Raw by Scott Monk Essay

Raw follows the story of Brett Dalton a teenager with an attitude who has succumb to peer pressure and lives outside the law. After being picked up for various minor offences Brett finds himself having to spend time at a rehabilitation centre. the image that I have created symbolises Brett Daltons perspective of the rehabilitation centre called the farm. The farm is home to many young crime committers such as Brett. The farms main purpose is to reform kids that are sent there. It is very different from most detention centres in regards that a lot of trust is given to the inmates. Brett was confused with this as his image of the farm was completely different as he states in the book â€Å"what kind of detention centre is this ? there weren’t any bars on the cells ? There weren’t even cells† the farm ran a much different way to which Brett thought which I have created in my image. My image helps to express the idea of how Brett sees the farm through his eyes. At the start of the novel Brett is considered as a rebel and feels that the whole world is against him and blames others for his troubles he has the perception that the farm will be full of guards and have locked gates and that it will never change who he is . Brett’s negativity towards authority is expressed in his antagonism towards the police but throughout the novel Brett comes to understand that not all power and authority is like that represented by police that power is non-merely vested in institution’s and authority figures but there are sensitive and compassionate individuals that through the book help Brett to regain control over his own destiny Although the farm does not successfully help Brett get out of trouble as he ends up in jail but he learns many lessons and that ‘he is the only one that can change who he is

Concentration Camps

Concentration camps were constructed for mass killings. Digging deeper into the methods of murder they used, there's more to it than gas chambers, starvation, and overwork. The medical experiments were a major factor in the massive death toll in the concentration camps. Today doctors strive to keep people healthy and alive. For Nazi doctors Joseph Mengele, Karl Clauberg, and Sigmund Rascherat, the ones responsible for countless deaths, that was not their number one priority. Nazi doctors in the concentration camps conducted inhumane experiments such as examining twins, sterilization of men and women, and the freezing of people. When prisoners arrived at the camps, they probably expected the worst. For the twins however, life in the camps wasn't as bad as it could've been. Twins were allowed to keep their hair and sometimes their clothes (Remember.org, 4). Being a twin gave them a better chance of surviving (Lifton, 351). Even though the experiments were cruel and barbarous, they offered an escape from the harsh camp (Lifton, 354). Twins lived in special buildings, such as the medical blocks. Unlike normal prisoners, twins were able to move freely throughout camp. Within the blocks, the father of a set of twins would be assigned block chief (Lifton, 348). Young female twins were lucky in a way since their mother was allowed to stay with them. The reasoning behind this is, Joseph Mengele, the mad man behind these experiments, wanted them in stable mental and physical condition (Lifton, 349). No matter how healthy they were, nothing could prepare the twins for what was to come. The Nazi's thought that twins were the key to discovering a way to quickly increase the German race. Doctors hoped to uncover the secret to multiple births (Pbs.org, 3). In order to conduct experiments, Mengele needed twins. He exploited easy access to twins at Auschwitz and was a fanatical figure in the selection (Lifton, 348). In 1944, 250 individual twins arrived in Birkenau (Lifton, 349). The selection process began with Mengele shouting, â€Å"Zwillinge heraus!†, which means twins in German. Once rounded up, they were each given a number sequence on their arm (Lifton, 348). Identical twins were the ones Mengele wished for the most, as they were his most treasured research objects (Lifton, 349). Although the experiments sound like Nazi's tourtering prisoners without any medical knowledge, there was a method to the madness. Mengele's method was based off of scientific training, Nazi ideology, and the peculiarities at Auschwitz's setting (Lifton, 347). When twins were examined, they were examined together and naked (Lifton, 349-350). Measurements of every part of their body were taken (Remember,org, 4). Each session, ten cubic centimeters of blood were drawn and during the first examinations the family history of the twins was taken (Lifton, 350). Today we can look at an actual experiment performed on a set of identical Hungarian twins. Selection began in 1943 when three sets of twins arrived at Auschwitz. Dr. Mengele saw the Hungarian set and took them (Remember.org, 4). They were 18 year old men and described as very handsome and athletic. Examination began right away with their heads, which took several days. Next photographs were taken to show hair growth. The most dangerous thing done to them while they were alive was being ventilated with gas. They coughed so severely, restraints were needed to hold them down. After the gas, they were placed into hot water up until the point of passing out and then all their hair was removed; more photographs were taken. The Hungarian twins were killed the same way as every other set that made it to the end of the experiments. A syringe of chloroform was injected into their hearts. Mengele was very careful to make sure the twins died at the exact same time. Once no longer alive, they were dissected and their organs were sent to the Institute of Biological Racial and Evolutionary Research Berlin (Remember. Org, 4). Dissection of the corpses was the last part of Mengele's twin research (Lifton, 350). These experiments were drastic. Of the 1,000 pairs experimented on, only 200 pairs survived (Pbs.org, 3). Sadly, this was not the end of cruel Nazi medical experiments; sterilization of prisoners was also very important to the Germans. Sterilization: surgery to make a person unable to produce offspring. The main goal of sterilization was to discover a rapid, inexpensive, and unobtrusive method to wipe out Russians, Poles, Jews, and other races (Berenbaum, 347). Nazis hoped to sterilize millions with minimum time and effort (Pbs.org, 5). Even though a method already existed, surgical sterilization, doctors thought it was too slow and expensive. These experiments occurred in camps such as Auschwitz and Ravensbruck (Berenbaum, 247). There were mainly two doctors known for sterilization, Gebhardt and Clauberg. Gebhardt worked at Ravensbruck by the surgical method. The method Clauberg used was by an injection. Dr. Karl Clauberg conducted it on a large scale (Berenbaum, 348). He was the main man for sterilization (Lifton, 271). Although the doctors knew how they wanted to sterilize, a formula had to be developed. Since Dr. Clauberg was the head of these experiments, he developed his own formula, but he was very secretive about the substances he used. Researchers today assume he used formalin and novocain (Lifton, 271-272). Formalin is a clear watery solution of methanol used as a preservative. Novocain, also known as procaine, is a local anesthetic drug used as a sodium channel blocker. This impairs the conduction of sodium ions. This injection was done in three stages over a few months. Unfortunately, Clauberg used over 300 women over the course of his work (Lifton, 272). Not just women had to face the horrors of Dr. Clauberg, thousands of male Jews and Gypsies were sterilized at Auschwitz by injection. Later on, doctors discovered a brand new method, x rays. This way was effective, but castration would result. There were also dangers to other parts of the body if not covered by lead (Berenbaum, 348). Even though the Nazi doctor's main goal was to sterilize, other issues occured. Thousands who were sterilized suffered excruciating mental and physical pain (Pbs.org, 5). Fever also overtook many victims. Some prisoners were very resistant but many feared what would happen if they were. Prisoners who resisted were sent to the gas chamber at Birkenau (Lifton, 272). Knowing each day what would be done to them by Clauberg caused them to be overcome with fear and anxiety (Lifton, 273). Of course sterilization was extremely painful and killed many people, but the freezing experiments were the most painful experiments the Nazi's conducted. A problem Germany had during World War II was when their pilots in planes had to eject into the ocean, they would die from hypothermia. Nazi's number one goal was to discover a way to treat frozen German pilots (Pbs.org, 2). These experiments were designed to simulate conditions on the eastern front and were conducted for the Nazi high command. Some camps had the perfect weather conditions; Birkenau, Dachau, and Auschwitz (Remember.org, 2). Two methods used were an icy vat of water and using the sub-zero temperatures outside. Each experiment was divided into two parts. The first part, Sigmund established how long it took for body temperature to lower to death. During the second part he tried to find the best way to revive the frozen person. Through tests, Sigmund figured the icy vat method was the quickest way to drop body temperature (Remember.org, 2). Before the prisoners were placed in the icy vat, they were either given an aviator suit or wore nothing at all. They were each in the vat for up to five hours at a time. Once their body temperature fell to 79.7 degrees fahrenheit, Sigmund would throw hot sleeping bags or use scalding baths to rewarm them (Pbs.org). The second method was conducted outdoors. Dr. Sigmund strapped prisoners to a stretcher and placed them outside. Auschwitz was one of the most ideal places for experiments outside because of the extreme winters. Eventually after suffering in the cold for hours, most victims lost consciousness and died once their body temperature dropped (Remember.org, 2). Throughout the whole experiment, Dr. Sigmund was constantly measuring the changes in heart rate, body temperature, and muscles flexes (Pbs.org, 2). Although not many survived, there is a documented experiment done on two men. These men were both from Russia and once at the camp they were both sent to the icy vat. A long time after being submerged in the vat, neither of the men were losing consciousness. Realizing not much was happening, Dr. Sigmund lowered the temperature. Shortly after this, both of them passed away. Everyone apart of this experiment were shocked at how long they lasted (Remember.org, 2). All in all, 80 to 100 people died due to these freezing experiments conducted in icy vats or in sub-zero temperatures (Pbs.org).Nazi doctors were ruthless and would've done anything for the name of science. No matter how many people they killed, they were determined to get rid of the Jews, Gypsies, and other races. Even examining masses of twins, attempting to sterilize millions of men and women, and pushing the human body to as cold as it could go. These medical experiments caused hundreds of deaths and gives the title doctor a dark background.

