How Far Was Political Opposition to the Tsar Divided 1881-1905?

How far was political opposition to the Tsar divided in their aims and methods, 1881-1905? Political opponents of the Tsar were clearly divided in their aims and methods, and consequentially may have contributed to the survival of Tsarist Russia. The main parties were the Social democrats (Bolsheviks and Mensheviks), Social Revolutionaries and Liberals (Octobrists and Kadets). Each of these radical parties had their own separate beliefs on what Russia needed and each aimed for some sort of change. However, within the groups, there were many issues, which they refused to work with each other to solve.The SR believed that Russia’s future lay with the peasantry and so they wanted to give peasants their own land and improve living conditions for working classes. They used tactics such as terrorism and assassinations, such as the assassination of Alexander II. The Liberals also aimed to deal with these social problems facing Russia while establishing a democracy. However, the Liber als, especially Octobrists, did not agree with the violent tactics. They preferred votes and discussions as a way to put across their opinion. In fact, the Liberals were the most moderate of all the radical parties in Russia.They wanted to abolish autocracy and have the power shared between a democratic government. Similarly, the Social Democrat party also wanted to establish a democracy but, once again, without their aggressive methods. While the SR had a terrorist wing, the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks preferred using propaganda campaigns. Although there are some similarities in the aims of the parties, the major differences in methods used meant that each group’s strength alone was not enough to achieve their own specific goals and even though the groups did have some tactics such as propaganda in common, it was not enough.The parties all also pursued support from different groups of the population. For example, while the Liberal Kadets got support from the educated middle cl ass, the Bolsheviks sought support from dedicated revolutionaries. Therefore, with no one party gaining support from a majority, it was hard for one to stand out and become a major threat to the Tsar at the time. Support came from the way each party appealed to the public. For example, while the SR carried out a wave of political assassinations in order to onvey their drastic belief of abolishment of Tsarism, their ideas of peasant ownership of land would spread and so peasants would support them and so would radical revolutionaries. In this way, they developed the â€Å"Russian Union of Peasants. † However, people who believed in non-violent methods would support the Liberals who are more moderate. This way, the parties will not get enough support to stand a chance against the main reasons why Tsarism should stay. These include the church, the belief of the divine right, the army and the Okhrana which were very effective in keeping the Tsar in a state of power.

Natural Resources and Energy in the Rainforests

The beauty, majesty, and timelessness of a primary rainforest is indescribable. It is impossible to capture on film, to describe in words, or to explain to those who have never had the awe-inspiring experience of standing in the heart of a primary rainforest. Rainforests have evolved over millions of years to turn into the incredibly complex environments they are today. Rainforests represent a store of living and breathing renewable natural resources that for eons, by virtue of their richness in both animal and plant species, have contributed a wealth of resources for the survival and well-being of humankind. These resources have included basic food supplies, clothing, shelter, fuel, spices, industrial raw materials, and medicine for all those who have lived in the majesty of the forest. However, the inner dynamics of a tropical rainforest is an intricate and fragile system. Everything is so interdependent that upsetting one part can lead to unknown damage or even destruction of the whole. Sadly, it has taken only a century of human intervention to destroy what nature designed to last forever. The scale of human pressures on ecosystems everywhere has increased enormously in the last few decades. Since 1980 the global economy has tripled in size and the world population has increased by 30 percent. Consumption of everything on the planet has risen- at a cost to our ecosystems. In 2001, The World Resources Institute estimated that the demand for rice, wheat, and corn is expected to grow by 40% by 2020, increasing irrigation water demands by 50% or more. They further reported that the demand for wood could double by the year 2050; unfortunately, it is still the tropical forests of the world that supply the bulk of the world's demand for wood. In 1950, about 15 percent of the Earth's land surface was covered by rainforest. Today, more than half has already gone up in smoke. In fewer than fifty years, more than half of the world's tropical rainforests have fallen victim to fire and the chain saw, and the rate of destruction is still accelerating. Unbelievably, more than 200,000 acres of rainforest are burned every day. That is more than 150 acres lost every minute of every day, and 78 million acres lost every year! More than 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest is already gone, and much more is severely threatened as the destruction continues. It is estimated that the Amazon alone is vanishing at a rate of 20,000 square miles a year. If nothing is done to curb this trend, the entire Amazon could well be gone within fifty years. Massive deforestation brings with it many ugly consequences-air and water pollution, soil erosion, malaria epidemics, the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the eviction and decimation of indigenous Indian tribes, and the loss of biodiversity through extinction of plants and animals. Fewer rainforests mean less rain, less oxygen for us to breathe, and an increased threat from global warming. But who is really to blame? Consider what we industrialized Americans have done to our own homeland. We converted 90 percent of North America's virgin forests into firewood, shingles, furniture, railroad ties, and paper. Other industrialized countries have done no better. Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil, and other tropical countries with rainforests are often branded as â€Å"environmental villains† of the world, mainly because of their reported levels of destruction of their rainforests. Why should the loss of tropical forests be of any concern to us in light of our own poor management of natural resources? The loss of tropical rainforests has a profound and devastating impact on the world because rainforests are so biologically diverse, more so than other ecosystems (e. g. , temperate forests) on Earth. Consider these facts: †¢A single pond in Brazil can sustain a greater variety of fish than is found in all of Europe's rivers. †¢A 25-acre plot of rainforest in Borneo may contain more than 700 species of trees a number equal to the total tree diversity of North America. A single rainforest reserve in Peru is home to more species of birds than are found in the entire United States. †¢One single tree in Peru was found to harbor forty-three different species of ants – a total that approximates the entire number of ant species in the British Isles. †¢The number of species of fish in the Amazon exceeds the number found in the entire Atlantic Ocean. The biodiversity of the tropical rainforest is so immense that less than 1 percent of its millions of species have been studied by scientists for their active constituents and their possible uses. When an acre of tropical rainforest is lost, the impact on the number of plant and animal species lost and their possible uses is staggering. Scientists estimate that we are losing more than 137 species of plants and animals every single day because of rainforest deforestation. Surprisingly, scientists have a better understanding of how many stars there are in the galaxy than they have of how many species there are on Earth. Estimates vary from 2 million to 100 million species, with a best estimate of somewhere near 10 million; only 1. million of these species have actually been named. Today, rainforests occupy only 2 percent of the entire Earth's surface and 6 percent of the world's land surface, yet these remaining lush rainforests support over half of our planet's wild plants and trees and one-half of the world's wildlife. Hundreds and thousands of these rainforest species are being extinguished before they have even been identified, much less catalogued and studied. The magnitude of this loss to the world was most poignantly described by Harvard's Pulitzer Prize-winning biologist Edward O.  Wilson over a decade ago: â€Å"The worst thing that can happen during the 1980s is not energy depletion, economic collapses, limited nuclear war, or conquest by a totalitarian government. As terrible as these catastrophes would be for us, they can be repaired within a few generations. The one process ongoing in the 1980s that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats. This is the folly that our descendants are least likely to forgive us for. † Yet still the destruction continues. If deforestation continues at current rates, scientists estimate nearly 80 to 90 percent of tropical rainforest ecosystems will be destroyed by the year 2020. This destruction is the main force driving a species extinction rate unmatched in 65 million years. As human beings continue on the quest to find more efficient and economical ways of creating a better life, the world at large is feeling the effects. Searching for new land to build and to grow crops on has created a predictable disturbance to the biogeochemical cycle in rainforests. The biogeochemical chemical cycles in a rainforest rotates through both the biological and the geological world, this can be described as the biogeochemical process. Of course a rainforest takes hundreds of thousands of years to become lush and tropical, while it takes big business a matter of hours to demolish the land and begin building, farming or drilling oil wells on. The plants and animals in rain forest either remain undiscovered, become extinct or are lost to the destruction of the heavy machinery used to clear the land. This has an immense effect on the biogeochemical cycles in the rainforest. Reservoirs are affected and the trees of tropical rain forests are unable to bring water up from the forest floor that would naturally be evaporated into the atmosphere. This is a cycle that is necessary for the whole planet. Oxygen is released into the atmosphere by autotrophs during photosynthesis and taken up by both autotrophs and heterotrophs during respiration. In fact, all of the oxygen in the atmosphere is biogenic; that is, it was released from water through photosynthesis by autotrophs. It took about 2 billion years for autotrophs (mostly cyanobacteria) to raise the oxygen content of the atmosphere to the 21% that it is today; this opened the door for complex organisms such as multicellular animals, which need a lot of oxygen. (McShaffrey, 2006) This is typically the responsibly of trees in a rainforest to carry chemicals from the land into the atmosphere. Human beings are having a major impact on this action being completed. During the clearing of these rainforests, humans burn the area to be excavated and the carbon cycle in the area is then disrupted. Fossil fuels release into the atmosphere excess carbon dioxide. More carbon dioxide is then released into the air and the oceans eventually causing a common condition called global warming. Global warming simply means that the carbon dioxide produced in the atmosphere is permitting more energy to reach the Earth’s surface from the sun than is escaping from the Earth’s surface into space. Reference http://www.rain-tree.com/facts.htm

