Kozol Amazing Grace

Introduction A non-fiction literature writer by the name Jonathan Kozol who is best known for his publications concerning public education wrote about the struggles, problems and challenges that the children of the poor people face in USA. He started writing about public education after he was fired from Boston Public Schools after teaching a Langston Hughes poem but later he was offered a job in the district that he grew up in, Newton Public Schools.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Kozol: Amazing Grace specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Kozol is considered a great educator and activist who did some great work in advocating for social justice mainly through his writings and interpreting scientific works e.g. in the field of social psychology (Schultz, 2001). Let us look at one of his writing, ‘Amazing Grace’. Kozol’s Work In this essay discusses the work of Kozol, Amazing Grace, in identifying t he challenges and problems that America’s poor population faces in their day-to-day life. A larger percentage of the affected people are either black Americans or of Hispanic origins living in Bronx, St. Ann’s Avenue, Beckman Avenue, Cypress, Hunts point, Mott Haven, East Tremont among others. He introduces to us the disheartening experiences that these poor people face including discrimination and racial segregation. The most affected are the younger population especially children who are still dependent on their parents. He quotes when children are exposed to extreme hardships they are not hardened as people may think. The only thing that makes them survive is that they are usually full of hope and are more than willing to welcome better life. For instance the people who attend and live near St. Ann’s church are said to be the poorest in America, the pastor to this church was interviewed by Kozol and he mentioned that he had visited different parts of America and according to him this was the â€Å"poorest of the poorest by any standard he can think of† (Schultz, p 372). Statistical reports released showed that 95% of the residents of this area live below the poverty line. At a local elementary school at St. Ann’s Avenue, only less than ten children out of eight hundred children can comfortably afford their own lunch daily i.e. they are not dependent of the free lunches that are offered at the school. Five of the ten believe that they are just poor but not destitute and by this, the in most cases do not rely/ accept the free lunch offered (Schultz, p 372). As we know if poverty levels are extremely high then crime is most likely to be as high in the same areas and this reduces security in the areas. This is known to the government but nothing much is being done to manage the situation. The New York Times refers to this area, St. Ann’s Avenue, as â€Å"the deadliest blocks in the deadliest precinct of the city. They claim that, if there is a deadlier place in the United States of America, they don’t know where it is† (Schultz, p 373).Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This is the precinct that in the early 90’s, when Kozol wrote his work, was leading in cases of homicide. Kozol says that a total of 84 people were murdered just a few months before he visited the area. Most of them were below 21 years of age. During his stay in the area another ten people were shot dead on Beckman Avenue and in this Avenue majority of the population are schoolchildren and this means that they were most likely exposed to this incidences. The following year which was 1993 on Valentine’s Day a whole family of six were shot in cold blood in their house and no one survived. Their house was only few blocks from them police but nothing was done to prevent the inhumane action from happeni ng (Schultz, p 373). The high crime rates as we have seen are promoted by the high poverty levels, but this is not the only outcome of the poverty. There is also a lot of drug use and poor health care. Talking of the drugs they also contribute to crime as we know and Mont Haven is the most affected area. Some analysis that Kozol quoted on his writing indicated that during the time of his research, there were over four thousands intravenous drug users most of which were addicts of heroin and cocaine. Intravenous drug users tend to promote the spread of HIV/ AIDS, a pandemic that has claimed a lot of lives all over the world. This is after sharing needles for injecting the drugs. Kozol says that after he interviewed several children from the areas I mentioned above, he concluded that at least every child in these areas knows of someone who died from AIDS, this may either be a neighbor or a relative. The most saddening news is that over 25 percent of all pregnant women that attend pren atal clinic are tested positive of the HIV. From 1993 to the year 2000 over thirty eight thousand children were infected with HIV mostly through mother to child transition during or after birth. Most of these children only lived for one and a half years. Only 5% of them survived to 12 years and over 10,000 children were orphaned during this period. 20% of the 10,000 were residents of Mott Haven and they were mainly Hispanic or Black American. Kozol tells a saddening story of which was narrated to him as quoted below, â€Å"In one family, the father died two years ago and the mother is about to die. The four soon-to-be-orphaned children are being cared for by their 75-year-old grandmother. One of the children, a nine-year-old, is sick with full-blown AIDS. Another child, seven years old, is less sick but he’s been getting IV blood infusions.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Kozol: Amazing Grace specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The six-year-old may be okay. But it’s the 13-year-old girl, who isn’t sick, who’s causing the most worries. She’s staying out all night, defying her grandmother. She stared to do this at 11, when her father died. Recently, this girl had an abortion† (Schultz, p 377). Asthma, fear and anxiety are some of the most common diseases and problems respectively that children from this areas face in their lives. Winter season is considered the worst weather since they are never well protected from the dangerous cold weather. Rarely the government is forced to distribute free electric blankets and sometimes space heaters to protect them from the cold. This leads to over loading on the electricity supply in these areas and they are forced to turn to sleeping bags as an alternative (Schultz, p 372). Conclusion The residents of these areas especially children have their comfort on one song which to them is like a prayer, â€Å"Amazing gra ce! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost and now am found, was blind but now I see†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This is according to Jonathan Kozol who sympathizes with them. References Schultz, F. â€Å"SOURCES: Notable selections in education.† New York: McGraw-Hill Dushkin, 2001, p 370-380. This essay on Kozol: Amazing Grace was written and submitted by user Sariyah Cantu to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