Annie Oakley

The great Sioux warrior Chief Sitting Bull was so impressed by Oakleys skill that he adopted her, giving her the name Watanya CeciliaLittle Sure Shot. Though her life inspired dime novels, a Broadway play, and Hollywood movies, little is known about the real Annie Oakley, an intensely private, complicated woman who excelled publicly in a mans sport. (Foundation) Near the end of her life, Will Rogers paid her a visit and then wrote about her in his daily newspaper column: She was the reigning sensation of America and Europe during the heyday of Buffalo Bills Wild West show. She was their star. Her picture was on more billboards than a modern Gloria Swanson. It was Annie Oakley, the greatest rifle shot the world has ever produced. Nobody took her place. There was only one. (Edwards) Annie Oakley, an American Experience documentary film which aired May 8, 2011 on PBS, separates life from legend. Filmmaker Riva Freifeld says she was initially attracted to the project because I thought this was the most extraordinary story of somebody breaking out of a mold. A woman of the Victorian age, small, petite, who had a horrible, miserable childhood. She pulled herself out of all that through her own talent and worked through the pressures against women and made herself into the most famous practitioner of a sport that is quintessentially male: sharpshooting. (Vonada) Virginia Scharff, professor of history and director of the Center for the Southwest at the University of New Mexico, agrees. She is the epitome of the self-made woman. This is somebody who triumphs over about as miserable a childhood as you can imagine. You would never know that by looking at her public persona. She seemed like the all-American girl who must have grown up amid motherhood and apple pie, but the truth of the matter was that she grew up in the most abject kind of poverty. (Vonada) She was, hands down, the finest woman sharpshooting entertainer of all time. Oakley was always drawn to guns. Her father may have taught her to shoot when she was very young, and Oakley herself said that when she was barely big enough to lift her fathers old Kentucky rifle, she dragged it outside, rested the barrel on the porch railing, and shot a squirrel clean through the head. When Oakley returned home, instead of going to school, she earned good money by shooting game and selling it to the Katzenberger brothers grocery store, which shipped the game to hotels in Cincinnati. She was so successful that she was soon able to pay off the mortgage on her mothers house. She once remarked that from the age of ten, she never had money in her pockets that she had not earned herself. (Kim-Brown) In addition to game hunting, Oakley entered local shooting contests that were popular at the time, winning so many turkey shoots that she was eventually barred from them. But such was her reputation that when professional sharpshooter Frank Butler was passing through southern Ohio claiming he could outshoot anyone around, the locals accepted his challenge. They failed to tell Butler that his opponent was a teenage girl. I got there late and found the whole town, in fact, most of the county out ready to bet me or any of my friends to a standstill on their unknown,' Butler later said. I did not bet a cent. You may bet, however, that I almost dropped dead when a little, slim girl in short dresses stepped out to the mark with me. Butler lost, and gave Oakley tickets to his next show. ( Kim-Brown) According to Kim and Brown, a romance sprang up between the two and they were soon married. But it was six years before the shooting team of Butler and Oakley appeared. In the meantime, Butler traveled the variety circuit with his partner John Graham until one night when Graham became ill. Initially, Oakley acted as Butlers assistant, holding targets. But Butler was having an off night and he could not seem to hit his targets. Amid the booing, someone shouted, Let the girl shoot! Oakley calmly took the gun and hit every mark. Kim-Brown) Oakley was a natural performer. Modest, yet playful, she skipped onto the stage like a schoolgirl. She shot an apple from Butlers head, pierced the heart in the ace of hearts or, if the card was held sideways, sliced through it; she shot corks from bottles and blew out the flames from candles. She shot backward looking through a small mirror. She could shoot just as well with her left hand as with her right. Sometimes she pretended to miss and pouted, stamping her foot. At the end of her act, she blew kisses to the crowd and did a funny little kick as she disappeared behind the curtain. The audience loved her. (Kim-Brown) Frank Butler didnt mind fading into the background. Because he was so open-minded about women, says Freifeld, he basically created a situation where you had a role reversal of a typical Victorian marriage. I think Frank Butler understood that she had a kind of star quality that he didnt want to overshadow, says Scharff, and Frank Butler didnt have a problem with that. I think he adored her. I think he also was a savvy businessman who understood that she was pretty, she was ladylike, she was petite. She would do what needed to be done to make that rise to the top. And he didnt want to get in her way. As a matter of fact, he understood that for the two of them, the best thing possible was to let her take the lead. (Vonada) Annie, born Phoebe Ann Moses in Ohios Darke County on August 13, 1860, got her gun at an early age but didnt shoot her way to everlasting fame until after William Buffalo Bill Cody put her on the payroll in 1885. In the process, the little woman (5 feet tall, about 110 pounds) gave Codys Wild West a shot in the arm. As a star with the stature, ability and uniqueness of Buffalo Bill himself Annie Oakley had a platform to promote her egalitarian views about women. She believed that women needed to learn to be proficient with firearms to defend themselves and that they could even help fight for their country. During World War I, she offered to recruit and train a regiment of women sharpshooters. If nothing else, Annie Oakley helped expand the career options of American women. (Oakley, Annie. (2011). Britannica Biographies, 1. ) Annie Oakley rose to stardom from humble roots. In the mid- 1860s her father, Jacob, died, and her mother, Susan, had a devil of a time trying to make ends meet with seven children age 15 or younger on her hands. Annie Oakley tried to help by hunting and trapping in the Darke County woods. By age 10, Annie Oakley had been sent off to live at the county poor farm, known as the Infirmary, and during her early teens she alternated between living there and with her mother and stepfather. Her life took a turn for the better when she met Irishman Frank (Jimmie) Buffer of the Buffer and Baughman shooting act. Oakley, Annie. (2011). Britannica Biographies, 1. ) According to legend, Buffer was trying to drum up business in 1875 by accepting challenges from local marksmen, and on Thanksgiving Day in Greenville, Ohio, he took on young Annie Moses in a shooting match. I almost dropped dead when a slim girl in a short dress stepped out to the mark with me, Frank Buffer later said. I was a beaten man the moment she appeared. Frank lost, 23 to 21. Later, whenever he said that he had purposely thrown the match, Annie would just flutter her eyes and smile. In any case, Frank was impressed enough by Annie to invite her to see his act in Cincinnati. She accepted. As part of his act, Buffer and his big white French poodle, George, performed a William Tell bit. As usual, Frank shot the apple off Georges head and George retrieved the fruit, but the dog then brought it to Annie instead of to the shooter. A courtship ensuedbetween Annie and Frank, that isand the couple was married within the year or so the legend has it. (Oakley, Annie. 2011. Britannica Biographies, 1. ) Annie joined Franks stage act, according to her own account, only after Franks shooting partner, John Graham, became ill in May 1882. She filled in admirably and became an instant hit. She chose Oakley as her stage name for some unknown reason and began to tour with Frank. To the experienced showmans credit, he immediately realized that his wife was a star. He put his own career on a backburner so that he could manage her career, saying, She outclassed me. (Edwards) In those early days of her stage career, Annie Oakley played with Frank Buffer at small theaters, skating rinks and circuses. While working for the Sells Brothers Circus in New Orleans in 1884, they met Buffalo Bill Cody, but he didnt hire her until after she and her manager-husband had come to Louisville, Ky. , early in 1885 for a three-day tryout. After an agreement was struck, Buffalo Bill brought her to the mess tent to introduce her to the members of his Wild West, which had been inaugurated in 1883. This little missie here is Miss Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill said. She is to be the only white woman with our exhibition. And I want you boys to welcome and protect her. They didnt need toLil Missie, as Cody usually called her, had pretty much fended for herself from childhood. (Edwards) Annie Oakley and Frank Butler toured with the Wild West for some 16 seasons, and the only contract they had with Cody was verbal. Annie said that Cody, whom she called the Colonel, was the kindest-hearted, most loyal man she had ever met, and also the softest touch. She noted that Cody kept a big pitcher of lemonade by his t ent so that he could serve refreshments to visiting youngsters. The Oakley act was spectacular. Cody generally used Lil Missie early in his entertainment extravaganza so that she could warm the audience up to the sound of gunfire. Dexter Fellows, a sometimes press agent for the Wild West, wrote in his autobiographical book This Way to the Big Show that Annie was a consummate actress, with a personality that made itself felt as soon as she entered the arena. During her entrance, Annie waved and blew kisses to the audience. She was an ambidextrous shot who fired rapidly and with unerring accuracy. On the rare occasions when she missed a shot, she immediately fired again. On occasion, she intentionally missed and then pretended to become petulant, stamping her feet in frustration and sometimes throwing her hat down and walking around it to change her luck. Then when she did hit the mark, the audience would roar louder than ever. (Edwards) Frank Butler also got into the act, releasing clay pigeons for his wife. She would jump over her gun table and shoot the clay bird before it hit the ground. Often she shot cigarettes out of her husbands mouth, and once she even shot a cigarette out of Kaiser Wilhelm IIs mouth. Charlatan shooters preferred to shoot ashes from cigars (with the help of a wire embedded in the cigar and twisted by the assistants tongue at the proper moment), so Annie insisted on shooting only whole cigarettes. Her act often included hitting targets while riding a bicycle with no hands. Although she could ride a horse in fine style, she left the shooting of glass balls from horseback to Buffalo Bill. Annie concluded her act with a funny jig and would kick up her heels just before she left the arena. Once when a newspaper in England wondered how fast and accurate she was, she gave a special demonstration. Frank stood on a chair facing his wifes back. At Annies command, he dropped a tin plate. Annie turned, fired and hit it square, all within about half a second. (Vonada) Annie Oakley had a theatrical flair and the quickness and agility of an athlete. But none of it would have meant too much had she not been such a top hand with all kinds of firearms. She practiced constantly and did not rely on trickery; she was no sham shooting star. Among her favorite shotguns were a Lancaster and a Francotte, her favorite rifles included a Winchester and a Marlin, and she used Colts and Smith amp; Wesson handguns equally well. Guns, rifles and pistols are of many styles, she once said, and to declare that any one make is superior to all others would show a very narrow mind and limited knowledge of firearms. Nobody should trust their lives behind a cheap gun. (Sorg) The famous Sioux (Lakota) spiritual leader and medicine man Sitting Bull toured with the Wild West during the 1885 season. Annie had a ctually met him the previous year in a St. Paul, Minn. , theater, when Sitting Bull, then a resident of the Standing Rock Reservation in Dakota Territory, watched her fire a rifle to snuff out a burning candle. Apparently, Sitting Bull was so impressed that afterward he asked to see the little white woman. Annie then gave Sitting Bull a picture of herself, while he gave her moccasins he had worn at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, as well as the nickname Watanya Cicilla (Little Sure Shot). They were happily reunited the next year as employees of Codys Wild West. Whenever Sitting Bull got peevish that season, Cody would send for Little Sure Shot, who would talk to the Lakota leader for a while and then do her jig before leaving his quarters. That inevitably would make Sitting Bull laugh and would lift his spirits. But her presence was not enough to make him want to continue with the show another season. (Sorg) In the spring of 1886, while the Wild West performed in Washington, D. C. , en route to an extended summer stay at Erastina, on Staten Island, an insect lodged itself deep inside Annie Oakleys ear. By June, she had an ear infection, but, against doctors orders, she still rode in the 17-mile opening-day parade in New York City. Near the end of it, she collapsed, and doctors determined that the area behind her eardrum needed to be lanced to drain its poison. The bedridden Lil Missie missed four performances at Erastina (probably the only four she missed during her show career) before she hobbled into the arena on the fifth day to shoot again. She had plenty of grit for sure, but part of Annie Oakleys motivation for getting back in action was the fact that Cody had hired a younger female shooter, Lillian Smith, for the 1886 season. At the time, Annie may have been concerned about her job security. But there was room for both of them, and the Wild West continued to be a big hit when it moved into Madison Square Garden that winter. (Oakley, Annie. (2011). Britannica Biographies, 1. ) On May 11, it was Queen Victorias turn to have a command performance. It was held at the exhibition grounds after her courtiers convinced her that they couldnt fit Codys outfit into Windsor Castle. When the American flag entered the arena, Queen Victoria stood up and bowed deeply, and Codys company roared its approval. For the first time in history, an English monarch had saluted the Star-Spangled Banner. After Lillian Smith and Annie Oakley had curtsied and walked up to her, the queen told Annie, You are a very clever little girl. Lil Missie had become an international star. At least one newspaper said that her marksmanship was better than that of Buffalo Bill. (Edwards) One notable wreck occurred at 3 a. m. on October 29, 1901, near Lindwood, N. C. , while the company was headed to Danville, Va. , for its last performance of the season. When the first section passed the switching station, the switcher thought that it was the whole outfit, so he threw the switch. The second section ran into an oncoming train. The wooden cars became so many piles of kindling as people and animals cried out in pain and steam hissed. Legend says that Annie Oakley, now 41, was found pinned beneath the rubble and it took several hours before she could be extracted. As Lil Missie was carried by stretcher past some wounded horses that had to be shot, she supposedly remarked that she felt sorry for them. Just 17 hours after the wreck, according to legend, her brown hair turned totally white because of the horror of the accident. (Edwards) After her retirement from the Wild West, Annie Oakley tried her hand at acting again, appearing as the lead in a play called The Western Girl, which opened in New Jersey in November 1902. She looked much as she had while shooting in the Wild West, except now she wore a brown wig to hide her white hair. She also would teach shooting at exclusive clubs. Meanwhile, her husband worked for the Union Metallic Cartridge Company, promoting its products to the growing number of trap shooters. In the spring of 1910, Frank and Annie attended a Wild West show at Madison Square Garden known as the Two Bills Show, because Buffalo Bills outfit had merged with Pawnee Bills outfit. Cody apparently asked Annie to rejoin the show, but she and Frank turned the old showman down. Instead, the following year, they joined up with Vernon C. Seavers Young Buffalo Wild West, and Little Sure Shot continued to shoot for that outfit until retiring for good in 1913. Annie and Frank continued to be friends with Cody, though, and when Buffalo Bill died on January 10, 1917, she wrote a glowing eulogy. (Edwards) After giving her last performance with Young Buffalo Wild West on October 4, 1913, Annie and Frank retired to a new home in Cambridge, Md. , and also spent a lot of their time at resorts in Pinehurst, N. C. , and Leesburg, Fla. Hunting and shooting remained a big part of their lives. They had no children. In the summer of 1922, when she was about to turn 62, Annie Oakley performed at a benefit show on Long Island (a clip of her performance that day can be seen at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center). The New York Herald hinted that she might be making a comeback in show biz and could appear in the movies soon. It never happened. That November, she fractured her hip and an ankle in a car accident in Florida. The steel leg brace she was forced to wear did not, however, keep her from resuming her shooting and hunting. (Oakley, Annie. (2011). Britannica Biographies, 1. ) The injury and time took their toll; four years later Annie went home to Ohio to die. She stayed for a while in Dayton, where humorist Will Rogers came to visit and found his old friend sitting up in bed. The next week, the Oklahoma cowboy reminisced about her in his newspaper column, asking people to write to the invalid who had once been the reigning sensation of America and Europe. (Edwards) By then, Annie surely must have felt obsolete. In 1894, she featured in one of the first Western movies, acting out her routines for Thomas A. Edisons kinetograph. Now screen stars like Lillian Gish and Gloria Swanson were all the rage, and no one wanted a star-spangled Western girl. Annie had her shooting medals melted down, sold the gold and donated the money to charity. (Edwards) She died in Greenville on November 3, 1926 (of pern icious anemia, according to newspaper reports).