Analytical Essay Super Size Me Essay

Welcome to At the Movies on ABC 1 and as usual I’m your host, _______. Tonight we’ll be reviewing the socially critical 2004 documentary, â€Å"Super Size Me† directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock. The film documents the 30 day period in which Morgan Spurlock ate three meals a day consisting of nothing but McDonalds whilst following these four rules: he can only eat things on sale, he must super size his meal if asked, he must eat everything on the menu at least once and lastly he must restrict himself to the ‘average’ amount of exercise, typical of the American population. It also documents the drastic effects this lifestyle has on Spurlock’s physical and psychological, wellbeing, and explores the fast food industry’s corporate influence, including how it encourages poor nutrition for its own profit. I found this documentary to be quite enjoyable and it was an overall quality film. â€Å"Super Size Me† was fun to watch with i ts colourful graphics and catchy lyrics which drew the audience closer and focused them on what Spurlock was representing. The documentary was effective in creating shock and disgust within the audience to further help the audience agree with and accept Spurlock’s views. The narrative structure of â€Å"Super Size Me† was built around a central enigma, this being the obesity crisis facing the American people. The documentary follows a format, showing the audience Spurlock eating McDonalds food and then feeling sick because of it and then followed by footage of Spurlock seeing a specialist to inform both Spurlock and the audience of the many health risks this diet is inflicting on Spurlock. The documentary then proceeds to show such things as what school canteens are serving kids at school. This is meant to shock the audience and position them to believe what is happening to Spurlock and his health after eating fast food will also happen to the kids who are eating unhealthy and processed meals at school every day. (INCLUDE FOOTAGE HERE) Spurlock’s purpose in this documentary was to in form and position the audience to accept his views on America’s obesity epidemic. Read Also:  Analytical Essay Topics This was achieved through cunning and intelligent choices as to what was filmed and what was cut out. He had also employed a number of other techniques such as camera angles, shot composition, editing and intentional use of music to accompany the visuals. Through these techniques Spurlock has effectively positioned the audience to accept his views on America’s aforementioned obesity epidemic. Spurlock has positioned the audience to accept a somewhat version of the truth as not all sides of the story are given a voice. The way in which Spurlock presents himself to the audience has also deliberately been altered to position the audience to coincide with the attitudes he’s presenting throughout the documentary. Spurlock intentionally wore relaxed clothing and spoke directly to the audience in order to position the audience to feel comfortable accepting Spurlock’s attitudes towards America’s obesity crisis. (INCLUDE FOOTAGE HERE) To further position and help the audience connect with Spulock, he has introduced them to his fiancà © who’s a vegan chef which will be in juxtaposition to the unhealthy food served by most fast food restaurants. These inclusions have positioned the audience to feel close and trusting of Spurlock so that his opinions could be accepted. The use of irony during this documentary has been used because if the audience finds something humorous and therefore having a positive reaction, they are more likely to accept what is being represented. The use of irony was used throughout the documentary in such scenes as when Spurlock was referring to his headaches, stomach aches and general sick feeling from the food as McHeadaches and a McTummy. (INCLUDE FOOTAGE HERE)This positions the audience to react in a way which enables them to accept the Spurlocks view on how McDonalds is affecting his health and how it’s making him generally sick. The audience is positioned to accept certain views without hearing or seeing the other sides of the argument. Spurlock has used bias by silencing or tarnishing the credibility of certain interviewees in interviews. When Spurlock interviews the CEO of McDonalds Australia, Guy Russo, the use of higher camera angles and editing positioned the audience to disagree and view what Guy Russo said negatively which in turn has led to the audience viewing poorly of McDonalds even though they were not completely silenced. Spurlock has also positioned the audience to accept the opinions and beliefs of the three medical specialists who are monitoring Spulock’s health throughout the ‘experiment’. The use of eye level camera angles positions the audience to feel equal with the specialists as they present their opinions and to immediately believe and accept what the specialists are saying due to the camera angles and their superior level of education within the medical field which once again positions the audience to accept their attitudes. The included footage has also been deliberately used to further position the audience to accept Spurlock’s views on America’s fast food industries and how their corporate profit is weighted over the health of their consumers. Footage of the many advertisements and meals which are specifically positioned at kids were intentionally shown to position us to believe McDonalds is using these things to appeal to and lure the kids in. This then results in the audience being positioned to reflect poorly of McDonalds and their constant need of profits which are put over the wellbeing of their customers. Frequent shots of Spurlock without a shirt have intentionally been included to show the weight he may or may not have gained as a result of his high fat intake diet. (INCLUDE FOOTAGE HERE) This positions the audience to once again think poorly of McDonalds and the food they are serving as they are seeing the drastic effects that accompany Spurlock’s heavy McDonalds diet. Wh en the interviews between Spurlock and the three health experts took place, key terms where placed on the screen so that they were imprinted into the viewer’s mind. These key terms included: â€Å"poor nutrition† and especially â€Å"Addiction† which led the audience to believe how fast food is affecting the health of Spurlock and to view the companies behind the food negatively without taking into consideration the amount of fast food he is eating and how often it’s being eaten. The music and soundtrack within this documentary often complements the visuals, making it easier for the audience to accept the visuals or the lyrics of the complementing soundtrack. During the opening menu of the documentary and closing credits the â€Å"Super Size Me† song was played and the colours of the menu reflected the colours of the American flag. (INCLUDE FOOTAGE HERE) This song was co-written by Spurlock and included phrases such as: â€Å"Super size me – the American way† and â€Å"everything’s bigger in America†. These lyrics were intentionally used as they position the audience to accept that the American culture is the result of the American fast food industries influence on the American society whether it’s a positive or negative influence. Overall the documentary was very enjoyable to watch and I found the footage rather shocking and attention grabbing at times. It was a very informative and eye opening documentary with a numerous number of techniques which position the audience to accept Spurlock’s views on America’s thirst for profits which have sadly resulted in the percentage of obese citizens growing at an alarming rate. However, the use of the included techniques and selective editing resulted in a documentary which lacked objectivity. This lack of objectivity effected the audience’s perception of fast food companies and how they might consider an alternative choice when deciding to dine at McDonalds or any other fast food ‘restaurant’. Overall I gave this documentary, 3 out of 5 stars as it was enjoyable to watch but at times I felt as if I was being positioned and the whole ‘experiment’ was over the top as someone coming from eating healthy vegan foods is obviously going to have a dramatically negative reaction to fatty fast foods, which is skewing the audiences perception of fast food companies.

Parental Apathy Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Parental Apathy - Case Study Example The principle strongly discourages Mrs. Rose from pursuing increased parent involvement in the school, citing that he is contented with the current state of affairs at the school. After lengthy persuasion, with ambivalent, the principle agreed to have a meeting with the parents under two conditions; that there would be no PTA but allow the parents to form an advisory committee. Even with one week’s notice to the meeting, sent home with the students, only eight parents attended. Due to poor turnout, the principle contemplated on cancelling the meeting. Schools present our children with an opportunity to acquire knowledge and learn new things. Not only are the lessons taught in a school geared towards professional excellence, they also aim at making children good and responsible people in the society. While teachers hold the role and responsibility of instilling knowledge in the children, they also ensure that students become morally upright people. However, teachers at times fa il to observe this essential role of their job. Therefore, there is every need to keep such teachers in check. Although principles have the mandate to do this, sometimes they too could disregard their duties, leaving incompetent teachers work in their institutions. This reality necessitates the inclusion of the parents in their children’s learning activities through involvement parental programs (Gorton, Alston, and Petra 331-332). Parents should thus be part of their children’s learning process. The community should also take part in ensuring that children receive the best education, be it academic or otherwise. Having a sound home-school partnership is the best way of achieving this objective. There is every need therefore for the schools to bring on board parents and the community in the learning process of their children. The school’s management should ensure that there exists a good relationship between the parents and the school. Gradually, parents have be come lesser involved in schools and their children’s learning process, a factor that has reduced cohesion between these two parties. In the past, parents took part in their children’s learning process. They found time to take part in different meetings happening in the learning institutions. Parents can understand this role if communicated by a district leader, rather than a school assistant principle. This is because of the culture of ignorance established by the parenting community. Moreover, people trend to honour authority more than management. This explains the reason why, even with a week’s notice top the meeting given to the parents, only eight of them attended. This describes high ignorance levels among the parents in our society. A district leader should thus intervene in such situations to ensure that parents actively take part in their children’s learning process (Gorton, Alston, and Petra 331-332). A district leader acts as a link between fami lies and the community members and at times between the community and the school. For a long time, the relationship between the community and learning institutions has considerably worsened. Because of this, parents forgot their role of ensuring that their children received the best form of education and training. A child cannot learn in school alone; the community is also part of the areas where a child can acquire education. Since families exist in a community where there is a high

