Knowledge and Heritage Essay

Abstract Alice Walker’s â€Å"Everyday Use† and Amy Tan’s â€Å"A Pair of Tickets† investigate the relationships between mothers and daughters. Both writers show a struggle, by the children, to understand the true meaning of heritage. Each story has a specific type of mother-daughter relationship. Mother and Daughter Conflict: The Struggle to Understand Heritage in First-generation Americans A key factor in Alice Walker’s â€Å"Everyday Use,† and Amy Tan’s â€Å"A Pair of Tickets,† is heritage. Throughout both stories the use of heritage can be seen easily. Walker shows Dee misunderstands her heritage while Tan shows Jing-Mei comes to an understanding. Understanding both sides of the two stories gives readers a chance to explore their own heritage and reflect on how they accept their past. By contrasting the family characters in â€Å"Everyday Use,† Walker illustrates Dee’s misunderstanding of her heritage by placing the significance of heritage solely on material objects. Walker presents Mama and Maggie, the younger daughter, as an example that heritage in both knowledge and form passing from one generation to another through a learning experience connection. Dee, the older daughter, represents a misconception of heritage as a material thing. Dee portrays a rags to riches daughter who does not understand what heritage is all about. Her definition of heritage hangs on a wall to show off, not to be used. Dee’s avoidance of heritage becomes clear when she is talking to Mama about changing her name, she says, â€Å"I couldn’t bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me† (Walker 746). Dee just takes another name without even understanding the true meaning behind it. She tries to explain to Mama that her name now has meaning, quality, and heritage; never realizing that the new name means nothing. Dee fails to realize that her name goes back multiple generations. Dee digs around the house for objects she can display in her own home as examples of African-American folk art. Her argument with Mama about taking quilts that were hand stitched as opposed to sewn by machine gives readers a chance to see Dee’s outlook of heritage is short lived. Dee says to Mama, â€Å"But they’re priceless. . . Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they’d be in rags. Less than that! † (Walker 748). Mama will not allow her daughter to take the quilts because she has been saving them for Dee’s sister, Maggie, and she wants the quilts to be put into everyday use. By helping and living with Mama, Maggie uses the hand-made items in her life, experiences the life of her ancestors, and learns the history of both, exemplified by Maggie’s knowledge of the hand-made items and the people who made them—a knowledge in which Dee does not possess. Dee attempts to connect with her heritage by taking â€Å"picture after picture of me sitting there in front of the house. . . She never takes a shot without making sure the house is included† (Walker 746). Therefore showing Dee’s quest for heritage is external, wishing to have these various items in order to display them in her home. She allowed Dee to run over her enough, and now she would not allow her foolish behavior to carry on, because heritage needs to be put to everyday use and not just be hung up on a wall for people to see. Dee views her heritage as an artifact which she can possess and appreciate from a distance instead of as a process in which she is always intimately involved. She knows the items are hand-made, but she does not know the knowledge and history behind the items. Yet, Mama does know the knowledge and history and she also knows that Maggie does too. Ironically, Dee criticizes Mama for not understanding heritage when, in fact, Dee fails to understand heritage herself. Throughout the story, the true meaning of heritage is understood by two characters and avoided by one character. Dee mistakenly places heritage wholly in what she owns, not what she knows. In Amy Tan’s â€Å"A Pair of Tickets† the theme of Chinese-American life, focuses mainly on mother-daughter relationships, where the mother is an immigrant from China and the daughter is thoroughly Americanized. Tan begins her story by describing a feeling that Jing-mei, the narrator, speaks of. She says, â€Å"The minute our train leaves the Hong Kong border and enters Shenzen, China, I feel different. I can feel the skin on my forehead tingling, my blood rushing through a new course, my bones aching with a familiar old pain. And I think, my mother was right. I am becoming Chinese† (Tan 120). Tan tells a story within itself giving readers a chance to get to know the character right off the bat and also allowing an understanding of heritage to be brought out. Jing-mei has come to China to trace her Chinese roots which her mother told her she possessed, and to meet her two twin half-sisters whom her mother had to abandon on her attempt to flee from the Japanese. Readers can see that Jing-mei has waited her whole life to connect with her heritage when she says, â€Å". . . I saw myself transforming like a werewolf, a mutant tag of DNA suddenly triggered, replicating into a syndrome, a cluster of telltale Chinese behaviors, all those things my mother did to embarrass me. . . . But today I realize I’ve never really known what it means to be Chinese. I am thirty-six years old. My mother is dead and I am on a train, carrying with me her dreams of coming home. I am going to China† (Tan 120). Although Jing-mei was not born in China like her mother, she now has a grasp on her life and on her mothers. By having the story take place on a train in China, helps the tracing of heritage become real for readers. Strong feelings of happiness and sorrow are felt when Jing-mei traces her Chinese roots and becomes in touch with her heritage and her past; allowing readers to place themselves in the same situation and experience the feelings are being portrayed by the characters. Learning about family heritage is something people do not always understand, like Jing-mei, people do not always want to believe their past and heritage. When coming to an understanding of their past, people can lay to rest their urging thoughts and can come closer in contact with their present life. Now that Jing-mei has met her sisters, she can now make peace in her life knowing that she has fulfilled her dreams and the dreams of her mother. Amy Tan reveals Jing-mei’s epiphany well by writing, â€Å"I look at their faces again and I see no trace of my mother in them. Yet they still look familiar. And now I also see what part of me is Chinese. It is so obvious. It is my family. It is in our blood. After all these years, it can finally be let go† (Tan 134). Jing-mei finally realizes that she is Chinese and that her mother was right. Jing-mei also says, â€Å"Together we look like our mother. Her same eyes, her same mouth, open in surprise to see, at last, her long cherished wish† (Tan 134), thus adding on to her realization of her heritage and past. Jing-mei can now lay to rest the thought of her mother never seeing her twin daughters again and continue on with her existing life, but now with a different perspective, a Chinese perspective. Throughout both of the stories, heritage becomes a major factor. The characters coming to an understanding of heritage helps readers to become more fascinated with the stories. Bringing out the points in Walker’s â€Å"Everyday Use† and Tan’s â€Å"A Pair of Tickets† gives readers a chance to see the heritage â€Å"shining through†. References Tan, A. (1999) A Pair of Tickets. In E. Kennedy and D. Gioia (7th Ed. ). Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. (p. 120-134) New York City, NY: Longman. Walker, A. (2008). Everyday Use. In R. DiYanni (6th Ed. ). Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. (p. 743-749). United States of America: McGraw Hill.

Exercise 29

9Name: Brielle Cantagallo Class: Statistics Date: 3/17/13 ? EXERCISE 29 Questions to be Graded * 1. Were the groups in this study independent or dependent? Provide a rationale for your answer. The groups in this study were independent because the two sets of data were not taken from the same subjects. The subjects were in one group: female and the second group: male. * 2. t = ? 3. 15 describes the difference between women and men for what variable in this study? Is this value significant? Provide a rationale for your answer. t= -3. 15 describes the difference between men and women for the variable of mental health.This value is significant because 0. 002 is less than the alpha type 1 error rate of 0. 05 that was used. * 3. Is t = ? 1. 99 significant? Provide a rationale for your answer. Discuss the meaning of this result in this study. t= -1. 99 is significant because it shows that the physical functioning and health functioning of both the men and women in this study were almost the same across the board. The p value of 0. 049 was also the same in each of these variables concluding that the type 1 error rate for this was less than the alpha 0. 05 that was set for this study. * 4. Examine the t ratios in Table VI.Which t ratio indicates the largest difference between the males and females post MI in this study? Is this t ratio significant? Provide a rationale for your answer. The t ratio that was the largest difference between males and females post MI in this study was mental health with -3. 15. This t ratio is significant because it shows that the mental health of the women versus the men in this study was the largest difference. * 5. Consider t = ? 2. 50 and t = ? 2. 54. Which t ratio has the smaller p value? Provide a rationale for your answer. What does this result mean? T ratio -2. 54 had the smaller p value of 0. 007. -2. 0 had a p value of 0. 01. This result means that because the 0. 007 p value is less than the predetermined alpha which was 0. 05 that the observed result would be highly unlikely under the null hypothesis. Making this research credible. * 6. What is a Type I error? Is there a risk of a Type I error in this study? Provide a rationale for your answer. A Type I error occurs when the researcher rejects the null hypothesis when it is in actuality true. I do believe that there was a type 1 error risk in this study because according to the study 9 t tests were performed and the risk of type 1 errors increases when performed more than one time. 7. Should a Bonferroni procedure be conducted in this study? Provide a rationale for your answer. I do believe that a Bonferroni procedure would need to be conducted in this study because the t test was conducted 9 times. * 8. If researchers conducted 9 t-tests on their study data. What alpha level should be used to determine significant differences between the two groups in the study? Provide your calculations. The alpha level that should be used to determine the significant diffe rences between the two groups in this study would be 0. 006. The alpha was set to 0. 05. That needs to be divided by the 9 t tests and you get 0. 055 and when rounded becomes 0. 006 for the corrected alpha. * 9. The authors reported multiple df values in Table VI. Why were different df values reported for this study? Different df values were reported in this study probably due to non participation in certain study areas. Because of that they would have to change the df if the number of participants was different in those areas or the research would not be accurate. * 10. What does the t value for the Physical Component Score tell you about men and women post MI? If this result was consistent with previous research, how might you use this knowledge in your practice?The t value -2. 50 for the physical component score tells me that men and women have a significant difference in their perception of post MI coping. Women perceive themselves has having lower physical and psychological qua lity of life post MI. If this result was consistent with previous research, I could use this knowledge to set up a plan of care to assist the women with increasing their physical and psychological aspects of quality of life. I would also reach out to women and form support groups to help them improve their perceptions on their quality of life.