Rhetorical Analysis of news articles about recent political events in Essay

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Business Decision Making - Essay Example Statistically speaking, there are two types of hypothesis namely, the null and the alternative hypotheses. During a statistical test, the null hypothesis is tested against the alternative hypothesis. It should be noted that "null" means nothing and that null hypothesis means that nothing is present (Hyperstat Online 2008). Statistical tests are conducted in order to test the viability of the null hypothesis. On the other hand, the alternative hypothesis is an alternative hypothesis which can be assumed if the null hypothesis is rejected. In the case of snack foods, hypothesis testing can be used in order to make business decisions. For example, the company is deciding whether to launch a healthier brand of corn chips to target weight watchers. After an intensive and extensive data gathering, the company wants to test if the introduction will have an impact in their current market share of 35%. Thus, they will need to conduct either one or two tailed test. A one-tailed test looks for an increase or decrease in the parameter under consideration while a two-tailed test looks for any change in the parameter. We will illustrate this further by applying the five steps in hypothesis testing. The first step in hypothesis testing is stating the null hypothesis. For both one and two tailed test, the null hypothesis that the market share will remain 35% can be stated as Ho: x = 36%.

Amazon Incorporation analisys Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Amazon Incorporation analisys - Research Paper Example art from this, Amazon.com also presents millions of ethnic and unique as well as refurbished items of varied categories such as books, movies, music & games, electronics and computers; home & garden; toys; kids and baby; grocery; apparel; shoes and jewelry; health and beauty; sports and outdoor; and tools, auto and industrial and many others. This is one of the prime causes that lead to the development of Amazon.com and also improved its portfolio within the minds of the customers. Side by side, technological innovation also enhanced the growth of Amazon.com in the world among others. Other than this, due to wide range of products, international retail websites, worldwide network of fulfillment along with customer service centers enhanced its growth to a significant extent. This helped Amazon.com to become a Fortune 100 company. Due to which, the economic performance of the organization improved to a certain extent as compared as shown in the below graph: Economic performance of Amaz on.com Thus, due to its vision to expand in numerous countries with the help of internet enhanced the goal of becoming the number one organization in the entire world. 2. SWOT analysis Strength: Amazon is one of the most reputed and profitable organization. In 2005, it enhanced a significant growth due to its wide range of products at a competitive price. Although due to implementation of huge initial set up costs, Amazon suffered high level of loss. However, in order to increase its profit margin, it presented wide range of products at a competitive cost. This acted as a boon for the organization to increase its portfolio and popularity in the online sector. The high level of promotion also helped the customers of Amazon.com to increase its awareness about the products. Customer... Amazon is one of the most reputed and profitable organization. In 2005, it enhanced a significant growth due to its wide range of products at a competitive price. Although due to the implementation of huge initial set up costs, Amazon suffered the high level of loss. However, in order to increase its profit margin, it presented wide range of products at a competitive cost. This acted as a boon for the organization to increase its portfolio and popularity in the online sector. The high level of promotion also helped the customers of Amazon.com to increase its awareness about the products. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is also another renowned business strategy that improved its net sales and profit margin. Information Technology (IT) also supported Amazon.com to improve its economic performance and growth. Along with this, it also helped the customers to access the site from varied locations in order to attain the products. Amazon is also a global brand and also the original dotcoms due to the presence of the huge range of customer in the entire world. It became the first online retailer due to the presence of e-commerce techniques. This enhanced the performance and ROI of the organization in the world that proved extremely significant for it