Suicide in our communities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Suicide in our communities - Essay Example It has been seen that the youth within the United States is a direct or indirect stakeholder within the bullying regimes. When bullying happens, there is bound to be serious problems for everyone. The one who does these bully acts is also someone who creates an issue for others. This leads into someone carrying out a heinous act and commit suicide. How bullying and bad grades have posed as a serious problem within the US schools, colleges and universities is an alarming scenario overall. This is because with the advent of time one can witness the spate of incidents that have increased and which seem to leave a lasting impression on the minds of the people, and that too for all the wrong reasons. The need is to understand where problems lie and how to counter them within quantifiable proportions. If this happens, anomalies would reduce drastically. The reason why bullying has taken on the front seat is because there are students who have resorted to violent behaviors as they are being constantly treated in a shabby way. If this is not the case, bad grades come up and destroy their mental peace which again is a source of immense agony. When the youth understands that there is no other alternative than to commit suicide and get free from the worldly pressures, then it does not think much. Either this youth wants to kill others around him and then die their own self or just plainly commit suicide. The manner in which these severe attempts come about are also a factor that need to be understood within proper contexts. What this suggests is the fact that the school authorities and the law making bodies have their work cut out. They need to think from the common student’s perspective and thus devise a way under which bullying is discouraged and receiving bad grades does not mean the end of the world. There has to be a beginning somewhere in the future to suggest that all is not that bad that one should commit suicide and bring

Brittany Article 4 Overview Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Brittany 4 Overview - Article Example The article "Brittany Article 4 Overview" presents the analysis of the Brittany Article 4 regarding the significance of younger employees recruitment and retention. The author of the article concurs with the sentiment that federal retirees often have little motivation or incentives to return to work because the current policy would reduce or cut their salaries by a number of their pensions. The office of personnel management has argued that redefining and modifying the rules to bring back skilled and experienced retirees on a part-time basis without interfering with their pensions would permit federal agencies to rehire recently retired workers to help with short term projects, train the future generation and fill critical gaps. Federal labor unions argue that it is imperative to have a more useful approach to offsetting the sting of retirement could be an increase of alternatives available to agencies incorporating flexible, part-time, and flex-place schedules for retirees. The author agrees that lawmakers should not make a permanent change to the statute but rather they should encourage the creation of a pilot program that would last for five years to assess and evaluate how the agencies react. In sum, recruitment and retention of younger workers should be encouraged since it will avert the issue of retirement in future. The federal retiree should be allowed to return to the workforce since they bring in skills and experiences. Therefore, the government should pay retirees who are willing to return to the workforce.

History and politics of primary education Essay

History and politics of primary education - Essay Example The Butler Act, also known as the 1944 Education Act, aimed at providing education for all school going children between the ages of 5 and 14. The Act stipulated that secondary education start at 11-years-old. In addition, it created a framework by which a ministry managed school affairs but the schools themselves were managed by Local Education Authorities (LEAs). However, the duration of school days, term dates, and the syllabus stayed under local management (Freedman, Lipson & Hargreaves, 2008:29). The Butler Act also included requirements for Church Schools. The schools were to be incorporated into the state system using various arrangements, and the operating expenses of the Church Schools were to be borne by LEAs but remaining responsible for religious education in the syllabus. Although not stipulated by the Act, the consensus was that grammar schools were to be retained by the creation of a Tripartite framework in which students were to be enrolled in three variants of school s. Besides the grammar schools, there were to be secondary contemporary schools and technical schools. Grammar schools were to admit the most capable 20 percent of the students (determined using the 11-plus tests) and were better financed compared to other schools. In addition, most of the teachers held degrees (Gorard, 2009:105). Various LEAs employed different admission criteria, but majority implemented types of intelligence assessments – supposing that intelligence was uniform and estimable to the extent where an individual’s ability was known by the age of 11. However, numerous injustices soon became common. Grammar school slots were mainly fixed, implying that the challenges of admission to a grammar school deviated based on how many students were in a specific category. Comprehensive schools intended to offer education opportunities to children from all

A constitution is a document that seeks to legitimise state power, but Essay

A constitution is a document that seeks to legitimise state power, but to do this properly it should also act as a restraint on state power. Those are the only functions of a constitiution. Discuss - Essay Example nstitutions date back to the era of Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C) described the constitution as â€Å"an organization of offices in a state, by which the method of their distribution is fixed, the sovereign authority is determined, and the nature of the end to be pursued by the association and all its members is prescribed. Laws, as distinct from the frame of the constitution, are the rules by which the magistrates should exercise their powers, and should watch and check transgressors†.2 The central role of the constitution of any sovereign state is unquestionable. Not only does a constitution seek to legitimize power but also, it grants the scope for good governance. The challenge arises in the enabling the government with the jurisdiction to mange the government, because it is drafted by men, for men. It is imperative that the governors of the constitution are bestowed with limited power. This concept of power separation is instrumental to constitutionalism. James Madison states that â€Å"The great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed: and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.† 3 Constitutions are designed to portray a sense of ultimate power control all the while granting legitimacy and authority. For example, the constitution should accord the state with the capacity to curb anti-social behaviour. A constitution is ensures that there is no abuse of powers by any given individual or institution because the constitution provides with the necessary mechanism to define what constitutes as a violation. Power separation is effected through the separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers and created a sense of checks and balances4. John Locke, in Separationof Powers iinsts that the legislature is the most superior arm. He says

Book Review on a Non-Fictoion book related to violence Essay

Book Review on a Non-Fictoion book related to violence - Essay Example David Crowe made a serious attempt to collect information on all aspects of Oskar Schindler’s life, be it family, business, or political and what evolved is the description of this controversial character not by subjective emotions but backed by documents. Crowe did prodigious research, reading everything, speaking to everyone, examining each document, actively collecting historical records, and in the end came to gather more information about Oskar than Oskar himself might be aware of. While exploring individual life of Oskar, the historian also gave vivid description of the wider political and economic environment under which he worked. The historian remains in touch with the Spielberg’s masterpiece and Keneally’s touching novel and gave inputs, which were not hitherto presented by them due to their limitations as historian. Crowe aptly performs the role of a historian with his readers on this personality, informing them not only of the story but also of source s of each measured judgment. David Crowe went into depth into each and every aspect of the shaping up of a character of Oskar based on as many official and personal documents which he can gather actively by various sources, hitherto unpublished. It is a book, which in the process of presenting the biography of a personality also gives numerous account of the social, economic, and political environment of the Germany during the period of Holocaust. The book is an attempt to synchronize the life history or rather various emotions through which Oskar underwent to the circumstances surrounding him. This book is a definitive treatise on Oskar Schindler, who despite all his shortcomings, underwent a transformation and became the single largest German rescuer of Jews. David Crowe has studiously and meticulously presented the saga or plight of a man, who started by being targeted only with himself but ended up becoming a messiah for many Jews in true term. It is a must for

Cell Phones and Driving Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Cell Phones and Driving - Research Paper Example The second performance level comprises the skills required by a driver to move the car in the traffic. This level of performance is known as the tactical behavior. Deficits included in this level show up in the form of driver getting too close to the other vehicles on the road, or the driver’s lack of approach to other vehicles as he/she turns left on an intersection. Impacts of a driver’s conversation over a cell phone on the driving show up as change in speed, change in acceleration, and reduction in the driver’s tendency to quickly react to sudden changes in traffic. Strayer et al (2003) characterize the behavior of drivers influenced by consequences of using cell phone while driving during the first and the second level of performance as â€Å"sluggish†. Performance of the driver changes so that he/she starts getting slower. The third level of performance includes goal-directed traits of driving which are more managerial and project the strategic perfo rmance of a driver. Problems encountered by the driver at the third level of performance include failing to execute the planning and navigation tasks during driving. Presently, there is a lack of direct evidence which supports the observation of deficits on this level with the involvement of a driver in a conversation over a cell phone while driving. Ma and Kaber (2005) found that drivers using cell phone while driving experienced a considerable reduction in their awareness of the road situation. In addition to that, the perceived mental workload of such drivers relative to the adaptive cruise control conditions had increased a lot. Use of cell phones while driving decreases the tendency of a driver to appropriately react to the stimulated situations that call for an alteration in... This research paper discusses the implications of use of cell phones during driving for the society and discusses whether it is appropriate to ban the practice to make the driving experience safer. It is stated that there has been a tremendous increase over the years in the number of drivers who use cell phones while driving. This is a very dangerous and unethical practice as it increases the chances of accidents on the road. Drivers involved in this practice conventionally underestimate and overlook its negative implications and consider it too simple a matter to be taken seriously. A number of alternates to the use of hands to make or attend the call have been suggested including the use of hands free calling service. Nevertheless, this does not make the practice less risky as the fundamental element that increases the chances of accidents is the diversion of the driver’s attention, which is caused when a cell phone is used during driving irrespective of the use of hands. In order to drive safely, it is imperative that the driver is fully attentive towards driving. There has been a lot of research to prove the negative effects of use of cell phones while driving. Some researchers have found the danger inherent in this practice comparable to the danger involved in the practice of drunk driving. In conclusion, the researcher recommends that considering the implications of this practice on the safety of drivers, it is advisable for the government to ban the use of cell phones while driving.