JP Morgan Chase †Information Systems Business Case

JP Morgan Chase – Information Systems Business Case Free Online Research Papers Questions Task One The case study gives an overview of J.P Morgan Chase’s move back from outsourcing. Discuss their Information Technology and Information Systems Strategy in relation to their business requirements. Task Two From your own knowledge of System Theory and System Development practice, discuss methods, which might be used for developing new systems following the merger with Bank One. Task Three Effectiveness of the Information System for the organisation and its users should be considered. Introduction J.P Morgan Chase is a financial holding company. It is the second largest financial services firm in the United States. The firm operates in more than 50 countries. Its principal banking subsidiaries include J.P Morgan Chase Bank National Association, which is a national banking association with location in 17 states; and the Chase Bank USA, National Association. J.P Morgan Chase also operates a principle non-banking subsidiary, J.P Morgan Securities Inc., which is an investment-banking firm in the United States. The firm runs additional set of businesses including its Private Equity and Treasury Businesses, corporate support companies, leasing companies, e-commerce companies, and a host of other financial services businesses. In 2002 J.P Morgan Chase made a major strategic decision. The firm struck a deal with IBM to outsource a significant portion of its IT infrastructure. In September 2004 J.P Morgan cancelled the remainder of the outsourcing contract with IBM after only 21 months seem expected. J.P Morgan Chase’s decision to reverse its IT Strategy, â€Å"Back-sourcing† its information technology, was triggered by a merger with Bank One Corporation in July 2004. Analysts predict that J.P Morgan Chase would look offshore for outsourcing arrangements in the future but would follow a diverse multi-source model rather than agree to a mega deal with a single vendor. Information Technology and Information Systems Strategy All organisations operate within an environment that influences the way in which they conduct business. Strategy development is strongly influenced by considering the environment the business operates in. Environmental influences are broken down into two categories, firstly Microenvironment which is the immediate competitive environment, and the secondly the Macro-environment which is the wider environment. For Information Systems and Information Technology strategy, the most significant environmental influences are those of the immediate marketplace, which is shaped by the needs of the customers and how services are provided to them through competitors and intermediaries and via upstream suppliers. Information Systems have become essential for helping organisations deal with changes in the global economies and the business enterprise. Information Systems provide firms with communication and analytical tools for conducting trade and managing business on a global scale. Information Systems are the foundation of new knowledge based products and services in knowledge economies Such as J.P Morgan Chase and help firms manage their knowledge assets. Information Systems make it possible for businesses to adopt flatter, more decentralised structures and flexible arrangements of employees and management. Organisations are trying to become more competitive and efficient by transforming themselves into digital firms where nearly all core business processes and relationships with customers, suppliers, and employees are digitally enabled, just as J.P Morgan Chase tried to do. There are five main key management challenges in building and using Information Systems. The first is designing systems that are competitive and efficient. The second is understanding the system requirements of the global business environment. The third is creating an information architecture and IT infrastructure that supports the organisations goals. The fourth is determining the business value of Information Systems and the fifth is designing systems that people can control, understand, and use in a socially and ethically responsible manner. The Seven R’s Paul Lickert refers to seven modern management imperatives as the seven R’s. The seven R’s highlight how an organisation must compete by using Information Systems strategy to respond to its external environment. 1. Reach – IS/IT both allow global competition and is required to compete; organisations need information and the tools to process it to allow quick, accurate response, anytime and anywhere; global competition implies information networks and inter-organisational systems 2. Reaction – IS/IT is needed to access and interpret customer feedback. Ti can be used to keep track of customers, products and projects – it is particularly important to bring order to data to facilitate fast and accurate response to so that managers will be able to anticipate customer needs to be flexible and quickly developed. 3. Responsiveness – there needs to be a rapid movement of product ideas to the market. Organisations need IS/IT to help manage this process: efficiency and speed as well as accuracy and reliability are required and information needs to be relevant and well formatted. 4. Refinement – More customer sophistication means increased turbulence in the market, so more information and the tools to manage and manipulate it are needed. Customers are better at communicating precise requirements, which means that niche market appear, grow and disappear rapidly. As a result increased breadth of information is required to create and market products. Also, customers respond well to systems that respond well to them. 5. Reconfiguration – As business processes need to evolve and adapt to market needs, there is a big impact on information resource requirements needed for organisational learning. Complex work structures generate complex data, and management support systems are needed to help manage continually evolving work patterns and structures. Also new architectures allow decentralisation of IS/IT and greater customer responsiveness. 6. Redeployment – Rapid redeployment of resources is required to meet the customer’s needs. An Organisation needs to able to visualise complex arrangements for resources and models to manage them. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain detailed, relevant information on resources at all times and be able to redeploy them. Information itself has become a competitive resource, as well as allowing more control over other resources. 7. Reputation – IS/IT can be used to support product development, testing, marketing and customer post-sale service. It can also help to reduce the gap between expectation and performance. Organisations need to enhance the quality and reliability of the product, and the Information Systems can help in such areas as quality benchmarks, measurement and group-based control techniques. There are four tools used to provide a firm foundation for further analysis of the IS/IT strategies. Each tool examines in the context of the way in which it can be used to help derive an IS Strategy that is an integral part of an organisation’s business strategy. 1. Porter and Miller’s Five Force Model Porter and Miller’s five-force model is a model for analysing the different external competitive forces that affect an organisation and how information can be used to counter them. These five forces can exert a profound influence on how business is conducted. If the model is to be used successfully, it will require a thorough analysis of the industry under consideration. Of itself, the resulting information will not automatically generate a business strategy for the organisation. However, it will create a vivid picture of the market environments within which the organisation is operating and provide some pointers towards avenues of further investigation. The five forces are: Rivalry between existing competitors. Threats of new entrants. Threats of substitutes. Power of the Buyers. Power of the suppliers. The value of this model is that it encourages an organisation to look inside itself in the context of the external environment. Porter and Miller’s Five-Force Model 2. Porter’s Competitive Strategies Related to his work on the five forces, Porter proposed three different competitive strategies that could be used to counter these forces, of which the organisation may be able to adopt one. Once a competitive strategy has been identified, all marketing efforts can be applied to achieving this and IS can help support the aim. The three competitive strategies are: Overall Cost Leadership – Firm aims to become the lowest-cost producer industry Differentiation – creates a product perceived industry-wide as being unique. Focus or Niche – This involves identifying and serving a target segment very well There is also a possible undesirable outcome: Stuck in the middle – the firm is unable to adopt any of the above approaches arid, therefore, it is ultimately at the mercy of competitors that are able to offer these approaches. 