Hyperconsumerism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

Hyperconsumerism - Essay Example The basic theory of consumption in economics stresses that human beings consumes a commodity because it provides some utility or satisfaction to the consumer. For example, the hunger of a man is satisfied by the food he eats; the man who is shivering in the cold gains utility from a blanket; someone who feels thirsty satisfies that thirst by drinking water. Utility theory argues that, as more a commodity is consumed, less extra satisfaction is derived from consuming one additional unit of that commodity. Therefore, when the desire for one commodity is fulfilled, one feels the desire to have some other commodities. For example, economists say that the basic three needs are food, clothing, and shelter. Once these requirements are fulfilled, the next important areas are health and education. If these further needs are fulfilled, then the person will wish to expand his set of consumed goods, moving further beyond necessities towards luxuries. From these basic patterns, the behavior called consumerism emerges.. The present era is often termed the age of the consumerist society. All over the globe, we find the expansion of consumer goods industries ranging from fast-marketed consumer foods to durable consumer goods, and from daily household commodities to luxurious items.. In many countries there is a rapid expansion of consumer markets. ... The companies use different devices to make people interested. Hence, all over the world we can find an accelerating trend of consumerism, which is often termed hyper-consumerism. This trend results in the unquenchable desire to have more and more goods for one's own use or pleasure. In this paper, we are not much concerned about the definition of hyper-consumerism, nor are we interested in discussing the emergence of consumerism in general. The main theme discussed here is the answer to the question: 'Does hyper-consumerism increases the happiness of consumers, or it is a factor which increases unhappiness'. The history of consumerism has been described effectively by Sassatelli (2007) in his book Consumer Culture: History Theory and Politics. The book is a good synchronization of history and sociology. It is a historical review of how consumerism emerged from mercantilism to modern capitalism through the path of the neoclassical economic theories. The nature and growth of consumer culture are well explained in this book. The role of the neoclassical school of economics, the essence of which is the free operation of markets to promote a well-functioning market-oriented system, is explained. This book provides the history of the consumer-oriented culture all over the world. The roles of economic theories and social and economic institutions are well addressed. The focus is on the combination of historic, institutional, political, social, and economic factors which transformed mercantilism into modern capitalism. The existing cultures of societies have also played a crucial role in promoting the modern type of consumerist society. Moreover, the role of political factors which underlie the emergence of modern materialism is evident from the

Women in Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Women in Psychology - Essay Example Karen Horney maintained additional views of children and the onset of anxiety, granting her respect in the psychological community. This project describes the background of Karen Horney and highlights her many contributions to psychology. Karen Horney (1885-1952) grew up in Hamburg, Germany to more affluent, upper-middle-class parents with a Protestant background. Horney’s father was a deeply religious man and a ship captain while her mother was a more liberal thinker who promoted Horney to succeed in medical school (Smith, 2007). This was during a period in the early 20th Century when women had not yet achieved the right to vote, making Horney’s arrival in medical school in 1906 a monumental event, especially with her focus on studying Freud’s viewpoints on psychoanalysis (Eckardt, 2005). In the 1920’s, Horney began to challenge Freud’s viewpoint on masculinity and femininity, especially in areas of sexual development and sexual instinct. She began to criticize Freud’s perspective in which he believed that women felt inferior to men because they did not have a penis (Eckardt). Horney felt that this was a very one-sided perspective, riddled with masculine narcissism, which consistently created bias against women during psychoanalysis. Over time, Horney redeveloped Freud’s view on feminine sexuality and created a new template by which women are assessed: One in which the absence of a penis no longer became the perceived foundation of women’s troubles. In a sense, based on the women’s suffrage movements occurring during this time period, Horney managed to liberate women when being analyzed for psychological study as more than merely the product of masculine envy. Sigmund Freud laid the foundation for many of the views of the time regarding anxiety and the development of positive personality traits. Over the years, Karen Horney redeveloped the view of anxiety by suggesting that anxiety is not

Technology of MRI Scanners

Technology of MRI Scanners INTRODUCTION Magnetic Instrumentations are the hardware in the system component of MRI that very significant in the production of Magnetic Resonance (MR) images. It act together with the software program such as pulse sequence and image formation program to complete the process including nuclear alignment, Radio Frequency (RF) excitation, spatial encoding and image formation. The example of hardware in MR imaging are magnet, RF source, magnetic field gradient system, computer system, and image processor. MRI INSTRUMENTATION 1. Define gauss, tesla, and electromagnetic spectrum: 1.1 Gauss Gauss (G) is the older unit of flux density or the unit of low magnetic field strength. 1 Gauss can be define as 1 line or flux per cm2 (Willis, 2009). 1.2 Tesla Tesla unit is the preferred SI unit in larger magnetic field and it can be define as the field strength of 1 Weber per m2. 1 Tesla is equal to 10 000 Gauss (Willis, 2009). 1.3 Electromagnetic spectrum Electromagnetic spectrum is a continuum of all electromagnetic waves or energy arrange according to frequency and wavelength. In MRI, radiofrequency (RF) refers to that portion electromagnetic spectrum which can be generated by alternating current fed to an antenna (Hardiman, 2005). 2. Define paramagnetic, Diamagnetic and Super magnetic: 2.1 Paramagnetic Paramagnetic material such as Ferum, Magnesium and Gadolinium have unpaired electron resulting in positive magnetic susceptibility which induced small magnetic momen. Paramagnetic ion induced large fluctuating magnetic field in external magnetic field. Commonly, Gadolinium (Gd) is used as a MR contrast agent (Ballinger, 1998). 2.2 Diamagnetic Diamagnetic materials have paired electrons such as water, wood, glass, and gold which show no net magnetic moment with the absent of magnetic field. Non magnetic material quickly repels the field when placed in magnetic field, resulting in small negative magnetic susceptibility which contribute to the loss of signal in MRI (Ballinger, 1998). 2.3 Super magnetic Superparamagnetic materials such as iron oxide can be used as t2* as it has magnetic susceptibility slightly higher than paramagnetic (low positive) and lower than ferromagnetic material (high positive). It causes large magnetic moment in the presence of external magnetic field but no remnant magnetic moments when the field is zero (Ballinger, 1998). 3. Describe 3 types of magnet and give advantages and disadvantages of each: 3.1 Superconducting magnet Superconducting magnet have high field strength up to 3.0 T in clinical scanner while 9.4 T in research facility. It is also high in field homogeneity over largest volume. As it provide high field strength, it cause high signal to noise ratio and also fast scanning. It gives low power consumption as it always produce a magnetic field and electric current without primary source (Blink, 2004). Superconducting magnet is high in capital cost and cryogenic cost. It also produces acoustic noise, motion artifact and technical complexity as susceptibility effect is increased when imaging moves to higher field strength (Blink, 2004). 3.2 Resistive magnet The resistive magnets commonly have open designs which make it light weight and overcome claustrophobia among the patient. It been shut off when not in used to conserve the power (Blink, 2004). However, it has limited field strength which below than 0.2 T and low overall volume of homogenous field. It needs high power consumption and has large fringe field (Blink, 2004). Water cooling is required because large amount of heat are generated to produce the magnetic field by an electromagnet (Wang, n.d). 3.3 Permanent magnet Permanent magnets have low power consumption and low operating cost. It also cause small fringe field and does not use cryogen (Wang, n.d). Permanent magnets have limited field strength which is below than 0.3T and give no quench possibility. It is quite heavy and may require reinforced flooring to site the system, particularly if the magnet is not located at ground level (Blink, 2004). 4. Discuss field strength in relation to image contrast: In general, image quality is based on contrast resolution and noise which influence by the field strength of magnet. High field strength provides more signal-to-noise ratio than low field strength. It allows fast imaging that reduces patient motion so that better spatial resolution and image contrast (Thomas Magee, 2003). 5. Discuss purpose of gradient in MRI: Mainly, the gradient is used to either dephase or rephase the magnetic moment of nuclei (Guang Cao, n.d). It also used for slice selection, gradient refocusing, gradient echoes, and gradient moment nulling. It also can spatially locating (encoding) signal along the long axis of the anatomy called Frequency Encoding as well as spatially locating (encoding) signal along the short axis of the anatomy called Phase Encoding (ASRT, 2008). 6. Discuss the purpose of cryogen: Cryogen is used in MRI to supercool the electrical conductor in superconductive magnet. It is because a quench cause a rapid loss of static magnetic field in MRI (Blink, 2004). So, the cryogen usually liquid helium and some liquid nitrogen is used to ensure the temperature as low as -269ËÅ ¡c (-452ËÅ ¡c) are achieve (C.L. Dennis, 2009). 7. Discuss the type and purpose of shielding and shimming: In MRI, RF shielding use copper shielding or Faraday cage to reduce the transmission of electric or magnetic fields from one space to another. Meanwhile, magnetic shielding used to reduce the level of RF radiation that enter or leaves the shielded room (Hipskind, 2009). Passive magnetic shielding use a steel plate while active magnetic shielding employ additional solenoid electromagnet to reduce the area affected by the fringe field (ETS.LINDGREN, 2009). Shimming is used to remove small inhomogeneities which present in the magnetic field (Z. Ren, 2009). It uses metal discs or plates in passive shimming to get magnetic field to a particular level of homogeneity and additional solenoid magnet in active shimming to optimize for each patient examination (D. Tomasi, 2009). 8. Discuss construction, use and selection of linear, quadrature, phase array, multichannel, transmits or receive coil and receive coil only: Linear or surface coil consist of single or double loop of copper wire that use to improve SNR when examine the structure near the skin surface such as temporo-mandibular joint, orbit or shoulder (Blink, 2004). Quadrature or circularly polarized coils contain at least two loops of wire which commonly used today that produce √2 more signal than single loop coil (Zhou, n.d). Phased array coils consist of multiple surface coils which have the highest SNR but limited sensitive area (Zhou, n.d). Multichannel or Helmholtz coil have pair of circular coil that widely used in MRI because of its fairly uniform magnetic field (Zhou, n.d). Transmit/receive coil transmit RF then change to a receive mode to receive the MR signal. It allows acquisition of more slices and reduce artifact. It has complex design and decrease uniformity over volume of interest (Spring, 2005). Receive only coil design only receive MR signal using body coil as a transmitter and they include surface and phased array coil. It has simple design which used together with the transmit body coil to provide uniform excitation over the entire volume of interest (Spring, 2005). 9. Explain the principle of magnetism, the specific of MR instrumentation, and hardware required for MR imaging: 9.1 Principle of magnetism Magnetism not just occurs in ferromagnetic substances like iron. In an external magnetic field, magnetization can occur in tissue but it disappears when the field is removes (Michael N.Hoff, n.d). 9.2 Specific of MR instrumentation Ancillary equipment needs an additional instrumentation for scanning such as ECG leads and respiratory bellows as well as the power injector. It also supplies patient monitoring like ECG, pulse oximetry and fiber optic while patient transportation provide a wheelchairs, stretchers, patient table and step stool (ASRT, 2008). 9.3 Hardware required for MR imaging Other than magnet, gradient and radio frequency system, the hardware required for MR imaging is the computer. It controls all the system and has the pulse control unit as well as array processor for fourier transform and 2D and 3D imaging. Computer also stored the data in the hard drive as well as processing and handling it (ASRT, 2008). 10. Explain MRI imaging chain: Diagram1: Schematic diagram of MRI imaging chain (Anonymos, n.d). Mainly, the central computer controls the scanning operation. It specifies the shape of gradient and RF waveform as well as the timing to be used. Then, the information is passes to the waveform generator before the signal is passes to be amplified and sent to the coils. Once NMR signal has been phase, it is sensitively detected and turned to a digital signal by analogue to digital converter. The image is displayed on a monitor after digital signal sent to image processor for Fourier transformation (Anonymos, n.d). The signal before Fourier transformation called raw data is stored to enable the application of corrections in the post processing. Matrix sizes of 2n are usually used to allow the use of fast Fourier transformation (Anonymos, n.d). 11. Describe MRI quality assurance program: The evaluation of all MRI system should be done prior to and following installation. It must be monitor at least annually to ensure proper functioning and high-quality diagnostic images are produced (ASRT, 2008). For the performance evaluation, it should include the tests phase stability, magnetic field homogeneity, calibration of all RF coils, image signal-to-noise ratio and uniformity for all coils, inter-slice RF interference, artifact evaluation, hardcopy and softcopy fidelity, spatial resolution and low contrast object detectability, magnetic field gradient calibration, intensity for all volume coil, film processor quality control, physical and mechanical inspection, and evaluation of MRI safety (Geoffrey D. Clarke, 2002). In quality control program, the physicist/MR scientist should assist annually on the RF calibration and image SNR and uniformity for the head coil, film processor QC, physical and mechanical inspection, magnetic field gradient calibration, and hardcopy and softcopy fidelity. The corrective action is taken if the parameter falls outside control limit (Geoffrey D. Clarke, 2002). The protocol of acceptance testing include the evaluation of the coil and follow-up procedure or written survey report from the physicist/ MR scientist to the physicians and to the responsible professional (ASRT, 2008). CONCLUSION In MRI system, a magnet is required for nuclear alignment, radio frequency source for excitation, magnetic field gradient system for spatial encoding, computer system for image formation process as well as the user interface, and image processor to convert signal into images. This hardware plays important role along the software program like pulse sequence and image formation program to produce the MR images. However, to ensure proper functioning and high-quality diagnostic images produce, the MRI system should be evaluated through Quality Assurance (QA) program because if there are parameter falls outside control limit, immediate corrective action is taken.

