Final Exam Solutions (Leadership and Organizational Behavior) Essay

1. TCO A, B) Define organizational behavior and list the four emotional intelligence competencies that contribute to understanding ourselves and others within the organizational behavior environment. 2. (TCO D) Referring to the team decision-making process, define consensus and unanimity and explain the difference between the two. 3. (TCO E, F) Although conflict is usually considered a negative experience to be avoided, it actually has the potential to produce positive organizational outcomes. Please identify three ways in which conflict can be a positive influence. 4. (TCO G) There are six sources of position power in organizational settings. Identify and define three of these sources. 5. (TCO H, I, J) The senior executive team at AllGoodThings.com, after a strategy review session with the Board of Directors, has decided that it’s time to invest some time and capital in improving the corporate culture. The company has rebounded from a near calamity two years ago, and while it was a great scramble, the company survived and is in the strongest position ever. They knew that the culture had been strained by the episode and wanted sincerely to work to bring things back to â€Å"normal.† With the assistance of local HR offices, a case was made to the employee population that certain aspects of their current culture might have suffered over the past few years and that it was time to think about change. They announced that they would be undergoing an organizational culture review and that everyone’s opinion was valued. A whopping 79% of the employees participated in the survey that they administered. Senior management had worked with the consultants for a few months before the survey was given and had determined their â€Å"Ideal† scores. The survey confirmed their suspicions. 6. (TCO C) As a manager you are in a situation where a key employee seems to have lost his excitement about the job. The employee’s familiar positive tone and high energy approach to the job and the workplace seem to be on the wane. You really don’t know what is going on with this person. But, you can try to start to understand this employee by examining various motivation theories. Use elements from each of Maslow’s theory, Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory, and Equity theory and assemble your own motivation theory to help you to start understanding this employee. Be sure to fully explain and define all elements that you use in your new model of motivation. Finally, compose a short case to demonstrate how your motivation model can actually be applied. 7. (TCO G) The Michigan and Ohio State studies represent seminal research on leadership theory. Both studies identified two basic forms of leader behaviors. What were the similarities in the findings from these two studies and what was the significance of the research? 8. (TCO A, B) In order to meet organizational goals and objectives management must comprehend organizational behavior in relationship to the functions of management. List and describe the management process functions and describe how the five personality traits contribute to the management process. 9. (TCO E, F) Neff Incorporated is a small business with 100 employees and 4 managers. 10.(TCO D) Define the concept of social loafing. Why does social loafing occur? Give an example of social loafing and a suggestion for how to prevent it.

The Negative Effects of Tobacco

The nicotine can be consumed by chewing tobacco apart from smoking and sniffing . The article provides insight into the hazards of chewing tobacco . If you believe that only smoking is injurious, certainly not. Any form of nicotine consumption is injurious. Tobacco is bad for health, no matter in what form you take it the ill effects are always there. Tobacco are leaves of plant that are used in dried form, they are high in nicotine and consequently addictive in nature. Tobacco can be taken in the form of: Chewing Snuff Smoking. The high content of nicotine makes it very addictive, once a person gets addicted to smoking, chewing or sniffing it becomes difficult to leave it. At times efforts fail and person goes back to taking tobacco. Chewing of Tobacco Chewing tobacco also known as smokeless tobacco is equally bad as smoking. It is a myth that chewing is not as harmful as smoking. Chewing tobacco is made of tobacco, nicotine, sweeteners and chemicals. The continuous chewing process gives a constant high to the person. This high leads gives temporary relief from stress and anxiety. Small temporary relief leads the person to use it frequently and before the person realizes he is addicted. Effects of Chewing tobacco leads to numerous side effects, which can be internal or external. The main harmful effects of tobacco are Erodes Tooth The ingredients of tobacco consist of gravels, sand, and other harmful chemicals that erode the enamel of tooth. Continuous chewing leads to early loss of tooth. Early Decay Of Tooth Chewing leaves small particles in tooth that forms bacteria and plaque, it harms enamel and gums, which leads to decay of tooth. Gum slump Chewing leads to decomposing of gums, the gums get infected and the grip on tooth loosens which exposes the sensitive area of tooth. Bad Breadth There is nothing as bad as bad breadth of a person, they are major turn off for people around them. The long-term habit of chewing and spitting is unacceptable and looks indecent. Affects Eating Habit Eating habit of people who chews tobacco tends to be unhealthy, continuous chewing affects the taste bud and the sensitivity of them decreases. This leads to an increase in intake of more salt, sugar and spices in food as he feels a bland taste in his mouth. The above effects of tobacco is just the beginning of trouble for people who chew, it has more deep rooted and life threatening effects. Chewing of tobacco has major or near to fatal effect on addicted people. The major areas where they proved to be fatal are: Damage to tongue, jaw and lips Lung Cancer Oral Cancer Damage to tongue, jaw and lips As mentioned above chewing leads to the early decay of tooth, bad breadth, damaged gums and falling of tooth. The addiction of tobacco affects the area around the mouth. The tongue and jaws face the following problems: Dis-coloring of lips and lip cancer Sore Throat Difficulty in movement of jaws and tongue Rashes or irritation on tongue Burning sensation on lips and tongue Oral Cancer Continuous chewing process leaves infectious juices on tooth and lips. These develop in white patches that can be considered as an early symptom of oral cancer. People who indulge in tobacco chewing have higher risk of oral cancer to people who take alcohol. The most infected area in oral cancer is the tongue and the area below the tongue. The cancer slowly spreads to cheeks and throat. Though it can attack any part lips, tongue, upper and lower mouth, the cheeks, or gums and esophagus. It is very important to go for early diagnosis as soon as one feels suspicious. Lung Cancer Chewing tobacco leads to oral cancer but it is not the end of it can spread the disease in lungs and linings of stomach. Reports show that 90% of lung cancers are cases of people who either smoke or chew tobacco. Destructive agents termed as carcinogens in tobacco injure the cells in the lungs. Over a period of time, these spoiled cells may develop into lung cancer. Dipping tobacco is a way to take nicotine into your system without smoking. It is in essence a smokeless tobacco. You do not chew on it, but rather a small pinch of the tobacco is placed between your gums and lips. While the dip tobacco sits in your mouth, your body produces saliva. This saliva takes nicotine into the arteries of the blood stream, giving the same effect as smoking a cigarette would. Often, excess saliva is produced which the user will spit out. Is It Chewing Tobacco? Many smokers wonder whether dipping or chewing tobacco is a better alternative to smoking. Others wonder if they are the same thing or not. Dipping tobacco is often confused with chewing tobacco. In fact, many people call dip â€Å"chew,† which is a common term used to describe chewing tobacco. It is not the same thing, however. The tobacco derivatives in chewing tobacco are entirely different than the derivatives in dip. Also, dip is not chewed, whereas chewing tobacco must be chewed to release all of the nicotine. Canadian Dip Versus American Dip. Both Canadian and American tobacco manufacturers make dip, but in different amounts and sizes. The Canadian tins are much smaller than the American tins. In fact, Canadian tins, which are fifteen grams, are less than half the size of the thirty-four gram American variety. Also, in Canada, users must pay quite a bit more for dip than users in the States. The United States tends to have a wider variety of dipping tobacco flavors than Canadian markets, and new flavors are usually released in the US first because of tobacco de-normalization laws in Canada. According to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, an estimated 23. 9 percent of people in the United States over the age of 12 were current cigarette smokers in 2008. However, the American Heart Association (AHA) reports that cigarette smoking is responsible for 440,000 deaths each year. MedlinePlus reports that both cigarettes (smoking tobacco) and chewing (smokeless) tobacco are bad for your health, and cause multiple and often fatal health problems. Cardiovascular Disease One negative effect that tobacco and nicotine addiction has on the health of the body is cardiovascular disease. AHA reports that cigarette smokers are two to three times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than people who do not smoke. Also according to AHA, of the 440,000 deaths each year caused by cigarette smoking, 135,000 are due to smoking-related cardiovascular diseases. Nicotine in tobacco products causes an increase in blood pressure and heart rate, and a narrowing of the arteries. Carbon monoxide that is inhaled when tobacco is smoked decreases the amount of oxygen carried by the blood to feed the body's tissues. The AHA reports that carbon monoxide and nicotine damages the artery walls, which leads to the deposition of fat and narrowing of arteries, which further increases blood pressure. Damaged vessels and high blood pressure are all risk factors for heart failure. Furthermore, smoking tobacco causes the blood to clot more easily, which may cause a heart attack or stroke. see survivor stories & chat online with our oncology info specialists Cancer Another negative effect caused by smoking or chewing tobacco is cancer. MedlinePlus reports that cigarette smoking causes 87 percent of lung cancer cases in the United States. According to the American Lung Association (ALA) cigarette smoke contains 69 chemicals that are known to cause cancer. Smokeless tobacco is also a known cause of cancer, and is the leading cause of cancer in the mouth. Lung Disease A third negative effect of tobacco is lung disease, caused by the cigarette smoking. The ALA reports that smoking cigarettes are responsible for 80 to 90 percent of COPD (including emphysema and chronic bronchitis) deaths. Emphysema is a condition where the tissue in the lungs becomes stretched out and lacks the elasticity of normal lung tissue. This prevents breathing air from efficiently transferring oxygen into the blood stream. Long-term swelling of the tissue in the airways and an overproduction of mucus characterize chronic bronchitis. Both the swelling and the mucus make it difficult to breath, causing even normal activity to be difficult. Thus, tobacco and nicotine invariably lead to heart disease, cancer, and chronic lung disease. Even though these are very real threats, million of Americans find that nicotine addiction is hard to break.

