Management Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Management Communication - Essay Example c. Given your reputation for hiring the coolest cats in town, the big question is why the heck don’t I work there yet? I’m driven, way smarter than average, and would feel right at home in Vegas, baby! d. In addition to being an enthusiastic Zappos’ customer, I am also a customer service professional myself. A brilliant idea came to me last week while I was having yet another satisfying moment with your customer support crew: I want to be part of the team that can create such positive experience for customers. The fourth applicant has the most appealing application message that really attracts attention. The applicant has used words that touch on the current customer service at the company, being a loyal customer, and is already aware of the kind of service required f employees at the company. 2. You like to put applicants at ease right away, so you usually start interviews by asking an offbeat question to break the tension while also prompting the candidate to reveal something about his or her personality and knowledge. Which of these questions would you choose to start an interview? The most appropriate question to start an interview would be the one that aims at determining the level of commitment that an applicant is willing to demonstrate towards the job if selected. For instance, the question (b) suggests a tough task that can either attract negative response, a tactical answer, or completely positive one. 3. Zappos likes employees who can think on their feet, even when faced with outlandish questions and circumstances. Which of these questions would you use to judge a candidate’s ability to grasp a problem and begin developing a solution? a. You are a scientist with the Environmental Protection Agency, specializing in toxic wastes from electronic products. You’re testifying before a congressional committee, and a senator wants to