3. Value Chain Analysis This is an analytical framework of decomposing an organization into its individual activities and determining the value added at each stage. In this way, the organization can assess how effectively resources are being used at the various points on the value chain. Value chain analysis makes a distinction between primary activities, which contributes directly to getting goods and services closer to the customer and support activities to take place. Primary activities can be broken down into five areas: Inbound Logistics Outbound Logistics Operations Marketing and sales Service Secondary activities fall into four categories: Corporate administration and infrastructure Human resource management Technology development Procurement It is probably easier to see how IS can be applied within this model than in the five forces model. 4. Critical Success Factor Critical Success Factors are measures that indicate the performance or efficiency of different parts of the organization. Good performance of processes measured by these factors is vital to the business unit or organization. This technique is one of the most useful for an organization in pinpointing what is its precise information needs. Critical Success Factors will exist in every functional area of the business and they indicate those things, which must be done right if that functional area is particular, and the organization as a whole are to flourish. Critical Success Factors will also relate to the level within each functional area. Once the Critical Success Factors have been determined across process and hierarchical levels, it is possible to consider the key decisions that have to be made if those Critical Success Factors are to be achieved. Systems Theory Systems Development Practices There are nine principles of the dynamic systems development methodology. 1. Active user involvement is imperative 2. DSDM teams must be empowered to make decisions 3. The focus is on the frequent delivery of products 4. Fitness for business purpose is the essential criterion for acceptance of deliverables 5. Iterative and incremental development is necessary to converge on an accurate business solution 6. All changes during development are reversible 7. Requirements are baseline at a high level 8. Testing is integrated throughout the life cycle 9. A collaborative and cooperative approach between all stakeholders is essential SSASM and the Waterfall Model Although complex, SSDAM as a methodology only covers part of the system development process, as the name of methodology suggest, the emphasis is on the analysis and design. However, given the importance of having system requirements determined correctly before further developments take place, this is perhaps understandable. The attention is now turned on what the traditionalists would regard as very antithesis of a proper structure of methodology that is rapid application development. The traditional waterfall or SDCL model as described previously was discussed in the context of a system that acquired using a bespoke development approach. For Package software, that application of the SDCL stages would be: Initiation Feasibility Analysis Design Build Implementation/changeover Maintenance and review The RAD Approach Avison and Fitzgerald (2002) outlined and approach to rapid application development, which embraces many of the principles outlined in the principles of the dynamic systems. For them, the RAD approach: Is based on evolutionary prototyping rather than the traditional lifecycle approach It identifies key users and involves them in workshops at the early stages of development It obtains commitment from the business users It requires the use of CASE (computer-aided software engineering) tools for system building. Typical RAD activities include: Joint requirements planning (JRP) to determine high level management requirements Joint application design (JAD) using prototyping tools to explore processes, interface, screens, reports, dialogues, etc., which are then developed and modelled using entity modelling, dataflow diagrams, action diagrams and function decomposition diagrams Transformation of user design and code generation, often with the assistance of CASE tools A cut over phase involving more testing, functional level training, training for organisational change and adaptation, conversion, parallel running and, finally, live running. The result of the rapid application development approach should be new information systems that more closely meet the requirements of the intended users, not least because the requirements will not have changed significantly over a relatively short development timescale. For this reason I would recommend that J.P Morgan Chase use the RAD Approach to develop new systems following the merger with Bank One. Effectiveness of Information Systems Abrupt changes in the economic environment are forcing businesses to absorb and integrate new ways of delivering value to their customers. The opening of new markets, the increase in globalization, and the growth in cross-border mergers and acquisitions have focused the attention of many companies on how best to deliver their products and services across a complex network of suppliers, manufacturers, and intermediaries. Greater differentiation of products and services through an emphasis on customer service combined with the emergence of new technology has provided an incentive for many companies to rethink their business models. At the same time, many companies are recognizing that, in order to provide global reach and local responsiveness, the traditional vertically integrated business model requires re-evaluation. To meet these growing challenges, more and more companies are looking to co-operate with their supply chain partners. In order to gain supply chain efficiencies, companies need to exchange large amounts of planning and operational data, ranging from information for annual contracts and periodic progress reporting to real-time delivery and invoicing data. The emergence of the Internet and new software applications has provided an opportunity for some companies to move towards an extended enterprise business model-one that enhances value across traditional corporate boundaries. To support the transfer of information between supply chain partners there is a requirement to utilize technology in an effective way. But in the last decade, business information systems development has focused on internal process integration of traditional functions, such as sales, production, and materials management. The prime driver of this trend has been the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, such as SAP R/3, Baan, and Oracle. Managing Treats In general terms, threats to information systems can be managed using basic approaches and techniques: Firewalls – Firewalls act as a barrier between an information system and the Internet. The software attempts to monitor and control all incoming and out going traffic in an attempt to prevent outsiders gaining access to the information system. Intrusion detection software – this type of software monitors activity on the network in order to identify intruders. Typically the software will look for characteristic patterns of behaviour that might identify the fact that someone has gained assess to the network AI software – many organisations have begun to develop applications that use artificial intelligence in order to detect intrusion attempts or unusual activity that might indicate a breach in security. Bibliography Bakos, J. Yannis, Dependent Variables for the Study of Firm and Industry Level Impacts of Information Systems, Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Information Systems, 1995 pp. 10-23 Barki, H and S.L. Huff, Implementing Decision Support Systems: Correlated of User Satisfaction and System Usage, INFOR, Vol. 28 No. 2, May 1990, pp. 89-101 Crowston, Kevin and Michael E. Treacy, Assessing the Impact of Information Technology on Enterprise Level Performance, Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Information Systems, 1986, pp. 299-310 Hirschheim, Rudy and Heinz K. Klein, Four Paradigms of Information System Development, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 32 No. 10, October 1989, pp. 1199-1215 From Adam Smith to Michael Porter: Evolution of Competitiveness Theory Page 212 by Dong-Sung Cho, Hwy-Chang Moon, Tong-Song Cho Making Good in Business 1921 Page 2 by Roger W Babson 2003 176 pages Marketing Insights from A to Z: 80 Concepts Every Manager Needs to Know Page 21 by Philip Kotler Business Information Systems By Paul Bocij, Dave Chaffey, Andrew Greasley Simon Hickie. Research Papers on JP Morgan Chase - Information Systems Business CaseThe Project Managment Office SystemOpen Architechture a white paperPETSTEL analysis of IndiaBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesRiordan Manufacturing Production PlanRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andStandardized Testing