Role Of Effective Communication and Interpersonal Reaction

Effective communication is a big part of the various skills that are required by personnel within a health and social care setting and it is mainly to ensure that they are effective at meeting the needs of the numerous people who use the services that they help to provide. In order for them to develop effective communication skills, they will need to be aware of the use of communication theories. A wide range of communication theories are available in order to give support towards effective communication between personnel and the service users.Argyle is one of the theorists who studied the topic of effective communication within this particular setting. He produced theories on human communication and also interpersonal interaction. He looked at various aspects of verbal and nonverbal communication and was able to produce a communication cycle with his findings. The stages of Argyle’s communication cycle are as follows; an idea will occur and a message will in turn be coded, th is message will then be sent and received the message will then be decoded and understood by the receiver.The first stage is when we think about what exactly it is that we what to say and who we are going to say it too. Stage number two is when we plan on saying it. Stage Three is message received and occurs when a person hears what you have said. Stage number four is then decoding the received message. The fifth stage is when the message is fully understood by the receiver and when they are actually able to understand what you have been saying to them. As well as Argyle being quite an important figure with these studies, there was also another man who contributes just as much. He is known as Tuckman.Again, like Argyle, Tuckman's theory is carried out and defined with the use of numerous stages but also looks at the groups aspect of effective communication. Stage number one is known as Forming: This is an important stage of the theory as this is when the group members begin to learn more about each other becoming more friendly and comfortable within the group as a whole. The reason it would be seen as a rather important stage is because while people don’t necessarily know each other they will tend to behave more independently and not engage with the group setting that has been assigned to them.Step number two is referred to as Storming: Storming is required for the group to enable it to grow as a single unit and not as people working on their own behalf. Tuckman discovered that not all group will make past this stage and so it separates the strong from the weak. By the stage it is hoped that groups will have allocated a leader. Step number three is Norming: This is the stage that the group agree on the rules that they will follow together and the group will begin to gain a higher degree of trust with one another.

Dismissal Meeting Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Dismissal Meeting - Coursework Example Hostility is bound to surface when the channels or steps taken do not satisfy the requisite legal requirements for termination of one’s employment. It is for the above reasons that this paper seeks to highlight step by step processes of conducting dismissal and ways managers can cope with the emotions that accompany an employee’s layoff (Sidney, 2009). The different types of dismissal are fair dismissal, unfair dismissal, constructive dismissal and wrongful dismissal. In most cases fair and unfair dismissal depend on two facts. These two facts are the reasons for the termination and the reaction that comes alongside the dismissal. However, for the constructive dismissal an employee may decide to put pen to paper an end to the employment contract due to a number of reasons. There are several ways that consequently lead to this kind of dismissal. For instant, when an employee’s wages are reduced in a manner that breaches the terms of agreement of the contract or the prevailing working conditions endangers the life of the employee or unjust increase in workload and discrimination of the employee (Sandler & Keefe, 2010). It is a natural phenomenon for the person being dismissed to feel resentment towards the manager. It is prudent that anything the manager does during the dismissal is aimed at minimizing as much as possible the resentment that the process may accompany. The repercussions for dismissal of a worker can be so detrimental not only to the company itself but also to the well being of the manager (Cushway, 2014). Due to competitive nature in the business arena, companies strive to create and maintain a nutritious image geared towards acquisition of customers for the short term purpose as well as long term purpose. If the distraught worker bad mouths the company after dismissal, customers may have some reservations towards that company. Moreover, the manager should avoid by all means using all the

Construction and management of a global macro fund Essay

Construction and management of a global macro fund - Essay Example The market fluctuations affect returns on investments and make investors lack confidence on investments. Therefore, a well maintained portfolio is vital to every investor aiming to succeed and at the same time manage risks. As an investor, you need to know how to allocate assets that suits personal goals and strategies. This means that the selected portfolio should be in a position of meeting your future capital needs. Every investor’s goal is to maximize wealth; therefore this report focuses on construction and management of portfolio for a mutual fund. The portfolio to be constructed should be the one with high returns and well diversified Portfolio analysis studies the performance of different portfolios under different circumstances (Angus, 2000). Portfolios can be grouped according to industries, countries or sector. Each group consists of sub-unit. For example, the financial sector can be made up of several banks or the Airline industry can be made up of several airline companies. The analysis of each portfolio helps an investor in making a decision when investing. Most likely, a rational investor will choose the best portfolio and screen out the ones that are not essential based on objective criteria. A good portfolio is characterized by high returns on investment. Portfolio analysis requires subjective judgment as it is not easy to segment different industries. Portfolio analysis is a process as different financial instruments have to be evaluated one by one. The process is time consuming and involves a lot of effort. In spite of these odds, Markowitz the fonder of modern portfolio analysis has simplified the process by suggesting the use of expected return and variance. In this report, we will discuss four steps of constructing a portfolio. Customers have different preferences and needs. Therefore, it is important to understand their expectations first. This entails ascertaining their financial

Ancient Greek Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ancient Greek Philosophy - Essay Example Thales was the person who grouped the similar weather conditions into seasons and he classified an year into 365 days. He had a good knowledge of geometry and worked with the lengths of the shadows. According to him " Place is the greatest thing, as it contains all things". His ethical sense about god is that god is transcendental, who has neither beginning nor an end. Further he defines a happy man as the one " who is healthy in body, resourceful in soul and of readily teachable in nature". He is one of the seven intelligent people of Greece who were called as the seven sages of Greece. The stories told by the Aristotle of any Tales assert that the reputation of any philosopher is same when tested for practical results. According to a story by Aristotle, as a philosopher he was considered poor and could not rely upon philosophy to earn a living. Then Thales with the knowledge of Astronomy predicted his future and got a solution to harvest olives in a large quantity. And when it was off season that it was winter, he couldn't get much of the crop and so stored them in Miletus and Chios. As there was no demand he gave small sum to hire the stores. Then when the right season came, there was full demand for his stored olive presses of money and thus he proved that with his intelligence he could become rich without struggling like others. And by being a philosopher he does not give importance to earn money. Cosmology doctrine of Thales, which was most famous belief, had declared that water is the source from which the world originated. Aristotle has equaled this belief to that of the idea of a Anaximenes a disciple of Thales, that "everything in the world was compared of air". Aristolte Metaphyphics explains in the bets form of Thales view. Every thing that exists emanated principally principle from a matter and it is compared of that matter and comes out from that and finally it ends up in forming the same matter last but the matter exists with some new transitional qualities which is called as element and it is the principle of everything. Also there must be some nature, at least one even two, from which the rest of the things come out and then they are preserved, and Thales say that the thing is water. But Aristotle's statements where not expected by the people and it raised some doubts that when an object changes, still contains it qualities or different qualities and how the change occurs from one thing to another, and the Thales affirmed that earth rests on water. He found out that every thing that is nourished, has moisture in it and the heat in a form of energy is obtained from this water and moisture. He considered as such by seeing the moisture in all the seeds, and water is the reason because of which to the world not as philosophy but as a scientific conclusion that " Water constituted the principle of all things " Thales of Miletus supposed that earth is in a rested state because it could float like wood and substances, which are similar to those whose nature is to be able to be to rest on water as against his doctrine that none of the things, can rest on air. He argued that the basis stuff the Universe is the one

The Methods of Data Collection and Analysis Term Paper

The Methods of Data Collection and Analysis - Term Paper Example A researcher’s expertise, knowledge, and thoughts influence the research to a large extent.   There are several situations in which qualitative research is more suitable such as to gain better understanding of lesser know phenomenon, or gather more information or new viewpoints. Since there are no standardized methods of qualitative inquiry practitioners usually follow a generally accepted sequence of steps. The first step towards designing qualitative research is to ascertain the focus of the study and the objectives which should also be able to justify the need for a qualitative research paradigm. This is followed by the identification and location of the sample group and size. Data collection, recording, interpretation strategies and timeline also need to be planned ahead. Sampling in qualitative research is mostly done through purposive method so that a specific population is targeted to receive in-depth information and build a case study. Purposive sampling is also of many types such as snowball, convenience and needs to be decided according to the objectives of the research. Data collection techniques in qualitative research usually employ interview focus group discussions and observation methods as well as the secondary review of available data. Inter views are open ended and can be in the form of informal conversations, semi-structured or standardized interviews. On the other hand, observations provide rich data about respondents in their natural settings. It allows the researcher to interpret a lot of information about the subjects without them even being aware of. Observations also allow the opportunity to record verbal and non-verbal cues in given settings, situations and among other people. At times, a researcher may also become a participant and get involved in the groups activities to gain insider knowledge about he subjects, especially when studying cultures. In addition to conducting first hand interviews and observations, review of documents, reports, notes or published data effectively supplements data collection efforts. Literature review also forms one of the first steps to gain more understanding of the area that needs to be researched.

Operatons management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Operatons management - Essay Example Moreover, the advancement of the information technology is another important add-on for logistic management. With the used of the advance IT system, operators can track the flow of materials from the point of purchasing inputs for productions to the point finished products are sold in the retail stores. This gives enough data for logistics managers to make a wise decision for the overall business operations. Lastly, the principles and value chain are also discussed. The principles of logistic management give pointers for managers to help them gauge the correctness and effectiveness of their decision making. Transport and logistics, according to the report written by Shepherd, is a sector in which global value chain (GVCs) play a vital role in connecting countries. It is also responsible for spreading technologies. It also promotes best practice with all the countries in the world. Major shipping, freight forwarding, express delivery firms are just a few of the notable firms involved with this sector. Not only big and notable firms – transport and logistics also partners with local operators. It does not focus on first world countries alone as it extends hands to low income countries or commonly known as the third world countries to help boost their flow of goods, information and other valuable resources. In addition to its vital role as a global value chains, this sector also helps improve the trade performance of many countries around the world. For example, in order for manufacturing and agricultural industries to deliver their produce or goods to consumers quickly and reliably, they need the help of the transport and logistics sectors. A banana plantation industry depends on transports and logistics sectors to ship tons of harvested bananas to different countries. Without a cost-effective model of delivering these

The Factors That Affect Apple Brand Strategy Essay

The Factors That Affect Apple Brand Strategy - Essay Example The paper will then throw light on the Research Questions and Hypotheses as formulated by an author, based on which entire research process is conducted. The next sections will be about Literature Review in which contributions of theorists will be critically reviewed. The research moves on with a Case Study on Apple Incorporation after which the author will discuss appropriate findings and analyze the scope of Research Questions. Finally, the paper will discuss Research Limitations, Suggestions / Recommendations to strategic planners of Apple Company and will end this research project by providing conclusions, which will be drawn from the current use of brand strategies, their scope, and workability in future. This last section will also discuss if any advancements may take place in branding and marketing of consumer products because of digitalization, universalization, and internationalization in upcoming years. The globalization of world in the 1990s after the advent of internet followed by advancements and developments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has created unlimited business opportunities for people across the globe. Indeed, the trade among nations has increased drastically in last two decades because of availability of better communication and networking infrastructure that in turn facilitates profit-maximizing enterprises to initiate new ventures in domestic and foreign markets. In addition, the international community has also opted to eliminate barriers to trade and commerce through international agreements such as GATT, NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and WTO (World Trade Organisation). Indeed, these free trade agreements and rationalization of custom and import duties were an attempt to create new employment for citizens and provide maximum investment opportunities to their businesses.

