Bass Reeves

Black Reeves is best known as the first African-American Deputy Marshall West of the Mississippi River. He is considered as one of the greatest frontier heroes of America. Using his talent with firearms to â€Å"clean op† the chaotic Indian Territory, he was able to turn in numerous criminals into custody. Where he was actually born is shrouded in mystery as several sources say that he is either born in Texas or Arkansas.At any rate, he eventually moved to Texas along with his master, George Reeves, a politician and farmer, with whom Bass Reeves last name, was taken (Weiser, 2009).Bass Reeves, despite his big frame, was a good man, polite in his ways, and had a good sense of humor. These characteristics allowed him to be favored by his master—he became the â€Å"buddy† and personal servant of George Reeves. During the Civil war, George Reeves joined the Confederate army and tagged along with him Bass Reeves (Weiser, 2009). A sort of Civil War within Bass and Geor ge’s relationship also happened during the war. Bass Reeves, for one reason or another left his master and sought refuge in Indian land.Rumors say that a fight broke out between George and Bass during a card game, another rumor says that the promise of being free after the war coaxed Bass Reeves into parting ways with his master. He spent a good deal of time with Seminole and Creek Indians, all the while honing his skills in shooting. He became so skilled in shooting that he was disqualified in most turkey shooting competitions (Weiser, 2009). The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 freed all the African-American slaves. Bass Reeves purchased land in Arkansas where he put up a farm.After a year of being a successful farmer, he was married to Nellie Jennie. Bass Reeves and Nellie Jennie raised a family of five girls and five boys while enjoying life on the farm (Weiser, 2009). The chaotic Indian Territory would be the cause for Bass Reeve’s career change. The Indian Terri tory during Reeve’s time became the hideout of all sorts of outlaws. This prompted the government to commission Isaac Parker as a judge in the District Court at Fort Smith, Arkansas, the closest fort near the Indian Territory.In turn, Parker commissioned James Fagan, a US Marshall, to employ 200 deputies. Bass Reeves’ familiarity with the Indian Territory and local languages (because of his exile there) came into Fagan’s attention, resulting in the recruitment of Reeves. The deputies were hired for one purpose alone, and that is to eradicate the outlaws of the area at any cost (Weiser, 2009). Reeves soon started his duty as a US Deputy and worked alongside fellow frontier legends like Bud Ledbetter, Bill Tilghman, and Heck Thomas.The US Deputies covered about 75,000 square miles of land encompassing Oklahoma, which is within the jurisdiction of Fort Smith (Weiser, 2009). The law states that a warrant of arrest is needed in order for the arrest to be legal. An un educated person would have trouble with this because warrants are written documents, and deputies often have to carry multiple warrants with them. However, illiteracy did not stop Reeves from carrying out his duty He memorized each warrant by having it read aloud to him before they ride out.He knew which warrant to show for each criminal (Weiser, 2009). As if his 6 foot, two-inch frame was not tall enough to intimidate criminals, Reeves, fully dressed with shined boots and all, rode a big stallion to be a dominant figure. Despite his fondness of looking at his best all the time, when the task required a little bit of creativity, he used a variety of guises to apprehend criminals as efficiently as possible. He always had with him two revolvers which he used, and he was adept at using them in both hands (Weiser, 2009).Reeves pursuit of criminals would often mean that he would be out of the fort for months at a time and come back only to turn in his captured criminals and spend a short time with his family (Weiser, 2009). One capture that has immortalized Reeves is his capture of two outlaw brothers in the Red River Valley. His posse camped out a distance away from the house where the outlaws were thought to be hiding. Reeves disguised himself as a man in rags and knocked on the door of the outlaws. The outlaws’ mother opened up and allowed him to stay, all the while fooling her that he wants to join forces with her sons.The outlaws came home, and Reeves managed to convince the family to join forces. While the outlaws were on their sleep, Reeves handcuffed them without them even noticing. First thing in the morning, Reeves woke the outlaws and brought them to the camp where the rest of his posse was. The outlaws’ capture brought in an additional $5,000 dollars to Reeves’ name (Weiser, 2009). Another famous adventure that Reeves involved himself into is the encounter with Bob Dozier. Dozier was an infamous criminal and has managed to elude Ree ves for the longest time.Refusing arrest, Dozier was shot dead by Reeves (Weiser, 2009). The hardest arrest that Reeves had to do was the arrest of his own son. His son was charged by killing his own wife. Reeves volunteered to take his own son into custody. After half a month of pursuit, he turned in his son and was tried and sent to prison but was released earlier than decreed because of petition and a clean record while in prison (Weiser, 2009). After law enforcement was established in the area, deputies were no longer needed. He served as a patrolman in Oklahoma for two years. While he was in the office, crime was virtually zero.Only sickness prevented Reeves from continuing his service, as he was diagnosed with Bright’s disease. He died on the 12th of January 1910 (Weiser, 2009). Over 3,000 outlaws were apprehended by Reeves in a span of 35 years. That means more than 7 outlaws turned in every month if we do the math. With just 14 casualties in all, Bass Reeves is probab ly the most efficient official in American history (Weiser, 2009). Reference Weiser, K. (2009). Black Reeves – Black Hero Marshall. Legends of America. com. Retrieved March 19, 2009, from http://www. legendsofamerica. com/WE-BassReeves. html.

The Effect of Computer in Our Daily Lives

Why Do They Fail? Statistics show that most people who begin high school finish. Some drop out, of course, but approximately three-quarters earn a diploma. At the post-secondary level, however, fewer than two-thirds of the students complete their program of study. Why do so many college and university students drop out? Knowing the factors that prevent students from completing their post-secondary programs may prove crucial to you regardless of whether you are presently a college student or thinking of becoming one.Most educators agree that the principal causes of failure are lack of basic skills, lack of study skills, and lack of motivation. A firm grasp of basic skills—what are termed the three Rs: reading, writing, and arithmetic—is a must for college or university work. Not only are texts and research material more difficult to understand than they were in high school, but also the quantity of required reading is greater.The ability to express oneself clearly in sta ndard written English is essential; garbled essays, ungrammatical reports, or poorly spelled and punctuated papers will be routinely failed by instructors, regardless of the ideas the writer may think he is expressing. Similarly, mathematical skills are essential to a student’s success in many post-secondary programs. Business, science, technology, and some applied arts programs require sound computational skills. Post-secondary students who lack these basic skills often find little remedial help available and little instructor tolerance for poor work; hence, they fall behind and drop out.

Business Intelligence HW Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Business Intelligence HW - Research Paper Example CIOs use BI to classify unproductive business processes that are ready for re-engineering. With today’s BI tools, business individuals can take the plunge and start analyzing data themselves, rather than wait for IT department to run multipart reports. You need to set up your mental picture for your business intelligence strategy before you bring the aspect of technology into the discussion. Here is how effective BI strategy is put into action: Choose a C-level sponsor: Business intelligence implementations should not be sponsored by anyone in IT. As an alternative, BI should be sponsored by an executive who has an upshot duty; has a big image of the enterprise goals, objectives and strategy; and knows how to interpret the company mission into key performance indicators that will prop up that mission. Similarly, without common definitions, a BI accomplishment cannot thrive. In addition, lack of accord is a prevalent dilemma in companies today. Furthermore, you should examine t he in progress business intelligence mass and processes and organizational structures adjoining present BI implementations. Creating a plan for storage is also of very crucial importance for BI to be successful. The three broad classes of users of BI are strategic, operational and tactical. Strategic involves making view decision like closing down operations in china or Europe. Tactical users make many decisions a week, and use both cumulative and detail-level information, and liable to require rationalized information daily. Operational users are the innovative employees, such as call center staff. Another process for making BI strategy successful involves making your mind up on whether to buy or manufacture the systematic data model. Enterprises that are more complex may benefit from customization, even though you may still want to think about opening with an industry-standard sculpt as a pattern or a set of guides. IT is very important to consider all business BI components, as t hey are many in numbers,  therefore it is important to be sure that they describe the architecture for all layers of the BI heap; even if they may not be part of the BI strategy itself, they will shape the achievement of completion (Daniel, 2007). Knowledge management vs. BI: KM is an intentional, orderly business optimization strategy that organizes, first-rate, distills stores, put together, and communicates information indispensable to the business of a company in a way that progress corporate competitiveness and employee performance. On the other hand, BI is a system or systems that provide unswerving background facts and coverage tools to maintain and advance the decision-making process.  BI and KM are, to some extent, the same but the only thing that tells apart KM form BI are that KM creates new knowledge and helps in knowledge dispersion whereas BI has no equivalent action to these two. The future of these areas is still vague; however, there are quite a few companies up -and-coming to provide services for both business intelligence and knowledge management. Business intelligence firms, such as The Center for Business Intelligence, Micro strategy, and SAP; advertise their services as decision support for managerial decision makers.  Ã‚  These businesses sell and apply software that captures data, maneuvers it into handy information and apply the information to answer detailed questions, show trends, generate reports

Clinical Map for Success, Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Clinical Map for Success, - Essay Example Secondly, finding a placement at the right location seems to be a bit of a problem for me. I have been relatively choosy when it comes to the location for the institution that I intend to be attached to. I have been avoiding those in distant or remote places for the sake of my convenience. One measure that I hope to take while seeking a preceptor and place for placement is highlighting my learning objectives. By providing learning objectives that mesh with the objectives of the course and the areas of expertise of my potential preceptor and place of placement, I hope that my chances of success will significantly improve. I also intend to be less choosy with regard to location so as to boost my chances of success. What I like about this process is that it makes me learn more about the importance of choosing the right preceptor and sites for placement. This is because the key to gaining the right experience depends on how well a student chooses a clinical placement. However, what I would like to share with other about what made me successful is that I relied much on the preceptors and sites to get the right clinical placement that fits my passion. Regarding my restrictions, I would like my peers to understand that I prefer taking my placements in an institution within an urban center rather than rural