Event Study - Using Econometrics Research Paper

Event Study - Using Econometrics - Research Paper Example (1996), who studied the relationship between dividend announcements and earnings, both of which appear simultaneously. As such, in practice, investment analysts who analyze long-term economic prospects are to be expected to inquire about information related to top management as well as changes in corporate strategy among other issues that are believed to have an impact on the company’s earnings (Denis, 1990; Marsh, 1993). These considerations are also very important in share trading decisions. One of the most anticipated types of regular returns on stocks are dividends. These are payments made by firms to their shareholders as a compensation for their capital. If dividend policy is frequently adjusted, then the variation in the stock prices would be expected to remain high. Variation in share prices occurs due to recurrent investors’ reactions ahead of important announcement by the companies, dividends announcement being among them. Such announcements are floated throug h the stock exchanges as well as made through annual reports for the purpose of reaching the investors. Nevertheless, some companies release crucial information through the press release even before they publish them in the annual reports, if the need arises. Furthermore, there are other mediums that transmit information to the investors in effect changing the prices of the stocks. Some of the announcement that may influence prices of shares include new product launch, management changeover, changes of government policies, starting and shutting down of projects, mergers and acquisitions, political changes, downsizing of firms, as well as the announcement of dividend, which is the focus of this study. The prices of stocks tend to change immediately the news hinting about these changes is received by the investors. The relevance of dividend announcements is a subject of considerable interest for many researchers in the field of finance. This subject has ignited considerable controvers y, considering the impact dividends announcement have before and after their announcement. This study builds upon different dividend literature by looking at the impact of dividend announcements for a multiple of firms that are listed in UK stock markets. The study will use an event study approach to examine abnormal returns for a total of 50 firms, which is potentially caused by the announcement of dividends for 21 days spreading between July 2012 and August 2012. The results indicate that the announcement of dividends that is accompanied with good news is received positively by investors; hence, more rate of increase of abnormal returns are experienced after the announcement. The results of this study also indicate that firms should be more prudent when making dividend policies as they have significant economic implications. This paper looks at the reactions of markets following a blend of dividend announcement by companies from the UK. These announcements are pointers that are or iginated by the managers of different companies in conditions of economic uncertainty, a scenario that is accompanied by varied investors interpretations and informational asymmetry. This study will be in accordance with the principles adopted in any empirical studies that investigate the impacts of share prices in relation to changes in dividends (for example, Charest 1978; Eades et al., 1985). Literature Review From the study of Ghosh and Woolridge (1988), it has been established that markets can