The New World Essay Example for Free

The New World Essay That idea of a distant paradise on earth shaped the way Europeans came to think of America after Columbus and his successors reported their discoveries. For example, the following mythic lands may have served as inspirations for the alluring idea of America as a place of joy, ease, riches, and regeneration: a. the Garden of the Hesperides of Greek myth b. the Elysian Fields described by the poet Homer c. the Islands of the Blessed, described by Hesiod, Horace, and Pindar d. Atlantis, described by Plato in the Timaeus and the Critias e. the Garden of Eden f. the Fortunate Isles, described in the Voyage of St. Brendan (ninth century) g. the enchanted gardens of Renaissance literature Columbus’s discovery of America has been described as â€Å"perhaps the most important event recorded in secular history. † On the other hand, it has been pointed out that had Columbus not discovered America, it would soon have been discovered by some other explorer. Edmundo O’Gorman, in The Invention of America (1961), asserted that America was not discovered but was invented by Europeans in the 16th and following centuries. The contrary idea of America as a place of degenerated plants, animals, and humans was also held by Europeans long before it was set forth by the French naturalist Buffon (1707–1788) in the early volumes of his Natural History (1749–1804). Thomas Jefferson made effective reply in his Notes on the State of Virginia (1785), but remnants of the idea continued to persist in the European popular mind. Modern readers are often surprised to learn of Columbus’s never-ending insistence, even in the face of contrary evidence, that he had reached the coast of Asia, not a new continent. That mistaken certainty was in large part caused by his faith in faulty calculations showing the earth’s circumference to be about 18,000 rather than 25,000 miles. The ancient geographer Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the earth with nearly perfect accuracy in the third century BCE. But Columbus, as did the best navigators of his time, relied on charts based on measurements made by the second-century-CE astronomer Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus). The calculation of the earth’s circumference presented in Ptolemy’s Guide to Geography (published, in Latin, in 1409) was off by more than 25 percent. Had the calculation been accurate, Columbus would have been correct in assuming that after sailing west for 33 days, he had indeed reached the Orient. Columbus’s writing style is spare and unornamented. In contrast, the letters (the first published in 1504) of Amerigo Vespucci, reporting his voyages to the New World from 1497 to 1504 (he claimed four,historians credit him with two), were filled with vivid and titillating details describing the new land and its inhabitants. As a result, Vespucci’s reports received greater attention throughout Europe than the reports (as distinct from the discovery itself) of Columbus. Because of Vespucci’s renown and because of his real accomplishments, the German geographer Martin Waldseemuller, in making his influential map of the new continent (1507), applied the name â€Å"America† to South America. Eventually, through popular usage, â€Å"America† came to be used for the North America as well. Vespucci’s voyage of 1501–1502 (under the flag of Portugal) along the coast of South America was the first extended exploration of the coast of the New World and the first to show clearly that the new lands were not a part of Asia but a new continent. That discovery is said by Vespucci’s partisans to justify naming the new continent America. Nevertheless, Vespucci has been vilified as a braggart and a windbag. Doubt has been cast on his accomplishments, although in recent decades they have in part been verified and shown to be substantial. Columbus’s first letter was printed and published in nine versions in 1493, and by 1500 it had appeared in nearly twenty editions. Yet his reports did not inspire the immediate outpouring of writing, personal and public, on the New World that might be expected. Indeed, from the last decades of the fifteenth century to the beginning decades of the seventeenth century, â€Å"four times as many books were devoted to the Turks and Asia as to America, and the proportion of books on Asia actually increased in the final decade† of that period (J. H. Elliot, The Old World and the New [1992] 12). When Columbus died in Vallodolid, Spain, in 1506, his death went unrecorded in the city chronicle. His fall to obscurity was in part caused by the fact that he was overbearing and irascible, creating many enemies. In addition,  the stories of his failures and his greed as a colonial administrator diminished him in the eyes of his contemporaries, further discouraging the celebration of his name in poems, romances, dramas, and histories. Columbus had failed to produce the expected supply of riches. He had failed to provide his voyages with effective chroniclers who could glorify his achievements, and he had no ability to effectively glorify himself in his written reports. Nor was he associated with a singular dramatic achievement—such as the conquest of the Aztec empire that raised Cortes to the stature of an epic hero. In the sixth century BC the Greek mathematician Pythagoras declared that the earth is a sphere. By the fifteenth century AD that fact was believed by the vast majority of educated Europeans. Yet a longstanding myth holds that Columbus was almost alone in believing that the earth is a sphere and for that belief suffered the ridicule of his learned contemporaries. The myth survives today, preserved in popular histories, tales, and even in popular song lyrics that proclaim: â€Å"They all laughed at Christopher Columbus /When he said the world was round. In reporting that he was the first to see a light in the distance, on the night of October 11, before the actual sighting of land on October 12, Columbus appears to claim that he was the first to see the Indies. Note also Columbus’s solicitation of support for further exploration, his offering, if â€Å"their highnesses will render very slight assistance,† to provide gold, spice, cotton, mastic, â€Å"aloe-wood,† and â€Å"slaves, as many as they shall order to be shipped. The explorers and conquerors of the New World in large measure based their justifications (stated or implied) for conquest on a.  the cultural superiority of the conquerors; b. the physical and mental inferiority of the conquered; c. the backwardness of the Americans’ culture and technical development; d. the obligation and the ability of the intruders to make better use of the land and its resources; e. the duty to bring Christianity to the heathen. Columbus does not use all such justifications. Note his report that the Indians are â€Å"of a very acute intelligence. † Modern critics of Columbus assert that his treatment of the Indians showed a disregard for their natural rights. But the popular idea that individuals have natural rights (much less â€Å"unalienable† natural rights) did not arise for several centuries. Columbus took possession of the newly discovered land â€Å"by proclamation made and with royal standard unfurled. † His act was not a dramatic gesture meant to awe the natives but a formal step (compare the flag planting by the American astronauts on the moon in 1969) to establish, according to the international law of the day, that the lands and their inhabitants were now the possessions of Spain and subject to Spanish authority. Having taken formal and legal possession of the land and its inhabitants for Spain, Columbus assumed that he, as a royal official, was therefore justified in capturing six Indians and returning them as exhibits to the Spanish king and queen, just as a royal official could order the lives of men and women in Spain itself. Because he believed that he had landed in the Indies, Columbus used the word â€Å"Indians† to describe the people he saw. In recent years the word has been attacked as inaccurate and demeaning, although Columbus did not intend it to be so. The substitute â€Å"Native American† has been advanced, and is the most widely preferred term. The term â€Å"Siberian American† has been offered in its place as a more accurate term, but it is seen as derisive by some and remains unpopular. Columbus reported of the Indians, â€Å"With 50 [European] men all of them could be held in subjection and can be made to do whatever one might wish. † Columbus was wrong. The attempt to coerce and enslave the men and women of the New World eventually failed. Yet the alluring idea of forcing native inhabitants to work for their conquerors long endured. For instance, John Smith reports of North American native inhabitants that they could be brought â€Å"all in subjection† and exploited by â€Å"forty or thirty† Englishmen. Discovery narratives traditionally report on the technical backwardness of the people of the discovered lands. In Columbus’s age the lack of technical development and the absence of metals such as iron and steel were taken as signs of primitive inferiority. In later ages, especially after the rise of the idea of the Noble Savage, a lack of technical achievement was taken as a sign of virtuous simplicity, of a life free of the dominance of the machine and the technological horrors that accompany it. Columbus describes the technical ignorance of the inhabitants and their unfamiliarity with metal-edged weapons: â€Å"I showed them swords and they took them by the edge and through ignorance cut themselves. † Compare John Smith’s report of the Indians’ fear of gunpowder and firearms their amazement at the movements of a compass needle. The technical ignorance of a reportedly benighted people has often been and is still used to justify their subjugation and colonization by a technically superior culture that asserts its right to conquer, usually because it can â€Å"make better use of the land. † In addition, there was recourse to the religious justification for colonization—the argument that Christians have the right and the duty to lead (by force if necessary) those living in spiritual darkness into the light of religious truth and to the blessings of heaven. The religious justification is offered as a benefit to the pagans themselves. The technological argument is not. Rather its end is the fruitful exploitation of the land and its natural resources for the colonizers. But even the technological argument for exploiting the land has its biblical justification in the declarations that the land exists for the benefit of man, who therefore has an obligation to exploit and â€Å"subdue† it (Genesis 1:28). That Columbus was a sincere believer in Christianity is not in doubt. His devout faith is evident inthe names he gave the first islands he encountered in the New World: San Salvador and Isla de Santa Maria de Concepcion. Yet his religious motives for colonizing the lands he discovered have sometimes been dismissed as a disguise for his true motives: greed for gold and desire to extract riches from the land. The desire for religious conversions and for gold is evident in almost all the early narratives of New World discovery. Columbus hoped to bring Christianity to the heathen by establishing the religion of Spain in the new lands. He had no desire to promote religious liberty and would have strongly resisted the idea. John Smith similarly believed that the English lands in North America should be colonized under the protection of an established church—the Church of England. It is worthwhile to compare the views of Columbus and Smith to the views of the Pilgrims and the Puritans who wished to escape what they believed to be an oppressive established church—though they themselves then demonstrated an oppressive narrowness with respect to departures from the confines of their views. Notice the appearance in Columbus’s reports of themes later apparent in American literature: a. America as a land suited to Christian evangelism and the ultimate coming of â€Å"the church triumphant† b. America as a paradise of exotic landscape and people and of simple and innocent life c. America as a place for economic, political, and spiritual opportunity and personal fulfillment. THOMAS HARIOT Thomas Hariot was among the first British explorers to arrive in the New World. Unlike Columbus, he was at least as much a scientist as an explorer. He was particularly interested in astronomy, optics, and the study of mathematics. Hariot’s A Briefe and True Report of the Newfound Land of Virginia gives perspectives on the New World that differ from Columbus’s in accordance with his intellectual interests, as well as his nationality and the part of the world (Virginia, as opposed to the West Indies) that he visited. The third, and final, part of his report, presented in the anthology, offers another view of the inhabitants of the newly discovered land. JOHN SMITH John Smith has been described as the author of â€Å"the first English book written in America† (for his A True Relation of Occurrences and Accidents in Virginia [1608]), and his work is seen as a forerunner of a native, American literature. Smith’s accounts are also an early example of New World writing that emphasizes human qualities commonly thought to be typically American. Note his references to a. Practicality; b. Boastfulness; c. dislike of showy elegance; d. desire to exploit the environment. Smith’s description of New England combines two images of the New World that were current in Europe in the seventeenth century: a.  the image of America as a paradise, a voluptuous land of easy riches b. the image of America as a land that would reward those showing the Protestant virtues of enterprise and willingness to work hard. The first image draws upon ancient myths that describe gardens of ease, joy, and eternal life. The second derives from the ideals of the capitalist middle class that rose to power with the end of feudalism in Europe. A third image, of America as a New Jerusalem, as a place for religious salvation, is not evident in Smith’s writings. Consider the rise to prominence of that third image after 1630 and the coming of the Puritans to Massachusetts Bay. Note how Smith writes of the visible, material world—describing plants, animals, and men—rather than the immaterial, speculative world of philosophy and theology. Smith assumed that the New World is for man’s exploitation, for his physical enjoyment, and for his earthly fulfillment—an assumption at odds with the Puritans’ view of the New World as a place of spiritual testing and of preparation for a fulfillment to be achieved only in heaven. Smith is often contrasted to the Puritans (and the Pilgrims), but there are these similarities: a. Both saw America as a place where individual men and women could escape from Old-World restraints and traditions. b. Both celebrated the possibility of communal, as well as individual regeneration in the lands claimed by England in the New World. c. Both condemned luxury and emphasized the virtues of hard work, abstinence, and enterprise. d. And both saw a life of ease and luxury as a sign of decay that portends inevitable destruction. Smith made no mention of religious freedom as a reason for colonizing. His own motives for colonizing (and what he believed to be the prime motives of others) were secular and materialistic: â€Å"For I am not so simple as to think that ever any other motive than wealth will ever erect there a commonwealth. † General History and his Description of New England are propaganda for colonization as much as they are descriptions of the New World. That is evident in the number and the variety of advantages he cites for colonization: a. profits for investors—†satisfaction of the adventurers†. Markets for English manufacturers—a letter survives, written by Smith to the London Society of Cordwainers (shoemakers) to point out that the Cordwainers, in their own self-interest, should support the settlement of Virginia because the rough land and the shell-strewn beaches of the New World were certain to wear out many shoes c. glory for the colonizers and their monarch—†eternizing of the memory† d. abundant raw materials, especially timber and naval stores. Some of the essentials for colonizing success set forth by Smith in A Description of New England (â€Å"provided always that first there be †): a. potent local government b. housing c. means of self-defense d. adequate provisions e. trained craftsmen Many reasons have been offered to explain why the Jamestown colonists failed to exert themselves sufficiently in establishing their colony: a. that too many of the colonists were â€Å"ne’er-do-wells† and gentlemen who were unused to hard work b. that the colonists were weakened by hunger and disease c. that the â€Å"communal basis† of the settlement discouraged individual enterprise. That many of the early colonizing reports, especially those written by the Spanish colonizers, encouraged the expectation that riches would be quickly found and profits quickly earned, that the â€Å"naturals† could be forced to supply the colonists with food, and that therefore diligent labor was unnecessary e. that the colonists expected their needs to be met by their London backers Note that none of the above explanations suggests that the English colonists, lacking government support such as the Spanish enjoyed, failed because their attempt to colonize Virginia at that time and place was simply beyond their abilities. Smith attributed the difficulties at Jamestown to dissension, weak government, lack of organization, and mistaken attempts by a central governing body (in London) to exert control at long distance. Such problems of government and society arose partly from human characteristics that later came to be considered distinctly American: a. radical individualism b. disrespect for law and governments c. hostility toward distant, central governments d. Contempt for traditions of rank, privilege, and authority Note how such characteristics were prominent among the causes of the American Revolution, 170 years later, and how those same characteristics win popular praise today. It is also notable that the American environment and its great distance from Europe prohibited the easy transfer to America of England’s a. feudal class structure; b. widespread belief in the worth of a noble class and an idle gentry; c. upper-class contempt for those in â€Å"trade† or whose jobs required hard, physical labor; d. high valuation of the contemplative, intellectual life; Customs of labor, farming, law, and political organization. The travel literature of the 16th and 17th centuries commonly reported incidents in which New World savages were awestruck by examples of European science and technology. When Powhatan’s followers captured Smith, in December 1607, he was first exhibited before neighboring tribes. Smith’s description of events permits the conclusion that the Indians displayed him as a great trophy because he was a noble warrior (for his brave resistance) and a mighty wizard (for his tricks with a compass). Perhaps a better reason for the exhibition before local sub-tribes and their chiefs was revealed in 1845 when a manuscript letter (written in 1608) by Edward Maria Wingfield, former President of the Colony (and Smith’s enemy), was discovered and published. Wingfield wrote: having him prisoner, [they] carried him to [their] neighbors to see if any of them knew him for one of those which had been, some two or three years before us, in a river amongst them northward and [had] taken away some Indians from them by force. At last [they] brought him to the great Powhatan (of whom before we had no knowledge) who sent him home to our town the 8th of January [1608]. Pocahontas’s formal, tribal name was â€Å"Matoaka. † The nickname â€Å"Pocahontas† (meaning â€Å"playfulone†) was given to her by her father, Powhatan. Such nicknames were common among the Native peoples in Virginia. Powhatan himself had the tribal name of â€Å"Wahunsonacock,† the name â€Å"Powhatan† later takenfrom the name of the region in which he ruled. At the time of their adventure, Smith was 28 and Pocahontas 12 or 13. She died in 1617 while on a visit to England, well before any detailed description of her rescue of Smith was published. It is not known whether Smith saw Pocahontas while she was in England, and little is known of her true character. In his History of Travel into Virginia Britannia (1612), William Strachey described Pocahontas as: a well featured but wanton young girl, Powhatan’s daughter, [who], sometimes resorting to our fort, of the age then of 11 or 12 years, [would] get the boys forth with her into the market place and made them [cart]wheel, falling on their hands turning their heels upwards, whom she would follow, and [cart]wheel so herself, naked as she was, all the fort over. It is interesting to consider what qualities in Strachey’s â€Å"wanton young girl† and Smith’s savior helped make her the first heroine of American myth and folklore. Some points to note: a. Pocahontas’s similarity to ancient mythic heroines, daughters of kings who protect a heroic stranger renounce their native lands and people, yet fail to marry the hero—heroines . b. the similarity of Pocahontas’s experiences to those told in the various medieval romances c. Pocahontas’s similarity to historical American Indian heroines, such as Sacagawea (who served as guide and interpreter for Lewis and Clark) and Malinche (interpreter for Cortes in his conquest of the Aztecs) d. Pocahontas’s early appearance in literature, first referred to in Ben Jonson’s play Staple of News (1625) and then the subject of later works, such as (1) The Female American (1767), a novel published in London and described as â€Å"a second Robinson Crusoe†, and (2) The Indian Princess (1808), an American play, the first of many Pocahontas dramas, and the first of the vastly popular â€Å"Indian Plays† of the nineteenth-century American stage.