The negative influent that the American media has on the psyche of Essay

The negative influent that the American media has on the psyche of American teenagers in terms of violence amoung teens - Essay Example â€Å"An increasing number of public and private school administrators face situations involving serious violence perpetrated by and against adolescents. School officials are responding by adding violence prevention programs-often a commercially available ‘off-the-shelf’ package-to their schools already overcrowded curricula† (Posner,1998). There are many programs designed to fight the effects of media violence in the US on teens, and in other ways decrease violent behavior. These programs are distinct logarithms enforced by institutional and extra-institutional (sometimes political) interests, and they have not always been seen to be successful. In many cases, these programs are not specifically tailored towards the usually-small percentage of students who have problems with gang violence or are carrying weapons, and instead wind up cultivating student paranoia and negative involvement. Often, students are even profiled by these programs in terms of their style of dress or speech, and this may create a self-fulfilling prophecy in which students are seen to embrace the type of behavior attributed to them by gang violence prevention programs. Looking at media in the US and the relationship to youth violence, it has been stated that, â€Å"violence often results from a complex interaction of environmental, social, and psychological factors such as the learned behavior of responding to conflict with violence, the effects of drugs or alcohol, the presence of weapons, the absence of positive family relationships and adult supervision† (Posner, 1998). Not all of the reasons may be due to the media: many students who do not have positive family relationships and structured time under supervision during their hours away from school may see that by pursuing positive extracurricular activities that accentuate their futures rather than throwing their futures away by indulging in patterns of gang membership

Museum assignment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Museum assignment - Research Paper Example It was thought that only the priests and others who had taken religious orders could properly interpret God’s word, so it was forbidden for ordinary people to read the bible. Therefore, icons were painted and adorned churches in order to provide the salient stories from the bible for the public to allow them to contemplate and understand the bible. They were used for lessons and so that the people could remember the important parts of the bible, especially the New Testament and the Gospels, and also to inspire as the people believed that if they venerated the image of Jesus or a saint, their actions would pass on to the figure depicted (Lossky and Ouspenky 1999). Icons were created on all kinds of surfaces, including fine linen, wooden plaques and etchings on metal. What binds them together is the intent as a religious icon to venerate and upon which to meditate, the distinctive style with the figures generally lacking perspective or three dimensionality and the text which is true to the subject. The visual elements of this icon are consistent with the story from the New Testament of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem amid cheering crowds and joy, as he was recognized as the Savior. However, the Israelites thought the savior would come as an earthly king, so when it came to pass that Jesus was sacrificed instead, many did not believe He was the Savior. This icon represents Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, just a week before He would be sacrificed upon the cross. The twelve apostles are represented and they are the same size as Christ. There is a woman with a child dressed in red, which could have been Mary Magdalene, but who the child would be is a mystery. Christ’s mother, Mary, cannot be seen. The style is highly stylized in the Russian Orthodox style of iconography("Icon." 1-1). The perspective is all flat, as if

The 1958 Lituya Bay Megatsunami Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The 1958 Lituya Bay Megatsunami - Term Paper Example since about 1940, but in the years after that, the fiord – like bay had increasingly been used by fishermen ‘as an overnight anchorage for their trolling boats and as a refuge in bad weather’ (Miller, 1960). As the second half of 1958 dawned, a catastrophic event on an unprecedented scale occurred in what used to be a safe anchorage, causing a massive trail of destruction and taking two human lives. The eyewitnesses’ accounts, the subsequent observations and measurements docum-ented by Miller in great detail in his comprehensive report published by the U.S. Geological Survey, as well as the extensive survey conducted by Captain Elliot B. Roberts, all together, shed light on what had happened that day. On July 9, Pacific Standard Time, a major earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale, although being reported by some sources as much as 8.3, occurred along the Fairweather Fault. The epicenter had been reported at latitude 58.6`N and longitude 137.1`W, at a point about 7.5 miles east of the surface trace of the Fairweather Fault and 13 miles southeast of the head of Lituya Bay (Brazee & Cloud, 1960). Based on the eyewitness accounts and on the field observations of his own on July 10, 1958, Miller stated that within 1 to 3 minutes after the earthquake, a giant wave front moved out from the head of the bay and ‘swept 7 miles along the shores to the mouth of Lituya Bay in about 4 minutes, destroying the forest over an area of 4 square miles and sinking two boats’ (Miller, 1960). Further in the same paper, Miller specified that due to the wave, the trees had been washed out to a maximum height of 1Â  720 feet, which is considered about eight times the maxim um altitude of damage ever attributed to a tsunami or to a localized wave of any kind (Miller, 1960). The proposed mechanisms responsible for the giant, 1Â  720 feet wave have been an object of subsequent research and analyses, like those of Pararas-Carayannis (1999), Mader (1999), Mader

Paulo Freire and Revolutionary Education Essay Example for Free

Paulo Freire and Revolutionary Education Essay In reading Paulo Freire’s inspiring and idealistic book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, first published in 1970, the question arises is whether such a radically transformed educational system is even possible. According the person I interviewed, a professor with many years of teaching experience in many countries, the answer is not particularly optimistic. Paolo Freire’s radical and humanistic view of education is light year’s removed from what actually takes place in most classrooms around the world. At the lower levels, education often amounts to little more than rote memorization to prepare for standardized tests, with administrators mainly concerned that their ‘numbers’ look good. Higher education has devolved into career training for big business interests, and frankly has become a business itself. Virtually none of the creativity, humanization or liberation that Freire writes about so eloquently really exists in most educational systems around the world, which simply turn out more cogs for the machinery. There may be a few truly creative and humanistic teachers, although they usually end up frustrated, burned out and cynical because of the nature of the system itself. For Freire, the worst form of teaching is the banking concept of education, in which students are passive and alienated note takers of any information the teacher provides. This has been the normal type of education system in most of the world throughout history, mirroring the authoritarian and paternalistic socio-economic relationships in the world outside the classroom. In fact, the schools and universities are preparing students to take their place in the system without questioning it. Freire claims that teachers can either work â€Å"for the liberation of the people—their humanization—or for their domestication, their domination. † They can either create an education system in which all persons in the classroom are â€Å"simultaneously teachers and learners†, realizing that â€Å"knowledge emerges only through invention and reinvention, through the restless, impertinent, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world†, or simply uphold the status quo (Freire 72). He also insists that â€Å"the teacher cannot think for her students, nor can she impose her thoughts on them† (Freire 77). Ruling elites merely want to use the education system as part of the apparatus of â€Å"domination and repression†, to maintain order, but real education should be revolutionary and deliberately set out to â€Å"transform† the world (Freire 79-80). Are there teachers who actually believe in this radical mission for education? Is it even possible within the present system? How long does it take for teachers who were once young and idealistic to become disillusioned? The following are excerpts from an interview with ‘Dr. W. ’a university professor who has taught in various countries around the world for twenty-two years: Question: Have you ever read Paulo Freire’s book Pedagogy of the Oppressed? Dr. W: Yes, parts of it. Over the years, I’d say I’ve become fairly familiar with his general theories. Question: Do you regard the educational systems you have seen as oppressive? Dr. W: I have experienced many educational systems around the world, including a number that I would regard as extremely oppressive. For example, I’ve taught in Asian and Middle Eastern countries where primary and secondary school teachers regularly slap, punch and beat students†¦hit them with sticks and so on. For the most part, those systems are based on rote memorization as Freire described, and the students are not even allowed to question the teacher: they are strictly passive. Mainly, the students are just being prepared for standardized tests, not to develop creativity or imagination, and this becomes very clear when they reach the university level. At that point, they have become used to treating teachers like little tin gods, although I suppose it prepares them for the kind of bureaucratic and managerial salaried positions most of them will be expected to fill in society. Question: Isn’t that also the case with the American education system? Isn’t it mostly geared toward jobs in the capitalist economy? Dr. W. : Absolutely. The American education system is also a class system, and this is already the case in primary and secondary schools. My first job was as a student teacher in a high school in New York. The kids from working class backgrounds were generally tracked into ‘general† classes† that were not preparing them for higher education, while those from the middle class were. I’ll never forget the first class I ever taught, with a group of sullen, nonresponsive working class kids, stuck in a basement classroom that did not even have windows, taught by people who didn’t much care whether they learned anything or not. These kids knew it, too. They were not dumb, although the system certainly treated them that way. They knew they were being prepared for jobs as mechanics and cashiers. And this was not an inner city school, though, where the American class and caste system reveals itself at its most brutal. Question: Caste system? Dr. W. : Yes, in the United States, we have a long history of education segregated by color, with the worst schools always being reserved for minority groups. Compare any inner city public school system today with those in the white suburbs, or with expensive private schools for the upper classes, and you will see the difference in about two seconds. For the poor and minority groups in the inner cities, the teachers and facilities are much worse than in the suburbs, as is the housing, health care, nutrition and so on. Conditions in these ghettoized schools and neighborhoods are not all that much better from those in developing countries†¦the types of places Freire was talking about in his books. In those countries, the oppression is very real indeed, and the students are being prepared for lives as peasants, workers or simply part of the marginalized economy and society, like kids in America’s inner city schools. Those institutions are programmed for failure. Question: But you never taught in inner city schools like those? I mean the types of schools that are like jails, with cops on duty, metal detectors and things like that? Dr. W. : No, my career has been mostly at the university level, and the students I’ve had were relatively privileged by the standards of this world—middle class or upper class. In the Middle East, I taught students from royalty and the aristocracy who had huge allowances every month, and in Asia I once taught students who arrived in limos with their own drivers. I wouldn’t say that they were exactly the oppressed masses Freire was describing. On the other hand, I taught at a university in the former Soviet Union were about 60% of the students were on scholarships and came from fairly modest backgrounds. A lot of people had also been hit hard by the collapse of the economy when the Soviet Union ended. We even had a former brain surgeon who ended up working as a janitor at the university, earning about $150 a month. The whole medical and public education system was so far gone that she could make more money that way. Question: So you basically see the education system as being unequal, designed to keep people in their place generation after generation? Dr. W. : Yes, that’s been mostly my experience. I think it’s designed to insure that the children of the owners and the ruling class will stay at the same level as their parents, while the children of the middle class will continue to manage and administer the system for them, and the children of workers will continue to be mostly worker bees, although a few might be allowed up into the middle class. Question: So in all your years of experience, you never experienced education as being liberating in the way Freire describes? Dr. W. : Absolutely never. The system is set up to do the opposite and it will usually weed out teachers who do not conform to its requirements, unless they are protected by tenure. Most teachers just go along and get along, never rocking the boat because they are relatively powerless themselves and just need the paycheck. Moreover, parents of middle class and upper class students do not want anyone to be liberated, but expect their children to conform to the system—to insure that the family maintains its class position. Question: So given this reality, is there any way you can imagine that a truly liberating education system might be established? Dr. W. (laughs): I think to do what Freire was talking about would require a revolution. Clearly, then, Dr. W. was a case of someone who had become cynical about the education system after long years of experience. He admitted that he had once been young and idealistic and might even have believed some of Freire’s ideas, but over the years he had found that there was really no meaningful way to put them into practice under the current system. In addition, he thought that most students simply went along with this system because that was what their parents expected, especially when they were paying private schools and universities to provide certain services. They were most definitely not interested in making students more humanistic, rebellious or questioning of authority, but only to prepare them for careers and to ‘get ahead’ in life. Only in rare cases in American history, such as the 1960s during the era of the Vietnam War, counterculture and civil rights movements did students actually come to question the dominant values of society on a mass scale. That has most certainly not been the case in recent decades, at least not in the United States, nor in most other countries that Dr. W. had experienced. He had come to regard education as a business, run by bureaucrats and entrepreneurs for a profit rather than to encourage critical thinking or humanistic values among the students. Only occasionally would rebels and nonconformists challenge this system, except in very unusual historical circumstances. WORKS CITED Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy on the Oppressed. NY: Continuum, 2000. Interview with ‘Dr. W. ’ by author, February 4, 2010.