videogame violence :: essays research papers fc

With the upcoming release of the ultra-violent video game 25 to Life, game developers are once again under fire by politicians and activist to rethink the content of their games. 25 to Life is an action shooting game that pits law enforcement against gang members in battle. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) has taken the developer Edios to task for the questionable content of the game. The senator wants this â€Å"cop killer† game boycotted by retailers and has even went so far as to appeal to Microsoft and Sony to end their licensing agreement with the game maker (www.afterdawn.com). This is just the latest of games that have come under fire by law makers for the subject material they contain. This has become a fairly hot topic in society today with the rise in violence and popularity of video games such as the Grand Theft Auto, Doom, and Halo series. Many activists feel that these games in the hands of children can lead to insensitivity to violence amongst other things. This lead s to the question: are game manufacturers acting unethically by producing ultra-violent or realistic games? Discussion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I suppose the first thing I should say is: I feel it is in no way the moral responsibility of the game manufacturers to curb the content they put into games. That being said, a few of the reasons they are trying to ban violent video games as according to psychologists is: Children may become more aggressive and develop favorable attitudes about the use of violence to resolve conflicts. Children may become desensitized to violence in the real world around them, less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, and more willing to tolerate ever-increasing levels of violence. Children may begin to believe that the real world is as mean and dangerous in real life as it appears on the media and in video games (www.salsa.net). To this I ask: what about me? What about people like me? Responsible, moderately well rounded, educated adults? Should I not get to play the games that were intended for me? And the truth is, the games that everyone is up in arms over are made f or me, an adult. That’s why the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) was implemented. Not unlike movie ratings the ESRB provide information about video and computer game content before u make a purchase. ESRB ratings have two parts: the rating symbols which suggest age appropriateness for the game, and the content descriptors which indicate elements in a game that may have led to the rating symbol or may inform you of questionable content (www.

Bullying In the Schools

In the past, these actions could be better controlled because they were limited to face-to-face interactions. In recent years, this age-old conflict has matched the pace of technological evolutions; making it more dangerous and harder to contain. Cell phones, social media sites, chat rooms, and other forms of technology have allowed bullying to expand into cyberspace. This new form of bullying is known as accessibility. The word â€Å"bully' can be traced back as far as the sass's (Hindu & Patching, 2009). In its most basic form, bullying involves two people, a bully or intimidator and a victim.The bully abuses the victim through physical, verbal, or other means in order to gain a sense of superiority or power. These actions may be direct (I. E. Hitting, verbally assaulting face-to-face, etc. ) or indirect (I. E. Rumors, gossip). There is no clear cut reason why children become a bully, but some evidence shows that they tend to be involved in alcohol consumption and smoking, have po orer academic records than involved students, display a strong need for dominance, and show little empathy for their victims (Roberts & Imports, 2000).Bullying may be means of increasing one's own social status (Pipelining, 2001). A strong correlation appears to exist between bullying other students during the school years and experiencing legal or criminal troubles as adults (Pigskin, 2002). Bullying tends to peak in middle school because this is when kids start to physically develop and become more aware of their differences (Pomeranian Beer, 2013). Cliques begin to take shape and a social system develops that lays heavily on the desire of adolescents to fit in.Bullying usually occurs in the presence of peers, who can adopt a variety of roles, such as remaining neutral during a bullying incident, assisting and encouraging the bully, or aiding or consoling the victim (unfortunately the latter role is rarely adopted by children). The action of peers in the vicinity of bullying incid ents typically support the bullying behavior rather than stop it (Sutton & Smith, 1999). Most children do not want to intervene, being afraid they might be the next target Pigskin, 2002).The impact of being bullied can leave a devastating affect lasting into adulthood. Children and adolescents being bullied tend to have lower academic grades and low self-esteem. The extreme scones ounces are suicidal thoughts or thoughts of violent revenge. While grade school children tend to rely on parents and teachers for support, junior and high school children tend to leave them out and rely more of the support of their friends (Subtotals, 180). This makes it especially difficult to intervene, not knowing here is such an incident. Usually intervention comes too later when a child has decided to take his/her own life or take a weapon to school to prove they are a victim no more. Media attention has made this epidemic a national crisis. Parents and school officials are calling for law-makers to t ake action to deter or punish bullying. In order to control and prevent this in schools or in cyberspace, bullying should first be acknowledged as a significant and pervasive problem, and secondly school-based intervention programs need to be developed.