Abortion :: Abortion Pro Choice Argumentative

Abortion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Abortion is one of the most controversial topics of all times. It has caused countless deaths and several violent confrontations between the two separate parties of opinion. The fight between pro-life and pro-choice supporters has been long and brutal. This is because, despite what several people may believe, abortion is neither right nor wrong. It is the matter of a personal opinion, where, each side can say with certainty that the other one is wrong.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The question remains, should abortion be legal? Though some may disagree on this point, the fact is that legalized abortion is the only way to protect the lives of women around the world. If you look into American history to see the results of prohibiting abortions to women, you will see that no abortion means more women dead. The violence, which occurs today because of the pro-choice/pro-life conflicts is minimal in comparison to the thousands of hopeless women who turned to illegal abortions--either self-inflicted or preformed by the backroom "professionals"-- which resulted in infection, massive blood loss, and death. It is now since the abortion is legal better for women, because they have a place to go to where abortions can be performed in a clean environment and with minimum risks. The legalization of abortion is the only choice, no matter what side one takes in the debate. Women will try to do what they think is necessary to live as they wish, no matter w hat the risks are. In order to live as she chooses a woman may give up her freedom, her morals, her beliefs, her family, or even her life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Abortion has been around for many years in every inhabited corner of the world. It has always been accepted as a mean to prevent the suffering of both the woman and her potential child. Abortion has been practiced widely in every society for many reasons including famine, war, poverty, overpopulation, or simply because a woman felt she was not ready for a child (Whitney 40). No one ever questioned a woman's right to this procedure. After all, who but God had the right to judge what a woman did with her own body? This thought process lasted till the 1800's. During the era of change people began to turn their attention in a new direction, the fetus. They began to protest abortion as cruel, inhumane, and murderous. Filled with a new sense of purpose and the glory of a fresh, righteous cause to uphold this new morality swept the countryside enveloping everyone in its wake.

Use of Symbols and Symbolism in John Steinbecks The Chrysanthemums Ess

Use of Symbols and Symbolism in John Steinbeck's The Chrysanthemums  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      John Steinbeck's short story "The Chrysanthemums" is about a proud, strong woman named Elisa Allen who feels frustrated with her present life. Her frustration stems from not having a child and from her husband's failure to admire her romantically as a woman. The only outlet for her frustration is her flower garden where she cultivates beautiful chrysanthemums. Steinbeck uses chrysanthemums as symbols of the inner-self of Elisa and of every woman. First, the chrysanthemums symbolize Elisa's children. She tends her garden and handles the chrysanthemums with love and care, just as she would handle her own children. Elisa is very protective of her flowers and places a wire fence around them; she makes sur... ...age, but her realization that her life is not going to change is crystallized when she sees the flowers thrown on the road. It devastates her completely to have to settle for such an unfulfilling life. Work Cited Steinbeck, John. "The Chrysanthemums." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 6th ed. New York: Harper Collins, 1995. 239-47.

This briefing is in relation to the Inquiry into Skills Shortages in Rural and Regional NSW

This briefing is in relation to the Inquiry into Skills Shortages in Rural and Regional NSW. This paper will outline the problems around the methods used by training organisations including TAFE to assess skill needs in rural and regional NSW and their response. This paper will also look into what the causes of these problems are, who are the stakeholders and how are they affected and recommendations on solutions. BACKGROUND: The communities of rural and regional areas recognise that the supply of skilled tradespersons in their communities does not meet the current demand and that skill shortages are projected to increase. 2In the context of the Riverina Institute Griffith is a medium sized campus that has demonstrated significant and sustainable growth over the past five years. Over the past 6 years the campus has experienced a significant increase in facilities and a concomitant increase in full time and part time teaching staff. To address the growing demand for skilled and well trained staff in the region Griffith campus has consistently amended its course offerings and has, on many occasions, provided extra courses to meet unexpected demand particularly in the trade areas. This is a good example of how much tafe applicant numbers are increasing in rural areas however not all tafe facilities are able to have the funds to support these numbers such as the above example of Griffith campus. 1Futher research in relation to concerns of skills shortages has demonstrated there is a great need to increase the amount of trained tradespersons in the workforces. This also requires the improvement of retention rate during training to reduce occupational wastage as qualified tradespersons leave the industry. There is a fundamental need to ensure that their will be jobs available in the area of where the training took place. This is to prevent skilled trades people leaving rural areas for city life. STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS AND CURRENT SITUATION: Individuals – Without a strong working force the economy of a rural community is bound to drop. More people will lose their jobs and families will have to move to find work. Regional Industries – Many regional industries are desperate to expand, but are being hampered by a lack of skilled labour. Councils – A current situation can be seen Wagga Wagga NSW. 3This area is seen as an agricultural powerhouse creating up to $6.5 billion per year. But the hearing has demonstrated that the region's future growth may be limited by a shortage of workers. Stakeholders in the Riverina believe that a lack of affordable housing and limited training opportunities are significant barriers to the recruitment of workers in rural areas. 3For example one of the country's largest chicken meat processors, Bartter Enterprises, already employs more than 1,000 people across the region. The company hopes to increase production from 420,000 to 750,000 birds per week. But their human resources manager John Davis says that depends on being able to source workers. The Riverina wine industry has also experienced significant growth, along with it, an increased demand for workers. 3For example, 10 years ago Casella Wines employed 14 people; today however they have a workforce of 500. Paul Foley is the human resources manager for another of the region's major wineries, De Bortoli Wines. 3He says the winery will employ an extra 80 people for four months during vintage, but recruitment of those workers is a major problem. While the skill shortage is already starting to bite, Leeton Shire Council is looking to the future. General manager of Leeton Shire Council Ray Pluis says local training opportunities are important for retaining young people in regional centers. This is the third public hearing held as part of this New South Wales parliamentary inquiry. The inquiry's chairman, Labor MLC Tony Catanzeriti, is playing down suggestions the withdrawal of state government services is partly to blame for the difficulties in attracting skilled workers to regional areas. CAUSES: Research of submissions and hearings indicates many causes to skills shortages in rural areas. 4For example Peter Louis & Co submission highlights that withdrawal and reduction of services provided by government agencies and public corporations such as medical services, banking facilities and post offices has impacted on rural communities with people forced to relocate. This is a valid argument as people will would to live in areas that have necessities such as medical centers and post offices easily available. Not only will people leave an area to get closer to these facilities but also people will not even bother moving to a rural area if it is lacking of such facilities. This also states that the campus of tafe in Illawarra confirmed that whilst TAFE provided many course not all of them were specific to the area. 4Also the tafe kept no record of students who completed and whether they stayed or left the area. This causes the problem of not allowing statistics to be examined to get an accurate understanding of the educational needs in rural areas. This also is an extremely good point and the basis of a strange argument. How can the tafe possibly know to what extent its passing students are having on the rural community if they keep no record of what the students achieve after accomplishing their education? 5Mr Bill Archer in his submission highlights two major causes of unskilled workers in rural areas. The first major cause is the distance that an apprentice in the rural areas would have to travel to receive an education. The further the distance the more it will cost the apprentice to travel so therefore becomes another incentive to not bother receiving an education. 7Transport has got to be one of the most major causes of skills shortages in rural areas the requirement for apprentices to travel such large distances to get to college is a major problem. Many rural areas have a very limited access to frequent public transport. Also transport subsidies are not available to young people if the vehicle they have access to is not in their name and even if they are entitled to it, the amount is pitifully inadequate. Public transport is a very important requirement as there are many dangers of country driving for young inexperienced drivers with early starts, late finishes and long distances. 7These present very real Occupational Health and Safety risks. 5The second major cause is that once an apprentice receives the education they need they are then able to move to the city were they can make more money doing their job. This is a major incentive for skilled workers to leave the rural areas and therefore leaving many jobs in rural areas left open with nobody with the skills to work them. This effects many stakeholders. The owner of the business who had spent the last few years training the apprentice must now start the cycle again. The community also suffers as there is one less person providing a service. That is why the government must find efficient ways of keeping skilled workers in rural areas as they are fundamental to the survival of the community. Tafe teachers however in their submission do not believe that these are the major causes of skill shortages in rural areas. 7Their members point out that there are large shortages in areas where pay and conditions are poorest, eg a lot of qualified mechanics aren't working in their trade areas, because they can earn more money driving a truck. It is therefore not just a matter of addressing skills shortages but also pay conditions and how vocations are perceived by the public. The issue of public perception of skilled trades people has not been addressed successfully by governments. RECOMMENDATION: Set forth are a number of recommendations as to the problems Councils in regional areas should encourage â€Å"stay local and contract local businesses.† The government should provide funding to provide a Rural Work Income Insurance policy to assist tradesmen in situations that they cannot work as are establishing a new business. Encourage major employers to establish 12 month contracts, particularly in rural areas. This will help to increase not only employment but also the economy of the community. Contracts will keep people in the area and as the business grows more jobs become available. Which leads to people moving to the area specifically for work. Encourage training organizations like the Charles Sturt University and Tafe's to develop seminars and spend time to educate businesses within rural areas to adopt new business practices, Governments should make sure that rural areas have all the facilities required to encourage population growth in that area. Facilities such as medical centers, post offices and schools, should be located in all rural towns. Government should place more funding into Traineeships. 1Traineeships are ideal for employers who have a specific need for one Trainee in a given area. Traineeships can be offered/conducted in a variety of ways with the main option taken by employers being an ‘On the Job† Traineeship. By providing Funding to Tafe institutions and providing employer incentives to business's that provide traineeships to unskilled workers will be a major step in reducing the current problem of unskilled workers. 6Another recommendation would be the implementation of more courses done through distance correspondence. This allows students in rural areas to do courses from home. Thus distance would no longer be a barrier in the prevention of education for skilled workers. However for the on the job training the Government should allocate funds to areas in desperate need to provide frequent transport to further encourage people to do studies.