Classical vs Romantic Essay

The classical period in music spans from 1750 to 1820, a period of musical change after the Baroque and Rococo periods and its eventual transition to the Romantic period. This era in music produced most of the well known composers, prominent of which were Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Joseph Haydn, among others.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The shift from the Baroque and Rococo musical styles also coincided with the formation of classicism, an artistic movement that also involved painting, literature, and architecture. The Baroque era of music mainly utilized polyphonic harmony in composition – a style which involves two main themes or melodies, which creates an elaborate hearing experience because of many different instruments playing unique themes. An example of which is Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier which is a collection of piano pieces specifically arranged for the piano, utilizing every major and minor chords. The contrapuntal polyphony of these pieces have two different melodies for the left and right hands, creating harmony at the same time. On one hand, the classical movement utilizes a homophonic – a style that is above chord accompaniment and emphasizes on melody, tone, form, and balance. Melodies are more refined, elegant, and expressive, utilizing dynamics (pianissimo, mezzo forte, etc.) along with a balanced formal structure. The classical period also developed the sonata, symphony, concertos, serenades, among other instrumental music during that time. The Romantic period on the other hand, is a movement that expands the form of classical composition that enhances expressiveness and appeals to the emotive aspect of the listener. Although identified as a Romantic period, the era does not emphasize on romantic love per se, but it is used as a prevalent theme in composition. There is little difference between the classical and romantic periods because both utilize the same structure in composition, but only vary with the use of themes. In terms of expression, the romantic period is much more expressive compared to classical pieces.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert, prominent classical masters, produced music for both eras, with their works employing a smooth transition of change regarding themes and melodies into the Romantic period. Schubert’s violin compositions are generally associated with the Romantic era while Beethoven mastered the use of chromatic and homophonic harmonies to stress fiery and elegant themes in most of his works.

What does Volkswagens CSR(corporate social responsibility) history say Essay

What does Volkswagens CSR(corporate social responsibility) history say about the company as a brand and what does the future hold for Europes leading car manufa - Essay Example ides the private sector the company successfully operates of the sector of commercial vehicle, selling spans pick ups, busses and heavy trucks (Volkswagen, 2007). The main market of VW is naturally Europe but its brands successfully operate on the international market as well. Thus, company’s second largest market is China, where Volkswagen Group China can be called the Second largest Joint venture automaker. VW AG occupies a large part of the automaker industry and in 2006 is was reported to have a 9,7  % share of the passenger car market in the world, having sold 5.734 million cars compared with the 5.243 million in 2005 (Volkswagen, 2007). It estimated by the researchers that 19.9  % of cars, i.e. every fifth car, purchased in Western Europe, were produced by VW AG. Company shows good financial activities, having increased its group sales from 95.3 billion Euros in 2005 to 104.9 billion in 2006 (Volkswagen, 2007). As stated in the company profile the primary goal of the Company is to â€Å"offer attractive, safe and environmentally sound vehicles which are competitive on an increasingly tough market and which set world standards in their respective classes† (Volkswagen, 2007). In this paper I’ll try to present the company profile. I’ll recall the main historic facts about the company; describe its market policy and corporate social responsibility strategy. The issue of CSR is quite new and acquired its importance not as long as 30 years ago. First, corporate social reduced only to financial reimbursement of the company to its shareholders. However, soon it became apparently not enough and corporate responsibility developed a wider range of policies and actions. Nowadays, there are quite many definitions of CSR. We will mention those, which are most popular. Keith Davis definition related corporate social responsibility to company’s â€Å"decisions and actions taken for reasons at least partially beyond the firm’s direct economic or technical

Free will V.S. determism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Free will V.S. determism - Essay Example However, this can have repercussions as individuals following their own free will do not tend to listen to others around them and do as they please. This does not always work out cordially within a society full of different kinds of people because of varying needs that each person has from the other. Most people are under the impression that every individual has their own personal free will according to which they make choices and decisions. However, people often forget to understand that sometimes these choices come from the values and morals that have been imposed upon them as they grow up. In that case, these beliefs are not mapped by their own free will, but are determined in the manner that they are raised. My take on freewill is based upon an individual’s own disposition of which is derived from their possessions, such as possessions of social environment, religion and of family’s general views of life. We all come from families with views on religion or at least of life itself, through these possessions we develop subconscious bias opinions or tendencies, which are the foundation of an individual’s decision making. However, as we get older we become aware of other views or perspectives of life, and can choose to implement them in a way that is conducive to what we want to become. You cannot determine where or how you are born, as that is determined for you, nor can you determine who raises you and what bias views they pass on to you. Nonetheless, as a person gets older they can choose to retain all of the previous convictions passed down to them or can chose to see things in a different manner - though, it will still be from the same mind that has possession of influences that are particular to his or her life, even if they may be subtle. Every man is born under certain circumstances and conditions which remain constant at his birth. He does not have the power to change that certain thing about his life and he has to take whatever co mes his way with regard to that aspect of his life. However, once a person starts to grow up, things start to change for him. He sees different things and experiences different aspects of his life and starts to perceive them according to his will. The will starts to develop at the age of 8-9 and continues till the death of human beings. The will of a human being is developed throughout his life. Once a man is able to see the world from his own eyes, he starts to analyse his life with respect to his personal beliefs rather than the beliefs of other people being imposed on him. Most people are raised believing that their religion is the best one and that they should be happy they do not belong to any other. When a child is born, he is made to undergo certain rituals and rites according to the religion that his family is in. Throughout the course of his life, he is told things and led to believe that his religion is the sole guiding principle that will help him achieve whatever he want s in life. However, very few parents and families provide leverage to the child by making him aware of all the different religions in the world and letting him choose his own faith. In some families, children turn rebellious and begin to adopt a new way of life, by accepting the rites and rituals of a different religion as per their own free will. Every time a person adopts something within him, according to his own beliefs and faith in things, he is taking to free will rather than having his life being determined by

Discussion questions for the week Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discussion questions for the week - Essay Example A type-II is a direct opposite where the researcher may totally miss out on a possible impacting result or hypothesis and eventually says that there were no critical results. The example of type II error is just the converse of previous example where the result turns out to be negative for a disease but actually the patient does possess it. Many of the time, these types of errors occur because of incorrect methods followed in a research, like incorrect number of sample data being tested etc. Because of the impact produced by these errors which sometimes may result catastrophically, there should be immense attention placed on such predictions to prevent both false positive and false negative results. (Type I and Type II errors, 2004) Statistical significance and practical significance are although based out of data, they have completely different interpretations. Statistical significance provides a relationship between data which may be significant statistically but does not count in as useful way, practically. However, practical significance, as the name indicates, provides a meaningful relationship between the data which may go on to help in identifying or stating a hypothesis. For example, if we consider the number of educated people in a state over a period of time and if it results in such a way that on mean, 60 people are educated out of 100 in one state and 61 people are educated out of 100 in another state. Statistically it provides a lot of difference between two sets of data but on the other hand, there is no significance associated with it practically. (McIntyre,

Senior Philosophy Seminar Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Senior Philosophy Seminar - Assignment Example Plato believed that the knowledge represented by these lines are ordered highest to lowest as follows CE, CD, AC, and AB. 2 Explain the cave that Plato describes, with the prisoners, the platform from which the shadows are cast and the exit to the real world. The cave that Plato describes is a group of people chained to the wall of a cave for all of their lives. These people face a blank wall with a fire continuously roaring behind them. All that the chained people can see are shadows of the other people between them and the fire. For the prisoners the shadows are reality. However if a prisoner was freed, they could see that the shadows were not reality. Philosophers are like freed prisoners. Philosophers are like freed prisoners, they can detect reality from shadows. Sextus Empericus 3 What is the goal of Skepticism? The goal of the skepticism is to research truth about reality be comparing different truths in order to have peace of mind through the lack of judgment. A skeptic never passes judgment, but always searches truth in reality by comparing different truths. Descartes 4 Through what chain of reasoning does Descartes attempt to doubt his own body and all elements of it? Descartes uses the wax argument to doubt his own body and all elements of it. The wax argument is where Descartes takes a ball of wax. He looks at it, touches it, smells it, and uses his five senses to define the ball of wax. However when he puts the ball of wax next to a flame it loses it shape, it smells different, it sounds different, it feels different, and basically the wax changes. The human body can change the way it smells, tastes, sounds, feels, and looks. This is the reasoning Descartes uses to doubt his body. He concludes the only reason he exists is because he reasons. Locke 5 According to Locke, if our mind is a blank sheet of paper, how does it come to be filled? Where do complex ideas come from, according to Locke? John Locke believed that sensations and reflections are th e two sources of all our ideas. As a baby develops in the womb, the sensations fill the mind. After birth the sensations and growing reflections of thought fill the mind. Complex ideas come from education. The education of a man really makes a man according to Locke. Good education makes for a good person; likewise bad education makes a bad person. Hume 6 If all of our knowledge of matters of fact depends on cause and effect, what is the source of our ideas of cause and effect, according to Hume? How does Hume argue for this? According to Hume, people reason inductively by correlating repetitively joined events. The thought of cause and effect result in knowledge. Hume historians believe Hume taught three types of causation exist; the logical positivist; the skeptical realist; and the quasi-realist. The logical positivist which argues that A leads to B or A most likely leads to B. The skeptical realist argues that if A leads to B an underlying cause is the reason. The quasi-realist believes that cause and effect can be anticipated by past behavior. 7 Why does Hume think we go in a circle when we try to demonstrate why we believe in cause and effect? Cause and effect is based on experience. Since experience can be different for diverse situations cause and effect might not always work for everyone. For example, a person in Moscow might say precipitation from the sky will cause snow packed roofs in December, but a person in the

Social work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Social work - Essay Example Difference of skin color is a major factor that affects the social and economic status of individuals in our society. This essay will take into account the impact of poverty on the life of black individuals suffering from a mental health condition. A deep insight into the causes of poverty will allow a better understanding of the nature of the issue. The work will also attempt to establish whether poverty is structural or pathological; an aspect that can provide insight into the ways that can be utilized to eradicate poverty. The essay emphasizes the need to make mental health services easily accessible to service users that belong to the selected social class i.e. black individuals suffering mental health issues. Social exclusion refers to the marginalization that is experienced by certain disadvantaged classes of a society due to their social, educational, political, and economic or health backgrounds. Individual belonging to such classes are generally deprived of access to resources that are otherwise available to all other classes of the society. One of the most common themes in this regard is income or social inequality. According to Hirsch, Davis &Smith (2009), it is a process through which some  groups have been discriminated on issues which relate to caste, creed, race, religion, gender disability, or other personal status. As far as the mentally ill black individuals are concerned, their deprivation possibly stem from two major factors: 1) their inability to function normally due to mental condition 2) their compromised social and economic status. Most black individuals having mental health conditions are unable to function in a normal fashion. For this reason they are unable to avail job opportunities that are otherwise available to common people. For many black citizens within UK, an incurable mental problem has a highly

Is there a different in attitude toward Cesarean section between women Dissertation