Antiseptics and disinfectants

The higher the concentration of antiseptic, the more powerful it will be at inhibiting/ killing microorganisms which cause bacterial growth. † This theory supports my result because as you can see the zone of inhibition increases due to the increasing concentration of antiseptic. The higher concentration of antiseptic means it has been less diluted, which means its more stronger than other more diluted concentrations, this high concentration will determine how powerful the antiseptic will be at killing/inhibiting the growth of bacterium, this high concentration of antiseptic will break down the bacterial cell wall, after this process has happened the antiseptic can stop the mutation of the bacteria and inhibit the growth of the bacteria or kill the bacteria. As you can see from my results the higher amount of antiseptic agent present in the ajar jelly, the more powerful it will be at destroying the bacterial cell wall, that is why with the increasing concentration of antiseptic the zone of inhibition increases because the high dose of concentration is attacking the bacteria, hence inhibiting a larger zone of inhibition. On the other hand decreasing the concentration of antiseptic reduces the effect of destroying the bacterium; the weaker the concentration is the less powerful it is at attacking the cell wall of the bacteria. As you can see from my results at the point of 10 percent concentration the smallest zone of inhibition is present this is because the weaker concentration wasn’t strong enough to attack enough of the bacteria in the ajar jelly, so a smaller zone of inhibition became present. During incubation, the chemical diffuses from the disk containing the agent into the surrounding agar; my weaker concentration also wasn’t able to diffuse as well as a higher concentration. Another factor is that my higher concentration wasn’t diluted as much as much as my lower concentration, which means that the water neutralised some of the powerful chemicals in the lower concentration of antiseptic, which were lethal for destroying some of the bacterial agents. 6a) Use of the proper concentration of a disinfectant is important to Achieve the best results for each situation. Some products will have different dilutions Depending on the desired use of the product. Although some Disinfectants may be more efficacious at higher concentrations, However, over-dilution of a product may render the disinfectant ineffective to the target of destroying the Microorganisms. The product label will list the best concentration to use for each situation. Be sure to consider any standing water or other water sources (i. e. , rainfall) in the area as a Potential dilution source for a disinfectant. Antiseptics are more suitable for cleaning hands rather than disinfectants because disinfectants are meant to destroy microorganisms which can infect non-living objects, whilst antiseptics are used on living tissues and cells to destroy any type of infections or sepsis which may be living on the tissue, that is why antiseptics are used in hand sanitizers to clean hands rather than disinfectants. Some people differ between using antibiotics or antiseptics for hand washing, antibiotics and antiseptics are both chemicals that prevent the growth and development of bacteria, but antibiotics are effective only again bacteria whilst antiseptics act on a wide range of microorganisms, making antiseptics more suitable for hand sanitizers. Antiseptics are chemical agents that slow or stop the growth of micro-organisms (germs) on external surfaces of the body, that is why they are suitable to use on the skin as they are designed for that pacific reason to stop bacterial growth or any other microorganisms from spreading or causing infection on the skin and external surfaces on the body. Antiseptics should be distinguished from antibiotics that destroy micro-organisms inside the body, and from disinfectants, which destroy micro-organisms found on inanimate (non-living) objects. Antibiotics and disinfectant are designed for other reasons as you can see and contain some different chemical agents that maybe harsh on the human skin so that is why disinfectants and antibiotics may not be suitable on the skin.

Soyfutures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Soyfutures - Essay Example ..12 Bibliography Chapter 1 Executive Summary The soya bean (or soybean in the US) is a legume grown mainly because of its edible bean which also has other multiple uses (Sidney & Smith 1972). A native crop of East Asia, the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation classifies it as an oilseed and not a pulse. Of the entire soya bean crop produced worldwide, 85 percent is processed into vegetable oil and soya bean meal. 60 pounds of soya bean bushel yields 11 and 47 pounds of crude soya bean oil and soya bean meal respectively when processed. The high protein content makes soya beans ideal in the manufacture of livestock feed, especially in the United States. Human consumption is mainly in the form of dairy and meat substitutes, edible oils, soya flour, and infant formula. The use of soya beans in the non-food industry has also been on the rise, most significantly in the energy sector. Through the process of transesterification, biodiesel fuel can be obtained from soya bean oil for use i n diesel engines (Drapcho, Nghiem & Walker 2008). The process simply removes glycerine from soya bean oil. Because soya biodiesel burns cleaner than petroleum based diesel oil, it is non toxic, environmentally friendly and renewable. Environmentally friendly solvents can also be produced from soya oil that remove oil from shorelines, streams and creeks without causing any harm to the environment, humans, animals and marine life. It is also used in the manufacture of industrial solvents, lubricants, paints and cleaners. In the building industry, soya bean extracts are used in the manufacture of building materials, known as biocomposites, replacing the traditionally used wood in furniture making and flooring (McCormick 2006). Another use of soya bean oil is the manufacture of crayons, which makes them safer for children because they are non toxic. Candles made from soya bean oil produce less smoke and burn longer. With the growing non-food use of soya beans, this report will identify and analyse international market opportunities as well as risks involved for Soyfutures in their bid to develop market for soya bean oil. The US remains the world’s highest producer of soya beans, as shown in the table below, provided by UN Food and Agricultural Organization. Country Million Metric Tons in 2011 United States 90.6 Brazil 68.5 Argentina 52.6 People's Republic of China 15.0 India 9.8 Paraguay 7.4 Canada 4.3 Uruguay 1.8 Ukraine 1.68 Bolivia 1.63 With an annual soya bean production of 500,000 metric tons that is mostly used locally, Nigeria can produce and export biodiesel to Latin America, Asia and Europe where there is extensive use of diesel engines in farm equipment, automobiles, trains, generators and marine machinery. Although the focus of Soyfutures was to venture into markets outside Africa, the research found that Africa