SAT Math Problem Solving Practice tests and explanations

SAT Math Problem Solving Practice tests and explanations SAT Math Problem Solving

Nuclear Independence Day essays

Nuclear Independence Day essays Since July 16th, 1945 the first A-bomb was discover until today, unclear weapon are playing a major part of the 20th centurys most reliable military defense system. Throughout the past five decades or so, many strong military nations like United State, Soviet Union (USSR), China, France, England . . . seems very interesting to invest nuclear weapon than any other military weapon. It seems like a country without nuclear weapon wills no longer deserves the title of Great Power! A country is defenseless without nuclear protection. Over the last 50 years, nuclear weapons were developed that dwarfed the 1945 bombs in destructiveness, and major military powers stocked their arsenals with these arms. Every year the world spends 3,500 trillion dollars to restock their nuclear weapon power. Every year the world spends half trillion dollar to protect the weapon from unnecessarily exploration and stolen . . . From 1992-1996 total of 79 nuclear emergency research was recalled to NEST (Nuclear E mergency Search Team) for help. Term like Broken Arrow, Red Six and Landlord Access Red are becoming the most common nuclear weapon warning recall used in NEST and NASA . . . The explosive power of a nuclear weapon comes from nuclear fission or nuclear fusion, or bothin the case of the HYDROGEN BOMB. A typical small nuclear weapon has the explosive yield of tens of thousands of tons (kilotons) of the conventional explosive TNT; a large nuclear weapon might have the yield of a million tons (megatons) of TNT or more. A single nuclear weapon can kill hundreds of thousands of people, and when carried on a ballistic missile, can travel intercontinental distances in less than half an hour. The deployment of tens of thousands of these weapons, primarily by the United States and the Soviet Union, has threatened annihilation with little or no warning. The devastating effects of nuclear weapons, however, may actually ...

The Ancient Japanese Ninja Essays

The Ancient Japanese Ninja Essays The Ancient Japanese Ninja Essay The Ancient Japanese Ninja Essay The ancient Japanese ninja Ninja or Shinobi were known as Samurai spies of ancient Japan. They developed the skills of Ninjutsu (which means the â€Å"art of stealth†). The ninja were an elite group or secret brotherhood that used their special techniques for sabotage, infiltration and assassination, as well as open combat. Origins Historians believe that the first ninjas appeared around the 14th century however it was not until the 15th century that they were specially trained as spies and assassins. The word Shinobi appeared around this time and means a secretive group of agents. The normal Samurai soldier fought with honour where they were expected to fight openly and face their enemy, however the Ninja had more secretive roles including spy, scout, surprise attacker and agitator. Records tell of ninja who retreated to the mountains near Iga and Koga of central japan to meditate and train. Their groups were small and formed around families and villages. Roles The ninja were stealth soldiers whose roles were of espionage and sabotage. In battle the ninja could also be used to cause confusion amongst the enemy. Some ninja had similar roles to the samurai but they were more influential. As more and more enemy lords were killed by ninja assassins, fear of the ninja spread across the country. Espionage The main role was espionage. They used disguises and found out information on the enemy eg building layouts, terrain and passwords and codes. Sabotage Arson was the ninja’s main form of sabotage for example in 1558 Yoshitaka employed a team of ninja to set fire to Sawyama Castle then Yoshitaka’s army later over-ran the castle. Tactics The ninja did not always work alone, some ninjas worked in teams to do techniques, for example in order to scale a wall, a group of ninja may carry each other on their backs or provide a human platform to assist a individual ninja in reaching greater heights he cant make by himself. Ninjas also used deception, where the attackers (the ninja’s side) made the army dress up in exactly the same clothes as the defenders, causing major confusion. Disguises The use of disguises is common to the ninjas. Disguises came in the form of priests, entertainers, fortune tellers, merchants, ronin (a samurai) and monks Clothing Their clothing was chosen to blend in eg they sometimes dressed as peasants. Many historians believe that the ninja wore black robes, possibly with red to hide bloodstains. Or at night they wore navy blue. Clothing was similar to the samurai, but anything loose (eg leggings) were tucked into pants or secured with belts so they wouldn’t catch on anything. They also had a piece of cloth (a tenugui) used to cover their face, used as a belt or to help climb. Ninjas were also known to have armour designed to be worn under their clothing. Shin arm guards with metal-reinforced hoods are also thought to be worn. Tools Tools were used to help climb and infiltrate enemy castles etc they included * Ropes and grappling hooks were common and tied to the belt. * collapsible ladders with spikes at both ends to anchor the ladder. * Spiked or hooked climbing gear worn on hands feet also doubled as weapons. * Chisels, hammers, drills picks * Inflatable skins breathing tubes allowed the ninja to stay underwater. Weaponry Short swords and daggers were used however the katana was the popular weapon carried on the back. It had several uses eg the scabbard could be extended out of the sword and used as a probing instrument. At the top of the katana, dust or pepper could be placed so when the sword was drawn, this powder would fly into the enemy’s eyes then the ninja could stab him. Darts, spikes, knives, chain sickle and sharp star-shaped discs were also used. Food As a ninja is a special type of samurai they would eat the same food as other samurai for example, rice, fresh vegetables like cabbage, root vegetables and fish.

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

Vodafone - Essay Example ionally, the growing population coupled with poor communication network especially in rural areas has necessitated the demands of cost effective communication tools in these regions. In order to strengthen its presence on international level, Vodafone makes sure that it offers the offerings in accordance to the market needs. Presently, it has implemented a slightly different marketing strategy in developed and developing markets so that it can incorporate the demands of the respective markets. Even in India, it is targeting the rural population which does not has access to the mobile phones due to their high prices. Vodafone is utilising the marketing activities in compliance with Indian market so that the customers can understand its features. However, there is immense need of modifying the strategy so that it can include the business specific services for the thriving corporate world. Vodafone also known as Vodafone Group PLC is a multinational firm operating across the globe with having basis in UK. It is recognised as the Britain’s third prevalent mobile network operative company and the world’s largest mobile telecommunication network corporation which has revenues of about â‚ ¤20 million (Vodafone, 2013). The company was established in 1984 and its name is an acronym of Voice Data Fone. Currently, it has presence in all of the continents which comprises of direct operations in more than 21 countries and partnering networks in about 49 countries (Vodafone Institute for Society and Communications, 2013). Overall, the company is delivering services in more than 150 countries along with 23 different languages and has a customer (individuals and enterprises) base of more than 404 million (Vodafone Global Enterprise, 2014). The vision of Vodafone is â€Å"to attain the position of being a global leader in the mobile industry by adding value to the customer’s life and increase the profitability rate along with making the networks of mobile the ‘nervous

Politics of the Contemporary Middle East Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Politics of the Contemporary Middle East - Essay Example According to the research findings it can therefore be said that amongst the most important elements relative to international relations in the Middle East region following the Gulf War of 1991 was the peace process between the Arabs and Israel that was sponsored by America. The two main parties in the Arab Israeli conflict were Israel and Palestine. The main developments of the peace process were the Oslo Peace Accord, its implementation, the summit at Camp David and the re-escalation of violence. It is evident that the Oslo Peace Process was slated to fail from the beginning because under Likud’s leadership, Israel went back on its words relative to implementing its own obligations emanating from the deal. Upon reading the details of the accord it becomes clear that the Oslo Declarations of Principles never represented a strong foundation for peace between Israel and the PLO. It is widely believed that this happened because preferential treatment was given to Israel in the t reaty. The US is said to have avoided playing an effective and impartial role in brokering the peace agreements. The Soviet Union was an ally of the Palestinians but it was a declining power during the period. The enormous support provided to Israel by the US makes it clearly evident that there was an imbalance of power that served as an obstacle in making the treaty and agreements successful. The paper also presents the main theoretical assumptions of neorealism.... optimize security by maximizing their own military, diplomatic and economic capabilities Peace and order is achieved after states are able to achieve balance of power by effecting deterrence and stable alliances The presence of a dominating state can lead to stability if that state is hegemonic in terms of identifying its self interests with the interests of the larger region or global system The modernization theory originated through the concept of functionalist sociology. It holds that all societies developed from traditional to modern conditions, in terms of transforming from simplistic, narrow and theocratic circumstances to complicated, public and secular forms of organization. It is known that societies undergo different stages of socio economic transformation whereby some manage to modernize faster in view of their interactions and association with modern societies of the west. The theory is applicable to the Middle East region in the context of some states being in a transit ional stage towards modernism. The Postcolonial criticism approach is recent in having its origin in cultural studies. In fact it grew from analysis of the Middle East region as carried out by Edward Said (1978) through his influential work Orientalism, which related to the ways in which a distorted image was created about the Arabs by Europeans in justifying their colonial occupation in the region. This theory holds that politics in the Middle East Region was first characterized by struggle for power control by colonists, then by the super powers during the Cold War and subsequent to 1989, by the US alone. The arguments are based on the belief that nations in the Middle East are dependent or client states that act as agents of Western hegemony or national liberation groups striving to