Case Analysis Essay Example for Free

Case Analysis Essay This case focuses on how Toyota as a vehicle manufacturer is looking to get more people to migrate from gas powered vehicles to environment friendly hybrid car variety. The case looks at the automobile market and specifically the hybrid and fuel cell category market in great detail. The automobile industry in general is highly dependent on government regulations and legislatures. There were a lot of pro hybrid and pro Fuel cell legislations that were passed by the California State government which the experts felt that was a matter of time before it would be adopted by other states and would soon become Federal Law. The general trend amidst American customers has been to move from larger cars of American manufacturers to the smaller and better fuel efficiency Japanese cars. It has also been noted that with time the acceptability of hybrid vehicles has been increasing and some states like California are adopting it more easily than others like Memphis. Technologically, whilst Fuel Cells were the cleanest form of vehicle power available, studies had proved that the total impact of extracting hydrogen and then using it in a cell was even greater than a gas powered vehicle. Also, experts felt that it will be 10-20 more years before the fuel cell technology is strong enough. Toyota had invested and committed to developing capacity for the hybrid vehicles while its competition had only looked at hybrids as a temporary fix and were lobbying against certain laws. If imposed, these laws would result in a much higher demand of hybrids. The new hybrid technologies put in place by Toyota also ensured the same driving experience as with other American muscles cars. Problem Definition : The Problem in front of Toyota was simple. Although the Prius had done reasonably well , it was still largely a niche product. Toyota now wanted to move from that stage into mainstream acceptance. It wanted to move up the bell curve into the growth phase of its PLC. Most of the Prius buyers were â€Å"Innovators and Early Adopters – people who had the understanding of technological products and those belonging to urban and semiurban areas. As a company Toyota now had to take Prius and make it more acceptable to the late adaptors and induce people to buy hybrids. Alternatives : The advertising and marketing campaigns of Prius have always revolved around its technical superiority over all other gas powered vehicles while still maintaining the basic performance attributes. However at this stage of the PLC, Prius has to communicate and connect to new customers at an emotional level. Since Late adopters and laggards usually tend to have a delegatory buying behavior, they often tend to make decisions based less on technical aspects of the product. Thus the marketing campaign should focus on portraying the act of being caring about the planet a desirable trait in people. It should also depict the ownership of Prius as a point of Pride – as a medallion of one’s contribution to the planet’s wellbeing. To overcome geographical and demographic biases, the ads should depict different kinds of people, men and women from different states, professions and backgrounds displaying their pride at owning a Prius. Owning a Hybrid should be portrayed as a patriotic duty of every car owner in order to protect the environment and thereby the future of the nation. The more interior states of Memphis and others could use some American Celebs who the people identifies with become brand ambassadors for promoting Hybrid technology. The other possible method could be to focus the attention of the customer to the overall benefit of shifting to a Hybrid both in financial terms and otherwise. The advantage of using such a strategy will be that the differences will be highly tangible and therefore very easy to communicate. At the same time, it will continue to focus on technicalities alone and may be continue to appeal to the technical bent of innovators and early adopters only, in which case it will be difficult to graduate to the next phase of the PLC. Also, we need to understand that the American consumer is not very much price sensitive when it comes to cars, and therefore might not respond to the financial benefit appeal. Recommended Alternatives: The more sensible foot forward would be to primarily work on consumer’s acceptance of the product at a psychological level. This can be achieved if the product can establish an emotional connect with the consumers and then move ahead from there. Thus Toyota has to work on making Prius a preferred brand my making it more American and a more responsible choice. Implementation plans : ? ? ? ? Shift from a technical attribute focus to a more emotional focus Work on advertising campaigns along different media channels to project Prius as the obvious least that one could do to keep the planet clean. Reach out to the semi urban and rural consumer by focusing on how a hybrid makes sense for consumers of different ages, class and category. Make the brand more acceptable to them by using local celebs and building confidence and identity with the brand product.