Is there a different in attitude toward Cesarean section between women in Iran and women in United kingdom - Dissertation Example The items in the questionnaire were all in English. Procedure. The questionnaire was distributed to participants in through two hospitals in Iran and one hospital in Britain. All participants were from the middleclass and were educated at pre or post university levels. The Iranian participants were all literate in English. Results. The results of Principal Components Analysis (PCA) showed two factors emerging from the questionnaire which were labeled as â€Å"Preference for CS† and â€Å"Misconceptions about CS†. Overall, the Iranian participants gave lower ratings on both factors compared to their British counterparts which imply more support for Cesarean Section. There was also a positive correlation between age and the two factors. Marital status and having children did not influence their preference for and misconceptions about the procedure. It was thus concluded that more effective information dissemination must be carried out about the advantages and disadvantage s of CS, to allow women to make more informed choice. Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction 6 1.1 Introduction 6 1.2 Background of the Study 6 1.2.1 Reasons for the Choice of CS 7 1.2.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Influences to CS Choice 8 Prevalence of CS in Britain and in Iran 9 Chapter 2 Review of Related Literature 11 2.1  Ã‚  Ã‚   Introduction 11 2.2 Overview of Cesarean Section (CS) 11 2.3 Factors that Influence CS Choice Among Women in Iran 14 2.4 Factors that Influence CS Choice Among Women in Britain 17 2.5 Empirical Studies 21 2.6 Conclusion 28 2.7 Research Aims 30 2.8 Research Questions 30 2.9 Research Approach 31 2.10 Research Methodology 32 Chapter 3 Method 34 3.1  Ã‚  Ã‚   Research Design 34 3.2 Participants 34 3.3  Ã‚  Ã‚   Materials 34 3.4 Procedure 35 3.5 Data Collection Procedures 35 3.6   Ethical Considerations 36 3.7  Ã‚  Ã‚   Method of Data Analysis 37 Chapter 4 Results and Discussion 38 4.1  Ã‚  Ã‚   Introduction 38 4.2 Results 38 4.3  Ã‚  Ã‚   Discussion 46 Chapter 5 Conclusions and Recommendations 51 5.1  Ã‚  Ã‚   Conclusions 51 5.2  Ã‚  Ã‚   Recommendations 53 References 55 Appendix A – Survey Questionnaire 66 List of Tables Table 1. Principal component analysis of survey items. 38 Table 2. Cronbach Alpha: Factor 1 (Preference for CS). 40 Table 3. Cronbach Alpha: Factor 2 (Misconceptions about CS). 41 Table 4. Descriptive Statistics: Status x Having Children on Factor 1(Preference for CS). 41 Table 5. Between-Subjects Effects: Status x Having Children on Factor 1 (Preference for CS). 41 Table 6. Descriptive Statistics: Status x Having Children on Factor 2 (Misconceptions about CS). 42 Table 7. Between-Subjects Effects: Status x Having Children on Factor 2 (Misconceptions about CS). 43 Table 8. Descriptive Statistics: Cultural Groups on Factors 1 (Preference for CS) and 2 (Misconceptions about CS). 43 Table 9. Correlations: Age vs. Factors 1 (Preference for CS) and 2 (Misconceptions about CS). 44 Table 10. De scriptive Statistics: Having Children x Cultural Group on Factor 1 (Preference for CS). 45 Table 11. Between-Subjects Effects: Having Children x Cultural Group on Factor 1 (Preference for CS). 45 Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Introduction The present chapter is an overview of research related to the medical and psychological aspects of cesarean section, the risks involved, reasons for choosing cesarean section and the cultural attitudes towards choosing

PSYCHOLOGY APPROACHES Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

PSYCHOLOGY APPROACHES - Assignment Example In addition the recent development in the field of genetics and molecular biology has enabled psychologists to have a better understanding about human behavioral and mental processes (Barondes). Though the biological approach was initially shunned by scientists such as Freud who invented the psychoanalytical approach the numerous advances made in the field of biology has contributed immensely towards the understanding of human psychology. There has also been a greater understanding of the mechanism of drug action for psychiatry treatment due to these biological advances and as a result drugs are being used effectively to cure mental illnesses. The advances made in genetic study of psychiatric disorders have enabled researchers to identify the causes for these illnesses, especially those with no observable neuropathological conditions, and the study of the molecular biology of the receptors will help in development of more effective drugs for psychological disorders. In the two most p revalent psychiatric disorders, schizophrenia and manic-depressive disorder, genetics has been found to play a very prominent role and with the new DNA mapping techniques it has been possible to identify the hereditary genes (Barondes; Sammons). Inheritance of these faulty genes in turn influences the nervous system thereby giving rise of the symptoms of the disorder (Sammons).

The Day The Children Vanished PACTS Analysis Essay Example for Free

The Day The Children Vanished PACTS Analysis Essay The theme is the authors reason for writing the story. This message or main thought presented by the author is usually based on their beliefs and principles. The main thought being communicated by the author of The Day The Children Vanished is the psychology of how people react in the face of fear and anxiety. This main thought is established, developed, and enhanced through the use of literary techniques contained in a P.A.C.T.S. analysis. When inspecting this P. A.C.T.S. analysis, we can further understand the ways and means of how the author generates a mood and depicts the theme successfully. The most crucial element of any story is the plot and through it, the author associates the theme of the novel. The title plays a great role in the short story. It gives the audience an immediate idea of what the story is going to be about. This particular title, The Day The Children Vanished, suggests to the audience a mystery surrounding children. Since all children are seen as being innocent, this makes the audience at once sympathize for them. As the story advances, the condolence is extended to the parents who are the heirs of the children. Through the frantic parents, the author now begins to examine human behavior and how it reacts when faced with fear and anguish. The inciting event, when the parents begin to realize that there was no factual explanation for the disappearance of the children and the idea of them vanishing into thin air seemed saner. Some kind of gag. We cant figure it out, the bus never came through the dug way. (Trooper Teliski, pg 410). This inciting event provides space for the mind to grow increasingly paranoid and illogical. In the midst of all the confusion, the first reactions of the townsfolk were to blame the formerly respected Jerry Mahoney. For example, Mr. Goreman, Mr. Peabody and a few others headed by trooper Telinski, stormed into the house of Pat Mahoney and demanded information linking Jerry to the kidnapping. They posed questions like Did he have the need for money? trying to get information which would associate Jerry to the disappearance of the children (Pg 413). They brought up Jerrys past and came to foolish conclusions like Maybe Jerry go sick all of a sudden. It happened to men who saw action overseas ¦ (Pg 413). They fail at considering that Pat Mahoney is going through the same anxiety and distress as they are, as Jerry like their children, was his son on that very same  vehicle. Pat is depicted to be quite crazy through his misleading answers and his ridiculous trips into memory lane. We only learn at the end off the story that Pat Mahoney was in fact not crazy, but one of very few people who managed to maintain their sanity as he had objectives of his own. The increase in suspense and complication excelled when the childrens clothes and other articles were found just outside the quarry. Pat Mahoney said to Mr. Haviland, Everyone in this town is going to be looking for that station wagon in the lake, where they know it isnt ¦ (417). Just like he predicted, the townsfolk crazily were at the quarry in confusion and torment in search for their children. The story reaches its conclusion when the climax of the bank robbery is met. Through the events in the story, the author reveals how the bank robbers were dependant on natural human behavior, and how the townsfolk would react in the face of fear and anxiety. This psychology almost worked for them if it were now for Pat Mahoney and Mr. Haviland. In The Day The Children Vanished, the author shows both sides of the spectrum when examining the characters. There are the townsfolk that allow fear and anguish to consume them, which causes them to react impulsively and point fingers at others without any evidence. For example, Mrs. Jennings and Mr. Dickler accuse Pat Mahoney of hiding the truth to protect his son Jerry, due to his ridiculous responses to questions posed by trooper Teliski. These characters are the ones faced with the tragedy and retort to means that the author uses to depict them as being consumed with fear. On the other hand, characters such as Mr. Haviland and Pat Mahoney contrast the other townsfolk in logical train of thoughts. Mr. Haviland is an outsider to the town and he remained calm since he was not emotionally involved like the others. By keeping his cool he was able to logically weigh the facts and have a steady objective in mind. Pat Mahoney somewhat similar to Mr. Haviland in a weird way reacts exactly opposite to the townsfolk, which made him more hated in the town and the number one suspect to the mystery. Pat is just as worried and consumed with fear as the rest of the townsfolk, but he chooses to remain strong with his objective in mind for the benefit of his son. Through such characters in the story the author relay the mindset of different kinds of humans and thus advance his theme by linking it to the people around us  in our lives. The atmosphere surrounding the short story is vital to maintaining the interest of the audience. The atmosphere must not fail to reflect the plot and the progressing story line. Excluding the introductory paragraph, the atmosphere in The Day The Children Vanished is tense, and suspense seems to be a constant throughout the story. We as the audience can grasp how the parents of the vanished children feel and we link their unreasonable reactions to the fact that they are only human and humans are not perfect. Although the author arouses sympathy from the audience, we are still apart from the story and can see the townsfolk act on impulse not logic. We the audience, still understand why the townsfolk react the way they do because faced with the same situation, most of us would react the same way. Foreshadowing is provided through Pat Mahoney and his story about The Great Thurston. To Mr. Haviland it seemed ludicrous at the time, but he did not realize that Pat Mahoney was speaking from rational thought and knew the outcome of this happening, which he saw as a magic trick or a perfect diversion. Pat Mahoney also foreshadows future events through his friendly bet with Mr. Haviland where he says,  ¦tomorrow morning theyll be out searching. Ill make you a bet if you order them to stay in their houses they will go out searching. (Pg. 418). This prediction turned out to be very accurate as come next morning, all the townsfolk were out searching at the quarry for their children. Through a P.A.C.T.S. analysis, we can better grasp the motive for the author to write this story in the manner he does, allowing him to portray the theme through his own eyes. The theme is established, enhanced and developed through the use of literary techniques examined in this P.A.C.T.S. analysis. When we analyze a piece of work, we can see the techniques used by the author to try and portray a theme and make us see his point of view.