Slavery In the Chocolate Factory Essay Example for Free

Slavery In the Chocolate Factory Essay â€Å"Quality is the measure of excellence or state of being free from deficiency, defects, and significant variations, (Nader, 2009). Quality of a product can be mainly assessed from a manufacturer and a customer point of view. From a customer point of view, product quality is perspective as each individual perceives quality differently. Ultimately, product quality is the capability of the product to fulfil customer expectations as required from the users. Quality from a manufacturer’s perspective depends on company size, culture, financial resources, human resources, market pressures and company strategy. Due to the availability of a large number of products in the market, different industries have put forward different parameters that allow a product to be judged against the competition. For example, an electronic product may have quality parameters such as performance, reliability, safety and appearance that has to be met (UNIDO, 2006). Process quality Process quality targets the life cycle of a product from the beginning, design, development, roll out, updates and product support. Both product and process quality are combined together and quality control measures put in place to ensure the final outcome is of a high quality. Interaction between product quality and process quality In order to produce a quality product it requires a quality process. This involves maintaining the process operating at a level that complies with required quality criteria. When the quality of a process varies it will have a direct impact on product characteristics and hence product quality. For example, a metal producing plant has processes such as cutting, machining, bending and coating. The smoothness, hardness and thickness etc of the metal are directly impacted by the quality of the processes. Once the metal is manufactured, the customer will judge it against the product specification and make a judgement on quality. (McGraw-Hill, 2002) Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker is a company that prides itself on product quality. As a result of this it led to an increase in customer demand and an increase in market share. To maintain the high quality of the end product while meeting demand, Jim Harris and co. put in place procedures that assisted them to retain quality throughout the different stages of the production process. The following table provides a summary of the quality techniques used in the production line: Table 1 Quality Techniques in Production Line Production StageQuality assurance and quality control techniques used to maintain quality of the process Bean Cleaner†¢The precise process associated with separating the waste from beans. †¢Once cleaned, storing the beans under specific climate and humidity controls Roaster†¢Roasting different types of beans separately. †¢Human tasting Winnower†¢Precise process associated with separating cocoa beans from the shell Melangeur†¢Quality testing of the product for texture, taste and physical properties Conche†¢Quality testing of the product done through a scrape gauge to measure the level of smoothness Tempering and molding†¢Human testing for texture, snap and taste Packaging†¢Check quality after the production line General†¢Blind tasting at different stages †¢Hiring skilled operators †¢Calibration of equipment All the above processes will assist in maintaining the quality of the final product. While using third party companies with the productions process, product quality is maintained by random sampling and testing to ensure the product meets required specifications. Quality process analysis Quality control measures are put into place before and during the production process to ensure the raw materials and processes are of acceptable quality. To ensure a high quality product at each stage of the production process quality techniques can be used such as quality assurance (QA), quality control (QC) and through means of continuous process improvements. By implementing these strategies business risks with regard to quality can be managed. However, a cost benefit analysis is required to be carried out to determine if the extent of quality assurance and quality control is beneficial to the business. The final inspection of the product is used for quality assurance as well. There is a fine balance between quality and cost of any product. If the product maintains a higher than required quality and the cost is high due to this very requirement, demand will decrease. Therefore, quality should be maintained at a level where it is sustainable so that a the product can be cost effective to face a competitive market. In the case study, Harris’s team experiments with different techniques to reduce the time required to prepare the chocolate at different stages of the process of chocolate making. It is clear that with the changes in the processes of chocolate production, the final quality was sometimes so much affected that the pioneers of the factory refused to endorse the change. This proves that there is an undeniable interaction between product quality and process quality. However, the decision was made to make changes in the process only after so many trials, testing and tasting. This demonstrates that, In order to make a good quality product a series of quality processes are required. To maintain quality process a series of quality control systems are required. In a process quality control scheme the sequence of the steps is very important as some processes will be critical which would reflect largely in the quality of the final product. The following table details each process where Harris and his team have incorporated quality control schemes to minimise variation. Table 2 Harris’s Quality Control Schemes in the process Process sequenceQuality control Raw material quality controlPurchase BeansFind the farmers who grew the highest quality bean Ferment beans properly before dried and shipped to US Process quality controlBean CleanerThe precise process associated with separating the waste from beans. Once cleaned, storing the beans under specific climate and humidity controls. RoasterRoasting different types of beans separately to optimize the flavor. Operator monitor the temperature and taste the sample. WinnowerPrecise process associated with separating cocoa beans from the shell. MelangeurUse historical melangeur to perform task. Operator determined the time of completion based on look, feel, and taste. Ball MillIt provide quality benefits by decreasing the amount of flavor degradation. The resulting chocolate be tested and evaluated for quality. ConcheAeration was an important step for the quality control as bubble will created when blades moves. Quality testing of the product done through a scrape gauge to measure the level of smoothness Tempering and moldingHuman testing for level of stability, glossy surface, smooth feel in the mouth and snap. Quality control when transporting liquid chocolate to third-party molding. Finished product inspectionPackagingOwn packing in order to keep a close eye on quality. Third-party pacing as they have better equipment and quality control. Quality control at when re-melt and re-temper procedure. Check quality after the production line. Critical control points (CCp) can affect the quality of the finished product. However, not all steps in the process are considered as critical points. Specification or guidelines can assist in maintaining quality of certain products. These set regulations and standards such as to ISO 9000 and ISO 9001 that need to be complied with in a process. Transport or shipping becomes critical points because for example, the basic problem with transporting chocolate in containers is its relatively low melting point. Solar radiation and other external influences (heat sources, such as double bottom tanks, engine rooms) may cause the temperature in the container to rise considerably and exceed the melting point, so making enormous quality degradation inevitable. Process Bottlenecks. A bottleneck in project management is one process in a chain of processes, such that its limited capacity reduces the capacity of the whole chain (Wikipedia, 2012). The capacity of the production process is determined by the slowest chain task. These slow tasks are referred to as bottlenecks and they have an impact on the throughput of a manufacturing process. Bottlenecks in a manufacturing process refer to resources that requires the longest time in operation to meet demand. One of the characteristics of bottlenecks is that it makes the operating rate of the non-bottlenecks operate below 100%. Hence increasing capacity of the bottlenecks helps to reduce the time required for the entire process. However when one bottleneck is eliminated then another bottleneck is usually formed (Imaoka, 2009). The bottlenecks in the process can inhibit flow, cause inventories, and prevent throughout from matching customer demand. This chapter identified the capacity of bottlenecks throughout the process, analysed the management and improvement methods in order to make progress towards Scharffen Berger’s goal. Process flow diagram. The first step to create a process flow diagram is to define the process boundaries. The process boundaries are the entry and exit points of inputs and outputs of the process. The input of Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker process is the raw chocolate bean and the output will be packaged chocolate ready to sell. Once the boundaries are defined, the process flow diagram is a valuable tool for understanding the process using graphic elements to represent tasks, flows and storage. Figure 1 is flow diagram represents Scharffen Berger Chocolate maker production process at earlier 2005: Figure 1 Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker Production Process The symbols in a process flow diagram are defined as follows: Rectangles: represent tasks. The equipment capacity, process capacity, duration and flow time are listed under each of the task. Arrows: represent flows. Flows include the flow of material and the flow of information. In this case the flow represents flow of raw bean, roasted bean, waste, Nibs, and chocolate. Triangles: represent storage (inventory). Storage bins commonly are used to represent raw material inventory, work in process inventory, and finished goods inventory. The process flow diagram linked tasks in series are performed sequentially. Tasks drawn in parallel such as two Conche machine and different packaging options are performed simultaneously. In the above diagram, raw bean is held in a storage bin at the beginning of the process. After the last task, the output also is stored in a storage warehouse. Scharffen Berger typically kept on to two monthes of inventory in stock for each of its major products. Process performance measures. In order to identify the bottlenecks in Scharffen Berger Chocolate manufacture process, the process performance measures become essential, this aspects include: Capacity – The capacity is its maximum quantity that the equipment capable to perform in once. This parameter can affect the process rate and utilisation of equipment. Process capacity – The process capacity is its maximum output rate, measured in units produced per unit of time. The capacity of a series of tasks is determined by the lowest capacity task in the string. The parallel tasks is the sum of the capacities of the two strings. Flow time – The average time that a unit requires to flow through the process from the entry point to the exit point. The flow time includes both processing time and any time the unit spend between steps. Duration – The duration is the total running time of each of the task in a week unit, it can be one shift a day, seven days a week. The inventory in the process is related to the throughput rate and throughput time: WIP Inventory = Throughput Rate x Flow Time This relation is known as Little’s Law, named after John D. C Little whos proved it mathematically in 1961 (Barton et al, 2002). The process bottleneck improvement. The process bottleneck occurred at the slowest flow rate of the series task in the process. The bottleneck can be found by comparing the process capacity. Saving time in the bottlenecks activity saves time for the entire process. Saving time in a non-bottleneck activity does not help the process since throughout rate is limited by the bottleneck. If the next slowest task is much faster than the bottleneck, then the bottleneck is having a major impact on the process capacity (Starnes, 2000). Operating hour The first bottleneck of production capacity throughout process was identified as operating hour. Before Harris manage the Scharffen Berger, in order to avoid overtime payment to employee, the business only operating one shift per day. The equipments such as Conches, Melangeurs, were not efficiently used. Harris calculated each completed conche could be worth over $30,000 in sales and industry average 40% in contribution on sales. It would be worth to pay overtime and increase productions. Conche operating The second capacity bottleneck throughout the process can be identified as conche operating hour. Scharffen Berger owned two Conches used to refine, mix and aerate the chocolate. The disadvantage of this machine is time consuming, each 1400kg bath of chocolate liquor typically spend 48 to 72 hours inside of the conche machine. Figure 2 indicate the identified bottleneck task (red colour) in the Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker process in earlier 2005. Figure 2 Conche Bottleneck in Scharffen Berger Process The production rate of Conche is the slowest compare with other tasks. The total capacity for two Conche is 2800kg, and it’s requiring 40-60 hrs to finish each operation, Conche working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The capacity of the melangeur is 115kg and requires 1. 