Management Information Systems for Shipping Company

Management Information Systems for Shipping Company Course Title: Management Information Systems Background of the Enterprise Mediterranean Shipping Company was started in 1970 in Brussels as a tramp operator with only one second-hand ship carrying containers, the Patricia. The following year Rafaela, a much bigger and more modern vessel was added, eventually inaugurating a link Italy-East Africa that has remained a part of the MSC service ever since. Similarly the next years MSC continue the growth with more ships and at the end of 1978, MSC moved from Brussels to Geneva and became a Swiss company. The worldwide network of MC services were added slowly and quietly, but judiciously; with strategically placed hubs. Most of the worldwide success-story of MSC can be traced at this junction because Mr. Aponte the founder of the company was quicker than most to appreciate the benefits of containerization and hubbing. Mediterranean Shipping Company Greece S.A. was founded in 1994 with main shareholders the liner shipping MSC Geneva S.A. and the shipping agent Dimitri Theodorikas. Within a short period of time MSC Greece S.A. attained a leading position in the liner shipping sector in Greece as a result of the gradual connection of Greek ports with the world network of MSC and the continuous upgrade of services of MSC Greece to its customers. In 1997 on the initiative of Dimitris Theodorikas MSC Geneva signed a contract with the Piraeus Port Authority deciding to use the port of Piraeus as its main hub port in the Mediterranean area. This vanguard action opened the door for the globalization of Greek ports. Very soon Piraeus climbed in the worlds top 50 list of container ports with multiple benefits for a wide spectrum of local port related services providers The weekly connection of the basic Hellenic ports (PIRAEUS, THESSALONIKI, HERAKLION, VOLOS) with the globalnetwork of MSC, the continuous upgrade of the fleet of MSC through the incorporation of modern units, and the high quality services provided by our 200 specialized executives, guarantees the high level of qualitative transport services that Hellenic Import and Export enterprises seek to receive . (http://www.mscgreece.com/index.html ) 1. Security/Threats Security has always been a priority concern of IT professionals, especially the Information Officers of Mediterranean Shipping Company who hold ultimate responsibility for their companys computer and internet security. In the years since the internet first came on the scene, the security scenario has undergone rapid changes and developments as threat and counter-threats have been developed and deployed. Recent surveys tend to confirm this perception. While IT security threats continue, the form and nature of these threats may not be what most people expect or even suspect. Â © SANS Institute 2003, as part of the Information Security Reading Room6 2. Global MIS/Risks Global Information Management is a new class of enterprise solution that provides the essential business strategy and tools for enabling a corporation to manage the escalating requirements for local language delivery. Many companies have invested in content management and web management solutions to manage the content creation, approval and publishing processes. Whilst these systems can manage and deliver localized content once it has been created they do not have the capability needed to manage the localization process. Global Information Management solutions augment a companys existing solutions to provide the capability needed to manage the process of taking approved content and localizing it appropriately fora global audience. Effective GIM can dramatically reduce processing time whilst reducing localization costs. 3. Ethics/Social Issues In business today there are many instances of corporations that act from an ethical standard, including the company that I work for. Ethics and Social Responsibility are very important for modern businesses to possess to function productively and profitably. In a world that has been rocked my multiple corporate scandals and environmental disasters, it is essential that companies put forth the effort to regain and maintain the trust of their customers and the public in general hopefully the efforts of organizations. Lucas, H. C.; Jr. Implementation: The Key to Successful Information Systems. New York: Columbia University Press, 1981 . 4. Project Failures A project is usually a one-time effort composed of many interrelated activities, costing a substantial amount of money, and lasting for weeks or years. The management of a project is complicated by the following characteristics. Most projects are unique undertakings, and participants have little prior experience in the area. Uncertainty exists due to the generally long completion times. There can be significant participation of outsiders, which is difficult to control. Extensive interaction may occur among participants. The many interrelated activities make changes in planning and scheduling difficult. Projects often carry high risk but also high profit potential. (http://www.gantthead.com/article.cfm?ID=187449) 5. New Technology Given the right locale and purpose these shipping containers of MSC can provide a viable option for housing people and businesses and the strategy of implementing these shipping containers should not be limited to the finite size of the container itself. The process of threat identification begins with an understanding of the financial institutions environment, including its business strategy, information systems, policies and procedures, human stakeholders (management, employees, customers), and physical resources (facilities, equipment) of the MSC company. Each of these factors will impact potential threat sources, their motivation, method, and consequences. An understanding of threats can best be achieved by grouping them into categories. Three intuitive categories include human, non-human, and mixed threats. Some examples include the following: Human People-based threats can include individuals from inside and outside the shipping company. Hackers These individuals are characterized by their strong interest in computer technology and desire to learn more by playing with systems and testing their capabilities. Often this involves testing systems they do not own. Crackers This group is distinguished from hackers by their more malicious intentions. While claiming a strong interest in technology, their goals tend to be criminal in nature (e.g., theft, destruction, or denial of service to data or systems). In the other part Mediterranean Shipping Company are turning into global concerns. Information technology is an important tool in making this transformation and in designing the international organization. As tariffs fall, you can expect to see firms rapidly moving operations to different parts of the world to take advantage of special competencies and disparities in wage rates. Even a one-person company can have worldwide sales through the Internet. The General Manager of MSC Greece said that information technology is the glue that can hold an international organization together and help coordinate its operations. All of our IT design variables that focus on communications, such as electronic links, technological matrixing, electronic customer/supplier relationships, and virtual components, are available to help manage and coordinate the global firm. Also MSC managers are exposed to new, complex risks more and more frequently and they often can only understand their financial implic ations when its already too late to react. Additionally, regulatory changes and regional legislations are forcing MSC to rethink their approach to risk management. Equally important for the MSC as a worldwide transportation company of goods are the ethical issues as safety and security that concerns the overloading of the vessel, the theft of the goods, the maritime accidents and all the terrorist activities that happening now days. More can be included the air and water pollution of the ships, the excessive consumption of fuels and several times the oil slicks of the shipping industry. MSC Secretary-General, who exchanged Memoranda of Understanding with all companies, said he would like to see the GIA serving as a model for more such alliances, all embracing the goals of corporate social responsibility and addressing the many safety, security and environmental protection issues that characterize todays shipping industry. MSC headquarters aware that the overall purposes of the United Nations are to maintain international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among nations, to co-operate in solving international economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems and in promoting respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in attaining these ends. As a reminder, heres the list of The Top 10 Reasons Projects Fail: Inadequately trained and/or inexperienced project shipping managers Failure to set and manage expectations Poor leadership at any and all levels Failure to adequately identify, document and track requirements Poor plans and planning processes Poor effort estimation Cultural and ethical misalignment Misalignment between the project team and the business or other organization it serves Inadequate or misused methods Inadequate communication, including progress trackingand reporting Parsons, G. Infonnation Technology: A New Competitive Weapon, Sloan Management Review. (Fall 1983), pp. 55-85. Garud, R.; and H,. C. Lucas, Jr., Virtual Organizations: What You See May Not Be What You Get. New York: Stem School, NYU working paper, 1997. Differently Options to considerate as a Manager In Shipping industry a different option to considerate is selecting proper partners in the current time is a big concern for corporate with other shipping companies. In the container shipping management on the issue of carrier selection, we have to be able to look for information that we might not have been looking for so much in the past. In these circumstances one of the considerations for shippers like managers is to try and anticipate what is going to happen and be sure we select the proper partners. We of course take more interest in the financial situation of the company for whatever information we can obtain to avoid exposure. Financial viability especially has become such a big concern that when shippers and carriers meet to negotiate freight rates and other transportation terms, shipping line representatives themselves volunteer to highlight their financial strength and ability to sustain through the trying times. When we meet with carriers on a face to face basis without as king them first, their opening is to describe what makes them able to survive the crisis as opposed to their competitors. We hear arguments that their activities are much diversified and that containers are only part of it. So after hearing all of this its up to us within a strategic management to make a judgment on it and to see what is more likely to happen. Its not always easy to do but thats what we have to do at this point in time. Shippers fretting over the financial strength of carriers and its collateral impact on their own business may however draw consolation from the recent move by many national governments to bail out companies on the verge of bankruptcy. Recent financial bailouts of shipping companies can be attributed to their corporate or government linkages and affiliations. For example, the Korean shipping industry has benefited from its governments bailout package. Likewise state-backed carriers in China like COSCO and CSCL and Singapore like the APL have received automatic financial assistance. In Hong Kong, OOCL reportedly gained US$2 billion by selling off some of its terminal operations just before the crisis began. A great move was when Piraeus Port Authority and MSC Greece renewed a contract for the movement of containers through the countrys biggest port. The contract was signed by the Piraeus Port Authoritys general director, Hairless Psaraftis, and MSC Greeces chairman, Dimitris Theodorikas. Under the terms of the deal, MSC Greece wills double its annual minimum transit container movement through Piraeus from 100,000 to 200,000 per year. The new five-year contract offers an option for renegotiation of prices, which are charged in euro, after the first two years. The deal with one of the worlds largest shipping companies shows the confidence in the quality of services offered by the port of Piraeus, and is expected to boost the ports growth plans in a time of increasing competition among ports in the Mediterranean seas. (http://www.imo.org/) Conclusion Good performance in ships management translates into high standards in health, safety, quality, and operational efficiency. Extraordinary performance is about outperforming ourselves, by a wide margin and in every respect, and maximizing the benefits for all our company in a fair and balanced way. It means being recognized by our best customers and our principals as a preferred service provider and strategic partner. Extraordinary performance also implies covering longer distances with less energy: increasing the quality while decreasing the cost. Overcoming the ordinary requires innovation and breakthroughs, as well as cohesiveness to the principles in developing the ways that we have to work. Mediterranean shipping companys responsibilities towards society must to incorporate a wide range of commitments: protection for the environment, rewarding workplace and opportunities to their people (both shore-based and seafarers), ethical way of business conduct, and respect for the communi ties in which we deliver our services. References (http://www.mscgreece.com/index.html ) Â © SANS Institute 2003, as part of the Information Security Reading Room6 Lucas, H. C.; Jr. Implementation: The Key to Successful Information Systems. New York: Columbia University Press, 1981 (http://www.gantthead.com/article.cfm?ID=187449) Parsons, G. Infonnation Technology: A New Competitive Weapon, Sloan Management Review. (Fall 1983), pp. 3-14. Garud, R.; and H,. C. Lucas, Jr., Virtual Organizations: What You See May Not Be What You Get. New York: Stem School, NYU working paper, 1997. (http://www.imo.org/)

Managed Care :: Caregiver Medical Health Care

The advantages of managed care to the consumer are medical expenses completely covered, no deductible, and lower monthly premium payment. The consumer under managed care coverage would only need to make his monthly premium payment and co- payments. Managed care makes health care more affordable to the consumers. The disadvantages of managed care would be the consumer would only be able to see caregivers affiliated with the managed care organization, having to pay co-pay every visit, rising premiums, under treatment, and too much reed tape to get necessary treatments. A caregiver’s perspective about managed care is it offers some stability in patient load and income. Managed care would help cut some of the caregiver’s expenses of maintaining facilities and staff, by uniting caregivers and sharing resources. Managed care may also help health care organizations run more efficiently and effectively. The disadvantage is a loss of professional independence and, an increase financial risk. According to the text â€Å"Capitation is especially risky because providers receive a set fee no matter how much care is needed.† A great deal of vigor in managed care is focused on paperwork, authorizations, and procedures, and caregivers say it is nearly unattainable to do their jobs efficiently and meet the increased demand for paperwork. Which would I prefer traditional insurance or manage care? Well this is a very tough question for me. I have had both, when traditional insurance was on the rise during the late 90’s, my ex-husband and I had very affordable insurance for a very reasonable price. We had no deductable, we could see who we wanted for caregivers, a ten dollar co-pay, and reduced prescriptions. Today I am on Medicaid (not for elderly but for poor), but I don’t think I could afford today’s insurance prices. I like Medicaid because I don’t have to worry about money for doctor’s bills, co-pays, or prescriptions. On the other hand I have a tough time finding caregivers accepting new Medicaid patients, some doctors treat Medicaid patients differently, many treatments and prescriptions ordered are not covered by Medicaid, so I had to go with out.