Paper on International Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Paper on International Economics - Essay Example Protectionism, in other words, has survived globalisation and in that survival is both a testimony and concession to the fact that, beyond the globalisation-rhetoric, the state has retained its role as a significant economic player. There is no doubt that globalisation has reduced the role of the state in the economy but, there is equally no doubt that protectionism has survived globalisation and remains one of the more significant of the state's instruments for ensuring the welfare of its domestic market. Following a definition of protectionism and an examination of its pre- and post-globalisation forms and mechanisms, this paper shall argue that despite arguments to the contrary, protectionism often serves fundamental and constructive economic purposes. In general, it is possible to define protectionism as strategies used by a national economy to protect its own goods, industries and businesses from unfair competition or, in some instances, from competition per se. Often criticized by economist and free-trade proponents such as Adam Smith among others, protectionism is not only a logically valid strategy for the protection of domestic economies from such unfair economic competition as could have adverse effects upon infant industries and domestic producers and manufacturers, but it often imposes itself upon decision-makers as the only viable mechanism for the fulfilment of the aforementioned. Indeed, as important as it may be for Lesser Developing and Developing nations, protectionism is as important for Industrialised economies. As Schwartz (2000) succinctly explains, protectionism traditionally functions to protect national economies from all of the virtual destruction of domestic industries, unemployment and inflation (Schwartz, 2000). It does so through the utilisation of a wide array of strategies, ranging from implementation of prohibitions against the entry of certain imports into the domestic economy to the imposition of heavy customs, tariffs and taxes upon specified imports in order to ensure that, upon entry into the domestic market, domestic goods retain a price-competitive edge (Schwartz, 2000). Proceeding from the information presented in the preceding paragraph, it is possible to articulate a definition for protectionism. In brief, protectionism can be defined as a

Critical literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Critical - Literature review Example This insufficiency of theory based knowledge undoubtedly brings the importance of evidence based learning and understanding. In the field of medicine, healing is vastly defined. Many authors have not been able to limitise its definition and concept within a few representative sentences. This brings the presence of vast dimensions within the process of healing. It is not only linked with the physical parts of human body, but also finds its application in psychology and spirituality as well. And many researchers have tried to define healing in patients with chronic illness, disability, pain and at the end of life (Kigler, 2004; Marshall et al. 2004; Geller et al., 2004; Cherkin & Sherman, 2004; Waters, 2006; Farber, 2002; Silver, 2004). Additionally, various other fields such as nursing and anthropology have also identified it to be a useful part of their practices. As we are critically analysing two articles-Healing in Primary Care: A vision shared by patients, physicians, nurses and clinical staff and Understanding healing relationship in primary care, it is more appropriate to define healing, which is defined as a multidimensional process with emotional, physical and spiritual dimensions (Hsu et al., 2008). This definition of healing is sufficiently consistent with the healing definition in other literatures (Hsu et al. 2008,Egnew, 2005, Dossey, 2003; Wendler, 1996) Each article has a different summary. In the article Healing in primary care: a vision shared by patients, physicians, nurses and clinical staff, the fundamental focus of the focused groups was to obtain understanding of the fundamental concept of healing among patients, physicians, nurses and clinical staff; also, what they consider as facilitators and barriers to promoting healing in primary care were discussed. In this article, for the purpose of learning via evidence based, the instrument of focused group is used; in which nine focused groups were arranged with 84 participants, 28 patients, 23 primary care physicians (19 family physicians), 11 licensed practical nurses, 20 registered nurses, and 2 medical assistants. On the other hand, in the article understanding healing relationship in primary care, much emphasis is given to highlight and understand the development and maintenance of healing relationships between patients and clinicians. Here, the method of interview was used to serve the objectives of healing relationships with three processes resulted as fostering healing relationships-valuing non-judgmental emotional bond, working in a way to serve the maximum facilitation for patients and displaying a caring attitude towards patients. Critical evaluation of these articles serves the objectives of this literature review. The methods, data, outcomes and theories enlisted in both articles are going to be made part of this process of assessment with a critical look. Have these two articles really served the way for which they were planned? Have these objectives provided something useful towards the process and practice of healing? These are the fundamental questions are discussed further below. Critical evaluation: Healing in primary care: A vision shared by patients, physicians, nurses and clinical staff Healing is a fundamental part of medical science, yet its role is insufficiently understood in the modern health care system (Brody, 1992; Lown, 1996; Cassell, 1991). In this article, many

Independent topic Speech or Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Independent topic - Speech or Presentation Example In professional polling the importance of sampling validity is immeasurable. The first step is to fully identify the sampling frame from the population that the poll seeks to represent. This is followed by a random selection of a small percentage from within the sampling frame to represent the entire population targeted by that poll. Random here implies that everyone has an equal chance to be selected and this can only be achieved if the method chosen to identify individuals to be interviewed is free of bias. Even though Statistics postulates that the actual number of people interviewed for a given sample is less important than the soundness of ‘randomness’ employed in the process, you still need to balance the economic cost of sample sizes with the desired level of accuracy required. Accuracy of plus or minus three percentage points margin of error is the acceptable level for professional polls. Once the individual to be interviewed has been identified it is important not to change the selected person so as to eliminate possibility of bias. In the case of telephone sampling this would involve performing call-backs until such a time that selected individual is available. However, more importantly for the interview is the wording of the questions and the order in which they are set to be answered. Crafting fair and objective questions requires extensive knowledge of public opinion, care and discipline. To achieve this it is good practice to have exact wording of a question held constant from year to year to analyze trends and also to have multiple questions to help put the research within a certain context. These two practices come in handy when interpreting the poll results. Finally, for accountability purposes the polling company needs to make its data available to the public domain for any interested parties to draw their own conclusions about what the survey data means an d to assess whether the poll was conducted in a professional manner. The New York

E-commerce Marketing Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

E-commerce Marketing Plan - Essay Example Market Summary â€Å"FISH FIELD LLC is a fishing tackle manufacturer, importer and wholesaler in Oregon.† (Fish Field, 2011) The company is a specialist in fishing equipments. Fish Field focuses more on ocean fishing though the company has significant presence in fresh water fishing too. What started as just a small company is now an established fishing equipment brand in the region. Being located in Oregon, the major market of the company is Oregon itself. But the company also has reasonable sales from other major states through its online sales of the equipments. The current customer groups of the company include both professional fishermen as well as hobbyists. But the larger portion consists of professional fishermen. The company has a huge portfolio of products that cater to the various needs of the customers. The products of the company are currently classified under categories such as fly fishing, general fishing, sea fishing, centerpin fishing and outdoor sport. The co mpany sells around sixty three products through these categories. Fish Field is planning to expand its market by targeting more customer groups. In order to increase the sales of the products, the company will have to expand to other markets outside Oregon through its online presence. ... This marketing plan is also intended to target more of students of the age group 10 – 20. This is a very lucrative market segment for the company. Competition Some of the major fishing equipment suppliers in Oregon are Anglers Manufacturing Inc, Bandon Bait & Tackle Sea Food, Caddis Fly Angling Shop, Cascade Anglers, Cascade Crest Tools, Charlton Deep Sea Charters, Dan Craft Enterprises, Englund Marine Supply Company, Fish Rite Inc Boats, and Glenn Struble MFG. Most of these players have fishing boats in their product portfolio compared to that of Fish Filed. Though Fish Field does not have boat among its product categories, the fishing equipment portfolio of Fish Field is very large than most of these players. This is where the company differentiates itself from other major players in the market. Fish Filed also differentiates from its competitors through its sophisticated online sales presence. Most of the products of Fish Field are sold through its online portal. Most of th e competitors maintain their own websites. Some of the competitors’ websites are just informative in nature. Such companies don’t sell products online. Caddis Fly, Bandon Bait, Cascade Anglers, Englund Marine and Fish Rite are the companies that just maintain informative websites. All other players listed above sells their merchandise online. If Fish Field is able to leverage more on its existing online presence, it can generate more sales than that of its competitors. Most of the competitors are not established brands in fishing equipments though there are few companies that have years of experience. Therefore, to generate better sales, Fish Field should first establish its brand name or make its brand name visible to the prospective customers. Since Fish Field