Unanswered Prayers Essay Example for Free

Unanswered Prayers Essay Some people claim that when they pray, they can feel God’s presence, and that he is listening. These people are usually Christians. However, other people say that when they pray in church and at home, they cannot feel God’s presence. This can sometimes make them feel like they are doing something wrong, such as they are not praying correctly, or just that God simply does not exist, so there is no God to listen to the prayers. This may lead them to ask for advice from people who are strong and faithful Christians, and try harder when they are praying. However, if they still don’t feel the presence of God when praying, they may begin to question the actual existence of God. This can sometimes lead to agnosticism or atheism. Another reason that may lead people to believe that there is no God; are unanswered prayers. Christians believe that God answers their prayers, and loves and cares for everyone. In church, they may be given examples of answered prayers. For example; many Catholic Christians believe that St Jude is the patron saint for those who have no other hope of help. However, when some people pray, their prayers are not answered and they may begin the wonder about a God who answers some people’s prayers, but not others. For example; a young missionary couple asked the members of their church to pray that they would have a safe journey to their new posting in Nepal. However, the plane crashed killing them and their three young children. Examples like this may make people ask why God answers only some peoples prayers, and not everyone’s prayers. They may come to the conclusion that God is in fact bad, and does not care for everyone on Earth. It might make them believe that God just can’t answer everyone’s prayers, as some prayers are selfish, and answering them would come with great consequences. However, it might trigger them to come to the conclusion that God just simply does not exist. They might believe that, if someone prays for their child to be cured of cancer, then surely it would be a good enough cause for their prayer to be answered. If the child still dies, the child’s parents might believe that God does not exist, because the God they were told of would not let a small child die. This leads to atheism, as they will eventually come to the conclusion, that if prayers are unanswered regularly, then there must be no God.