25hr to finish the job. The working duration of melangeur is 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. By applying production rate formula: By comparing the production rate, the bottleneck of the process can be identified as conche task. Two conche working 24hours a day compare with melangur only work 16 hours a day, the maximum working hour of melangur can not be reached as it constrained by slow operation of conche. In order to improve bottleneck of conche, the ball mill has been introduced as it can perform most conche tasks effectively. Instead of 40-60 hours, the ball mill can grain particles from 100 microns to 25 microns in three hours. The conche would still be needed for its aeration mixing function. The total operation time for ball mill and conche can reduce to 15 hours instead 40-60 hours. Melangeur operating After the company decided to use ball mill instead of conches, melangeur becomes the capacity bottleneck throughout the process. The capacity of the ball mill and conche is 1400kg and requires 15 hours to finish the job. The working duration of melangeur is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. By applying production rate formula: Since the production rate of melangeur only 1472 kg/day, the melangeur becomes the capacity bottleneck throughout the process. Figure 3 show the new flow chart as the ball mill introduced. The melangeur was used to grind the nibs; this released the cocoa butter and turned the dry nibs into chocolate paste. The company recently located a used melangeur that could be purchased and refurbished for $50,000. Figure 3 Melangeur Bottleneck in Scharffen Berger Process Molding process The last bottleneck affect the production capacity process could be modelling process. The larger, faster modelling equipment would be prohibitively expensive, and several third party co-packers had excess capacity and would be able to model more Scharffen Bergers chocolate. Harris thought Scharffen Berger might avoid the resulting duplication of the tempering and modelling steps by transferring the liquid chocolate directly to the co-packer. Figure 4 shows the operating process when the modelling and packaging task been given to the third party and co-packers. Figure 4 Third Party Molding and Co-Packer for Scharffen Berger Process In this stage, the process boundaries at output point will change from chocolate ready to sell to liquid chocolate. The modelling and packaging task has been withdrawn from operation process. But the challenges is transporting liquid chocolate was a very tricky, expensive and require high level of quality control with third parties. Future improvements The following lists some methods that can improve the operation process for Scharffen Berger Chocolate maker: Add additional resources to increase capacity of the bottleneck. For example, an additional Roaster or Cleaner machine can be added in parallel to increase the capacity. Reduce work-in-process inventory. Reduce the lead time such as reduce the cooling time after roasting the coffee bean. Move task away from bottleneck resources. Increase availability of bottleneck resources, for example, increasing the daily operating hour for melangeur from 16hours a day to 24 hours a day. Minimize non-value adding activities. Such as reduce transporting time, rework, waiting time, testing and inspection time. Redesign the chocolate type for better manufacturability – can improve several or all process performance measures. Quality Process For a Premium Quality Product The main aim of any organisation is to provide customer satisfaction by providing product and services. Quality of an end product requires production design based on customer feedback which not only minimises loss but also provides competitive advantages. In Scharffen Berger Chocolate maker case study Scharffen berger prioritises specific areas to achieve a high quality product . These areas are as follows Raw material- Scharffen Berger prided itself on using the highest quality beans available from countries such as Ghana, Trinidad, Jamaica, Domician Republic, Madagascar, and other countries. Scharffen Berger blended up to 9 varieties of beans to make each type of chocolate unlike other companies that used only 2 different types of beans. Steinberg and Scharffen travelled to remote regions near the equator to find farmers who grew the highest quality beans and to ensure that these farmers allowed there beans to ferment properly before shipping them. 2) Cleaning Prior to being roasted, beans were poured into a large bean cleaner machine that separated cocoa beans from objects like dust, small stones and twigs 3) Roaster To enhance the flavour all cocoa beans were roasted before they could be sent to make chocolates. Scharffen Berger roasted each kind of bean separately in order to optimise flavour. The sample was tasted by them regularly in order to check whether the roasting is complete. According to Harris, â€Å"practice of tasting† is the best methods of measurements at each stage of the chocolate production process. Once beans were roasted they were used within a few days in order to optimise flavour. 3) Conche Once the chocolates left the melaunger there were still some small nib pieces that needed to be ground further. This was done in the conche. Other premium quality products were also added in the conches which broke all the ingredients down to microscopic pieces. Experiments were also done with powdered sugar in order to reduce the time for Conching but found the taste unacceptable. 4) Tempering and moulding This process was to be done in a specific sequence with a certain degree of stirring. It was used to avoid duplication of the tempering and moulding steps by transferring the liquid steps to co-packers 5) Quality Control This was the most important step performed in order to get a premium quality product. Operators measured the quality of the product by examining its look and texture, breaking it and tasting it. At least once in 15 days, Scharffen Berger management and machine operators got together to calibrate their perceptions and standards for acceptable quality by blind testing the beans and chocolate at various stages of production. 6) Equipment Balmill : using Balmills can increase the capacity of production at least 75%. In addition, it will be extra beneficial for the products with high sugar content by decreasing the amount of flavour degradation that can occur when a premium product is over-processed and excessively manipulated. New equipment such as ball mill will assist in increasing capacity and efficiency of the process. 7) Quality Control: Operators measured the quality of chocolate by constantly examining its appearance, texture, tasting and breaking it. The quality of the product is checked at various stages to test if it is good to be sold. As a result of these quality checks the number of defects in the final product is reduced and will also lead to an overall increase in organizational performance. In addition this will also have a positive flow on effect on customer confidence and customer satisfaction of the product which will yield further increase in demand. 8) Every two months, management and machine operators calibrate their perception and standards for acceptable quality by â€Å"blind testing†. 9) Operating time: Increased conformance to legislation such as carbon emissions by reducing operating time. For example the existing conches are operated 24 hours a day and seven days a week. By replacing the conches with the new ball mill, Harris (Chief operating Officer of Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker) and his team will reduces the operating time of machinery and increase the efficiency of the process. Adantages of high quality product Advantages of developing high quality products are, Increase in demand needs increased supply. Addressing the bottlenecks of the production process and improving stages of the process will assist with increasing supply. Increase in customer satisfaction and improving the business output. Using Quality Assurance techniques to check the product at various stages by tasting or testing to ensure that the final product obtained is of premium quality and meets customer expectations will lead to increase in business growth as the customer numbers will increase. Quality improvement is a planed managerial activity. It involves identifying potential improvements, prioritized potential areas of improvement and planning and the implementation of projects and improvements’, (Foster, 2010). Scharffen Berger prioritized potential areas of improvement. Then these improvements were planned and implemented in several stages in order to achieve a premium quality product. Every year, more than 30,000 people toured the factory and many of these visitors bought the products during these tours. By demonstrating how good the quality of the processes was, Scharffen Berger won the confidence of his clients. Moreover, quality processes can be used to manage risks in the production line. As a result quality processes can be used as a risk mitigation strategy by business. In the case of Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker, the types of risks that can be minimized by quality processes are quality of raw material, appearance, texture, snapping and tasting. In addition to risk management, customers in general are willing to pay an additional amount of money for a premium quality product. Hence there is a niche market for these chocolates. In order to satisfy customers in this market the business needs to follow high quality process development techniques and produce an end product that will satisfy their high expectations. Innovation leads to high quality process development in the long term and an increase in system efficiency. Hence overtime this will result in competitive advantages over the other products and a greater market share in the industry. Another benefit of high quality process development is that it will lead to standardization or bench marking. Benefits of standardization includes for instance, increase in cost effectiveness (e.g. decrease in manufacturing cost), improve negotiating power with third party companies, simplify support and training, simplify purchase of raw materials, procurement, upgrade and disposal of plant materials and economies of scale in manufacturing, training and testing. High quality process development will also minimise the failure costs of the product, both internal and external. Reasons for using a high quality process The aim of Scharffen Berger chocolate maker is to produce premium chocolates. In order to produce premium chocolates Harris and his team requires high quality process development. Some of the reasons for using a high quality process development are as follows: Another benefit of maintaining supply to future demand is the perceived quality of the product by the customers will improve due to an increase in customer satisfaction. It also improves aesthetics of the Scharffen Berger Chocolates such as taste. Increases reliability of the production line with automation for example the use of the ball mill. It gives the company the opportunity for continuous improvement. For example Harris and his team carried out many investigations to reduce bottlenecks and to increase capacity of the existing production line. As an outcome of their investigation they decided to incorporate a new ball mill. Quality management is incorporated into the production line to ensure consistency of the quality of the product is maintained. This can be reflected in the case study by Harris and his team employing a skilled workforce. Quality assurance is maintained throughout the production line to ensure the high quality of the end product. For example Harris and his team undertook extensive testing and tasting of the product at various stages of production. This report aims to explain the issues underlining the Cocoa industry mainly in South Africa. It relates to child trafficking and the actions that corporations such as Nestles and Mars are taking in order to tackle this issue. Lastly it will conclude the actions one can take as a manager in order to resolve these issues using different theories and approaches. Child Trafficking Child Trafficking is in direct violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948-2008 which states that all humans have a choice to work to just and favourable conditions of work. It also states that everyone should be paid fairly and equal to their work. Lastly it states that everyone has the right to rest and limitation on working hours. Children in South Africa. India and other countries in general arent given any of these things. It is the duty of the people high in power to enforce these rights onto their people by putting strict restrictions which can lead to punishments if broken. Dealing with an issue on a large scale is difficult as it is extremely difficult to keep an eye on such small areas of an operation. Due to the high number of production and harvesting it is easy for companies such as SAF-CACAO to keep their secrets hidden from their buyers e.g. Nestle. However Chocolate manufacturers arent bothered by these issues as their main objective is to maximise profits. Due to the high volume of Coco they buy even a small percentage of increase in price per kg of coco can lead to a huge rise in costs in production. Nestle signed an agreement to end child labour in 2001 however they have failed in this because they didnt carry out checks on their suppliers in South Africa. Reports show that 1. 8 Million children are currently in danger of being used as slaves (Humphrey Hawksley, 2012). Companies such as Nestle and Mars can still deal with this issue by boycotting SAF-CACAO and other companies using child labour because this can reduce their profits and pressuring them into bankruptcy. â€Å"The world must shift the focus of trade from being driven solely by profits to serve people-cantered development† (Yash Tandon Executive Director of South Centre). If Nestle stops buying from unfair suppliers then this in return promote a better image of their business which will likely to increase their sales and customers will be more happy with Nestles actions. According to McGregor’s theories X Y SAF-CACAO is currently following the Authoritarian Management Style . This is because they are irresponsible and dont take into account the views of their workers and the conditions they are living through. Cultural differences are also playing a major role in this because South Africa is mainly collectivist based and due to this children are trafficked into slavery and even though this is bad they dont really have a choice because if they return to their parents they will probably be punished for not bringing them any money. Due to the lack of education in areas around ivory coast there is a misunderstanding and unethical views on the age at which a child should work. Parents expect children to work and pay their families regardless of their capabilities and the dangers of them being kidnapped. Dealing with these issues wouldnt be possible unless us as customers boycott Nestle and other firms that are buying chocolates from unethical companies. Buying Fair-Trade products is an alternative which we can all resort to even though it is more expensive it is at least ethical. There are many other firms that promote anti-child trafficking such as Freedom Matters , Anti-Slavery. These influence people to replace their normal purchases with fair-trade products. However there is no strict action that anyone can take to stop child trafficking. As a manager of a firm that uses suppliers in Africa it would be wise to set main priority to fight child trafficking, first step would be to enforce the Human rights law in all the companies operations in order to make sure all the operations within the business as well as the businesses that the firm is dealing with all are following this law. Secondly monitoring the origin of cocoa will be carried out to check exactly where it is made and whether the farms are using children to harvest the crops. If this is the case then social services and the police will be notified. Another way to deal with this issue will be to reward suppliers who operate ethically by offering them higher prices for their cocoa. These suppliers can also be monitored on a monthly basis to check if they are working under the human rights act. In majority of growing countries it is very easy to buy someone by offering them a lot of money to do something bad. Due to this it will only be wise for someone high in power to carry out checks on a businesss production because they will likely to be the only people that will give truthful information. Bibliography FairTrade. (2013). What is Fairtrade?. Available: http://www. fairtrade. org. uk/what_is_fairtrade/default. aspx. Last accessed 1st December 2013. Foodispower. (2013). Slavery in the Chocolate Industr. Available: http://www. foodispower.org/slavery-in-the-chocolate-industry/. Last accessed 1st December 2013. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (1945). Preamble. Available: http://www. un. org/en/documents/udhr/. Last accessed 1st December 2013. Douglas Mcgregor. (1960). Douglas Mcgregor Theory X,Y. Available: http://www. businessballs. com/mcgregor. htm. Last accessed 1st December 2013. Humphrey Hawksley. (2012). Nestle failing on child labour abuse, says FLA report. Available: http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/world-africa-18644870. Last accessed 1st December 2013.