The Columbian Exchange And The Colonization Of America Essay Example for Free

The Columbian Exchange And The Colonization Of America Essay The Columbian Exchange refers to the exchange of diseases, ideas, food crops, and populations between the New World and the Old World following the voyage to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492. While some had cataclysmic results for the indigenous populations, other interactions led to exchanges of ideas and resources. These exchanges altered life on both sides of the Atlantic. In North America many native cultures had lived and thrived across the continent. Meanwhile, in Europe, the thirst for knowledge and discovery had led to a competition among. European nations to establish and dominate trade routes to acquire the exotic resources of Asia. Each country began to finance voyages of exploration to see who could find a quick and profitable trade route. Spain, England, the Netherlands and France began to travel west, across the Atlantic, to places that were unknown, at that time, to Europeans. Unaware of how large the world actually was and equipped with basic and inaccurate maps, many decades passed before any of these early travelers realized that they were not traveling to Asia, but actually had stumbled upon a land previously unknown to them. However, these lands were well known to their native inhabitants. By the time Africans and Europeans came to the Western Hemisphere, most peoples of the Caribbean and the coastal mainland lived in sedentary villages or semi- permanent encampments. They had organized themselves into clusters of families and hierarchical communities that were recognizable to Europeans, and they identified among themselves leaders, servants, and specialists of many kinds, American Indian society had not been static before it came into contact and conflict with Europeans. The native people hunted, gathered, and grew an array of foods that nourished millions of people. In short the Americas were not an empty land when the Europeans arrived. (HBG 1) Indigenous North Americans exhibited a remarkable range of language, economies, political systems, beliefs and material cultures. (HBG 25) The Old and New World gained from the Columbian Exchange in a number of ways. The Spanish introduced a wide variety of domesticated livestock to the Americas, including cattle, goats, swine, and horses. Of all the animals introduced by the Europeans, the horse held particular attraction. Native Americans first encountered it as a fearsome beast ridden by Spanish conquistadors. However, they soon learned to ride and raise horses themselves. In the North American great plains, the arrival of the horse revolutionized Native American life, permitting tribes to hunt the buffalo far more effectively. Several Native American groups left farming to become buffalo-hunting nomads and, the most formidable enemies of European expansion in the Americas. The Native Americans, in turn, introduced the Europeans to a variety of beans and squashes, as well as the potato and tobacco. Tobacco, was so universally adopted that it came to be used as a substitute for currency in many parts of the world. The exchange also drastically increased the availability of many Old World crops, such as sugar and coffee, which were particularly well-suited for the soils of the New World, Agricultural discoveries ultimately proved more important to the future of Europe than the gold and silver the conquistadores valued so highly. (Brinkley 20) The transfer of foods between the Old and New Worlds during the Columbian Exchange had important consequences for world history. There are two channels through which the Columbian Exchange expanded the global supply of agricultural goods. First, it introduced previously unknown species to the Old World. Such American foods as squash, pumpkins, beans, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and potatoes, also found their way back to Europe and in the process revolutionized European agriculture. (Brinkley 20) Second, the discovery of the Americas provided the Old World with vast quantities of relatively unpopulated land well-suited for the cultivation of certain crops that were in high demand in Old World markets. Crops such as sugar, coffee, soybeans, oranges, and bananas were all introduced to the New World, and the Americas quickly became the main suppliers of these crops globally. The primary benefit of the New World staples was that they could be grown in Old World climates that were unsuitable for the cultivation of Old World staples. This benefit of New World crops has resulted in their adoption in all parts of the world. The exchange not only brought gains, but also losses. European contact enabled the transmission of diseases to previously isolated communities, which caused devastation far exceeding that of even the Black Death in fourteenth-century Europe. Most areas of the New World experienced a demographic catastrophe, as least as grave as, and in many places far worse than the Black Death. (Brinkley 20) Europeans brought deadly viruses and bacteria, such as smallpox, measles, typhus, and cholera, for which Native Americans had no immunity, Native groups inhabiting some of the large islands and some areas of Mexico were virtually extinct within fifty years of their first contact with whites. (Brinkley 19) On their return home, European sailors brought syphilis to Europe. Although less deadly, the disease was known to have caused great social disruption throughout the Old World. The effects of the Columbian Exchange were not isolated to the parts of the world most directly participating in the exchange: Europe and the Americas. It also had large impacts on Africa and Asia. Europeans used the new lands as sources of precious metals and plantation agriculture. Both were complex operations that required labor in large, closely supervised groups. Attempts to enslave native peoples failed, and attempts to force them into other forms of bound labor were slightly more successful but also failed because workers died of disease. Europeans turned to the African slave trade as a source of labor for the Americas. The native populations could not meet all the labor needs of the colonists because of disease and war therefore, European settlers began importing slaves from Africa. (Brinkley 21) During the colonial periods of North and South America and the Caribbean, far more Africans than Europeans came to the New World. The slave trade brought wealth to some Europeans and some Africans, but the growth of the slave trade disrupted African political systems, and robbed many African societies of their young men. Millions of Africans were shipped to the Americas during the transatlantic slave trade, the largest involuntary migration in human history. The trade was fueled by the high demand for labor in the Americas, which was driven, at least in part, by two aspects of the Columbian Exchange: The first was the spread of Old World diseases to Native Americans, which resulted in extremely low population densities in the New World. The second was the cultivation of highly prized Old World crops, such as sugar and coffee, which were particularly well suited to New World soils and climates. The result was the forced movement of slaves from Africa to the Americas which had devastating consequences for the African continent. In addition to economic motives for colonization there were also religious ones. It became required that Catholicism be the only religion of the colonies. Missionaries were sent out to convert Native Americans to Catholicism, Priests or friars accompanied almost all colonizing ventures. Through their zealous work, the gospel of the Catholic Church ultimately extended throughout South and Central America, Mexico and into the South and Southwest of present United States (Brinkley 16) The Columbian Exchange brought about the greatest interchange of different people, ideas, plants, and animals that has ever been known in the history of the world. Some positive effects, like the agricultural growth and use of the potato and other staple crops in the Old World enhanced people’s lives. The trading of livestock also greatly enhanced the opportunities for the settlers and Native Americans. Still, some results were negative, such as the exploitation of the Native Americans by European colonists, and their depopulation due to the communicable diseases of the Old World that came from across the ocean. The Columbian Exchange had a significantly negative impact on the African slaves. The European success story in the Americas was achieved at horrendous expense for the millions of Native Americans who died and for the millions of Africans who were enslaved. The most perplexing fact about the Columbian Exchange is that it cannot be truly described as completely positive or negative, but just that it happened.

