Creating an Inviting Classroom Environment Essay

In this fastback, the authors make two major contentions in their introduction to this pamphlet. The first is that how a school looks does affect how everyone who goes there feels about it- and what goes on inside it. Furthermore, the authors assert that, while circumstances usually prohibit teachers from changing the entire school, they can and should make a difference in their own classrooms. In this review I will be addressing these two major premises (Jones 8). I totally agree with the authors that the way a school looks affects people’s perception of the school as well as what goes on in it. Blackford High School is a perfect example to support this theory. BHS is and always has been well maintained and groomed. When I first interviewed for employment here ten years ago, I asked the principal if the school was relatively new I was shocked when he told me that the school was in fact 21 years old. I feel that when people drive by our school they get a good impression of it. Additionally, I am very proud of our facility when I have personal or professional guests at school. (Brown 69). I also agree with the authors that this precept also hold true for individual classrooms Harrison and Bullock gave examples of two contrasting classes to prove that an inviting environment and housekeeping are critical to student achievement/performance. One classroom was cluttered, outdated, and impersonal- an uninviting dump. The other classroom was neat, orderly, yet warm, inviting, comfortable, and user-friendly. I agree with the authors that the second classroom was the ideal and the one that is more conducive to student learning. Furthermore I agree with the reasons to focus on environment that they have identified (psychologically positive, quality lighting, noise, etc. ) However I strongly disagree with them when they contend facility size and age are not factors when creating an environment pleasant classroom. After surveying students, teachers, and parents as to what they thought was important to a classroom environment (furniture, aesthetics, comfort, instructional items, and professional items. ) Finally they made recommendations as how best to use these categorical items to create the ideal classroom. It is these suggestions and the implication that I can incorporate them that I have a problem with. Size IS a factor. My room is crammed with the â€Å"essentials† of school operation. In my room you will find a teacher desk, 33 student desks, one teacher computer station, one small book case which holds my personal professional books as well as paperbacks for students, a raised platform and podium for speech performances, a radio soundboard cart and an additional small table with a boom box for radio classes and one small teacher work table. I don’t have any room. I can stand at the front edge of my desk and touch the first row of student desks (I don’t even have to reach). The students in the back row can turn around and touch the back wall of the room. Much to my dismay, I am not going to be afforded additional space in which to conduct speech and radio classes. Furthermore, I am not going to be given individual classroom temperature controls or a phone. It is a fact that I come to accept. I would LOVE to have, as suggested, tables and desks, a comfort space for reading, student storage space, and any number of the other items they suggested. However, it will not happen at Blackford High School.

Alternate Ending to Tangerine by Edward Bloor Essay

I haven’t been writing in a while. Then again, I’ve barely had time to do anything other than work like crazy at the new school. I swear the work load is nearly double than that of Tangerine Middle, or Lake Windsor for that matter. Or maybe its just that since I refuse to join the soccer team, I have nothing else to do with my time except school work. The kids that attend St. Anthonies treat me like I thought they would, with fear and quite a bit of respect. Identical uniforms matching identical petrified expressions. Some of the younger kids even call me Mr. Fisher, which sounds really odd. People part for me when I walk down the hallway. I’m treated as though I carry and incredibly contagious disease that could spread if everyone doesn’t cower before me. It gets old fast. But enough about that. Erik has been kicked off the football team as of yesterday. Dad had the nerve to look surprised, and even tried to bargain with the coach. It was downright embarrassing. Erik will likely not receive a single scholarship offer. That seems enough punishment for both him and dad. Arthur on the other hand has been given five years at Juvenile Hall for the murder of Luis Cruz. The phone is ringing. It must be Joey. We’d agreed to meet up and maybe kick a ball around for a bit. We aren’t as close as we once were, but were working towards that. I have to go now. I probably won’t write in here again, unless something major happens. Or something terrible. But I don’t think it will. The Erik Fisher Football Dream has come crashing to an abrupt end, and with it, I believe, have all the secrets and ill wishes in this family. After all, everything must come to an end.

Who participates in movement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Who participates in movement - Essay Example McAdam disregards strict definitions of recruitment, movement, and activism, and instead focuses on the process of an individual’s participation in activism. Risk and cost assessment gives his theories a good base. Risks taken on the part of the activist cost him something (positive or negative cost). As an example, signing a petition is a low risk, low cost activity; organizing homeless people is a high risk, high cost activity. Individuals do a conscious or subconscious risk/cost assessment before they participate in activism activities. An individual may verbally support an idea yet not physically participate in higher cost activities such as rallies or writing letters to Congress. Individuals may choose to participate in higher risk/cost activities, if those risks/costs are acceptable to him. These individuals typically â€Å"(a) have a history of activism, (b) [are] deeply committed to the ideology and goals of the movement, (c) [are] integrated into activist networks, and (d) [are] relatively free of personal constraints that would make participation especially risky† (71). By contrast, Polletta states that people join high risk/cost movements â€Å"because it is fun; because their sense of solidarity with people they know who are already in the movement demands it; because if they don’t, no one else will; because they are morally shocked and compelled by an injustice† (35). She refers to McAdam’s works and expands on the â€Å"narrative† component of recruitment. Protesters and activists, whether their actions are believed to be spontaneous or are the result of long-standing commitment to the movement, tell a powerful story that inspires others to agree and perhaps join in. Participating in protest and activism is a somewhat organic process from the individual’s point of view; people are inspired when the movement’s ideology rings true with their own ideology, and find themselves participating without really understanding how they got

Behaviour in Organisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Behaviour in Organisation - Essay Example The change in organizational behavior has been multi-faceted and dynamic and the most defining transformation has taken place in the workplace, pertaining to major components like Globalization, Motivation, Technological developments and Workplace Values and Ethics. These changes have occurred in keeping up with the changing social, political, economic and structural aspect of the society. The paper will now discuss the above stated factors in detail and how they affect behavior of employees. Globalization During the late 1990s, a miracle called Globalization occurred. It led to an â€Å"integration of economies and societies through cross border flow of goods, services, capital, ideas, information, technologies and people† (Mcshane, 2008, p.10) and brought in the free market regime. Globalization had led to an increase in the centralization of control over business organizations and a decentralization of the performance of work. At any rate the exploring and capturing new tra de routes and maintaining control over the territory from the headquarters of one’s kingdom is a practice that was prevalent in older times as well. Globalization has re-established the same process, more effectively by using latest technological advancements. Three main trends have been observed in the development of organizational behavior. Firstly, the scope of business has been internationalized. Organizations have expanded beyond the geographical boundaries of the home countries and assumed the title of ‘Global Capitalist Corporations’. As the small size of the market was a barrier to trade due to inadequacy of demand, spanning of organizations across the globe has proved to be lucrative. For example, Switzerland’s Nestle and the Netherlands’s Heineken have both entered the global arena. Till the last decade, only big organizations could invade selective foreign markets but by the beginning of this century, globalization has aided even small an d medium firms in engage in regular buying and selling in the international market. Secondly, organizations are attempting to apply cost-effective methods of production. Thus, there has been a great emphasis on reducing labor costs. Cheap labor from developing countries of Latin America and Asia are in high demand and the level of outsourcing has risen rapidly. And, finally, exposure to the international markets is making the organizations more competitive as lagging behind in sales and profits are not an option. Chevron and Exxon increased their shares in the international markets to compete with international competitors like BP and Royal Dutch Shell. (Griffin and Moorhead, 2008, 32) All in all the changes brought about by globalization, in organizational behavior has been positive. Technological developments The transformation from industrial to information age has brought about some basic changes in the workplace. There is a need for constant innovation, decentralization of deci sion making process, dejobbing of the labor force (home based business and both temporary/part time and full time jobs), reducing the size of work units, ‘demassification’ (flexible ways of manufacturing and several options), change from â€Å"institutional help to self-help† leading to personality development. A knowledge economy and network based structure has taken the place of bureaucratic