Privatisation of Local Government Services

Privatisation of Local Government Services Privatisation in Local Government:  Westminster City Council and Islington Council Introduction Privatisation is referred to as â€Å"the transfer of the transfer of ownership and control of State-owned enterprise (SOE)†, to the private sector. (Bortolotti et al., 2000; Siniscalo et al., 2001). Privatisation has become a major trend in the developed economies, the developing economies, as well as in emerging market economies. In Great Britain, privatisation began in the later 1970s during the reign of the Thatcher government. It later spread across other countries and continents to become a distinguishing feature of â€Å"fin de sicle capitalism†. (Bortolotti et al., 2000; Siniscalo et al., 2001). Privatisations are now common to most countries taking place across geographical regions and economic sectors. The 20 year period 1977 to 1997 witnessed 1,865 deals in more than 100 countries worth approximately US$750billion. (Bortolotti et al., 2000). Between 1977 and 1999, the total deals reported amounted to 2,459 in 121 countries worth US$1,110billion. (Siniscalo et al., 2001). The The World Bank suggests that global SOE value added witnessed a decline from 9 percent of GDP in 1978 to 6 percent of GDP in the 1978-91 period. In addition, privatisation has also had a tremendous impact on financial markets. In July 1998 for example, privatised SOEs had a combined market capitalisation of US$1.5trillion. (Bortolotti et al., 2000) and by 2001 the combined market capitalisation had risen to $3.31 trillion. (Siniscalo et al., 2001; Megginsson and Netter, 2001). It is often believed that privatisation leads to more efficient and effective management of the enterprise which should in turn generate superior shareholder value. However, Siniscalo et al. (2001) notes that few governments have completely transferred ownership of SOEs to the private sector. This is evidenced by the fact that only 30 percent of the 617 companies being considered sold the majority of stock in the reported public offerings between 1977-1999. In addition, there was no privatisation in 11 out of the 67 countries included in their study indicating that there is still greater control in the hands of the state. (Siniscalo et al., 2001). There are therefore a number of questions that need to be addressed including: why governments privatised; why some countries accomplish large scale privatisation while other never privatise at all; how governments privatise; why some governments privatise big stakes while others do it partially. (Siniscalo et al., 2001). In this, we provid e an analysis of a Local Government – Westminster City Council and Islington Council in London and their agendas on privatisation. Background The U.K remains the leading country towards privatisation among European countries in terms of the amount of state assets that have been sold so far. (David, 2002). However, other European countries are making efforts to catch up with the U.K with their interest in privatisation driven mainly by the U.K example, technological change and the European single market programme aimed at removing non-tariff barriers to trade in the E.U. (David, 2002). The main assumption of privatisation is that competitive markets are more efficient than monopolies in managing the resources of the state. It is often assumed that SOEs can be better managed by the private sector. According to the Audit Commission, the market mechanism has reduced service costs and improve service quality. Approximately  £80million has been saved as a result of recent efficiency improvements in corporate services as a result of the market mechanism. (Audit Commission, 2007). The concept of Privatisation was pioneered by th e U.K through the introduction of the Compulsory Competitive Tendering (CCT) in 1981 allowing the private sector to compete to deliver public services, the objective was ‘†¦to improve the efficiency of services that had previously been provided by the councils themselves.’ (Audit Commission, 2008). The Local Government Planning and Land Act (1980) and the Local Government Planning Act (1988) require local authorities to subject more and more of their services for competitive tendering. (Frederick, 1994). The services covered by the CCT can be performed by the local authority’s own employees only on the condition that the tender bid for the contract to provide those services is won by the in-house organisation. The services covered under CCT as defined by the 1980 Act include new construction; building maintenance; and some highway work. The 1988 Act extended the list to include refuse; building cleaning; street cleaning; schools and welfare catering; other catering; grounds maintenance; repair and maintenance of vehicles; and management of leisure facilities. The list was again extended through powers granted to the Secretary of State and the Local Government Act 1992 to include part or all of each of the following services: management; security; architectural; engineeri ng; property management; finance; personnel; legal; computing; corporate and administrative; housing management; home-to-school transport; libraries and theatres. (Federick, 1994). Since its institution, there have been significant benefits of CCT in terms of cost savings and in improvements in service quality. (Frederick, 1994). In-house organisations have often been supplemented by efficient private sector suppliers. Some of the contracts have been won by direct service organisations or direct labour organisations which c operate in very small sizes, are more cost conscious and responsive. These organisations have also improved the productivity and quality of service. (Frederick, 1994). Despite the benefit of CCT Federick (1994) observes one problems with the CCT. Under the CCT, local authorities are not allowed to undertake the provision of certain services in-house. Local authorities must therefore forgo the alternative of undertaking the activity in-house even if the in-house options turns out to be the most cost-effective approach. This is unlike the case for private sector organisations that can review the balance between organisation costs and transacti ons costs and decide, on the basis of cost-effectiveness, whether to outsource or to undertake the activity in-house. (Federick, 1994). The benefits of CCT can therefore be placed under two categories including; (i) improved organisational management ( resulting from clearer objectives, articulation of standards and setting of targets, better monitoring, reorganisation of work to improve productivity, reduction of waste, etc) achieved in response to the stimulus of competitive comparison (and thus the prospect of contracting out); (ii) substitution of (lower) transaction costs for (higher) organisational costs. (Frederick, 1994). CCT encourages competition among service providers and thus ensures that local authority services are provided efficiently. Taxpayers therefore achieve greater value for their money. However, the main problem with CCT is that customer value requirements are determined by the local council or authority and not by the taxpayers (or consumers) of the services provided by the local authorities. The best CCT can do for consumers is that it is capable of securing the most efficient provision of the services that the local authorities deem as necessary to be provided, not those actually wanted by the consumers. (Frederick, 1994). CCT has also made councils to be more aware of the consumers of local authority services. Surveys are now conducted by many types of council to find out what the public thinks about its services and how they would like the services improved. However, this those not still amount to providing the services that the consumers actually need. The council simply improves those services that it feels are needed by the consumers without asking them what they actually need. By so doing, consumers continues paying for the services through taxes even though they may not be deriving any value from them. Westminster City Council and Islington Council Westminster City Council In line with CCT West Minster City Council has been trying to improve on the services it provides to its consumers by soliciting the services of direct service or direct labour organisations. The objective of the Westminster City Council is to deliver a world class city, built on the delivery programmes of Order, Opportunity, Renewal and Enterprise. West Minster City Council was one of the councils to begin privatising its services even before the implementation of the CCT. For example, the council added the management of its indoor leisure centres to its list of services subject to CCT in advance of official government legislation with the objective of seeking tenders in early 1988 for contracts commencing in September 1988. (Prokopenko and Pavlin, 1991). The objective of the tender was for the management of one or all of the 5 leisure centres and was based on deficit financing. Contractors were expected to include alongside cost estimates in their prospectus methods that could be u sed to reduce the deficit while at the same time improving the service. The contract was awarded to City Centre Leisure (CCL) after severe competition with competitors. CCL was awarded a contract to manage two out of the five leisure centres including the Queen Mother Sports Centre in Victoria and the Seymour Leisure Centre in Marybone. The contract which with total cost  £2,590,300 carried a term of five years. (Prokopenko and Pavlin, 1991). Following six months after the contract was awarded, there was an increase in the number of people who used the facilities by 27,000 as compared to the same period during the previous year. The factors that contributed to the increase in the use of the service include: increased opportunities to use the service such as increased opening hours, more flexible programs particularly in the mornings, evenings and weekends; user survey action, taken to improve certain aspects of the service; introduction of customer-care training and encouragement with further efforts planned. (Prokopenko and Pavlin, 1991). More so, management was clearer and sharper about what they were trying to do than before. There was also an improvement in the attitude and interest levels of staff thereby leading to an increase in the quality of the service. (Prokopenko and Pavlin, 1991). One can observe that by privatising the leisure services to CCL, West Minster City Council helped to improved the quality of the service to taxpayers. More people were now willing to use the service because it was available at more affordable prices. It was also available at flexible times. People could therefore use the service without having to make adjustments to their work schedules since it could be accessed at both morning and evening hours. People on morning shift duties could use the service in the afternoons or evenings, while those of on night shift duties could use the service during morning or afternoon hours. In addition, the improvement in staff attitude and interest increased the quality of the service since more people perceived it as being of a high quality. Included in its business framework are: Obligations to improve; new audit and intervention arrangements; emphasis on accountability for decisions and performance; freedoms to trade and charge; freedoms to spend; and freedoms to invest. The council adopted the project â€Å"Once City 2008† which its part of its vision to meet the aforementioned objective. The aim of this project is to deliver strong communities, with low taxes and services of the highest quality, which are easy to access and available when as and when necessary. First launched in November 2005, the Once City programme has achieved excellent progress. (City of Westminster, 2009). The Council has set out a total of 30 initiatives to improve lives of people living and working in Westminster City. (City of Westminster, 2009). The Council aims at building on its commitment to low tax, with a freeze in Westminster’s share of council tax; foster its â€Å"Go Green plans† to make Westminster one of the most sustainable cities in the U.K; spend over  £150million to improve schools; and look at opportunities for new housing in the City. Another key priority for the new year is to work hard for the City’s younger and older residen ts, as well as speaking to parents about what more the council can do to support them as they manage their family role. The council launched its leading â€Å"Leading Older Person’s Matters† approach last year, which includes an enormously popular free tea dance at the Grosvenor House Hotel for over 1,000 old residents. (City of Westminster, 2009) The council has a duty of securing and improving best value for taxpayers’ money where best value is defined as continuous improvement in the performance of authority’s functions. In securing best value, West Minster City Councils strikes an appropriate balance among: (i) the quality of its performance of its functions; (ii) the cost to the authority of that performance; and (iii) the cost to persons of any service provided by it for them on a wholly or partly rechargeable basis. The council performs its duties in a manner that contributes to the achievement of sustainable development. Performance improvement is measured with regard to the outcomes that have been improved. Islington Council LBI struggled for a number of years to manage and administrate the benefit service, in October 1998 the service was outsourced to ITNet under a 7 year contract to improve service performance and delivery. In 2002 the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate (BFI) inspected LBI and ITNet the findings were highly critical of the Council’s ability to manage the contract National press interest in ITNet grew during 2001-2002, as Hackney Council terminated it’s contract with ITNet in April 2001, over the proposed 17,000 claims awaiting assessment. The financial implications where catastrophic, estimated to rise to at least  £11m to develop an in-house team to sort through the back log of claims. LBI decided to review it’s contract introducing new and stringent Key Performance Indicators (KPI) incentives and harsh penalties linked to service delivery and performance. (LBI, 2003). LBI was still subject to political and public scrutiny and condemnation of ITNet’s performance , the Ombudsmen Office could not withstand the number of complaints received A report to LBI Executive dated 20th February 2003 detailed the plans to revert to an in-house service from 1st May 2003 concluding: ‘The service has continually received criticism from claimants, Councillors, M.P’s, outside agencies and in the local press. The recent Benefit Fraud Inspectorate report highlighted that whilst the quality of the contract and the client side had improved†¦there had been no real improvements to claimants†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (LBI, 2003) In May 2003 LBI reverted the provision of the Housing Benefit Service to ‘in-house’ a year later the Audit Commission noted ‘Significant improvements have been achieved in previously weak areas, notably housing benefit services†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Audit, Commission, 2004). The LBI Executive agreed to exclude press and public knowledge in connection to ITNet to include ‘information relating to the financial or business affairs†¦or action taken in connection with legal proceedings, by or against the authority’. (LBI, 2003). The financial loses incurred by LBI from inception to termination of the contract have never been fully released. The service provision continued to improve by 2005 Housing Benefit had transformed from a one star service (weak) to a three star service (good), (Audit Commission, 2005). The Audit Commission on behalf of the Government have undertaken intensive research in respect to the implementation of privatisation –detailing three specific areas where there appears to be a consistent lack of: ‘Sufficient people with the procurement , risk or management skills to make effective use of market mechanisms; Information about public service markets that would enable them to use or develop those markets; and Information about delivery costs, management costs or service performance to determine the best service delivery option and the best way to secure that option.’ (Audit Commission, 2007). Lane, (2000) significantly highlights the complex issues regarding the ideology of privatisation: ‘†¦local governments†¦must learn to conduct processes of tendering/bidding in a transparent manner, as well as implementing contracts in an efficient manner, including the monitoring of fulfilment of the terms of a contract.’ A philosophy perhaps shared by Lynch (2006), suggesting the ‘transaction costs’ are a significant consideration of privatisation, highlighting: ‘There is a need to set standards, monitor progress, evaluate performance and other activities associated with giving former monopolies the freedom to undertake public services.’ (Lynch, 2006 ) The Benefit Fraud Inspectorate was highly critical of the contract that existed between LBI and ITNet suggesting is was ‘failing’ and ‘weak’ (BFI 0476/02. The contract specification had a detrimental affect on the Council’s ability to monitor the performance of ITNet ‘LBI†¦is unable to measure their effectiveness or success because it does not have monitoring in place†¦which it makes it difficult for LBI to take strategic decisions about how best to deal with the problems..’ (BFI 0476/02). The lack of skills to negotiate contracts in Local Government has been highlighted by the Audit Commission ‘Good service procurement requires accurate specification, and robust and clear negotiation, supported by sufficient technical knowledge to evaluate cost and quality’ (Audit Commission, 2007). Conclusions and Recommendations Privatisation is perceived to be a more efficient method of allocating the resources of the state. It encourages more efficient management and improves staff commitment and interest thereby increasing customer value. For example, Westminster’s privatisation of its leisure services led to improvement in the value of the service to consumers. However, privatisation of certain services may not lead to their efficient provision. As evidenced by the housing benefits case of Islington Council, not all local services can be provided efficiently by the private sector. It is therefore appropriate to carefully select the services that should be privatised before taking the decision. this should be done by weighing the costs and benefits. If benefits outweigh costs, then the service should be privatised. On the contrary, if costs outweigh the benefits of the service then it should be provided in-house. BIBLIOGRAPHY Prokopenko, J., Pavlin, I. (1991). Entrepreneurship Development in Public Enterprises International Labour Organization, 1991 ISBN 922107286X, 9789221072867 208 pages. Bortolotti, Bernardo, Siniscalco, Domenico and Fantini, Marcella (2000). Privatisation and Institutions: A cross Country AnalysisCESifo Working Paper Series No. 375. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=257773 Siniscalco, Domenico, Bortolotti, Bernardo and Fantini, Marcella (2001). Privatisation Around the World: New Evidence from Panel DataCESifo Working Paper Series No. 600; FEEM Working Paper No. 77.2001. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=288530 or DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.288530 Frederick, d. (1994). Why Compulsory Competitive Tendering for Local Government Services is not as good as privatisation. Available online at: http://www.libertarian.co.uk/lapubs/econn/econn052.pdf David, P. (2002). Privatisation in the European Union: Theory and Policy Perspectives. New York Routledge. City of Westminster http://www.westminster.gov.uk/