Internationalization: Japanese Manufacturing Company

Internationalization: Japanese Manufacturing Company This report was written to review the process of internationalization of one Japanese manufacturing company in Singapore. Impacts from financial crisis in year 2008 forced the group companies to exercise cost-cutting measures in their global operations, and localization is the only way to save costs and to maximize the utilization of local expertise and responsiveness to meet global competition. The review focuses on several front-end aspects of international HRM activities during the process of internationalization. Literature review on the topics of strategic IHRM, staffing systems, cultural differences and expatriate selections were studied and compared with the current organization structure and its HR management approaches and practices. Issues and problems arises from expatriate assignments were reviewed for future development. Comprehensive evaluation activities and areas of improvement were recommended for the company to leap forward. 1. Strategic Human Resources Management in International Context Strategy Human Resources Management (SHRM) is a process that allowed a company to bring its core resources together for strategic planning, for example core competency, core processes, cultural, structure and human resource to align with the company strategy to achieve its goal and objectives, see figure 1. In the context of international field where the firm operation involves in various countries and employing different national categories of workforces, the SHRM will look into broader perspective, for example in the area of six identified human resource activities in domestic context internationalization [Dowling P.J 2008]. Some of the additional international HRMs activities implemented by the HR department when Mastec progressed into internationalization are given in Table 1. The terminology of employee category are such as, i) PCN:- employees born and live in parent (home) country (headquarter), ii) HCD:- employees born and raised in the host country (where the subsidiary operate, and iii) TCN:- employees born in a country other than the host and parent country, were introduced into the company human resource system. The implementation of the strategic IHRM depends on the stage of the company at during the process of internationalization. Adler and Ghadars model (1990) based on Vernons life-cycle theory distinguishes three phases in the international product life-cycle [H. Scullion, 2005]. The first phase (high-tech) focuses on products, research and development that emphasizing on technical competency and role of functional area. The second phase (growth and internationalization) concentrates on business growth and market penetration in local and foreign country. The third phase (maturity) put pressure on the lower price and cost-control measures due to global competition. In the modern technology world, product life-cycle has been shortened to 3~5 years, which allowed Adler and Ghader to suggest a fourth phase. The fourth phase emphasis that a firm must pursue differentiation and global integration in order to achieve cost-control measures. This is the main reason for headquarter in Japan to re organize the business structure in Southeast Asia. The parent company has seen the maturity of the market in Southeast which triggered their decision to implement cost-control measures. However, detail examines at each of the subsidiary shown that there are mixture of phases which the subsidiaries are experiencing. For example, Vietnam and India are in the first phase which focuses on products and developing technical competency. Human Resource Activities International Human Resource Activities Human resource planning administrative activities in foreign subsidiary, cross-border risks management, political risk, terrorism and welfare Staffing Staffing approach in subsidiaries in Vietnam, India, Thailand and Malaysia. Recruitment of HCNs for host-country operation, etc. Training and Development Cross-cultural training, language translation, pre-departure training Performance management Evaluation of expatriate performance, overseas assignment ROI evaluation and staffs evaluation for foreign subsidiary Compensation and Benefits Tax equalization, overseas housing and posting allowances, return air ticket benefits, health-care, etc. Industrial Relationship different taxation law, compliances with host government policy, and compliances with general acceptable practice of doing business. Table: 1 The other approach to strategic IHRM implementation was contributed by the two logic of Evans and Lorange which suggested product-market logic and social-culture logic [Evans Lorange, 1989]. Both raise a question how a firm operates in a different product markets and diverse social-culture environment, which effectively establish human resource policies. Product-market logic implied that various phases of produce life-cycle need different focuses of manager which dictates the HR activities to concentrate on core competency, entrepreneurial skills and technical know-how. Social-culture logic suggested that for a firm to operate in various counties, employing people from difference social-culture backgrounds influences HR activities into providing training and education of cultural difference. Focusing on encouraging open communication, an open-minded listening, discouraging silo and facilitating activities that required less sentence structure will get around language and cultural di fferent barriers [H. Buknall, 2005]. The argument stressed the important of willingness to listen, letting the other party to clarify any doubt without making self assumption to achieve effective communication. Since Mastec had gained the status of regional headquarter in year 2009, the HR activities had started to look into above requirement, but the implementation process is still at a learning stages. This is the reason why only expatriate from Singapore was allocated to subsidiary operation in Vietnam, whereas Thailand and India still managed directly from Japan. The effectiveness of current organization structure to manage the subsidiary and how effective it can perform its role as regional headquarter and maintaining the similar level of corporate government as before need to be evaluated. 2. Staffing Approach and Human Resource Orientation As a firm progressing toward internationalization, management and control become more complex due to operation in geographical dispersion and multiculturalism. In leveraging those factors, the multinational firm can adopts centralized or decentralized approach which ever fits the complexity of its environments. Majority of Taiwaneses MNC likes Foxconn and Acer Computer practicing centralized control system. Prahalad and Doz refer centralized approach as global integration with strict control and decisions making from headquarter. Decentralized approach is more towards local responsive that gives some decision making autonomy to its subsidiary in order to best modify it product and services to meet local market demands [Prahalad, 1987]. Typical decentralized control company is a joint venture alliances. One of a reference company which operates very successfully under decentralized system is Johnson Johnson. The IHRM literature used four approaches to managing and staffing its subsidiary, called ethnocentric, polycentric, geocentric and regiocentric [Perlmutter, 1979]. Through these four types of management orientations, companies can clearly change from one orientation to another, depending on the needs of the company [Mujtaba, 2006]. This statement was proven by the decision of headquarter to change management system in Southeast from pure ethnocentric to regiocentric. Detail explanations of each type of the staffing approached are given as follows: 2.1) Ethnocentric Is a staffing approach where subsidiaries are managed by staffs from PCN. In ethnocentric approach, PCNs are dispatched to fill in key position of a subsidiary in host-country. The mind set of management is what work at home, will work here [Guergana K.S. Mujtaba, 2009]. Some of the reasons to pursue ethnocentric management system are lack of qualified personal, competency or special technical knowledge in HCNs. The need for centralized control, risk management, needs for parent-subsidiary to maintain good communication and coordination are another reasons to practice ethnocentric management. However, there are several limitations associated with ethnocentric system where HCNs has limited opportunity for career promotion and leads to high turnover. Adaptation of expatriates to host country takes much longer time and often leads to poor decision and cross-cultural conflict may occur [Zeira, 1976]. High operating cost to sustain expatriates expenses being viewed as unjustified by HCNs . Typical example of ethnocentric approach company are Japanese firms such as Panasonic, Sony and Hitachi. In Mastec organization, the staffing approach for subsidiaries in Thailand, Vietnam and India adopted ethnocentric system due to lack of competency of HCNs and the needs for corporate communication. Most of the customers in India and Thailand are Japanese manufacturers, therefore an expatriate with Japanese language ability to communicate with customers parent company in Japan is still vital. 2.2) Polycentric In polycentric staffing approach, multinational firms rely on the HCN to run the business operation and rarely PCN are transferred to foreign subsidiary. Each subsidiary is treated as an independent business entity with decision making autonomy. In some cases, PCN belief that foreign markets are too difficult to understand and therefore a join venture alliance was formed. The benefits of polycentric are local subsidiary has more leverage to run business operation and achieve fastest local response to market demand. Polycentric system allows continuity of management by HCNs in foreign subsidiary. Language barrier, cross-cultural adaptation problems and high relocation cost to sustain expatriate expenses were eliminated. The disadvantage of polycentric is bridging gap between HCNs and PCNs at headquarter due to language barrier, conflicting of national loyalties and compliance to headquarter HRM policies. There are potential risks of subsidiary become federation, isolated from headquar ter and not pursuing corporate business goals [Dowling P.J 2008]. In Mastecs organization, the establishment of subsidiaries in Indonesia and Malaysia was under joint venture alliance and operate under polycentric system. In order to maintain a reasonable level of control and to provide managerial and engineering support, virtual assignments system was implemented with frequent business trips to visit the subsidiary company by the respective manager. 2.3) Geocentric The management style in geocentric staffing system focuses on global operation to draw best talents and resources. Each subsidiary and headquarter are interdependent of each other to make unique contribution based on their comparative advantages. An example of this company is Mercedes Benz, where the company sources raw materials around the world from the lowest-cost perspective and assembles their cars in Germany where the best technology is located. The strengths of geocentric approach are multinational firms able to develop a pool of global executive for deployment throughout the global organization. It encourages career development and promotion of high-potential executive regardless of nationality. However, in the process of collecting wisdoms and deploying expertise globally, host government may intervenes recruitment using immigration control to encourage employment of HCNs. Extensive international socializing between PCN, HCN and TCN to support geocentric staffing system need s centralized control which reduced independency of subsidiaries and the staffing decision is time consuming. High cost associated with cross-cultural training, relocation expenses and the need to have compensation package with international standard gives substantial financial burden to the firms. 2.4) Regiocentric Regiocentric staffing approach focuses at a specific geographic boundary, but used a pool of managers from the subsidiaries within the region. Several regional headquarter can be formed such as in Asia, Europe and Middle East which will report to headquarter in parent country. The regional headquarter gains decision making autonomy to operate their business. HCH will be able to interact with PCN posted in the regional headquarter. Parent company is able to maintain reasonable compliances to headquarter HR policy and manage risks control with PCN staffed in regional office [Dowling P.J 2008]. However, there is a potential of federation at regional rather than a country basis. Career prospect also limited to regional level and lack of opportunity for HCN or TCN to explore headquarter working experience. One should remember that the four management orientations are not mutually exclusive. Therefore, they can take place all the time within same organization for its departments or product lines [Guergana K.S. Mujtaba, 2009]. The current organization structure of Mastec clearly demonstrating the application of various management styles within an organization. 3. Managing Cultural Differences Culture can be defined as shared of beliefs, values of a group of person, ways of thinking and living [L. Laroche, 2007]. It encompasses what we are taught to think and response to any given situation by the society in which we are raised. In multinational business context that operating globally, one has to be sensitive and understand the cultural ways of doing business. An example is, in Japanese culture, some of the decision making process is executed through informal advance discussion to reach a consensus called nemawashi [Jon Miller 2007]. Greert Hofstede has defined culture as: Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster.[Geert Hofstedeà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ Cultural Dimensions, 2009] The statement implied that if we have an insight view of different people behaves in different cultures, we will tend to interact with the people in other countries more effectively to create successful business results. The Hofstedes five cultural dimensions of study can be applied to have broader views of national culture. Power Distance: Most of the countries in Southeast Asia region exhibits large power distance. In such organization, most of the power centralized in the hands of few key staffs. Subordinates have high dependency on their bosses and are unlikely to approach and contradict with their bosses directly. Individualism: Countries in Southeast Asia are a mixed of individualism and collectivism. Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam are more collectivism due to the people from birth onwards are integrated into cohesive groups, high respect for royal family and family oriented. In Japanese culture, individual opinions almost do not exist and employees will act according to the interest of their group ~ the group come before individual. American and Australia countries exhibit high individualism where people are more self-oriented. Masculinity: Refer to the societies where gender roles are clearly distinct. In masculinity society male are supposed to be assertive, tough and material success oriented. Female are supposed to be more modest, tender, submissive and concerned with quality. In Asian society, especially Korean and Japanese company, the masculinity culture is stronger, where female staffs are expected to serve tea whenever there is an important visitor. Uncertainty Avoidance: This can be defined as people tolerance toward uncertainty or ambiguity. It indicate to what extend the cultural intricate a person to exhibit the feeling of uncomfortable and nervous in unstructured situations. Country of USA and UK exhibit low level of uncertainty avoidance whereas Japan and Singapore exhibit high level of uncertainty avoidance. An example, Japan tends to have strict laws and procedures to which their people adhered closely. Long-Term Orientation: Long-term orientation versus short-term orientation. This fifth culture is said to deal with Virtue regardless of Truth. Values associated with long-term orientation are thrift and perseverance and values associated with short-term orientation are respect for tradition, fulfilling social obligations, and protecting ones face. Both the positively and the negatively rated values of this dimension are found in the teachings of Confucius, the most influential Chinese philosopher who lived around 500 B.C. This dimension also applies to countries without a Confucian heritage such as Brazil. [Hofstede, 1994, Geert Hofstedeà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ Cultural Dimensions, 2009] Beyond the economic and political-legal issues, a countrys cultural environment (communications, religion, values and ideologies, education, and social structure) also has an important implications when it comes to a companys decision about when and how to do business there [Bohlander/Snell 2007]. Asian society comprised of various cultures and traditional customs inherited from different countries. It is vital for a global manager or expatriate to fully aware of the respective culture before departing for international assignment. Some manager can adopt culturally appropriate behaviors, but that does not apply all the time in all cultural setting [Dowling P.J, 2008]. Therefore, it is essential for HR to arrange and facilitates cultural training to equip expatriates with necessary skills to cope with the new environment in foreign country. 4. Expatriates Selection Hiring and deployment people to effectively perform international assignment is a crucial decision because failure in expatriate assignment will cause huge financial loss, damaging a business, and distance a relations between subsidiary and parent company. One can concluded that an expatriate failure represents a selection error, compounded in some cases by poor expatriate management [Eugene Nic, 2002]. Recruitment and selection is a process of searching potential job candidates and gathering information for the purpose of evaluating and deciding best people for a particular vacancy. The factors involved in expatriate selection can be assessed from individual and situation aspects. Individual factors are i) technical ability, ii) cross-culture suitability, and iii) family requirement, whereas situation factors are categorized as i) culture or country requirement, ii) language, iii) MNE requirement. Technical ability of an employee to perform the required tasks is the most important consideration, given most of the reason for international assignment is to fill up position. That means, special skills and competency or important roles will be assigned to the expatriate. In most of the developing country such as Vietnam and India, lack of HCNs staffs ability required parent company to dispatch expertise to do the jobs as well as knowledge transfer. Giving that reason, an effective skill of expatriate is also important to translate technical or managerial skills to HCN. Cross-culture suitability or ability to adapt to foreign environment is crucial for an expatriate to operate independently in foreign environment. The desirable attributes shall include cultural empathy, adaptability, diplomacy, language ability, positive attitude, emotionally stability and maturity [Caligiuri, 2000]. An employee with high coping skill enabled him to survive and mix into local culture. Apart from culture ability, individuals personality, communication skills and attitude to foreigner are also important factors for expatriate to build up personal network in foreign country, hence contribute to successful of international assignment. Family requirement determines the ability of family members to adapt to the new foreign environment, particularly spouse. The responsibility of spouse to setup new home, plus the down side emotional feeling of leaving behind a career, friends and social support network may cause burden to an expatriate and affected the work performance. The major causes of expatriate failure are family adjustment causing premature departure, poor performances, lifestyle issues, work adjustment, business climate and repatriation issues, and other opportunities arise. By far, the biggest factor tends to be a spouses inability to adjust to his or her new surroundings [Riki Takeuchi, 2002]. Disruption to children education, the need to take care of aging parents and custody of children for a single parent may cause the selected candidate to reject the international assignment. In order to avoid burden of trailing spouse, the manager assigned to India is without accompanying by his spouse and children. Country or cultural requirement may impose restriction to employ PCN or TCN. Multinational firm need to demonstrate that HCN is not available, or providing a training program to transfer knowledge to HCN before the host government will issue working permit. An example is in UK, working permit for Japanese language translation is easy to obtain compared engineering jobs. In some country, working permits only issued to expatriate where trailing spouse is not permitted to work, which may create adjustment problems. Or work permit only issues to male expatriate (eg. no work permit for woman expatriate in Middle East country). MNE staffing policy is another important decision to meet company objective, for example knowledge transfer, management development or organization development. The motivational of HCN, HCNs career progression and keeping the lowest cost of business operation also need to be considered. However, for the reason of corporate control and the need for special skills, staffing of PCN cannot be avoided. Other situational factors are mode of operation, duration and type of assignment and amount of knowledge transfers will affect the staffing policy. The ability to speak local language linked to the capability to learn local culture. Differences in language are recognized as major barrier to effective cross-cultural communication. Even though, many multinational firms places language at less important criteria and they view language as a mechanical which is manageable by individual. Expatriates who are able to speak local language will be regarded as part of the local society which make business communication much easier and friendlier. The other important aspect of language is the ability to understand corporate language. Some multinational firm from non-English speaking countries may adopt corporate communication using the language of parent country (eg. Japanese or Korean) as a standard way of reporting. Prospective candidate may be eliminated from the potential pool due to a lack of competency in the common language [R.Marschanp, 1999]. Therefore, language ability may limit the multinational firm ability to select the most ap propriate candidate. The requirement of Japanese language to communicate with Japanese customers has placed restriction of expatriate selection in India Thailand. 5. Lessons Learned The decision of headquarter in Japan to change management system in Southeast Asia region has put great pressures on Mastecs HR management to looks beyond local context. Throughout the process of implementing IHRM activities, numerous valuable experiences have been learned for future improvement although there is no major problems arise. Those experiences suggested that IHRM does not only facilitate and supporting business units but plays a strategic roles to initiate the planning process and monitoring the implementation throughout the organization. The close coordination between HR department and individual business units in the implementation process is essential to realize the company objections. Several experiences gained are examined below for learning process: 5.1) Mis-match of expectation: Lack of cultural understanding: It is not surprise that the cultural training was ignored because HR department has taken for granted that Singapore is a multicultural country. The expectation manager from the HNC in term of responsiveness and local staffs management have causes conflict under visible management system. This had resulted the manager to fly more often to the destination to resolve the issues. 5.2) Lack of cultural understanding: In India, holding hands between male-and-male indicate good relationship and trust of each other. However, this practice has given a culture shock to the Japanese expatriate when a local customer tried to hold his hand during the walks for lunch after a serious business discussion. 5.3) Insufficient expatriate arrangements: The last minutes decision of selecting a candidate for job assignments in Vietnam has given surprises to the spouses. In order to keep his job performance, the expatriate agreed on the assignment and leave behind his ill parent to be taken care by his spouse alone. Frequently, the expatriate has to return to home at his own expenses for traveling cost. 5.4) Lack of communication channel: The above mentioned expatriate does not has communication channel to relay his personal problem to the company. Approaching directly to his boss could be misinterpreted into demanding for extra benefits. The issue may be solved if HR could approach open-minded discussion or using mentoring approach. 5.5) Language barrier: Due to the unique communication requirement with Japanese expatriate of customers and potential local candidate for jobs assignment in Thailand and India was eliminated. This has slowed down company objective to reduce operating cost toward regiocentric management system. 5.6) Lack of broader perspective: Due to different compensation package for overseas assignment between Japanese and Singapore expatriate, a potential local candidate who has Japanese language ability rejected the offers for job assignment in India. The difference of compensation especially in hardship country has viewed as unjustified and less attractive by local staff. 5.7) Lack of cultural understanding: A newly expatriate Japanese manager exercises his authority to force a group of employee to work during the cultural national holiday in Thailand (Buddhist festival celebration). The manager has promised to his customer to dispatch his employees to support production and will pay triple salary for the over-time working hours. Without understanding the cultural practice of religious celebration in Thailand, he applied pure ethnocentric management style that worked well in Japan into Thailand society. That incident caused cultural conflict between that group or worker and the expatriate. 6. Conclusions The internationalization process of Mastec is still at an early stage where there are still many activities needed to put in place to strengthen its operation. Mastec need to look beyond its coverage of IHRM studies in the area of training and development, performance management of expatriate, management of repatriates, succession plan, industrial relation, and human resources management in host-country. The issues and problems that arise could be avoided if the proper pre-departure trainings were conducted before expatriate assignment. People before Products is a philosophy of the founder of Panasonic Group company, Konosuke Matsushita (1984-1989), emphasize on cultivating the potential ability and development of workers before business [Konosuke Matsushita, 2007]. For example, Samsung Electronics used internal developed Local Expert program to train employees to better understand the international business environment [Tony Michell, 2010]. We can also predict that in long run there is possibility for parent company decision to move toward to polycentric system in Southeast Asia region subjected to successful of current arrangement. Therefore, it is crucial for Mastec to implement more IHRM activities in order to demonstrate its independency and capability to manage the regional business. At the same time, it is essential to gain respect and trust from headquarter by adopting strong corporate governance, cooperation and compliances to headquarter HR policies in Japan. 7. Bibliography Peter J.Dowling; Marion Festing Allen D.Engle, SR.: International Human Resources Management (2008). South-Western Cengage Learning Hugh Scullion Margaret Linehan: International Human Resources Management (2005) Evan P; Lorange: The Two Logics Behind Human Resource Management (1989). Palgrave Macmillan Hugh Bucknall; Reiji Ohtaki: Mastering Business in Asia (2005). John Wiley Son D.A. Heenan and H.V. Perlmutter: Multinational Organization Development (1979) Addision-Wesley. Prahalad C.K.; and Doz Y.L: The Multinational Mission, Balancing Local Demand and Global Vision (1987). New York, Free Press Mujtaba B.G: Cross Cultural Change Management (2006). Liumina Press, Tamarac, Florida Guergana Karadjova-Stoev; Mujtaba B.G: Strategy Human Resource Management and Global Expansion Lessons from The Euro Disney Challenges in France, International Business Economics Research Journal, Vol.8, No. 1 (January 2009), pp.69-77 Y.Zeira: Management Development in Ethnocentric Multinational Corporation, California Business Review, Vol. 18, No.4 (1976), pp.34-42 Lionel Laroche; Don Rutherford: Recruiting, Retaining, and Promoting Culturally Differences Employees (2007). Butterworth-Heinemanm Jon Miller (2007): The Art of Nemawashi http://www.gembapantarei.com/2007/03/the_art_of_nemawashi.html Geert Hofstedeà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ Cultural Dimensions. http://www.geert-hofstede.com/ Geert Hofstede: Cultural and Organization Intercultural-cooperation and its important for survival (1994). Maidenhead, McGraw Hill Bohlander/Snell: Managing Human Resources (2007), 14e. Thomson South-Western Eugene McKenna and Nic Beech: Human Resources Management-a concise analysis (2002). Financial times, Prentice Hall P. Caligiuri: The Big Five Personality Characteristics as Predictors of Expatriates Desire to Terminate the Assignment and Supervisor-rated Performance. Personal Psychology, Vol. 53 (2000), pp 67-88. R.Marschanp-Piekkari, D.Welch and L.Welch: Adopting Common Corporate Language, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 10, No.3 (1999), pp.377-90 Riki Takeuchi, Seokhwa Yun, and Paul Tesluk: An Examination of Crossover and Spillover Effects of Spousal and Expatriate Cross-Cultural Adjustment on Expatriate Outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 87, No. 4 (August 2002): 655-66. Konosuke Matsushita: Konosuke Matsushitas Enduring Insight-The Heart of Management (2007). PHP INSTITUTE, INC, ISBN978-4-569-69112-1 Tony Michell: Samsung Electronics-and the struggle for leadership of the electronics industry (2010). John Wiley Son