Diabetes Type 1 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Diabetes Type 1 - Research Paper Example The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are over 177 million cases worldwide and this number will increase to at least 370 million by 2030 (Gad et al., 2003). Further, the disease is associated with a series of secondary health complications. Diabetes Mellitus (DM) Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is characterized by persistent and variable hyperglycemia (high blood glucose levels). Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM), also known as insulin-dependent DM, childhood DM, or juvenile-onset DM, most commonly presents in children and adolescents. The typical age of onset is less than 25 years (Pepper, 2006). Also, in contrast to T2DM, T1DM occurrence is typically in individuals who are lean rather than obese (Myers, 2005). T1DM constitutes approximately 10% of all individuals with DM and occurs mainly in populations of Europe and North America (Champe et al., 2005; Gillespie, 2006). T1DM is increasing in incidence globally at a rate of about 3% per year (Champe et al., 2005). Like all t ypes of DM, T1DM is associated with increased risk for and a high incidence of certain complications. Hence, DM in general has been considered a syndrome of metabolic abnormalities (i.e. metabolic disorder of glucose, protein, lipids, water and electrolytes), microvascular disease (i.e. retinopathy, neuropathy, and nephropathy), and macrovascular disease (i.e. ... T1DM patients are often young at the time of diagnosis. Although the pathogenic factors are active early on, complications usually develop later as the disease progresses and are not as common during early stages. Etiology of T1DM Type 1 diabetes is the result of the loss of ? cells, which subsequently leads to insufficient secretion of insulin. It is generally accepted that Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (IDDM) is an autoimmune disease. The exact cause or causes of the disease are still unclear, however, a combination of genetic and environmental factors seem to be involved. Evidence for a genetic susceptibility to IDDM is shown through family studies. Approximately 6% of siblings of people with T1D will also develop the disease, as compared with a prevalence of .4% in the general population (Levin and Tomer 2003; Leoni 2003). Children of diabetics also have a higher risk of acquiring diabetes: about 3-6% of diabetic offspring get diabetes, compared with .4% of the general popu lation. Intriguingly, the gender of the diabetic parent also seems to contribute to disease transmission, with offspring of diabetic fathers being at a greater risk (about 9%) than those of diabetic mothers (about 3%). Data from twin studies (i.e. Levin and Tomer 2003; Leoni 2003) also seem to strongly suggest a genetic predisposition to IDDM. Concordance rates for monozygotic twins vary between 35 - 70%, while the concordance rates for dizygotic twins is about 11 %. These rates increase with the time since proband diagnosis; for example, concordance is 43% within 12 years of proband diagnosis, and 50% within 40 years. Age of proband diagnosis also seems to be a crucial factor: the concordance rate for twins of

Pen Profile of the Client Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Pen Profile of the Client - Essay Example According to the paper, this evacuation lasted months, and it definitely had a psychological impact on Dereck. A man named Alexander who was evacuated at 11 years of age recalls. â€Å"We were dumped at a roundabout with our labels on. People pulled and tugged at the children they wanted. It was a bit like a cattle market... people just waded in. I went with a lady and her daughter - she was like a second mum† . Dereck feels disappointed with numerous aspects of his life. Whenever Dereck is faced with a challenge, he gives up. As a child, Dereck was not performing well in his studies, which is evident from the fact that he failed his 11 plus exams thrice. As an adult, Dereck once owned a pub, holiday flats and a shop. At the moment he doesn’t own any of these properties because he got rid of them. Dereck is intimidated by his younger classmates. When he is faced with a problem, he does not ask questions because he believes that he will hurt his pride. He feels that it i s too late for him to change who he is. Dereck is vigilant in pursuing his interests. This is evident from the fact that he likes counselling. Dereck has consistently attended classes and has been pursuing a degree in Psychology for nine months now. While growing up, Dereck realised he was good at sports. He played football at elementary school, where he eventually played for his town, his county and London. After school Dereck proceeded on to become a professional football player for 3 years. Dereck currently plays golf two or three times a week at a golfing society called Elderly Gentlemen’s Golfing Society. Dereck does not think he needs any counselling because he believes he has no problem. He believes that he does not need anybody to help him because he has nothing to complain about. Dereck thinks that he is conceited, proud and confident but all these traits can be attributed to the fact that he is insecure.  

Human wk10 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Human wk10 - Essay Example These were questions that came to my mind when I started reading this chapter. Reeve (2009) points to research that suggests that extroverts are happier than introverts but I am not sure this is true. I know several introverts who live very happy lives without having to be very social. When I think about teens in Liberia, I would think that many of them would be happy with their lives because they may have no reason not to be happy. As an example, these children may all have similar experiences that move them more towards happiness than towards sadness. Many of the girls will be motivated to achieve more because they are feeling happy. Reeve (2009) states that arousal is important when thinking about motivation. The inverted-U curve suggests that when someone has a low level of arousal they are more likely to have a poor level of performance. In my understanding, arousal could be seen as engagement. In other words, if someone is engaged in learning, they are more prone to follow thro ugh with their goals. The girls may have a low level of arousal in the beginning, but if their education is stimulating and begins to engage them, they would be more prone to have a higher level of arousal. I would also think that stress would come into play with else girls because they may not have been in a classroom or formal education in the past. This could initially mean that they could become overly aroused. Reeves states that this could cause anxiety and other negative emotions that could impede their progress. When looking at personality and goal achievement, Jayasurija, Caputi, Gregory and Meloche (2007) found that students with a high achievement motivation were more prone to develop self-efficacy skills in computer use. They saw that goal orientation was a personality trait for those students who were the most motivated were more prone to develop self-efficacy skills in computer use. They saw that goal orientation was a personality trait for those students who were the m ost motivated to achieve their goals. Lee, Sheldon, and Turban (2003) suggest that individuals must have an understanding of self-control in order to develop strong mental focus. Mental focus helps an individual become more involved in their goal orientation, thus allowing a student to have a way to feel more positive about achieving their goals. Mental focus would also help in perceived control when an individual has challenges sticking to their goal. Students in Liberia may have difficulty understanding how to set and achieve goals but it would seem that their personalities would show quickly as to those who would have a higher or lower level of perceived control. Reeve (2009) states that those with higher levels of perceived control would be more apt to move their goals from inaction to action. References Jayasuriya, R., Caputi, P., Gregory, P, and Meloche, J. (2007). The role of achievement goal orientation in the development of self-efficacy during computer training. Retrieved February 5, 2011 from http://www.pacis-net.org/file/2007/1288.pdf Lee, F.K., Sheldon, K.M., and Turban, D.B. (2003). Personality and the goal striving process: The influence of achievement goal patterns, goal level, and mental focus on performance and enjoyment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88 (2), 256-265. Doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.88.2.256 Reeve. J. (2009). Understanding motivation and emotion (5th ed.). CA: Wiley. Assignment 3 Loretta is a professional illustrator who decided to go back to school. She chose a well known, accredited correspondence school that

European union Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

European union - Essay Example In addition to this, public law involving the commerce in European Union has fundamental significance:2 i. Most of the laws governing ECJ commercial circles whether directly or indirectly, are grounded on the European Union Laws ii. The framework which governs private businesses is widely derived from the rules that were established in 1957: that is, The Rome Treaty iii. Most of the sections of the regimes ruling and providing guidance and direction are either prescribed to European Union Regulations or largely affected by the â€Å"sectoral† agreements reached upon by the states in agreement. The reference of the aforementioned views are made to the C-213/89 Factortame (No1) [1990] ECR I-2433 Case 11/70: a case that involve the controversy in the fishing policy that were change in British. The fishing policy which started iin early 1970s was intended to make fishing within the EU member state of more economicvalue by giving people the liberty to access water freely in within the member states. The common fisheries policy of the European Union also was providing funds to make fishing modernized to meet the market demands. Becase of the increasing demands for fishing in the member states, the EU came up with another agreement in1980 with Spain on to allowance of the fishing agreement which defined to level of fishing grounds and the access points of fishing in the British grounds. As time advanced, the British felt a little uncormfortable with the magnitude of fishing that was taking place in their waters. Fishermen from Spain and elsewhere in the European Union started taking advantage of the fishing vessels that they had to penetrate the UK waters. This led the British to enacting various laws to curb this situation. The British law wanted that the only people who could fish on their water were to be those who were qualified: of which those who were qualified were the British citizen and a company registered in Britain whose 75% members were Brish citiz ens. This move sparked the heat of debate that led the major owners of the fishing vessels from Spain to seek the redress of the law. The people who were affected most were the Factortame from Spain. Their vessels could not meet the conditions that were set by the British newly established laws. The first aurgument advanced by the Factortame was that the British act of 1988 was offensive and could not be applicable to them. They made their reference to the EU law and the Treaty of Rome article 7 which scheduled that one ought not to be discriminated against on the grounds of race, gender and the nationality. According to the EU laws, they had the right to establish themselves in business anywhere and their company could be operative and situated in a nother member country. In general, the approach given to the ECJ to the administration of law, putting up a common honor and alignment to the framework of observance to the general rule of the community law, include values of the intern ational law and guarding the basic rights, is now more to the knowledge of the EU judges. The influence of human rights has made the standard approach in the judicial to grow very rapidly. Upon the investigation and consideration of the structure of the constitution of the European Union, and the numerous changes that have occurred in is so far, its basic structure can be categorized under three broad and general positions3. The

Ethical matter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethical matter - Essay Example , at times the information given by the client may at some extent pose some actual and potential risks to the client and his immediate family or relatives. Therefore, it is advisable that information discussed during the session should not at any cost lead to a sour relationship between the client and the psychologist. In this particular scenario, the client is a family man with a wife and two little kids. When this family man books an appointment with the psychologist as any other client would do, the psychologist is certain that this is another case of the usual clients, he has been handling. Conversely, when they go down to the discussion, the psychologist realizes that this is a case of an ‘unusual client’. It emerges that the client problem; that of another woman whom he is dating and probably planning to settle down with happens to be the psychologist‘s sister. The issue affects the psychologist, the client, his wife, his kids and the preferred wife who is the psychologist’s sister. The decision that is expected by the client puts the psychologist in a peculiar position. Needless to mention, even though the psychologist would want to justify the situation of the client leaving his wife and kids for the psychologist’s sister, he has the fear of letting his sister settle down with the client because she could also experience the same situation that is been experienced by the client’s current wife and kids. The ethical rule demands that the psychologist scrutinizes and assess the client’s case and gives professional advice that is fair to all the parties concerned without involving his emotions (Banyard 10). The psychologist’s ethical decision is also reliant on what the culture dictates about marriage and divorce. In case, ‘their’ culture allows for separation and/or divorce, he may clarify to the client of what is expected of him. He should also expound to him on what the law dictates on separation with the inclusion of children. In