Daoism and Confucianism Essay Example for Free

Daoism and Confucianism Essay Daoism and Confucianism are two of China’s oldest and most pervasive philosophies. They arose during the same period in Chinese history, called the Hundred Schools of Thought, a time often marred by unrest and feudal strife. Both philosophies reflect this, as their overarching goals are to seek order and harmony in one’s life, relationship with society, and the universe. Confucianism is a philosophy originated by the Chinese philosopher, Confucius, which teaches that logic and reason can solve all human problems, and rejects excessive emotion and superstition. Confucianism also teaches that following the traditions of early Chinese culture is the best way to organize society. Traditional ritual, music and poetry are also seen as important tools in maintaining societal harmony. Confucius was concerned with matters of human relationships. His philosophy inspires scholars to take up civil service with the goal of building a society based upon their discernment of good and bad and to desire that which is judged to be good. The way of Confucius is to forge a moral society protected from the world. The main source of Confucian teaching is the Analects of Confucius. Daoism on the other hand was started by Lao Tzu, and is mainly concerned with living a balanced life based on following Nature. Lau Tzu saw the natural world as a sort of teacher which could impart wisdom to mankind if we only observed it and modeled our lives on what we see in nature. Extremes are to be avoided, passivity is encouraged over force, going with the flow of things and avoiding conflict is the goal. Lao Tzu rejects worldly concerns, limited knowledge and flawed judgments as creating an imbalance in the nature of things. The way of Lao Tzu is to allow man and nature to come into a harmonic coexistence. So, to boil it all down to one point, Taoism is all about mans relationship with nature, while Confucianism is about mans relationship with his fellow man. Confucianism was created in the early fourth century B. C. E. The founder of Confucianism was Kong Qiu (Kung Chiu), who was born around 552 B. C. E. in the small state of Lu and died in 479 B. C. E. The Latinized name Confucius, based on the honorific title Kong Fuzi (Kung Fu-tzu), was created by 16th-century Jesuit missionaries in China. Confucius was a teacher to sons of the nobility at a time when formal education was just beginning in China. He traveled from region to region with a small group of disciples, and believed that his philosophy could transform individuals and society into a more harmonious unit. Confucius was not particularly famous during his lifetime, and even considered himself to be a failure. He longed to be the advisor to a powerful ruler, and he believed that such a ruler, with the right advice, could bring about an ideal world. Confucius said heaven and the afterlife were beyond human capacity to understand, and one should therefore concentrate instead on doing the right thing in this life. The earliest records from his students indicate that he did not provide many moral precepts; rather he taught an attitude toward ones fellow humans of respect, particularly respect for ones parents, teachers, and elders. He also encouraged his students to learn from everyone they encountered and to honor others cultural norms. Later, his teachings would be translated by authoritarian political philosophers into strict guidelines, and for much of Chinese history Confucianism would be associated with an immutable hierarchy of authority and unquestioning obedience. Confucius’s teachings were carried on and promoted by his disciple Mencius, and, later, by Hsun-Tzu, who lived from about 300 to 235 B. C. E. E. A rationalist form of Neo-Confucianism, an outgrowth of Confucianism, began to gain popularity through the teachings of Chu Hsi, who lived from 1033 to 1107 CE. A more socially oriented Neo-Confucianism became popular through the teachings of Wang Yang-Ming, who lived from 1472 to 1529 C. E. The Analects is a collection of principles enunciated by the Chinese thinker Confucius in conversations with his disciples. Similar to Proverbs in the Old Testament, the analects depend heavily on analogy and metaphor. They stress the importance not of rules per se, but of ethics, that guide behavior. Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself. He also stressed the need for ritual and music. These principles set standards for individual conduct and the administration of government and community. After Confucius died in 479 B. C. E. , his followers compiled his teachings in the form of dialogues between him and his students. The resulting collection highly influenced educational, social, and cultural thought in China and elsewhere. Running through the teachings of Confucius is this theme: A man should lead an upright life, educate himself, and contribute to the betterment of society. The superior man, he says, respects elders, cultivates the friendship of good people, presides over his subordinates with a fair and even hand, continually educates himself, overflows with love for fellow human beings, and in general sets a good example for others to follow. The Analects are terse and usually easy to understand. Many of these passages, though presented in the form of conversation, are epigrams that stand alone as wise and memorable admonitions. The statements make frequent use of parallel structure and antithesis. Some say Confucianism is not a religion, since there are no Confucian deities and no teachings about the afterlife. Confucius himself was a staunch supporter of ritual, however, for many centuries there were state rituals associated with Confucianism. Most importantly, the Confucian tradition was instrumental in shaping Chinese social relationships and moral thought. Thus even without deities and a vision of salvation, Confucianism plays much the same role as religion does in other cultural contexts. Confucianism is a socio-philosophical system aimed at bettering individuals and society. Its primary goals were to educate people to be self-motivated and self-controlled, and to enable people to assume their responsibilities, which would, in turn, cultivate a better self and a harmonious society. Confucius believed that lawlessness and social problems stemmed from the combination of unenlightened individuals and a social structure without norms. Confucius believed in the Great Ultimate (Tao), which manifests itself in the I, or change. Tao is the cause of I, and generates Yang (energy) and Yin (a passive form). Together, Yin and Yang are seen as complementary symbols of the energy and tension in a system of counter forces. Tao, or the Great Ultimate, is the first-cause of the universe, a force that flows through all life, but is not a personal being. Ultimately, we are here to discover our real self, which is the nature of Tao. Humans are thought to be inherently good. Through self-discipline, a human is able to move in accordance to Tao and thus will enjoy the principle of change. In a practical sense, we are here to better ourselves and society. This is done through education and enlightenment. Daoism was created in China in the Late 4th century B. C. E. Daoism was founded by Li Erh (better known as Lao Tzu), or â€Å"Old Master†, in the sixth century B. C. E. Lao Tzu was the keeper of the imperial library and the author of Tao Te Ching, or the Book of Dao and Virtue. The specific date of birth of Lao Tzu is unknown. Legends vary, but scholars’ place his birth between 600 and 300 B. C. E. Lao Tzu’s wise counsel attracted followers, but he refused to set his ideas down in writing. He believed that written words might solidify into formal dogma. Lao Tzu wanted his philosophy to remain a natural way to live life with goodness, serenity and respect. Lao Tzu laid down no rigid code of behavior. He believed a person’s conduct should be governed by instinct and conscience. Lao Tzu believed that human life, like everything else in the universe, is constantly influenced by outside forces. He believed â€Å"simplicity† to be the key to truth and freedom. Lao Tzu encouraged his followers to observe, and seek to understand the laws of nature; to develop intuition and build up personal power; and to use that power to lead life with love, and without force. Legend says that in the end Lao Tzu, saddened by the evil of men, set off into the desert on a water buffalo leaving civilization behind. When he arrived at the final gate at the great wall protecting the kingdom, the gatekeeper persuaded him to record the principles of his philosophy for posterity. The result was the eighty-one sayings of the â€Å"Tao Te Ching. † The Tao Te Ching was written in China roughly 2,500 years ago at about the same time when Buddha expounded the Dharma in India and Pythagoras taught in Greece. The Tao Te Ching is probably the most influential Chinese book of all times. Its 81 chapters have been translated into English more times than any other Chinese document, and it provides the basis for the philosophical school of Daoism, which is an important pillar of Chinese thought. In Tao Te Ching, it never specifically defines The Way. It’s a series of verses, poems, and riddles. It emphasizes control but not dominance, fluidity but not ambivalence, and mystery but not confusion. Dao is analogous to God, but Dao is not a being. Rather, Dao is the source of all and the ultimate reality, and Dao is the cause of all change in life. Dao permeates the universe and is the principle behind all that is. Dao can only be experienced through mystical ecstasy. Daoists seek transformation of their self and body into a cosmic, Dao-focused entity. This is achieved through ritual and meditation. Daoism teaches that there is one undivided truth at the root of all things. Daoism is the organized, indigenous religion of China. From a philosophical standpoint Daoism focuses on Dao, or way, and deals with ideas about naturalness, ease, non-action etc. Physically, Daoism focuses on health through concepts like Qigong and Taiji quan, which involve deep breathing, slow, graceful motions and gentle stretching. From a religious standpoint, Daoism is reflected in many areas, including a social and political vision, rituals, a hierarchical priesthood, talismans and exorcisms. Other Daoism practices include advanced spiritual meditation and mystic, ecstatic soul travel. The universe is hierarchically organized in such a way that its entirety is reproduced in its individual parts. Thus, man is a microcosm within the macrocosm (small universe within a larger one). Man’s parts correspond to parts of the universe and nature. All is from the Dao, and all will return to the Dao. Daoism was created to reunite with Dao through the transformation from disharmony to harmony. Disharmony causes a destructive or waning cycle of the Five Elements (metal, wood, earth, water and fire). This cycle consists of metal destroying wood (wood is cut by a metal ax); wood dominating earth through its roots (domination through power); earth mastering water and preventing floods (anti-nature forces); water destroying fire (pollution is caused by anti-nature, and destroys the beauty of the world); fire melts metal (causing pollution). Through personal and social transformation, humans can convert the destructive cycle of the Five Elements into a creative or constructive cycle of the Five Elements. Metal in the earth nourishes underground water (purification); water is the source of life for vegetation, including wood (nourishment); wood is the fuel for fire, which causes ashes, which then form earth (natural recycling). The formation of metal in earth completes the cycle. Daoism has a very recognizable symbol. It is the Yin-Yang, a circle divided in two equal parts of dark/black (Yin) and light/white (Yang). Within the dark, there is a circle of light, and within the light, there is a circle of dark. The two parts are equal because they signify the balance in the world caused by the Yin and Yang forces in all things. Each has a circle of the other to symbolize that each contains elements of the other, and that each cannot exist without the other. Sometimes, the Yin-Yang symbol will be surrounded with trigrams, or sets of three lines with breaks in various positions. Each trigram stands for a certain principle in Daoism.

Modern Britain Essay Example for Free

Modern Britain Essay Being able to come to a believable conclusion about this statement could be quite hard due to the many definitions of religion and secularisation in the first place. There are so many different definitions for these that defining it correctly once arent the case. However secularisation is overall seen to be the decline in importance given to religion. Wilson put forward the idea that religion has declined and is now less important / influential in society than it was in the past. This was known as the secularisation thesis. Wilson focuses on statistical evidence relating to religious institutions and their activity. Church attendance statistics are used for evidence of secularisation in the UK and these vary and show big differences. The fall and rise of statistics in different areas show that religion has little influence today. Interpretive sociologists say that these statistics should be treated with caution as statistics for previous centuries may be inaccurate as data wasnt collected as well as it is today, the golden myth is not accurate and it could be misleading. On the other hand present statistics may not either be reliable as different religious organisations could have different counting methods to one another and also previous centuries. Bellah questions the validity of statistics, as they dont show the full picture e. g. a person attending church doesnt have to mean that they are religious. He says that religion is a private experience and cannot be measured for most people. Statistical evidence only tells us about participation in certain institutionalised religions, not religious belief / practice as a whole. Wilson suggests that rational thinking in the shape of science has replaced religious influence in our lives because scientific progress has resulted in higher living standards. Science has also come up with convincing explanations for phenomena which were once given by religious organisations e. g. how the world was created. People have therefore become increasingly disenchanted with religion. However people say that Wilson maybe overemphasising the influence of rationality, evidence tells us that people at times prefer religious explanations to scientific explanations. Social attitude surveys tell us that 70% of the UK population profess a string belief in god. Many people subscribe to quasi religious concepts such as luck or fate. There has been a decline in commitment to beliefs. Membership of high commitment organisations has generally decreased and low commitment organisations membership has increased. The popularity of some cults may be explained by the fact that they do not demand a great deal of commitment. Wilson argues that the church is no longer involved in important areas of social life such as politics. He says that politicians have no interest in making sure their policies meet with the approval of religious leaders. The media is more likely to have an impact and direct people rather than the church. Wilson says that the church has become disengaged from the wider society and only plays a marginal role in modern society. However critics say that religion is still a major provider of education and welfare in society today. The media still shows a great interest in religious issues such as women priests or the Church of Englands attitudes to homosexuality. National religious ceremonies such as the funeral of Princess Diana suggest that the sacred might still be important.

