The hydraulic energy

IntroductionThe potency of utilizing a KERS on a bike to hive away hydraulic energy can be achieved utilizing a device such as a hydraulic collector. In a hydraulic collector the possible energy is stored in the signifier of a tight gas or spring, which is used to exercise a force against a comparatively incompressible fluid. Collectors store energy when the hydraulic system force per unit area is greater than the collector force per unit area and releases hydraulic energy in the opposite instance. By hive awaying and supplying hydraulic energy, collectors can be used as a primary power beginning for a KERS. Collectors are of course dynamic devices ; intending they function when constellation alterations, for illustration, valves opening and shutting. Collectors respond quickly to constellation alterations, and about outright for gas collectors. They are normally used in concurrence with a pump/motor in a hydraulic circuit. A hydraulic system using an collector can utilize a smaller fluid pump since the collector shops energy from the pump during low demand periods. The pump does n't necessitate to be so big to get by with extremes of demand, therefore the supply circuit can react more rapidly to any impermanent demand and to smooth pulsings. There are four types of collector: vesica, stop vesica, Piston ( spring or gas controlled ) , and metal bellows. Depending on the application, the pick of most suited is based on the needed velocity of collector response, weight, dependability and cost. Compressed gas collectors are the most normally used type since they by and large have the faster dynamic response and are most dependable. Collectors with seals will by and large hold the lowest dependability as there is the possible for leaks. Pressurised gas collectors take advantage of the fact, that the gas is compressible. The possible to hive away energy and the affect of the collector is dictated by its overall volume and pre-charge of the gas. The pre-charge is the force per unit area of the gas in the collector when there is no hydraulic fluid within the collector. Too high of a pre-charge force per unit area, reduces the fluid volume capacity, and limits the maximal sum of hydraulic energy that will be available to the system. A gas collector has a gas pre-charge, which is less than the nominal hydraulic system force per unit area. When hydraulic fluid enters the collector, the gas is compressed to the nominal system force per unit area, which is in an equilibrium place and corresponds to the maximal sum of energy that can be stored. As system hydraulic force per unit area beads, the gas will spread out coercing hydraulic fluid back into the system. Most gas collectors are bladder type, made up of a vas divided into two volumes, by a flexible membrane. Within the vesica, N is stored under high force per unit area, which is an efficient and safe medium since the ability of gas to hive away energy additions exponentially as force per unit area rises and because of its inert belongingss. As fluid from the hydraulic circuit, enters the vas ( under system force per unit area ) and impinges against the vesica, the gas is compressed leting energy to be stored. The release of energy when required is achieved via conventional valve agreement.Use of hydraulic KERS commerciallyThere are, a figure of emerging systems that allow the operators of vehicles to cut down both fuel ingestion and unwanted emanations, specifically to vehicles that are capable to changeless stop-start operations, like for illustration coachs, decline aggregation vehicles ( RCV ) . Changeless stop-start operations, such as braking in big vehicles, produce considerable kinetic energy, which is wasted as heat. Capturing this energy utilizing conventional hydraulic engineering enables it to be stored and so returned to the vehicle systems. The possible utilizations are non merely limited to help subsequent acceleration ( cut downing the energy required from the engine ) , but can potentially power accessory equipment. For illustration, RCVs can utilize stored energy to drive the hydraulic garbage compacting and packing mechanisms. This enables a important decrease of engine velocities and runing noise [ 10 ] .Hydraulic Power Train TechnologyHybrid hydraulic power-train engineering usually incorporates a hydraulic system runing analogue to the IC engine to portion the undertaking of powering the vehicle. Although other agreements are possible ( in series ) , the simplest is where the conventional vehicle transmittal and driveline constituents are replaced by a hydr o-mechanical transmittal, a system that works likewise to a hydrostatic CVT. In which the end product shaft from the vehicle ‘s engine is used to drive a hydraulic pump that in bend supplies pressure to hydrostatic motors ; these are so connected via a pitching mechanism to the vehicle power-train to drive the wheels [ 10 ] . These motors so, under braking, act as pumps to bear down collectors, where energy is stored before being released back to the power-train, conveying torsion to the driveshaft and impeling the vehicle. Fig depicts the capturing and releasing of energy in a hydraulic circuit.Examples of Commercial Hydraulic KERSThere are two commercial merchandises of hydraulic intercrossed KERS on today ‘s market and both are implemented on bringing vehicles and decline truck applications. These are Parker Energy Recovery System [ 6 ] , and Eaton Hydraulic Launch Assistâ„ ¢ ( HLA ® ) [ 7 ] .Prototype testing proposes typically regenerative braking capableness c aptures about 70 % of the KE produced during braking, minimising the burden on the engine, and assisting to cut down fuel ingestion [ 9 ] . The hydrostatic motors, when moving as pumps during vehicle braking, besides help to decelerate the vehicle down by bring oning retarding force on the revolving drive-train ; a characteristic that helps to cut down brake wear [ 9 ] by more than 50 % [ 8 ] . Generally these systems operate at a maximal force per unit area of 5,000 PSI [ 9 ] . The intercrossed engineerings are controlled by specialised systems that are activated upon braking. The controls prevent service brake application until merely before a complete halt. They besides monitor if the energy stored in the collector falls below a preset degree, upon which the vehicle engine can be used to supply auxiliary power. However, on vehicles with frequent stop-start rhythms, this is rarely required as even soft braking is sufficient to keep the stored energy at high degrees. The HLA ® has two manners of operation, â€Å" Economy Mode † and â€Å" Performance Mode † . When the operating in â€Å" Economy Mode † , the energy stored in the collector during braking is used entirely to ab initio speed up the vehicle. Once the collector has emptied, the engine will get down to execute the acceleration. This procedure consequences in increased fuel economic system of 30 % and provides increased acceleration of 2 % [ 7 ] . Economy manner allows for upper limit fuel nest eggs & A ; maximal exhaust emanation decreases of 20 % to 30 % [ 7 ] . In Performance Mode, acceleration is created by both the energy stored in the collector and the engine. Once the collector has emptied, the engine is wholly responsible for acceleration.While a 17 % addition in fuel economic system is possible, the greatest benefit is an increased acceleration of 26 % [ 7 ] . The benefits of intercrossed solution are legion ; reduced emanations, increased brake life, and better fuel economic system. The engineering besides allows the possibility to cut down the size of the vehicle engine as this can be sized for extremum velocities, instead than for low-end torsion.Application of Hydraulic KERS to a BicycleA squad of technology pupils from the University of Michigan [ 1 ] undertook a undertaking to utilize a hydro-pneumatic regenerative braking system on a bike. It was a renovation of a heavier old effort to do a working paradigm to suit within a 29 † forepart wheel ( fig ) . They use a 0.5 liter collector and believed this to be sufficient in hive awaying the needed energy at a maximal on the job system force per unit area of 5000psi. It ‘s weighed an impractical 13kg about every bit much as a motorcycle and is its major drawback, its weight can be accounted for by its separate high and low collectors, separate hydraulic pump and motor and it s comparatively big mounting bracket.CalculationsThey failed to prove and therefore supply conclusive consequences for the public presentation features of their paradigm, but alternatively prescribed its cardinal public presentation parametric quantities via theoretical computations. In the same manner and based on the same computations the undermentioned subdivision outlines the public presentation of a hydro-pneumatic KERS.Storage CapacityFirst for a hydraulic system to be implemented the storage of fluid must be addressed, the capacity must be determined and force per unit areas needed to hive away the kinetic energy. The combined mass of bicycler and bike ( 90kg ) braking from 32km/h ( 20mph ) has 2880kJ of kinetic energy. Parker [ 5 ] ( industry of collector and motors ) rates the ACP series collectors at max force per unit area 5000psi, if presuming ideal gas jurisprudence:BrakingA hydraulic KERS must utilize a hydraulic motor to supply plenty torsion to run the bike every bit good as supplying adequate resistive torsion to be an effectual brake. If the bike going at 32km/h ( 20mph ) on 0.66m ( 26inch ) diameter wheels, which spins the motor at 4632rpm through the 18:1 gear ratio of the pump cogwheel train, so this corresponds to 4.52Nm of torsion at 3000psi ( fig ) . This translates to a braking torsion of about 81.36Nm applied to the chief cogwheel due to the 18:1 cogwheel ratio.EstablishingOn release of force per unit area, a to the full charged 5000psi collector generates 7.57Nm of torsions ( fig ) . The 14:1 gear ratio of the motor gear train applies a 105 Nm torsion to the chief bike bunch cogwheel. 7.57Nm corresponds to around 800rpm from motors torque rpm curve ( fig ) , which turns the chief cogwheel at around 57rpm due to the 14:1 cogwheel ratio. This is an initial velocity of 8km/h ( 5mph ) which will increase as force per unit area is expended.AdvantagesIn many applications, particularly those where high power densenesss are required, hydro-p neumatic systems offer a more efficient option to system driven by electric motors. The engineering can be used to capture and reassign high degrees of energy highly rapidly compared with likewise sized electric systems, which by and large require long periods over which batteries have to be charged. They are besides likely to hold a longer runing life than battery-powered systems.DisadvantagesThe chief disadvantage of a hydro-pneumatic KERS would be its weight, which is attributed to by weight of hydraulic fluid, collector stuff ( steel ) , and the fact that in application it would be necessary to hold separate high and low force per unit area collectors. Equally good as potentially necessitating separate hydraulic pump and motor. In hydro-pneumatic systems when the gas is non charged by the hydraulic fluid and therefore non hive awaying energy, the fluid can be considered dead weight. If implemented on a bike to be used as a KERS, this would be counterproductive. Last hydro-pneumatic systems are limited where consistent degrees of power are required for drawn-out periods at near changeless velocities, such as long-distance cruising.DecisionThe major consideration when utilizing hydro-pneumatic collector for hive awaying the energy whilst braking, is of class the loss of pressurized gas in a certain collector. It is a failure critical to safety when it plays such an of import function as braking. It is evident the hydraulic collector needed for a KERS, does non hold an overly big capacity ( pre-charged to 3200psi ) , in order to let go of adequate energy to impel a motorcycle to 32km/h ( 20mph ) . Furthermore, a hydraulic motor can bring forth 81.36Nm braking torsion which makes it an effectual brake. However based on the weight of the paradigm ( 13kg ) from the University of Michigan, it is impractical to utilize a hydro-pneumatic engineering, as it stands presently, for a bike KERS.