Didion’s on Morality Essay

What is it that forms and drives our â€Å"moral behaviors†? Are we born with a basic sense of morality or do we develop a set of moral â€Å"social codes† to keep society from falling into chaos and anarchy? In her essay â€Å"On Morality,† Joan Didion dissects what lies beneath the surface of humanity’s morality. By recounting several stories and historical events, she shows that morality at its basic â€Å"most primitive level† is nothing more than â€Å"our loyalties to the ones we love,† everything else is subjective. Didion’s first story points out our loyalty to family. She is in Death Valley writing an article about â€Å"morality,† â€Å"a word [she] distrust more every day.† She relates a story about a young man who was drunk, had a car accident, and died while driving to Death Valley. â€Å"His girl was found alive but bleeding internally, deep in shock,† Didion states. She talked to the nurse who had driven his girl 185 miles to the nearest doctor. The nurse’s husband had stayed with the body until the coroner could get there. The nurse said, â€Å"You just can’t leave a body on the highway, it’s immoral.† According to Didion this â€Å"was one instance in which [she] did not distrust the word, because [the nurse] meant something quite specific.† She argues we don’t desert a body for even a few minutes lest it be desecrated. Didion claims this is more than â€Å"only a sentimental consideration.† She claims that we promise each other to try and retrieve our casualties and not abandon our dead; it is more than a sentimental consideration. She stresses this point by saying that â€Å"if, in the simplest terms, our upbringing is good enough – we stay with the body, or have bad dreams.† Her point is that morality at its most â€Å"primary† level is a sense of â€Å"loyalty† to one another that we learned from our loved ones. She is saying that we stick with our loved ones no matter what, in sickness, in health, in bad times and good times; we don’t abandon our dead because we don’t want someone to abandon us. She is professing that morality is to do what we think is right; whatever is necessary to meet our â€Å"primary loyalties† to care for our loved ones, even if it means sacrificing ourselves. Didion emphatically states she is talking about a â€Å"wagon-train morality,† and â€Å"For better or for worse, we are what we learned as children.† She talks about her childhood and hearing â€Å"graphic litanies about the Donner-Reed party and the Jayhawkers. She maintains they â€Å"failed in their loyalties to each other,† and â€Å"deserted one another.† She says they â€Å"breached their primary loyalties,† or they would not have been in those situations. If we go against our â€Å"primary loyalties† we have failed, we regret it, and thus â€Å"have bad dreams.† Didion insist that â€Å"we have no way of knowing†¦what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong,’ what is ‘good and what is ‘evil’.† She sees politics, and public policy falsely assigned â€Å"aspects of morality.† She warns us not to delude ourselves into thinking that because we want or need something â€Å"that it is a moral imperative that we have it, then is when we join the fashionable madmen.† She is saying this will be our demise, and she may well be correct. Hitler’s idea that he had â€Å"a moral imperative† to â€Å"purify the Aryan race† serves as a poignant reminder of such a delusion. In 1939 Hitler’s Nazi army invaded Poland and started World War II. World War II came to an end in large part due to the United States dropping two atomic bombs. If the war had continued and escalated to the point of Hitler’s Nazis and the United States dropping more atomic bombs we could have destroyed most, if not all, of humanity, the ultimate act of â€Å"fashionable madmen.† We may believe our behaviors are just and righteous, but Didion’s essay makes us closely examine our motives and morals. She contends that madmen, murders, war criminals and religious icons throughout history have said â€Å"I followed my own conscience.† â€Å"I did what I thought was right.† â€Å"Maybe we have all said it and maybe we have been wrong.† She shows us that our â€Å"moral codes† are often subjective and fallacious, that we rationalize and justify our actions to suit our ulterior motives, and our only true morality is â€Å"our loyalty to those we love.† It is this â€Å"loyalty to those we love† that forms our families, then our cities, our states, our countries and ultimately our global community. Without these â€Å"moral codes,† social order would break down into chaos and anarchy.

The Issue of Illegal Immigration

The Issue of Illegal Immigration The trend of immigration into the United States continues to raise debates concerning the positive and negative effects of the phenomenon. Proponents of immigration cite numerous economic benefits such the increase in tax collection, availability of a large pool of cheap labor, and enhanced circulation of money within the economy.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Issue of Illegal Immigration specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More On the other hand, opponents of immigration depict immigrants as a menace to the American people as it promotes the rise in criminal activities and causes an economic and social burden to taxpayers. I think the negative opinion towards immigration is justified since it affects key institutions such as schools, health care, national labor market, and the law enforcement and criminal-justice system. Various considerations promote the opposition on immigration, especially due to the large number o f illegal immigrants who enter America. First, Immigration contributes to an increase in the population of America. This increase occurs sporadically, and thus the national budgetary allocations in America do not account for this increase. In this regard, immigration causes financial strain on various aspects of government planning. The government has to divert some funds into addressing the unanticipated issue of immigration. In addition, immigration causes strain on various amenities such as schools and health care facilities. Furthermore, since most immigrants enter the country illegally they do not participate in crucial obligations such as the payment of tax. Thus, they use various social services without contributing to their sustenance. Secondly, most immigrants lack professional skills that could facilitate their accommodation in most of the sectors within the American economy. Although a portion of immigrants, especially the legal immigrants, possesses sufficient education and training, the largest percentage of immigrants comes to America solely on the notion that it is a country with opportunities for all people. The lack of professional skills leaves immigrants with a few opportunities other than picking odd jobs to survive. The meager income in this regard leads to frustration and increases the tendency towards criminal acts as a source of additional income. In this consideration, immigrants lead to an additional burden on law enforcers and the criminal-justice system. Increased prosecution costs and the maintenance of prisons are major considerations in this regard. Furthermore, unskilled immigrants provide a large pool of cheap labor, especially in the manufacturing sector, and thus affect sectors of the national labor market that require minimal formal education. Apart from lowering skill rates in America, they hinder the adoption of technological systems in labor-intensive manufacturing processes. This introduces technical costs in the economy .Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The other consideration on immigration is its effects on housing facilities, especially among the low-income American families. The issue of housing is critical to America’s low-income earners who have to adopt stringent measures in order to cope with rising costs for housing. Another point is that immigration creates loopholes in border-movement control systems. As such, it provides criminals with an opportunity to conduct illegal transactions. Drugs and firearm cartels exploit the lenient laws on immigration to smuggle their products into America. These vices pose adverse social and economic effects on the American population. Various drawbacks associated with immigration emanate from the lack of appropriate immigration-control measures. Without the proper regulations on immigration, the trend of the rising number of both legal and illegal immigrants will continue to rise. Appropriate regulations should seek to minimize the number of illegal immigrants and while ensuring the full absorption of legal immigrants into the American system.

ArticleReview2 Essays - Summer Olympic Games, Free Essays

ArticleReview2 Essays - Summer Olympic Games, Free Essays Donald Metoyer Mrs. Gerber Hist, Org, Admin of Phys Ed 15 April 2019 Article Review 2 - (W)NBA wage gap A'ja Wilson, the first pick in the 2018 WNBA draft, will earn just over $52,00 in her rookie season. Compared to the first pick of the NBA draft, Deandre Ayton, she will be earning more than $6 million less. This shows a huge gap in pay between the WNBA and NBA, and it is a huge deal. In the article, Yes, the WNBA Wage Gap Is a Real Thing, Al Neal discusses some of the main reasons critics use to make the argument against the wage gap. But first he gives some the brief history on a wage gap in general, according the U.S. Census Bureau women make 80% of what males do annually. There are hard evidence to show wage gaps in everything but a lot of people just ignore it. The first excuse he attacks is the NBA bringing in much more money than the WNBA so it just makes sense the male athletes get paid so much more. Well, in crunching the numbers Neal found that the WNBA makes at least $51.5 million in revenue, but the maximum salary is just over $100k for a veteran player. Excuse #2 is people not wanting to invest in a young, unstable league that doesn't draw a crowd. In 2017, the WNBA had it's highest league total and average attendances. It goes past attendance too, I have noticed that WNBA is playing more WNBA games than ever before. Excuse #3 is "We're losing money" - team owners. WNBA teams have generally not been very profitable, but so have some teams in other leagues. But the difference is that in other leagues, the owners are willing to invest much more money to make these teams more profitable. And the fourth and final excuse he discusses is the WNBA hasn't been around long enough. The NBA is now in their 23rd season, and they are at the peak of their powers so far. Neal has two suggestions for how the WNBA and it's players should handle their wage gap. Suggestion #1 is raise the player revenue sharing to 50% like the NBA, which seems very reasonable. His second suggestion is just waiting for the inevitable strike that WNBA players will go on. Now, I would always say WNBA players can't be paid more because of how much money the league brings in. I was not educated on these facts, and was unaware. I do believe WNBA players should be paid more, the league definitely makes enough money to raise the maximum salary from $100,000. In doing so, the WNBA will protect their investment in players much better. As of now, many WNBA players go and play overseas because the wage is much higher over there. In the past and recently, I have seen many WNBA players talk about wanting equal pay as men's players. But that is just impossible, the excuses people make about "not enough revenue" or "not enough interest" are real in that interest. The NBA is a multi-billion dollar league and one of the fastest growing sports globally. The WNBA can't afford to pay players equally to the NBA but I do think they could be paid equally considering the percentage of salaries to the revenue brought in. If not, players must go on strike to try and get things to work out. The WNBA players plight of not receiving enough money is real, unfair, and shows the inequality of men and women sports in general.

Create-A-Greeting-Card College Scholarship Contest

With college costs on the rise, more and more families are looking for ways to bridge the gap between what they can afford to pay and the price of tuition and fees. Fortunately, a number of independent scholarships exist to help students attend their dream colleges. While securing these scholarships isn’t as simple as filling out the FAFSA form, students who are willing to put in the time and effort can often secure significant amounts of money toward financing their college education. Different scholarship opportunities exist to recognize students with various talents, skills, and interests. For high school students who are artistically minded, it might be worth considering the Gallery Collection’s Create-A-Greeting-Card College Scholarship Contest. The winner of this award receives a $10,000 college scholarship, with an additional $1,000 award going to the student’s high school. The Create-A-Greeting-Card contest invites applicants to use their innate talent and creativity to design a holiday, get well, or birthday greeting card. To apply, simply submit a work of art, computer graphic, or photo intended for the front side of a greeting card. Each image must be submitted in JPEG format and be two megabytes or fewer in size. Entries will be judged based on the following factors: Candidates can view current designs online at www.gallerycollection.com . To apply for this scholarship, you must be a high school, college, or university student who is currently enrolled in school. All applicants must be U.S. citizens. If you have additional questions or concerns about the requirements, feel free to contact the Gallery Collection online at scholarshipadmin@gallerycollection.com . Estimating your chance of getting into a college is not easy in today’s competitive environment. Thankfully, with our state-of-the-art software and data, we can analyze your academic and extracurricular profile and estimate your chances. Our profile analysis tool can also help you identify the improvement you need to make to enter your dream school. It’s not enough simply to hope you get a scholarship for college. Savvy students seek out a variety of contests and programs offering scholarships to reduce the cost of their degrees. Fortunately, you don’t have to look far to find lucrative opportunities. Not only do a number of high schools boast scholarship programs targeted toward college-bound students, but many community organizations offer contests as well. You can discover scholarship programs through your town or city, church, Lions club, or even businesses in your community. When deciding which scholarships to target, students often ignore contests with smaller awards. While you might be hesitant to invest time and energy into applying for a $500 scholarship, the truth is that these awards can add up quickly. After all, winning five $500 scholarships is the same as securing one worth $2500. Moreover, the number of applicants might be lower because of the smaller potential payout. So your odds of winning might be higher with these contests. Similarly, scholarship contests that require a lot of work tend to draw a smaller applicant pool. After all, busy high school seniors are often hesitant to invest their time in writing lengthy essays or shooting video submissions. According to one Money.com article , scholarships requiring 1000-word essays tend to receive fewer than 500 submissions. So don’t be afraid to put in a little extra effort to score some additional funding. Unlike student loans, scholarships represent financial awards that don’t have to be paid back. So it’s only logical to apply to a wide range of contests and opportunities. At , we created our Applications Program to help students gain admission to their dream schools and find the financing they need to make their dreams a reality. From creating a custom roadmap for the applications process to filling out FAFSA and scholarship forms, we help students best the competition. To learn more about our services, call today or contact our team online.