Marijuana and Teen Use Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Marijuana and Teen Use - Essay Example Thirteen percent of the teen smokers smoked marijuana before cigarettes. Interestingly, more than three quarters of the African American adolescent smokers reported marijuana use before tobacco use. Anecdotal reports have suggested that this practice exists among youth. It is possible that marijuana is more readily accessible to African American than European American teens (SAMHSA, 2001), especially with the increased use of "blunts" (gutted cigars filled with marijuana) in African American communities (Ford, Hong, & Anthony, 2002). The family and peer group have been identified as two of the most important elements in understanding adolescent marijuana use. While the results are not unequivocal, research has largely demonstrated that associating with peers who use illicit substances is one of the strongest predictors of adolescent marijuana use. Parental influences have also been found to be significant predictors of teen alcohol, tobacco, and drug use, including the nature of parental supervision and monitoring, the quality of parental-child attachment, and the history of parental substance use. "It is not clear how early use of marijuana might be related to later substance problems. Although this study suggests that genetic and environmental factors alone cannot explain the risk, Lynskey and Heath say those factors clearly play some role. They believe it also is likely that people who use marijuana at a young age may be more likely to be involved in a lifestyle that will put them at increased risk for a whol e range of problems." (Lynskey & Heath, 2003) "There is something about tobacco that if parents smoke, their kids are more likely to smoke. It may be that parents who smoke might leave cigarettes around where their children can see and get to them. Parents may not leave marijuana and alcohol around in the same way." (www.emaxhealth.com) In addition to the direct associations that peer and parenting factors have with adolescent marijuana use, recent research has explored whether there exist mediating or moderating effects between the two sets of factors. Indeed, some evidence exists that controlling for peer use does mediate the association between adolescent peer use and related family process variables, such as parental attachment, discipline, and supervision. Some have interpreted this mediation effect as evidence that peer influences are part of an intervening chain of relations that stem from differences in family processes (e.g., supervision, discipline, parental attachment), which ultimately increase the risk of adolescen t marijuana use. In fact, some research suggests that the quality of parenting predicts the level of exposure to delinquent friends the stronger the quality of parenting, the less likely the teen is to have access to deviant peers or to select them as friends. "In general, the marijuana-users were more behaviorally deviant, less involved with school and had friends their parents didn't like, the researchers found". (Anita, 2006) Indeed, the prevailing explanations of how and why family structure is associated with adolescent marijuana use reinforce the notion that family structure

What is a good parent Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

What is a good parent - Essay Example Children need to be loved unconditionally by their parents so that they do not look for love outside home. Children who are brought up in harsh environment can end up having violent and hostile behavior. A good parent should make sure that the health of their children is in good condition. Children should be provided with nutritious food and exercise to maintain excellent physical status. Children also should be taught healthy eating habits to ensure that they do not end up ruining their health with bad foods. An ideal parent also should ensure the safety of their children by introducing them with clean and safe habits. Parents should also allow considerable freedom to their children, so that they do not feel pressured or forced in to things. Normally children consider their parents as their role model and absorb their habits and living pattern. So it is very essential for parents to exhibit right behavior in front of their growing children. Parents should always show concern and interest for their children and involve in their life extensively .Parents should not be too strict with children; they need to feel comfort in approaching parents at any case. Parents should also give due respect to the privacy of their growing up children. A good parent also is a good friend to their children. A child should be able to share their problems with their parents and this is possible only if parents love, affectionate and understanding. Parents should not argue or hold fights in front of their children as it could lead to mental stress among children. Parents should also be careful to avoid favoritism among children as this can lead to revenge and grudge among siblings. It is important to be fair and just to children in order to avoid contempt and discomfort in the mind of a child. Parents should not give away too much financial allowance to children as they can end up indulging in

Software Development Life Cycle Models and Design Techniques Essay

Software Development Life Cycle Models and Design Techniques - Essay Example Let us take a look at the contemporary models being used by the software industry. This is the first derivative of the classic Software Development Life Cycle model which goes through the processes of requirement capturing and analysis, System Analysis and Design, Code Generation, testing and maintenance. Water fall model (Royce,1970) differs from the sequential software development life cycle in inserting iteration at the end of every phase to reduce large iterations over several phases which could turn out to be costly exercises. It also provides for a validation at the end of every phase output, defining the deliverables at the end of every phase. In this process, incremental development was introduced for both requirement capturing and for development, along with a clear validation at the end of every phase made this process more successful than the sequential SDLC. Software projects more controllable. This model, though under use in various unofficial forms across the developing community, became a standard process in 1991. (Pomberger,1991). The phased model that was introduced in the waterfall model was seen more as an iterative possibility. At the end of every phase, a prototype was made and shown to the customer. ... During this methodology, experiments are conducted on the prototype at every iteration to check the effectiveness of the prototype for various functionalities expected out of the system. This way when the customer receives the software, he is very satisfied. 4.0 Object Oriented Life Cycle Model In this model, we do not train our eyes on the functionalities of the software needed, rather on the objects that we have and we can construct. After the requirement analysis, which is very similar to the other models discussed earlier, the objects are identified and development is taken up for those objects that need to be done fresh. Others that could be inherited, are taken from the earlier objects already existing. Advantages of this life cycle is that, since it inherits and reuses many of the objects already existing, the development cycle time should be coming down. By the same measure, it should also bring down the time to test, the time to maintain and the time to make changes in the software. Primarily, this model postulates reusability of objects and classes within programs / projects and across programs / projects2. Clubbing with the prototyping model, most of the common object models use prototyping of individual classes / objects with their performances resulting in easy spotting of errors and inconsistencies early on. Error fixing and modifications are much more easily understood and presented under such conditions resulting in easier fixes. 5.0 Design Techniques Derr (1995) is the first major proponent of the object model that follows the following steps to reach design solutions: 1. A Problem Statement 2. Identify object classes and their attributes 3. Discard unnecessary classes and attributes 4. Inherit

What is a good parent Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

What is a good parent - Essay Example Children need to be loved unconditionally by their parents so that they do not look for love outside home. Children who are brought up in harsh environment can end up having violent and hostile behavior. A good parent should make sure that the health of their children is in good condition. Children should be provided with nutritious food and exercise to maintain excellent physical status. Children also should be taught healthy eating habits to ensure that they do not end up ruining their health with bad foods. An ideal parent also should ensure the safety of their children by introducing them with clean and safe habits. Parents should also allow considerable freedom to their children, so that they do not feel pressured or forced in to things. Normally children consider their parents as their role model and absorb their habits and living pattern. So it is very essential for parents to exhibit right behavior in front of their growing children. Parents should always show concern and interest for their children and involve in their life extensively .Parents should not be too strict with children; they need to feel comfort in approaching parents at any case. Parents should also give due respect to the privacy of their growing up children. A good parent also is a good friend to their children. A child should be able to share their problems with their parents and this is possible only if parents love, affectionate and understanding. Parents should not argue or hold fights in front of their children as it could lead to mental stress among children. Parents should also be careful to avoid favoritism among children as this can lead to revenge and grudge among siblings. It is important to be fair and just to children in order to avoid contempt and discomfort in the mind of a child. Parents should not give away too much financial allowance to children as they can end up indulging in

Coca cola Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Coca cola - Essay Example John Pemberton died within two years of invention and the brand was then purchased by Asa Candler in 1889. The beverage was initially sold at 5 cents for each glass in Jacob’s Pharmacy. The company expanded its operations mostly within 1900 to 1920. The marketing strategy of Asa Griggs Candler has helped the product to lead the market of soft drinks all throughout the twentieth century (â€Å"The Chronicle of Coca-Cola: The Candler Era†). The Coca Cola Company manufactures concentrated coca cola or coke. This concentrated product is sold to all the licensed bottlers of Coca Cola who sell these products all over the world (â€Å"Overview†). The bottlers have territorial contract with Coca Cola Company and they produce the finished products of the company in bottles or cans from their initial concentrated state and then sell them all over the world. Occasionally there are other cola drinks available which are sold under the same brand name of ‘Coca Colaâ€⠄¢. The most common drinks in this form are Caffeine free Coca Cola, Coca Cola Cherry, Diet Coke Caffeine free, etc. The Coca Cola brand has been ranked as the most valuable brand in the world on the basis of Interbrand’s best global brand in the year 2011. ... Moreover, the reason behind choosing coca cola is its unique taste and saltiness (â€Å"Family, Food and Coca Cola†). However, presently it has been seen that the customer preferences towards non alcoholic drinks like Coca Cola is changing because of the increasing health concerns, demand of other alcoholic competitive products in the market and changes in the life style of the consumers (â€Å"The Five Mega-Trends Shaping Tomorrow's Customers†). The five mega trends of the customer’s preferences would be driving the beverage industry. They are: mass urbanization, aging population; rise of the middle class globally, changing technology and concern of people related to sustainable society (â€Å"COKE CEO: These Five Consumer Mega Trends Are Changing the World†). Among all top beverage producing companies PepsiCo is having huge demand among the consumers. Thus, Coca Cola faces high competition from PepsiCo. There has been increasing demand of Coke Zero produ ct of the Coca Cola Company in the market in order to satisfy the health conscious customers (â€Å"How Coca Cola Keeps Up with Shifting Consumers Demands†). This product is found to have higher penetration in the market because of men rather than women. However, it has also been found that the college students have great affinity towards varieties of Coke like Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Coca Cola Classic. The next portion of the study would be conducting a primary open ended survey by means of an interview of the potential customers of the brand ‘Coca Cola’. The customers who were focused while conducting the research belonged to the young age group. Primary Research Do you think that packaging, taste and calories are three important

