition to any social event. Alcohol creates numerous social, economic, and health problems that could very easily be stopped if it played a less influential role in every day events. The use of alcohol is prominent in, but not limited to three social circles that include students, family groups, and religious gatherings. Experts have much to say about alcohol use and abuse in these three categories, including all of the negative aspects of drinking. Social drinking is a common occurrence around America. Whether it is after work or after a football game, white collar or blue, two-thirds of the American population sit down at least once a week to enjoy an alcoholic beverage (Med. unc. edu). Many of these people do not realize that drinking is what leads to uncontrolled behavior, drunk driving, and in the long run, addiction. They are thinking only of the short-term effects, not the negative long-term consequences. People who regularly turn to alcohol eventually begin to neglect their families and other responsibilities, consequently wrecking the lives of loved ones and their own as well. While the lasting negative effects of alcohol use are spewed daily through the media, the problems will not stop until society completely understands how alcohol can indeed pose a serious threat to the nations social welfare. Alcohol has an adverse effect on the economy. The consequences of alcohol abuse and dependence cost the nation an estimated $99 billion each year (Gordis, 209). It is tax money that pays for alcoholics who both live on the street and are barely getting by or who are in government-funded hospitals and institutions. The United States should either find an alternative way to take care of these people or perhaps raise liquor taxes. Either one of these options would conceivably minimize the economical problems caused by alcoholic beverages. It is not the responsibility of the people as a whole to take care of the homeless people who have fallen prey to the lure of alcohol related problems. As of 1991, about 14 million Americans met medical diagnostic criteria for alcohol abuse or alcoholism. There are numerous health problems that are linked to drinking. For instance, if alcohol is consumed during pregnancy, birth defects may result, worse, the baby could be born addicted to alcohol (Kellam, 30). High doses of alcohol have also been found to delay puberty in females and slow bone growth and result in weaker bones (Windle, 179). One of the main risks of drinking alcoholic beverages is having a stroke. A review of epidemiological evidence concludes that moderate alcohol consumption increases the potential risk of strokes caused by bleeding (Camargo, 1620). Another medical problem that involves alcohol is the use of prescription medications. Alcohol may interact harmfully with more that 100 medications, including some sold over the counter. The effects of alcohol are especially augmented by medications that depress the function of the central nervous system, such as sleeping pills, sedatives, and antidepressants, and certain painkillers (Thomas, 336). Upon understanding the risks of drinking, some people would surely stop. Better health is a good reason to do so. One of the main groups of alcohol users is high school and college students. Despite a legal drinking age of 21, many young people in the United States consume alcohol. There are several factors that put youth at risk for drinking and for alcohol-related problems and also several consequences of their drinking. Thirteen- to fourteen- year-olds are at high risk to begin drinking. This is a confusing stage in their life and they are easily pressured into doing things they would not normally do. Also at high risk are twins and adopted children. Studies of these two groups demonstrate that genetic factors influence an individuals vulnerability to alcoholism. Children of alcoholics are more likely than children of nonalcoholics to imitate drinking during adolescence and develop alcoholism, but the relative influence of environment and genetics have not been determined and vary among people (Chassin, 453). Advertising has also been found to play an influencing role in adolescents decision to drink. Research has assessed the effects of alcohol advertising awareness on intentions to drink. In a study of fifth- and sixth-graders awareness measured by the ability to identify products in commercials with the product name blocked out awareness had a small but statistically significant relationship to positive expectancies about alcohol and intention to drink as adults (Grube, 257). Although there are many risk factors inviting youths to drink, one of the most prevalent is peer drinking and acceptance of drinking. If one minor sees another drinking he would most likely find it acceptable and join his friend. If all of these risk factors were reduced, say, less advertising of alcohol where children will likely be influenced, children would not find it as acceptable to drink and would probably not start off so young or abstain wholly. Though the prevalence of binge drinking varies among campuses, the overall statistics are alarming. A 1993 survey by 18,000 students at 140 colleges in 40 states found that 44% of the students drank heavily (med.unc. edu). In an effort to curb students thirst for alcoholic beverages, many schools are trying to come up with alternatives to promoting social events that involve alcohol. Colby University has come up with a new program that offers students an alternative to getting ? sloshed. Faculty and students there have formed a committee that will recommend a reorganization of social functions. One of their recommendations was that the student association spend at least 50% of their funds exclusively alcohol free events. The other 50% of the funds may be used for entertainment, decorations, or refreshments, but may not be used for the purchase of alcohol (colby. edu). More schools should take part in this kind of rehabilitation, not only does it give the school a positive reputation, but it gives the student s more time to concentrate on the reason that they are there which is to learn. Serving food, non-alcoholic drinks, offering activities and entertainment such as games and music, and ceasing to give alcohol two hours before the end of the party are all ideas that will promote safe social scenes and responsible parties. One way to deter younger drinkers from becoming addicts is to step up the punishment for law-breakers who have a blood alcohol concentration indicating public intoxication. Whether it is as minor as carrying a fake identification card or as major as a drunk driving accident, offenders who break the law while legally intoxicated should be punished to the full extent of the law. Alcohol abusers, these risk takers and law-breakers, may realize after being punished once or twice that this is not the path they should take. Sobriety is a great thing, and the choice to be sober is one that should have positive connotations as opposed to the negative ones that go with drinking and being drunk. Learning at a young age that alcohol is not the great thing that everyone makes it out to be is a step in the right direction. We really should start now on a program that gives every child from kindergarten to college factual, unbiased training about alcohol. Then in a couple of generations wed see fewer problems. Most people would have learned to drink responsibly. (Weiner, 93) The earlier people learn, the best it will be for them and society in general.