Hallo Money and its impact on the on the accounting workplace Essay

Hallo Money and its impact on the on the accounting workplace - Essay Example Make sure it is either about to happen or is just getting underway. Be specific. Answers such as â€Å"technology† will earn you a failing grade on this essay. WORKPLACE CHANGE: Hallo Money and its impact on the on the accounting workplace Hello Money is a mobile baking service that allows Barclays Bank customers to carry out execute financial transactions by using mobile devices such and personal digital assistant or mobile phone (Barclays, 2012). It is worth noting that Hello Money, like other mobile banking services, is different from the mobile payments, which entail the use of the mobile devices to pay for goods. Hello Money is performed through mobile web or SMS. The service has been particularly facilitated by the evolution of an array of technologies, such as smart phones and web based technologies, which create the allowance for installation of special features that support mobile banking. Currently, the popularity Hello Money continues to grow as many customers are i ncreasingly using it. Its full implementation implies the adoption of the automated accounting systems and this would significantly change the way accountants work. 2. Identify a primary and secondary stakeholder and explain why they qualify as stakeholders. Use the â€Å"Choosing a Stakeholder Decision Matrix,† located in Lesson 15, to identify a high influence/high importance stakeholder, as well as a secondary stakeholder who is either high influence,/low importance, or low influence/high importance. ... These have been pivotal in making the crucial decisions about Barclays Bank (Barclays, 2009). They have been behind the full implementation of the Hello Money mobile banking service. These stakeholders are high influence/low importance. SECONDARY STAKEHOLDERS: my secondary stakeholder is Mr. Harold, a close friend and an accountant at one of the Barclays Bank local branches. Mr. Harold has a lot to gain or lose from the introduction of the Hello Money service because the service prompt adjustments in the accounting systems. Mr. Harold does not have an authority to make decision for Barclays Bank, yet he is important to the firms operations. Mr. Harold is high importance/low influence stakeholder. 3. Describe the vested interest of these stakeholders in the issue you chose. Explain any current events or trends that may be currently affecting your stakeholder’s interests. This is the interests of the primary stakeholders, who include the senior managers and the executive committ ee members, is to enable the firms reach great heights of success. These vested interests have been informed by various advantages associated with mobile banking. First, mobile banking is expected to cut down the costs of service delivery to customers. For instance, it has been cited that the costs of conducting a mobile transfer is cheaper than teller transfer by about fifty times and ATM transfer by about ten times (Delloitte 2010; p 4). In addition, they are convinced that mobile banking comes with a lot of flexibility, both to customers and the firm itself. For instance, the service makes it easy for the bank to combine and sell other services and products that are offered in the bank, such as credit cards and loans, with relative ease.

Implication of Dicey's Definition on the Rule of Law Essay

Implication of Dicey's Definition on the Rule of Law - Essay Example Implication of Dicey’s definition on the ‘rule of law’; The implication of Dicey definition can be explained in three-fold: to prevent state from harassing citizens by means passing dubious laws, to exude the notion that everyone is equal in the eyes of the law and finally to protect the rights of the common citizen by limiting action of the state2. The role of prerogative powers was to offer flexible remedies where common law failed. This is due the rigidity of the common law3. In today’s world the control of exercise of the prerogative powers is normally exercised by way of judicial review4. Since there is no codification of the prerogative powers, the judicial officers through the judicial review process have become the final arbiters in determining what actually forms the prerogative powers. It is also concerned with checking the extent to which such powers are used (Pollard D et. Al 2007 p 42). In the enjoyment of prerogative powers it is important tha t these powers are actually defined and given a scope that is quite free from discretionary interpretation as this brings about a lot of inconsistency in interpretation of the law (Brayzer R, 1999 p 339). The English courts have given a wide interpretation of prerogative. In a decision in the case R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Northumbria Police Authority5 prerogative powers was taken to mean doing whatever was necessary in order to avert what is considered threat to peace. The Dicey construction or rule of law makes every citizen have equal rights in the eyes of the law (Dicey A.V 1959 p 424). Upholding this, Lord Denning in the English case of Gourriet v. HM Attorney General6 stated that â€Å"Be you ever so high, the law is above you. The Attorney General has no prerogative to dispense with or suspend the law of England." This is always the prima facie stand in terms of being equal in the eyes of the law (Pollard D et. Al 2007 p 42). This has raised se veral debates. When we say equality before the law should mean that no one has special treatment yet at the same time the prerogative powers are enjoyed only by the Crown7. The scope and general prerogative powers It is quite difficult to actually and narrowly determine the province of prerogative powers8. Prerogative powers exist by the dint of common law. No new prerogatives can be established (Pollard D et. Al. 2007 p 82) . However, prerogatives can be abolished through enactment of statutes. Prerogative has to be exercised in accordance with the statute. This was shown in R v. Secretary of State for Fire Department ex parte Fire Brigade Union9. This case showed that there was no prerogative to deviate from what the statute clearly stated. Here the secretary of state was precluded from implementing another statutory in lieu of the one that the statute had provided for. The prerogative powers exists in the form of the Crowns powers to appoint the Prime Minister, the power of Royal mercy among others. Historical origin and developments In the history the prerogative were vested on the King or the Crown. The King then delegated the judicial powers to the judicial officers who then who exercised the prerogative on the behalf of the Crown. The constitutional Convention is the rules that are used for determining the mode in Crown exercises its discretionary powers. These discretionary pow

Personal Statement for LSE MSc Finance Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

For LSE MSc Finance - Personal Statement Example My decision to study mathematics in my undergraduate level was motivated by the fact that I always had a flair for the subject. I always regarded mathematics highly as its knowledge is also applied in other subjects such as physics and chemistry. I like solving mathematical problems that the subject provides. For me, mathematics is quite fascinating as it seems boundless and as such allows considerable choice for additional research. My main objective of studying the subject was, therefore, to learn to think and look at things differently, from a different angle than people doing degrees in humanities. While pursuing my undergraduate degree at the University of Edinburg, my mathematical skills have been modelled in a way that I am now in a position to see many things from a mathematical perspective. Some of the courses that have had a significant impact in my mathematical career growth include financial mathematics, Stochastic Modelling and Introduction to Number Theory. I am also doing a project at the moment that stochastically analyses are queuing at call centres. Having almost completed all the branches of the syllabus, I believe I am well-rounded and ready to further my education by pursuing Master of Science degree in finance. Throughout my two final years at the university, my interest in finance and financial analysis was growing each day. I want to get an opportunity to study at one of the greatest universities in UK and worldwide. We are living in a world that, unlike before, continues to experience unprecedented financial and economic meltdown. The recent crises in the global markets and the effects of globalization especially in emerging markets have necessitated a deeper understanding of the subject of finance. This is largely because through the finance knowledge; we can be able to build more robust systems and

Managing High Quality Healthcare Research Paper

Managing High Quality Healthcare - Research Paper Example This research paper describes the †bloodless medicine† in medical care and surgeries and states that usually a medical practitioner or healthcare facility cannot perform any medical care procedures or treatment plan that requires patient’s informed consent. It is the responsibility of the attending physician to inform the patient of the planned course of medical treatment and procedures for the patient to be guided in making a knowledge-based decision on what to accept or what to refuse. However, in medical cases where critical blood loss posed a serious threat to life, most practitioners generally recommend blood transfusion as the best medical treatment and as the only life saving measure. In times of emergencies where patient is unconscious and a life-saving decision is to be made, it is also the moral and ethical duty of the attending doctor to protect and save the life of the patient. A blood transfusion is given to the patient without consent, overriding the will or directive of the patient. Incidents like these, often led to conflicts and court cases between the patient and the clinic. The Patient’s Bill of Rights and the Code of Medical Ethics provide a framework that fosters a better understanding and friendly relationship between the patient and the doctor as well as the healthcare institution. Through the collaborative effort of the medical society and medical scientists, the dilemma of a religious group are being taken care of, giving impetus to the evolution of non-blood surgery and medical treatment.