Comparative Study Of The Professional Courier Commerce Essay

Comparative Study Of The Professional Courier Commerce Essay The objectives of the research study was to know, to what extent the company is aware about their service effectiveness and also to know to what extend the customers are satisfaction with the company service, it was also to know whether the customers are satisfied with the company policies, and if they are satisfied then to what extent, and if they are dissatisfied why so. and accordingly to identify strengths of company and weaknesses where they lack in serving their customers. It was also to know which are the area where the company has to put more of its attention and to serve those areas in a better ways,. And also to identify the problem of the company and to recommend suggestion on the basis of that and finally to take the necessary measures on problem identified for the company resulting in the research study. The survey carried out was random sample survey and the procedure followed for conducting survey was questionnaire method that is personally explaining the customer about questionnaire and getting them filled, targeting to total of 120 customers of both THE PROFESSIONAL COURIER and FIRST FLIGHT COURIER 6O of each company in three different location Mapusa Siolim, Arambol, Thivim, Pernem, Colvale and Panjim, survey was conducted with random customers of the companys. Questionnaires were filled personally by the employees also personal interaction was made and views about those questions was taken, which gave idea about customer service effectiveness of both the companies. Customer Service Effectiveness Customer Service Effectiveness is the process by which your organization delivers its services or products in a way that allows the customer to access them in the most efficient, fair, cost effective, and humanly satisfying and pleasurable manner possible. Customer service is a process, not a set of actions that might include greeting the customer, smiling, asking if you can help, etc. Effective customer service is all about delivering the answers customers are seeking. How information is stored, augmented and organized will determine how effective any organizations customer service efforts will be. The best knowledgebase technology allows the customer to guide the content, and structure of the knowledgebase, improve the level of service, and decrease the customer service representatives workload.   It recognize that different customers want to be treated in different ways. Not all customers are treated equal, and by going customer-by-customer, region-by-region and country-by-country, we build a custom suit that trades off efficiency and effectiveness, recognizing that we may actually eliminate customers. COMPANYS BACKGROUND THE PROFESSIONAL COURIER The beginning :  was founded in 1987 by Mr .A Braham M r.SAhamed Meeran , Mr. Oommen C. Chacko Late. Mrs. V.Padmavathi Mr. Ronny George Mr. Sumit Batabyal Mr. Suresh Bharathan Mr. Thomas John A year of glory for the Directors of this company because it was the year in which they were united and ventured in to Courier Business was incorporated on 1st November 1987. PROFESSIONAL COURIER gives employment to thousands of people. It has turned hundreds of ambitious aspiring youngsters to be the proud Managers of an elite company. Much more, it is today a Courier organization which is being looked upon by the others as a role model of what a courier should be. Today PROFESSIONAL COURIER in India has 20 Regional Offices, over 2485 Offices, over 5000 Collection Centers and easily well over 25,000 destinations, where delivery is possible, by far, the biggest Courier Network in India. FIRST FLIGHT COURIER First Flight Couriers came into being on Monday, 17th November 1986. It all began with the setting up of three offices at Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi. The overwhelming response from customers, was not just a dream come true, but the fruits of an early realization and recognition of the tremendous potential that the Indian subcontinent offered in terms of market size. It was the foresight and dynamism of the Founder Chairman and Managing Director, O.P.Saboo which created a spring board for the organization to catapult into what it is today   Indias Largest Domestic Courier Company. 930 First Flight Offices across India 2208 Authorized Collection Centers 452 Franchisee Locations Serving over 5000 Pin code Destinations across India Dedicated Workforce of over 10000 plus employees Strategically located 8 own International Offices Serving over 220 countries globally As a natural corollary to its growth endeavor, First Flight is in the process of setting up a large scale integrated Logistics Division to offer an entire gamut of Warehousing, Inventory Management, Supply Chain Services and Distribution Channels, thereby providing total end-to-end solutions to customers. In keeping with times, First Flight continues to invest substantial effort in building a State-of-the-Art Super Information Technology highway. First Flights commitment to corporate excellence and its yearning for making it a common household name opens floodgates of opportunities and challenges and to meet it head on, shall be the corner stone of its philosophy. METHODOLOGY RESEARCH EXPLORATION Qualitative design The method used to measure customer service effectiveness was firstly I meet customers of both companies asked them open ended questions verbally personal interaction as doing pilot study the responses from all the customers was taken which resulted in the final questionnaire and the data was collected from the company employees, the result of study will contribute knowledge about service proved by the company and to known how far it is effective. Pilot test: The qualitative research test was done with small sample size of 40 customers 20 of each courier service providing company. The questions were then framed based on their responses. Research Plan: Once the problem was identified, I prepare structured questionnaire for collecting the information needed for the research. And then to analysis the data collected before making a conclusion. OBJECTIVES Was to know how effective is the companies service. It was also to know the level at which the company customers are satisfied with the service provided by the company. Source of data: Primary data Questionnaire Personal interaction with the customers. Observation. Secondary data Internet Company reports Data collection: The personal interaction with the customers and questioning them with the help of structured questionnaires and which is filled by the customers personally in my presence. Sampling size: The total sample size is 120 for both companies 60 for each of a service providing company. Sample plan: Random Sampling Target audience: service taking customers of both companies THE PROFESSIONAL COURIER and FIRST FLIGHT. NEED FOR STUDY The main reason behind doing customer service effectiveness survey was to know how much the company is able to satisfy its customer as it was founded on discussing with the management of the professional courier and the first flight courier that the performance of the companies was coming down. The reason for doing customer service effectiveness surveys was also to know as to what are those services which the customers Are accepting from the company and due to which the customers are not satisfied with the company service as a result the market share of the company is decreasing. As an external consultant, my purpose in conducting survey with customers was to share information for the common good. It will be confidentiality and I will use the information to assist the company to make positive progress SCOPE FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE EFFECTIVENESS SURVEY Surveys will help company to measure and understand their customers attitude, opinions, motivation, and satisfaction. Surveys and focus groups help the company to identify areas of customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. It is the terminology used to describe whether customers are happy and contented and fulfilling their desires and needs at work. Surveys will help the company to measure and understand their training needs for the employees, and also if necessary to put more focused in a particular area were company lake in serving customers. CUSTOMER SERVICE EFFECTIVENESS FOR THE PROFESSIONALCOURIER(PROFESSIONAL COURIER) AND FIRST FLIGHT COURUIER (FIRST FLIGHT) Q1) HOW OFTEN YOU TAKE SERVICE FROM THIS COMPANY (PROFESSIONAL COURIER) (FIRST FLIGHT) The above graphs tells us the users of both the service and how orphan they use the service we can see that customers of PROFESSIONAL COURIER uses service more time than FIRST FLIGHT courier. 2)THE SERVICE DELIVERY DONE BY THE COMPANY VS (PROFESSIONAL COURIER) (FIRST FLIGHT) In the above graph we can clearly see that compared to first flight courier the service delivery of the professional courier is better as more number of customers say its always no time were as no customers of professional courier say its never on time but some customers of first flight courier says its never on time. 3) PLEASE RATE US IN THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES outstanding above average average below average poor cannot rate professionalism responsiveness support and assistance follow- up overall satisfaction (FOR THE PROFESSIONAL COURIER) 3) PLEASE RATE US IN THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES outstanding above average average below average poor cannot rate professionalism responsiveness support and assistance follow- up overall satisfaction (FOR THE FIRST FLIGHT COURIER) 4) CONSIDER THE OVERALL KEY AREAS BELOW TELL US HOW IMPORTANT YOU COSIDER EACH AREA TO BE better customer service variety of available services speed and ease of order placement pickup and delivery quality price CRITERIA very important important somewhat important not as important (FOR THE PROFESSIONAL COURIER) 4) CONSIDER THE OVERALL KEY AREAS BELOW TELL US HOW IMPORTANT YOU COSIDER EACH AREA TO BE better customer service variety of available services speed and ease of order placement pickup and delivery quality price CRITERIA very important important somewhat important not as important (FOR THE FIRST FLIGHT COURIER) 5) THE LEVEL AT WHICH COMPANY TACKLE YOUR PROBLEM VS (PROFESSIONAL COURIER) (FIRST FLIGHT) If we see in the above graph first flight courier is better than professional courier in term of tackling the problems faced by the customers. Professional courier is also not too bad. As 38 people say its good at tacking. So can conclude looking at graph that the both companies are equally good in tackling your problem. 6) FEES CHARGED BY THE COMPANY VS (PROFESSIONAL COURIER) (FIRST FLIGHT) With regards to the charges charged for the service given by the companies more customers of both the companies feels that it is charged at reasonable price. There in comparison both the companies are in a same position. 7) IS COMPANY ABLE TO MEET YOUR REQUESTED COMPLITION TIME VS (PROFESSIONAL COURIER) (FIRST FLIGHT) When it was question of whether the company is able to meet your requested time there were very few customers of both the companies who said its done always but were majority said rarely, sometimes, occasionally. But here while comparing we can say that professional courier is better because there are only 1 customer who said its not at all done on time but with the first flight courier 5customer said its not at all done on time. 8) SERVICE GIVEN WORTH THE MONEY YOU PAY VS (PROFESSIONAL COURIER) (FIRST FLIGHT) When it was said that the service given by both the companies is worth the money you pay there was only 1 customer of PROFESSIONAL COURIER who was strongly along with 37 agreed but 7 customers of FIRST FLIGHT was strongly agree followed by 30 agree. Where we can conclude first flight courier is better than professional courier. 9) WHAT IS THE LEVEL OF EFFORTS YOU HAV TO PUT IN GETTING YOUR SERVICE DELIVERED VS (PROFESSIONAL COURIER) (FIRST FLIGHT) In terms of efforts to be put in getting your service delivered the customers of both the companies have to put in more efforts as maximum of the customers of both the companies said they have to put more and lots of effort. So here we can conclude both the companies are week here. 10)SERVICE GIVEN TO YOU IS AS PER YOUR ACCEPTATION VS (PROFESSIONAL COURIER) (FIRST FLIGHT) when it was said that the service is given to the customers as per their acceptation 44 customers of PROFESSIONAL COURIER was strongly agree and agree were else 37 customers of FIRST FLIGHT was strongly agree and agree. From this we can say that in comparison to FIRST FLIGHT the PROFESSIONAL COURIER is better in meeting the acceptation of the customers. 11) YOUR ORDER IS DELIVERED WHERE AND WHEN YOU REQUESTED IT VS (PROFESSIONAL COURIER) (FIRST FLIGHT) In terms of order to be delivered where and when it is asked customers of both the companies looks like customers are satisfied with the this service of the company. But if you see gain many take a neutral stand. Where they are not included neither in agree situation nor disagree situation. Therefore compared to FIRST FLIGHT, the PROFESSIONAL COURIER is little bit in better position in term of accurate delivery. 12) HOW IS PROFESSIONAL COURIER SERVICE COMPARED WITH OTHER COURIER VS (PROFESSIONAL COURIER) (FIRST FLIGHT) First it was whether the customers have used other courier service than what they are using now. All the customers said YES they have used. Were 30 customers of PROFESSIONAL COURIER and 31 customers of FIRST FLIGHT said its same. Where else 28 felt better and only 2 said worse of PROFESSIONAL COURIER. But of FIRST FLIGHT 25 said its same and 4 said its worse. Here again we can conclude to some extent professional courier is better than first flight 13) HOW MANY TIMES IN LAST 6 MONTHS HAVE YOU USED THE PROFESSIONAL COURIER SERVICE VS (PROFESSIONAL COURIER) (FIRST FLIGHT) In the above graph we can see how many times the customers have used the service in last 6 months. But there are not much customers who have used this service for 30 or more than 30 in last 6 month for both companies. 14) WOULD YOU RECOMMEND USING THE SERVICE OF THIS COURIER IN FUTHURE VS (PROFESSIONAL COURIER) (FIRST FLIGHT) When it was asked whether the customer of the company will use the service in future again almost equal number of customer of both the companies said definitely would. But there were some of both the companies who said probably not and definitely not. And also with the reasons as the common answers are written down as positive once and negative once. For the professional courier user it was asked why would you recommend using the service and the answers were in positive as well as in negative POSITIVE (yes) Due to better quality of service. They reach on time always. Good at handling problem faced. Have good safety delivery. Delivery is always done on time. Parcel is accurately delivered were it is asked. Easy in using. It is faster. NEGATIVE (no) Late in delivery. Not very good service in terms of quality. Few collection centre in Goa. For the first flight courier user it was asked why would you recommend using the service and the answers were in positive as well as in negative POSITIVE (yes) Quick service Good Quality service Delivery is done timely and to the place Good at handling customer problems Because of reasonable price NEGATIVE (no) Delay in delivery Not good at handling situation No pick up service. Less collection centre what you have to say about the delivery done by the company PROFESSIONAL COURIER Positive Good quality delivery Make customer satisfied Dont have to face much difficulties Deliver parcel to the concern person Have good delivery boys for on field service. Negative Not done on time (sometimes). Poor delivery in north India. lack of delivery boys in north Goa. FIRST FLIGHT Positive More trusty and more faster Punctual in their delivery Its delivered when its asked Easy and comfortable Negative Dont provide service on time. Average delivery Parcel damage delivery (These are some of the common answers given by all the customers) Here are some of the suggestions to The Professional Courier. They should concentrate more on timely delivery They should put more attention in solving the queries of the customers should also focused on pick up documents from the customers. Try to be more faster and accurate in giving the delivery. Improve parcel packaging. Try and come up with the possible collection centers across Goa. Add the delivery boys in doing the delivery so that it can be done faster. Here are some of the suggestions to First Flight Courier. Put more efforts in doing delivery on time Try and put more time solving customers problem so that all customers are satisfied with this service. See that they put more focus on doing delivery on the within requested time. Company should add up more employees on field doing service delivery, so that it can be done faster and documents will not be pending. ANALYSIS FINDINGS Customers have to put more efforts for getting their services to be delivered. Both the companies lack in providing timely delivery the delivery is done late. The reasons identified is that they have less delivery boys on field doing delivery and because of which document is left undelivered and is done late later. Bad service providers are not only losing their valuable external customers but also their internal customers who are not willing to be associated with the organization for a longer duration. Retaining the loyalties of the customers, both internal as well as external is very critical for the future of the company. The Professional Courier has Lack of collection centre in Goa which make quit difficult for people in getting their document or parcel to the company office or the. When the question comes of solving problems face by the customers both the companies lack in doing so as they cannot service their 100% to the customers therefore not all the customers are satisfied with this service of the company, which is not profitable for the company as they can lose their customers. On surveying the customers it was founded that 35 respondent of TPC i.e the maximum said the give more preference to BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICE and of FF 45 respondent said so which again maximum therefore we can conclude that the customer wants good quality service which include timely, accurate, safe etc. In terms of money or charges charged by both the companies in providing the service is worth the service they provide the maximum respondent of both the companies i.e. 36 of TPC and 38 of FF said its reasonable. So can conclude from this that they are charging fair amount for providing the service. Limitation of the survey: The survey was conducted in a limited duration of six weeks only. No customers are loyal customers they change their service provider whenever they wants so was quit tough to get these companies customers which has taken service from them for quit many times . Many competitors in the market and it was difficult to get the the customer of these both companies. My target audience was the cooperate people and the business people which made it even more difficult to gather information. PROBLEMS IDENTIFIED Communication chain:- the communication system of the company is not in properly form. As the information regarding the company customer any query or any other help required are not directly communicated to the management it takes time due to absent of communication chain. Employee Relation:- Employee relation with the companys customers is not friendly, due to which companies are losing on their business and If you dont have a good relation with your customers it becomes very difficult for you to get business from that person to the company. Responsibilities to employees:- the employees are not much responsible it is said because the customers of both the companies had to put in more efforts in getting their service delivered Lack of collection centre for (TPC):- the customers of colvale, pernem (Tuem industrial estate) has to face difficulties in sending their courier because they have come all the way to mapusa. Delivery:- not all the time delivery by both the companies is done on time. it is not reach as per the customer requested time. SOLUTION In the interest of building a relationship of honesty, integrity, and trust, with the company customer, the results should be communicated effectively to the customers and the company customers should receive information in a timely manner when it is asked. Also company managers need to track progress and communicate implementation successes and failures to the employees so that they can accordingly work on field improving the same. Company should constantly strive to provide necessary information to their customer when ever asked that will increase their awareness of the larger scope of the operation and provide them a sense of satisfaction so that they will continue using your service. Company should also put more focus on talking to the customers could be personally or online how they wants and knowing their quires or problem face by them at any point of time while taking service so that it will gave them a sense of concern for them thinking yes company cares their customers which will help them to retain the customers. Company should try to improve relationship within the company customers. They can do this by constantly keeping in touch with the customers. This will lead to better interaction with the customers and the company employees and this will lead to improved relation which will future give company a good business. Successful Deliveries:- A successful delivery is directly tied into a timely one. Success is more than just getting the goods to their destination on time. It also means a safe delivery, parcel reaching the customer without damage and accurately to the pace where it has been asked. Recommendation / Suggestions to company Add more service delivery boys to improve customer service standards:- This is the most common method that most organizations firmly believe in. They tend to add up the numbers of people in the service delivery chain improving systems and processes which provides a positive result and further improves the process and service experience for the customers. It will also motivates the employees to increase their performance levels and improve the service delivery experience for their customers which ultimately benefits the company. Provide service training to the company employees:-Training the employees goes a long way in ensuring the effectiveness of service delivery of the organization. Training not only helps the employees in learning new techniques and tricks but also helps them in realizing that the company is concerned about their future in the organization and it is taking necessary steps to ensure its growth in the firm. It motivates the employees to increase their performance levels and improve the service delivery experience for their customers. Training and involving the employees in various decisions or discussions of organization. Apart from their routine activities makes them feel good as if they take ownership of the company and could improve the service that they provide to their customers. There is an increase in the willingness to satisfy the customers especially when there is customer complaint in order to ensure that the customer goes back satisfied and his loyalty is retained by the organization the training is very important. Cost saving option:- if you have goods to be delivered that are large and take up a lot of space and weight, a sea freight option likely would make more sense than air freight if the destination is across the country, if the destination is just a few miles away i.e. within the country or in the neighboring states, than some type of road service would likely be the best option in order to minimize the cost CONCLUSION AND LEARNING To conclude I would like to say it was of a great experience conducting my summer internship on comparative study on The Professional Courier and first flight courier. Working on my study I came to know many things about the service industry as how its work. I gained much more knowledge in marketing field as how its function, and as how to out approaching the customer along with the customer acceptation as to what customers wants and what they dont want. flow of proper communication from top to bottom and bottom to top plays a very important role in any organization as timely providing information regarding the customers if any quires is there by the employees to the company helps them to contribute to the success of the company, as company can makes necessary changes where ever required and also to come up with a solution to their quires . Also came to know how the employees deal with the customers of the company as to what is their needs and wants and how they are meet also not meet and how the customers reacts to it later.