Marketing of Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai Essay

For the successful completion of our report, we would like to express our deep gratitude to all the people who give us help and advise. First and foremost, we are going to give our appreciation to Mr. Wang, the Assistant Sales Director of the Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai. He spent his personal time replying our email to answer our questions and gave us a lot of valuable information and instructions which keep our report going in the right direction. Secondly, we would like to thank our Marketing lecturer, Miss Medico, she provided us with many useful resources and guidance at every stage of writing the report. Clearly, we cannot finish this report smoothly without her help. Last but not least, we would like to thank all our friends for their suggestions and inspiring. Contents Introduction Nowadays, with the rapid development of the hospitality industry in Shanghai, more and more hotels are demanded and built that brings more fierce competition to the hotels. Whether a hotel could capture market share, the most important thing for the hotel is marketing strategies. Correct marketing strategies could make a hotel winning in the competition. Our report is written based on the research of the marketing actuality of Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai and focused on analysing its marketing strategies to study how it promotes its product and services. The report is divided into three sections. In the first section, we introduce and give some detailed background information about the hotel including its history, stage in the lifecycle and the product and services the hotel is offering. In the second section, we identify the hotel’s target market and analyse their characteristic. In the last section, the information about the promotional tools or marketing strategies which the hotel is using are given related some examples. After that, it is the findings and analysis of the tools or strategies and our own opinions. Background of Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai is invested by Shanghai Industrial Holdings Limited Company and managed by a very famous hotel brand, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts. It is ideally located in the heart of Shanghai’s downtown, adjacent to Nanjing Road and Huaihai Road which are famous as the business, entertainment and shopping centers of Shanghai. It was built in October 2002. The internal and external design of the hotel is blended of Chinese and Western concepts to provide the guests special feelings. Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai has a total of 439 rooms. All of them are comfortably, elaborately decorated and well-equipped with modern guest amenities. The food and beverage products feature Chinese, Japanese and Western style. There are three restaurants, Si Ji Xuan, Shintaro and Steak House, offered three different types food to satisfy all kinds of the guests’ needs. In addition, Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai is well-known for many important events hold there cause the amazing ballrooms. Health & Fitness Center is including an indoor heated Swimming Pool, Gym, Steam Room, Sauna and Massage. The hotel provide the guests all kinds of services even some of them you cannot imagine! For example, the hotel provide couple guests the couples’ service which is including offering silky pyjamas, classic love stories on DVD and so on. Anyway, the hotel think of everything the guests may need and offer it before guests asking. Therefore, a lot of guests are attracted to stay Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai to have a unforgettable experience. The Lifecycle Stages of Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai As a modern city hotel, Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai does not have a long history. But only for one decade developing, it has successfully acquired its a mount of fixed customer groups of business leaders, political leaders and super stars. It is inseparable from the adaptable marketing strategies used during different lifecycle stages of the hotel. According to the research they did, there was few Chinese knew Four Seasons Hotels and resorts before Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai built cause that Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai is the first Four Seasons Hotel in Chinese Mainland. So during initial developing stage, the primary tasks for its marketing are target market positioning and brand promoting which purpose to build reputation, create the right image of hotel and introduce the product and services to the target market. Through the extension in initial stage, a basic sales network are built and the hotel turns into growth stage. In this stage, the hotel increases spending on advertising, sales promoting and public relations to improve reputation, image and guest loyalty. Now, Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai is in Maturity stage due to the favorable accumulation of capital and customer groups in initial and growth stages. The operations are on the right track; the market occupancy and profit level are quite high and the product and services are competitive. Therefore, the current work for them are seeking more wide target market and keeping the guest loyalty already gained. Target Market By accurately positioning target market, the hotel could better determine how many potential guests they have; adjust their product and services to preferably satisfy guests’ needs and draft their marketing strategies appropriately. ï ¼Ë†Data offered by Marketing Department of Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai, 2012ï ¼â€° According the data which shows the proportions of six different types guests offered by Mr. Wang, we create the pie chart above to make the data intuitional. It shows that Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai’s main target market consists of corporate guests, convention guests, government guests and travelers in 2011. The special location of Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai is the biggest reason for that corporate guests are the first target market. It is located in the CBD where are full of the top 500 Global enterprises such as Exxon Mobil, Morgan Stanley and Pepsi. So there are many business leaders visiting this area. The second target market is convention guests who always look for the hotels have excellent meeting rooms with large space and various modern meeting equipments. Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai is exactly the one can offer all the things they are looking. There are twelve meeting rooms separated into four different size to satisfy all kinds of guests’ needs. The owner of Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai, Shanghai Industrial Holdings Limited Company, is established by Shanghai Government. As the most luxury hotel of its industries, Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai are always used for entertaining officials. So the government guests is a big part of target market. In addition, a lot of travelers particularly the leisure travelers select Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai for their stays in Shanghai. The various leisure and entertainment facilities such as Health & Fitness Center, Spa and Club, provide them with relaxed and comfortable experience. Moreover, the wonderful food and beverage product and service is another reason for their visit. The Promotion Mix of Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai As a member of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts which is one of the most famous and successful hotel groups all over the world, Four Season Hotel Shanghai concluded many effective and efficient marketing strategies to make itself survived from such a competitive condition. Advertising Advertising is the non-personal communication of information usually paid for & usually persuasive in nature, about products (goods & services) or ideas by identified sponsor through various media. ( Arens, 2010) Publishing pamphlets and magazines Like other hotels, Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai usually promotes its products and services by publishing pamphlets and magazines. The different kinds of magazines can reach different groups of readers. † We just select the magazines which can reach our target markets to promote our products. Determining the way of advertising based on the target markets makes the advertisement more effective and spending less.† ( Wang, 2012) But pamphlets are used more widely than magazines in Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai. Because it can reach and promote more directly to the guests who even have lived in the hotel. For example, during Mid-Autumn Day, the hotel elaborately prepares all kinds of moon cakes for guests. While moon cakes are ready for selling, the Marketing Department designs a pamphlet for promoting the moon cakes and publish the pamphlets. Then the pamphlets appear to everywhere guests could reach. Guests can see it at reception when they are doing check-in or check-out; they can see it on the bed when they arriving the room and on the table of restaurant when they are eating. How big the effects could be by promoting in this way! Online advertising Nowadays, marketing and advertising have been much affected by technology. Online advertising exactly is a outcome of the effect. There are many types of online advertising such as ads on search engine pages, email advertising and banner advertising. Four Season Hotel Shanghai is using the search engine advertising now. The ads of Four Season Hotel Shanghai are delivered on the search results pages of BAIDU which is the biggest search engine in China. Therefore, when people searching some key words related to † hotels in Shanghai† or † restaurants in Shanghai†, the link of official website appears on the right side of the results pages. if people are interested and click the link, page will jump to the official website to make them could reserve the rooms or restaurants. The online advertising communicates much widely and costs lowly. And the effects of advertising can be gathered statistics. Public Relations † Public relations is the technique of communicating favorable information about the operations to the public to create a positive impression. Its ultimate purpose is to create goodwill and increase the number of guests.† (Jack D.Ninemeier, 2010) †Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.† ( PRSA, 2011) So the key to the success of your operation is creating good relations to the guests, local communities, governments and media. Communicating with public by Internet Today, hotels including Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai try to communicate with public by Internet. Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai is using a way called WEIBO which is the most popular social communication tool in China now. The functions of WEIBO are uploading words or pictures or videos to show some fresh informations about the hotel, such as the new promotions, new facilities or products, upcoming events and something else could improve reputation, image and guest loyalty. What’s more, the guests can leave comments to the hotel no matter if they are satisfied and the hotel can reply the comments. That’s an amazing way to communicate and interact with guests even cost nothing. Participate in public service Participating in the social and sponsored public service is an opportunity to improve the social impact and reputation of hotel and win the understanding and praise from the public. On April 28th 2011, to make a long-term commitment to global sustainability, the employees of Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai began a tree-planting campaign to contribute to the company’s 10 Million Trees initiative. With the support of Children Health Foundation and Oriental Land, the Hotel’s tree-planting campaign fund will be donated to help Chinese children who suffer from congenital malformations and heart disease.† Our employees in Shanghai are inspired by and fully involved in the company’s commitment to global sustainability.† ( Peter Weber, 2011) Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai enters its ninth year with its original pioneering spirit, setting an example of corporate social responsibility and renewing its commitment to improving the lives of children. ( Hotel News, 2011) Sales Promotion Sales Promotion consists of short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a product or service. It includes a variety of promotional tools designed to stimulate earlier or stronger market response. ( Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism, 2010) Hotel packages promotion As the first competitive factor in guests’ mind, the price always plays an important role in sales promotion. For hotel packages promotion, the price of package is lower than the total price of the products or services with the same qualities included in the package. So hotel packages promotion strongly stimulates the purchase desire of guests and used widely in various types hotels. Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai designs all kinds of packages for various target markets. For instance, the Romantic Wedding Package is prepared specially for the newlywed holding their wedding in the hotel. To leave a lifetime of memories to the newlywed, Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai sets a specially designed ice carving in the ballroom to match the wedding theme. Then during wedding time, the hotel will prepare a champagne tower and a wedding cake which could create a happy wedding atmosphere. After the wedding, a couples spa treatment at Qin Spa is ready for the newlywed to relax. If the newlywed prefer to stay in the hotel for their wedding night, a romantic decoration suite is free for them including a breakfast for two people the following morning. Another amazing thing is that Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai provides the newlywed a gift certificate to celebrate their first anniversary in a restaurant at the hotel chosen by themselves. Anyway, Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai offers various packages for different target markets to satisfy their needs. Discount To attract more guests, discount is the way most direct and acceptable. But it is different from other hotels that Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai nearly never use discount to promote their products even in the off season. As Mr. Wang said, Four Season Hotels and Resorts is one of the most luxury and famous hotel brands in the world and target markets for them are the leaders of business and political circles and super stars but not the middle class or less level. The low price is not the primary reason for their target markets to make their choice cause they do not want to see so many middle class or less level people around them in the hotel. Instead, no discount is another way to attract more high level people. And for Four Seasons, there are actually some things more important than revenue like the reputation and loyalty of target market. Conclusion The report explained some information which is necessary to know for Four Season Hotel Shanghai. As a world class hotel, Four Season Hotel Shanghai has gained high reputation since it was built . To maintain the status and revenue level, promoting the products from various channels and ways to improve and expand public relations and strengthen the products’ promotion is very important for the future development of Four Season Hotel Shanghai. Although its reputation have covered all over world, it must keep working hard on marketing in order to attract and retain the guests. Moreover, doing the programs for public good and communicating with guests are very ideal promotional tools also are useful to improve favorable image for Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai. Reference Cultural China.com. (2008). Four Seasons Hotel [online]. Available at: . [Last accessed on 12.03.2012] Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. (2012). Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai [online]. Available at: . [Last accessed on 12.03.2012] Hotel News. (2011). Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai Participates in 10 Million Trees Campaign [online]. Available at: . [Last accessed on 13.03.2012] Sohu Weibo. (2012). Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai [online]. Available at: . [Last accessed on 13.03.2012] Nolo.com. (2012). Define a Target Market for Your Business [online]. Available at: . [Last accessed on 14.03.2012] Wikipedia.org (2012). Online Advertising [online]. Available at: . [Last accessed on 14.03.2012] Mark A. Rosso & Bernard J. Jansen, 2010, ‘ Brand Names as Keywords in Sponsored Search Advertising’, CAIS, vol.27. Rocco M. Angelo & Andrew N. Vladimir, 2011, Hospitality Today. 7th Edition, AH&LA. Philip Kotler, John T. Bowen & James C. Makens, 2010, Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism. 5th Edition, Pearson. Ninemeier, J, 2005, Management of Food and Beverage Operations. 5th Edition, AH&LA. John Wilmshurst & Adrian Mackay, 2002, The Fundamentals and Practice of Marketing. 4th Edition. Woburn, MA, Butterworth. 4th Edition, Butterworth – Heinemann.