Intern proposal memo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Intern proposal memo - Essay Example It is important to analyze such aspects since to access the level of entrepreneur skills among the audience. The sessions will also equip the interns with the necessary entrepreneur skills in addition to the ‘innate skills’ that they possess. Interns will be taken through a rigorous program and equip them with knowledge and skills on subjects such as non-verbal communication, attitude towards foreigners, politics and technology. When the interns possess these knowledge, I can state with a lot of conviction that any abroad travel will be success. In summary the following tasks will be done to ensure that the interns are more than competent before they travel to foreign countries for any responsibility that the company will require them to perform. The schedule of tasks to be incorporated in the Program include communication, technology, politics and attitude towards foreigners. This can be demonstrated by the following chart in terms of percentage of how each task is

Personal Statement for LSE MSc Finance Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

For LSE MSc Finance - Personal Statement Example My decision to study mathematics in my undergraduate level was motivated by the fact that I always had a flair for the subject. I always regarded mathematics highly as its knowledge is also applied in other subjects such as physics and chemistry. I like solving mathematical problems that the subject provides. For me, mathematics is quite fascinating as it seems boundless and as such allows considerable choice for additional research. My main objective of studying the subject was, therefore, to learn to think and look at things differently, from a different angle than people doing degrees in humanities. While pursuing my undergraduate degree at the University of Edinburg, my mathematical skills have been modelled in a way that I am now in a position to see many things from a mathematical perspective. Some of the courses that have had a significant impact in my mathematical career growth include financial mathematics, Stochastic Modelling and Introduction to Number Theory. I am also doing a project at the moment that stochastically analyses are queuing at call centres. Having almost completed all the branches of the syllabus, I believe I am well-rounded and ready to further my education by pursuing Master of Science degree in finance. Throughout my two final years at the university, my interest in finance and financial analysis was growing each day. I want to get an opportunity to study at one of the greatest universities in UK and worldwide. We are living in a world that, unlike before, continues to experience unprecedented financial and economic meltdown. The recent crises in the global markets and the effects of globalization especially in emerging markets have necessitated a deeper understanding of the subject of finance. This is largely because through the finance knowledge; we can be able to build more robust systems and

Intern proposal memo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Intern proposal memo - Essay Example It is important to analyze such aspects since to access the level of entrepreneur skills among the audience. The sessions will also equip the interns with the necessary entrepreneur skills in addition to the ‘innate skills’ that they possess. Interns will be taken through a rigorous program and equip them with knowledge and skills on subjects such as non-verbal communication, attitude towards foreigners, politics and technology. When the interns possess these knowledge, I can state with a lot of conviction that any abroad travel will be success. In summary the following tasks will be done to ensure that the interns are more than competent before they travel to foreign countries for any responsibility that the company will require them to perform. The schedule of tasks to be incorporated in the Program include communication, technology, politics and attitude towards foreigners. This can be demonstrated by the following chart in terms of percentage of how each task is

Incarceration of African American Males Essay Example for Free

Incarceration of African American Males Essay Introduction The trend of African American males between the ages of 25 and 29 has seen a dramatic increase of incarceration. Attention has been focusing on areas of housing, education, and healthcare but the most prominent problem for African American males is the increase in the incarceration rate. African American males between the ages of 25 and 29 incarceration rate has been thought, by many, to be caused by economic factors such as under employment or unemployment, poor housing, lack of education, and lack of healthcare. Yet, others believe it is due to the imbalance of minorities within the criminal justice system, such as judges, lawyers, and lawmakers. This paper will explore two different outlooks; society has come up with so far, as to why African American Males between the ages of 25 and 29 are increasingly incarcerated. Finally, the information will give awareness to the problems that is faced by African American Males between the ages of 25 and 29. Prevalence – Problem 1 More than 40% of all American prisoners, men and women, are African American men, yet they make up just 13% of the U. S. male population (Roberts, 2004). This statistic does not include those African American men who are in local jails nor does it include those African American men under custodial supervision (Table 2). They enter the state and federal prison system, at the prime of their economic and reproductive lives and yet they exit prison behind both economically and socially. The high rate of incarceration among African Americans has been noted by the interconnection of poor economy, lack of affordable housing, mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, absence of a strong black male role model, lack of access to education, or some type of combination of these factors. Statistics don’t even give African American males a good chance to stay out of jail. They have a one in four chance of being incarcerated, while Hispanic American males have a one in six chance, and white males only have a one in twenty three chance of incarceration. The color of African Americans sets them apart and makes them targetable. Prevalence – Problem 2 There is evidence, in our American Justice System, of structural inequality as seen in the percentages of minorities to the percentage of majorities employed in high ranking positions, within the system. The percentage of United States judges by race are 79% Caucasian, 12% African American, and 2% Hispanics American (Federal Judicial Center, 2012), as for the thousands of lawyers in the United States it is approximate of 3% are African American (National Law Group, 2010-2011), and about 1 in 4 police officers are members of a racial or ethnic minority in 2007 (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2013). An investigation into racial profiling showed that African American and Hispanic American offenders, who often are young unemployed males, are more likely than their white counterparts (Spohn, C. , 2000). Their prison sentences are also typically longer or they receive differential benefits from guideline departures than do similarly situated white offenders (Spohn, C. , 2000). We must acknowledge the problems of racial disparity within the criminal justice system, communicate racial disparity within the criminal justice system with those we who are not informed of the problem, and stay committed to changing racial disparity within our justice system for change to begin. Causes In researching the high rate of incarceration in America it is more likely than not that the increase in African American Males being incarcerated is due to the War on Drugs (Table 1). It is public knowledge that drug crime ranks high among the effects of poverty. These poor neighborhoods not only endure crime they have poor schools, poor food, cramped living areas, and shortage of jobs if any jobs at all. Drugs and drug crime has become regularity in low income communities, arrests of Hispanics made up 55% of cocaine powder offences and 52% of marijuana offenses and 49% involving opiates: African Americans were suspected in 75% of crack cocaine cases; White males were suspected in 41% all methamphetamine cases (Motivans, M. , 2011). Decades of failed public and private remedies for chronic disparities and disadvantages in communities of color invite us to reexamine systems and institutions that provide and restrict opportunity in new ways (Lawrence, K. , 2011). The causes seem to be intertwined being poor equals, equals a poor education, equals lack of employment, and ultimately equals an increased rate of crime. Consequences The causes seem to be intertwined being poor, equals lack of education, which equals lack of employment, which equals increased rate of crime which equals impossibility to join criminal justice system. Also, many of these men are incarcerated while all the other non-incarcerated American young men are finishing school, starting careers, earning seniority at work, marrying and having children thus gaining capital. Even when released from prison, these men return back to their communities with a felony record that will pose extreme problems for them. The incarceration leads the released convict into a lower social class even if they were considered lower class Americans prior to their incarceration; they now are lower in social class standing in most instances. This leads to a poor African American community, perhaps as many as 50% of the male population will have been in prison. These incarcerated African American Males, who are in their prime of life, also are leaving half the families in this community facing such things as poverty, lack of affordable housing, mental illness, substance abuse, violence, absence of a strong black male role model, lack of access to education, or some type of combination of these factors. The community ultimately will become poverty stricken, struggling to survive, and ultimately vulnerable to the situation repeating. Solutions – How can this be changed? There are four key aspects to addressing racial disparity, in my opinion: 1. Acknowledge 2. Communication 3. Setback = Strength 4. Commitment Not only is the problem of racial disparity under recognized by society it is not being communicated effectively to make change. Majority groups needs to acknowledge racial disparity and minority groups need to communicate their knowledge regarding racial disparity. As each group majority and minority begins to become share their information with each other and work together for a common solution acknowledging there will be setbacks but with continued commitment systemic change will happen. Conclusion By refusing to tolerate disparate treatment of people of color or anyone within the criminal justice system we empower ourselves and our country. It is time that everyone including our legislators, law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges work collectively and courageously to eradicate this negative stigma. Despite, America being known for its equal rights we are living proof that in this era inequality is a factor that cannot be taken lightly. The statistics that are surrounding African American males is astounding. We need to empower African American males with the knowledge that they have a one in four chance of becoming incarcerated. It is also important to know that Hispanic males have a one in six chance, and white males have a one in twenty three chance of incarceration. All of these statistics need to be addressed to empower each and every one us. Throughout history we have not seen a change in majority groups (White, Male) and minority groups (Women, anyone that is not White) although we have seen numbers of minorities increasing at a fast pace. Today, however, the election of Barack Obama, not once but twice, may set the new ideal of what an American actually is. As we embrace different cultures and their ethnic backgrounds society will prosper. As society increases their knowledge, in regards to each person’s differences, they will acquire greater strength and prosperity. The only issue, that can occur, will be in the short term empowering others to embrace diversity. When we look beyond short-term, focus will shift to diverse empowerment through embracing the knowledge of our differences thus making us stronger as a society. TABLE 1: BLACK PROPORTION OF DRUG ARRESTS, EXCLUDING MARIJUANA POSSESSION YEAR BLACK % 1999 40. 1 2000 39. 3 2001 39. 1 2002 35. 8 2003 33. 8 2004 33. 1 2005 33. 2 Data calculated from drug arrest figures by race provided by the Uniform Crime Reports division of the FBI TABLE 2: FBI CRIME REPORT Arrests By Race, 2006 [11,249 agencies; 2006 estimated population 216,685,152] Total White Black American Indian or Alaskan Native Asian or Pacific islander Total White Black American Indian or Alaskan Native Asian or Pacific Islander TOTAL 10,437,620. 7270214 2924724 130589 112093 100. 0 69. 7 28 1. 3 1. 1 Drug abuse violations 1376192 875101 483886 8198 9607 1000 63. 6 35. 1 0. 6 0. 7 DUI’S 1034651 914226 95260 13484 11681 100 88. 4 9. 2 1. 3 1. 1 Liquor laws 466323 398068 50035 12831 5389 100 85. 4 10. 7 2. 8 1. 2 Drunken-ness 408439 344155 54113 7884 2287 100 84. 3 13. 2 1. 9 0. 6 Dis-orderly conduct 5117264 325991 179733 7606 3934 100 63. 0 34. 7 1. 5 0. 8 (The FBI: Uniform Crime Report, 2010) References Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2013, http://bjs. ojp. usdoj. gov/index. cfm? ty=tptid=71 The FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 2010, Table 43, http://www. fbi. gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u. s/2010/crime-in-the-u. s. -2010/tables/table-43 Federal Judicial Center, 2012, Overview of the United States Court System, http://www. fjc. gov/public/pdf. nsf/lookup/FJC_Standard_PPT_English_June_2012. pdf/$file/FJC_Standard_PPT_English_June_2012. pdf Lawrence, K. , 2011, Race, Crime, and Punishment: Breaking the Connection in America, http://www. aspeninstitute. org/sites/default/files/content/docs/pubs/Race-Crime-Punishment. pdf Motivans, Mark, 2011, Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, http://bjs. ojp. usdoj. gov/content/pub/pdf/fjs09. pdf National Law Group 2010-2011, http://blacklawyers. net/ Roberts, D. , 2004, Measuring the Social and Moral Cost of Mass Incarceration, in African American Communities, http://www. law. fsu. edu/faculty/2003-2004workshops/roberts. pdf Spohn,C. ,2000, Thirty Years of Sentencing Reform: The Quest for a Racially Neutral Sentencing Process, http://www. justicestudies. com/pubs/livelink3-1. pdf.