History of the Calle Ocho Festival :: Little Havana Culture

Twenty Years of Calle Ocho Over the years, the Calle Ocho festival has brought hundreds of smiles to thousands of people. Behind the smiles, the laughter, and the dances, there is a serious side to the festivities. In the beginning, Willy Bermello just wanted a little backyard get-together that would bring neighbors closer, but the festival turned into something much, much bigger. With the festival's growth and inevitable commercialization, Bermello increasingly felt that its importance was being forgotten. He wanted to let people know this was more than just a big party. He wanted people of different races and different ethnicities to be able to feel comfortable with each other, and not just for one day. He wanted Calle Ocho's influence felt throughout the year. In 1998, Cuban refugees are still being held captive in camps at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Many refugees left Guantanamo last year in hopes of reaching America, but unfortunately, few have yet to make it here. In the hearts of many people, there lies the hope, that, by the next festival, those Cubans wishing to be in South Florida will be able to celebrate the festival with their friends and family. On Calle Ocho, people of all races and backgrounds are helping to make the Cuban exile community party a success. It has been a difficult year for divided families everywhere. Many of the proceeds from various stands at the festival go to giving financial aid to Cubans who are brought over from the island. A portion of the festival proceeds go to support Operation Angel; the MCI long-distance telephone tents are giving away five minutes of free calling time. This calling time gives families the chance to call Cuba; many are calling their families for the first time. Furthermore, T-shirt stand s are raising money to help those still interred in camps. Block after block, people from all over are packed in Little Havana; they form a river of cultural unity. Unfortunately, the Calle Ocho festival of 1996 was cancelled due to the ill-fated shooting down of four Cuban exile aviators, from the Brothers to the Rescue organization, by Cuban warplanes on February 24, 1996. People who attended the festivals after that incident maintain, in their hearts, the memories of those pilots who gave their lives to help refugees in need.