Properties, plant, and equipment in accounting theory Essay

Properties, plant, and equipment in accounting theory - Essay Example 2) Group costing (recording the cost as 800,000 for all the equipment together) affects the costing of the equipment in two ways. First, it is challenging to depreciate the items because they have different depreciation rates (Liapis & Christodoulopoulou, 2011). However, this risk may be eliminated in case their depreciation rate is the same. Second, it creates a reporting and cost allocation challenge, as the cost accountant cannot allocate costs effectively with group costing. Operational costs on the assets become hard to allocate. However, costing the items independently (single costing) will facilitate reporting because some of the equipment should be capitalized (fixed assets) while some would be expensed (inventory). 3) Group costing reduces the profit of the business. First, it increases the depreciation expense, which has a negative effect on the profit of the business. Group costing also eliminates gain on sale of the expenses assets (Herrmann, Thomas & Saudagaran, 2011). Introduction of unwarranted depreciation also affects the value of the assets as it lowers the item values in the end. However, single costing does not affect the value of the assets and maintains the profit of the business high, as the gains on sale are included in sales while the depreciation expense is removed. 4) The first problem imminent from the transaction is the possibility of double costing. In case the items are recorded as lump sum amount means that in case some of them are sold, they may be recorded again in sales without expensing them creating a double accounting problem (Weiss, 2012). Depreciation problem may also arise from the transactions. An accountant will find challenges in treatment of depreciation for the difference between the market value and purchase price. From the transaction, taxation challenges can also arise. When the transaction is taxed, the amount to be taxed may challenge the accountant. The

Assess the social implications of business ethics Essay Example for Free

Assess the social implications of business ethics Essay Environment- the environment can affect the human activity. So for example; global warming which is the warming of the planet’s surface that is caused by carbon dioxide. In order to run a business efficiently they would need to make sure that their customers are aware of all the environmentally friendly activities that they do and that they are not harming the environment in anyway as some customers do take keeping environment healthy seriously. Sainsbury’s is really cautious about caring about the environmental and being eco-friendly and making sure that they are not causing any damage to the areas around them. They take the climate change seriously. They are concerned about the impact that they have on the environment. Their aim is to reduce the carbon footprint, reduce packaging and reducing waste. Sainsbury’s are concerned about the impact that they have on the environment, also with the career bags they give they make sure that they only take out the amount of bags that they need so that the bags are wasted. They want to make sure that they are making a continuous improvement with the environment so that it is not harming anyone. Sainsbury’s do not want to harm the industrial areas in anyway, and that is why wherever they are located is always safe where it would not cause any damage to the people or the planet. They want the climate to be good and they know what ways it could affect it and what they need to do in order to prevent causing damage and staying away from trouble. In order to improve this Sainsbury’s can make sure that anything that they do does not affect the environment and maybe before making any major changes they take advices from their local areas in what they think and how and what could be done to improve it. They could also charge for the bags so that the customers do not start asking for more bags then they already need. Sainsbury’s could also keep publishing information on environmental performance so everyone realises how important it is to look after the environment. Trading fairly- these are the rules the businesses need to follow which include; the business needs to run in an open manner, competition can only happen in between companies that belong to equal parties and making sure their customers are satisfied and are feeling secured with the business’s products and the quality of the products. All usinesses need to make sure that they are honest to their customers and are describing their products as it is to their customers so that they do not get angry by getting the wrong information. Sainsbury’s use many products that are organic and make many fair-trade products such as; fresh fruits. They need to make sure all their products are traded fairly and are pay ing their suppliers and employees fairly and make sure they are now paying them below the national minimum wage. They cannot cheat on their employee by providing them with the wrong information about the product or charge their customers extra for the product. All businesses need to follow all the rules and regulations in order to run ethically. Legal and regulatory compliance- all businesses must follow all the laws and regulations that have been set because if they do not agree to following the rules they would not be running the business ethically. Every organisation must be truthful to their customers and provide them with the correct information about the product and also not overcharge them for any of their goods and services. Sainsbury’s need to make sure that they are following the legislations and regulations so that they are not doing that is against the law. They want their business to be running with health and safety so that no one is harmed by it. They try recruiting staff as possible so that they are not the cause of unemployment, they plan their business properly so that they do not have to face any trouble in the long term and they have been doing that quite well as this is the reason why they are running successfully, they care about the environment and do not want to cause pollution that is why they produce sustainable products. They treat their workers right and follow the rules of not making them work more than they are supposed to, take disadvantage of them, they keep record of all workers and makes sure it’s available for authorities. They make sure they are treating their customers with respect and are not letting them down in any way. Bribery- this is when a business uses money to sort out the behaviour of the receiver. Sainsbury’s have always stuck to the laws so they haven’t really been through bribery or in other words ‘corruption. They are always assuring of their plans that they make. They would not do anything that would be illegal. They would not take any actions that would later on make a negative impact on the industry although they could bribe the local government by giving them extra money so that they government would let them do things that they wouldn’t let other businesses do. In order to improve their performance Sainsbury’s could measure their l evel of corruption and identify their weaknesses. This would help them to improve ways to meet the standards of their customers and all the other people who are a part of their business and figure out how to improve and resolve any other problems that could occur in the future. Animal testing- this is used to figure out whether a product is safe and effective. The production of goods can lead to ethical issues, which Sainsbury’s are against. Almost all businesses test their products on animals before selling it in the market. However Sainsbury’s do not approve of this as they believe that animals should be treated fairly and with respect so they are constantly working to raise welfare standards. From giving pigs happier lives through improved farming methods, to ensure that their own-label cosmetics meet the Humane Cosmetics Standard and increasing their range of freedom food products, which meet strict RSPCA guidelines. They offer wide ranges of higher welfare foods and cosmetics at any UK retailer but all Sainsbury’s products are free from animal testing.

Analysis of My Papas Waltz Essay -- Poetry Theodore Roethke

In the poem "My Papa's Waltz" written by Theodore Roethke, the interpretation of the poem depends on the readers`perspective. Some people think that this poem is one of a happy exchange between a father and son. Other people believe that this poem has a hidden message of parental abuse. In my point of view, the imagery and language, the symbolism, and tone in the poem gave me the impression of the love between the father and son, not of an abusive relationship. "My Papa's Waltz" is a poem presented in a form that uses specific images and language to present a happy memory that a man has of his father, even in a situation where his father was drunk. Words such as "romped" (line 5), "waltzing" (line 4), "clinging to your shirt," (line 16) express the enthusiasm of the event and the boy's response to it. Simultaneously, the poem starts with the author stating that his father is very drunk by mentioning "the wiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy" (line 1-2). In addition, a waltz is a type of dance in which someone must lead and the father is the one leading the child in t...