Compare and Contrast Poems

The Underlying Truth about War War—sometimes portrayed frivolously—may be more that the human expects it to be. It is filled with gruesome and intolerable scenes that may not even be appropriate to discuss. Wilson Owen, in transforming the mainstream ideas, branches out and discusses the horrific side of war that people would not expect. In â€Å"Anthem for Doomed Youth† and â€Å"dulce et decorum est,† Wilson Owen strategically manipulates diction to illustrate the theme of the reality of war, and in doing this, sheds a light on the dreadful impact that war has. Wilson utilizes strong connotations of words in both of his poems. In â€Å"Anthem for Doomed Youth† the title says a lot about its content. The title itself has significant use of assonance. The expression is intended to be drawn out, and set a depressing mood which parallels to the subject of war itself. The title also indicates that this is a national thing, everyone is a part of it: â€Å"Anthem†. The word signifies a national anthem, where everybody joins in and takes pride from it. The poem does not parallel that the soldiers took pride to fight in the war. The word anthem connotates a sacred song or song of praise; which alludes to church where anthems are sometimes heard, and where funerals take place. This then shows that the poem in itself is an anthem as well. Wilson then goes on to further question the â€Å"passing-bells for these who die as cattle† (1). The use of the word cattle suggests a mass amount or a collection of people in a group. It also implies that the men in the war were treated like cattle, basically dehumanizing them as people. â€Å"Dulce et decorum est† also has words with connotative meanings. The repetition of blood implies the dangers that are on the battlefield. Owen writes, â€Å"†¦blood shot† / â€Å"the blood came gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs† (6, 21-22). The blood paints a gruesome picture of life in the war. The first four words of the second stanza, â€Å"Gas! Gas! Quick, boys†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ are disjointed, fractured and monosyllabic (9). This connotes a feeling of panic and terror. The use of such verbs like â€Å"flound’ring† adds a sense of helplessness and inability. Owen is trying to illustrate the simple truth to the audience; war does not make men, it breaks them. The strong connotation of words lends way for imagery to unfold. In â€Å"Anthem for Doomed Youth,† Wilfred Owen tells that â€Å"only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle can patter out their hasty orisons† (3-4). The poet starts to reveal the realism of war through alliteration. As readers, one can visualize the sounds of the rifles as clearly as Owen intended us to. The rifles emphasize that the opposing troops did not take pity on the individuals they are trying to kill. In â€Å"dulce et decorum est,† Owen uses imagery by writing, â€Å"His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;† (line 20). In this part of the poem, Owen talks about his â€Å"fallen† friend. Here, we see how graphic his friend looked, thus confirming the fact of the gruesome nature of war. Sickening language is used to invoke the shocking image of a man literally drowning in his own blood as the blood came â€Å"gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs† (22). This grotesque language is used to express the distasteful nature of the war. In his two poems, Owen highlights the fact that war is not all that it is chalked up to be. He does this by using strong connotative language which in turn reveals the imagery to the readers. In doing this, he wants the readers to get even a bird’s eye view of what he had to deal with every day. Certain phrases that the poet uses reflect Owen’s own disgust of the war. It show the anger that he has about how the press illustrates the war to mislead people. The descriptions that he gives shows the darkness of war that he bore witness to; therefore recreating the images and showing the destruction of purity through war.

Challenge of leading a diverse workforce Assignment

Challenge of leading a diverse workforce - Assignment Example Diversity maximization in most companies, have become a significant role to play for the management to date. Researchers have reported that there is a higher prospect to a significant increase in adaptability to diversity in years to come (Noe, 2012 p. 34). For an organization to be rendered successful, it has to recognize the urgency of taking remedial action and be willing to put in a lot of effort in diversity management. In recent years, most organizations have consistently faced immense challenges in leading a diverse workforce. The human resource professional s in many companies has been confronted with a lot of setbacks which they have to address at workplace. Communication barriers among employees in an organization are one of the major challenges to diversity. Workers find it difficult to understand one another especially is they are from different countries of origin (Gordon & Whit, 2010 p.56). For instance, an employee from United Kingdom might find it difficult to interac t with a fellow employee from Germany who doesn’t understand English properly. ... A large populace of employees has failed to accept the significant revolution of cultural composition at workplace. Resentment s has accompanied the idea of incorporating people from diverse background and races. Indirect racial discrimination has been evident in organization leading to a poor workers relation. Workers find it uncomfortable relating with their fellow employees from difference race. Others prefer the top management to be composed of individual from a certain race of preference regardless of their skills. For example, in an organization structure composed of many blacks, most workers will prefer their managers to be black for comfort ability (Brislin, 2008 p.45). These conflicts kill the idea of effective management strategy for the best interest of the entire firm. People have resorted to concealing new ideas as a result, which is an impediment to a company’s ‘progress. Religious segregation is another challenge that ought not to be overlooked. Many firms have failed to give freedom to their employees to freely express their cultural beliefs and practices. Subjecting Muslim women to wearing skirts which reach a particular length by management as a dress code portrays unfair treatment. Their norms require full cover of their body. They should be allowed to wear long attire in accordance with their beliefs and practice (Henderson, 1994 p. 21). It has proven to be difficult in implementing diversity at workplace. Advertisement made by organization in media can pose a negative impression to people from different races. Images depicting of only the whites in top management produce a negative impression to some black people who might perceive that the organization does not entertain diversity

Wellness project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Wellness project - Essay Example First, the physical dimension refers to the physiological state of the body system, ensuring that a person is free from illnesses and maintains physical activity through exercise and healthy diet. If a person is physically healthy, he can function well in the society and make significant contribution to the community. As such, being involved in one’s community also entails responsibility with the surrounding environment. Environmental dimension of health means that a person is able to take responsibility over his environment through protection and conservation of nature. Doing one’s part for environmental conservation also means involving one’s self in the community. As such, a person who builds good relationship with the people in the community shows a healthy social dimension (Corbin et. al., 2008). In a way, building relationships in one’s community is related to emotional dimension because person is capable of recognizing his and other people’s personal feelings. Aside from this, emotional dimension includes the ability handle stress and copes with life’s challenges. While emotional dimension deals with feeling, mental dimension of health deals with cognition or thought. A person is in good mental health if he does not suffer from anxiety and depression. Lastly, if one able to establish inner peace and find deeper purpose in life, it means that the individual is in good spiritual health. Spiritual dimension refers to one’s inner values and realization that we exist for a reason and that each of us has a higher purpose in life. It is only when an individual is able to develop his spiritual dimension, along with other five health dimensions, that we can say one

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PORTFOLIO Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PORTFOLIO - Essay Example Nevertheless, a significant proportion of the individuals makes efforts and meets several personal and professional targets with the passage of time. However, there appears to be very small proportion of the individuals which establishes glorious aims, related to personal, social and financial aspects, and hits the bull’s eye within shortest span of time. Such persons are the leaders of their society, and the world looks at them with great admiration and envy, and feels pride in affiliating with them in one way or the other; Socrates, Sophocles, Aristotle, Aquinas, Sir William Shakespeare, Karl Marx, Karl Jung, Robert Owen, Bill Gates and Sir Richard Branson are few names in the long list of the most successful persons, who altered the thoughts and structure of their society by dint of their exceptional talent, ironed will and magnificent accomplishments. Hence, devising of high aims and working day-in and day-out to achieve the same is the order of the day to earn respect, fa me and pecuniary gains in this age of perfect competition. â€Å"Many persons†, Keller submits, â€Å"have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.† (1903, p. 31) Like every human being, I have also drawn the road map of personal and professional goals in life. The canvas of my aims is not confined to one specific field; on the contrary, I have divided the same into educational, technical and occupational categories. I had received my primary and middle education from my native country. On passing my O levels examination from the native town, I dreamed of proceeding to the UK in order to seek higher education. Since I have been highly technical-minded since my childhood, I aimed to perform something extraordinary in the field of computer sciences. Actually my loving parents wanted me to stay close to their eyes; they resisted my plans of leaving the country initially. Howeve r, on finding me extremely ambitious to perform something in life, they supported me with their consent and hearties wishes regarding my plan to set out for the UK. â€Å"The latest THE-QS World University Rankings show four UK universities in the top 10 of the world's best. QS Top Universities finds out which universities they are. Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial and UCL - they're the names of the UK's top universities according to the 2008 THE-QS World University Rankings.† (Quoted in topuniversities.com) Since I am not that sort of person that changes his plans swiftly, I always ponder on various aspects of my ambitions, and they it appear to be practicable, I stick to them without displaying any wavering in this respect for the future years to come. Thus, on arriving in the UK, I got admission in A levels, which I passed two years after my stay in the UK. I knew it very well that I should not put extraordinary financial burden of my studies and daily expenditures on my parent s. Consequently, I applied for job at B&A Repair Centre, London against the position of trainee mechanic. My superiors paid due heed on me, and within six month of