Solzhenitsyn and Truth Essays -- essays research papers

â€Å"In the struggle with falsehood art always did win and it always does win!† Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a Soviet dissident, espoused this philosophy to the Swedish Academy. He spoke of the power of art in combating the tyranny and lies of a corrupt government, and as a medium for evaluating society. He was at various times, a soldier in the Soviet army, a political prisoner of the Soviet state, a celebrity for his literary works, and an exile from all of Russia. His fiery philippic against Stalin landed him in prison for eight years; his account of prison life made him immensely popular during the de-Stalinization years of the early 1960’s, and he was deported for his most famous work, The Gulag Archipelago. He has become a symbol of the higher power of artists and writers who have the courage to fight the status quo.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alexander Solzhenitsyn was born to Cossack intellectuals in 1918, but was raised entirely by his mother, his father having died before he was born. He went on to major in mathematics at the University of Rostov-na-Donuand and he learned literature from correspondence courses at the Moscow State University. He fought in WWII, and became a captain of artillery, but was arrested in 1945 for writing a letter criticizing Josef Stalin’s totalitarian government. He spent eight years in a variety of labour and prison camps and three more years in enforced exile. After his release, he settled in central Russia where he wrote and taught mathemat...

Music as an Indicative of the History of Puerto Rico :: Culture cultural History Puerto Rican Essays

Music as an Indicative of the History of Puerto Rico During Dr. Lise Waxer’s October 29th lecture she characterized "music" as being indicative of the history of a people, a way of establishing social relations, and being a forum for dialogue. However, upon a critical analysis of the claims within her lecture and the issues discussed within Ruth Glasser’s My Music is My Flag, I believe that modern studies of Puerto Rican popular culture reveal more about the present state of Puerto Rican identity than the historical subjects themselves. It is clear that above all else Puerto Rican musical history, from its evolution on the island and in the diaspora, was created and conditioned by the US colonial system. Therefore, any attempt to elevate its significance may be more of a classed-based attempt to elevate their social position within the context of colonized historical reality. Before embarking upon this analysis it is important to note that Ruth Glasser is not Puerto Rican. Although she is "a nice Jewish girl" studying the history of Puerto Rican music, the fact that she is not Puerto Rican does not exclude her from misinterpreting the significance of her findings (xv). From the onset of her analysis she presents herself in opposition to "the traditional historian’s" assumptions about Puerto Rican history. She claims that "many popular and scholarly assessments suggest that Puerto Rican musicians have left their own ostensibly meager musical resources behind and [have]‘merely’ adopted Cuban sounds" (3). This opinion, she claims, characterizes Puerto Rican musical culture as being "imported," meaning that it has no self-sustaining historical traditions of its own. Such a claim would also challenge Lise Waxer’s claims which characterize Puerto Rican music as a manifestation of Puerto Rican national history. Glasser in turn proceeds within her study to describe the numerous historical traditions of Puerto Rican music. Most prominent among these traditions is the fact that many of the early bands under early US colonial rule began as military bands during the First World War. Indeed, the US army band soldiers were examples of the first musical experience during the Puerto Rican Diaspora because their travels to Europe allowed some musician form "a particularly prominent part of the United States Army’s most famous musical ensembles. [For example] the 369th Infantry "Hellfighters" Band" (54). As professional musician these people benefitted greatly by gaining access to more traditional forms of musical skills.

Analysis of Pink’s Stupid Girls Essay

1. Pink’s Stupid Girls created 2006 2. Narrative or storyline; Young girl is sitting on couch, watching TV which shows a range of depictions of women. The ‘good’ and ‘bad’ angels hover over her shoulders. The images include women as ditzy, carrying little dogs, car-washing in minimal clothing, as the president, playing football. 3. The central discourses are stereotypes regarding women and the choices that women make. The entire video clip presents the range of ways women can be in our society. For example, they can be insecure about their appearance, with scenes showing them getting spray-tans, having cosmetic surgery and the bulimic girl in the toilets. Almost in contrast, the women are shown as being defined by their sexuality and using their appearance to gain approval, such as in the dancing, bedroom and the car-washing scenes. This idea is also evident in the gym and bowling alley skits. There are also images of women being strong and independent, especially in the president scenario and the final scene. The central discourse challenges many of the existing stereotypes which define women by their appearance, rather than by the quality of their contributions to society. For example, in the opening scene, a young girl is depicted sitting on a couch watching television. As she changes channels, different representations of women are shown. The girl is holding a Barbie doll and handbag, representing the discourse of women as judged by their appearance and fashion-conscious. However, she is wearing a football jersey which represents a different discourse of women as sportswomen and perhaps being able to match the boys. In another example, in the car-washing scene, the girl is wearing very minimal clothing, sliding all over the car in the suds, projecting her breasts in a bikini top, and appearing to be particularly clumsy. Her movements are quite suggestively sexual, and in fact many of her ‘poses’ replicate those in the bedroom scene, so the message is about a woman being an object of sexual gratification. This depiction of women is quite downgrading. Overall the representation of young women is negative, with the positive versions presented as the preferred, but not common, discourse. A positive representation of women is in the president scene. The lyrics ask ‘what happened to the dream of a girl president’, and the images suggest a woman who is intelligent, strong and powerful. This is achieved through a range of visual techniques: the use of costume – a jacket and glasses, camera angle – from below to emphasise status, props – the USA flag, portrait in background, and the lectern. The action of striking a fist on the lectern also emphasises the confidence of the character, in direct contrast to other scenes which show the woman as insecure, comparing herself to other girls and trying to attract the attention of men. . The video clip uses a range of technical aspects to help convey the overall message. For example, very conventional codes are used in the opening scene, where the angel is depicted in white and the devil in black and red. The connotation of white is of purity and innocence, whereas the connotations often associated with black and red are negative. Fire is suggestive of hell and the smoke or cloud around the white angel suggests heaven. The message is thus a very heavy laden one, making one view of women good and the other bad.