Company Analysis And Overview Of Westjet Management Essay

Company Analysis And Overview Of Westjet Management Essay The purpose of this report is to analyse the case study Westjet in 2009: The Fleet expansion decision. The specific objective was to provide a diagnosis of the companys challenges, propose a suitable change management programme. Research was done in the general area of change management and the models available. Recommendations are based on the comparative analysis of the same 1.0 Introduction This report was commissioned by Dr Lee Mathias to analyse the Wesjet case study and provide a diagnosis of the companys challenges and develop a suitable change model. Also, recommendations have been made to manage resistance and ensure that the change is sustained. 2.0 Westjet 2.1 Introduction Westjet, a Canadian airline, which was founded in 1996 by group of Calgary businessmen, operates as a low cost player in aviation industry. The airline has 36% domestic market share in Canada only second to Air Canada, which has 57%. Since its inception the Airline is operating with single fleet model using Boeing 737s with capacity of 119 to 166 passengers. Using single fleet has helped Westjet to significantly reduce its operating and maintenance cost. With the 2008-09 economic crisis, the airline was facing flight occupancy issue in its most of the domestic routes. Lower occupancy has forced Westjet to pull out of Sudburys and Sault Ste market (two of the destinations in Ontario market). With this prospective in mind the airline is looking to add smaller Bombardier or Embraer airplanes with approximately 100 seats to its fleet. Including this type of aircraft will abandon the airlines more than a decade long success strategy of operating with single fleet and implementing this new strategy will be a big challenge for management. 2.2 Change: The airline industry exists in a hypercompetitive environment where organisations are required to change constantly in order to survive and maintain their position in the market (Biedenbach SÃ ¶derholm, 2008). Change in an organisation requires addressing the strategy (what is it that you want to change), skills (what skills, knowledge and abilities are required by the change recipients) and structures (short term and long term organisational tools essential to support the change) (Carter, 2008). Strategies are a means of striving to achieve an organisations mission and vision (Gill, 2003). Increasing the likelihood of success of Westjets strategy for a second fleet would involve answering questions such as What is the change they want to bring about? Is the change appropriate for the organisation? Can this change be implemented successfully? (Bruch, Gerber, Maier, 2005). 3.0 SWOT Analysis Prior to implementing the strategy, Westjet needs to assess the feasibility of the change with the help of an analysis tool such as SWOT. It helps determine whether the organisation will be able to sustain the change or not by analysing its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. 3.1 Strengths Strong financial standing: At the end of financial year 2008, the airline had a cash reserve of $820 million, which is 80% of its total debt. In addition to this, the airlines debt equity ratio is at 1.09, which is significantly low when compared to industry standards. Customer satisfaction: The airline has gained a significant customer satisfaction because of its ability to provide nonstop domestic flights, which helps its customer make a hassle free journey. For such domestic routes where the flights have occupancy level of 60-65% for 150 seater Boeing 737s aircrafts, smaller Bombardier or Embraer aircrafts can be included in this routes. This will help in improving the load to 90 to 95% and will reduce the cost without compromising on customer satisfaction. Better seat utilisation: The smaller aircrafts with 100 seats will have higher occupancy level as compared 737s Boeing aircrafts with 140 to 160 seats. 3.2 Weakness With inclusion of 2nd type of fleet the airline needs to train its existing work force, which can take care of maintenance of new fleets. The technology of the new fleet will be different compared to Boeing 737s, which may force Westjet to keep to two sets of staffs for maintenance. Moreover they will have to pay more airport charges because of inclusion of new aircrafts. These reasons coupled together will increase the cost for the airline and that will led to a significant impact on the profitability of it. Cost cutting and diversion of funds towards the new project may also result in unhappy staff. 3.3 Opportunity The main competitor of Westjet airlines, Air Canada (with 57% market share) is struggling to fight bankruptcy; it is difficult for Air Canada to achieve cost efficiency in such scenario. In such situation it will be comparatively easier for Westjet to tap international customers of Air Canada and adding new fleets will help them in do so. Westjet has recently made a tie up with European airlines like Air France. By the adopting 2nd fleet in Canadian domestic market, it can use Boeing 737s to fly for its international operations in Europe, which will help faster penetration in new market. If Westjet penetrates to European market then it will help WVI also to expand to Europe and generate revenue for Westjet group from its European business 3.4 Threats As stated in the case study there is only 3.6% increment of passengers year on year. At a time when existing fleets are operating with significant number of empty seats with low increment in number of passengers, in such scenario inclusion of 2nd fleet exposes Westjet to considerable risk. 4.0 Change Model for Westjet The airline industry is very dynamic is affected by global events such as 9/11, the SARS outbreak and the most recent swine flu outbreak all of which resulted in a dramatic decrease in the number of travellers. To survive in todays complex every changing world Westjet needs to change its familiar way of operating and become capable of adapting to changes efficiently and effectively. There are a number of theoretical models available to assist Westjets strategic decision to expand. While some of these models are more suited for transformational change others are more suited for transactional changes. Lewins model for example which describes change in 3 stages unfreezing, moving and refreezing (Lewin,1952) would be suitable for a stable environment and not a dynamic environment like Westjet. Given below is an analysis of some of the models available: (http://pdfserve.informaworld.com.ezproxy.aut.ac.nz/14790_751313697_793488144.pdf) In case of Westjet the change is planned however it will affect the entire organisation. Looking at the above models, it would be suitable for Westjet to adopt a combination of theoretical models available: Ø Understanding change characteristics: Westjet needs to first understand the need for this change. This change will help the airline in its expansion; it will help increase the load factor and revenue for it. With this change, employees of the airline will be impacted as they need to know about the mechanism of new fleet. Under this change program airline would be looking to use smaller aircrafts for domestic non stop flights and where as Boeing 737s aircrafts would mostly be used for international flights. Inclusion of new fleet will require upgradation of its scheduling and reservation application. Ø Risk Assessment: Under the change management program Westjet needs to understand the possible risks which could arise due to it. As the number of fleets will go up the, scheduling of same for domestic travel in such a way that aircrafts are rested at airport for a short period, would be a challenge. Improper handling of this issue could lead to operational risk, where the charges to be paid to airport authority will go up. To handle this issue, Westjet needs to make sure that its scheduling application is efficient enough to take this challenge. In addition to this there are certain risks which may arise if the new fleet fails to get acceptance from Westjet passengers. In worst case if it happens, the Westjet should lease these aircrafts to Asian airlines, which operates with leased aircrafts. On similar line there could be some more risk associated with this strategy, which Westjet needs to analyze and find the mitigation of the same before implementing of new fleets into its o peration. Ø Funding: Westjet has a cash reserve of $820 million, which would be sufficient for the initial phase of this change. At later stage if the airline needs to buy some more aircraft, where it needs external funds then it would be going for long term debts. Taking loan term loan will not be a major financial concern for airline as debt to equity ratio is at 1.09:1 compared standard value of 2:1. Ø Communication Plan: Westjet should communicate this new strategy to its employees, shareholders and suppliers. Share holders will be communicated with the need and benefit of new strategy through mailers. Suppliers and channel partners should also be communicated through mailers. For employees the communication should be by top management in an interactive session, where top management would answer to all the apprehensions that employees have along with possible benefits of new strategy. Ø Training: Westjet will have to implement new training programs for its crew member and maintenance engineers, so that they can learn the mechanism of operation of new fleet. For new employees the training program will include training for Boeing 737s as well as smaller Bombardier or Embraer airplanes. This will ensure that maintenance work for either fleet can be done by any maintenance staff. As a result efficiency will come with some additional training cost for the airline but it will help airline to continue to enjoy its process driven operation rather than having people driven operation. Ø Resource planning: At present the airline has 77 Boeing 737s aircrafts. With inclusion of Bombardier or Embraer airplanes, Westjet may need to hire additional staffs that have experience of working on Bombardier or Embraer airplanes. Ø Resistance management plan: The major resistance could come from employees of the airlines, due to their apprehension about success of new business model coupled with need for them to learn new technology. As the employees of Westjet have a significant share in operating profit of airlines, the top management should provide the estimated financial benefits of new strategy to employees along with assurance of complete training on new fleet. This will help in managing resistance from employees. The resistance from shareholders can be handled by highlighting the business needs and financial benefit of this change. Ø Change implementation: The airline would start operating with new fleet, once it completes process of communication of this change to its various stakeholders, training to employees, upgradation of softwares and addition of resources. Once the success of new fleet is proved, Westjet can add more Bombardier or Embraer airplanes into its operation. Ø Reinforcement planning: The airline will adopt the strategy of positive reinforcement on regular interval. This will be achieved through showing growth in revenue, with increased profit share amount for employees. 5.0 Sustaining Change Maintaining momentum and sustaining change is a crucial stage of the change process. If steps are not taken to sustain change the new state achieved may be short lived (Hayes, 2007) Once the 2nd fleet is introduced at Westjet, it is recommended take the following steps to sustain the change and allow support further growth: Ø Improve the learning curve for employees for maintenance of smaller Bombardier or Embraer airplanes through appropriate training. Ø Focus on greater profitability through leaner processes. The airline should look to adopt six sigma into its process, this will drive the innovation in its operation. Ø Introducing smaller Bombardier or Embraer airplanes for Carrabin Island and USA cities which are nearer to Canada and depending on the demand the airline can increase the number of fleets in this route. This will help in achieving higher occupancy for Westjet flights to Carrabin Island and USA Ø Empowerment of employees to act and take decision according to the situation Ø Continuous quality improvements in all processes and continuous focus on innovation Ø Westjet needs to continue with its flat organization structure and at the same time it should be flexible to facilitate resource requirements at the top management without any hassle Ø Westjet should try to achieve an organization wide belief that quality is everyones job through Vision-driven leadership Ø Inculcating values that include high moral standards, ethics, teamwork, involvement and risk taking Ø Measure the effectiveness of change through various change management tools Ø With inclusion of 2nd fleet, Westjet will have the opportunity for business expansion in international airline segment. To get optimum benefit out of its international operation, it should make partnership with other airlines, which will help it acquire those customers who do not fly to Westjet destinations. In addition to this it can make tie up with European airlines for promoting WVI. By taking these two strategic steps Westject can generate additional revenue for itself. Ø For future expansion through 2nd fleet Westjet needs to address language barriers which could arise due to its expansion into international market 6.0 Conclusion Westjet Airlines ultimate goal is to become top 5 most successful airlines of the world by 2016 and it is extremely difficult to achieve the same with single fleet model. The best airline in the world, US Airways is using more than 85 smaller Bombardier or Embraer airplanes. Moreover Westjet business model is on the similar to that of southwest airlines and since southwest has already acquired such airplanes, it makes sense for Westjet to adopt this new fleet. Inclusion of new fleet will help Westjet to gain more market share along with higher profitability greater efficiency. It will also help Westjet to build its 1st pillar of its goal i.e. to generate 10% additional revenue growth in available seat miles through fleet expansion.