Transnational Strategy Essay Example for Free

Transnational Strategy Essay This paper is about transnational strategy used by transnational companies in developing their business. The strategy will be shown on the specific example of globalizing an Australian wine company BRL Hardy. But first it worth determining transnational strategy as it is. During recent years much have changed in the world business economy, and most big companies started orienting towards globalization of their business. And host countries in their turn were first suspicious to such organizations and made a lot of restrictions for providing their business on the territory of the host country. There are ‘positive contributions that TNCs (transnational corporations) make to host states and encourages this trend, as well as the tensions that have existed between TNCs and host states and endeavors to provide legal responses that take into account the legitimate interests of these two main actors.’ (Ebow Bondzi-Simpson 1990, p. xiii). The main demand was to be responsive to local market and political needs of the country. ‘As a result of these developments, many worldwide companies recognized that the demands to be responsive to local market and political needs and the pressures to develop global-scale competitive efficiency were simultaneous, if sometimes conflicting. Under these conditions, the either/or attitude reflected in both the multinational and the global strategic mentalities were increasingly inappropriate. The emerging requirement was for companies to become more responsive to local needs while retaining their global efficiency—an emerging approach to worldwide management that we call the transnational strategic mentality.’(Bartlett 2004, p. 12). As for the way of management in such companies their key activities and resources are dispersed and specialized to reach competence and flexibility at the same time. Moreover, these dispersed resources are included into an interdependent network of worldwide operations. So, as we see ‘key activities and resources are neither centralized in the parent company, nor decentralized so that each subsidiary can carry out its own tasks on a local-for-local basis.’ (Bartlett 2004, p. 12). The main aim of all companies working on transnational level is to achieve the global leadership in the sphere of its business. And one of the qualities of such leadership is openness to new ideas that is most clearly and forcibly. Globalisation has given most organisations an international dimension. Concerning transnational network it is determined to be three-dimensional: supports a hybrid strategy of both product and market development across national borders; firm seeks both global efficiency and local responsiveness; excellent communications help managers to share vision and support learning. (Harrison 2003, p. 315). Governments of many countries support the idea of transnational companies and develop the appropriate documents, which sometimes appear to be a bit controversial. ‘The European Commission’s 1993 White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment, together with the 1994 White Paper on Social Policy (and the subsequent Medium Term Action Programme) have assigned a greater role and responsibility to the social partners at European level: this may generate more intensive transnational cooperation—but possibly also greater conflict.’ (Lecher 1998 p. xiii). So, let us speak about the example mentioned above to explain the strategy used in the company. First, we compare and contrast the influence of changes in internal management perspectives and the international business environment upon the strategic development of BRL Hardy in the 1990s. Applying to the history we may say that vines were first introduced into Australia in 1788 by Captain Arthur Phillip, who was the leader of the group of convicts and settlers, comprised the first fleet of migrants to inhabit the new British colony. During next two centuries wine became very popular and by 1996 there were two greatest companies involved in this business. First one was Southcorp and ‘the number two company was BRL Hardy Ltd. (BRLH), selling under the Hardy, Houghton, Leasingham, and other labels.’ (Bartlett 2004, p. 679). Earlier Hardy and BRL were different companies. But due to recession-driven market slowdown at home and problems in three of the European acquisitions in Hardy as well as struggle and search for ways to expand and upgrade its business in BRL led for the merge of these two companies in June 1992. Certain changes in the international business environment influenced the strategy development of the BRLH Company: A rationalization and consolidation among wine wholesalers and retailers. Exploiting modern viticulture and more scientific winemaking practices to produce more consistent high-quality wine by wine suppliers from New World. The first priority for the company after merging was the financial situation and domestic market as ‘both companies performed poorly the previous year†¦and the Australian market accounted for the vast bulk of their profit†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Bartlett 2004, p. 681). The emerged strategy was that the company would protect its share of the bulk cask business but concentrate on branded bottle sales for growth. This required a commitment to quality. To implement this strategy there was the need to change the company’s culture and management style, in other words to create a more decentralized approach, but to hold management accountable. ‘The results were impressive with both domestic bottle market share and profitability increasing significantly in the first two tears of BRLH’s operation.’ (Bartlett 2004, 682). As to the international experience, the company understood that ‘globalization of competition is triggered both by the emergence of Triad industrialized markets with relatively homogeneous demands, comprising the United States, the European Community, and Japan.’ (Ohmae 1985). Thus the key export markets were the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, and Japan. To expand on its U.K. sale Hardy believed it should stop relying on importers, distributors, and agents. This led management to the decision of buying European wineries to give Hardy’s wines greater access to Europe. But unfortunately, such decision and the appeared problems had negative impact on the company and led it to the merge as was mentioned above. New management began to realize the situation and work out possible strategies to improve the company’s presentation on the foreign market. For that moment ‘a U.K. business selling a small volume of Hardy wines and just breaking even, a rapidly eroding BRL bulk business in Sweden, a weak Hardy-U.S. presence supported by a single representative, and a virtually nonexistent presence in Asia or the rest of Europe.’ (Bartlett 2004, p. 682). Realizing such situation the strategy was based on the strong quality brand image with the company’s marketing slogan ‘Quality Wines for the World’. As the implementation of such a strategy a group marketing and export manager Stephen Davies initiated a programme to rationalize the line and reposition a few key brands in a stepstair hierarchy from simple entry level products to fine wines for connoisseurs. In U.K. the company recently acquired two distributors, but their financial situation was disastrous. So the managing director Carson reported such a situation to the Australian management and proposed a series of cost-cutting steps, installed strong systems, controls, and policies that put him firmly in charge of key decisions. As the result in 1992 the company promised to be profitable on the European market again. Despite improving results in the same year the company was facing several key problems: the need to build quickly on the 178,000 cases of Hardy-brand products that has represented less than a quarter of his total volume in 1991; the need to restore the financial health of its French winemaker, Domaine de la Baume; the need to protect an unstable imported Chilean product that had come as a Whiclar and Gordon agency. Though the headquarters understood the significance of the appeared problems the relationship was an uneasy one as they supported delegation only to those who ‘earned their stripes’. The next difficulty was weather the BRL management understood international marketing. To expand the sales in Europe Carson clearly understood the need to relabel, reposition, and relaunch the brands as current image had eroded in the U.K., but the Australian office did not want to hear of it. In the long run they agreed to such an offer and in 1993 they relabled and relaunched Nottage Hill and repositioned Stamps. In this case the initial negative attitude towards relabling the product brought only delay in expanding sales in the Europe. Fortunately, the changes were made and the company quadrupled the volume of Hardy’s brand from 1992 by 1994. By the mid-1990s the headquarters began to imagine the company not just as a ‘quality exporter’ but as an ‘international wine company’. Though the international environment hardly believed in the possibility of wine to become global brand, the company management believed that ‘changes in wine-making, the opening of global markets, and the changing consumer profile would all support their objective to become a truly international wine company built on a global branding capability.’ (Bartlett 2004, 687). This was the right choice though difficult because it is clearly stated ‘in response to global competition, successful companies are evolving from a product policy of offering customized products to that of offering globally standardized ones.’ (Kotabe 1992). In this case the company strategy was built on decentralization and wish to listen to and to support overseas ideas and proposals, but the role of headquarters should be as brand owners. And it is clear that ‘global companies conduct research wherever necessary, develop products in several countries, promote key executives regardless of nationality, and even have shareholders on three continents.’ (Eom 1994 p. 1). 2.In 1995-1998 managing director Christopher Carson developed certain strategy to build and sustain BRL Hardy’s competitive advantage in the UK wine market as in 1995 he was appointed chief executive of BRL Hardy Europe. We shall try to identify his approach and discuss its likely advantages and disadvantages. Carson had focused most of his attention on building sales of the Hardy brand wines but remained acutely aware of the importance of the other non-Australian product lines. It is obvious that quality of grapes as an agricultural product depends upon weather, disease and other factors. Carson proposed that one way to minimize that risk was the sourcing from multiple regions. Moreover, major retailers wanted to simplify wine buying dealing with a few key suppliers providing a broad line of quality products. For all these reasons Carson began to concentrate much of his attention on two non-Australian wine sources: Jose Canopa y CIA Limitada (Chile, Mapocho brand) and Casa Vinicola Calatrasi (Siciliy, D’istinto brand). These two projects were based on partnership relations and were a kind of transnational relations. ‘Transnational relations are understood as regular interactions across national borders in which either the administration itself or the actors with whom the administration maintains contacts act without a specific and clear national mandate when participating in negotiations and decision-making processes.’ (Jacobsson 2003). In both projects Carson offered the grape growers to send the winemaking specialist to enhance the value of their harvest through more productive vineyard techniques and new winemaking methods. Moreover branding could give the producers security of demand and eventually better prices for their fruit. The approach he used to develop his strategy was customer-focused,   a shareholder value approach as he saw the company as the private property of it s owners, linked to the concept of competitive advantage offering high-quality wines produced with the help of new technologies of winemaking. The advantageous goal of these projects was to offset projected Australian red wine shortages with alternative sources and to develop a brand responding to the average wine consumer interested in wine but not necessarily very knowledgeable about it. The new product was to give easy-to read labels with a pronounceable brand name. D’istinto line ‘can help us build BRLH Europe in size, impact, and reputation,’ said Carson. ‘We need to become known as a first-class branding company – a company able to leverage great distribution and strong marketing into recognized consumer brands.’ (Bartlett 2004, p. 690). As for disadvantages of Carson’s strategy, the Mapocho project was disappointing. The first samples were bad and the reason was controversial from both sides: ‘The Chileans thought the problem was due to the winemaker sent from BRL Hardy being unfamiliar with Chilean wine, while he insisted they had not provided him with quality fruit.’ (Bartlett 2004, p. 690). Canepa managers claimed the costs went up, and wanted to change the supply price, and then the new venture lost opportunity to get early access to the pick of the 1997 grape harvest. All this led to low sales contrary to expected (15,000 cases against 80,000 planned). As to the D’istinto, initialy it was planned to fill the price points that had been vacated as Stamps and Nottage Hill had become more expensive. But for the moment of discussion the Sicilian line clearly overlapped with Hardy’s core offerings. Nevertheless, D’istinto sales rose from 16,000 to 500,000 by year four and could have global potential. But despite such success and relatively small investment in the branding, packaging and launch expenses, the real financial risk could come later in the form of contract commitments and excess inventory because of continued difficulty with Mapocho sales. As a result the chosen strategy led to the brand fighting. The next step within the company was the strategic decision to promote Banrock Station as a global brand. As the Stamps and Nottage Hill brands became more expensive, Carson believed there was an opening for a new low-end Australian brand to fill the vacant price position, representing more than 80% of sales volume. The person in charge for this question was Paul Browne. He felt the market was ready for a brand which would appeal to a younger consumer gradually coming to buy Stamps and Nottage Hill later. ‘The brand he came up with was Kelly’s Revenge.’ (Bartlett 2004, p. 692). Meanwhile, in Australia, BRLH was developing a major new product targeted at a similar price point. The name of the new brand positioned as an environmentally responsible product and launched in Australia in 1996 came from the place named Banrock Station (a 1,800-hectare cattle grazing property partially converting by the company to viticulture) and acquired by the company in 1995. ‘Good Earth, Fine Wine’ was the motto of the brand. ‘The nomination process for the Banrock Station Wetland Complex was initiated by the sites owner, BRL Hardy Wine Company. Extensive consultation on the nomination was undertaken and coordinated by the South Australian Department for Environment and Heritage.’ (Wetlands Australia 2003). After the increasing success in Australia, convinced in its potential as a global brand, headquarters management decided to promote Banrock Station as a global brand in the countries of this company’s presence. In Canada and the U.S. there were no significant difficulties of implementing such a decision, but in Europe the management team expressed serious doubts as they already finished the Kelly’s Revenge project. In this particular question headquarters and European management appeared to be arguing parties. As Australians blocked Kelly’s Revenge and Europeans tried to block Banrock Station because they were projects worked out in these two organizations to satisfy the customer. But, Banrock Station was more successive in the market and Kelly’s Revenge was examined by the customers’ reaction, as the result ‘when we took it to ASDA, the UK grocery chain, they were not enthralled. ’(Bartlett 2004, p. 694). So this was the opportunity to give Banrock Station a try in European market. If determining this process deliberate or emergent we should say that to much more extent it was deliberate because the trial to launch D’istinto on a low price level was a failure and Banrock Station brand appeared to be much more successive on this level because of its devoutness to nature. Initially the program aimed ‘to restore the natural elements such as soil, water, natural vegetation and animals as they existed at Banrock Station over 200 years ago.’ (Banrock Station – Environmental). For this purpose the company bought the property in South Australia’s Riverland district. The deliberateness of the promoting process underlines one more fact that ‘during the planning and development phase, visitors’ universally positive reaction to BRLH’s ongoing conservation efforts – planting only 400 hectares while returning the remaining land to its native state including the restoration of natural wetlands – convinced management that the property had brand potential.’ (Bartlett 2004, p. 693). Emerging in all the process may be only the fact of acquiring the property. ‘Banrock Station now also supports wetlands restoration projects in other countries where it sells its wines including New Zealand, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.’ (Landcare Australia 2001). For example in Canada ‘for every bottle sold, a donation is made to the Banrock Station Wetlands Foundation Canada to support wetland conservation projects.’ (Banrock Station Shiraz). The region under BRLH care in this project developed and increased its potential. ‘During 1998 Richard Stafford architects developed this project for the BRL Hardy Corporation as a combined wine tasting, visitor destination and information centre, to be known as the Wine Wetland Centre.’ (Banrock Station). ‘Banrock Station is an exemplary example of an innovative cellar door that truly reflects the brand.’ (Richard Stafford). The BRLH Company made a lot of successive affords to expand its production on the world market, though there were some faults and mishaps as it always happens when managers start doing greater business. The most significant is that the company should see its mistakes and try to overcome them with less looses for the company profit. And it is clear that ‘in the future, a companys ability to develop a transnational organizational capability will be the key factor that separates the winners from the mere survivors in the international competitive environment.’ (Rugman 1992, p. 1). The question of transnational companies was of great concern to many countries even in 1980s. ‘Discussions on the role of transnational corporations (TNCs) in the current international economic situation and on the modern phenomenon of transborder data flows highlighted the work of the Commission on Transnational Corporations at its tenth regular session, held from 17 to 27 April in New York.’ (UN Chronicle 1984, p.1). The idea of transnational companies became very significant in the twentieth century as ‘in the last quarter of the twentieth century the international flows of goods and capital increasingly broke down the notion of sovereign nation-states.’ (Pries 2001 p. 5).    References. ‘Banrock Station’ Available on http://www.emilis.sa.on.net/projects/emil_63.htm (Accessed August, 9 2005). ‘Banrock Station – Environmental rehabilitation of wetlands’. Available on http://www.austrade.gov.au/corporate/layout/0,,0_-1_-2_-3_PWB110405321-4_-5_-6_-7_DOCUMENT,00.html. (Accessed August, 9 2005). ‘Banrock Station Shiraz’ Available on http://www.churchillcellars.com/banrock_shiraz.shtml   (Accessed August, 9 2005). Bartlett, CA Ghoshal, S Birkinshaw, J 2004, ‘Transnational Management: Text, Cases, and Readings in Cross-Border Management’,Fourth edition, New York and London: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. ‘Commission Discusses Role of Transnational Corporations in World Development’ 1984, Magazine article, UN Chronicle, Vol. 21, July. Ebow Bondzi-Simpson, P 1990, ‘Legal Relationships between Transnational Corporations and Host States’, Quorum Books. Eom, SB 1994, ‘Transnational Management Systems: An Emerging Tool for Global Strategic Management’, SAM Advanced Management Journal, Vol. 59. Harrison, JS 2003, ‘Strategic management of resources and relationships: concepts and cases’, New York and Chichester: Wiley, p. 315. Jacobsson, B Là ¦greid, P Pedersen OK 2003, ‘Europeanization and Transnational States: Comparing Nordic Central Governments’, Routledge. Kotabe, M 1992, ‘Global Sourcing Strategy: RD, Manufacturing, and Marketing Interfaces’, Quorum Books. ‘Landcare Australia’ 2001. Available on http://www.landcareaustralia.com.au/sponsordisplay.asp?SponsorID=23 (Accessed August, 9 2005). Lecher, W Platzer, HW 1998, ‘European Union European Industrial Relations? Global Challenges, National Developments and Transnational Dynamics’, Routledge. Ohmae, K 1985, ‘Triad Power’, New York: The Free Press.   Pries, L 2001, ‘New Transnational Social Spaces: International Migration and Transnational Companies in the Early Twenty-First Century’, Routledge. ‘Richard Stafford Banrock Station’ Available on http://www.offthevine.com.au/ep27/industry_ep27.html (Accessed August, 9 2005). Rugman, AM and Verbeke, A 1992, ‘Note on the Transnational Solution and the Transaction Cost Theory of Multinational Strategic Management’, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 23. ‘Wetlands Australia — National Wetlands Update 2003’ 2003, Environment Australia for the Australian Wetlands Information Network (AWIN), Environment Australia, February, Issue No. 11, ISBN 0642549052.Available on http://www.deh.gov.au/water/wetlands/publications/wa11/banrock.html (Accessed August, 9 2005).