Controlling Soil Fertility Essay -- Agriculture Farming Essays

Controlling Soil Fertility Approximately 2 billion hectares of land, 17% of the total vegetated area of the earth has been degraded for agricultural purposes since 1945 (Oldeman et al., 1990). Oldeman et al. (1990) classify about half of this degraded area as still permitting agricultural use, but with greatly reduced productivity, and in the rest no agriculture is deemed possible. The causes of this degradation are overgrazing (35%), agricultural activities (28%), deforestation (30%), over exploitation (7%) and industrialization (1%). Wind and water erosion are the principal mechanisms of this soil degradation, accounting for about 56% and 28% respectively of the total; 12% is attributable to chemical degradation (due to insufficient manure and fertilizer returned to cropped areas, salinization by unwise irrigation or drainage, soil acidification not corrected by liming, and pollution caused by industrial and other urban uses) and the remaining 4% is physical degradation from compaction or flooding. (Oldeman et al., 1990) Moreover, it has become increasingly evident that although crop yields seem to be increasing, they are increasing at a decreasing rate. Krauss and Allmaras (1982) argue that this is largely due to the fact that in many areas, poor soil management is leading to soil degradation which is ignored as long as crop yields continue to rise. Technological advances such as improved cultivation systems, irrigation and pest control mask the negative effects of poor soil management on crop yields (Krauss and Allmaras, 1982, p85). What are the factors that contribute to the suitability of a soil for agricultural purposes? To what extent can people control these factors to halt soil degradation and maintain, enha... ..., L.R., V.W.P van Engelen, and J.H.M. Pulles. 1990. The extent of human induced soil degradation. Annex 5 of World Man of the Status of Human-Induced Soil Degradation: An Explanatory Note, rev. 2nd edn., International Soil Reference and Information Center, Wageningen, Netherlands as cited by J.Schnoor and V. Thomas, 1994, Soil as a Vulnerable Environmental System pp233-44 in R. Socolow, C. Andrews, F. Berkhour and V. Thomas (eds.), Industrial Ecology and Global Change: Cambridge University Press. Robinson, C.A., R.M. Cruse, and K.A. Kohler, 1994, Soil Management, pp 109-134 in J.L. Hatfield and D.L. Karlen (eds.) Sustainable Agricultural Systems: Boca Raton, Florida, Lewis Publishers, 316pp. USGS, 1988, Essential Elements and Soil Amendments for Plants: Sources and use for agriculture: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1017, U.S. Government Printing Office, 48pp