Marlow Vs. Willard Essay -- essays research papers

Marlow vs. Willard Charles Marlow and Captain Willard have many characteristics that would make them alike and different. Marlow, from the novel Heart of Darkness, was a man who was on a mission through Cambodia to find Kurtz. Captain Willard, from the movie â€Å"Apocalypse Now†, was a man on a mission to exterminate a fellow member of the United States Armed Forces, Kurtz. â€Å"Apocalypse Now† is a Vietnam parallel of the novel Heart of Darkness. While both these men were on a search for a man, they both went through many difficult hardships on the way. Both of the men had different backgrounds before they began their journey. Marlow was an experienced sailor, while Willard was an experienced warrior. Willard was a man who went to hell and back in Vietnam. His soul was already corrupted and only got worse while his journey to Kurtz continued. Marlow was a man who just wanted a job. His experience in sailing was the reason he got into his mission. Marlow takes the place of a captain who was killed by natives while on a similar journey. Willard was a man who was picked by the secret service. He was looked at because of his strong history in the military. The history of both men was important for each of them to go their perspective missions. The surroundings for each man were unique. While both Marlow and Willard had to put up with natives, they had crews that were different. While Marlow had a crew with mostly natives, Willard had a crew of American soldiers who were serving their country. Willard’s crew was comprised of mostly young men who had no idea what they were doing. â€Å"Come on all of you big strong me,† writes Joseph McDonald, â€Å"Uncle Sam needs your help again†(Class handouts, McDonald). This would describe the men that were with Willard. None of them knew where they were headed or why they were leaving, all they knew was they were serving their country. Marlow’s crew knew that they were trying to figure out what happened to the ivory supply. Marlow had a crew full of mostly natives. Their respective ships were different too. While Marlow cruised on a French steamer, Willard was on a boat provided by the military. Both men had a unique surrounding that helped each respective tale. Both Marlow and Willard became obsessed with a man by the name of Kurtz. Marlow wanted to meet Kurtz very bad. He was so fascinated with his accomplishments that he... ...urtz. Marlow could tell that Kurtz was dying while Willard knew what he had to do and that was kill Kurtz. Willard had doubts about killing Kurtz but after seeing Kurtz’s camp he knew what had to be done. Marlow knew that Kurtz had a good reason to do what he did but the ways he did them was not moral. The plundering of ivory was not good. Marlow and Willard both went through a substantial change after meeting Kurtz. The mystery that both Marlow and Willard had about Kurtz was all over. They met this man that was on their minds since leaving for their missions. One cannot tell, if Marlow and Willard were disappointed, of the states they found Kurtz. Willard at one point was even considering joining Kurtz. Willard finally realized the power of the jungle and how it took in Kurtz. Willard and Marlow are both very similar but have differences as well. Throughout â€Å"Apocalypse Now† and Heart of Darkness, each character went through many conflicts. While the sailor and the soldier went on their search to find Kurtz, they encountered many different obstacles. I believe that Willard went through a rougher time then Marlow, but one can only imagine the struggles that encountered Marlow.

The Hunchback Of Notre Dame :: essays research papers

A gem that has several very visible flaws; yet, with these flaws, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" shines as the best from the Disney factory yet. For, at first, the company name and movie title didn't quite appear to sit well together. You don't marry the king of novel Gothic gloom (Mr. Victor Hugo) with one of the world's most beloved (if not biggest) animation companies and expect the usual world population to be at the reception; but expect even Mr. Walt Disney to pat himself on the shoulder blade (or what's left of it) for allowing a hideous hunchback to be transformed into a Gene Kelly-Incredible Hulk combo type of hero. This "hero" is Quasimodo (Tom Hulce), which by the way means half-formed. It's about his distorted education (whoever teaches the alphabet using abomination, blasphemy, condemnation, damnation and eternal damnation ?), his humiliation (being crowned the king of fools), his first love and his big, big heart. It's about how our outward appearances should not matter (sounds familiar?). It's about believing in yourself but not being self-righteous. And it's about reliving the magic of Oscar-nominated "Beauty and the Beast", directed by Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale (both, incidentally, were also responsible for "Hunchback".) Wise and Trousdale obviously had a vision that didn't exactly conform to your usual "and they lived happily ever after" type of fairy tale. They employed a lot of artistic license when rewriting the plot. It was, after all, a cartoon; but they didn't allow it to become an excuse to dissolve the poignancy and tragedy into nothingness. Quasimodo did not get the girl. Nobody exactly lived "happily ever after". There was an amazing amount of implicit blood and violence. All that with Quasimodo's unrestrained outburst near the end and the best animated celluloid representation of the kiss contribute to the real emotions that flowed from the characters. Talking about being real, the drawings in "Hunchback" were simply breathtaking. The two directors and chief artists actually made their way to the famed Notre Dame cathedral in Paris to experience first hand the magnificence and beauty of it. For ten whole days, they walked through, looked from, sat on, literally lived and breathed Notre Dame. The artists even "swatched" some dirt just to match the colour! The result was such artistry that even George Lucas and Steven Spielberg would have wanted to call their own. The scenes in the market place, the panoramic view of the steps of Notre Dame and beyond all left me gaping in wonder and sheer excitement that such representation could be possible through animation; it's all thanks to computer animation.

Historical Book Analysis Assignment Essay

History, it has often been said, is as much a story of individual people as it is of places, events and larger circumstances. This is especially true when considering pivotal figures from American history, for in the stories of pivotal historical figures, the saga of the growth of America can often be seen. Such is the case with first lady, political activist and women’s rights pioneer Abigail Adams and former American slave, orator and anti-slavery advocate Frederick Douglass. It is with these two prominent historic figures in mind that two historical books about them, Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave will be discussed. Upon conclusion of the research, not only will two historical icons be better understood, but also, two key works about these people will be as well. Main Character of Each Work As was mentioned in the Introduction to this paper, two historical books as well as the people who were the main characters of those books would be discussed. Understanding the books first requires an understanding of the backgrounds of each of these main characters respectively. Abigail Adams, for all of the achievements that her life would hold, was not the product of fine universities or finishing schools; rather, she was for the most part an educated woman, and someone who possessed a great deal of inner drive and instinct, which more than made up for the lack of formal education. The wife of John Adams, who was a founding father of the United States and would eventually become president of the nation, Abigail managed the family farm, took care of the children, and showed a great streak of independence while John, early in his political career, was compelled to travel internationally. Abigail shared her husband’s passion for American independence, with one glaring exception- she did not subscribe to the idea that all men were created equal. For Abigail, there certainly was room to tolerate slavery, but this is not to say that Abigail felt the same about gender issues. One could fairly classify Abigail as a feminist, which she continued to advocate when she accompanied her husband to the White House. Overall, while not perfect, Abigail Adams contributed a great deal to the cause of women’s rights and by some accounts, aided her husband significantly during his presidency (Withey). Like Abigail Adams, Frederick Douglass was not the most formally educated man, but through sheer determination and a high level of natural intelligence, in time became one of the most articulate men in America, slave or free (Douglass). Early evidence of Douglass’ yearning for freedom and equality in a nation which promised this but only delivered to select races can be seen in his escape from slavery and refuge in northern free territory as a young man. This escape not only allowed him to pursue his own destiny, but also allowed him to seek the same for every man, with the abolition of slavery as Douglass’ main ambition. In fact, it was Douglass’ personal experience as a slave which gave him the credibility and passion that he required in order to be able to see the abolition of slavery to completion. Historical Events that Involved the Main Characters of Each Work When comparing Adams and Douglass, it can fairly be said that each of them were similarly exposed to extraordinary circumstances that inspired them to action, while being impaired to a certain extent by limitations that society attempted to place on them. In both cases as well, each of these individuals used that adversity not as a roadblock to future progress, but as a catapult to bigger and better things. Abigail Adams entered the stage of American history at a time when the role of the president as well as first lady was far from well defined, as well as a time when women were largely regarded as subordinates to their husbands and not worthy of equal opportunities or education. In the midst of all of these circumstances, Adams devoted a great deal of her energies in assisting her husband-some say too much- in the duties of the presidency and set the protocol for first ladies to come. Also, Adams chose as her cause the equality of women in all areas of society, making her an early pioneer for women’s equality. Like Adams, Frederick Douglass came upon the American scene at a time when pivotal issues were still undecided; for all of the talk of liberty and justice for all, Douglass had to flee from an environment whereby he was owned, like property, by another human being, as were tens of thousands of other African-Americans. Also, Douglass fearlessly spoke out against the evils of slavery, and became an influential resource for none other than Abraham Lincoln, who would become known in history as The Great Emancipator.