The Duchess and the Jeweller :: Literary Analysis, Virginia Woolf

â€Å"The Duchess and the Jeweller† by Virginia Woolf is a short story about Oliver, a poor man who has become a successful jeweler, and his interaction with a Duchess. In the story, Oliver struggles with the Duchess over social power, where she has the ability to cheat him by selling him fake pearls in exchange for a weekend spent with her daughter whom he is in love with – a classic battle of the sexes. While the conflict between man and woman is evident, Virginia Woolf uses flashback, point of view and imagery to also convey the dispute between the rich and the poor. Oliver is first introduced as a man who lives very well â€Å"with the right brandies, whiskeys and liqueurs† (Woolf 90), in a house where â€Å"a more central position could not be imagined† (90). He is a man of power who has â€Å"his breakfast brought in on a try by a manservant† (90) and receives invitations from â€Å"duchesses, countesses, viscountesses and Honourable Ladies† (90). When the Duchess first arrives to see him, he has her wait for ten minutes, displaying that he, a jeweller, has the authority to make her wait. However, Woolf uses flashback to display the underlying battle of the rich and the poor. The reader sees that Oliver came from less fortunate roots where he sold stolen dogs and cheap watches. While superficially it may seem that he has the â€Å"Duchess of Lambourne, daughter of a hundred Earls† ( 93) wait because he has the masculine power to have her wait to see him, Woolf introduces the idea that Oliver, the impecun ious boy who earned his wealth, has the Duchess, a woman whose wealth was inherited, wait for his pleasure. While we see the struggle of control between Oliver and the Duchess, the reader also observes Oliver’s mother’s dominance over him. Using flashback, Woolf shows that as a child when he was swindled while selling stolen dogs, his mother disapprovingly wails, â€Å"Oh, Oliver! When will you have sense, my son?† (90). Later, Oliver talks to a picture of his mother saying, â€Å"I have won my bet† (91) while reminiscing about his past as a indigent boy â€Å"in a filthy little alley† (90) and reflecting on his success. This shows that he has something to prove to his mother, that he is still constrained by her and her thoughts of him.

Bubble Lab

The sugar solution will produce the best quality bubbles because of It's sticky texture. Procedure: First, three cups were labeled as #1, #2, and #3. Next, each cup had one teaspoon of dish detergent and % cup of water added to them and swirled around to have everything mixed. Cup #2 then had half a teaspoon of table sugar added and cup #3 had half a teaspoon of table salt added to them. After that, a straw was dipped Into each solution separately, and blown through In order to make bubbles.Data was recorded while blowing bubbles. Data Table 1: Bubbles using Different Solutions Control Sugar salt Appearance of Solution -Colorless -More translucent than cup one -Cloudy Bubble Size -Generally small -Occasionally medium -Medium sized -Larger than cup one -Medium to large Ease to Blow Bubbles -Easy -Needed to be gentle -Moderately easy -Some strength and speed needed -Dulcet -Needed to be gentle and slow Time Before Bubbles Popped* -5 to 10 seconds -15 to 20 seconds -10 to 15 seconds *Ti me when from when bubble left straw and popped.This Includes If It stuck on objects quality of bubbles. Based off Data Table 1, the sugar solution produced bubbled that lasted for 15 to 20 seconds. Although the salt solution lasted longer than control and created larger bubbles than the sugar, it was often hard to make bubbles unless very gentle blows were used. It can be concluded that adding sugar made the bubbles stronger, while salt was weaker than the sugar, and the control the weakest of all.Conclusion: It was proven that the hypothesis made, â€Å"the sugar solution will produce the best quality bubbles because of it's sticky texture,† did in fact come true. To improve this experiment, it could be done in a windless room as well as launched up higher. This way, the bubbles won't pop because of the wind, and it could take a anger descent before it is popped by the ground or other objects. In addition to this, a larger quantity of salt and sugar could be added in order t o make the changes more drastic and easier to see.Another hypothesis related to bubble making would be â€Å"Using a salt and sugar solution would enhance the quality of bubbles by taking in both the large size of the salt solution and the strength of the sugar solution. † In order to do this, one teaspoons of each, (salt and sugar), would be added to a 2/2 cup of water with one teaspoon of dish detergent. Then, a straw would be dipped in the solution and blown through in order to make bubbles.

Truancy

Topic 3 Truancy  is any intentional unauthorized or illegal absence from  compulsory schooling. In Malaysia truancy problem is a phenomenon among primary and secondary school students. According to Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong, reported in The News Strait Times article entitled â€Å"Study on truancy – Education Ministry† dated January, 17 2012, â€Å"A total of 110,218 students were involved in disciplinary problems. Of that figure, 72,873 were from secondary level and 37,345 from primary schools,† students were involved in disciplinary problems are rising.Reported in The News Strait Times a survey conducted by the ministry, 58. 85 per cent of truancy cases last year involved students in rural areas, as compared with 41. 15 per cent in cities. In my opinion, actions that should be imposed by the Ministry of Education to solve the problem of truancy among Malaysian school students are improve the academic approach, law enforcement authorities and organize talk or ca mpaign. First, Ministry of Education should improve the academic approach. This can be done by increasing compulsory activities such as academic and semi-academic co-curriculum in schools.Ministry of Education can improve by changing the teaching techniques such as gaming and simulation, drama, role playing and use of technology and instructional resources. Teaching with difference technique can attract students and they will not feel bored on their study. Second, authorities should enforce the law among the students who are truancy. For example, areas of existing police powers should be used by school administrators in disciplining students. The administration should take the opportunity to refer problem student to the police. After enforcing this law, students will be alert from work against this thing.Beside, Ministry of Education may organize some talks and campaign about the disadvantage of truancy. There are kind of campaigns such as â€Å"Zero Truancy Campaign†. With t his students will know the effect of truancy to their study and also their future. In my conclusion, government and the school administration should co-operate to control the phenomenon. The truancy would affect the future of the youngsters and cause social issues in the society.References: National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention http://www. promoteprevent. org/publications/prevention-briefs/truancy-prevention