Gutenberg’s Press and the Transition from Medieval to Modern

There are many ideas and concepts that facilitated the transition from the Medieval Era to a more modern, Renaissance society, but it can be argued that Johann Gutenberg's invention of the printing press was the most important factor to this change in Europe. The creation of the press was no easy task for Gutenberg; he was faced with many obstacles. However, once created, the press benefited people around the world for centuries and continues to be a fundamental part of our society today. Before the invention of the printing press, books were extremely expensive, limiting education to the very wealthy. Because only the upper class could afford to purchase books, education was a means of separating the aristocracy from the lower classes. It was nearly impossible for the less fortunate to move up in society since they could not educate themselves. The reason books were so pricey was due to the methods employed to create each page individually. For a scribe to copy an entire novel by hand would take much patience and many hours. A common method of producing copies was for one man to read the original word by word, and a group of scribes would write each word as the reader said them. â€Å"By this method,† describes John Fontana in his work Mankind's Greatest Invention, â€Å"one manuscript served as the source of reproduction for many copies when the scribes finished writing the last of the reader's orally presented words† (13). Not only was this time consuming, but the more copies that were made, the more errors were made. Eventually, a method of creating copies without such a high margin of error came about. People would hand carve blocks of wood with raised letters and cover the blocks with ink. Then they would place a sheet of paper on the block to make a copy. To make the process even more difficult, they had to carve the letters and words backwards so they would print correctly, and they had to make these letters look normal when reversed. Albert Kapr, in his book Johann Gutenberg: The Man and his Invention, describes how â€Å"a calligrapher had first to write out this text, which was traced as a mirror-image reversal on to a planed limewood plank and then cut out with a knife in such a way that the lettering was left as a raised surface† (21). This method is called xylography, and while it was an improvement in that it reduced mistakes, carving a block of wood for each page to be printed was even more time consuming than writing the words by hand, and books remained as expensive as ever. Johann Gensfleisch Gutenberg, a goldsmith from Mainz, Germany, wanted to change all this. His idea was to replace the wood blocks with separate letters made of metal. One would be able to move the letters around to make words and sentences, and then reuse them. â€Å"The key to this new method was not as is generally believed, the discovery of the value of movable type, for movable letters had been known and used for centuries,† explains Fontana. â€Å"It was the mechanism for making the types† (28). This type of printing press was, in fact, already being used in China, but the technology to create such a machine was yet to be discovered in Europe. In working to build this machine, Gutenberg was faced with obstacle after obstacle. Just when he would think he might have mastered it, he would encounter another problem to solve. â€Å"The invention of typography was not,† noted Theo DeVinne in his work The Invention of Printing, â€Å"the result of a happy thought or of a flash of inspiration. It was not born in a day . . . it was thought out and wrought out† (376). To begin with, he had two main concerns: finding a device that would keep the letters in place, and making a press that would print clearly. Gutenberg soon came up with a solution to the first of the two issues. He paid a carpenter for the use of his winepress, so as to have â€Å"a suitable bed for a page of metal letters to rest on,† and arranged the letters on one side of it (Fontana 22). He wanted to come up with a frame to hold the paper; then when one was ready to print, they could twist a screw to press the paper up against the letters. The letters were to be created by pouring melted metal into a mold. Then Gutenberg came across several more problems. The first was the question of how to make all of the letters exactly the same thickness so that when they were pressed against the paper, they would print evenly. Also, he needed a solution for putting narrow letters on narrow metal bases and wide letters on wide bases. Using the same base for all letters would not only be impractical in that it would waste space, it would also make the words look uneven, with different sized spaces between letters. Regardless of the width of the character, each metal piece had to be the same height so the lines would not be crooked. DeVinne made the point that â€Å"if the types of one character, as of the letter a, should be made the merest trifle larger or smaller than its fellows of the same font, all the types, when composed, will show the consequences of the defect† (52). Gutenberg came up with two brilliant ideas to solve the problems. In order to make all of the letters the same thickness, he made the mold the desired height and added extensions on the sides to catch any overflowing metal. That way he could make sure that they would not be too thick, and as long as he poured metal to the top, they would not be too thin. Once dried, â€Å"this extra piece at the bottom of the metal letters opposite to the part the prints called the face, was easily broken off and smoothed before it was used for the printed page† (Fontana 30). As for making the letters different widths, he had to make an adjustable mold. He first experimented using wood, and once perfected, he made one out of metal. He came up with a mold that consisted of two L-shaped pieces that could fit together, and slide back and forth to make the enclosed area larger or smaller. Here Gutenberg encountered further setbacks. The lead he had been using to make the letters was too soft-it was printing unevenly after just a few pages had been printed. Gutenberg solved the problem of making the typeface hard enough to resist pressure by mixing the lead with parts of tin and a substance that acted like antimony,† hardening the metal and preventing expansion or shrinkage while the metal dried (Fontana 30). It also took a lot of searching to find ink that was the right consistency to leave a thin layer on paper. Should it be too thin, it would spread through the paper, and should it be too thick, it would clump and appear uneven. Upon fixing these problems, Gutenberg had come up with his first working printing press. With it, he printed copies of the first, second, and third editions of the Donatus. However, few people would purchase the pages because many considered his invention immoral, as they believed hand-written script to be a sacred art. Also, there were still problems with the press. The type face varied too much-the lines would go from thin to thick and back to thin again, and the ink did not stick to paper well. DeVinne tells us that â€Å"judged by modern standards, the types are ungraceful; the text letters are too dense and black, and the capitals are of rude form, obscure, and too small for the text† (421). The press itself took a lot of strength, especially when making multiple copies. All of these parts needed improvement, so Gutenberg got to work. He created more defined molds and stronger metal letters, which allowed for thinner printed lines. In hopes of eventually printing the Bible, Gutenberg worked to create letters that would, when placed together, resemble the handwriting of scribes. It was a difficult task, but he managed to finalize pages of beautiful lettering, each having two columns. The only problem was that only thirty-six lines would fit on a page, and Gutenberg wanted to fit forty-two lines. Otherwise, the amount of pages to print the Bible would be much greater and more costly. â€Å"If he had been only an ordinary dreamer about great inventions,† believes DeVinne, â€Å"he would have abandoned an enterprise so hedged in with mechanical and financial difficulties† (416). It was around this time that Gutenberg met John Fust, who offered to help finance his project if they could form a partnership. Gutenberg agreed as he was greatly in need of a means of paying for new equipment to make a forty-two-page press. DeVinne reports that these â€Å"small types were unique; they were never used, so far as we know for any other work† (406). This was most likely Gutenberg's greatest mistake, because when Fust did not get a quick return on his money, he sued Gutenberg for almost all of his equipment, including the new printing press. This was a set back from which Gutenberg never recovered, and though his invention greatly benefited many, he died a poor man. The printing press made a dramatic impact on European culture in many ways. One important way that it affected society was to bring about a higher level of individualism than had been before experienced. As Marshall McLuhan noted in his book The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographical Man, â€Å"the portability of the book, much like that of easel-painting, added much to the new cult of individualism† (206). Because there was no longer the need to be a part of a University or monastery in order to have access to books and education, people began spending more and more time on their own, teaching themselves, and therefore, becoming more and more independent. The distribution of a highly increased number of books due to the invention of the press also facilitated individualistic ideas by giving more people the opportunity to read, forcing them to interpret information themselves. In an oral culture, one is taught by the verbal explanations of others, allowing little opportunity for personal interpretation or for discovering oneself through thought and analysis of material, as is possible in a written culture. â€Å"To the oral man the literal is inclusive, contains all possible meanings and levels,† and through the introspection demanded by this increase in reading, individualism soared (McLuhan 111). With this increase in individualism came much higher levels of education and literacy. McLuhan, in discussing the advantages the press gave to learning, said â€Å"this very natural inclination towards accessibility and portability went hand in hand with greatly increased reading speeds which were possible with uniform and repeatable type† (207). Because the printing press used the same mold for multiple copies of the same letter, it was much less difficult to read than when it was necessary to accustom oneself with each scribe's handwriting with which one was encountered. The significant decrease in the price of books that occurred in conjunction with the printing press paved the way for the education and rise of a new middle class. â€Å"The book became a source of productive energy for a new breed of merchants and entrepreneurs,† and where before these people had been held back from penetrating the higher levels of society, they could now afford to educate themselves (Kapr 20). This education led to a cycle that allowed the middle class to make more money, which allowed them to purchase even more books and further educate themselves. While this new class of people did not have the social status of the aristocracy, Wyndham Lewis stated that â€Å"birth or training, in this age that has been called that of bastards and adventurers, never mattered less† (qtd. in McLuhan 119). Another important change that the invention of the printing press brought about was the new concept of mass production. Before the press, nobody had thought of the idea of creating something that could produce multiple copies of anything, so multiple copies of pages were just the first of endless possibilities. â€Å"Just as print was the first mass-produced thing, so it was the first uniform and repeatable commodity,† and the realization that exact duplicates could be made of products other than books was one that has been acted on for centuries to bring us mass-production as we know it today (McLuhan 125). Clearly Gutenberg's invention of the printing press with movable type was a turning point in history from medieval to modern times. While its creation took many practice runs and a lot of trial-and-error, Gutenberg's incredible patience and determination paid off and helped to build the new culture of the Renaissance. The press was not just a means of copying the written page, but a vehicle for the concept of individualism, the rise of education and the new middle class, and an introduction to mass