Wal-mart Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Wal-mart - Essay Example The company has a wide customer base with over 200 million customers served on a weekly basis (Walmartstores). In 2010 Wal-Mart Corporation achieved sales of $405 billion. This sales figure represents an improvement of 1% in comparison with 2009 and 8.34% in comparison with fiscal year 2008. These figures are impressive considering that during this period the world was in the middle of a global recession. Typically the retail business in one of the hardest sectors hit during a recession. Wal-Mart was able to keep growing despite the recession. In 2010 Wal-Mart had a return on return on assets of 8.9%. Wal-Mart obtained a small increase in sales in 2010, but its profitability when up a lot. The net income of the company was $14,335 million. The company achieved an increase in net income in 2010 of 6.97%. The cash reserves of the corporation increased from $7,275 million in 2009 to $7907 million in 2010. The total assets of the company went up by 4.45% in 2010. The debt to equity ratio of the corporation in 2010 was 1.34. This figure is bit above the normal desirable ratio of 1.0. The industry debt to equity ratio of the retail industry is 0.48 (Dun & Bradstreet). This means that Wal-Mart’s debt to equity ratio is below the industry. Due to the fact that the company is such an established business the company has the ability to finance its operation beyond the norm. The ratio means that the company has chosen to more of its operations with debt than with equity. The current ratio which measures the company’s ability to pay off its short term debt is 0.87. The 8.9% return of assets metric of Wal-Mart is much better than the industry norm of 3.6%. In 2010 the company had a return on equity of 19.65%. This figure is much better than the industry norm of 4.2%. Wal-Mart Corporation is one of the most successful businesses in America. The common stocks of the firm are a good

Evaluate systems architecture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Evaluate systems architecture - Essay Example The kind of memory used on CPUs has to be fast speed and is limited in size. These are the registers. Below is the Von Neumann architecture on which all other architectures are based; Traditionally, CPUs did not have many registers and comprised numerous memory addressing techniques. However, after intensive research, it was found that these features made the computers less efficient. Major issues included rare use of specialized instructions, increased the frequency of memory access due to few general-purpose registers. This feature also reduced the amount of addressable memory space for computers. The time required for instruction execution was also unnecessarily lengthened by lack of registers. An example of such processors is the intel x86 processor. These came up as a solution to increase the efficiency of computers. They use a technique called parallelism, which has the effect of increasing the overall speed of execution of computers. Through data dependency where the output of one operation is the input of the next, concurrency can be achieved. CPUs using VLIW architecture have 64 general purpose registers at their disposal. Their instruction words are 128 bits long which is then divided into 4 atoms each 32 bits long. Below is a graphical depiction of VLIW architecture. Intel was the originator of the EPIC architecture and used it on their IA-64 processor. It clusters instructions before execution. Its instruction word size is 41 bits with 256 registers. The clusters are 128 bits wide. Execution of instructions occurs in cycles. Instructions and data are stored in the computer’s hard disk. For execution, they are loaded in main memory from where the CPU can reference them. The fetch execute cycle then begins. The CPU speed is much faster than memory. The time it takes to fetch an instruction from main memory into the CPU is enough for execution of an instruction. Therefore, CPUs are equipped with an onboard fast memory chip called

Neurotransmitters, Biology and Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Neurotransmitters, Biology and Behavior - Essay Example Some of the identified neurotransmitters include acetylcholine, dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, serotonin and gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA). According to Brown (1994), "Neurotransmitters function primarily to communicate between nerve cells in the brain, central nervous system and autonomic nervous system" (p.10). They may be excitatory or inhibitory in function. Acetylcholine and norepinephrine belong to the former category, while dopamine, serotonin, and GABA belong to the latter category. Thus depending on the specificity of the function being performed, neurotransmitters can set in motion appropriate biological reactions and behavior. In the words of Giovannoli (2001), neurotransmitters "influence human behavior, attitude, perception, temperament, love, and aggression, among other things" (p.43). Neurotransmitters have been shown to affect almost every aspect of human life. They affect mood swings, retentive skills, aggression, shyness, paranoia, exhilaration, sleep and even sexual activity or inactivity. They are also associated with disorders like depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Dopamine's effect on the body is profound. It plays a dual role in controlling movement as well as emotions.

Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving - Essay Example The love, affection, and warmth for Rip Van Winkle would not be limited to humans. Even the dogs recognized him and would not bark to see him. Rip Van Winkle is known to others as an extremely useful man who can extend his hand of help in any kind of work needed. This is understandably, the main reason why so many people love him since Rip keeps proving his friendship again and again with different people; â€Å"a friend in need is a friend indeed† (â€Å"Cultural Dictionary†). Indeed, the same friendship becomes the cause of the twist in the story, when one day, while helping the Dutch strangers carry the keg up the mountain, Rip happens to drink a bit and then goes on to sleep for almost two decades. When he wakes up, he finds that his wife is dead. In a way, Rip’s habit of being â€Å"the friend in need† (â€Å"Cultural Dictionary†) rids him from all sorts of tensions and depressions in life so that he can have a wonderful and peaceful time sleeping, where he does not have to get berated by his wife everyday, or think, â€Å"what excuse shall I make to Dame Van Winkle?† (Irving

No topic Discussion Question Mgt 380 Dissertation

No topic Discussion Question Mgt 380 - Dissertation Example There are times when the wrong decisions are made and the question of accountability comes into the equation. This is when leaders have to explain how and why they were made, and what recourse has to be made to recuperate losses as well as corporate images. Circumstances that pose immediate danger to life, property, sales revenues however, may lead to other leaders arising from lower level in the ranks to take charge. A building on fire or a company vehicle tied up in an accident traffic accidents and workers are indecisive as top what to do, are also typical examples of situations where participants will be require to make quick decisions. However, in the design of a product, choosing the most economical distribution routes, the location of the best manufacturing sites, as well as who to employ to fill certain positions, require considering alternatives, as well as others, and has to be done by trained and experienced executives. Leaders may also from time reject suggestions that do not conform to their expectations, but may suffer from a lack of cooperation when time comes for execution of the strategic decision that was un-democratically made. Decision making according to Drucker, should rest always with executives or leaders who should strive to maximize the inputs of their respective teams as much as possible. During such process they should make it known that the final responsibility for the decision rests with them, but they value the contribution of every participant, and will consider all options before deciding (Drucker 1974). Question Q 2 Power according to Etzioni, can be either coercive, utilitarian or normative (Tichy & Candwell 2002). The first type of leader uses force to get the job done, while the second uses incentives, especially in a working environment to achieve the same objective. Normative Power occurs when values are employed to appeal to the inner constitution of people to generate commitment and a sense of purpose. The kind of power that I can identify is the normative one, where people are treated with respect, and their opinions valued in any business or social operation. By constantly communicating those attributes people who are so treated, will feel a part of my team and will go the extra mile to help achieve the mutually established goals and objectives. In addition, at times I will employ the utilitarian source of power along with the normative to help my teams motivated. This is because although they will feel important, at times rewards will serve to reinforce those values that have been communicated to them. Having these two sources at my disposal will always lead to people become loyal, committed, disciplined and very flexible in a knowledge base economy that is subjected to changing conditions at times. These are the values that I may be able upon in times of crisis, when team support and innovations becomes extremely important to the maintenance of competitive edge. Discussion Q 3 My favorite and l east favorite bosses were on opposite ends of a continuum, due to the leadership traits that they portrayed. The relationship between my most favored boss and me was an excellent one, and it made the work flow easy, even though at time some of the tasks were challenging. The fact that he was approachable, had an open door policy and