British Airways Management of Company Finance

Ahoussou kouadio Jean Christian Student number: 2522706 Management of company finance Analysis of the financial structure of British Airways Name of professor: Tony Kilmister British airways is one of the most valuable company in the world that is why I choose her. With the aim to evaluate the proportion of debt in British airways, we will study his financial gearing: income gearing and capital gearing. In order to calculate the company’s capital gearing according to the book value, we need especially the value of the long-term and short-term borrowings and the value of shareholders’ funds. But, there is several different formulas which arises some issues: the fact that the book value is lower than the market value (the first formula) and provisions can be considered either as liabilities or assets (the second formula), depending on firm. Then I will calculate the Weighted Average Cost of Capital. In 2004, the way of doing the balance sheets changed that’s why there are some differences between two reports. Part ——————————————————————————————1 Measure of the gearing and income ratio Part —————————————————————————– ————-2 Measure of the debt and equity based upon the market value Part ——————————————————————————————3 Estimation of the WACC. I) Measure of gearing and income ratios We will take those expressions: 1. Debt to equity ratio=Long term Liabilities/Shareholders’funds 2. Debt to debt plus equity ratio=LTL/(LTL+ Shareholders’funds) 3. Long Term Borrowings/Shareholders’ funds a) Gearing Ratio Capital Gearing = LTL / Shareholders' Funds    |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Capital Gearing |259. 75% |437. 6% |590. 7% | To set an upper rati o; we can incorporate the LTL at the shareholder value. Capital Gearing = LTL / (LTL + Shareholders' Funds) |   |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Capital Gearing |72. 2% |81. 4% |85. 5% | The provision are incorporates in those 2 formulas. We can consider that the provision can be take as liabilities (highly certain) or as equity (ultra-prudence). Capital Gearing = Long Term Borrowing (LTL – provisions) / Shareholders' Funds |   |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Capital Gearing |193. 5% |341. 4 % |475,40% | Net Debt: Net debt = (Finance debt – cash and liquid resources)/ Equity For British Airways, Net debt = (loans, finance leases and hire purchase arrangements + Convertible Capital Bonds, net of other current interest bearing deposits and cash and cash equivalents – overdrafts) British Airways' definition from the annual report 2006) |? million |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Capital Gearing |1641 |2922 |4158 | The figures of long term liabilities are higher than the net debt that explain the fact that the ratios are different; The company health seem less vital, because of the cash and those equivalent, and deposits. Overdrafts are not representing a big amount, we include them. Since 2004 a policy of high liquidity is developed in order to reduce the debt, they tried to repay the debt earlier. The debt are reduced by the conversion of the 112 millions of convertible bonds. â€Å"The ? 320 million 9 3/4 per cent Convertible Capital Bonds 2005 issued in 1989 matured on June 15, 2005. On that date 47,979,486 ordinary shares were issued in exchange for 112,317,274 Convertible Capital Bonds on the basis of one ordinary share for every 2. 34 Bonds held† (British Airways Report 2006). The capital gearing of the company is around 65% in almost all gearing indicators and more in som of them, as a conclusion we can say that the financial statement of the company is risky and more the company is weak due to the payment on the debt. We can also highlight the fact that British Airways is finance by debt. Its has a important amount of lease and purchase arrangement, which exceeds the bank loans. b) Income Gearing This ratios show us the security of creditor’s fund and the debt exposure. While using Income Ration we highlight the relation of the company’s income and its interest commitments. Income Ratio = Interest payable / Profit Before Interest and Tax |% |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Income Gearing |0,17 |0,26 |0,87 | Interest are taking a lower place in the profit (strategy reduction of debt). In fact, we use the Interest cover to see if the company can meet its interest. Interest cover = Profit before interest and tax / Interest charges |Times |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Interest Cover |5,79 |3,80 |1,15 | The company can afford her interest. 1) Because of the decrease of the amount of debt, 2) The profit before tax and interest increased by 269%, the risk is less important. We can also use another formula, which gives a better image of the finance. It based on the fact that cash has not been received. As a conclusion we can says that: :British Airways reduced its long term debt by 28. 5%, and keep their interest payment low and increase the PBIT strongly. From the shareholder point of view, the company takes high risks so they have a good return on investment although reduction of the debt of the company makes the rate of return lower and lower. II) Measure of the debt and equity based on the market value a) Value of Equity Share Price*:Number of Shares*: 2004: ? 2,181 083 845 000 2005: ? ,941 082 903 000 2006: ? 2,791 130 882 000 *I took those which were in the report. *The difference in the number of shares between 2005 and 2006 is the conversion of the 112 millions of Convertible Bonds into 47,979,486 shares. The value of equity is now: |? |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Value of Equity |3 155 160 780 |2 100 831 820 |2 362 782 100 | b)Rating: Value of Debt [pic ] The rating shows that the company take risks for financing because she invest in high return share in the junk bond or high yield market those are really unstable. This means that the company is highly financing by debt, investor need an important rate of return regards to the risk of non payment. In spite of that, British Airways’s main source of external funding is less sensitive to credit rating than the unsecured bond. The impact of the credit ration is not important for some parts of the debt. We will use the faire value of the debt to calculate the market value of debt. Because of the â€Å"†fair values of the Euro-Sterling notes and Euro-Sterling Bond 2016 are based on the quoted market values at March 31, 2006. The fair values of floating rate borrowings are deemed to be equal to their carrying values. † British Airways Report Example in March, 31st 2006: [pic] Market value of the debt is: |? million |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Market Value of Debt |4 130 |4 682 |5 954 | |Book Value of Debt |4 081 |4 492 |5 716 | The problem is: Those market values are blending the current liabilities. In the purpose to respect the ratios made before, I will deduct with percentage the current liabilities. The new market value of debt is: |? million |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Market Value of Debt |3645 |4216 |5244 | |Book Value of Debt |3 602 |4 045 |5 034 | There is the a market where Debt are trade daily, that explain the difference between years. ) Measure of gearing based on market values We use here the gearing ratio to compare the book value and the market value of the company: Capital Gearing = LTL / Shareholders' Funds |% |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Capital Gearing |115,5 |200,7 |221,9 | We can make a second ratio in order to set an upper limit: Capital Gearing = LTL / (LTL + Shareholders' Funds) % |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Capital Gearing |53,6 |66,7 |68,9 | Figures are lower than the one we made with the book value. The equity are valued in the book value at 25p whereas in the market value at an average price of the three years at 230p This divergence makes the ratios lower, thus with the b ook values the company seems to be less indebted and also less risky to investors. III) Estimation of the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) a) Cost of Equity To estimate the cost of equity, we can use two ways: 1) the dividend valuation model 2) the Capital Asset Price Model (CAPM). In this case, we can not use the dividend valuation model because the company did not distribute dividends since 2001, so the cost of equity will be 0 that would lead to irrelevant results. British Airways has not distributed dividends because: -They wants to strengthen the balance sheet by making new investment, then it invests into the company Quantas and also into the 5th Terminal in Heathrow. British Airways is the 13th highest performing company out of the 93 FTSE 100 companies remaining for the performance period April,1st 2003 to March, 31st 2006. The board of director indicated that the payment of dividends will be resumed at an appropriate time. To calculate the cost of equity, the CAPM is the only model available: Ke = Rf + ? (Rm – Rf) Rf ( the risk-free return; Rm ( the market risk; ? ( quantitative measure of the volatility of a given stock, mutual fund, or portfolio, relative to the overall market. A beta above 1 is more volatile than the overall market, while a beta below 1 is less volatile. For British Airways, the Beta is, for the three years, 0,91. The risk-free return can be found in the website of the Bank of England for each years and the market risk is the caps of the FTSE 100 of year N less years N-1 divided by the caps year N-1: (Caps N – caps N-1) / caps N-1 The risk-free return rate is: 2004: 4,75% 2005: 5,1% 2006: 4,2% The market risk is: |   |31. 03. 2006 |31. 03. 2005 |31. 03. 004 | |Caps FTSE 100 |5964,6 |4894,4 |4385,7 | |year N – year N-1 |1070,2 |508,7 |772,4 | |Market Risk (%) |21,87 |11,60 |21,38 | The Cost of Equity using the CAPM is: |% |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Cost of Equity |20,1 |10,9 |19,7 | ) Cost of debt In order to obtain the cost of debt, the best ratio is to divide the interest payable by the debt: |% |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Cost Of Debt |2,62 |3,01 |3,50 | They leads to the same conclusion decrease in Debt and interest. We can add that no debt has been taken in 2006. All the purchase have been made by internal cash flow. c) The WACC The Weighted Average Cost of Capital is used to measure the cost of capital. The formula is: Ko = Ke (Ve/Vo) + Kd (Vd/Vo) Where: Ke (the cost of equity Ve (the value of equity Kd (the cost of debt Vd (the value of debt Vo (the total value of the firm: |? million |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Vo |7 236 |6 593 |8 079 | The WACC is: |% |2006 |2005 |2004 | |WACC |10,08 |5,41 |8,04 | The amount of Debt decreased but the WACC stay in the average, that because of the high level of the cost of equity. 2005 is discernible by a share price lower than the two other years. This leads to a lower shareholders' funds and also an higher influence of the debt’s drop, therefore the lower WACC. However, the CAPM have some limitations. – He is based on several assumptions: – The investors are rational and risk-adverse who set a level of risk. – The investors have the same single-period planning horizon. – The investors have homogeneous expectations on the future yield. The investors can borrow and lend unlimited amounts at a risk-free rate. – There is neither taxes nor cost of transactions – The investors have all an efficient portfolio which maximize the yield, for a level of risk given. Whole of efficient portfolio form a curve called the efficiency frontier†¦ To conclude, from the point of view of market value, we can say that British airways succeeded to face its commitments in term of debt and equity. Indeed, they took advantage of an increase in share price. The repayment of share allowing to reduce the gearing in debt capital.

Forecasting Effects of Cultural Changes

Within today's increasingly globally-infused corporate workplaces, conventional wisdom holds that demographic and/or cultural diversity contribute positively to enhanced performance by groups, teams, or other divisions of a trans-global corporate entity, thus ultimately enhancing, by association, company products and/or services and the company itself, at home and abroad. As corporate giant Nokia's website states, for example (2005), of its own global workforce: â€Å"Respect for individual qualities, as well as a willingness to work together in a constructive, positive, even enjoyable, way [,] are all essential for high-quality results. † Much related research suggests, however, that while diverse employee skills and abilities in and of themselves may enhance group or team performance, demographic diversity (e. g. differences among workforce members, in terms of language; cultural; referential; or social background), may detract from it (Knight, Pearce, Smith, Olian , Sims , Smith & Flood, 1999; Jackson, 2003; Hamilton, Nickerson, Jackson, & Owan, May 2004). I will examine factors that, based on research and anecdotal evidence combined, may inflect corporate workforce compatibility or success, exploring both positive and the negative potential effects of demographic and cultural diversity on global and other workplace behavior and performance. In a telephone interview conducted by this researcher, on October 6, 2005, with a friend who is a human resources assistant manager at Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST) based in San Jose, California, a recently-merged company created by the Hitachi-IBM HDD (Hard Disk Drive) company merger of January 2003, â€Å"[A lack of] enough good and clear intercultural communications is still contributing a lot, I would say, to lower than expected employee morale† (Sindai). However, despite the inevitable difficulties, misunderstandings, and other company challenges it inevitably brings, globalization is here to stay. According to Alden, for example, in an article on UPS's expansion, â€Å"Over the past 40 years the number of multinational corporations in the world's fourteen richest countries has gone from 7,000 to 24,000. (6-7). Moreover, as Alden observes, while many companies have marketed internationally for years, more and more companies are looking to enter the arena of global competition. However, according to Wilbur (2005), in terms of global workplace (or any team or group) performance or behavior, in and of itself, mere diversity of a workforce, or group, team, or other entity within that workforce, is non-conclusive. HP [High Performance] teams are built with . . . complementary skills. . . . a Blend and balance of social styles . . . technical skills, problem solving skills, and political savvy. . . . They treat differences with respect realizing the survival value in versatility, . . . develop mutual accountability that builds respect, commitment. High performance teams blow away barriers and boundaries. Typical demographic and/or cultural diversity increasingly found within global conglomerates or other entities like Worldwide Telecommunications, Inc. nd others, may contribute to or detract greatly from performance, depending on specific aspects of diversity; management communications, actions, and philosophies, and various other factors. Optimal workplace performance itself, on the part of any group or team, whatever its internal composition, generally springs from commitment, shared values, and pursuit of a common goal (Knight, Pearce, Smith, Olian , Sims , Smith & Flood, 1999; Jackson, 2003 ;Wilbur, 2005). Demographic characteristics and/or cultural diversity may contribute to or detract from high-performance teams, but these characteristics alone will not determine performance. They may, however, influence it, in combination with other factors, such as shared or common goals; shared values; group commitment and support, and group synergy (Jackson, 2003; Wilbur, 2005). As Sindai (telephone interview, October 7, 2005), of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST) also stated: After the merger almost three years ago [of IBM's and Hitachi's Hard Disk Drive HDD) entities in January 2003] about our making more videos and doing more training sessions to keep enhancing diversity training. Our office wanted to do more, not just [what we had done] up to the merger, and everyone agreed it was needed. But little by little it got moved to the back burner. I think there's been a feeling, or a hope at least, that it would all work itself out in time. But it Sindai added that, after IBM and Hitachi's respective hard drive divisions (HDD's) merged in 2003, various clashes, miscommunications, and misunderstandings of two distinct types of cultures emerges. One was the inevitable initial clash between IBM (an American company) versus Hitachi (a Japanese company) corporate cultures. Another, which proved to be more chronic, was based on demographic, social, cultural and other miscommunications and misunderstandings, sometimes although not always based on language incompatibilities, among workers from the United States; Japan; Pakistan; China; India; Sri Lanka; Singapore; India; Mexico; Bulgaria; and (as Sindai put it) â€Å"at least ten or twelve other places. † Results of a more formal study, on effects of diversity on group management performance, seem to confirm Sindai's anecdotal observations. Knight, Pearce, Smith, Olian, Sims , Smith & Flood (1999) concluded that: â€Å"Diversity in ability enhances the team productivity if there is significant mutual learning and collaboration within the team, while demographic diversity is likely to harm productivity by making learning and peer pressure less effective and increasing team-member turnover. † Hamilton, Nickerson, Jackson, & Owan (May 2004) found, in a similar study, that: Data from 76 high-technology firms in the United States and Ireland were used to examine three alternative models. The results showed that while demographic diversity alone did have effects on strategic consensus the overall fit of the model was not strong. Adding two intervening group process variables, interpersonal conflict and agreement-seeking . . . greatly improved the overall relationship with strategic consensus. For the most part, TMT [Total Management Team] diversity had negative effects on strategic consensus. Jackson (2003) further concluded that: Informational (education and function) diversity was negatively related to group efficiency when social category diversity (sex and age) was high, but not when it was low; consequences . . . for team conflict were best understood by taking into account interactive effects for specific dimensions of diversity. (p. 803) An interesting and arguably related example, from the world of professional football, and one that starkly and vividly exemplifies workplace diversity training gone awry (i. e. the San Francisco 49'ers controversial diversity training tape that was leaked to the press (Ryan, Sunday June 5, 2005)) painfully illustrates how management attitudes anywhere, with any diverse group of people in any occupation, especially vis-a-vis other groups of people, strongly inflect â€Å"accepted† or perceived â€Å"normal† workplace attitudes about diversity (be they positive or negative), potentially polarizing, not unifying, workpla ce group members. As Ryan states, in analyzing this incident: . . . the video, which the team was required to watch, was particularly insulting o deeply religious players. Imagine if a corporation made it mandatory for employees to watch a training video that featured soft-core lesbian porn and a racist depiction of a bumbling, bucktoothed Chinese man. . . because the employees happen to be football players, people seem willing to dismiss it as This incident effectively lampooned diversity training and workplace diversity itself, within an extremely high-profile professional, organization, and geographical location (one that possesses enormous cultural diversity among its residents and sports fan â€Å"customers†) instead of promoting it. The incident also likely reinforced pre-existing stereotypes of many sports and related industry professionals: as boorish, intolerant, ignorant, or racist. Admittedly, the San Francisco 49ers football team and its management are non-equivalent, structurally, functionally, or in terms of goals or purpose, to Worldwide Telecommunications; Nokia, HGST, or any other large global corporate entity. Nevertheless, the implied lesson, for corporations and managers, contained within this incident is clear (at least to this author): company and group attitudes about diversity and its desirability and value to (and within) an organization, come from the top and migrate downward. Further, positive attitudes about workplace diversity and about diversity in general (which affect workplace attitudes and behaviors, consciously or unconsciously) must be practiced; reinforced; repeated, and encouraged, in order for workers to embrace and maintain them. One other fact that emerges from research combined with interviewee observation of effects of diversity on group performance, and reality combined, is that genuine appreciation for demographic and/or cultural diversity is most powerful and lasting when it grows from within a diverse group itself, rather than being imposed from the outside. Jackson (2003) further explains that â€Å"most [diversity] studies assumed that diversity influences affective reactions and social processes within teams and organizations. Social processes in turn were assumed to provide the explanations for the effects of diversity on team and/or organizational performance† (p. 803). Moreover, according to Jackson: Decades of research on similarity and attraction indicate that people tend to dislike dissimilar others, all else being equal. By extension, it has been argued that diversity is likely to have negative consequences for affective reactions such as cohesion, satisfaction, and commitment . . . Several early studies showing that diversity was associated with higher turnover rates seemed to support that conclusion. Recent research on team and organizational diversity: SWOT analysis and implications. ) Demographic and/or cultural diversity within transnational corporate workplaces may or may not enhance company performance, depending on the group; its members; its management and other influences; and its implicitly shared (or not shared) values, goals, motivations, and work and other philosophies. Diversity of skill and ability is more likely to enhance group performance than is cultural diversity (Knight, Pearce, Smith, Olian, Sims , Smith & Flood, 1999; Jackson, 2003; Hamilton, Nickerson, Jackson, & Owan, May 2004). Winning performance, though, is determined not so much by cultural and/or demographic diversity as by complementary skills; synergy; shared values and goals, and commitment. For optimal transnational workplace performance, demographic and/or cultural diversity must clearly be accompanied, in order to be effective, by personal and heartfelt cohesion among group or team members. In forecasting cultural changes, at World Telecommunications, Inc. and at other, similar entities, then, that particular conclusion, arrived at by researchers; managers, and others, alike, might well be kept closely in mind.