The Different Methods Of Flood Prevention

The Different Methods Of Flood Prevention In the sixth week of the first semester of the current academic year I was informed that I would have to write a technical report on a topic of my choice as well give a presentation on the same topic. After reading around for interesting and relevant topics as well as correspondence with my personal tutor I chose the topic of Methods of Flood Prevention for the report. Starting my research I made use of the library and internet to increase my knowledge of the subject as well as find research and discussions by experts in the subject. On the tenth week I gave short presentation on the subject that I presented to my peers this was successful. Furthermore the purpose of this report is to investigate and outline methods of both preventing and dealing with floods, primarily by restricting the places where the water is allowed to flow. This report will span though the causes of flooding, the dangers finally looking at different methods mankind have used to limit the effects of flooding wo rldwide though a range of solutions, some starting simple and overtime becoming more complex. An initial examination of flooding Cause Flooding is caused by large surges of water over a short period of time this causes existing draining systems, wither natural or manmade to become overwhelmed. This occurs because the ground becomes saturated and is no longer able to absorb more water, in addition other drainage such as rivers, drain pipes and reservoirs may be filled faster than they are able to drain, this causes the excess water to accumulate. The rapid surge of water can come from a variety of different sources as well as a combination of sources. According to J.A.A. Jones heavy rainfall is usually a prime initiator of flooding worldwide. The key characteristics may include any combination of rainfall intensity, duration, area and location relative to the drainage network. {{J.A.A Jones 2000}} Other sources include tidal surges, hurricanes, tsunamis, rapid melting of ice or snow. Blockages of drainage systems such as rivers streams and sewers can also cause flooding if water isnt able to be drained away normally. Risks Flooding causes a variety of problems ranging from the short term and more immediately evident risks to long term risks. Immediate risks are often the greatest danger in terms of risk to human life. Immediate risks pose great danger to human life. According to the world health organization {{World Health Organisation 2010}} floods greatly increase the risk of the spread of communicable diseases. Water-borne diseases, such as typhoid fever, and cholera are likely to spread during flooding due to possible contamination of water supplies especially if the floodwater becomes contaminated by sewerage. Vector -borne diseases are those spread by carriers, floods can lead to a large increase in the habitat of for example mosquitoes which are spreaders of malaria. The sheer mass of water causes risks to anyone trapped in the affected, area, bursting gas pipes, collapsing structures, and drowning. Long term risks, flooding causes millions of pounds of damage to buildings. After a major flood economic instability is likely to follow, Loss of business, damage to stock and even loss of tourism income. Some countries that have been devastated by floods may suffer the consequences long after the water has subsided, food supplies being destroyed and other economic losses may lead of widespread poverty and famine. Hence the limitation of floods is essential to the well being of any community. Flood Defences Over the last few centuries many countries have developed and put in place different measures to control the position of water a limit the effects of heavy freak or seasonal rain, tides as well as tropical storm weather. There are two main branches both closely connected to one another. One is concerned with protecting from floods by preventing or limiting their effects from occurring, the other is concerned with predicting when, how often and how severely floods will strike. Reservoirs According to Collins a reservoir can be described as A natural or artificial lake for storing water for community use {{ Collins Language 2009}} Reservoirs can be considered a useful form of flood control especially in areas of irregular rain patterns, such as high rainfall in some seasons followed by periods of drought. This way water can be stored during periods of rainfall and then released or used in the community over a longer period of time. Dams Dams are often part of a reservoir system; the advantage of dams is they are able to act as more than just a flood defence, they are good sources to be used for hydroelectric power stations. Dams however pose a flood risk caused by dam failure, if improperly built. Dams are also sometimes spanned across rivers or lakes, one example of such damn being the Wilson Damn is dam spanning the Tennessee River. The gates are used to slow or increase the rate of flow through the damn, for the purpose of controlling the water as well as generating large amounts of electricity. Sea Barriers Sea barriers are a very effective form of flood protection protecting from sea water. They are useful in places where a costal which are at great risk of flooding from high tides. These can be permanent walls or erecting barriers, examples of such would be the Thames Barrier in London and the Maeslantkering in The Nederlands. The Maeslantkering with its extremely impressive dimensions consists of two 210 meter wide gates that are 22meters high and is hence one of the biggest moving structures on the planet. The purpose of these gates to protect The Nederlands from storm surges. The construction of this barrier took over 6 years to build and was completed in 1997. This is advantageous versus other types of barriers as the fact that it is able to move to allow ships access into The Nederlands. It operates automatically using weather data and closes when there are surges higher than 3 meters over normal are predicted. The automatic computer systems of the Maeslantkering automatically alerts all traffic in advance to halt their course until further notice if the barrier is intended to close. The Nederlands having large portions of its land below sea level such that two-thirds of its population lives there, is at high risk of increasing sea levels and have over the last few hundred years taken many steps to re claim more and more land from the sea have some of the best flood defences in the Europe. It is hence important that barriers such as the Maeslantkering exist especially in this day and age with the uncertainty concerning rise levels and the continued treat of global climate change. The barrier and other flood defences in The Nederlands are designed to protect the country from floods of estimated frequency of 1 in 10,000 years. The Thames Barrier in London was completed in 1984 and is designed to protect the city of London from being flooded by large surges of water from the Atlantic Ocean. I consist of 4 main gates as well as several smaller gates; the barriers themselves fill with water and lay submerged when they are not in use, the water in these gates drain out when the barriers are raised. The raising of the barrier is controlled and decided upon using several checks, including predictions not only from its own forecasting systems but also those from the Met Office. Like the Maeslantkering the computer system at the Thames Barrier automatically alerts all traffic coming towards and inside London to cease course and stand by up to 9 hours before it needs to close. Levees Levees are slopes of land or walls that are to control water levels next to rivers or the coast. According to {{R. A. Guisepi 2008}} they where first built in the Indus Valley Civilisation over 4.6 thousand years ago. Around the world they are quite popular and very effective as a form of large scale flood control present in rivers both across Europe and in the United States, for example the Mississippi River as while as the Rhine which stretches across seven European counties. Although so widely used and trusted levees are not in fact that reliable when improperly secured especially when it comes to the most extreme weather, most notably during Hurricane Katrina there was wide scale failure in New Orleans. They work by controlling the size and shape of the river, as a result may even change the speed at which the river flows. Storm drains Storm drains are systems that are designed to drain rainwater from roofs, paved areas and roads. They generally consist of a series of underground pipes that lead into a reservoir. The areas to be drained are usually tilted at a small angle so that any water that fell on these areas would not remain stagnant, instead would run off into these drainage systems. This process is essential as rainwater is not able to easily penetrate paved areas, this would otherwise cause regular flooding of urbanised areas. The water that runs the tilted pavement runs along little valleys into storm drain entrances. These are usually grids to prevent too objects from falling down, although quite large holes to prevent them becoming blocked. These drains are fitted with traps much like those in a house-hold sink, in this case called a gulley-pot, like traps in sinks they are prevent rising foul gasses to be escape the sewers. As a result of accumulating sediment in these traps require regular maintenance especially during the autumn season where leaves and loose soil are likely to be washed into them, this is easily done using specially designed trucks with their own pumps to simply suck out any blockage, I minor inconvenience to road users however, necessary none the less. Storm drains date back over 4000 years ago according to {{C Michael Hogan 2007}} where evidence of them has been found in Crete. There are several building regulations connected to the storm drains. Flood plains Are pieces of land that are usually nearby rivers and are usually very prone to being flooded, this land may because of the proximity to fresh water be very fertile and good for transportation, but control and awareness of developments and usage of these pieces of land are essential for the safety of those living on these areas. Steps such as flood insurance, and evacuation procedures must be put into place to prevent great loss of life or possession. Temporary structures Temporary flood barriers are available from a large range of sources online. There are businesses which specialise in fast erecting cheap but incredibly effective flood barriers which can provide protection on a small scale for specific buildings. These types of barriers can consist of a number of things, for example inflatable barriers or strong polymer barriers that lock into alleyways or doors. Packing bags of sand may also be done as a way of protecting areas that are sensitive to flood waters such as power stations. An example of one such company which I discussed in my talk was Revetment Limited claiming to be able to erect barriers 20 meters can be erected in less than 15 minutes {{Revetment Limited 2003}} Environment Agency In the United Kingdom the Environment Agency issues flood maps which consists of area based risks assessments for the whole of England and Whales; anyone can request copies of theses maps or simply view them online. They outline which parts of the country are at risk of flooding, to what degree, and from what source. If for example I was to look at a flood map and zoom onto the area that is Loughborough I could see that there is very low risk of flooding and only river flooding, at the canals especially near the leisure centre. In addition whenever any landscaping or building work is to be done there is a requirement that a risk assessment of the area is to be carried out; not only on the area being developed but on the affect that this development would have on the surrounding area and wither it would increase the flood risk of this area. The development would have to not interfere with the drainage of the area surrounding, all this is outlines within Planning Policy Statement 25: D evelopment and Flood Risk {{The Environment Agency 2009}} Meteorological There are scientists out there who devote their entire careers to understanding and predicting the way that the weather will sway. They make use of measurements of air pressure, air temperature, weather balloons and in more recent years weather satellites. These organisations are essential and one of the frontier lines as far as flood defence goes. They provide data for the engineers to build upon, they also provide the data for certain emergency system to run for example, evacuation of high risk areas the raising for flood barriers such as the Thames and the Maeslantkering. One of the most essential qualities of such an organisation, for example the UK Met Office is making predictions clear and ahead of time then communicating with the necessary authorities and making sure the what needs to be done is carrier out. Frequency Based Risk Assessment Frequency analysis can be based either on annual maximum (AM) data or peak-over-threshold (POT) data. The AM series comprises the largest rainfall observed in each year whereas POT data consists of the time and magnitude of rainfalls exceeding a threshold. {{Duncan. F 1999}} Frequency based risk assessment is process used by meteorologists to provide estimations for governments, engineers, and insurance companies alike. Currently frequency based estimations are being used in the Netherlands to set the heights of the river dikes. Hoekstra explains so in an article for the journal Natural Hazards In the Netherlands the current dike design policy is to design flood defence structures corresponding to an agreed flooding probability with an extra safety board of at least 0.5 m. {{Hoekstra, Arjen Y. 2008}} He later goes on to explain that A problem with this strategy is that it builds on assumptions with regard to the intrinsically uncertain probably distributions for the peak discharges. {{Hoekstra, Arjen Y. 2008}}. As explained by the above quote these analyses and risk assessments are rather vital as it provides engineers and designers for a template to design other flood defences to. Without this data we would simply be building walls and would have no idea how high they would need to be and how likely it would be to be a sufficient or effective flood defence. It also sometimes hints on patterns of likely hood on when a flood is likely to occur. In years to come however these estimations become more and more unreliable as sea levels increase and climate patterns that have been observed for hundreds of years slowly change. Conclusions Floods are an unavoidable natural process caused by large surges of water in short periods of time, leaving the drainage system that is in place, wither man made or natural unable to cope regardless if it simply controls where the water is kept or even controls how to dissipate the water. Therefore we have to do everything in our powers to limit the damage caused by these floods as to ensure the livelihood of the people of the community. Wither we believe that the oncoming climate change is due to human negligence or if it simply part of longer cycle of changes we must consider the steps to prepare for the worse. Even if we do build defences and there turns out to be no massive rise in sea levels it may still be useful to prepare because when the proof arrives it may already be too late. Furthermore such a large building project could be beneficial to many communities providing not only security but employment and economic stability. In this report outlined the different measures tha t can be taken both as emergencies and on the long term, including but not limited the storing of water in reservoirs, the use of sea barriers, levees, storm drains, temporary emergency structures, and proper planning and predictions. In the light this, I would suggest that other countries follow the example of the Nederlands and attempt to provide its most sensitive areas with flood defence that is capable of protecting from one in 10,000 year storms, as it is a lifetime investment that will provide long term piece of mind regardless of wither it will be used against freak floods or used to protect people on the advent of global sea levels continuing to rise.