Meaning of meme an eipiphiny Essay Example for Free

Meaning of meme an eipiphiny Essay The word mehme means; m-meaning, e-emotional, h-humanistic, m- methodical e- experience. It is a rhyme of ‘meme’. On the other hand, that worked ‘Eipiphiny’ is corrupted from the word ‘epiphany’. Epiphany means (a) ‘a sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something’ (b) ‘an intuitive grasp of reality through an event usually simple and striking’,’ an illuminating discovery, realization or disclosure’ (c) ‘a revealing scene or moment’ Eipiphiny represents ‘stochastic / mathematical epiphany. ’ Its components are mathematical constants, ‘e’, ‘pi’, ‘phi’ and non- existent number ‘I’ which if not discovered the world today may be non-existant. ‘e’ and ‘I’, represent ‘emotional intelligence’, which is of importance when discussing our mission. (Richard, 1990) The kind of cultural value changes that would be necessary for this evolution of value memes to occur may be having nothing to do with meme. Cultural change is all about being dynamic to meet the changing demands of society. The ability to learn new tricks will enhance cultural change. It will assist us appreciate each others culture and be accommodative of new ideas technological advancement, change of styles and fashion, new economic trends as well. Meme may not be practical in the modern world. A good environment of acquire, ideas is where an individual is not tied down to unimportant procedures but where he is left to pursue what they are motivated to do. To fit in the changing world, it is mandatory to keep abreast with the latest in technology and set realistic and achievable goals or aims. KOZOL’S ‘SAVAGE INEQUALITIES’ The book ‘Savage Inequalities’ was written in 1991 by Kozol Jonathan. The book talks about education gaps between institutions or schools where different classes and races exist. His views are based on observations he made in the system of public schools of Washington D. C. , Camden, Chicago and New York City. These observations were taken in school, which have the lowest spending (per capital) on student and those which have highest spending. Kozol has given some factors, which have contributed to poor education system for instance lack of basic tools for teaching, understaffed environment, congestion and poor sanitation. The worst hit is the minorities who are usually allocated the lowest budgets annually. This is done without considering that the people who live in extreme poverty with school district are taxed highly. Cited in his book, are the cases, which are filed against such poor schools. The districts affected are Jersey City, Camden, Orange and Irvington. The judges no longer adhere to the law of state but instead they side with concerned locals and children. Kozol also compares the present conditions that minorities are supposed to learn in. There are other historical cases that he mentions whereby the results are not just system of funds in terms of taxation and distribution. Another serious problem mentioned in his book is racial segregation in the education system of America. This problem is heightened by the inequalities, which are obvious in the distribution of funds, which are collected via property taxes. Some historical cases are Plessy vs Fergusson and Board of Education vs Brown, Bradley vs. , Miliken and Rodriguez, vs. , San Antonio. The poor education system has been in America for too long and yet only the minorities are affected. The length of time within which these policies have been practiced has made it to become part of their education system,. To some extent, this form of system can be related to ‘meme’. The Oxford English dictionary describes it as a self-replicating element of culture, passed on by imitation’. Going by this definition we can conclude that the poor education system has replicated itself over time and has become part of their culture. JOHATHAH KOZOL Kozol, was born on 5th September 1936 in Massachusetts Boston. He is an educator, a non-fiction writer and activist. He is well known for books on public education in U. S. Kozol graduated in 1954 in Greenough and in 1958 at Harvard University with English Literature degree. Kozol received Rhodes scholarship to join Magdalon College. For some reasons, he could not complete the leadership since he traveled to Paris because he wanted to start writing a novel,. It took Kozol four years writing ‘The Fume of Poppies’, a fiction book. Jonathan has also held 2 Guggenheim Fellowship and has been a Rockefeller foundation Fellow. He has also been involved in social psychology field. Currently he is on the Editorial Board of Greater Good Magazine. Kozol has been very active in propagating for public education that is fully integrated in the U.S He has never ceased to condemn education inequalities and has spoken unrelentingly regarding segregation of Hispanic and black children from children by the white in public schools which are segregated. Jonathan’s argues form an ethical point of view and he makes heavy comparisons between poor schools and rich schools. Particularly, he makes an analysis of the money that is spent on each child. He discovers that per child spending annually is very high, that is, they pay a figure that is slightly above $20,000 every year for every child in a district. His question is whether it is fair that a person’s place of birth should be a determinant on a person’s quality of education. He has shown deep commitment towards improvement of American public schools and has therefore founded and is in charge of a non-profit Education Action. His group is devoted to organize teachers all over the country who may be interested to push back Supreme Court decisions against NCLB, and assist in making an excellent, single and unified system in all public schools in America. (Jonathan, 1992). Dawkins has used ‘meme’ to signify a cultural entity, for example an idea, a song or religion that can be considered as a replicator by an observer. In his hypothesis, he indicated that it was possible for people to look at numerous cultural entities as copiers or replicators. They generally make copies via exposure to human beings, who evolved efficiently though not perfectly in terms of behaviour and information. It is not common for memes to be perfectly copied. They might become combined, refined or modified with different ideas, which results to other new memes. The new memes may prove to be efficient in replicating than those that preceded them. This provides a framework for cultural evolution hypothesis, which is analogous to biological evolution of genes. CRITICISMS OF DAWKINS THEORY (SOCIOCULTURAL) The contemporarily sociocultural evolution has rejected a big part of ‘classical social evolution’. This is due to a number of theoretical setbacks. Firstly, the theory was believed to be ethnocentric (makes heavy judgments on various societies, and favours western civilization. Secondly it made a general assumption that all cultures must have same goals and must also progress the same way. Thirdly his theory-equated materials culture for example, cities and technologies with civilization. Fourthly, it also equated fitness/progress with evolution. This was based on gross misunderstanding of theory evolution. Lastly, the evidence produced contradicts the theory. Many primitive societies are believed to be more democratic, peaceful and equitable as compared to many contemporary societies. They are also regarded as healthier in terms of ecology and diet. The social evolution is classified as a science theory. It has been used to give support to unjust social practices believed to be racist especially slavery, colonialism and unbalanced conditions of economy which are present in the industrialized Europe. Darwinism social theory is very much criticized since it was responsible for some philosophies, which were used by Nazis. (Jonathan, 1992). EFFECTS OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORY The thought of evolution has brought about considerable social effects. With the development of scientific theories, most explanations have displaced some alternatives, which have been widely held. Since evolution theory includes explanations of origins of humanity, it has great impact on the societies of humans. (Jobson, 1998) Evolution of culture has punctuated equilibrium, which was developed by Gould and Eldredge for evolution that is biological. According to Bloomfield, most human societies have equilibrium, which is punctuated. This would first mean a society, which is stable and a transition, which results to a stable society that is more complex. The human society status is pegged on food production productivity. Deevey reported that food productivity does not change much of stable societies but it increases during transitions. CONCLUSION Some scholars have harshly criticized Dawkin’s theory of ‘selfish Genes’. His theory is being described as absurd and it is even more difficult for a person to know where to begin criticizing his concept. The idea that the idea of selfish gene is discredited however is foolish, since his concept has received a lot of acknowledgement on its anniversary 30 years after its publication. We might be hoping too much that a person has the ability to come up with an argument touching on our lives or say something that proves he has an understanding of the framework of the selfish gene. We can only take his explanation for it. Rmj, brought forward some arguments against The Selfish Gene. He argues that Dawkins lacks understanding of religion, philosophy of religion and theology. In his book, Dawkins does not refer to any religion philosopher. This generally shows his deliberate ignorance of his topic. Other people have strongly supported the ‘selfish gene theory’. An Indian Bay states that we basically are selfish. We would not survive if we were not selfish. It is selfishness that gives us the desire to survive. The truth is genes could be selfish but human beings have gradually evolved to become social. Currently, Darwinian’s view incorporates an understanding and states cooperation are part and parcel of the genetic heritage. REFERENCES Jonathan, K (1992) Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s schools, Harper Perennial Library, US. Jonathan, K (1982) Alternative schools: A guide for Educators and parents, Harper Perennial Library, U. S. Jobson, C (1998) Our Genes Excel Publishers, Canada. Richard, D(1990) The selfish Gene, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press. US.

Corporate Social Responsibility And Organisational Profitability Management Essay