Firoozeh Dumas Essay Example for Free

Firoozeh Dumas Essay To deny someone and education is not just a crime but a sin, because you are denying that person the opportunity to realize who he or she is meant to be. This quote represents Firoozeh Dumass view on learning and becoming the person that she is today. Through her hardships, struggles, good times and the bad times, she has matured and learned a great deal. In the autobiography Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas, the themes or clashing cultures, new environments, and learning through experience comes into play. The story begins as Firoozeh moves with her family to the United States in 1972, as a seven-year-old. From the moment her airplane lands, she starts to see differences; not only in the geography of the land and the appearance of the people, but the look of the whole place. She is used to bustling cities in Iran, crowded with enthusiastic workers, shoppers, and people socializing. In contrast, her new neighborhood in America seemed fairly unexciting; she describes it as uniformed houses, all the lawns in perfect order, as if everything was constantly being maintained to achieve the ideal look. But little did she know that this was only the beginning of differences. Entering a new school would open a whole other orbit of biculturalism. As she enters school, she sees everyone; completely different looking from her, and all of them fluent in English. Curious classmates peered around her desk, examining her from head to toe trying to figure out who she is; what type of creature she is and where she comes from. To make things even worse, Firoozeh’s mother decides to attend school with her, to learn proper English. This leads to ultimate humiliation for Firoozeh. Not only is she an immigrant student, but an immigrant student with her mother in elementary school with her. Students constantly ask her where she comes from, as if shes an alien of some sort. She slowly learns to respond by saying You know, the country where Persian cats come from. She hopes to one day learn English properly so she can fit in and communicate with her fellow students. Her first day is completely confusing as she tries to embrace all that is happening around her. On the way home, the bus driver drops Firoozeh and her mother a few blocks away from their house. Not so familiar with the location, they get further confused and cant recognize their own home. To them, the homes all look alike, and cant distinguish their own from the rest. These incidents represent the difficulties that Firoozeh goes through in her first couple of months in America. However, after a couple of months time, she learns more and more about the American culture and believes she is on her way to Americanization. During summer vacation, the family celebrates their first year completed in America by voyaging to Disneyland. Being a child, Firoozeh is completely star-struck and amazed by the tiny world created for the sole purpose of entertaining people. All her favorite Disney characters that she had only heard the names of in Iran were now walking amongst her in real life! Firoozeh wasnt the only one who enjoyed herself. Her father Kauzem described Walt Disney as a genius, a man whose vision allowed everyone, regardless of age, to relive the wonderment of childhood. (p. 17) Their lives in America seemed to be improving, until the Iranian Revolution ten years later. Firoozeh, now a seventeen year old, was again suffering from racism everywhere she went. People were now staring at her again, questioning her and calling her a terrorist, just because of what was happening in her country. The pain of not fitting in was now something she became accustomed to, and she decided to overcome it by further educating herself. She was thankful to have the opportunity to be educated, and she wanted to take advantage of her chance. Firoozeh spent high school learning French, until she got fluent in it. She was offered an opportunity to travel to Paris for two months because of her immense skill and fluency at the language. There, she again faces racism, where she is interviewed and labeled as a seventeen-year-old spy. She begins to ignore the racism around her, and advances in her studies. From education, she learns who she really is. The strength is now ingrained in her and she knows who she is: a young Iranian woman who has succeeded through many hardships. Nothing can stop her from learning, the main factor that helped her develop her personality. The main conflict she faces over and over again throughout the story is intense racism and not being able to fit in with every other American. By end, she realizes that by using education she can overcome all her struggles. Firoozeh Dumas ends up marrying a Frenchman who she meets in college, and they both live happily together. She realizes that her own encouragement and drive to study has brought her all the way to college, and finds her a perfect partner. As she said before, education is what helps a person realize what they are meant to be. In my opinion, the character goes through many hardships; and just as things begin to turn up, she again falls into another political conflict because of the Iranian Revolution. With these multiple problems she has to face, she realizes that one key factor can help her survive through it all: education. She knew that as long as she kept studying and taking advantage of the right of education, she will succeed; and she did. I think she dealt with her hardships perfectly and came out extremely strong at the end. This book is an ideal representation of an immigrant girl coming from Iran. It shows the perfect perspective of what someone like Firoozeh might think, and the problems they will face. It gives an opportunity for the reader to advance their knowledge on a new culture, to see an Iranian immigrant’s point of view. By adding some humor in the story, it becomes even more entertaining and interesting to learn about Firoozeh’s struggles. This book has given me an increased amount of respect for people who come from a different country. Firoozeh’s education helped her go extremely far and be successful in life, and I hope the same will happen to me because Im blessed with the right of education that Firoozeh describes.