Globalisation Has Benefited Everyone Brought Advantages Economics Essay

Globalisation Has Benefited Everyone Brought Advantages Economics Essay Proponents of globalisation are of the view that it has benefited everyone and helped to pull millions upon millions out of poverty. However a close analysis of the affects of globalisation tell a very different story. While it is true that globalisation has benefited many, it has had an equally devastating effect on the lives of many others and made true development more of a mirage rather than a reality (Dunning, 2003). This essay will critically analyse and discuss the benefits and disadvantages of globalisation and will conclude by either agreeing or disagreeing with the above statement. Even though globalisation is the buzzword today, it has been in existence in some form or another for over a century. After World War II many regions of the world that were reeling from the devastating effects of the war, came together to create trade agreements that would help each of those regions to grow in the post war era. The European Union is one such trade agreement as is the NAFTA agreement, GATT, APEC, ASEAN and many others. Due to the advances made in technology, especially in the telecommunication industry, globalisation saw a rapid increase in the latter part of the 20th century (Guillen, 2001). The ultimate goal of globalisation was to liberalise formerly closed economies, integrate national economies and create one huge global economy that would not only decrease trade barriers and increase trade and corporation but would also help poorer and developing nations to become industrialised thus uplifting the living standards of billions (Grewal, 2006). While the goals and objectives of globalisation are noble, such goals and objectives are not very easy to achieve. Even though the above may look good in theory, in reality it is easier said than done and usually causes more damage to economies, the social fabric of nations and the environment as a whole (Suà ¡rez-Orozco Qin-Hilliard, 2004). With the onset of globalisation in its current form, which began in the late 1980s and has been gathering steam, many manufacturing organisations in the west have seen their profitability increase. The reason for this positive effect on the bottom line has been chiefly due to the fact that globalisation allowed these companies to relocate their manufacturing plants to developing countries, where labour is cheap. In doing so they were able to reduce the cost of the products and become more profitable. While such a relocation, may have benefited the developing economy where the plant was relocated to, it left huge numbers of individuals unemployed in its home country (Helbling, Batini Cardarelli, 2005). Thus it can be stated that while one economy gained jobs and was able to uplift the living standard of many, another economy lost jobs, which had an equally devastating effect, while the company in question continued to earn profits and prosper. During the 1990s and to date, India is one such country that has benefited immensely from globalisation. Throughout the past decade or more many European and North American, technology companies have outsourced their software development to India, which rose up to the challenge and has become a global IT giant. While such a growth in employment has benefited the country and helped to create a new middle class, globalisation has not been as favourable to its closest neighbour Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka with a literacy rate of 90% has seen much foreign direct investment in the garment sector. While this has helped the country to keep unemployment levels down, the semi-skilled or low skilled nature of the jobs that are available to its citizens does not help the country to grow and prosper to the level that globalisation has aided India (Schmidt Hersh, 2000). On the contrary, Sri Lanka has seen a severe increase in underemployment of its university educate youth, who due to the lack of white collar jobs, have had to resort to working in the garment industry (Kiggundu, 2002). As is apparent from the above, while globalisation benefits one segment of the population, its affects are not equal, on the contrary they are mixed, thereby it can be stated that the above statement is not accurate in its view of globalisation. Proponents of globalisation often cite the fact that increased demand for export from developing countries, create an inflow of foreign exchange revenue and increases employment opportunities, which in turn helps the country to develop (Bhagwati, 2004). While this is true to some extent, there is an equally disadvantageous side to this phenomenon. In order for employment opportunities to increase in an economy, it requires output growth to exceed productivity growth. At the same time for profitability to increase, it needs productivity growth to outpace output growth. This conflict in the two, results in companies opting to increase productivity at the expense of output growth. Thus even though the developing economies have bent backwards to attract foreign direct investment by providing tax cuts, capital and natural resources etc, in the hopes of boosting domestic employment and earning foreign exchange revenues. The companies that enter the country usually plunder the capital and n atural resources made available to them (Samli, 2002). And instead of making use of the labour that is available to them, they automate their production processes to a great extent. Further they return much of the profits earned to the parent company and its shareholders who are often resident in developed economies (Smith Debrah, 2002). Here again it is apparent that while globalisation has helped businesses to develop and become more profitable, the benefits of globalisation are often enjoyed by the developed economies, rather than the developing economy that were supposed to benefit, in the first place. As a part of the initiative to liberalise an economy, most developing economies were forced to reduce welfare spending in terms of healthcare, education and social assistance. Further in order to attract foreign direct investment into the country, most of these economies were required to relax their stringent labour laws, which have resulted in the exploitation of workers (Murshed, 2002). While it is true that many multi-national companies are now operating in developing economies and have helped to increase employment levels within the country. The lack of strong labour laws, allow these companies to pay meagre wages to their employees and not a living wage as is the ethical thing to do. This combined with the lack of universal health care and education has a devastating affect on the workers (Brysk, 2002). While they may have a job and are able to earn a living, their wages are usually insufficient for paying for more than food and rent. Thus making it impossible for this segment t o educate their children adequately (Mittelman, 2002). Thereby causing a vicious cycle, where the children end up in low skilled or semi skilled jobs much like their parents and unable to breakout of poverty (Midgley, 2007). The lack of education and healthcare also has a catastrophic affect in the long term for the economy, as it will never be able to make the leap from being a developing economy to a developed economy as long as its citizens lack a strong education (Micklethwait Wooldridge, 2001). Further this lack of education not only will increase the wealth disparities within the economy, but it will also continue to increase the disparity between developed and developing nations in the long run. Based on the discussion above it is apparent that globalisation has been very advantageous to businesses. While it is a fact that some countries like India and China have benefited immensely from globalisation and seen the prosperity of their citizens increase to unprecedented levels, other countries have not been so lucky. On the contrary, globalisation has succeeded in further increasing the social challenges faced by these countries and pushed the dream of becoming a developed economy further out of their reach (Micklethwait Wooldridge, 2001). Therefore it can be stated that the statement Globalisation has benefited everyone. It helped all the people to increase their living standards, brought advantages to organisations and businesses and enabled economies to develop is only partially true.

The Treasure of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pisan Essay

The Treasure of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pisan Christine de Pisan’s book, The Treasure of the City of Ladies, explains in detail the various aspects of women’s lives during the late Medieval and Renaissance culture. She addresses all women of this time from those with power and authority to the poorest peasant women. Christine de Pisan focuses on three main areas of a women’s life during this time period. First she discusses the role of knowledge and education in the lives of the various women. Then she offers her advice to all the different women of varied backgrounds and social standards. She relates how all of these women are in fact connected due to common concerns. Finally, she depicts how men and women interact with one another. By describing the way in which women are treated by the men during this time, she portrays the typical relationship between men and women during Renaissance times. Women were expected to lead a very specific life, focusing on the men of their society. Throughout Christine de Pisan’s book, she refers to the three ladies of Virtue: Reason, Rectitude, and Justice. These ladies are the foundations of her teachings. She uses them to explain the relationship between men and women and how they view one another. The lady Prudence teaches all the women of that society about the â€Å"rules† they should follow in order to be good Renaissance women, specifically in their relations with men. â€Å"Now we would like to advance for their edification seven principal teachings, which according to Prudence are necessary to those who desire to live wisely and wish to have honour† (62). These teachings say that the women should love their husbands; they should live in peace with men. If they f... ...d the chance to lead a respectable life according to the â€Å"rules† of the ladies of Virtue. In the late Medieval and Renaissance time period, women had a strict standard to live up to. They should love their husbands, respect them, and obey their commands. The men in return fulfilled the women’s needs by supplying them with whatever they needed. The men and women lived with a mutual respect between themselves. Works Cited Author: Christine, de Pisan, ca. 1364-ca. 1431 Uniform Title: Livre des trois vertus. English Title: The treasure of the city of ladies, or, The book of the three virtues / Christine de Pisan ; translated with an introduction by Sarah Lawson. Published: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England ; New York, N.Y., U.S.A. : Penguin, 1985. ISBN: 014044453X (pbk.)

Native Americans Essays -- essays research papers

Native Americans culture is unique for many ways. Living on the reservations they were in touch with nature as well as their ancestors. Native Americans are disputed in the country, diverse among tribes, culturally mixed, and recognize their own political stands (Bordewich, 1996, p. 71). These have changed over the years, but before the reconstruction of the Native Americans the people were identifiable and knew who they were. Before the Europeans came and changed their living they felt one with the land. They believe the land was not to be owned by anyone. The Wakon’da, a god, who in there words related to all things, made the land. Also, they expressed their feelings for nature as in peace confidence. Before the ‘whites’ took over the land the Native Americans had their own laws, as they do know, but one of the most important laws was to respect and keep peace with the dominant race and others around them. This meaning the Natives had never wanted to start fighting with the other races (Brophy, 1966, p. 24-25). They wanted to keep to themselves and keep the land clean and healthy. They did everything in and for nature.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Indian dances were a spiritual way for the Indians to express themselves. Handed down from generation to generation the dances are not a form of their own movement. They do the steps of the ancestors exceptionally in the religious ceremony dances. The only time a dancer will go outside of the steps is when it’s a personal ex...