production. Gutenberg’s Press and the Transition from Medieval to Modern There are many ideas and concepts that facilitated the transition from the Medieval Era to a more modern, Renaissance society, but it can be argued that Johann Gutenberg's invention of the printing press was the most important factor to this change in Europe. The creation of the press was no easy task for Gutenberg; he was faced with many obstacles. However, once created, the press benefited people around the world for centuries and continues to be a fundamental part of our society today. Before the invention of the printing press, books were extremely expensive, limiting education to the very wealthy. Because only the upper class could afford to purchase books, education was a means of separating the aristocracy from the lower classes. It was nearly impossible for the less fortunate to move up in society since they could not educate themselves. The reason books were so pricey was due to the methods employed to create each page individually. For a scribe to copy an entire novel by hand would take much patience and many hours. A common method of producing copies was for one man to read the original word by word, and a group of scribes would write each word as the reader said them. â€Å"By this method,† describes John Fontana in his work Mankind's Greatest Invention, â€Å"one manuscript served as the source of reproduction for many copies when the scribes finished writing the last of the reader's orally presented words† (13). Not only was this time consuming, but the more copies that were made, the more errors were made. Eventually, a method of creating copies without such a high margin of error came about. People would hand carve blocks of wood with raised letters and cover the blocks with ink. Then they would place a sheet of paper on the block to make a copy. To make the process even more difficult, they had to carve the letters and words backwards so they would print correctly, and they had to make these letters look normal when reversed. Albert Kapr, in his book Johann Gutenberg: The Man and his Invention, describes how â€Å"a calligrapher had first to write out this text, which was traced as a mirror-image reversal on to a planed limewood plank and then cut out with a knife in such a way that the lettering was left as a raised surface† (21). This method is called xylography, and while it was an improvement in that it reduced mistakes, carving a block of wood for each page to be printed was even more time consuming than writing the words by hand, and books remained as expensive as ever. Johann Gensfleisch Gutenberg, a goldsmith from Mainz, Germany, wanted to change all this. His idea was to replace the wood blocks with separate letters made of metal. One would be able to move the letters around to make words and sentences, and then reuse them. â€Å"The key to this new method was not as is generally believed, the discovery of the value of movable type, for movable letters had been known and used for centuries,† explains Fontana. â€Å"It was the mechanism for making the types† (28). This type of printing press was, in fact, already being used in China, but the technology to create such a machine was yet to be discovered in Europe. In working to build this machine, Gutenberg was faced with obstacle after obstacle. Just when he would think he might have mastered it, he would encounter another problem to solve. â€Å"The invention of typography was not,† noted Theo DeVinne in his work The Invention of Printing, â€Å"the result of a happy thought or of a flash of inspiration. It was not born in a day . . . it was thought out and wrought out† (376). To begin with, he had two main concerns: finding a device that would keep the letters in place, and making a press that would print clearly. Gutenberg soon came up with a solution to the first of the two issues. He paid a carpenter for the use of his winepress, so as to have â€Å"a suitable bed for a page of metal letters to rest on,† and arranged the letters on one side of it (Fontana 22). He wanted to come up with a frame to hold the paper; then when one was ready to print, they could twist a screw to press the paper up against the letters. The letters were to be created by pouring melted metal into a mold. Then Gutenberg came across several more problems. The first was the question of how to make all of the letters exactly the same thickness so that when they were pressed against the paper, they would print evenly. Also, he needed a solution for putting narrow letters on narrow metal bases and wide letters on wide bases. Using the same base for all letters would not only be impractical in that it would waste space, it would also make the words look uneven, with different sized spaces between letters. Regardless of the width of the character, each metal piece had to be the same height so the lines would not be crooked. DeVinne made the point that â€Å"if the types of one character, as of the letter a, should be made the merest trifle larger or smaller than its fellows of the same font, all the types, when composed, will show the consequences of the defect† (52). Gutenberg came up with two brilliant ideas to solve the problems. In order to make all of the letters the same thickness, he made the mold the desired height and added extensions on the sides to catch any overflowing metal. That way he could make sure that they would not be too thick, and as long as he poured metal to the top, they would not be too thin. Once dried, â€Å"this extra piece at the bottom of the metal letters opposite to the part the prints called the face, was easily broken off and smoothed before it was used for the printed page† (Fontana 30). As for making the letters different widths, he had to make an adjustable mold. He first experimented using wood, and once perfected, he made one out of metal. He came up with a mold that consisted of two L-shaped pieces that could fit together, and slide back and forth to make the enclosed area larger or smaller. Here Gutenberg encountered further setbacks. The lead he had been using to make the letters was too soft-it was printing unevenly after just a few pages had been printed. Gutenberg solved the problem of making the typeface hard enough to resist pressure by mixing the lead with parts of tin and a substance that acted like antimony,† hardening the metal and preventing expansion or shrinkage while the metal dried (Fontana 30). It also took a lot of searching to find ink that was the right consistency to leave a thin layer on paper. Should it be too thin, it would spread through the paper, and should it be too thick, it would clump and appear uneven. Upon fixing these problems, Gutenberg had come up with his first working printing press. With it, he printed copies of the first, second, and third editions of the Donatus. However, few people would purchase the pages because many considered his invention immoral, as they believed hand-written script to be a sacred art. Also, there were still problems with the press. The type face varied too much-the lines would go from thin to thick and back to thin again, and the ink did not stick to paper well. DeVinne tells us that â€Å"judged by modern standards, the types are ungraceful; the text letters are too dense and black, and the capitals are of rude form, obscure, and too small for the text† (421). The press itself took a lot of strength, especially when making multiple copies. All of these parts needed improvement, so Gutenberg got to work. He created more defined molds and stronger metal letters, which allowed for thinner printed lines. In hopes of eventually printing the Bible, Gutenberg worked to create letters that would, when placed together, resemble the handwriting of scribes. It was a difficult task, but he managed to finalize pages of beautiful lettering, each having two columns. The only problem was that only thirty-six lines would fit on a page, and Gutenberg wanted to fit forty-two lines. Otherwise, the amount of pages to print the Bible would be much greater and more costly. â€Å"If he had been only an ordinary dreamer about great inventions,† believes DeVinne, â€Å"he would have abandoned an enterprise so hedged in with mechanical and financial difficulties† (416). It was around this time that Gutenberg met John Fust, who offered to help finance his project if they could form a partnership. Gutenberg agreed as he was greatly in need of a means of paying for new equipment to make a forty-two-page press. DeVinne reports that these â€Å"small types were unique; they were never used, so far as we know for any other work† (406). This was most likely Gutenberg's greatest mistake, because when Fust did not get a quick return on his money, he sued Gutenberg for almost all of his equipment, including the new printing press. This was a set back from which Gutenberg never recovered, and though his invention greatly benefited many, he died a poor man. The printing press made a dramatic impact on European culture in many ways. One important way that it affected society was to bring about a higher level of individualism than had been before experienced. As Marshall McLuhan noted in his book The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographical Man, â€Å"the portability of the book, much like that of easel-painting, added much to the new cult of individualism† (206). Because there was no longer the need to be a part of a University or monastery in order to have access to books and education, people began spending more and more time on their own, teaching themselves, and therefore, becoming more and more independent. The distribution of a highly increased number of books due to the invention of the press also facilitated individualistic ideas by giving more people the opportunity to read, forcing them to interpret information themselves. In an oral culture, one is taught by the verbal explanations of others, allowing little opportunity for personal interpretation or for discovering oneself through thought and analysis of material, as is possible in a written culture. â€Å"To the oral man the literal is inclusive, contains all possible meanings and levels,† and through the introspection demanded by this increase in reading, individualism soared (McLuhan 111). With this increase in individualism came much higher levels of education and literacy. McLuhan, in discussing the advantages the press gave to learning, said â€Å"this very natural inclination towards accessibility and portability went hand in hand with greatly increased reading speeds which were possible with uniform and repeatable type† (207). Because the printing press used the same mold for multiple copies of the same letter, it was much less difficult to read than when it was necessary to accustom oneself with each scribe's handwriting with which one was encountered. The significant decrease in the price of books that occurred in conjunction with the printing press paved the way for the education and rise of a new middle class. â€Å"The book became a source of productive energy for a new breed of merchants and entrepreneurs,† and where before these people had been held back from penetrating the higher levels of society, they could now afford to educate themselves (Kapr 20). This education led to a cycle that allowed the middle class to make more money, which allowed them to purchase even more books and further educate themselves. While this new class of people did not have the social status of the aristocracy, Wyndham Lewis stated that â€Å"birth or training, in this age that has been called that of bastards and adventurers, never mattered less† (qtd. in McLuhan 119). Another important change that the invention of the printing press brought about was the new concept of mass production. Before the press, nobody had thought of the idea of creating something that could produce multiple copies of anything, so multiple copies of pages were just the first of endless possibilities. â€Å"Just as print was the first mass-produced thing, so it was the first uniform and repeatable commodity,† and the realization that exact duplicates could be made of products other than books was one that has been acted on for centuries to bring us mass-production as we know it today (McLuhan 125). Clearly Gutenberg's invention of the printing press with movable type was a turning point in history from medieval to modern times. While its creation took many practice runs and a lot of trial-and-error, Gutenberg's incredible patience and determination paid off and helped to build the new culture of the Renaissance. The press was not just a means of copying the written page, but a vehicle for the concept of individualism, the rise of education and the new middle class, and an introduction to mass production.