Arguments Against Mandatory Voting Essay

Popular participation is often cited as one of the fundamental principles of democracy. The right to vote being a freedom that has, and continues to be, sought after by people all over the world. Despite the value of many political systems’ movement toward universal suffrage, the few countries that have confused the right to vote, with a requirement to, have arguably deteriorated the significance of this achievement. Australia is part of a considerable minority that implement obligatory voting laws, and of an even smaller subset that enforce them. Although the proponents of mandatory voting will be considered, the incompatibility of compulsory voting with implied freedoms, with broad theories of democracy and the overall inefficacy of producing a more engaged public, serve as perspectives that substantiate the notion that voting should no longer be compulsory in Australia. The Australian Constitution raises a number of questions about the constitutional validity of mandatory voting. Given this evaluation of an issue so pertinent to political rights, the implications of these challenges coming from a source as authoritative as this cannot be understated. The existence of a legal responsibility to vote can be perceived as incongruous with the implied freedom of political communication that was proved in Australian Capital TV v Commonwealth 1992 and recognised ever since. This inconsistency extends to the right to vote being proved as an implicit right in s7 and s24 of the Constitution, which, as reported by Dr. Anthony Gray, is an entitlement to vote that includes the freedom not to. Whilst advocates for the current system of compulsion may contend that voting is a civic duty, such reasoning can be seen as unconvincing as it fails to acknowledge that abstention is a perfectly valid form of political expression. Through an analysis of mandatory voting from a wider democratic perspective, the idea that compulsion is an infringement of free will becomes increasingly apparent. In addition to the obvious paradox that a democratic country forces its constituents to vote, a truly free nation should allow for the demonstration of dissatisfaction and make provisions for a refusal  to identify political beliefs. Although commentators in favour of compulsion may assert that the ability to provide an informal or ‘donkey’ vote facilitates this, the inefficiencies these contribute to as well as its inherent irrationality, given they are discounted, are persuasive arguments against such an opinion. Moreover, although there is a certain degree of legitimacy in the claim that obligatory voting serves to augment the democratic ideals of equality and participation, compelling a person to vote is ultimately, according to academic Katherine Swenson, antithetical to the concept of individual freedom. A common belief maintained by supporters of compulsory voting is that it creates a more politically active electorate. Whilst in theory this is conceivable, its practical limitations make the alleviation of indifference a distant reality. In support of this, a 2007 experiment conducted by Peter Loewen et al. in a Quebec election found that required voting had â€Å"little or no effect† on the knowledge and engagement of its participants. In the Australian context, despite the assumption that the problem of participation is solved by mandatory laws, in the last election around one-fifth of eligible Australians failed to cast a usable vote. It is argued that candidates and parties rely on these laws to get voters to the ballot. If this is the case, perhaps the solution is to abandon compulsory voting and thus force parties to organically incite a politically active populace through enticing and innovative policies. The dichotomy of democracy is that it demands both individual freedoms and equality. A great difficulty of modern politics has been the ability to strike a balance between these paradigms, and to determine at what point one must be truncated to enhance the other. Through an analysis of compulsory voting through a constitutional, democratic and practical context, it has become clear that such a regime has no place in a society that strives to exist as an epitome of democracy. The time has now come for Australia to abandon its paternalistic voting laws and entrust its political future with the voluntary voice of the Australian public, and not in a piece of legislation that commands it to speak. REFERENCE LIST/ BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. Chong, D, Davidson, S & Fry, T 2005, ‘It’s an Evil Thing to Oblige People to Vote’, Policy (St Leonard’s NSW), vol. 21 no. 4, pp. 10-16. 2.Gray, A 2012, ‘The Constitutionality of Australia’s Compulsory Voting System’, Australian Journal of Politics & History, vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 591-608. 3.Hoffman, R & Lazaridis, D 2013, ‘The Limits of Compulsion: Demographic Influences on Voter Turnout in Australian State Elections’, Australian Journal of Political Science, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 28-43. 4.Krishna, V & Morgan, J 2012, ‘Voluntary voting: Costs and benefits’, Journal of Economic Theory, vol. 147, no. 6, pp. 2083-2123. 5.Lever, A 2010, ‘Compulsory Voting: A Critical Perspective’, British Journal of Political Science, vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 897-915. 6.Loewen, PJ, Milner, H & Hicks, BM 2008, ‘Does Compulsory Voting Lead to More Informed and Engaged Citizens? An Experimental Test’, Canadian Journal of Political Science, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 655-672. 7.Singh, S 2011, ‘How Compelling is Compulsory Voting? A Multilevel Analysis of Turnout’, Political Behaviour, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 95-111. 8.Swenson, KM 2007, ‘Sticks, carrots, donkey votes, and true choice: a rationale for abolishing compulsory voting in Australia’, Minnesota Journal of International Law, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 525-552. Gordon, SB & Gary MS 1997, ‘Cross-National Variation in the Political Sophistication of Individuals: Capability or Choice?’, Journal of Politics, vol. 59, no. ?, pp. 126-147. Hooghe, M & Koen,P 1998, ‘Compulsory Voting in Belgium: an Application of the Lijphart Thesis’, Electoral Studies vol. 17?, no. ?, pp.419-424.

Black Death Muslim and Christian Responses

Imagine yourself alone on a street corner, coughing up bloody mucous each time you exhale. You are gasping for a full breath of air, but realizing that is not possible, you give up your fight to stay alive. Youre thinking why is this happening to me? That is how the victims of the Black Death felt. In five short years, the plague killed between 25 and 45% of the populations it encountered. So how different were the Christian and Muslim responses? In 1348 Christians who were followers of Jesus Christ and Muslims who followed the teachings of Muhammad came face to face with the Black Death. In truth, Muslims and Christians responded in many different ways. Even the way the blamed others for the cause of the plague and religious views about the disease were very much different. In a similar manner both religions acted completely out the norm, they basically set aside their spiritual beliefs for a moment. One of the similar responses between the Muslims and Christians were acting out of the ordinary. According to document five both religions were finding non-religious alternatives to prevent the Black Death. In some cases, the Christians would try to sleeping on their backs to prevent the plague, while the Muslims would even avoid going outside. In addition they both drank a solution of Armenian clay to cleanse the body and built fires hoping that this would purify the contaminated air. Based on document nine both the religions united together to pray and they went back to their religious ways. These documents prove that each religion in some cases stepped out their religious backgrounds to try to prevent the Black Death. Religious views played a big part on the different ways the Christians and Muslims responded to the Black Death. The Christians basically thought the plague was their fault. They believe that they’re being punished for their sins they’ve imputed against God. On the other hand the Muslims are taking the plague lightly. They believe that â€Å"a Muslim should devoutly accept the divine act. The Muslims also believe that this occurrence is a blessing from God. In addition document two explains the Black Death Mortality by comparing each religions death rate. The mortality estimate Phillip Ziegler calculated for the Muslims shows that about 33% of the Middle Eastern population have deceased. While the Christian population in Europe mortality rate was only 31%. This document proves that the Muslims population decreased greater than the Christians. During the era of the Black Plague, the Christian community held a lood-thirsty lead hand in the fact of the matter, while the Islam society didn’t blame the epidemic on others and or try to solve the rampant disease with violence. According to document seven the Christians blamed the Jews for causing the Black Death; they believe the Jews poisoned the wells. The Muslims didn’t blame anyone for the occurrence of the Black Death, based on document ten. This proves that the Muslims believed that the plague was meant to happen, like document four said, â€Å"the plague is a blessing from God. †

The Awakening Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Awakening - Essay Example However, the critics neglect altogether the universality of theme the author maintains while creating such a fabulous work i.e. the Awakening, which is still being imitated by the Marxist and feminist writers all over the globe. The novel depicts the social and domestic life at Grand Isle, South Creole, where the author has described the bitter realities of life along under the thick curtain of apparently vivid and thrilling environment. Though financial stability, liberty to move and presence of friends and companions, and beauties of natural objects including restless waves of vast blue sea, captivating sight of flying birds and bewitching blows of fresh breeze, make the environment bright and animating, yet the emotional collapses and ray of loneliness turn the atmosphere sad and gloomy. The story of the novel revolves around the protagonist Edna Pontellier, a married woman living with her husband Leonce Pontellier and two young boys. The family has gone on vacationing at Grand Is le near New Orleans. Apparently, the novel looks confined to the southern part of the USA; however, elaboration of people’s psychological and emotional problems and needs, as well as their domestic and corporate activities reveals the universality of the theme expressed and explained by Chopin in the novel. Since Leonce is a dynamic businessman and spends most of his time in business activities, he hardly manages time for his wife and children. The negligence on the part of her husband adversely tells upon Edna’s delicate nerves. She seeks the love of her husband, though fails to obtain the same because of the fast and speedy life people spend in the contemporary world. Leonce has dropped Edna and children in the Isle and has proceeded to New York on business tour; consequently, Edna finds herself lonely and companionless. Since her husband’s corporate activities always keep her lonely, she looks for some male friend in order to satisfy her emotional and carnal desires. Edna observes charms, decor, immersion, passion and fascination, and looks for some admirer of her physical charms and feelings. Consequently, she enters into friendship with two females Adele Ratignolle, a mother-woman, and the pianist called Madame Reisz in order to give vent to her ideas about life on the one hand, and for sharing her joys and sorrows with them on the other. Chopin disparages lack of decision power in Edna’s personality, as well as criticizes her deficiency in perceiving the matters with a speculative approach. The shortcomings existing in her personality forces her seek relief in the company of these two feminine characters from where she obtains assistance and guidance regarding her domestic life as well as quixotic sensations. Edna tries to express her grief in paintings, and revealing of this hidden talent looks as the outcome of her emotional attachment with Robert Lebrun. Since Edna is still in search of emotional relief, she develops relati onship with Robert Lebrun in order to soothe her feelings and sexual desires. She seeks attraction towards Robert because of her loneliness and