Media Controls Your Mind

Media Controls Your Mind The media has a greater effect on America's popular culture than most people realize. Americans are always â€Å"plugged in,† and our access to media has a greater effect on our choices than ever before. People must learn that Just because something is being reported in the media does not mean it is true. This lesson goes all the way back to the beginning of â€Å"modern media,† starting with the television. One cannot trust everything he sees being advertised.Most advertisements are overly exaggerated and sometimes manipulative, Just to persuade consumers to buy a product, vote a certain way, or believe in a certain thing. For instance, in the 1930s America's first â€Å"drug czar† Harry J. Anslinger began one of the world's greatest public relations campaigns to demonize marijuana by telling apparent lies to society, such as marijuana is more harmful to the body than alcohol and tobacco. Seventy years later people still believe the lies even after decades of scientific proof.Because media can have significant influences on our opinions, the American public as a whole need to be more aware of it on a daily basis. The media has a responsibility to use only truthful explanations as opposed to exaggeration when arguing against the egalization of marijuana. The campaigns that Anslinger designed consisted of many movies, musicals, and advertisements, all aimed at demonizing the usage of marijuana. His main argument against the use of marijuana was that smoking it could drive a person insane. Every single one of his claims omitted some very important facts, which made the advertisements misleading.Study after study over the years has proved that marijuana is way less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco, and it is not a â€Å"gateway drug† leading to the usage of other drugs. For example in the article posted by Paul Armentano he says, â€Å"In the United States alone, an estimated 79,000 lives are lost annually due to excessive drinking. † Anslinger promoted these false claims to the general public for the sole reason of making sure that marijuana remained illegal. He even tried to say that a kid from Florida killed his father, mother, two brothers, and sister was due to his newly formed habit of smoking marijuana.That was a very far- fetched claim, even for those who supported keeping marijuana illegal. But, it did stick with a vast majority of people, and to this day marijuana is still illegal in almost every state. However, the longstanding tradition of keeping it illegal is slowly changing. As of the most recent election, there are eighteen states in the U. S. that have legalized the plant for medicinal usage, and two states, Washington and Colorado, have recently legalized the recreational usage of the plant as well.One would think after 70 years of proven studies on marijuana that more states would have made efforts to legalize marijuana by now. Keeping marijuana illegal due to it s â€Å"dangerous† effects seems especially hypocritical, in light of the fatalities that are associated with alcohol and tobacco use every year. Four percent of all deaths in America annually are due to the consumption of alcohol. To this day there has not Magazine â€Å"No one has ever died of THC [marijuana] poisoning, mostly because a 160- lb. person would have to smoke roughly 900 Joints in a sitting to reach a lethal dose. In light of that statistic, it is astonishing that alcohol is used so casually every day by millions of people, yet marijuana remains illegal. In my opinion I think that alcohol should be illegal not cannabis. The mass media should be obligated to present factual information and not over exaggerate claims on behalf of marijuana, because he public needs to know the truth. Every citizen has the right to unbiased, truthful information, and we should be able to trust the media to give this information to us.One of the 1930 anti-mariJuana advertisements t hat was particularly inaccurate was an advertisement with images degrading anything associated with marijuana. It showed a devil in the background with the weasel words â€Å"sin,† â€Å"vice,† â€Å"insanity,† and ‘degradation† scattered around the fgure. It also has a Joint in the middle with the words â€Å"the smoke of hell†. That is obviously promoting exaggerated and inaccurate nformation to someone who has not been able to get both sides of the story. Back when this advertisement was made the â€Å"Ethos† portrayed would be a lot different nowadays..In the 1930s that ad had Just enough credibility to the average citizen to persuade them to agree because a majority of the popular culture was not educated on the subject. A person uneducated on the subject will be easily persuaded into believing that marijuana is dangerous, without understanding the full picture. Using the devil's image to promote anti-mariJuana beliefs is like usin g God's image when selling a product. If one has to use either of those images in an advertisement, he must be really desperate to sell or promote something because there are a lot of other less suggestive images that could be used.However, the message to refrain from smoking marijuana is not completely inaccurate either, especially in states where it remains illegal. A good reason to stay away from marijuana is that it is simply illegal, and no one wants to go to Jail. Other people believe that cannabis should only be used if it is absolutely needed for medicinal reasons. Smoking cannabis impairs your ability to function normally and do daily activities, such as driving. The effects are not as strong as alcohol but can still be enough to be considered being impaired.The effects of smoking tobacco are more minor than the effects of alcohol and marijuana, and therefore daily use of the product is more acceptable. Even though it may cause long-term health effects, cigarettes can be sm oked daily without causing any harm to other people. It is understandable why these products are still legal in the United States, because it is hard to change the law after many years of selling the product. Our government would lose a lot of money if either alcohol or tobacco were illegal because of the pecial tax that many states levy on cigarettes.And the government is mainly focused on clearing their debt, and that would be detrimental towards the economy. They also provide thousands of Jobs to citizens. The alcohol and tobacco industries contribute significant tax revenues to the federal, state, and local governments. In conclusion, the choice to support the legalization of marijuana is influenced by many factors, including religion, family, and values. However, it is also influenced by the media and the media's portray of marijuana as a dangerous substance.If the edia is going to play such an important role in affecting our choices, it should have mass media did not realize t hat what is shown to the popular culture on a daily basis could be so influential no matter how untruthful the advertisements might be. It is not fair for the government to know more information than society. So to be able to instill truthfulness the mass media cannot promote exaggerated claims like the one I mentioned earlier. Once an advertisement is out there, there is no getting it back. The media should be responsible for promoting truthful claims to society so that we an all prosper in life like we all should.Work Cited â€Å"Legal history of cannabis in the United States. † www. wikipedia. com. Wikipedia, 02 2012. web. 5 NOV 2012. Lutz, William. â€Å"With These Words, I Can Sell You Anything. † Exploring Language. pg. 207-215. print. O'neil, Tom. â€Å"The Language of Advertising. † Exploring Language. pg. 207-215. Print. Miller, Scott. â€Å"History of Marijuana. † www. newslinetheatre. com. N. p. , n. d. Web. Wilson, Jacque. â€Å"The Highs and Lows of Using Marijuana. † kvue. com. CNN, Nov 1 1, 2012 Explain To Me Again Why Pot Is Illegal?. † norm. org. NOVI 2011.