Corporate Social Responsibility And Organisational Profitability Management Essay Abstract There are numerous factors affecting the organizational profitability; one of the important factors is corporate social responsibility. This paper tries to examine the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and organizational profitability. Many tools are used to measure the organizational profitability while those of the corporate social responsibility can sometimes be unreliable or insufficient. The tool chosen for measuring the Corporate Social Responsibility is Kinder, Lydenberg and Domini Co. which is a database that is recently used as one of the most comprehensive source for Corporate Social Performance research. This paper will mainly focus on Egyptian organizations and study their engagement in corporate social responsibility and compare the different result of profitability for a period of five years. Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Social Performance, Organizational profitability, Return on investment, Kinder, Lydenberg and Domini Co. Corporate social responsibility and Organizational Profitability Researchers tried to define corporate social responsibility in such way that suits all theoretical and operational purposes, such as Actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required by law (McWilliams Siegel 2001, P.117). CSR concerns everyone such as customers, employees, suppliers, community groups, governments, and even some stockholders as stated by McWilliams and Siegel (2001). This paper will examine the relationship between corporate social responsibility and the profitability of Egyptian organizations. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the corporate social responsibility will increase the profitability or not and to figure out the main benefits of being engaged in corporate social responsibility. The paper is compromised of three main sections. The first section gives an overview on corporate social responsibility in general and how it is important for both organizations and community. The second section focuses on the concept of organizational profitability as it explains how it can be defined and how profit maximization can be measured. The third section is probably the most important section of the paper as it focuses on studying the relationship between the corporate social responsibility and the organizational profitability and the different consequences that may occur. Literature Review Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a concept that is growing fast and more attention should be paid to the meaning behind its linguistic. (Amaeshi and Adin, 2007). The definition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can sometimes be ambiguous as stated by McWilliams and Siegel (2001). Davis (1960) mentioned that CSR is considered as decisions or actions taken beyond the organizations economic or technical self interest. Moreover Davis (1973) mentioned that CSR doesnt only refer to the economic, technical or legal requirements of the firm, it goes beyond that and may affect all the firms actions. While Fitch (1976) described the CSR as the challenges taken by the corporation whether fully or partially to solve social problems. CSR should also have a suitable degree of how much it fits both the societys expectations and business ethics. (Zenisek, 1979). The notion that business organizations have societal obligations which transcend economic functions of producing and distributing scarce goods and services and generating a satisfactory level of profits for their shareholders (Epstein, 1989, P.585). Moreover it was seen by Maclagan (1999) as a process that should express the moral values and interest of the individuals. McWilliams and Siegel (2001) added that CSR should go beyond the Legal interests of the firms. It should be actions that show some good to the society. While CSR as stated by Carroll (1991) is seen as a pyramid of Economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic as shown in Figure (1.1). The pyramid of CSR was supported by Dusuki (2008) confirming that studies have observed peoples perception based on Carrolls Pyramid of CSR. CSR concerns everyone such as customers, employees, suppliers, community groups, governments, and even some stockholders as stated by McWilliams and Siegel (2001). They all form pressure on the company which can sometimes results in a great conflict on goals and objectives (McWilliams Siegel, 2001). As pointed above, CSR has numerous definitions and explanations. Moreover McWilliams, Siegel and Wright (2006) emphasized on how difficult it is, to make theoretical development or measurement since the definitions of CSR is either too many or not clear enough. Approaches of Corporate Social Responsibility According to Kramer and Porter (2006), four issues for organization to be engaged in CSR are: moral obligation, sustainability, license to operate, and reputation. Kramer and Porter (2006) described the Moral appeal as doing the right thing which appears more in the nonprofitable business. Sustainable Development is defined as Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (Kramer, Porter, 2006, P. 81) while the license to operate can be represented in the governments and the communities regulations and other stakeholders to do business. Finally, reputation is used by many companies to improve a companys image, and gain customers loyalty, build a strong brand and have a higher value of its stock (Kramer Porter, 2006). While Brammer, Millington and Rayton (2007) stated that Employees training can be seen as an activity of social responsible and should be used to increase the employees commitment to the organization, they also mentioned that the fair treatment of employees which is a approach of social corporate responsibility increase commitment to the organization. Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility As mentioned by Cacioppe, Forster and Fox (2007) a lot of studies focusing on how important the companies reputation and whether it is engaged in a social responsibility for both customers and investors or not, while other researches focused on how the attitude and behavior of the managers and professionals can be affected by their perception about the companys ethical and social responsibility. Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility on the Community. Kramer and Porter (2006) added that CSR can provide a wealthy economy and society by having different forms of cooperation such as investing capital, doing business, purchasing goods, and providing jobs. Moreover, Evans, Foote and Gaffney (2010) added that companies could be disciplined by their customers when they dont meet the society expectation or the expectation of the customers by decreasing the demand of their products. Mathis (2007) mentioned that CSR can change companies to be more pro-active and accordingly they will have a high influence on the policy making process and a better position within their sectors than their competitors. Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility on Organizations. It is important to analyze the effect of CSR on organizations and to determine whether CSR can have an impact on the organizational performance or not. Evans, Foote and Gaffney (2010) stated that CSR has important and clear influence on achieving performance excellence. According to Cacioppe, Forster and Fox (2008) some studies showed that CSR can have a potential influence on the employees and leaders behavior, while organizational success is impacted by the ethical sense of customers and investors. Jaramillo, Mulki and Valenzuela (2010) viewed CSR as a way to gain customers retention and loyalty, on their article they analyzed how ethical firms can not only attract more customers but also build a long term strong relationship. While Singh (2006) explained why many researchers focused on how to achieve the customers needs and wants, since customer satisfaction has a positive influence on the organizational profitability. Cacioppe, Forster and Fox (2008) studied that CSR leads to both the retention of both employees and customers with the trusted brand image and the good quality of workforce. Mathis (2007) looked at the CSR as a way to provide sustainability to organizations. Moreover Cacioppe, Forster and Fox (2008) added that investors take in their consideration companies management before investing in it. Evans, Foote and Gaffney (2010) stated that the least benefit companies can get from taking CSR as one of its business strategy is on the public relations level. Organizational Profitability Profit is the end result of deducting total costs (TC) from total revenues (TR) as stated by Primeaux (1997). Therefore, profit maximization is producing the right quantity of goods or services given the suitable amount of resources (Primeaux, 1997). From a behavioral perception, Profit maximization can also be obtained from producing the correct quantity with an acceptable quality of goods or services to the customers and as the legal and ethical standards of the society (Primeaux Stieber, 1994). The performance measurement that will be used to evaluate and compare the efficiency of different investments will be the return on investment (ROI). To calculate ROI, the benefit of an investment, it is divided by the cost of the investment; the result is a percentage or a ratio (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/returnoninvestment.asp) The return on investment formula: In the above formula gains from investment, refers to the profits  gained from spending the investment of interest.  Ã‚  Return on investment  is a very common measurement because of its adaptability  and simplicity. That is, if an  investment does not have  a positive ROI, or if there are other opportunities with a higher ROI, then the investment should be not be undertaken. (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/returnoninvestment.asp) Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Organizational Profitability Kolstad (2007) has shown in his paper that the relationship between CSR and profit are a controversial issue. Kramer and Porter (2006) added that corporations can think of CSR as a constraint or an additional cost, although it may be an opportunity for them to innovate and gain a competitive advantage. Friedman (as cited by Foote, Gaffney and Evans, 2010) was criticizing the money spend on CSR stating that the major responsibility of the managers is to maximize the profit of the organization as they contracted with the owners of the firm. ArinËœo, Canela and Garcia-Castro (2010) mentioned that CSR is not always providing a positive impact on the financial performance, some cases showed that it could have a negative impact as well. While McWilliams and Siegel (2000) added that a lot of empirical studies, showed that CSR and profitability can be engaged in a positive, negative or even neutral relationship. kolstad (2007) stated that CSR can be seen as a way to reach the final goal of the organization which is increasing the shareholder returns but cant be considered as a goal itself. Companies should balance scarifying some financial profit and between satisfying its stakeholders at least on the short term. (ArinËœo, Canela Garcia-Castro, 2010). Kolstad (2007) added that executives used to care only about the profits and the benefits of the shareholders, while nowadays companies may have to widen their goals to include the CSR. Friedman (as cited in Kolstad, 2007) presented the idea that maximizing the profit is the only essential moral aspect that can be offered by the executive to the corporation and that idea was supported by four arguments. First, he mentioned that managers should follow the interest of the shareholders according to the legal contract they have. Second it will be illegal for managers not to follow the interest of the shareholders since this will be considered as taxation to the shareholders. (Kolstad, 2007). Third, he advised the corporations to focus more on its core operations to be more efficient. Fourth, since not all the corporations is engaged on CSR, then CSR can be an added cost to corporations that cares about society leading to unfair competition between companies Friedman (as cited in Kolstad, 2007). Kolstad (2007) strongly criticized the overstated idea presented by Friedman, saying that responsibility of business should be seen in a wider view and should take in consideration other agents and shouldnt only consider the shareholders interest and that the provided idea will need more examination and analysis. While Peloza (2006) mentioned that due to many criticisms of CSR by whom, managers tried to ensure that CSR will deliver a financial income to the firm by developing different strategic forms for CSR. While Demacarty (2009) pointed out that the CSR doesnt necessarily provide a stronger financial return nor does it produce weaker return, it depends on the techniques that are used to increase the financial. Waddock and Graves (1997) studied the linkage between corporate social performance (CSP) and financial performance using CSP as the variable for CSR and return on investment (ROI), return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA) as the variables used to measure the profitability or the firms financial performance. They hypothesized a positive relationship between financial performance and CSR; the study reported that the improved financial performance leads to increase in the CSP. Moreover, financial performance can be increased when firms are engaged in CSP since their ability to invest socially indicate a good managerial performance that could supply the firm with funds that can be used for other investments (Waddock and Graves, 1997). Orlitzky, Schmidt and Rynes (2003) also reported the same analysis. They used meta-analysis to find a positive relationship between CSP and financial performance. Research Gap While going through the literatures that studied Corporate Social Responsibility, a lot has been found on understanding the Corporate Social Responsibility either in its definition, approaches or even in how to measure it. One can find some limitations and gaps since Corporate Social Responsibility can have many aims, some of its definition was very narrow while others were very broad, involving almost everyones concern. The problem with the confliction on aims and means is that it is not clear whether Corporate Social Responsibility should be applied by organizations or not. Some results showed that Corporate Social Responsibility is a must for organizations and societies to grow while others concerned it as an overhead. Another Gap is that the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and profitability. A lot of researchers analyzed whether Corporate Social Responsibility is profitable or not, but limited researches studies the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on a certain companies or for a certain country and noticed its effect on profitability. The purpose of this proposal is to examine the effect of CSR on organizations profitability. The research question is: What is the effect of CSR on the profitability of Egyptian Organizations? Hypothesis Organizations that are engaged in CSR will have high CSP. Organizations that are engaged in CSR will have higher financial performance. The relationship between CSR and Organizational profitability is strongly positive with a higher corporate social performance and financial performance. Implications Organizations are usually committed to their employees, customers, and their society. Organizations that experience high levels of commitment to the well being of society will have a better image and therefore gain more loyalty of employees, customers and may gain higher profit. Further, organizations may view ethical and social judgment as one of their effectiveness and success. A reasonable measurement of CSR is critical for studying its effect, Kinder, Lydenberg and Domini Co. (KLD) tool will provide a full report of organizations CSR indicating to what extend the organization is involved in social activities. Then different results of CSR measurements will be compared to the annual profit of organizations. A focus on these two variables may improve the overall performance of organizations and bring more satisfaction to the whole society. Method Subjects or Participants The study will focus on the effect of CSR and organizational profit on Egyptian organizations, the population will be 100 Egyptian organizations and accordingly the sampling size will be 80 organizations. The sampling design will be the simple random sampling so that each company will have an equal chance of being chosen as the subject. Instrument Evans, Foote and Gaffney (2010) stated that there should be a reliable way to measure the relationship between organizational profitability and CSP and those researches have been deeply involved in how to measure the CSP of organizations. They also added that past measurement was not accurately measuring the outcomes of CSR since they were based on reputational surveys, government pollution indices, financial reports, and CSR orientation studies. The research tool will be developed by Kinder, Lydenberg and Domini Co. (KLD) which is a social choice investment advisory firm. Their tool is a social performance database. Waddock (2003) mentioned that KLD is currently the most commonly used database and is considered a comprehensive source for CSP research. KLD publishes the CSP ratings and the data cover areas of environmental performance, social contribution, corporate governance, and controversial business involvement.KLD require sources include direct communication with the company managers, public documents, and governmental data ( http://www.kld.com). Figure (1.2) illustrates the structure of the KLD database. Chen and Delmas (2010) described KLDs three main categories which are environmental performance, social ratings, and governance ratings. They described how each of these categories are divided into levels for example the environmental performance includes climate change and operations and management, while social ratings includes human rights and the employees relation while governance rating includes the structure and reporting methods. Design Dependent variable is the organizational profitability, in order to measure our hypothesis; I am using the following measure of profitability: Return on investment (ROI) was among the measures of performance, ROI is the most used. The independent variable will be the CSR. The control variables are factors such as firms size, industry and other risks (Waddock Graves, 1997). Kinder, Lydenberg, Domini (KLD) is used as a measure of how well companies perform socially, KLD measures have been used in previous research to study the SP in premier management journals (Agle et al., 1999; Coombs and Gilley, 2005; Hillman and Keim, 2001; McWilliams and Siegel, 2000). The KLD have several advances, as it represents a multi-dimensional measure of SP, consistently measured by a group of professionals with and where different information sources are combined to find out the final score for each firm (Waddock and Graves, 1997). Procedure KLD researches the social, environmental, and governance performance of corporations. KLD research relies on five different data sources to obtain the ratings and analysis of each company. Data are collected in a closely controlled process from each company, government, non-government organization and media sources. KLD tracks each company through more than 14,000 global media sources daily. (http://www.kld.com). Figure (1.3) illustrates the KLD research process they are using. A quantitative technique will be needed to measures the effect of CSR on profitability, a valuable data should be provided to KLD. To obtain such information required, both documents and Surveys will be used. Documents of the companies CSR behavior in the community will be examined and a comparison will be made between them. Published documents about the companies and how they are engaged in CSR practices will be used to get a broad idea about the subject at hand. For example, National newspapers and articles can be investigated to know what activities each company is sponsoring or to gain an idea about educational simulations moreover, accounting books can be investigated to get an idea of the profitability development at times when CSR activities are applied, such documents may include financial statements, balance sheets and cash flow. Figures in accounting books should be analyzed to measure profitability. Surveys will be conducted to the top management and corporate social responsibility manager to understand their perceptions of CSR and to determine whether CSR is considered one of the decisions made by top management and to determine the extent by which the CSR activities affects the financial value and profitability. Concerning the profit, the analysis will check financial performance through financial documents including (ROI) will be used as the variable to measure the profitability or the firms financial performance and compare it with different CSR measurements reported from the KLD. The research is planned to analyze data within five years period for each of the companies and, the period can be considered long to be able to analysis the effect of CSR and compare it the profit of the organization. Concerning the Time plan, data will be collected for the companies in the first period. The 80 companies will be contacted and debriefed about the purpose of the research. Tasks should be scheduled early to guarantee that there will be sufficient time and that the last period will be left for entering the data using the KLD tool and analyze the reports the final results of the research. Limitations The most important limitation is that the results of case studies cannot be generalized as it studies very specific companies and it only seeks in-depth understanding of some elements. Also there could be information unavailability, where the required information could be unavailable or unattainable. It could sometimes be difficult to be able to get accurate and precise information. Another limitation is that the measurement of the organizational long term profitability and its estimate may be affected by other unexpected factors such as financial crisis, inflation in the market. Yet, the research can give an indicator to organizations on whether the CSR has an impact of their profitability or not and according to the research they can decide to what extent they would like to be involved in CSR.