Analysis of “Nuances of a Theme by Williams”

Analysis of â€Å"Nuances of a Theme by Williams† The title of Wallace Stevens’ poem â€Å"Nuances of a Theme by Williams† implies that he intends to comment on, possibly celebrate, and almost certainly explore the potential distinctions and variations available in the poem by William Carlos Williams titled â€Å"El Hombre.† Stevens includes â€Å"El Hombre,† in its entirety minus the title, in the opening four lines of his poem with the implication (again based on the, at worst, neutral title of Stevens’ poem as well as the seemingly tributary inclusion of â€Å"El Hombre†) that his re-workings and explorations of his colleague’s piece will maintain its essence and, presumably, not bear it much, if any, antipathy. The title, however, proves to be misleading and Stevens’ subsequent lines appear to be less of a nuanced exploration of Williams’ poem than a criticism of what he sees as its faults: namely the sentimentality, anthropomorphizing, and romantic detachedness of t he narrator that is present especially in the first two lines. It is particularly the first stanza of Williams’ poem that Stevens takes issue with and he does so, at least in part, by way of its second stanza. Stevens attaches himself to two phrases, â€Å"shine alone† (3) and â€Å"lend no part† (4), that bookend the second stanza of Williams’ poem and uses them as his access points to the poem. He quotes the two phrases directly, elevating them to the opening words of both of his subsequent stanzas, though in doing so he also very purposefully changes their meaning. The first line of Stevens’ composition, â€Å"Shine alone, shine nakedly, shine like bronze† (5) seems, appropriately, to satisfy the expectations of the title while also being characteristic of Stevens’ playful perspectivist aesthetic tendencies (reminiscent, perhaps, of â€Å"Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird†); beginning with the two-word phrase taken directly from Williams’ piece, Stevens’ proceeds to stretch it into a richer, more textured imperative description of the same â€Å"ancient star† (2) addressed in Williams’ poem. Nonetheless, the succeeding two lines that make up the rest of Stevens’ first stanza diverge from mere variation into what seems to be an invective response to the opening lines of Williams’ poem: â€Å"It’s a strange courage/you give me, ancient star† (1-2). Stevens appears to be concerned with the fact that Williams sort of anthropomorphizes the star, which seems to be the rising sun, and instills it with the ability to give courage. He says of the sun that it must shine like something that â€Å"reflects neither [his] face nor any inner part/of [his] being† (6-7) and, ultimately, â€Å"like fire, that mirrors nothing† (7). Stevens’ deliberate dissociation with the sun (as a stand-in for nature) reflects his belief that one should apprehend nature without embellishing it; that the things of nature should not be used as means to access the triumphs or despairs of humanity. Where in Stevens’ â€Å"The Snowman† it is only with â€Å"a mind of winter† (1) that one can hear â€Å"the sound of the land† (10) without being distracted by â€Å"any misery in the sound of the wind† (8), so must Williams’ sun, in Stevens’ conception, mirror â€Å"nothing that is not there† (The Snowman, 15) if it is to be truly apprehended. With the entirety of Stevens’ first stanza in mind, the variations in his first line (that continues and concludes in the third with â€Å"shine like fire†) read less playfully and more like a slow, deliberate distancing from the humanness of the word â€Å"alone.† For â€Å"alone† is rarely used to describe the state of an inanimate object by itself, which wouldn’t require the recognition of being outside of a society of similar objects since society is limited to animate creatures. So Stevens re-forms the description as â€Å"nakedly.† That first step, though, is only a small step away from animation since it evokes the idea of being without clothes. But the adverb â€Å"nakedly† is, in fact, more commonly used to describe the nature of concepts or ideas, as in â€Å"plainly† or â€Å"blatantly,† and less the physical state of one’s dress. With the second transformation, â€Å"like bronze,† however, the le ss subtle split with animation begins. With â€Å"like bronze† Stevens has reformulated an idea of the sun as merely resembling something. Though it is a man-made something, which, therefore, maintains an inevitable if convoluted connection to the human realm. So, Stevens’ necessarily searches for one more angle, â€Å"like fire,† and the split with humanity is complete; the sun is reduced to something natural, independent of human existence, but, more importantly, it is reduced to precisely what it is. The sun is precisely something that in Stevens’ view should â€Å"lend no part to any humanity that suffuses/[the sun] in its own light† (8-9) as Williams does. For like Stevens declares in his later poem â€Å"Things of August†: â€Å"The rich earth, of its own self made rich,/Fertile of its own leaves† (51-52), so must the shining sun, of its own self shine. It appears that Stevens’ wishes to forget all human history of sun worship and mythology and relish the sun as it is perceived in the moment, in the present, by an individual person. Yet, in communicating his point, Stevens’ says that the sun should â€Å"be not chimera of the morning† (10). â€Å"Chimera† carries the meaning of â€Å"illusion† or â€Å"daydream† as if warning against being tricked into seeing the sun as more than it is, or as something that it is not. But â€Å"chimera† also carries the connotation of the mythical creature that was made of various animal parts and had an intelligence. So in this moment, while Stevens’ argument is ostensibly sustained, he undermines it slightly by constructing it around such a contradictory notion, even if only as a means to negate it. The final three lines of the poem continue in this vein of ridding the sun of any ancient residual meaning. He ironically says the star should â€Å"Be not an intelligence/Like a widow’s bird/Or and old horse† (12-15). These comparisons are ironic simply because Stevens would not grant intelligence to a bird or horse, but he knows that they are often thought of that way. A lonely widow gives more meaning and power to her avian companion and a farmer may attribute wisdom to a horse that has weathered much. Stevens slyly insults the romantic sentimentality of Williams’ poem by putting it on the same level as the foolish and uneducated figures suggested in his closing lines. It seems that Stevens sees Williams’ poem as weak and sentimental. Stevens’ poem is an exercise of his mind on Williams’ theme, enacted to deliberately and systematically gain control over the emotional preoccupations of the poem. I would suppose that, ultimately, Williams would not only have appreciated the criticisms of Stevens, but also would have agreed with them. I feel as though â€Å"El Hombre† is, at least on a basic level, an immature poem of Williams that would not have fit into his later, more distinctly formulated views.