Steel Design

STEEL BEAM DESIGN Laterally Unrestrained Beam Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 1 Non-dimensional slenderness Beam behaviour analogous to yielding/buckling of columns. M Wyfy Material yielding (in-plane bending) MEd MEd Elastic member buckling Mcr Lcr 1. 0 Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Non-dimensional slenderness Unrestrained Beam ? LT 2 Lateral torsional buckling Lateral torsional buckling Lateral torsional buckling is the member buckling mode associated with slender beams loaded about their major axis, without continuous lateral restraint.If continuous lateral restraint is provided to the beam, then lateral torsional buckling will be prevented and failure will occur in another mode, generally in-plane bending (and/or shear). Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 3 Eurocode 3 Eurocode 3 states, as with BS 5950, that both crosssectional and member bending resistance must be verified: MEd ? Mc ,Rd Cross-section check (In-plane bending) MEd ? Mb,Rd Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unr estrained Beam Member buckling check 4 Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 5 Laterally Unrestrained BeamThe design of beam in this Lecture 3 is considering beams in which either no lateral restraint or only intermittent lateral restraint is provided to the compression flange Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 6 Lateral Torsional Buckling Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 7 Lateral Torsional Buckling Figure 3-1 shows an unrestrained beam subjected to load increment. The compression flange unrestrained and beam is not stiff enough. There is a tendency for the beam to deform sideways and twist about the longitudinal axis. The failure mode which may occur to the beam is called lateral torsional buckling.Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 8 ?Involves both deflection and twisting rotation ?Out-of plane buckling. Bending Resistance M c, Rd ? M pl ? W pl f y ?M0 Due to the effect of LTB, the bending resistance of cross section become less. Failure may occurs earlier then expected Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 9 Examples of Laterally Unrestrained Beam Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 10 Restrained Beam Comparsion Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 11 Intermittent Lateral Restrained Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 12Torsional restraint Usually both flanges are held in their relative positions by external members during bending. May be provided by load bearing stiffeners or provision of adequate end connection details. See Figure 3-4. Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 13 Beam without torsional restraint Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 14 Can be discounted when: †¢ Minor axis bending †¢ CHS, SHS, circular or square bar †¢ Fully laterally restrained beams †¢ ? LT< 0. 2 (or 0. 4 in some cases) – Unrestrained length Cross-sectional shape End restrained condition The moment along the beam Loading – tension or compression Unrestrained Beam 16Dr. A Azi z Saim 2010 EC3 Lateral torsional buckling resistance Checks should be carried out on all unrestrained segments of beams (between the points where lateral restraint exists). Lateral restraint Lateral restraint Lcr = 1. 0 L Lateral restraint Beam on plan Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 17 Three methods to check LTB in EC3: †¢ The primary method adopts the lateral torsional buckling curves given by equations 6. 56 and 6. 57, and is set out in clause 6. 3. 2. 2 (general case) and clause 6. 3. 2. 3 (for rolled sections and equivalent welded sections). The second is a simplified assessment method for beams with restraints in buildings, and is set out in clause 6. 3. 2. 4. †¢ The third is a general method for lateral and lateral torsional buckling of structural components, given in clause 6. 3. 4. Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 18 Eurocode 3 states, as with BS 5950, that both cross-sectional and member bending resistance must be verified: MEd ? Mc ,Rd Cros s-section check (In-plane bending) MEd ? Mb,Rd Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam Member buckling check 19 Lateral-torsional buckling Eurocode 3 design approach for lateral torsional buckling is analogous to the olumn buckling treatment. The design buckling resistance Mb,Rd of a laterally unrestrained beam (or segment of beam) should be taken as: Mb,Rd ? ?LT Wy fy ? M1 Reduction factor for LTB Lateral torsional buckling resistance: Mb,Rd = ?LT Wy fy ? M1 Equation (6. 55) Wy will be Wpl,y or Wel,y ?LT Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 is the reduction factor for lateral torsional buckling Unrestrained Beam 21 Buckling curves – general case (Cl 6. 3. 2. 2) Lateral torsional buckling curves for the general case are given below : (as in Eq (6. 56)) ?LT ? 1 2 ? LT ? ?LT ? ?2 LT but ? LT ? 1. 0 ?LT ? 0. 5 [ 1 ? ?LT (? LT ? 0. ) ? ?2 ] LT Plateau length Imperfection factor from Table 6. 3 Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 22 Imperfection factor ? LT Imperfection factors ? LT for 4 buckling curves: (refer Table 6. 3) Buckling curve Imperfection factor ? LT a 0. 21 b 0. 34 c 0. 49 d 0. 76 Buckling curve selection For the general case, refer to Table 6. 4: Cross-section Rolled I-sections Welded Isections Limits h/b ? 2 h/b > 2 h/b ? 2 h/b > 2 – Buckling curve a b c d d Other crosssections Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 24 LTB curves 4 buckling curves for LTB (a, b, c and d) 1. 2 Reduction factor ? LT . 0 0. 8 0. 6 0. 4 0. 2 0. 0 0 0. 5 1 1. 5 Curve a Curve b Curve c Curve d 2 2. 5 0. 2 Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Non-dimensional slenderness Unrestrained Beam ?LT 25 Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 26 lateral torsional buckling slenderness ? LT Mcr ? Wy f y Mcr Elastic critical buckling moment Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 27 Non-dimensional slenderness †¢ Calculate lateral torsional buckling slenderness: ? LT ? Wy f y Mcr †¢ Buckling curves as for compression (except curve a0) †¢ Wy depends on section classification †¢ Mcr is the elastic critical LTB moment Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3Unrestrained Beam 28 BS EN 1993-1-1 does not give a method for determining the elastic critical moment for lateraltorsional buckling Mcr !!!!!!!! May use ‘LTBeam’ software (can be downloaded from CTICM website) Or may use method presented by L. Gardner †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 29 Mcr under uniform moment For typical end conditions, and under uniform moment the elastic critical lateral torsional buckling moment Mcr is: Mcr ,0 G IT Iw Iz Lcr ? EIz ? 2 Lcr 2 ? Iw Lcr GIT ? ? ? 2 ? ? EIz ? ? Iz 2 0. 5 is the shear modulus is the torsion constant is the warping constant is the inor axis second moment of area is the buckling length of the beam Unrestrained Beam 30 Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Mcr under non-uniform moment Numerical solutions have been calculated for a number of other loading conditions. For uniform doubly-symmetric cross-sections, loaded through the shear centre at the level of the centroidal axis, and with the standard conditions of restraint described, Mcr may be calculated by: ? EIz Mcr ? C1 2 Lcr 2 Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam ? Iw Lcr GIT ? ? ? 2 ? ? EIz ? ? Iz 2 0. 5 31 C1 factor – end momentsFor end moment loading C1 may be approximated by the equation below, though other approximations also exist. C1= 1. 88 – 1. 40y + 0. 52y2 but C1 ? 2. 70 where y is the ratio of the end moments (defined in the following table). Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 32 C1 factor – transverse loading Loading and support conditions Bending moment diagram Value of C1 1. 132 1. 285 1. 365 1. 565 1. 046 Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 33 Design procedure for LTB Design procedure for LTB: 1. Determine BMD and SFD from design loads 2. Select section and determine geometry 3. Classify cross-section (Class 1, 2, 3 or 4) 4.Determine effective (buckling) length Lcr – depends on bounda ry conditions and load level 5. Calculate Mcr and Wyfy Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 34 Design procedure for LTB 6. Non-dimensional slenderness ? LT ? Wy fy Mcr 7. Determine imperfection factor ? LT 8. Calculate buckling reduction factor ? LT 9. Design buckling resistance 10. Check Mb,Rd ? ?LT Wy fy ? M1 MEd ? 1. 0 Mb,Rd for each unrestrained portion Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 35 LTB Example General arrangement Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 36 LTB Example Design loading is as follows: 425. 1 kN A B C 319. 6 kN D 2. 5 m 3. 2 m 5. 1 mLoading Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 37 LTB Example 267. 1 kN A B D 52. 5 kN SF C 477. 6 kN Shear force diagram B A C D BM 1194 kNm 1362 kNm Bending moment diagram Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 38 LTB Example For the purposes of this example, lateral torsional buckling curves for the general case will be utilised. Lateral torsional buckling checks to be carried out on segments BC and CD. By inspection, segment AB is not critical. Try 762? 267? 173 UB in grade S 275 steel. Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 39 LTB Example b z tw h d y y r z tf h = 762. 2 mm b = 266. 7 mm tw = 14. 3 mm tf = 21. 6 mm r = 16. mm A = 22000 mm2 Wy,pl = 6198? 103 mm3 Iz = 68. 50? 106 mm4 It = 2670? 103 mm4 Iw = 9390? 109 mm6 Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 40 LTB Example For a nominal material thickness (tf = 21. 6 mm and tw = 14. 3 mm) of between 16 mm and 40 mm the nominal values of yield strength fy for grade S 275 steel (to EN 10025-2) is 265 N/mm2. From clause 3. 2. 6: N/mm2. E = 210000 N/mm2 and G ? 81000 Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 41 LTB Example Cross-section classification (clause 5. 5. 2): e ? 235 / fy ? 235 / 265 ? 0. 94 Outstand flanges (Table 5. 2, sheet 2) cf = (b – tw – 2r) / 2 = 109. 7 mm cf / tf = 109. 7 / 21. 6 = 5. 8 Limit for Class 1 flange = 9e = 8. 48 > 5. 08 ? Flange is Class 1 Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Bea m 42 LTB Example Web – internal part in bending (Table 5. 2, sheet 1) cw = h – 2tf – 2r = 686. 0 mm cw / tw= 686. 0 / 14. 3 = 48. 0 Limit for Class 1 web = 72 e = 67. 8 > 48. 0 ? Web is Class 1 Overall cross-section classification is therefore Class 1. Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 43 LTB Example Bending resistance of cross-section (clause 6. 2. 5): Mc ,y,Rd ? Wpl,y fy ? M0 for Class 1 and 2 sec tions 6198 ? 103 ? 265 ? ? 1642 ? 106 Nmm 1. 0 ? 1642 kNm ? 1362 kNm ? Cross-section resistance in bending is OK.Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 44 LTB Example Lateral torsional buckling check (clause 6. 3. 2. 2) – Segment BC: MEd ? 1362 kNm Mb ,Rd ? ? LT Wy fy ? M1 where Wy = Wpl,y for Class 1 and 2 sections Determine Mcr for segment BC (Lcr = 3200 mm) Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 ? EIz Mcr ? C1 2 Lcr 2 ? Iw Lcr GIT ? ? ? 2 ? ? EIz ? ? Iz Unrestrained Beam 2 0. 5 45 LTB Example For end moment loading C1 may be approximated from: C1 = 1. 88 â⠂¬â€œ 1. 40y + 0. 52y2 but C1 ? 2. 70 1194 y is the ratio of the end moments ? ? 0. 88 1362 ? C1 ? 1. 05 ? 2 ? 210000 ? 68. 5 ? 106 Mcr ? 1. 05 ? 32002 ? 9390 ? 109 32002 ? 81000 ? 2670 ? 103 ? ? ? 68. 5 ? 106 ? 2 ? 210000 ? 68. 5 ? 106 ? ? 0. 5 = 5699Ãâ€"106 Nmm = 5699 kNm Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 46 LTB Example Non-dimensional lateral torsional slenderness for segment BC: ? LT ? Wy fy Mcr 6198 ? 103 ? 265 ? ? 0. 54 6 5699 ? 10 Select buckling curve and imperfection factor ? LT: From Table 6. 4: h/b = 762. 2/266. 7 = 2. 85 For a rolled I-section with h/b > 2, use buckling curve b Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 47 LTB Example From Table 6. 3 of EN 1993-1-1: For buckling curve b, ? LT = 0. 34 Calculate reduction factor for lateral torsional buckling, ? LT – Segment BC: ?LT ? 1 ? LT ? ? 2 LT LT but ? LT ? 1. 0 where ? LT ? 0. 5 [ 1 ? ?LT (? LT ? 0. 2) ? ?2 ] LT Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 48 LTB Example ?LT = 0. 5[1+0. 34(0. 54-0. 2) + 0. 542] = 0. 70 ? ? LT ? 1 0. 70 ? 0. 70 ? 0. 54 2 2 ? 0. 87 Lateral torsional buckling resistance Mb,Rd – Segment BC : Mb,Rd ? ? LT Wy fy ? M1 265 ? 0. 87 ? 6198 ? 10 ? 1 . 0 3 ? 1425 ? 106 Nmm ? 1425 kNm Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 49 LTB Example MEd 1362 ? ? 0. 96 ? 1. 0 ? Segment BC is OK Mb,Rd 1425 Lateral torsional buckling check (clause 6. 3. 2. 2) – Segment CD: MEd ? 1362 kNm Mb ,Rd ? ? LT Wy fy ? M1 where Wy = Wpl,y for Class 1 and 2 sectionsDetermine Mcr for segment CD (Lcr = 5100 mm) Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 50 LTB Example ? EIz Mcr ? C1 2 Lcr 2 ? Iw Lcr GIT ? ? ? 2 ? Iz ? EIz ? ? 2 0. 5 Determine y from Table: 0 y is the ratio of the end moments ? ?0 1362 ? C1 ? 1. 88 ? 2 ? 210000 ? 68. 5 ? 106 Mcr ? 1. 88 51002 ? 9390 ? 109 51002 ? 81000 ? 2670 ? 103 ? ? ? ? 68. 5 ? 106 ? 2 ? 210000 ? 68. 5 ? 106 ? ? 0. 5 = 4311? 106 Nmm = 4311 kNm Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 51 LTB Example Non-dimensional lateral torsio nal slenderness for segment CD: ? LT ? Wy fy Mcr 6198 ? 103 ? 265 ? ? 0. 62 6 4311? 10 The buckling curve and imperfection factor ?LT are as for segment BC. Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 52 LTB Example Calculate reduction factor for lateral torsional buckling, ? LT – Segment CD: ?LT ? 1 ? LT ? ? 2 LT 2 LT but ? LT ? 1. 0 where ? LT ? 0. 5 [ 1 ? ?LT (? LT ? 0. 2) ? ?2 ] LT = 0. 5[1+0. 34(0. 62-0. 2) + 0. 622] = 0. 76 ? ? LT Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 ? 1 0. 76 ? 0. 76 ? 0. 62 2 Unrestrained Beam 2 ? 0. 83 53 LTB Example Lateral torsional buckling resistance Mb,Rd – Segment CD : Mb,Rd ? ?LT Wy fy ? M1 265 ? 0. 83 ? 6198 ? 10 ? 1. 0 3 ? 1360 ? 106 Nmm ? 1360 kNm MEd 1362 ? ? 1. 00 Mb,Rd 1360 Segment CD is critical and marginally fails LTB check.Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 54 Blank Page Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 55 Simplified assessment of ? LT For hot-rolled doubly symmetric I and H sections without destabilising loads,? may be conservatively simplified to: LT ? LT ? 1 0. 9 ? z ? C1 ?z 1 0. 9 ? 1 C1 E ? z ? L / iz ; ? 1 ? ? fy As a further simplification, C1 may also be conservatively taken = 1. 0. Simplified assessment of ? LT Substituting in numerical values for simplified expressions result. ? 1 , the following S235 ? LT ? 1 L / iz C1 104 S275 ? LT ? 1 L / iz C1 96 S355 ? LT ? 1 L / iz C1 85 C1 may be conservatively taken = 1. , though the level of conservatism increases the more the actual bending moment diagram differs from uniform moment. Simplified method (Cl. 6. 3. 2. 4) Simplified method for beams with restraints in buildings (Clause 6. 3. 2. 4) This method treats the compression flange of the beam and part of the web as a strut: b b Compression h Tension Compression flange + 1/3 of the compressed area of web Strut Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Beam Unrestrained Beam 58 General method (Cl. 6. 3. 4) General method for lateral and lateral torsional buckling of structural components †¢ May be applied to single members, plane frames etc. Requires determination of plastic and elastic (buckling) resistance of structure, which subsequently defines global slenderness †¢ Generally requires FE Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 59 Blank Page Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 60 Important Notes: (End Connections) When full torsional restraint exist: -both the compression and tension flanges are fully restrained against rotation on plan -both flanges are partially restrained against rotation on plan – both flanges are free to rotate on plan Unrestrained Beam 61 Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Connection DetailDr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 62 Important Notes: (End Connections) Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 63 Important Notes: (End Connections) When both flanges are free to rotate on plan and the compression flange is unrestrained: i. torsional restraint is provided solely by connection of the tension flange to the supports, ii. torsional re straint is provided solely by dead bearing of the tension flange on support. Unrestrained Beam 64 Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 65 Dr. A Aziz Saim 2010 EC3 Unrestrained Beam 66