Social Work Personal Values Essay

Social Work Personal Values Essay Values are part of my upbringing and play a big part in my life, as they underpin my thoughts and actions. As a social work student I need to question my personal values, beliefs and ethics as these will have a big impact on my behaviour as a professional. My personal values are congruent to the values of social work, which is the reason why I have chosen a career in a social care. This values are self determination to promote social justice, being caring and helpful toward others, truthfulness (honesty) and respect. Working in Residential and Care Homes further developed my interest in promoting social justice and social change on behalf of the service users. I understand, that as a social work student I need to act in accordance with the values, and ethics of the profession, recognizing how personal and professional values may conflict with the needs of diverse clients. VALUING DIVERSITY To value diversity means acknowledging my own prejudices, allowing people to be different and respecting these differences. Being raised in Poland, where 96, 7% of population is polish my upbringing was white and influenced my prejudice about people from other cultures. Due to lack of contact and knowledge I have made a preconceived judgment about other races. My social environment such as religion and culture has influenced me to behave in certain ways towards other people. My religion created a stereotype and prejudice about homosexuality. My beliefs would not accept homosexuality due to influence of the church on my attitude towards sexual orientation. Moving to England and changing my social environment made me realize how wrong those perceptions were. Living in multicultural environment made me aware of different cultures, religions, races, which helped me to change my attitude towards people from diverse backgrounds. I have made friends from different parts of the world what he lped me to enhance my understanding of different cultures and religions. I have learned how to accept and respect the differences. I understand and recognise that we living in a diverse society and that there is much to be gained by having a variety of people, with a variety of backgrounds, approaches, talents and contributions. DISCRIMINATION My experience with discrimination started when I moved to England in 2004. I was often subject to insulting racial jokes. The stereotypes about my culture and people along with labelling were very offensive and painful. The people with whom I have been working held hostile attitudes toward Polish people and culture. I was working in Bed and Breakfast where the majority of employees were English. My employer treated me differently than other employees. When allocating the tasks, she would often give me the most of them living the rest of the staff doing almost nothing. On one occasion one of the employees did not complete the given task and she said Let the Polish get on with this. She would not have dared to treat other employees the way she treated me. Probably she thought that she could get away with it because I did not know my rights and my English language was very poor. I found that experience very painful and could not understand why I was treated this way. Later on I have dis covered that it was a direct discrimination and it is against the law to be treated this way. There are a number of policies and legislations that could apply to my situation such as: The 1976 Race Relations Act, which makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against you on racial grounds. Race includes: colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins. ( www.direct.gov.uk) The Equality Act 2010 provides a new cross-cutting legislative framework to protect the rights of individuals and advance equality of opportunity for all; to update, simplify and strengthen the previous legislation; and to deliver a simple, modern and accessible framework of discrimination law which protects individuals from unfair treatment and promotes a fair and more equal society.( www.equalities.gov.uk) I could also use agencies such as Citizen Advice Bureau, which provides free advice to foreigners, and often offer a translator to provide information and advice on employment rights, including discrimination. ACAS is another organisation, which provides general information on employment rights and responsibilities. Being discriminated in the past made me realise how damaging the effects of discrimination can be. I have started to wonder why people discriminate against each other. On many occasions I have witness discrimination but due to lack of knowledge I was not able to challenge it and simply accept or ignore it. Last year on the Access Course I have developed a knowledge which helped me to understand why discrimination happens in society. I have learned different theories behind discrimination which helped me to understand its roots. Since then I have become more observant and started to reflect on my own actions and actions of others. Schon (1983) identifies two types of reflection. Reflection in action, which is thinking back on what we have done in order to discover how our knowing in action may have contributed to an unexpected outcome. We may do so after the fact, in tranquillity or we may pause in the midst of action (stop and think) (Schon,1987:26). Reflection -in -action is about challenging my assumptions, thinking again, in a new way about the problem that I have encountered. Reflection In Action is happening where we may reflect in the midst of action without interrupting it. Our thinking serves to reshape what we are doing while doing it (Schon, 1987:26). By observing others in my current work place I have identified negative experiences present in a Care Home based on feelings of discrimination and unfair treatment which was against my own values and believes. One of the examples of discrimination that I have witness was discrimination through the language. Working in a Residential Home as a carer I have noticed a member of staff using patronising and insulting language towards residents. I found that language very disrespecting and decided to challenge my colleague. I have realized that he held a negative attitude towards older people, as he regards to residents as dirty old woman, and call them as useless . I have explained to him that one day he also will be old and is that the way he would like to be seen. At this point my Manager came in and after explaining what has happen, the member of staff was asked to leave the premises. In reflection on this experience I have realized that people have different attitudes to aged population, which are different to my own attitude. Another observation involves a resident having negative attitudes towards black people. The resident would not allow a black member of staff to provide any kind of help or personal care. She would shout and swear using insulting language as soon as they entered the room. Because the majority of carers are black it is hard to allocate a white member of staff to help her. When asking her why she does not want a black member of staff she answered that she does not want blacks to help or touch her because they are dirty and useless. On one occasion when attending this resident I decided to challenge her perceptions about black people and called a new black member of staff to help me when giving personal care. I have explained to the resident that she is a new member of staff and she will only observe me. She accepted it but was not very happy about it. While working with resident I started to ask the girl questions, such as why she wants to work here and does she like her job. She respon ds that she was looking after her grandmother who passed away recently and has a lot of experience and that she enjoys helping other people. The resident was listening but did not say anything. I was hoping that she will change her negative attitude after spending some time with the black member of staff, after watching me having a positive interaction with her. Not being aware of the resident attitude the girl asked her if she would like her to do her hair because she used to do it very nice to her grandmother. The resident did not answer just sat on the chair and gave the girl a hair brush. On that stage I have left the room hoping that this experience will change her attitude and prejudice against black people. The resident now is being attended by black staff without any problems, and communicating in a respectful way. REFLECTION ON THE POLICIES OF CHALLENGING DISCRIMINATION IN MY WORK PLACE (JEWISH RESIDENTIAL HOME) The use of Anti Discriminatory practice at my work place is fundamental to the ethical basis of care provision, and equality legislation is crucial to the protection of service users dignity. It imposes particular responsibilities on public and service providers to avoid stereotyping and to respect service users diverse needs and cultural diversity. To challenge discrimination Jewish Care has put into place a written policies and procedures to deal with discriminatory behaviour and practice. CHALLENGING DISCRIMINATION AND OPPRESSION A starting point in challenging discrimination and oppression is having awareness of the different types and ways that discrimination and oppression can occur. Thompson PCS Analysis provides a clear and understandable method of consideration discrimination and oppression in the context of personal, cultural and societal levels. The process of empowerment is also crucial in challenging oppression. On a personal level we could empower individuals to take control over their lives, for example through enhancement of self-esteem and confidence. On a cultural level empowerment is concerned with becoming aware of ideologies premised on inequality. Discriminatory assumptions and stereotypes should be challenged in order to break down an oppressive culture. On a structural level empowerment involve abolition of structural inequalities from the structure of society. Education plays important role in challenging discrimination. By educating people to understand the causes and effects of discrim ination we can challenge traditional beliefs and practices concerning particular groups and promote equality, diversity, inclusion and tolerance. ANTI DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICE Anti discriminatory practice is an approach which seeks to combat discrimination and oppression, in terms of challenging all forms of discrimination and oppression from our own practice and practice of others (Thompson, 2006). As a social work student I need to develop further my anti discriminatory practice. To do so I have to recognise the significance of discrimination in peoples lives, especially in the lives of disadvantaged people. I also need to develop self-awareness and make sure, that my own action does not reinforce discrimination.