Role of Music and Movement

Role of Music and Movement Young children learn through exploration, active participation and through imitation and as such, quality music programmes taught in the early childhood classrooms should incorporate five different characteristics according to McDonald and Simones, 1989 (cited in Isenberg Jalongo, 1997). Both stated that musical activities conducted should be developmentally appropriate and age appropriate for children and have a balance of both teacher planned and child initiated activities. Music programs conducted be pleasurable and support the development of positive attitudes and emotional responses in children as well as to instil in them lifelong love for music. They added that children should be exposed to a variety of musical activities that includes music appreciation -children be exposed to listening to different types music, singing and moving to music and to create music through the use of musical instruments. They further mentioned that children should learn to participate in a group with their peers and experience the pleasure of group music making. Both agree that music programme should be integrated as part of curriculum and children are allowed to experience music throughout the day and not just during the music time. Music should also be used during transitions from one activity to another. As in the Singaporean classroom, it is a requirement by the Ministry of Education that music programme be included as part of the curriculum. However music and movement activities conducted are seldom planned to include a variety of activities and most of the instances teachers conduct activities with just a CD player. Children are observed to be singing and moving to the song played. The essence of music programme that enhances childrens total developmental skills is not delivered due to the fact of teacher quality. Although the experts have stated that musical education does foster growth in childrens physical, cognitive, social and emotional development, this research will only focus on the social and emotional development through music. Music is part of the curriculum and it is indeed a great way to expose children through musical activities that include songs, musical games and rhythmic activities as the teaching tool to enhance childrens social skills. Singing simple songs enable children to absorb social values better than when they are being taught. If songs touch on values and principles, children will begin to incorporate them into their social development. Music activities also allows children to sing, dance and use certain gestures for certain parts of the song and these will also allow them to release social and emotional problems. Children are constantly experiencing new emotions and situations as they grow and each new experience contributes to their social development. As stated by Forsyth ,1977 ; Madsen Alley, 1979 ; Sim,1986 ; Standley Hughes,1996 ( cited in Forsyth ,1977 ) researchers have documented the effective use of music to enhance childrens social skills especially when interventions and instructions involve the use of participatory activities. The question the researcher intends to find an answer for is derived from the above explanation on How does active participation in music and movement impact on childrens social and emotional skills According to the Collins dictionary, arts such as dance, music and drama that are performed live in front of an audience is referred to as performing arts. Performing as mentioned by Wright (2003 p.107) includes the physical or bodily competence and interpretation providing a foundation for childrens learning using a range of movement techniques. Performing will involve the participant being observed by caregivers, peers and teachers in the classroom context. Role of Music and Movement in the development of social emotional skills Bruner (1968) (cited in Isenberg Jalongo, 1997) states that as children grow, they go through three learning stages The enactive stage This is an action based stage where children develop the ability to use objects in the environment to perform physical tasks using their motor skills for example , children playing a musical instrument and moving to the beat. The iconic stage the visual imagery stage where children are able to imagine events and actions through visual memory. This stage takes place when children role play at the dramatic corner or during a drama performance as they take on imaginative roles that they have seen The symbolic stage- children are able to use ideas, symbols and language to understand and define concepts. For example, children working as a group in planning for a drama performance, children will need to use their creative ideas to plan, identify the characters, symbol image for each character and the language to dictate the drama. Bruner (1962) (cited in Isenberg Jalongo, 1997) adds that each of these stages suggests developmentally appropriate musical experience for children. Isenberg Jalongo, 1997 adds that Bruners enactive stage relates to Piagets (1952) sensorimotor stage and Eriksons (1950) trust building stage where physical activity and music are intertwined. Thus musical activities stimulate childrens senses, cognitive development and also build social relationships. Bruner and Piaget believed that children used their senses to learn and explore their environment while Erikson stressed that children needed maximum comfort to trust themselves and the others in order for them to explore and learn in the environment. All these stages are inter-related to enhance childrens total development. Music, according to Gardner, 1973 ( cited in Isenberg Jalongo, 1997) contributes to the childs physical, intellectual, emotional, social , cultural and aesthetics development. As stated by McAllester, 1991 (cited in Isenberg Jalongo, 1997 p. 131) music encourages participation, sharing and cooperation. Through musical activities such as singing and games, children learn to subordinate their individual wishes to the goals of the group which is the essence of cooperation. Music is an effective program for children to adapt to social skills in a fun and enjoyable way. Leonhard, 1983 (cited in Lau, n.d.) regards music as a social art which has the capacity to unite social groups and enable each individual to feel as part of the group. While Spodek, Saracho and Lee, 1983 (cited in Lau, n.d. ) further emphasized that music has the ability to draw the shy and withdrawn child to come closer with their peers thus supporting social relationships. A shy child who does not interact with her peers verbally, will be able to engage in a music and movement activity where she physically gets closer to her peers during the activity especially when it involves pairing with partners or in a group. Catron Allen, (2003) stated that young children must learn to cooperate with peers and act in a socially responsible manner so that they would develop a cooperation spirit through participating in a variety of small group activities. Social and Emotional Development in Children Social and emotional development according to Cohen and other experts as (cited in Social Emotional Development domain Child Development, 2009) includes the ability of a child to express and manage his emotions as well as his ability to build positive relationships with others. They shared the same view as Howard Gardners theory of multiple intelligence on intrapersonal and interpersonal processes and presented a strong relationship between knowing of ones feelings and the feelings of others. Gardner believed that if both these abilities are well developed in young children, it will strengthen their sense of self and the relationship with others (Cited in Dowling, 2005 p.61). On the other hand, Nowicki Duke, 1989 (cited in Dowling, 2005) supported Gardner, as they found that children who are sensitive to others and aware of their own feelings appeared to achieve better in school than those with similar intellectual ability but less emotional ability. Social Skills and Social Competence Social skills can be defined as the ability to implement developmentally appropriate social behaviours that enhanced ones interpersonal relationship without causing harm to anyone (Schneider, 1993 p.19). It is necessary for children to respect one another and to build healthy social skills to develop positive relationship with people around them. As stated in Jean Piagets theory, social development takes place through interaction between the child and the environment and that the developing child constructs his own knowledge. An example of this is when a child is engaged in the learning centre, he is learning through exploration using his senses as well as interacting with the materials in the environment. On the other hand, Vygotsky viewed socialisation as two fold firstly, cognition as related to social engagement and secondly language as a tool for communication within the social context (cited in Berk, 2000). When children are engaged in dramatic play both language and social relationship is enhanced. As such, social skills play a vital role in helping children cope with the many complexities and demands of the world. According to Jalongo (2006), social competence is defined as a set of abilities, behaviours and responses directed towards other individuals that serve to foster positive human relationships. Katz and McClellen (1997) suggested that components of social skills include social understanding and interaction skills. It is important for the child to portray good behaviour and effective communication with others to engage in healthy relationship. Role of Performing Arts in the Development of Social Emotional Skills Pinciotti (1993) mentioned that children learn from their experiences when they are engaged in social activities. Cornett (1999) further supports the need for teachers to integrate creative drama in the classroom as she states that drama being a part of everyday life, prepares an individual to connect to real life situations. Cornett (1999) adds that when children are participating in the drama, they are able to look at problems from different points of view, respect diverse thinking and realise that there are many ways to settle one problem. She further states that through drama, children learn to exchange feelings and emotions with each other. This enhances their personality development. Cornett (1999) also states that personal development takes place when children control their body and words as they express ideas and feelings during the drama activities. She also indicated that positive self image and confidence are developed through the problem solving situations. Cornett (1999) reiterates that children engaging in situational confrontations during their role play, also become aware of the different emotions people feel for example happiness, sadness .anger, fear. She adds that the children learn that these feelings can be dealt in a positive way and they also learn to accept different temperaments portrayed by their peers thus developing a tolerance towards them. Isbell Raines (2007), agree that social skills can be developed in drama as children working in group overcome difficulties through problem solving skills. They experience working with peers as they negotiate plans to stage the drama. During interactions, children learn to negotiate with each other, work cooperatively and develop respect for each other. As mentioned earlier, Bruner (1968) stated that children use ideas, symbols and language Children are able to use ideas, symbols and language to understand and define concepts when they are in the symbolic stage, thus musical re-enactment of story songs would be an appropriate musical activity for young children. Teachers role in enhancing social skills development According to Raikes, 1996 (cited in Preusse, 2008) secure attachment bonds between the child and caregiver creates a sense of trust that supports the child for exploration of the world and builds a strong base for future development. As such, it is rather important for teachers to build strong relationship with children under their care. On the other hand , Berk, 2002 ( cited in Preusse , 2008 ) mentioned that preschool children are independent, cooperative as they gain their language skills , self awareness and to think in another persons point of view. All these will enable children to have better social interaction with their peers. It is the teachers role to facilitate and provide the opportunities and activities to enhance childrens social skills. Teacher parent partnership is another important factor in enhancing childrens social skills as stated by Webster- Stratton (2006 p. 6) family involvement has positive effects on childrens academic achievement, social competence and school quality. On the other hand, Brand Fernie, 1983 (cited in Isenberg Jalongo 1997, p.145) stated that teachers fulfil their musical roles and responsibilities when they function as motivators, planners, co participants and observers. As a motivator, the teacher uses an object or a story to introduce the music activity to interests and motivate childrens participation. For example, to sing old Macdonald had a farm a teacher would prepare headgears of farm animals and have children pretend to be animals and involve them to make the animal sounds when they are called. A teacher planner looks into preparation of the music activity identifying the purpose, providing a variety of activities like playing instruments, moving to music and has materials that are required prepared before the lesson and ensures that children are spaced and seated comfortably for the musical activity. An observer looks out for childrens behaviour during their participation in order for her to plan activities according to childrens needs and development as well as evaluate the positive or negative responses of the activity. Teachers attitude and belief plays an important role in providing these opportunities for children to enhance their social emotional skills. Further, teachers also need to be trained in order to carry out the various arts activities. They must have the knowledge to observe children and to identify and plan according to childrens needs in order to enhance their social emotional development. Conclusion Prosocial behaviour is part and parcel of happening in an individuals life context. Building a strong foundation in social emotional skills during the early childhood years is crucial to a childs social emotional behaviour to achieve better in school and succeed in later life. Music and drama are one of the strategies that can help develop good social and emotional skills .As researchers strongly believe that musical activities and drama have enabled children better exposure and experience in developing cooperation, acceptance, tolerance, confidence, positive relationship and social interaction all of which are foundation skills of social emotional development in children. Finally, as Gardner believed when intrapersonal and interpersonal processes are well developed in children it will enable them to build strong and positive relationship with people around them as well as enhances their self confidence. As my findings have shown the role of the teacher as a facilitator of childrens social and emotional development of is important as it enhances the growth of prosocial skills through music education, this research will seek to employ teacher planned activities to collect the data needed to form a conclusion that music education does foster childrens social and emotional growth.

Book Review On Grapes Of Wrath :: essays research papers

A Critical Review of: John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck wrote this book in the hopes that people would be able to see what was happening to our nation’s people. He wanted to open their eyes to see the hardships that migrants faced everyday and he accomplished this through the telling of the Joad’s family story. Starting with the day that their ex-convict son comes home on parole, the lives of the Joad’s never really go back to normal. After being evicted from their property by the bank, the whole family packs up and goes the only way they can…West. Their plight involves beginning a new life by casting away the methods of the past and being able to endure the misfortunes that life throws at them. Of course their progress is hampered by an unreliable truck and by the “quest for the dollar'; that all migrants had. Through their journey to find work and settle down, the Joad’s encounter many calamities that test their relationship as a family and their own limits as individuals. As in real li fe, not everyone succeeds with his or her goals, and this story of hardship is no different. In the beginning of the book we get an early look at Steinbeck’s ideals when Muley Graves says,“…if a fella’s got somepin to eat an’ another fella’s hungry—why, the first fella ain’t got no choice.'; This is something that was very true back in the past and something that most people lived by. Families could not see people starve to death when they had food to eat themselves. Although they might be starting a new life, the ideals don’t change because that is what makes an individual unique. Uncle John Joad said, “Go down an’ tell ‘em. Go down in the street an’ rot an’ tell ‘em that way.'; Steinbeck’s writing style, as always, is rich with colorful language and sensual images. His pages are filled with lines such as, “The dust-filled air muffled sound more completely than fog does,'; and all sorts of literary elements from similes to personifications. There is one thing that a reader will never get with The Grapes of Wrath and that is bored because of how descriptive the settings are. The passages of nature are especially vibrant and it would be those that you could imagine very easily because of the picture he paints. The dialogue of the book is unique in that it is written the way it was spoken in the past.

Trafficking Essay -- Legal Issues, Human Trafficking

Human trafficking has become a major problem worldwide which affects many people. An estimated 600-800 thousand people are moved unwillingly between international borders each year (Kristof, et al, pg. 10). There is an even larger number of 12.3 million people who are estimated to be forced to work in agriculture, manufacturing, and the sex trade (Shepherd, pg. 94). A majority of the people forced into labor, especially into the sex trade, are children, most of which are women, at an estimated 1 million children per year (Kristof, pg. 9). There is a large amount of violence and abuse involved in sex slavery, many times leading to death. Globalization seems to have played a major role in the rise of sex slavery and the sex trade but has also played major roles in efforts to stop it. There has been speculation that the way that human trafficking has been constructed over time is a major problem in the scheme of trafficking. Barbara Sullivan writes that as the debate over trafficking evolved â€Å"women were seen to have a 'vulnerable sexuality' that was readily exploited by men; trafficking always involved prostitution and women's consent was irrelevant† (Shepherd, pg. 91). She argues that this shaping of the issue has also â€Å"erased the possibility of women being active agents in their own lives, for example by migrating to undertake lucrative paid work in the sex trade.† She continues in her writing to attribute these same problems to the way that anti-trafficking agencies present the issue as well. This viewpoint and argument is irrelevant to the issue and the construction of trafficking has much less of an effect on women's rights than the problem itself. Prostitution in itself, even if willing, involves a person sell... ...any have a hard time once released (Kristof, pg. 35-45). If girls in regions like Cambodia become educated they are more likely to be employed and are more likely to eventually be able to escape the lower status of being a poor woman. Since poor people have fewer chances at income and education in poor countries and are less likely to fight back against oppressive conditions, they are preyed upon by human traffickers (Shepherd, pg. 95). Since both of these things are true of women as well they have a double strike against them and are even more likely to be preyed upon. Even though globalization played a major role in the increase of human trafficking by making it easier for people to move from one place to another it also has played a role in allowing people who are more well off to assist those who do not have the resources or the freedoms to help themselves.