Ethnocentrism: Culture and Editorial Board Essay

ABSTRACT on that point argon nearly issues that posterior be attri al unrivaleded to an exclusives pagan rulings and how they mass consort to an a nonher(prenominal) privates percenticularized pagan beliefs and nonice standards. Sometimes these issues can be peanut and dealt with appropriately, but in opposite miscues these pagan differences can be monumental and baffle contrastive societies to wage wars against one an around an another(prenominal)(prenominal). The right smart that an single judges or perceives other acculturations beliefs and standards based on the guidelines of their let last is what sociologist appertain to as ethnocentrism and is what we ar spill to be looking at in further detail in this paper. in that respect argon several(prenominal) a(prenominal) f operateors that contribute to the unflinching societal disputes and disagreements that are forever occurring end-to-end the globe. in that respect is a smashing basin th at can be felt in leads to understanding and accepting each individual ships company each one has its throw unique conclusion and numerous individuals are not unresolved of viewing a market-gardening contrastive than their own with let out freeing predisposed judgments and ideas that are typically in silented by their own gardening. Ethnocentrism is a term that sociologists riding habit to define this universally occurring unaccepting embed of attitudes and behaviors. Ethnocentrism can be attributed to companionable evolution, local anesthetic & irrelevant competition and can to a fault be a result of cooperation with what is visuali get togetherd to be the in- collections and not the out-groups (Axelrod & Hammond, 2003). The main concept of ethnocentrism is individuals seeing their item group or tillage as cosmos the in-group or the superior to the other nuances and the individuals that they are comprised of. Judging another culture by the standards of their own it is serious to remember that ethnocentrism is not the equal as racialism (Rodriguez, 2013).Culture is a rattling important particularor of ethnocentrism and it is vital to understand what is it culture is everything that can be allyd with a specific group of individuals, it is the bureau a group of individuals or purchase order think and act in a plebeian mood generally a result of how they wereraised, the way they communicate a common set of ideas or the making and understanding of symbols particular(prenominal) to that group as easily as the traditions that unify that group of individuals by having completed shared value, beliefs and customs. Culture includes in any case the things that we own, the natural objects that we ad caparison to be important and the social institutions that we value, to a greater extent thans and folkways and the technology that is available and depended on ( pillar Board, 2012). As Americans thither are some(prenominal) things as a union and culture that we expect become accustomed too exemption of choice and speech, license to express our identicalness the United States was founded on the principle the equivalence for every individual is primaeval and is the solid ground we bring on become to a greater extent ordinarily accreditn as the melting pot. at that place are many various cultures that are re takeed through with(predicate)out our society and many of which are to some degree maintaining the characteristics and traditions of their motherland (Editorial Board, 2012). The fact that America is considered to be a melting pot and is the land where extraneous individuals come for their chance at the American dream is considered to be a bighearted contributor of ethnocentricity lookout of white Americans. This mentality leads to a sense of power and favorable position and the labeling of other cultures as unequal or unimportant in our country in many this leads to a sense of exasperation from b oth sides resulting in violence. in that respect are many aspects of the American culture that we consider to be pleasurable, the correct way of doing things these behaviors are specific to our culture, our norms (Editorial Board, 2012) and solely as we whitethorn be offended and by aspects of other ethnical norms it is important to remember that the same is true for other cultures as well, they whitethorn draw them to be extreme, disturbing or scour unethical. It is important to remember that many cultures view us with the same predetermine judgments and perceptionsSet by their own culture and that ethnocentrism is not completely how Americans view other societies and why the violence and destruction referable to these judgmental attitudes is so prevalent. galore(postnominal) of the fundamental concepts and behaviors of the American culture are not considered to be acceptable in other cultures such as our principle of freedom and equality, these are not common attributes o f many societies,equality and individualism are call foring in many our general drop of informality both professional and ain has a tendency to murder members of different cultures uncomfortable and can be punishable by law in some (Rodriquez, 2013). If an American were to go to a tralatitious Arab society in the summer months eroding our traditional summer attire, shorts, thank cash in ones chips and sandals it would wantly cause an issue this societies ethnic standard requires women to be fully c everyplace from head to toe and has very unmitigated rules I have no discredit that she would be harassed by local law enforcement and even make remarks to by local civilians, she would be started at and considered to be very unacceptable because this is not what is deemed acceptable in their society. This assignment required us to watch a movie that communicated the ethnical values and norms of a different culture for this I decided to use a tradition that has become a cultu ral norm in variations throughout many societies.This tradition originated in Egypt and was borrowed by many other cultures and changed to fit their own cultural & apparitional needs. This traditional ritual I still practiced today in many different cultures considering our own. This is not a devolveic I would generally consider for a paper but it for sure did provide me with a unique cultural do it. The movie I watched was called the cut it is a short documentary on the arguable ritual of feminine circumcision also know in many cultures as pistillate genital mutilation. This documentary was on the preponderance of the tradition in Egypt but this is also a common procedure in many other cultures. This ritual has been performed for oer 200,000 years and is deeply imbedded in the grow of the Egyptian culture (The Cut, 2013). FGM is just as common in many cultures, if not more as the circumcision of child boys in the American culture but imputable to the nature of the proce dure has been considered a passing controversial, undiscussed issue that affects many different cultures and more specifically a large beat of the female members of these cultures.The documentary reported that over 90% of the females in Egypt have been through the procedure and there are equivalent numbers in other practicing countries. Many raw girls some as progeny as 9 years senior are forced to go through this ritual ofttimes bound and gagged without regard to the barbarianrens wishes, there are 2 different types of FGM both undoubtedly extreamly frightful the stolon type channelizes only the button while the second type removes both the clitoris and the labia this is doby inserting pins into the top and bottom as well as the middle to stretch the skin and alter a mid-wife to cut the skin. This procedure is done with no anesthesia and overdue to the fact that it was outlawed in Egypt 5 years ago it is often performed in the childs house. The outlawing of FGM has be en of little benefit, if anything it has caused more damage. transmission and death have become more common as many parents guardianship prosecution and do not procure medical attention when necessary resulting to an summation of deaths from the ritual. FGM was the main government issue of the documentary but it also offered a visual calculate of their surrounding the area where they were filming looked like a whole other world, a dust cover, and dirt road, full of stiff hut like houses where the women were completely covered wearing traditional vales.I was strike to see that many of the men who were record walking down the busy betray lined streets were wearing similar dress clothes to that of our American business men, they had on expensive looking suits some had ties, some did not, and I was also surprised that there were some wearing jeans and t shirts. bingle of the interviews was conducted inside the womens house which was in an elaborate way decorated with silks a nd beautiful gold statues and alloy accents. There was also a ironlike behavior difference, in American society many people like and want to be on TV, news and radio receiver interviews are conducted every day on sensitive subjects but this is not the case for the women on this documentary. Many of them appeared to be horrible and reluctant due to the fact that their culture considers it unacceptable to speak with anyone particularly outsiders on camera intimately such a sensitive traditional subject (The Cut, 2013). There are many reasons that I in person had the reaction I did to the documentary and more specifically the subject matter itself, being a women of any culture makes this an criminal offense tradition or cultural belief this part of the female body is a very private if not inviolable part of the body and to forcibly remove it with no regard for the young girls wishes is very disturbing.To imagine the pain they are subjected to and the long consequences it can ha ve there have been no medical benefits associated with the procedure, in the Egyptian culture there is not practically of a religious aspect of the ritual either it is conducted on behalf of the grooms family and is often a requirement for marriage. I engender it unfathomable that these young women are forced through this ritual with no anesthesia or pain practice of medicine during or after to remove the separate ofthe female body that are capable of arousal or pleasure out of fear they forget enjoy this experience to make them more desirable to be a bride. As Americans we are exposed to sex on a daily basis, TV shows, commercials, movies and even the news, Americans are spell-bound with sex it is a form of delight for us, a type of communication and for some even a career and others just a hobby, this just goes to show the take of difference that can be seen betwixt various cultures. In many different cultures sex is not spoken about ever, in our culture it is hard to make it through the day without hearing a reference to sex.Many relationships in our culture especially one surrounded by a man and his wife have a foundation to some degree on physical romance and the connection that it forms. In many of these cozy relationships the ultimate goal is personal pleasure or ecstasy of both individuals, look at the copiousness of his/her personal lubricants, condoms and other accessories that are present in our culture to ensure and promote this process, there are even herbal tea remedies and prescription medications to help women achieve sexual climax during sexual intercourse.This is not the case in Egypt and other cultures that practice FGM this ritual is performed as not only a method acting of cultivation but to prevent female orgasm the pain is supposed to dispense as a re drumheader that sexual arousal and pleasure is unacceptable (The Cut, 2013). There are many complications associated with this ritual and has been turn out to be more harmf ul physically and mentally than beneficial many of the members of these practicing cultures see it as a symbol of purification and not an act of violence. In many cases of FGM the mother in law will check to ensure their son is marrying a pure women and it is also believe that young women that are not circumcised will be short, stubby and unattractive.I find it alarming that this practice is still so common or ever was in the first place, many female members of these societies also find this ritual to be disturbing and unnecessary. I feel that many members of our society would find this aspect of the Egyptian culture to be disturbing and would certainly cause an ethnocentrism attitude. In our American culture we have a similar tradition, many still consider this to be controversial but the circumcision of infant boys is also embedded deep into our cultural roots and has been performed for many generations.In our society the culturalnorm is to remove the profusion skin while the ch ild is still an infant and the pain will not be remembered this tradition is slightly religious and slightly attributed to medical benefits such as decrease risk of infection ulterior in life but was primitively used to signify the transition from boy to man as well as to purify the body as the openings were believed to be entrances for impure malignant spirits (Millett, n.d). There are critics and opposers to our tradition as well both inside and out of our own culture which can be seen as another example of ethnocentrism. Many associate both FGM and circumcision of infant boys to be a form of hierarchic control by subjecting young children to set to a hierarchical system and religious beliefs and cultural norms that they may not wish to be associated with (Millett, n.d).It is often very difficult for members of a society to accept, understand or even conform to their own cultural standards never mind those of a different culture how an individual or group of individuals act or react in relationship to others, especially a different culture is what sociologists refer to as social interaction and is fundamental to understanding and having the ability to understand the thoughts, actions and interactions with other individuals, especially those that are different than ourselves (Editorial Board, 2012). As human beings there is undoubtedly one thing that we have in common, our vacillation to accept that which is different, to understand the action of others in which we disagree with, these negative attributes of our species leads to a great deal of betrothal and violence which and between both homogenous societies such as Egypt which is mainly comprised of the same culture and dichotomous societies such as America which is made up of multiple various cultures. undiversified societies generally have less quarrel and issues than that of dichotomous due to the fact that most members are raised and socialized in the same manner and have a similar shared set of values but even in these societies there can still be strife like that surrounding the controversial topic of FGM. A dichotomous society is frequently more likely to have conflict between the various cultures present and the complications it can bring when trying to communicate on an interpersonal level these issues and complications are also large contributors to ethnocentrism.There are many consequences ofethnocentrism and the attitudes associated with it and are a large part of our inability as not only a nation but globally to deal with many of the important comminuted issues that often get neglected due to the fear of being uncomfortable and privation of understanding as well as the effort necessary to effectively compute interdependently with other societies and cultures and the individuals they are made up of too support and aide or else than to judge and wage wars based on our own specific cultural standards and beliefs.REFERENCESEditorial Board. (2012). Introduction to Sociology. (1st ed), Prentice HallThe Cut. (2013). female Circumcision is Egypt is Custom, Tradition and Religion.Retrieved on 4/17/2013 from http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=a25S9jrEmKc