Jonathan Swift and Piers Paul Read Essay

Cannibalism is the last taboo. In ‘Alive’ and ‘A Modest Proposal’ Jonathan Swift and Piers Paul Read approach the subject with completely different purposes in mind. What do you consider to be the purpose of each author, and say how he achieves this? A Modest Proposal is a scathing attack on the economic oppression of the Irish by the English. During Swift’s lifetime tremendous suffering was caused by English practices in Ireland. However, it is incorrect to say that cannibalism is the theme of ‘A Modest Proposal. ‘ Swift was a Protestant writer in Ireland at the time of The Great Potato Famine. The article is a clever satirical device to draw attention to the plight of the poor. He infiltrates the opposition, the rich Protestant landlords, in order to put their torturous ideas to ridicule. Swift attacks his own Protestant, English community by creating a narrator who considers himself a reasonable and compassionate character, but one who combines a repulsive anti-Catholic bigotry, with a ‘modest’ proposal, that is, rather, a ‘final solution’: he, the narrator, advocates cannibalism as a means of countering Irish Catholic poverty abortion, and the high birth rate. The narrator, in a frighteningly rational and level-headed tone condemns the English for being inhumane, the Irish for being passive, the speaker for being morally blind, and the reader for accepting intolerable situations in the world around him; for this piece was accepted and believed by many, at the time. On the other hand, Piers Paul Read, in his biographical ‘novel’ ‘Alive, rather than indirectly giving answers to a problem, asks questions. He tells of the experiences of the survivors of an Andean plane crash in 1976, who, in the remoteness, and the harshness of their environment, the lack of a consumable source of food, and the quickening exhaustion of their own limited amounts of chocolate and wine, have no where to turn except, in their desperation, to eat the meat from their fellow, dead, company. They have only their plane’s wreckage as shelter, which has come down from 14,000 feet. Both literary pieces, although their purpose, style and audience are different, jolt the reader out of their complacency, and encourage them to think of things they thought weren’t necessary to be thought about! However, it is necessary to understand that the two texts have been written hundreds of years apart, and society, of course, has evolved. Swift has reached out across the religious and ethnic divide to champion the ignorant, impoverished Irish Catholics. The bigotry of Swift’s narrative is so convincing and grotesque, that Swift himself is sometimes mistaken as his narrator, an anti-Catholic bigot! On the contrary, Swift’s essay harshly attacks the ‘Christian’ commitment of Ireland’s wealthy Protestant absentee landowners, and his unflattering ‘cannibal’ is made in their image. P. P. Read meanwhile, attacks not the opposition, but gives a balanced and meaningful account of the plane crash and the tales that followed, and examines the human spirit to stay alive, and questions what is ‘civilized’ and ‘human. ‘ Yet, simultaneously, Read, almost in the opposite of Swift, advocates cannibalism. Read turns the views of cannibalism as a taboo on its head. Rather than associating it with savagery and being primitive and irrational, he questions logic, and seems to state that the ban is the primitive thing, that is not based on reason. In one paragraph alone, he writes, â€Å"we grappled with emotions,† and â€Å"we did not think it wrong† twice. While Swift attacks the Landlords by linking their greed to their â€Å"devouring† of the Irish Catholics, and satirizes cannibalism to the extent that it is no longer seen as ironic, only distasteful, Read, using a character ‘Canessa’, reasons cannibalism out. He talks of nourishment and energy, and of course, eventually wins his company. Their decision is based on logic and reason, and the ability to use these makes us civilized. Although I do not feel that Swift’s narrator’s views are plausible, Read using a variety of effective techniques, convinces the reader. Swift shows how the English projected their own blame onto their victims- destitute Irish Catholics, that, Swift suggests, have been ‘cannibalized’ by the rapacious greed of absentee landlords. Swift is hoping to shame them into being more compassionate. However, as what happened when I read it for the first time, because Swift and his narrator are so tightly intertwined, readers often emerge from their reading, confused, perhaps unable to take in the implausibility of his case.

How can Ebola affect us Essay

Imagine being isolated from your own family and feeling unsure as to whether or not you will ever see them again. They do not want to come anywhere near you, for you are a threat to their health. The only visitors who come within 10 feet of you are strangers in full on protective gear. They do not want to expose the slightest bit of skin to you and you cannot see anything besides their eyes. The world fears what you are and no one wants to come close to you. You know death is near, and you are all alone. You can see the mountain of corpses outside the wiry mesh window of your facility, being burnt and thrown into mass graves, and you know that you will soon be joining them. This is the life of an Ebola victim.. In the year 1976, Ebola climbed out of its unknown hiding place, and caused the death of 280 out of the 318 people who got infected. That’s an 88% fatality rate. Fear gripped the victims, and tortured their minds. The people of Zaire waited outside clinics, churches and in their homes for a treatment of the horrible disease, but there was no cure. They were forced to watch people die, hoping that they would be saved from the violent death of the Ebola virus. From the year of 1976 till today, researchers have searched for origin and cure of the virus. Scientist have carried out numerous studies and investigations, but no one has been able to find the right explanations. There have been many others out breaks in the past but 2014/15’s outbreak has claimed more lives than all of these other outbreaks together, with a staggering 8386 death and counting. It has also spread between countries starting in Guinea then spreading across land borders to Sierra Leone calming 3,049 lives and Liberia causing 3,515 deaths and to to Nigeria causing 8 deaths. It is believed that the Ebola  virus may have initially been transmitted to humans from bats, and other forms of bush meat like monkeys ect.. fro m the jungles in central Africa, i know it must sount crazy to you to hear that some people eat monkeys but In some remote areas of Africa it is part of their culture and their way of life. In Africa’s Congo Basin, people eat an estimated five million tonnes of bush meat per year. The reason that bush meat is so deadly is because some animals mostly bats, can be a host to specific diseases without being harmed, were as us humans cannot carry these diseases without becoming infected. When a person contracts Ebola they will start to feel the symptoms within the next 2-21 days. The symptoms of Ebola are very distinctive and deadly. If you were to contract Ebola, your experience would be horrific you would start to get bad stomach pains, but it would just be passed off as a common bug. after that they would then start to amplify in pain until they would wake you up from your sleep, which would be followed by chronic vomiting. Anything you ate would come back up. These symptoms would continue for a few days then you would start to lose weight at an extreme rate. Chest pains would now accompany the stomach aches, by this time you would be very weak with virtually no food in your body due to the vomiting and your teeth would start to fall out while you would develop a bloody rash and you would die days later after horrific suffering. But those are just the side effects of what’s really happening in your body. Ebola attacks every organ and all of the tissue in the human body except the bones. You develop blood clots under the skin. Your organs turn to mush and the under layers of your skin die and liquefy; this is what causes the bloody bubbly rash. These things actually happen to Ebola patients every day. Ebola is a very contagious disease; this is why Ebola victims have to be kept contained in hospitals and treatment facilities. When it comes to transmission doctors take cleaning themselves after being in contact with an infected person very seriously. Ebola is transmitted through the passing of boldly fluids, which means if you get fluids from an infected person’s body onto your skin, you should be okay; but we as humans are constantly rubbing our eyes and eating with our hands so this means that we are still giving the Ebola parasite a chance to enter our body. At the moment there is no cure or vaccination for Ebola. Experiments however are taking place to find  a vaccination using antibodies of Ebola survivors. This is possible because like any other disease like small pocks and the chicken pox, one you have survived Ebola u become immune to it. Scientists are trying to figure out how to copy this into a vaccination. Most people in the uk think that they are completely safe from the disease, and at the moment yes they are. It is extremely unlikely that Ebola at the moment could reach the uk and spread like wildfire. However, every person in West Africa, Sierra Leone, Liberia ect that gets infected with Ebola provides it with an opportunity to grow and mutate, if not stopped it will eventually maybe in the next year, maybe in the next 10 years become air born. This means that even breathing near an Ebola patient will give u the disease. Once air born it will travel the world and could patiently kill a large percentage of the earth’s population. Including you. I hope now you can see why Ebola need stop be stopped. Thanks for listening

Electronic Evolution in Negotiability of Negotiable Instruments Essay

Electronic Evolution in Negotiability of Negotiable Instruments - Essay Example Throughout the legislative process, attention was constantly given to the areas like, Governments, banks, trading and other interested circles. The Convention applies only to international bills of exchange and international promissory notes when they comply with certain requisites of form. The use of an instrument governed by the Convention is thus entirely optional. Ratification or accession by a State does not subject all international instruments issued in that State to the legal regime of the Convention but merely opens the door for bankers and merchants to opt for this new legal regime if they deem it preferable in their professional judgment.(1) The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Model Law on Electronic Commerce 1996 (2)is a set of rules that provides a model for reform in this context. It is recommended that the Model Law should be adopted to increase certainty in relation to the enforceability of electronic bills of exchange. The Convention defines the terms "bill of exchange" and "promissory note" and states the conditions on which a bill of exchange or promissory note is considered to be int ernational. A bill of exchange is a written instrument which contains an unconditional order whereby the drawer directs the drawee to pay a definite sum of money to the payee or to his order, on demand or at a definite time. It should be dated and it should be signed by the drawer. A promissory note is a written instrument which contains an unconditional promise whereby the maker undertakes to pay a definite sum of money to the payee or to his order; on demand or at a definite time and it should be dated and it should be signed by the maker.(3) Modern commercial practice has been influenced to a considerable degree during the years by electronics and computers in numerous ways. With all scientific developments within the business environment the pace of adjustment corresponds to a challenge to the traditional legal notions regulating patterns of trade. The development of such electronics and computers influence the instruments of trade also. Before taking peer in to the impact of such electronic evolution in negotiability of Negotiable instruments, let's have deep look into the scope of Convention on international transaction with reference to Bills of exchange and Promissory notes. Scope of the Convention In its desire to win commercial acceptance and free circulation of its instruments in international commerce, the Convention firmly upholds the principle of negotiability. The Convention considers the jurisdictions as per a