Comparing Gilgamesh and Odysseus :: Compare Contrast Comparison

Gilgamesh and Odysseus are two heroes from two different time periods that were both in search of the meaning of life. The epics that the two characters are featured in Gilgamesh, was developed from early Mesopotamia and the Odyssey in early Greece. Gilgamesh was a very popular and it was very valuable to the historian of Mesopotamian culture because it reveals much about the religious world, such as their attitudes toward the gods, how a hero was defined and regarded, views about death and friendship. The Odyssey was also very popular in it’s time. It was set in ancient Greece where in its culture; mythology was the heart of everyday life. The Greek Culture turned to mythology to explain different phenomena for which they had no scientific explanation and this was prominent in the epic the Odyssey. While preparing to write this paper, I thought it would be great just to focus on the heroes of these two great epics many differences. Although during the course of my research I found that they also had just as many similarities. In this paper I will focus on the two characters by expressing their differences, as well as their similarities, and I will also give a bit of history about our two heroes. Gilgamesh, the hero from the epic Gilgamesh, was the historical king of Uruk in Babylonia, on the river Euphrates in modern Iraq: he lived about 2700B.C. Odysseus, the hero from the epic the Odysseus, was the ruler of the island kingdom of Ithaca. He was one of the most prominent Greek leaders of the Trojan War. Both of these men were granted certain strengths, Gilgamesh had physical, while Odysseus had mental strengths. Gilgamesh was a very self confident and at times that self confidence led to him to have little compassion for the people of Uruk at he beginning of the story. He was their king, but not their protector; he kills their sons and rapes their daughters. He felt like he was superior to others due to the fact that he was two-thirds god, his mother was a goddess Ninsun and one third human. This fact is the key to all of his actions. This is also what sets him apart from the hero Odysseus. While Gilgamesh was a hero thought to be more beautiful, more courageous, more terrifying than all of the people of Uruk. Even though his desires, attributes, and accomplishments were just as there’s, he was still mortal.

Magnetic Fields of Stationary Magnets :: physics science magnet magnetic field

Missing figures/equations My goal in writing this paper is two fold. Goal one is to try and understand how a stationary magnet exerts force by means of a magnetic field (even across a complete vacuum). Frequently, electromagnetic fields are compared to the gravitational field. Goal two is to explore the similarities between the two types of fields to see if comparison throws any light on the mechanism of magnetic field generation. The term action-at-a-distance is often used to describe forces that travel through space and exert their effect without directly touching the objects acted upon. Newton's idea of instantaneous action-at-a-distance has been replaced by the modern action-at-a-distance which is transmitted at the speed of light so as to avoid conflict with Relativity Theory (Hoyle and Narlikar 1974). The term "field theory" either replaces action-at-a-distance or is used as the means by which action-at-a-distance transmits force. In this paper "field" will represent the means of transmitting forces such as electromagnetism and gravity, avoiding the need for the term action-at-a-distance. Magnetic fields are frequently compared to gravitational fields. Gravitational fields cause a curvature of space-time. That curvature of space-time provides a mechanism for the gravitational attraction between masses. A magnet also causes a curvature of space-time. In fact a magnet can cause space-time curvature in several distinct ways.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner Chapters 14

â€Å"I heard someone get hurt – Kristie needs me more than Raoul,† he explained quickly. â€Å"Are you†¦ leaving us?† Riley's face changed. It was like I could see his shifting tactics written on his features. His eyes widened, suddenly anxious. â€Å"I'm worried, Bree. I told you that she was going to meet us, to help us, but I haven't crossed her trail. Something's wrong. I need to find her.† â€Å"But there's no way you can find her before Raoul gets to the yel ow-eyes,† I pointed out. â€Å"I have to find out what's going on.† He sounded genuinely desperate. â€Å"I need her. I wasn't supposed to do this alone!† â€Å"But the others†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Bree, I have to go find her! Now! There are enough of you to overwhelm the yel ow-eyes. I'l get back to you as soon as I can.† He sounded so sincere. I hesitated, glancing back the way we had come. Fred would be halfway to Vancouver by now. Riley hadn't even asked about him. Maybe Fred's talent was stil in effect. â€Å"Diego's down there, Bree,† Riley said urgently. â€Å"He'l be part of the first attack. Didn't you catch his scent back there? Did you not get close enough?† I shook my head, total y confused. â€Å"Diego was there?† â€Å"He's with Raoul by now. If you hurry, you can help him get out alive.† We stared at each other for a long second, and then I looked south after Raoul's path. â€Å"Good girl,† Riley said. â€Å"I'l go find her and we'l be back to help clean up. You guys have got this! It might be over by the time you get there!† He took off in a direction perpendicular to our original path. I clenched my teeth at how sure he seemed of his way. Lying to the end. But it didn't feel like I had a choice. I headed south in a flatout sprint again. I had to go get Diego. Drag him away if it came to that. We could catch up with Fred. Or take off on our own. We needed to run. I would tel Diego how Riley had lied. He would see that Riley had no intention of helping us fight the battle he'd set up. There was no reason to help him anymore. I found the human's scent and then Raoul's. I didn't catch Diego's. Was I going too fast? Or was the human's scent just overpowering me? Half my head was absorbed in this strangely counterproductive hunt – sure, we would find the girl, but would we be ready to fight together when we did? No, we'd be clawing each other apart to get to her. And then I heard the snarling and screaming and screeching explode from ahead and I knew the fight was happening and I was too late to beat Diego there. I only ran faster. Maybe I could stil save him. I smel ed the smoke – the sweet, thick scent of vampires burning – carried back to me on the wind. The sound of mayhem was louder. Maybe it was almost done. Would I find our coven victorious and Diego waiting? I dashed through a heavy fringe of smoke and found myself out of the forest in a huge grassy field. I leaped over a rock, only to realize in the instant I flew past it that it was a headless torso. My eyes raked the field. There were pieces of vampires everywhere, and a huge bonfire smoking purple into the sunny sky. Out from under the bil owing haze, I could see dazzling, glittering bodies darting and grappling as the sounds of vampires being torn apart went on and on. I looked for one thing: Diego's curly black hair. No one I could see had hair so dark. There was one huge vampire with brown hair that was almost black, but he was too big, and as I focused I watched him tear Kevin's head off and pitch it into the fire before leaping on someone else's back. Was that Jen? There was another with straight black hair that was too smal to be Diego. That one was moving so fast I couldn't tel if it was a boy or a girl. I scanned quickly again, feeling horribly exposed. I took in the faces. There weren't nearly enough vampires here, even counting those that were down. I didn't see any of Kristie's group. There must have been a lot of vampires burned already. Most of the vampires stil standing were strangers. A blond vampire glanced at me, meeting my gaze, and his eyes flashed gold in the sunlight. We were losing. Bad. I started backing toward the trees, not moving fast enough because I was stil looking for Diego. He wasn't here. There was no sign he had ever been here. No trace of his scent, though I could distinguish the smel s of most of Raoul's team and many strangers. I had made myself look at the pieces, too. None of them belonged to Diego. I would have recognized even a finger. I turned and real y ran for the trees, suddenly positive that Diego's presence here was just another of Riley's lies. And if Diego wasn't here, then he was already dead. This fel into place for me so easily that I thought I must have known the truth for a while. Since the moment that Diego had not fol owed Riley through the basement door. He'd already been gone. I was a few feet into the trees when a force like a wrecking bal hit me from behind and threw me to the ground. An arm slipped under my chin. â€Å"Please!† I sobbed. And I meant please kill me fast. The arm hesitated. I didn't fight back, though my instincts were urging me to bite and claw and rip the enemy apart. The saner part of me knew that wasn't going to work. Riley had lied about these weak, older vampires, too, and we'd never had a chance. But even if I'd had a way to beat this one, I wouldn't have been able to move. Diego was gone, and that glaring fact kil ed the fight in me. Suddenly I was airborne. I crashed into a tree and crumpled to the ground. I should have tried to run, but Diego was dead. I couldn't get around that. The blond vampire from the clearing was staring intently at me, his body ready to spring. He looked very capable, much more experienced than Riley. But he wasn't lunging at me. He wasn't crazed like Raoul or Kristie. He was total y in control. â€Å"Please,† I said again, wanting him to get this over with. â€Å"I don't want to fight.† Though he stil held himself ready, his face changed. He looked at me in a way I didn't total y get. There was a lot of knowledge in that face, and something else. Empathy? Pity, at least. â€Å"Neither do I, child,† he said in a calm, kind voice. â€Å"We are only defending ourselves.† There was such honesty in his odd yel ow eyes that it made me wonder how I had ever believed any of Riley's stories. I felt†¦ guilty. Maybe this coven had never planned to attack us in Seattle. How could I trust any part of what I'd been told? â€Å"We didn't know,† I explained, somehow ashamed. â€Å"Riley lied. I'm sorry.† He listened for a moment, and I realized that the battlefield was quiet. It was over. If I'd been in any doubt over who the winner was, that doubt was gone when, a second later, a female vampire with wavy brown hair and yel ow eyes hurried to his side. â€Å"Carlisle?† she asked in a confused voice, staring at me. â€Å"She doesn't want to fight,† he told her. The woman touched his arm. He was stil tensed to spring. â€Å"She's so frightened, Carlisle. Couldn't we†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The blond, Carlisle, glanced back at her, and then he straightened up a little, though I could see he was stil wary. â€Å"We have no wish to harm you,† the woman said to me. She had a soft, soothing voice. â€Å"We didn't want to fight any of you.† â€Å"I'm sorry,† I whispered again. I couldn't make sense of the mess in my head. Diego was dead, and that was the main thing, the devastating thing. Other than that, the fight was over, my coven had lost and my enemies had won. But my dead coven was ful of people who would have loved to watch me burn, and my enemies were speaking to me kindly when they had no reason to. Moreover, I felt safer with these two strangers than I'd ever felt with Raoul and Kristie. I was relieved that Raoul and Kristie were dead. It was so confusing. â€Å"Child,† Carlisle said, â€Å"wil you surrender to us? If you do not try to harm us, we promise we wil not harm you.† And I believed him. â€Å"Yes,† I whispered. â€Å"Yes, I surrender. I don't want to hurt anybody.† He held out his hand encouragingly. â€Å"Come, child. Let our family regroup for a moment, then we'l have some questions for you. If you answer honestly, you have nothing to fear.† I got up slowly, making no movements that could be considered threatening. â€Å"Carlisle?† a male voice cal ed. And then another yel ow-eyed vampire joined us. Any sort of safety I'd felt with these strangers vanished as soon as I saw him. He was blond, like the first, but tal er and leaner. His skin was absolutely covered in scars, spaced most thickly together on his neck and jaw. A few smal marks on his arm were fresh, but the rest were not from the brawl today. He had been in more fights than I could have imagined, and he'd never lost. His tawny eyes blazed and his stance exuded the barely contained violence of an angry lion. As soon as he saw me he coiled to spring. â€Å"Jasper!† Carlisle warned. Jasper pul ed up short and stared at Carlisle with wide eyes. â€Å"What's going on?† â€Å"She doesn't want to fight. She's surrendered.† The scarred vampire's brow clouded, and suddenly I felt an unexpected surge of frustration, though I had no idea what I was frustrated with. â€Å"Carlisle, I†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He hesitated, then continued, â€Å"I'm sorry, but that's not possible. We can't have any of these newborns associated with us when the Volturi come. Do you realize the danger that would put us in?† I didn't understand exactly what he was saying, but I got enough. He wanted to kil me. â€Å"Jasper, she's only a child,† the woman protested. â€Å"We can't just murder her in cold blood!† It was strange to hear her speak like we both were people, like murder was a bad thing. An avoidable thing. â€Å"It's our family on the line here, Esme. We can't afford to have them think we broke this rule.† The woman, Esme, walked between me and the one who wanted to kil me. Incomprehensibly, she turned her back to me. â€Å"No. I won't stand for it.† Carlisle shot me an anxious glance. I could see that he cared a lot for this woman. I would have looked the same way at anyone behind Diego's back. I tried to appear as docile as I felt. â€Å"Jasper, I think we have to take the chance,† he said slowly. â€Å"We are not the Volturi. We fol ow their rules, but we do not take lives lightly. We wil explain.† â€Å"They might think we created our own newborns in defense.† â€Å"But we didn't. And even had we, there was no indiscretion here, only in Seattle. There is no law against creating vampires if you control them.† â€Å"This is too dangerous.† Carlisle touched Jasper's shoulder tentatively. â€Å"Jasper. We cannot kil this child.† Jasper glowered at the man with the kind eyes, and I was suddenly angry. Surely he wouldn't hurt this gentle vampire or the woman he loved. Then Jasper sighed, and I knew it was okay. My anger evaporated. â€Å"I don't like this,† he said, but he was calmer. â€Å"At least let me take charge of her. You two don't know how to deal with someone who's been running wild so long.† â€Å"Of course, Jasper,† the woman said. â€Å"But be kind.† Jasper rol ed his eyes. â€Å"We need to be with the others. Alice said we don't have long.† Carlisle nodded. He held his hand out to Esme, and they headed past Jasper back toward the open field. â€Å"You there,† Jasper said to me, his face a glower again.