The Greatest Happiness Principle

The Greatest Happiness Principle John Stuart Mill a born utilitarian, dedicated all his life explaining the teachings of his father, James Mill and Jeremy Bentham. He studied Greek, Arithmetic, Latin, Logic, Philosophy and Economic theory from a legal official to a writer and philosopher to a parliamentarian; he enjoyed a position of an original thinker. His major work includes, system of logic, Principles of political economy, Essays of liberty, and Consideration of representative government, utilitarism and an autobiography and 3 essays on religion. PHILOSOPHY He defended and found an ethics which would elaborate and define the utilitarian principle of Bentham that the object of morality is the promotion of the greatest happiness of the maximum number of members of society and that happiness is a balance between pleasure over pains. Unlike Bentham he does not believes in quantification of pleasures plus he adds that mental pleasures are superior then physical pleasures. He tries to formulate a bridge between individual psychological hedonism to universal psychological hedonism, by introducing the concept of sanctions. He says that sanctions come for with in and pleasure felt when the moral law is obeyed and pain felt when it is violated. Thus by virtue of these sanctions Mill bridges the psychological hedonism theory with the moral hedonistic theory that is everyone desires his own happiness with that every one ought to do so to act in public interest. TEACHINGS / EXPLANATIONS. Doctrine of utility / greatest happiness principle: Actions are right as they tend to promote happiness, and wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. Quantification of pleasures is not important but quality does matter. Mental pleasure are superior to physical facilities. Pleasures of the higher faculties are preferable to lower faculties. Choosing a lower pleasure then the light mental pleasures involves lack of access, time or availability nevertheless it does not drop the worth of higher pleasures then the lower. Greatest happiness principle, ultimate end is to attend the greatest of pleasures and the least of pain, secured to all mankind and not to one alone. Main constituents of a satisfied life and tranquility and excitement. Each individuals happiness is equal to any other person self sacrifice are worthy of being good as they promote general happiness although they may deny individual happiness. Greatest happiness principle rule judges sanction the conduct but is not a motive for conduct. Feeling for humanity provides sanction for the principle of utility which is the internal sanction and a powerful and sound basis for utilitarian mortality. Summary: The Greatest Happiness Principle John Stuart Mill From Great Traditions in Ethics by Albert Denise Peterfreund LIFE IMMANUEL KANT, 17TH century philosopher lived singularly by a strict routine all his life remained in Kongsberg, East Prussia. The Kant family was religious and Kant was thus sent to prepare for the ministry. He developed interest in philosophy and natural sciences. He was appointed professor at the university in 1770. His writings General History and theory of the heavens critique of pure reason, critique of judgment, the fundamental principles of the metaphysics of moral and the critique of practical reason prove him to be a critical philosopher, who tried to explore scientific principles and their foundations. He also took interest in American and French revolutions. PHILOSOPHY Kant gives the principle of causality as one of the categories of understanding. A valid moral principle must be independent of the empirical data of morality if it is binding upon all man. Universal obligations and moral laws should have consistency, i-e: they should be able to apply on all individuals without discrimination. Categorical imperative is the only basis for determining duties. Reason prescribes duty and moral law holds whether or not mean actually follow it. TEACHINGS According to Kant, all good things should have a basic foundation of, good will to make them good. A good will should not be a means to achieve good but the sole motive behind every good. Reason does not destine happiness but only good will. Good will lead human action is morally worthy and duty guided by good will rather then inclination and self interest is morally correct. Difference between praise worthy behavior from moral actions or duty, is inclination derives a person for an actions targeting some self interest, while duty only targets good will. 1st ethical proposition: duty defines a moral act. 2nd proposition: duty is not result oriented. Definition of duty: Duty is done out of reverence from the law. Categorical imperative rational beings would always by guided by ethical principles. Categorical imperative: not destined to particulars consequence. Hypothetical imperative: destined to particular consequences. Categorical imperative: needs the principle of consistency, i.e. implied to everyone. Categorical Imperative: A two told test requiring. There should not be a contradiction of a moral action universally with logical reasoning and consistency for all, judges, the action right. Human beings should not be treated as mere means. Actions, not universalized without contradiction are inconsistent with the idea of humanity. Pure moral philosophy: reason cannot be corrupted with empirical consideration. Summary: Duty and reason By Immanuel Kant From Great Traditions in Ethics Albert Denise Peterfreund

Epic of Beowulf :: Epic of Beowulf Essays

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is common opinion that Beowulf was written by a Christian poet. This was probably true because at the time when it was written, most of the few people who knew how to read and write were in the clergy. There are various references within the poem to elements of the Christian religion. However, the story is about Pagan people and certain aspects of their culture are even glorified. The ambiguity of Beowulf’s religious content has caused confusion as to what significance religion had in inspiring the author and in what manner the author meant to inspire or influence his audience. I do not think that Beowulf is a Christian allegory because Beowulf had very little in common with the Biblical figure of Jesus Christ. I think that religion was not the primary thematic concern of the writer. Although there are discrepancies between the two styles of thinking, Beowulf seems to praise values which were considered moral and good among all humanity, both Christian and Pagan.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The text of Beowulf clearly shows that at some point in time Biblical allusions were added to it, and suggests that someone learned in Christianity helped shape the story. The initial depiction of Grendel regarded the beast as â€Å"a fiend out of hell,† and claimed, â€Å"†¦he had dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters, Cain’s clan, whom the Creator had outlawed and condemned as outcasts.† References to hell, Cain, and â€Å"the Creator†, make it evident that Christian elements were present in the story. More importantly, the reference to â€Å"the Creator† shows that monotheistic theory was incorporated into the text. Grendel’s relationship to this â€Å"Creator† is further elaborated on, in which case the author refers to the latter as â€Å"Eternal Lord†, â€Å"Almighty†, and â€Å"God.† All four of which are common ways to refer to the individual Christian God, and were capitalized as would have been in the Bible.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  These allusions to Christian faith could lead a critic to assume that Beowulf is a Christian allegory. Critics who read the poem in this way often call Beowulf a Christ figure because he is a savior to his people. However, if the poem was really meant to be read in this way, I think that Beowulf would have been ultimately triumphant and would have survived his fight with the dragon. I do not claim to be a Biblical scholar but I can not remember any stories from the Bible where Christ did any killing or boasting.

Joan Miró Essay -- Visual Arts Paintings Art

Joan Mirà ³ Spanish painter, whose surrealist works, with their subject matter drawn from the realm of memory and imaginative fantasy, are some of the most original of the 20th century. Mirà ³ was born April 20, 1893, in Barcelona and studied at the Barcelona School of Fine Arts and the Academia Galà ­. His work before 1920 shows wide-ranging influences, including the bright colors of the Fauves, the broken forms of cubism, and the powerful, flat two-dimensionality of Catalan folk art and Romanesque church frescoes of his native Spain. He moved to Paris in 1920, where, under the influence of surrealist poets and writers, he evolved his mature style. Mirà ³ drew on memory, fantasy, and the irrational to create works of art that are visual analogues of surrealist poetry. These dreamlike visions, such as Harlequin's Carnival or Dutch Interior, often have a whimsical or humorous quality, containing images of playfully distorted animal forms, twisted organic shapes, and odd geometric constructions. The forms of his paintings are organized against flat neutral backgrounds and are painted in a limited range of bright colors, especially blue, red, yellow, green, and black. Amorphous amoebic shapes alternate with sharply drawn lines, spots, and curlicues, all positioned on the canvas with seeming nonchalance. Mirà ³ later produced highly generalized, ethereal works in which his organic forms and figures are reduced to abstract spots, lines, and bursts of colors. ...

Scarlet Letter Book Report :: essays research papers

Characters: - Hester Prynne was a beautiful, young woman living in Amsterdam with her husband, Roger Chillingworth. He sent her you America alone while he finished his business. In America she met Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale who she had a love affair with. Pearl was the name of their child. When the townspeople found out about her sin, they punished her by making her wear a scarlet letter ‘A’ ,standing for adultery, on her bosom. - Dimmesdale was a young reverend of the community. The people loved him, because of his emotional ways of speaking. He was Hester’s secret lover. He couldn’t live without being punished for his sins. Finally, he confess publicly, as soon as he did he died. - Chillingworth was Hester’s husband. While traveling to America to join his wife he was capture by Indians. He finally reached America 2 years later. When he got there, Hester was already standing on the scaffold. He was seeking revenge on Dimmesdale, so he pretended to be his good friend trying to think of ways to torture him. - Pearl was Hester and Dimmesdale’s daughter. She was given her name because she was precious and valuable. She was very clever, imaginative, and bratty. Pearl was a very significant character, because she reminded Hester of her sins and love affair. - Governor Bellingham was like the political authority in Boston. - Mistress Hibbins was Governor Bellingham’s sister. She was known as an evil witch. She had a bitter temper, because she worshiped the devil. Summary:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Scarlet Letter† begins in the seventeenth century in Boston. Back then Boston was a Puritan settlement. Hester Prynne is being escorted out from the town’s prison with her daughter, Pearl. Hester had a scarlet letter â€Å"A† on her bosom. Someone watching from the crowd was telling someone else that she is being punished for adultery.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hester’s husband sent her to America, while he finished some business in Amsterdam. While Hester waits for him, she obviously had an affair and a child with her lover. She won’t tell anyone who her lover is. And her punishment is to wear the scarlet letter along with public humiliation for her sin and secret. Later, she is taken to the town scaffold and scolded by the town fathers. She still refuses to tell who the father of Pearl is.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hester’s missing husband, now known as Roger Chillingworth, is now living in Boston as a doctor to take revenge on Hester‘s secret lover.