Letter Written By MLK From Birmingham City Jail, Alabama :: essays research papers

My Dear Fellow Clergymen: While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms. I think I should indicate why I am here In Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against "outsiders coming in." I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty-five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Frequently we share staff, educational and financial resources with our affiliates. Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct-action program if such were deemed necessary. We readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise. So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here I am here because I have organizational ties here. But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid. Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.

Before you were mine by Carol Ann Duffy Essay -- English Literature

Before you were mine by Carol Ann Duffy Before you were mine ==================== 'Before you were mine' is a poem written by Carol Ann Duffy. It’s a retrospective poignant dramatic monologue, which tells us about her mother's life ten years before Duffy was born. The title suggests that it's a love poem which shows the strong mother and daughter relationship that they had. The poem starts off with a positive image. "†¦laugh on with your pals Maggie McGeeney and Jean Duff†¦". This shows us that before her mother had children, she was living a very interesting and cheerful life. Duffy moves on by describing her mother's romantic character. "†¦the fizzy, movie tomorrows†¦". The fact that her mother used to go to the movies late at night suggests that she used to go with a lover, which is a very passionate image. However, she also had a disobedient side to her "†¦your Ma stands at the close with a hiding for the late one†¦". This shows that Duffy's mother used to come home late at night and used to get beaten by her mother, which portrays her rebellious nature. Duffy says...

Globalisation and trade liberalization are worldwide phenomena that hav

Globalisation and trade liberalization are worldwide phenomena that have significantly changed Australia's trading relationships over the past decades. Globalisation and trade liberalization are worldwide phenomena that have significantly changed Australia's trading relationships over the past decades. Traditionally , Australia is a highly protected country against foreign competitors by using methods of protection such as tariffs and subsidies. However, since the 1980s Aust and many of the world economies has faced substantial reductions in trade barriers in order to promote what we known as Free Trade. Australia gradually reduced its trade protections, which can be any actions by national governments that will give an artificial competitive advantage to domestic producers over foreign producers. The changes to the free trade and protection policies has caused a significant improvement in the number of Free Trade Agreements (FTA) and a shift in Australia's trading relationships, which in turn has affected firms, individuals and also the Australian government. Since the mid 1970s, Australia has started to reduce protection by cutting tariffs, tax on imports, from average tariff levels of 23% in 1968 -69 to 4.4% in 2001. Traditionally, the highly subsidized industries (any form of support to keep domestic industries competitive) are sectors such as motor vehicle and textile, clothing and footwear (TCF). These industries have a fixed low tariff level between 2000 - 2005, to allow them to restructure and become more internationally competitive. Australia's tariff reduction levels have gone way below those required by international trade agreement such as WTO agreement and the APEC. Australia in the last ... ...d this would affect the voting ratios for the government as benefits of tariff reductions and free trade promotion would take a much longer period to arrive. Through the significant change of Australia's protection levels and the promotion of free trade, it is obvious that Australia's major trading partners is shifting from European countries to the high trading potential Asian countries. This is due the enormous demand in many developing countries, which results in a greater market for export. This has brought a positive impact on Australia's primary base industries such as minerals, therefore increasing the amount of export revenue for Australia. Free trade and the reduction in Protection result in the better performance of export as it generates Australia's economic growth, which in turn benefits firms, individuals and the government sectors overall.

Racial Diversity: Historical Worksheet Essay

†¢ Throughout most of U.S. history, in most locations, what race has been in the majority? What is the common ancestral background of most members of this group? White Americans are the majority in every region, but comprise the highest proportion of the population in the Midwestern United States. Hispanic Whites make up 79% of the Midwest’s population, the highest ratio of any region. However, 35% of White Americans whether all White Americans or non-Hispanic/Latino only live in the South, the most of any region. The common ancestral background being European. Another statistic shows that White Americans are the majority in forty-nine of the fifty states, with Hawaii as the exception. The District of Columbia, which is not a state, also has a non-white majority †¢ What are some of the larger racial minorities in U.S. history? What have been the common ancestral backgrounds of each of these groups? When did each become a significant or notable minority group? There are 3 major examples of minority groups who came to the United States under similar circumstances and for similar reasons. These racial groupings come from Asia, Africa and Central America. Each of these groups come from countries undergoing a great deal of turmoil (Africa being subjugated under colonialism, China under imperial rule, and central america undergoing a terror in the form drug cartels undermining the government and the government repressing the citizenry as a result). Each became a more notable minority when they were able to move beyond being a source of inexpensive labour and a large proportion of the migrant population gain citizenship and become enfranchised (gain the right to vote). †¢ In what ways have laws been used to enforce discrimination? Provide examples. These laws were intended against which racial minorities? †¢ In what ways have laws been used to eliminate discrimination? Provide examples. Did the laws work to eliminate discrimination? Affirmative action of the courts and prison systems which discriminates against Blacks and Hispanics, gives them 20% longer sentences, targets their neighborhoods, racially profiles, weakens minority neighborhoods electorally, created the culture of fatherless homes as a reaction to the Civil Rights Movement, fills prisons with low-level offenders for petty drug offenses, with illegal searches and in some states; where those crimes have been decriminalized anyways and disproportionately targets minority youths in instances where white youths would be dealt with informally. SOURCES:

China in the Classical Era Essay

The gender systems of the Classical era in China can almost be summed up with this phrase: â€Å"How sad it is to be a woman!† (Strayer) According to the Chinese traditions when a girl child is born the family is definitely not happy about the birth. The mothers of the girl child must do three things; â€Å"first she must make the child sleep under the bed this shows the baby that she is lowly and weak, second she must give the baby a potsherd or a piece of broken pot to play with to make the girl child realize that the only thing in life for her is housework, and thirdly the mother must make an offering to the ancestors when she announces the birth of the girl child.† (Strayer) Chinese women are considered less than men, less than the servants even. She must always humble herself to the man of the family, or her â€Å"master†; she is to do whatever the in-laws require her to do as well. The gender system of the Classical era in India is much like China. â€Å"In childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth to her husband, when her lord is dead to her sons; a woman must never be independent.† (Strayer) The female in India could never be on her own, her father rules her life as a child, her husband as a wife and if she has male children, she is less than her children if the husband ever dies. She must never be vain, show her face or her body, and woman of India is less than a person because of these rules. The gender system of the Classical era in Rome began very much the same for the females. †If each man of us, fellow citizens, had established that the right and authority of the husband should be held over the mother of his own family we should have less difficulty with women in general.† (Strayer) In Rome men were expected to rule. This may have come from the fact that in order for Roman men to reproduce they had to pillage other villages and kidnap and rape the captured women. Over that time the men obviously ruled the house, the city and the land. Women were considered imprudent, rude and considered unbridled if they conducted any kind of business without a male guardian present. In all three cultures the same patriarchy is evident. Women were to do nothing without the say so of the man. Whether it is her father, husband, brother or son, she was to do as she was told when she was told and not complain about it. In China the females did as told, even by the mother-in-law, she was humbled, regardless of the situation, the husband could do as wished as long as it didn’t bring shame to himself or his family. There really isn’t anyway for the Chinese woman to get away from the patriarchy of her family or her husband’s family. In India the only way that a woman could relieve herself from her husband’s patriarchy â€Å"was to become a Buddhist nun and entering a monastery where women were relatively less restricted and could exercise more authority than in ordinary life.† (Strayer) Even thought this relieved her of her families’ patriarchy she still didn’t have complete independence from male dominance. In Rome however, this is where the changes began for the Roman women. â€Å"When these speeches for and against the law had been made, a considerably larger crowd of women poured forth in public the next day; as a single body they besieged the doors, of the Brutus’s, who were vetoing their colleagues’ motion, and they didn’t not stop until the tribunes took back their veto†¦.† (Strayer) The women of Rome were sick of being treated as less the nothings, they began to go into the streets, talk to whomever they chose even other women’s husbands. They had decided as a group that it was time that they had some rights. The women were no longer going to sit in the houses and have absolutely no wealth, no status, and no rights. There were some men against this and some men that approved of it. In the end the women won, and was allowed a few rights. This was taken away twenty years later though. The cultures of the Classical era showed that women were less than men, they had no rights, they had no wealth and they would always be obedient. This was an act to humble the women, they were slaves. The males always dominated the women; only the Roman women as a group were able to stand up for themselves. The Chinese and the women of India did not. They were obedient. Works Cited: Strayer, Robert. Ways of the World: A Brief Global History. Boston. New York, Bedford/ St. Martins 2011

Water Conservation

Hovhannes Marukyan Extra Credit MGT 462/November 16, 2009 Water Conservation I have attended the presentation about water conservation techniques that each of us can use in our everyday life to ensure the sustainable development of resources and especially water. The presenter on the water conservation was a man who is in charge of the water preservation in Santa Monica. The presentation was very interesting and had great deal of information about proven water conservation tactics. The topics covered included everything pertaining to consumer water usage and misusage. The topics included varied from water content in the soil to less water consuming showerheads to newer ways of watering the lawn. In order to understand the in-home usage one must first understand the nature of water usage in the global scale. He pointed out that most of the time societies use more water than needed. Some examples of places where people overuse water are in resorts, hydraulic dams, outdoor pools, basking in the showers, overflowing tubs, and so on. What is interesting is that in order for water to get to us individually it needs to use energy to generate enough pressure, and if we use less water, hence we use less energy. Hydralic dams use the most amount of water, and if we consume less energy we will use less water. Drying and cooling take the most amount of energy. His next topic in the presentation was about understood the Hydrologic cycle. The hydrologic cycle is when water on earth becomes dry enough and goes into the air as steam, than under right conditions when it’s high enough in the atmosphere and it meets a with the cool air the steam becomes liquid and falls down as rain. We dry up the air, from freeways, residential surfaces, and commercial surfaces, and if the air is not cold enough than the water will rarely liquefy. Now in order to battle this situation he presented with three possible solutions. First by cutting down on driving, with correlation of roof gardening we will to keep the air cool. Secondly we will save water by changing habits and fixtures, conserving water and energy. Third way is by reusing the water instead of throwing it away, this could be done by installing grey water systems. It is when the dirty water is recycled instead of going to the ocean. Next step in the presentation was about how we as individuals can do to conserve water. He broke down water conservation into two parts, the indoor and the outdoor. What we can do indoors is to do the simple things, like not letting the water on when brushing our teeth, not taking extensive showers, not leaving the water on for hours and forgetting about it. Another easy way to use less water is putting a half full bottle of water in the back of the toilet to deter it from using a lot of water. This is especially a good idea for old toilets models which in general use more water than needed. The best amount of water per flush is 1. 5 GMP; the transition is slow, but persistent. He also mentioned other ways of water conserving that included buying a water conserving showerhead, using toilets with dual flush systems, for hard and soft waste. And in general looking at everything inside the house that uses water and trying to see if one can reduce its water consumption. An example would be to buy a more water efficient dish washer, and a washing machine. However he talked more extensively about the outdoor techniques of water conservation. He said that about half of the water used in homes is consumed outdoors. He also stated that about 20% of energy in California is spent of the transportation of water. Another very interesting aspect about water consumption that he spoke of was the usage of plants in the landscaping of houses can greatly reduce the amount of energy that is required to cool them. He also mentioned the fact that people sometimes make a mistake of watering their plants more when there is a problem. According to the speaker there could be many reasons that a plant is unhealthy such as bad soil, positioning, and bugs. Since watering plants and the lawn is such a huge consumer of water, he suggested inspecting plants regularly, finding out what kind of soil is required for a great plant, positioning the plants to face the sun, hence reduce the amount of sunshine on the house, and saving energy. Also watering the lawn differently could help reduce water consumption. He spoke about drip irrigation, which is a very smart way of irrigating. It does not irrigate the whole lawn but the important parts of it where the plants are located. This helps use less water, waters only the plants exclusively, and is a great way battles weeds which thrive on water and take a lot of money to kill. Other ways of making sure that we use less water is using spray heads that use less water. Because soil can only absorb so much water at a ime it is important to making sure that the sprinkles don’t disperse water faster than the soil can absorb it. Adjusting the sprinkle time to daylight saving can meet this issue. The last way to save water that the presenter mentioned was using what is called permeable pavement. This pavement type uses space in between pavement and fills it with another material such as sand to allow in instead of allowing it to run off. Having some water in the soil is be neficial. With all the manmade building the soil underneath does not get enough water to stay in the same shape. Water Conservation Hovhannes Marukyan Extra Credit MGT 462/November 16, 2009 Water Conservation I have attended the presentation about water conservation techniques that each of us can use in our everyday life to ensure the sustainable development of resources and especially water. The presenter on the water conservation was a man who is in charge of the water preservation in Santa Monica. The presentation was very interesting and had great deal of information about proven water conservation tactics. The topics covered included everything pertaining to consumer water usage and misusage. The topics included varied from water content in the soil to less water consuming showerheads to newer ways of watering the lawn. In order to understand the in-home usage one must first understand the nature of water usage in the global scale. He pointed out that most of the time societies use more water than needed. Some examples of places where people overuse water are in resorts, hydraulic dams, outdoor pools, basking in the showers, overflowing tubs, and so on. What is interesting is that in order for water to get to us individually it needs to use energy to generate enough pressure, and if we use less water, hence we use less energy. Hydralic dams use the most amount of water, and if we consume less energy we will use less water. Drying and cooling take the most amount of energy. His next topic in the presentation was about understood the Hydrologic cycle. The hydrologic cycle is when water on earth becomes dry enough and goes into the air as steam, than under right conditions when it’s high enough in the atmosphere and it meets a with the cool air the steam becomes liquid and falls down as rain. We dry up the air, from freeways, residential surfaces, and commercial surfaces, and if the air is not cold enough than the water will rarely liquefy. Now in order to battle this situation he presented with three possible solutions. First by cutting down on driving, with correlation of roof gardening we will to keep the air cool. Secondly we will save water by changing habits and fixtures, conserving water and energy. Third way is by reusing the water instead of throwing it away, this could be done by installing grey water systems. It is when the dirty water is recycled instead of going to the ocean. Next step in the presentation was about how we as individuals can do to conserve water. He broke down water conservation into two parts, the indoor and the outdoor. What we can do indoors is to do the simple things, like not letting the water on when brushing our teeth, not taking extensive showers, not leaving the water on for hours and forgetting about it. Another easy way to use less water is putting a half full bottle of water in the back of the toilet to deter it from using a lot of water. This is especially a good idea for old toilets models which in general use more water than needed. The best amount of water per flush is 1. 5 GMP; the transition is slow, but persistent. He also mentioned other ways of water conserving that included buying a water conserving showerhead, using toilets with dual flush systems, for hard and soft waste. And in general looking at everything inside the house that uses water and trying to see if one can reduce its water consumption. An example would be to buy a more water efficient dish washer, and a washing machine. However he talked more extensively about the outdoor techniques of water conservation. He said that about half of the water used in homes is consumed outdoors. He also stated that about 20% of energy in California is spent of the transportation of water. Another very interesting aspect about water consumption that he spoke of was the usage of plants in the landscaping of houses can greatly reduce the amount of energy that is required to cool them. He also mentioned the fact that people sometimes make a mistake of watering their plants more when there is a problem. According to the speaker there could be many reasons that a plant is unhealthy such as bad soil, positioning, and bugs. Since watering plants and the lawn is such a huge consumer of water, he suggested inspecting plants regularly, finding out what kind of soil is required for a great plant, positioning the plants to face the sun, hence reduce the amount of sunshine on the house, and saving energy. Also watering the lawn differently could help reduce water consumption. He spoke about drip irrigation, which is a very smart way of irrigating. It does not irrigate the whole lawn but the important parts of it where the plants are located. This helps use less water, waters only the plants exclusively, and is a great way battles weeds which thrive on water and take a lot of money to kill. Other ways of making sure that we use less water is using spray heads that use less water. Because soil can only absorb so much water at a ime it is important to making sure that the sprinkles don’t disperse water faster than the soil can absorb it. Adjusting the sprinkle time to daylight saving can meet this issue. The last way to save water that the presenter mentioned was using what is called permeable pavement. This pavement type uses space in between pavement and fills it with another material such as sand to allow in instead of allowing it to run off. Having some water in the soil is be neficial. With all the manmade building the soil underneath does not get enough water to stay in the same shape.