Energy Summary Essay

In this paper we explain some current environmental problems and how some people are looking for quick and temporary solutions without taking into consideration the environment. These solutions might be beneficial for the human existence in the present time or for a short period of time but the imminent destruction of the environment will be permanent due to the damage caused by the last generations, which are now seeing the consequences of the irresponsible way in which nature has been exploited. Today there are more laws, organizations, and measures to minimize or deny a holding that will favor some nations for a short time but forever destroy the environment without thinking about the next generations. In addition, we explain how United States is dealing with nuclear waste, the biggest threat to the environment; even small amounts can be extremely dangerous for the humanity. Here we will see how the location of these plants could be threatened by underground geography, and natural distastes as earthquakes. The arctic National Wildlife Refuge The arctic National Wildlife Refuge is home to thousands of species of animals and plants that are exclusive to the area. This refuge was created to protect these species from human development and interests because of how fragile the ecosystem is in this area. â€Å"The organisms living here have adapted to their environment, but any additional stress has the potential to harm or even kill them. Thus, arctic organisms are particularly vulnerable to human activities† (Raven, P. , Berg, L. & Hassenzahl, D. , 2010). The primary energy source in the area is crude oil. It has been said that the area contains enough oil to supply our nation’s needs for approximately a decade, which would temporarily reduce the nations need for dependence on foreign oil. The oil reserves that have been found in Alaska are some of the largest reserves that have been found in our nation, which helps continue to fuel the discussion for drilling to begin. The o ther argument for drilling is the need to reduce dependency on foreign oil. The economic impact that drilling these oil reserves would be huge, but it would be temporary. The money spent each year on foreign oil would be reduced and utilized for other needs of the nation, but once that oil is gone and used up the nation would be back in the same position it was currently facing. The stakeholders in this case are the animal and plant species native to the area, as well as the businessmen in the oil industry and the consumers. Advocates for conserving the area will stress for the need to keep the area untouched for the sake of the life forms there. The businessmen and the consumer will continue to advocate for the drilling of this land as long as fuel prices remain high, and as long as the nation’s dependence on foreign oil remains so substantial. There are numerous solutions that can be found to the oil problem, but none of them are cheap. Technology exists today for vehicles and businesses to run on natural gas, solar power, and even bio-diesel. These technologies are safer on the environment as well as safer for the health of the consumer. Big business leaders resist these technologies because it will cut into the profits they already make off of the oil industry. The Yucca Mountains The Yucca Mountains, which are located roughly 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas has been identified as a location to store nuclear waste by the US government (Raven, P. , Berg, L. , & Hassenzahl, D. , 2010). In 1954 the government made the decision to be responsible in the disposal of high level nuclear waste. The first of the actions taken by the US government involved storing nuclear waste in the salts beds near Carlsbad, New Mexico (Raven, P. , Berg, L. , & Hassenzahl, D. , 2010). At this time although the Yucca Mountains has been chosen as a location to store the waste, the actual disposal process has not yet started. There is discussion and observations of nuclear power and its impact on the environment. Nuclear waste is a result of nuclear power releasing amounts of ionizing radiation in the atmosphere. Looking at the current economics the supply of nuclear power is guessed to last 100+ years leading to the planning of waste disposal as long as it is used. Experiments show that the waste level is lower than other energy sources but has extreme concerns of risk from catastrophic accident which include water pollution and long term health issues when exposed. Take for example the Chernobyl Accident of 1986 where a plant explosion and fires released at up to 5% of the radioactive reactor core in to the atmosphere and downwind, (â€Å"Chernobyl Accident 1986†, 2012). As a result of the accident there were fatalities and injuries and now showing cases of illness due to exposure. With the governments interest in taking responsibility in the disposal of nuclear waste using the Yucca Mountains has convinced them that the location is the right place. But before it can be executed there is more testing and experiments that are being conducted. There is still much work to in order before execution of the disposal plan. The remote profile of the location makes for a good place. Billions of dollars have been spent by the government conducting feasibility of the area (Raven, P. , Berg, L. , & Hassenzahl, D. , 2010). There is a delay in the planning to use the mountains because there is an argument that regardless of the remoteness it is still near an area where earthquake and volcanic actions can still occur. Monitoring continues and the government over-see’s the expenses as part of their interest and responsibility to the environment. As researchers continue explore the study of nuclear power and its waste the limited resources remain around this topic. Carlsbad had offered to dispose some of the waste but the Yucca remains to be a target. With Nevada’s best interest at hand the delay to deposit the waste may have been an indirect positive benefit right now. As an alternative strategy the as Nevada and the government try to come to an agreement suggestions of alternatives should and must be discussed. Looking at a short term solution the nuclear waste maybe disposed in substitute locations. Another strategy to act in assistance to the concern might be to limit nuclear waste until other arrangements can be put in place by the government and participating businesses. The Three Gorge Dam The Three Gorge Dam, located on the Yangtze River (is the third largest river in the world) in China, is the world’s largest hydropower project. The dam supplies water to the hydroelectric plant. Advantages of the dam include helping control the downstream flooding and waterway navigation purposes. River navigation is the only means of long-distance, cost-effective transportation of freight. (â€Å"Three Gorges Dam†, n. d. ). The Three Gorge Dam project has a great abundance of water currently available but the environmental impact is great. Environmental impact includes soil erosions, industrial water pollutants, loss of ecosystems, endangering species (biodiversity), disruption of local species habitat (fish migration) and siltation. (Min, n. d. ). Hundreds of factories, mines, and waste dumps were submerged creating industrial pollutants in the reservoir. Erosion from the downstream riverbanks causes landslides and changing ecosystems. Pristine and biologically diverse river basins are being used for the construction of hydropower. Another environmental concern is the actual weight of the reservoirs water increasing seismicity. Economical and ethical issues include the project funding, the relocation of more than 1. 2 million people (to more inland urban cities), agricultural shifts, and the flooding of numerous cities, villages, and towns. (â€Å"Three Gorges Dam, China†, 2009). Vital farmlands would be submerged (along with million dollar metal mines) and the lack of replenishing land will affect the countries agriculture prices. Additionally the reservoir would trap over 75% of the sedimentation (â€Å"natural fertilizer† for the downstream Delta). Relocating over one million people is an incredibly difficult task. The Chinese government is solely interested in this project to produce more efficient power for the country (generating 84 billion kilowatt/hour (kW/h) of hydroelectric power each year). That is equivalent to 18 nuclear power plants or large coal power plants. Given the severe air quality problems facing China and its current reliance on imported energy, this is a great advantage. Possible strategies for creating alternative energy sources are limited. Solar energy is a great way, but China does not have much ground space for solar systems. Conservation is weighed on both sides of the argument. To preserve the existing land, ecosystems, and waterways would be the best choice in conservation. But, hydroelectric power is cheaper than fossil fuel power. And since the dam in already in place, it is time to conserve for future species and their offspring. Ongoing studies of critically endangered species should be of primary concern. Also, conserving the rest of Chinas agricultural land is important, since a percentage was lost creating the dam. Conclusion Even though many countries around the word are looking for new sustainable energy solutions, trying very hard to minimize the impact on the environment, the leading energy companies are still not willing to make the necessary investments. These companies should receive the proper incentive and political support to start investing in our energy future. In the last few years the â€Å"go green† culture is getting stronger and is attracting more followers every single day. There are government programs incenting the purchase of energy efficient cars, home electronics or green homes. Only a hand full of countries are willing to see this problem as a priority and it will take more time and damage to the environment until the entire world will come to the same realization. Hopefully, in the near future clean and sustainable energy will be the norm and the damage to the environment will be stopped or at list minimized.