History of Napkin Folding

History of Napkin Napkins have been in used from the times of ancient Roman Empire and prior to them, in ancient Greece. References to word napkin  dates back to 1384 AD. Spartans from ancient Greece (around 4th century BC)are known to have used bread slices made from a lump of dough as napkins to wipe their hands and it is possible that they ate these bread napkins after use. The ancient Romans (first to 5th century AD) are known to have used cloth napkins (called Mappa) to protect from food spill and wipe mouth. The guests brought their own napkins and carried away left-over delicacies in their Mappa.With the fall of Roman Empire, napkins disappeared from the dining table. Napkins returned to adorn the dining table many centuries later and the classic painting  Last Supper  from 1464-1467 AD by Dieric Bouts depicts the use of Napkins on the dinner table. By 16th century, napkins were part of rich dining experience and came in many sizes, known by various names like diaper, se rviette, touaille (for towel) depending on the size and intended use. 17th century saw the use of big sized napkins measuring 35inches by 45 inches to help accommodate the needs of eating with bare hands instead of spoon/forks.The size reduced when forks and spoons were accepted as part of regular dining experience in major parts of Europe in the 18th century including Great Britain. The 17th century also saw French come up with elaborate rules for nobility class which included instructions on napkin usage, a predecessor to modern day napkin etiquette, including the one which instructs the guests to not use the napkin for wiping the face or clean teeth or worse, rub nose. Asians – Japanese, Thai, Chinese and Indians have not been using napkins during the meal.While Indians are known to use bare hands for meal and rely on water to wash their hands before and after each meal, Chinese and Japanese use those magical chopsticks which seem to pick up everything they eat, keeping th eir hands clean and stain free. Types of Napkins Napkins are made of paper or cloth that is made of cotton or linen. Clothes are quite popular in formal dining while fast foods and certain restaurants too tend to serve paper napkins. Big occasions like weddings often go for paper napkins since sheer number of guests attending the wedding makes cloth napkins less practical.In general, cloth napkins are usually the choice for those who care for ambience and the environment. To me, cloth napkins are environment friendly while exuding a feeling of luxury. Paper Napkin with Monograms It is often possible to have paper napkins ordered for marriages (and other special meal occasions) with names or initials of the bride and bridegroom embossed on the napkin. Customers are given the option of having custom colors, custom patterns, custom monograms imprinted on the napkin. The size of napkin provided at table varies from occasion and place of dining.Smaller size napkins of about 5 inches x 5 inches are used when serving drinks or starters/appetizers or snacks. For lunch, larger sized napkins measuring about 14 inches to 20 inches square size are provided. Napkins supplied for dinner are even bigger, often of size 20 inches to 22 inches square. The idea is to increase the size of the napkin as the quantity of food/drinks served/consumed increases. This helps take care of the increased risk of spillage with increasing quantity of food and drinks. As a host, when providing napkins to your guests or customers, you need a achieve a good balance of size and utility of the napkins.Napkins which are too big in size for the purpose can only increase laundry load for little or no soil/spills on the napkins. Napkins are made of cotton or linen or linen-cotton mix, although it is possible that a few napkins are made of other materials like synthetic or silk. They come in variety of colors although white seems to be the most popular choice of color. I prefer white napkins over other s since it is easy to detect stains early with white napkins. Restaurant set with White Napkins I often see white napkins being used in restaurants.White conveys cleanliness since it is easy for guests/customers to see the care you have taken to ensure the napkin is clean, fresh and washed. Often napkins and table cloths are sold together as a set to form one matching set of clothes adorning the dining table. Napkin Folding Aside from being conscious about color, size and texture of the napkin used for dining, discerning hosts who care for ambience often go for various  napkin folds  that help the guests feel very welcome, convey a feeling that you value their company, that you are willing to go the extra mile to make the occasion a happy one.A great napkin fold adds to the setting. Some of the folds can be so creative and nice that it is difficult for us to make up our mind to unfold them during the start of the meal. This site has a number of napkin folds which will provide fo r a warm, friendly environment at lunch/dinner time. A few are easy yet elegant while others could require a little more time and skill. Pyramid Napkin Fold Some are more formal while others are pretty casual ones. Some of the folds take just a few minutes of your time and even those who have never folded before can do them relatively quickly.Start with the easy ones and then move on to more difficult folds. Some of these folds require stiff clothing or starching while ironing or washing. Try out multiple folds to see which ones you like or prefer. Apart from the many popular napkin folds listed here, you may find it useful to visit a resource dedicated to paper folding Origami for more ideas on how to fold napkins. If you plan to try out complicated Origami folds, be mindful of the fact that an elegant napkin fold on a lunch/dinner table is less about demonstrating your mind skills than it is about setting the mood for a hearty meal.In other words, do not overdo napkin folding. His tory * Creative napkin folding may have started during the reign of Louis XIV, when people decided to present napkins as an art form. However, napkin folding really took off around the turn of the last century. Function * A creatively folded napkin can make the simplest meal classier, and dinner guests are always impressed by an artfully folded napkin resting at their table setting. * Straight Vinyl SkirtingVinyl with velcro hook designed to drape over the foam edge to floor. www. tiffinmats. com Significance * The art of napery folding has been compared to origami, and many different types of three-dimensional figures may be produced. Types * You can learn to fold napkins into pyramids, pockets for flatware, flowers, hats, fans, slippers and various animals. Considerations * The best type of cloth napkin to use for napkin folding is crisp linen, as it holds its shape better than other types of cloth

The Dark Side of Energy Drinks

The dark side of energy drinks General purpose: to persuade Organizational outline method or pattern: problem/solution INTRODUCTION Attention getter: Ever since Red Bull came on to the market in 1997, there's been an explosion in caffeinated energy drinks. Some are marketed as food and others as dietary supplements. But there's little guidance for the consumer on how much caffeine is in them. Specific purpose: The specific purpose of my speech is to persuade you to take a stand against energy drinks due to the negative effect it may cause on your body.Listener relevance link: Each of us should care about this because to many people are unaware of the ingredient that are present in these drinks and the consequences they may cause. Establish speaker credibility and goodwill: I have knowledge through experience and research. Preview of main points: Today, I will talk to you about the problem of energy drinks and how we can solve them. Transition statement: But first, let’s talk a bout some of the problems BODY I. Anyone who is considering boosting their energy is at risk while using an energy drink. A.A story in the New York Times noted that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received reports of 13 deaths linked to an energy drink essay writer vancouver. The drinks contain about 215 milligrams of caffeine, more than enough, health specialists say, to sicken children and some adults, and even send some of them to the hospital how to type a essay. B. Concerns over the potentially harmful effects of energy drinks, especially when they’re combined with alcohol, have been growing in recent years. Research suggests that individuals can develop caffeine dependence and may experience withdrawal when caffeine onsumption decreases. The caffeine in energy drinks increases heart rates, which over time can increase your chances of stroke and heart disease. C. In a 2011 study, about 1,100 college students have been combining alcohol and energy drinks which can be very dangerous. Although it does not â€Å"counteract† the sedating effects of alcohol, there is a concern that mixing alcohol and energy drinks may keep people awake for a longer period of time, allowing them to consume more alcohol than they ordinarily would.D. Energy drinks have a lot of stimulants in them like ginseng and taurine, while alcohol is a depressant. So by mixing the two you're sending mixed messages to your nervous system which can cause cardiac related problems or even death. Transition statement: Now I would like to talk about some effective solutions for energy drinks and the problem it may cause. II. There are several was to help reduce energy drinks related risks A. Study the ingredients of any drink before purchasing.Know which of these ingredients are likely to pose risk to your health. Learn the level recommended for consumption. Regulate one’s consumption to reduce addiction and do not mix with alcohol. B. Once we are aware of the ingred ients contained in energy drinks and the side effects resulting from their consumption, we can make a concerted effort to limit accessibility to these drinks. C. We as adults should become proactive. Knowledge is power and alerting each other and our teens to the potential danger of these beverages is vital.CONCLUSION Specific purpose restatement: The purpose of my speech was to persuade you to create awareness about the potential dangers associated with the consumption of energy drinks. Main point summary: I have spoken to you about some of the problems and solution to persuade you to think twice before consuming energy drinks. Clincher: Red bull can really give you, â€Å"your wings. † REFERENCES Meier, Barry. â€Å"More Than a Case of the Jitters. † New York Times 24 Oct. 2012: B1(L). Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context.