LIFE ON MARS AND ITS INHABITANT Essay

ESSAY: LIFE ON MARS AND ITS INHABITANT DATE: MARCH 15TH 2013 First of all ‘MARS’ is a planet which is normally refer to as the earth’s twins, why? Because it has the same features of surface reminiscent both on the impact craters of the moon the volcanoes, valleys. The writer of this novel’ life on mars’ made us to understand that he is a Martian who left him home to pass down a message of what I call salvation or redemption to the people of earth. The writer made it clear that mars is a planet ruled by LOVE, with love among them problems like misunderstanding, or internal dissension does not exist among its people unlike the dwellers of earth. He also mentioned that we earthlings are not only false ideals of radical, sociological and religious distinctions a bar to our spiritual and material progress, but also in terms of political and economical falsities which would lead to our destruction if we do not retrace our steps back to the pathway pointed out by Christ the master and accept LOVE. Economy in mars is a virtue long cultivated on the planet mars as pointed out by the writer. While us on earth we have no respect for nature and its gifts as we carry on with the destruction of forest, depletion of our coal beds and crude oil deposits and he said the reason for this is greed and the lust for material things which would lead to the ultimate destruction of our planet earth. As a result of these material lust habitants on the planet earth has suffered disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis floods, which the writer claims is unknown to them in mars. He also stated in the last paragraph of chapter four that the people of mars has no worries in their mind which is in accordance with Christ message ‘’seek ye first the kingdom of GOD and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added on to you( matt6:33). In chapter V the writer pointed out the way material things in mars are been classified as and compared it to the way we earthlings also value these material things. In mars material things has no value as the Martians believes that all property belongs to God and no being in the universe should claim it for his or herself, but man has developed a social habit of  stamping lands, claiming seas, love of money, and other material things instead of fighting for the riches of the heavens and wealth the father (Christ) has kept for them in hi s home above. The millions of Martians lived as one family. It is this solidarity, this filial consideration that one holds for the other that has made the stupendous and gigantic public works on mars. It has been made clear that the Martians do not in any way look down on anybody on their planet; none is richer than the other, they all share the same common wealth compare to that of the earthlings. Another social view of the Martians way of life is there religious believe. All Martians accepts Christ as the as there saviour and is been taught about him right from their infant stage. The Martians has no church system and no ecclesiastical hierarchy, all Martians recognised and worship one God which is the eternal father. While us earthlings out of greedy and selfishness for our own interest and glory broke out of the faith and teachings of Christ which is love. Love is the centre of all good things as taught by Christ when he came to our earth 2,000 years ago. And because the Martians have accepted these things crime has been totally erase from their planet. Mars has no political system; since there is love among them love rules them, unlike us on earth that cannot live and prosper without the aid and guidance of a complex administrative system. As quoted by the Maritain ‘’ WHERE THERE IS NO SIN THERE IS NO NEED OF LAWS; FOR THE RIGHTOUS MAN IS A LAW UNTO HIMSELF. I n chapter X this book tells us that mars is generally ruled by love. Mars has a religion which can be expressed in two thoughts: ‘’LOVE’’ and THY WILL BE DONE, NOT MINE’’. While we on Earth, have created a religion to satisfy our conventionalities and because we refuse to accept the common truth which is there is only one true GOD we cannot advance to a higher stage. The Martian system of education as stated by the writer is far better than we on earth. Their education starts from the mother’s knee and the very first thing taught is how to acquire the spiritual knowledge to the Martians GOD comes first, THE HOME IS THE PRIMARY SCHOOL, JUST AS A PHSICAL EXSITANCE ON A PLANET IS THE KINDERGATEN OF A NEVER –ENDING LIFE .THE PARENT ARE THEW FIRST TEACHERS in mars. We on earth look at school in a different point; in our society school is more less a prison for children why? Because knowledge is not been taught but is been forced by the teachers in terms of using grades to rank the children thereby making some superior to the other in  class. The task of a teacher is not to teach knowledge but to help in bringing out what is already latent in the soul; such is the Martian way of teaching. In conclusion, the writer has mentioned things like greediness, selfishness, lust for material things, failure to accept the truth, hatred, as things which we earthlings possess in our society and it has been our way of life and unless we accept love among each other destruction awaits our world. The writer has mentioned earlier that he has not come to condemn us or to act as a superior but to show us how to seek redemption and come back with Christ in peace and harmony as it has once been in the years of our first father and mother on earth, ( ADAM AND EVE) before sin separated us. The announced that the only way out is LOVE which is the greatest of all things. And with love there would be no crime and for us to seek this great love we have to repent and ask for forgiveness from the heavenly father. He went as far as boasting with his home planet and this they have achieved so far by accepting Christ and his love, without this earth is doomed and there is no other way to escaped fro m the destruction that awaits us. This was his vision of making an ideal society. LOVE RULES AND ACCORDING TO THE TEACHING OF CHRIST, GOD IS LOVE. (THEOPHLIUS)

Personal description of a change in YOUR life - The Big Change and How Essay

Personal description of a change in YOUR life - The Big Change and How I Faced it - Essay Example His visit was for two months and I decided to accompany him since I had my vacations. This vacation was to leave a very important lesson in the diary of my life. It brought with it a big change for me and I faced this situation in the best possible manner utilizing all my skills. The lesson was the importance of humanity and the fact that every being in this world has a duty towards his fellow being in suffering. The things that I came across when I visited Haiti were important for me and my life. My father was assigned along with his team to reach the earthquake struck country on the 1st of February that is just approximately two weeks following the earthquake. I insisted on going with him and he agreed to the fact. I believe that his agreement to my demand was due to the fact that my father also wanted me to see the world and learn from the happenings of the world. I believe that he actually wanted me to have firsthand experience of the happenings and the suffering of other human b eings so that I incorporate the importance of human lives within my character. He also wanted me to understand the fact that it was our duty to assist those in need. When we reached Haiti, I was very surprised and taken aback by the situation. The people were living in extremely poor unhygienic conditions with no proper clothing and shelter. They had still not gotten over the grief of the loss of their loved ones. To further aggravate their conditions, there was no proper food for them and it could be understood from their circumstances that disease spread would reach its peak if proper measures were not taken to assist these people. As soon as we reached, my father and his team started their work with the supply of sources that they had. It was the first time I had been to such a place and the firsthand viewing of human suffering had put me in a state of shock. I was very depressed and I did not go out of our residential camp for the next three days as I did not have the courage to go and see the pain and plight of the people. Till that day I was living in a world of my own and it was now that I had actually seen that what difficulties a person could face in his life. On the fourth day, I gathered strength and I had decided what actually needed to be done. I was a very different person from what I had actually been when I had reached Haiti. I analyzed the importance of human lives and I understood that we have a greater duty towards this world of being of assistance to all those in need. Every human being has a duty towards his fellow beings. I incorporated this important belief in my mind that it was our duty not to just see people suffering but actually utilize all our skills to be of assistance to them with all the resources in our reach. We should not just think about their suffering but we should actually practically help them by all possible means. It needs to be understood that just seeing the suffering make us sad and what would be the situation of th ose people who are actually facing all these difficulties in their life. I walked out of the residential camp as a different person and I knew it for a fact that this change in my personality was to stay with me forever. I went out and my father was very happy to see me. When he saw me, I think he also understood that he had achieved what he had wanted and he could see the change in me. I went and saw all the aid activities that were

AC2650 cw2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

AC2650 cw2 - Essay Example Every investment comes with different types of risk associated with it. Investors may think that making investments according to the advice of the financial experts are free of risk. But this is not true, as it also comes with various risks. Investors need to understand that to generate wealth over a period of time it needs to accept a high amount of risks. Stock market always fluctuates and it depends on several factors like profitability and performance of the company, political and social factors, and govt. decisions. Share prices of a company always fluctuate due two types of risks – systematic and unsystematic risk. Systematic risks are the market risks and can be measured by beta. On the other side unsystematic risks are those risks which arise from the internal problem of the company like labor problem, problem in managerial decisions and problems in other code of conduct of the company. Unsystematic risks can be measured by alpha. Now we need to consider the various ty pes of risks that are associated with investing in the stock market. There are several types of unreasonable risks that are faced by the investors in the stock market. Evaluating and analyzing the risk that are involved in any investment is very complex. According to the risk taking ability the investors can be differentiated into different category. Risk taking ability of an investor is known as risk portfolio of the investor. There are several types of investors like high risk potential investor, medium risk potential investor and low risk potential investor. Risk tolerance level of an investor depends upon several factors like the age of the investor, objectives of investment, aim of the investment and future goals in life. Thus to discuss about the unreasonable risks we need to consider the several types of risks that can affect the performance of the investors in the stock market. Market risk includes a wider picture which means if an investor wants to