Childhood Constructions

Childhood is the period of time stretching from infancy to adolescence (teenage) stage of life. Issues, theories and concepts have been put forth attempting to put some meaning to childhood. For instance the modern society perceives children as passive and surviving at the mercies of the wider society. Adults do not seek to learn anything from the children and they assume that childhood is a period meant to transform kids into dependable adults. There is a need to view childhood differently to be able to respond positively to their needs and to understand the stage as crucial in helping us understand adulthood and humanity in general. As a matter of fact, childhood experiences, plays a vital role in shaping the later stages of life. Childhood is perceived as a social structure, which determines the ideal institutions where proper childhood development would be ensured. Generally, social structures offer both opportunities one is exposed to and limitations are determined by a child’s socio-economic background and its physical endowments (Stearns, 2003). A child in ideal situation is expected to have two parents who provide everything and ensure moral uprightness. The child is given enough time to relax and has siblings. The parents are expected to provide security and facilities for play. Parents commence preparations for the infant long way before the mother delivers the kid. However, in terms of childhood development, from a historical perspective, the early American society never celebrated infancy. Childhood was characterized by missing parental care, high rate of infant mortality. There was not time for taking the kid through all the stages of growth and development. Where parents were missing due to reasons like death, young children were charged with the task of taking care of the others. However, good morals were upheld all through. Child labour was prevalent as well as early marriages. In the late 1700s and early 1800 there was growing concern on childhood. Between 1840s and 1900s socio-economic changes taking place revolutionized the ideal of child upbringing. Parents became more concerned about children; they started emphasizing on child education. A scientific aspect was incorporated in child rearing whereby child development was closely monitored. Racial concerns arose. Industrial development led to improved standards of life and reduced childhood deaths. However, some children especially of immigrant families were still in slavery. These children were poorly treated subjected to much work and not allowed to go through formal education. Some children ended up in orphanages where proper care was ensured. Other children went missing and still others would end up dying. In the twentieth century children were regarded as of economic value. They offered cheap labour earning highly needed wages in the family. There was a rising need to occupy the kids with work to discourage laxity. In the contemporary society children are perceived as of less economic value. Infact childhood is regarded as an economic liability. Children, spend more of parents’ financial resources than they contribute to the same. Young children’s perception of things in the US and the world at large has been subjected to a number of influences. Their access to information materials and gadgets like TV, video and computer exposes them to a wide field of knowledge. These triggers and stimulate a mental process that generates a diversified perception of issues to do with life. For instance, programmes on TV and videos showing modern family life would touch issues like children rights. Children acquire knowledge on family issues like the role of parents in a family, career, and family conflicts among other issues at a very tender age. It is not amazing to realize that some programmes highlighting crucial family issues like divorce, separation, child abuse appear on screen long way before the kids succumb to sleep. As a matter of fact, the media has made the children to feel like they are their own caretakers. It is worth noting that in some programmes, adult voices and perceptions have been superimposed on very young children. Romantic movie clips and actual programmes are not rare on TVs in the early evening hours. This most assuredly influences children’s perception of issues to do with sexuality, love, hate and social conflicts. In some movies, a character commits suicide, murder or causes chaos in their attempt to either express themselves or to get out of trouble. All these happenings are bound to model the character and personality of children since they are also exposed to similar circumstances in this world. No wonder cases of young snipers have been reported in the recent past in our society. The greatest challenge and risk is that parents and guardians cannot exercise full control over what their children go through and their exposure to information materials. Children can virtually access any information anywhere even if they are denied access at home. Due to social-economic problems some parents have ended up in serious conflicts. A man and his wife settle scores physically when reason fails to avail solutions for their pressing issues. This has exposed many children to utter violence and most of them perceive this world as a harsh and chaotic place and some develop aggression in their bid to conquer life’s challenges. Other end up violent when their tactics fail to work. Children face challenging and conflicting situations both at home and away from home. With increasing social-economic challenges, children of the world are exposed to situations that influence their character and personality very early. Many parents who are especially keen on child development are very anxious and rather troubled due to the deteriorating morals and social values. Evil is inculcated in children’s lie s at very early stages of child’s development and some caretakers are simply watching desperately as their children vanish in the mire of moral rottenness. Parents and guardians are increasingly concerned about the eventualities given the direction the current (modern) society has taken. For instance, drug use and abuse at childhood stages. Drug use is a commonplace thing in schools. It is a matter of great concern since a drug addicted young generation spells doom to the future of the society. Lack of sobriety among the youths would result to stagnating social-economic systems. The other nagging issue is about the dwindling interest in schooling. Children seem to pursue entertainment and quick money earners at the expense of a formal system of learning, which incorporates all aspects of human growth development. This produces a dull; dump and unrealistic clique that would lack the remotest idea of how to progressively run the socio-economic aspects of our society. Fun centers are always congested. Youngsters are pursuing fame and money (wealth) at all costs in some instances with dire consequences. The young generation seems to be dragging the entire society into Hades. Learning institutions seem to design their programmes to suit the whims of the learners this basically being a result of constant expression of fear and anxiety by parents whose children’s performance grow dismal. The fear by the parents is that the children are bound to develop disinterest in education if their performance worsens. There is an increasing desire to score high grades and join better and highly ranked higher learning institutions. Those who fail to measure up resort to entertainment parlors. A mention of physical growth, fitness or posture would cause some emotional tremor. This is an issue of great concern among Americans. High economic development rate has made many young people afford high calorific foods. Eating habits have changed and cases of obesity have been increasing day after day. However, the increasing concerns about the issue of body size, weight, posture and fitness is the reason behind the fast rate of growth of the fashion beauty and modeling industry. This raises a myriad of questions about the extent to which the children should be allowed to make decisions about their physical and emotional development. Most parents are extremely anxious about the developments that may arise during the course of growth and development of their children. Streets trodden by youngsters struggling to bear massive weight are commonplace in America. The issue of physical development among other social challenges affects a child’s self esteem. For instance, an obesed child is likely to develop low self-esteem. Poor academic performance would also have similar effects on the self-esteem of a child. Parents are especially concerned about eating habits of their children but it still remains an evasive issue since many eateries are being put up offering high calorie and very attractive foods. What leads the youngsters to such eating habits and poor dietary programmes remains a very tricky puzzle. As the parents battle with the issue of food, one would point an accusing finger at them since some abandon their duty as mothers at very early stages of child development. For instance, some due to careers quit breastfeeding a couple of days after delivery. The responsibility of feeding the child rests squarely on baby sitters, some of who might either lack crucial knowledge on proper diet or others out of defiance dump unhealthy foods into the child’s tummy. A child graduates to teenage with the same problem. Boredom is a feeling that would quite well describe the emotional orientation of most youths in our society. Every formal system seems to be a bore to the young generation. Schoolwork is boring and many are reluctant to pursue higher education. Parents are very much concerned about the amount of homework assigned to the children. On one hand the children feeling bored by the too much task given by the teachers to be tackled at home by the children; on the other hand, the parents feel that too much homework denies them control over the activities performed by their children during their time with them at home. Teachers still feel that they have an obligation to steer learning among the children to greater heights. How a compromise would be struck given the above situations remains a hard nut to crack. This concern revolves around not only the issue of homework assigned by teachers to children but also around other chores both at home and away from home. The government is on very high alert concerning issues to do with child labour. The problem is how to determine what amounts to child labour. Determining how much work a child should be given at home and elsewhere is an issue to be debated upon. With the growing enlightenment on children rights is bound to be a bone of contention. However, hiring of children to work in the manufacturing and processing industries remains out of question and punitive measures should be meted on whoever commits such a disorderly thing. A great deal of anxiety rests in the hearts of parents and guardians when an issue of special needs arises. How such children are handled matter a lot. There is a need for more schools that can handle such cases. But parents are more concerned about their welfare. Children with both physical and mental disadvantages are not easy to cater for and the number and capacity of the institutions handling such might not be adequate and this has been the essence of parental concerns. Another issue arises when a consideration is made on whether to surrender the disabled children or other children with special needs full time to such special institutions or part timely. With the busy parent schedules this becomes a big issue. Children are also exposed to traffic risks. How roads and streets are manned determines how safe or unsafe children can be on the roads. Children use roads frequently on foot either from schools or other events and occasions. Road safety for children is an issue of concern among parents. Issues range from delays in traffic snirl-ups to accidents both in public service vehicles or private cars. Though rare, parents are also afraid in case a child sneaks a car out of the homestead. Concerns about children safety do not only arise on the roads but also at home and elsewhere. Safety in the house, on the compound and away from home arouses great concern among parents. Parents strictly and keenly monitor the activities of the children whenever they are around them. At times they are concerned about the punitive measures taken by teachers against the children. Another issue about safety arises when a babysitter comes into the scene. Fear engulfs parents concerning the level of safety a babysitter would ensure on children. Babysitters might not have a deep emotional attachment to the child. Negligence by a babysitter would pose a safety risk and also physical and psychological anomalies. There is also a risk of child abductions. Parents are afraid of situations whereby after allowing their children to move around freely, they end up under the custody of strangers who later turn up demanding hefty amounts of cash before they release them. This is not uncommon with the escalating crime levels. Other concerns include infant sexual exploitation. There have been a number of cases of infant sexual exploitation in the American society. The worst is when a close relative is implicated in the vice. Children are constantly exposed to such dangers, especially with the weakening social ties and parents busy schedules which rob them of the opportunity to constantly and consistently monitor their children’s activities. Many self-confessed victims of sexual harassment have brought to our attention the looming danger. The society has almost reached a state of moral decantation. Some people seem to have lost their sense of reason. Children below five years of age have fallen victims. Other concerns that leave parents torn between issues touch the areas of toilet training. How it is conducted at that tender age determines the psychological development of the child. Some parents lose their patience when the child turns out to be a slow learner. This according to psychoanalysts tends to behavioral maladjustments later in a child’s life. This again raises the issue of whether or not the mother is the one charged with the responsibility of conducting the exercise. Babysitters are known to be harsh especially when the children are unco-operative. However some mothers subject their children to harsh toile training. Many parents are usually anxious about how fast their children learn to control their bowel movements. Another issue of paramount concern is breast-feeding. The stage of growth and development at which an infant is weaned (or stops breastfeeding) contributed a great deal to the physical and psychological development of the infant. A child who stops breastfeeding early than expected is likely to develop poorly physically and psychologically. This also tampers with the emotional attachment between the child and the mother and the child is likely to develop defiant behaviour later in life. Parents are afraid and anxious about future development of their children given their early administration of bottled foods. The changing social structures coupled with the negative publicity carried out by the media have also caused too much anxiety among parents. Family ties are weakening and many parents are opting for divorce or separation. Children are majorly the sufferers. Media never ceases to feature movies that uphold violent behaviour and crime. Infact movie stars are perceived even by youngsters, as heroes who murder many and commit the vilest things. Children have their role models in movies. Romantic movies are filled with scenes portraying hatred, jealousy, obscenity, murder, suicide and revenge. The young children are adopting the same negative traits and some are living out the characters they see in the movies. Family feuds are not rare occurrences in our society. To sum up, childhood development and child upbringing are issues that parents are very much concerned in America. Parents face numerous anxious moments in their efforts to bring up their children in the most ideal conditions and ways. Readership of publications highlighting issues concerning childhood is growing tremendously as parents battle with the challenges they encounter in control over their lives of their children. The wider society on the other hand has a major role to play in shaping the character of the young. There is a tag of war as the two scrambles for control. Parent’s concerns and anxiety is genuine and valid. Every adult in the US should feel responsible for the upbringing of the upcoming young generations. The media should be instrumental in promoting proper childhood development by designing programs that uphold acceptable childhood behaviour as well as educating all childhood social institutions on the most ideal ways of bringing up children. And the government should provide structures that promote proper childhood development. A central issue that has been raised over time is about childhood innocence. In the earlier times infants were perceived as innocent. However with the emerging issues in the society and exposure of sexual materials by the media, children are exposed to sexual issues and abuse at tender stages of growth and development. One would wonder whether children are innocent as earlier perceived or not. The society, including media should feel responsible for shaping childhood. The fashion industry should be more responsible to admit the right ages. A fairer comparison should be drawn between children and adults. Children should be enlightened on their right, and the dangers and risks they are exposed to. Much light should be she on the existing opportunities available for the children to fully exploit their talents.