Case study for a client with schizophrenia

Case study for a client with schizophrenia and has had three admissions to hospital the last one five years ago ,her name hala ,at the age of 35 year old ,she live with her brother but tend to be a bit overprotective ,not allowed to take much responsibility in the home or to go out alone . The clinical picture of the client: It include the, signs symptoms for the client. Hala has moderately severe negative symptoms ,The negative symptoms of schizophrenia, defined as the absence or diminution of normal behaviors and functions , negative symptoms account for much of the long-term morbidity and poor functional outcome of patients with schizophrenia.. The signs and symptoms of schizophrenia are numerous and debilitating , these symptoms are the lack of important abilities . Some of these include: 1)Alogia: or poverty of speech, is the lessening of speech fluency and productivity, inability to carry a conversation ,thought to reflect slowing or blocked thoughts, and often manifested as short, empty replies to questions. 2) Affective flattening: is the reduction in the range and intensity of emotional expression, including facial expression, voice tone, eye contact (person seems to stare, doesnt maintain eye contact in a normal process), and is not able to interpret body language nor use appropriate body language. 3) Avolition: is the reduction, difficulty, or inability to initiate and persist in goal-directed behavior; it is often mistaken for apparent disinterest. ) Inappropriate social skills or lack of interest or ability to socialize with other people. (examples of avolition include: no longer interested in going out and meeting with friends, no longer interested in activities that the person used to show enthusiasm for, no longer interested in much of anything, sitting in the house for many hours a day doing nothing.) . 4) Catatonia: Apparent unawareness of the environment, near total absence of motion and speech, aimless body movements and bizarre postures, lack of self-care. 5) Social isolation : person spends most of the day alone or only with close family, and inability to make friends or keep friends, or not caring to have friends. 6) Low energy :the person tends to sit around and sleep much more than normal. The client is being worked upon with the following MDT: Psychiatrist: the psychiatrist works with the client using needed medication, such as Prozac. Psychologist: the psychologist works with the client using different approaches, in order to understand her, and her behaviors, through talking, observingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Social worker: the social worker works with the client in understanding difficulties that the client has, that affect her social lifeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦for example not going to work, the thing that affects her social relations and networks. Physician and nursing: the physician is a general doctor that follows up the clients medical status. On the other hand, the nursing team is available in the institution for the clients need to be supervised by a medical team, for if someone would have a relapse, an action would be done, such as giving injections. Finally, the MDT works together, by meetings and reports about each client. She is treated with medication and visits the out patient clinic at the hospital every three months to see her doctor. she reliable about raking her medication and keeping her outpatient appointments. treatment may include: behavioral therapy: patients with schizophrenia improve their social skills and put structure in their lives. Through social skills training, they may learn how to make requests, express feelings, and adjust their voices and facial expressions. The impact of the illness will have on the clients occupational functioning The impact of these symptoms on ADL, work, and liesure. Activities of daily living require the ability to start and repeat purposful task performance so that become habitual or routine and these tasks or activities include: bathing, grooming, and dressing, washing hands before a meal, eating with resonable table manners, then cleaning up. Persons who have schizophrenia may find routin task performance interrupted by symptoms, side effects of medication, and progression of schizophrenia. Auditory or visual hallucinations may interrupt attention, and tactile discomfort with texture of materials may limit occupational performance. Many ADL routines become challenging in the presence of motor problems produced by negative symptoms and the neurological side effects of medications. Incoordination, tremores, rigidity, or slow movement may interfere with tasks like replacing caps on bottles, shaving, and using eating utensils. In the psychological area, major barriers to ADL are pathy, avolition, or extreme withdrawal. Even persons who show inter est in social interaction may not complete the self-maintenance tasks that would increase social acceptance. They are unable to engage themselves in tasks and may depend on others to involve them. fainally, self-management difficulties in schizophrenia influenece ADL performance to a great extent. Routines are abandoned when persons are unable to cope with environmental or internal stressors. Time management and self control become weak. Work Ofen persons with schizophrenia have difficulty finding satisfactory housing or keeping a job because of psychological, and self-management performance difficulties. Also, negative symptoms such as withdrawal, avolition, substance abuse, neurological impairment, medication side effects, and coexisting medical conditions make work performance impossible for many. The modelframe of reference I used to guide the assessment and intervention with the client: Frame of reference :MOHO model of human occupation I chose MOHO because it : 1)Furnishes a detailed framework of the occupational functioning of hala. 2)Enables precise measurement and useful description of hala occupational characteristics . 3)Give specific and detailed guidelines and tools for evaluating hala ,a specific language for describing the difficulties or challenges encountered ,and a framework for setting treatment goals and selecting the most appropriate strategy to achieve the desired level of change . 4)allows for a flexible approach to individualized therapy for hala and provides a comprehensive picture of the occupational functioning . 5)provides a conceptualization of the process and stages of change that was useful for guiding the sequence of therapy (including deciding when hala is ready to move from one level of change to another). how I assess the client I chose an activity during the assessment ,I chose washes plastic plates I chose ACIS assessment (( assessment of communication and interaction skills)). The ACIS is a formal observational tool ,to measure an individuals performance in an occupational form within a social group ,that allows occupational therapist to determine a clients strengths and weaknesses in interacting and communicating with others in the course of daily occupations. I chose ACIS assessment because ,it is most effectively used to generate a profile of strengths and weaknesses and qualitative details about my client ,this profile is the most important source of information for deciding what skills to target for change. ACIS is often helpful for understanding why is my client having difficulty with some interaction skills . The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM): to detect change in a clients self-perception of occupational performance over time. Follow the links below for further information about the COPM.   intervention process Assess clients level of disorientation to determine specific requirements for safety. Skill training interventions: Identify areas of skill deficit person is willing to work on. determine the goals for the client (shortlong terms goals) first I will establish the goals together with hala I will determine the goals from the deficit in her function ,from observation during the activity ,from the assessment ,and the client can ask me about some ability that she want to return it . Long term goal: to let her take much responsibility in the home ,allow her go out alone without any danger to her ,or her health or people .for example let her visit the hospital to see her doctor. Let her work for example secretary as she trained in the past ,or work in an office as she worked at age 21. Let her feeling more confident in social situations , can be operationalised by identifying performance indicators Short term: engaging in activity, increased motivation,improved judgment, increased energy, ability to experience pleasure and cognitive Function. factors that affect or important in assisting the client to reach the goals: important factor: the client :good response to the medication ,the acceptance of his situation, less number and the range of episodes, if she like the activity .her tolerance and endurance during the activity ,assessment and medication. Environment :good interaction with his environment ,feel some degree of safety in the therapy environment and in his living environment . Factors that might affect the clients program: Client :forget take the medication, she didnt like the activity or it is not suitable for her ,there is no therapeutic relationship., Family members may require support as clients in their own right.   They may also play a key role as an extension of the therapy team.   Where children are involved, a careful assessment of child safety is required, generally by someone specifically trained in this area such as a child protection worker

Americas Role in the World Trade Organization Debate Over China Essay

America's Role in the World Trade Organization Debate Over China The open question on Chinese accession, both in the WTO and in China itself, is whether China is more likely to adopt and sustain economic reforms if it is granted early membership or if membership is delayed until policy reforms are undertaken. (Schott 40, 1996) I. Introduction This observation from Jeffery Schott of the Institute for International Economics captures the essence of the China-World Trade Organization debate in America and the world today. China’s unprecedented economic growth has put it at the forefront of the US trade agenda. America’s is the biggest economy and China’s is the most populous nation, in terms of sheer number of people. To conjoin these two great international forces in a more complete way than the previous, bilateral agreements have would be of immeasurable value to both countries. Just in the past two weeks, China and the United States concluded their much-anticipated bilateral trade agreement, which paves the way for China’s accession intro the WTO. Concurrently, the United States has some domestic issues to resolve regarding its trade relationship with China before China can become a universally accepted member. The organ that embodies this global trading order is of course the World Trade Organ ization, or WTO. As we will see in greater depth later in this paper, the United States has a crucial, one could say pivotal, role in allowing China to be totally accepted into the world economy. Underlying all these discussions of politics and legalities, there remains the premise that both the United States and China are eager for China to become an equal, active participant in the world trading system. Both are poin... ...Uruguay Round. Geneva: World Trade Organization Grow, Roy and Burton Levin and Al Porte and Robert White. 1998. "United States-China Relations in the Twenty-First Century" The American Assembly at Columbia University Haass, Richard and Nicholas Lardy. 1997. "The United States and China" A New Framework." Brookings Institute Lardy, Nicholas. 1997. "China and the WTO" Brooking Institute Robertson, Jack. 1999. "China is on slow boat to the WTO." Electronic Buyers’ News Issue 1184, page PG4 Schott, Jeffrey. 1996. WTO 2000:Setting the Course for World Trade. Washington, DC: The Institute for International Economics Smith, Adam. 1981 [1776] .An Inquiry into The Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund The Wall Street Journal, November 16, 1999. The Dow Jones Company

Modern Art: An Art of Expression and Freedom :: Modern Art Artists Dance Theatre Essays

I. Introduction Wherever man lives there is art, because art is anything made or done by man that affects or moves us so that we feel and see beauty. Man uses his imagination to invent a unique beauty. The artist's feelings and inspiration affects on how he will express his art. Through the major development of technologies and social changes that have taken place in the 19th century, Modern art flourished during this period and caused a lot movements of modern art to form, some of these famous movement are cubism, abstract expressionism, pop art, and surreal art. Modern art also become man’s inspiration in life because these great art can express a unique feeling in which a person is attracted to that kind. This also means that a modern artist learns from himself and does not need any major training, a modern artist learns by himself through his experiences and imagination. Modern art runs a very important role in man’s life throughout history, because it that does not only give us inspiration but also the freedom to express ourselves through the use of different mediums. II. Statement of the problem This research aims to answer the following questions: 1. What are the general informations about Modern Art? 2. What is the beauty of Modern Art? 3. What are the different styles in making Modern Art? III. Presentation A. Definition of Modern Art Parallel to the scientific, technological, and social changes that have taken place in the 20th century are the rich varieties of art styles that have developed. Notable are the number of â€Å"isms†, such as Fauvism, expressionism, cubism, futurism, constructivism, neoplasticism, surrealism, precisionism. Modern Art didn’t have a main origin from where it came from. But there is a general agreement that it was first seen between 18th century to 19th century, from the French revolutionist movement. Art in its broader meaning, however, involves both skill and creative imagination in a musical, literary, visual, or performance context. Art provides the person or people who produce it and the community that observes it with an experience that might be aesthetic, emotional, intellectual, or a combination of these qualities. Modern Art does not follow any traditional rule, in fact Modern Art breaks this barrier. In the traditional way of painting, you must the true nature of your work; you must have the balance in creating it. The rules that are working on our universe must be applied to the old traditional painting.

“Little Boy Crying” by Mervyn Morris Essay

In the first stanza, the boy had a tantrum, â€Å"splashing† his â€Å"bare feet† around a puddle. The father doesn’t approve of this, and â€Å"struck(s)† a â€Å"quick slap† across his son’s face. However, the father refuses to show any signs â€Å"of guilt or sorrow† for what he has done. The father is regretful but thinks it is more important for his son’s development that he remains staunch. The boy is waiting for his father to apologise, but his father refuses to give in, because he doesn’t want to give his son the idea that he can get away with more incidents like this. This gives the impression of a boy who knows the effect he has on his father, and waits for signs that he is weakening. The father realises that there is an inner evil in his son which needs controlling. There is frequent use of onomatopoeia such as when he describes his son as an â€Å"ogre†, despite his size. The boy still wants revenge on his parent, believing the latter thinks nothing of him. Since the boy has thoughts of wanting revenge, the punishment viewed in this light seems to be justified. The father hopes in time, his son will â€Å"understand† the need for discipline, and this is expressed through the words â€Å"but dare not ruin the lessons you should learn†. This occasion is also tough for the father because he is hiding his inner core of uncertainty and suffering â€Å"behind that mask†, after â€Å"slapping† the boy. The father is not repent; he is a man who follows absolute values. He doesn’t seem to comprehend that mercy is more powerful than judging to the letter of the law. The use of contrast, such as the boy’s slack behaviour and his father’s firmness, helps add depth to the relationship between the boy and the parent. Other examples of contrast include the boy’s diminutive nature and powerful influence over his father, the vulnerability of his character and cunning, evil and shrewd mind. It is incredible to understand that this three year old possesses such qualities.