Debate on School Uniform Essay

Today we are seeing that the younger generations are becoming more preoccupied with fitting into the latest fashion trends. School administrations have noticed that dress code violations could be an attribute to the lack of performance in the classrooms. Public schools across America are searching for answers to enhance a better learning environment for the students. Taking all this into consideration, school uniforms would be a great idea to alleviate some of the negativity kids face due to societies apparel obsessions. In addition to what has been mentioned, studies have shown positive results with the use of public school uniforms. If it means that the schoolrooms will be more orderly, more disciplined,† Mr. Clinton said, â€Å"and that our young people will learn to evaluate themselves by what they are on the inside instead of what they’re wearing on the outside, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear school uniforms (Mitchell, 1996). I believe a requirement of school uniforms should be implemented in all public elementary and middle schools. Read more: Should uniforms be mandatory essay In the name of putting â€Å"discipline and learning back in our schools† President Clinton instructed the Federal Education Department today to distribute manuals to the nation’s sixteen thousand school districts advising them how they can legally enforce a school uniform policy. If it means that the schoolrooms will be more orderly, more disciplined,† Mr. Clinton said, â€Å"and that our young people will learn to evaluate themselves by what they are on the inside instead of what they’re wearing on the outside, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear school uniforms† (Mitchell, 1996). â€Å"It’s a fashion trend that’s spreading from Los Angeles to Louisiana, from Maryland to Miami, public schools are discussing, and in many cases adopting, the old private school idea. School uniforms are designed to help kids focus on algebra instead of high-tops; to make students compete for grades rather than jackets (www. pbs. org). In 1987, the first public school Cherry Hill Elementary in Baltimore, MD instituted a school uniform policy. Later in 1994, the Long Beach Unified School District in California adopted a mandatory uniform policy in some of its schools, making it the first urban district to do so. Before long there was a considerable increase in the use of uniform. For example, ninety-five percent of New Orleans’ public schools require uniforms, eighty-five percent of Cleveland, eighty percent of Chicago, sixty-five percent of Boston, sixty percent of Miami, and fifty percent of Cincinnati’s public School changed to uniforms (www. education. org). New York City, which is the largest school district in the US, has adopted the school uniform policy. The largest school district in the U. S. has adopted school uniforms. Over a half-million elementary-school students in New York City will have to adhere to a dress code by the fall of 1999. The president of the school board said the policy is â€Å"important to diminish peer pressure and promote school pride,† but that it’s not â€Å"an act of magic to transform schools overnight†¦ It isn’t going to replace a good teaching, good principals, and small classrooms. †(www. pbs. org). The National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) conducted a phone survey of seven hundred and fifty five principals in 2000, which revealed that twenty one percent of all public schools had a uniform policy (www. education. org). Another reason that schools have decided to conform to uniform policy is because some students arrive at school in T-shirts that bear slogans or graphics promoting drugs and alcohol, or that display a variety of messages that conflict with values the schools are trying to promote. Others may swagger around the halls in gang-related garb. Also, others may show up in sexually provocative clothing. These issues, as well as a desire to minimize socioeconomic tensions between the â€Å"haves† and â€Å"have not’s†, have spurred some schools to adopt more stringent dress codes or to require students to wear uniforms. As the Department of Education’s Manual on School Uniform notes, â€Å"Uniforms by themselves cannot solve all of the problems of school discipline, but they can be one positive contributing factor to discipline and safety† (Lumsden, Miller, 2002). Some authors contend that uniforms lessen emphasis on fashion, reduce the financial burden of low-income families, and promote peer acceptance, school pride, and learning. In a ten-state survey of elementary and middle school principals conducted two years ago by the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the clothing company Lands’ End, eleven percent of respondents said that their schools mandate uniforms, and another fifteen percent were considering such a policy. Others recent survey indicated that support for uniforms are growing among parents as well. In one survey, fifty-six percent of parents said they would support a school uniform policy (Lumsden, Miller, 2002). School uniforms also take the pressure off students to pay top dollar for clothes, according to Reginald Wilson, a senior scholar at the American Council on Education in Washington, D. C. â€Å"I think it does lower the cost of clothes, and kids don’t emphasize clothes as much when they’re all wearing the same thing,† Wilson said. â€Å"Certainly the competition to wear the best shoes or the best sweaters and so forth has been prevalent in school ever since I was in school, and the poor kids felt inferior† (www. pbs. org). Deborah L. Elder wrote about an evaluation of school uniform policy at John Adams and Truman Middle Schools for Albuquerque public schools. In the beginning in the fall of 1998 under a policy started by parent’s students at John Adams and Truman Middle Schools in Albuquerque were required to wear tuck-in polo shirts and khaki pants or skirts. Elder reports on an evaluation of this policy that used interviews, focus groups, and surveys, along with data on discipline referrals and numbers of students achieving honor-roll status. During the first semester of the 1998-1999 school year, both schools experienced a clear improvement in student conduct from the previous year. At John Adams Middle School, discipline referrals fell from one thousand five hundred and sixty-five during the first semester of the previous year to four hundred and five. At Truman, referrals dropped from one thousand one hundred and thirty-nine to eight hundred and fifty. Students, teachers, and parents stated in interviews â€Å"uniforms place all students on an equal level,† Elder writes, â€Å"Students who may be immediately labeled by peers and staff no longer stand out. † Survey data showed that seventy-five percent of parents and eighty-nine percent of staff supported uniforms and believed they decreased violence, theft, and gang activity, Although only fifteen percent of students supported uniforms, fifty-nine percent agreed that â€Å"school uniforms help school officials identify trespassers on campus. † Concerns about school violence have led to increased interest in and acceptance of uniform policies. In the wake of school shootings, communities and schools are much more willing to embrace uniforms as well as a number of other strategies to enhance student safety. Curbing gang-related violence was the primary goal of the Long Beach (CA) Unified School District when, in 1994, it began requiring students in all its elementary and middle schools to wear uniforms, In the Dysart Unified School District outside Phoenix, Arizona, eliminating some of the stigma associated with clothes was the main motivation behind the adoption of uniforms. Even before the recent series of school shootings, a survey of principals conducted by the National Association of Secondary School Principals found strong support for uniforms. In addition to having a sense that uniform may aid in violence prevention, many administrators believe that uniforms will reduce discipline referrals, while improving attendance, achievement, self-esteem, and school climate. A study of middle school students in the Charleston (SC) School District fount that school uniforms did appear to alter students’ perceptions of school climate. Students attending district schools that required uniforms viewed their school climates more positively than did students enrolled in schools where uniforms were not mandatory. Additional benefits credited to school uniforms include improved discipline, increased respect for teachers, increased school attendance, fewer distractions, improved academic performance, increased self-esteem and confidence, lower overall clothing costs, promotion of group spirit, reduction in social stratification and fashion statements, improved classroom behavior, lower rates of school crime and violence, and easy identification of nonstudents (Lumsden, 2001). Many opponents believe that dictating what students wear to school violates their constitutional right to freedom of expression (Lumsden,Miller, 2002). People oppose uniforms point to unnecessary violations of students First Amendment rights, authoritarian regimentation, extraordinary expenditures on special clothing, an environmental tone that is harmful to education and learning, and cosmetic solution to deeper societal problems. Students First Amendment right to freedom of expression, and whether it is being abridged, is one of the fundamental issues raised, Several legal challenges have asserted that students freedom to select what to wear to school is a form of self-expression that schools are not entitled to interfere with (Lumsden, 2001). In a recent case, Littlefield v. Forney, parents challenged a school uniform policy adopted by the Forney, Texas school board. The policy required students to wear polo shirts, oxford shirts, or blouses in any of four specified solid colors, with blue or khaki pants, shorts, skirts, or jumpers. Denim, leather, suede, vinyl, and spandex were off-limits, as were baggy clothes and specific types of shoes. The parents claimed that the district’s policy violated â€Å"the right of parents to control the upbringing and education of their own children. † The plaintiff also argued that the policy interfered with students’ freedom of expression and forced them to express ideas with which they might disagree. In addition, they also declared that the procedures for opting out of the policy violated their religious freedom by allowing school officials to assess the sincerity of people’s religious belief. The federal district court dismissed the suit without a trial, but the plaintiffs then appealed to the 5th Circuit Court, where the ruling of the lower court was upheld. In its decision, the 5th Circuit Court indicated that students’ free-speech right to select their own clothes is â€Å"not absolute,† and that this right must be balanced against a school board’s stated interests in adopting a dress code or uniform policy. To decide whether a specific uniform or dress code policy is permissible under the Constitution’s free-speech clause, the court used a four-pronged test it had previously applied in another school uniform case, Canady v. Bossier Parish School Board. The court looked at four criteria: the school board must have the power to make a policy, the policy must promote a substantial interest of the board, the adoption of the policy must not be an attempt to censor student expression, and the policy’s â€Å"incidental† restrictions on student expression must not be greater than necessary to promote the board’s interest. In this case, the 5th Circuit found that all four criteria were satisfied and that the district’s school uniform policy therefore did not violate students’ right to free expression. The court also ruled that parents’ rights to control their children’s upbringing, including their education, cannot override school rules that are considered â€Å"reasonable† to maintain an appropriate educational environment. In this case, the court concluded that the uniform policy was â€Å"rationally related† to the interests of the school board in â€Å"promoting education, improving student safety, increasing attendance, decreasing dropout rates, and reducing socioeconomic tensions among students. † The parents’ argument that the opt-out procedure violated religious freedom because if gave school officials the authority to judge the sincerity and content of families’ religious beliefs was also rejected by the court. Their decision was based on the policy not containing any religious goals; they did not have the effect of advancing or hindering any particular faith over any other; and did not excessively â€Å"entangle† school officials in religious beliefs (Lumsden, and Miller, 2002). Public schools that have already put uniform into place have seen improvement. Kids are less focus on what they are wearing, and more focus on schoolwork. Kids are not focused on what they should wear the next day for school and you won’t have kids up early looking for clothes to wear to school. Elementary and Middle Schools will see significant change once uniforms are put into place. School uniforms are a great way to preserve the level of social equality amongst the students. The thought of knowing the social background is prevented. It makes kids treat each other equally; not judging by what clothes they wear. Students will learn to respect each other on the foundation of how they get along and not how sexy they look. Humiliating or bullying other kids will decrease or stop altogether. The level of distraction is considerably reduced. Since students will be dressing in similar clothing, which will be distinctive to the school, the students will build up a sense of belonging and loyalty to the school. School uniforms will help avoid incidents of complicated situations (inferiority and superiority). Students will not be known by what they wear, but by how they perform. Kids can build team spirit. When you wear specific colors, a sense of unity can be developed. Similar clothing promotes team spirit. School uniforms encourage a sense of ownership and discipline. Therefore, I strongly believe school uniforms should be a requirement for public school students in the elementary and middle schools. Overall, implementing school uniform in elementary and middle public school will be beneficial, as I have mentioned above. Kids may not be happy about it at first, but they will eventually catch on. I personally work with middle school kids who go to public school and wear uniforms. They did not like it at first, but what they all agree on is how they don’t have to decide on what to wear. References Lumsden, Linda and Gabriel Miller. â€Å"Dress Codes and Uniforms. † 2002. National Association of Elementary School Principals, Alexandria, VA. 19 6 2012 . Lumsden, Linda. Uniforms and Dress-Code Policies. Eugene, May 2001. Mitchell, Alison. New York Times: Clinton Will Advise Schools on Uniforms. 25 February 1996. 23 June 2012 . Public School Uniform Statistics. 2012. 19 6 2012 . School Uniforms. 21 6 2012 .

Louis Riel Hero Essay Example

Louis Riel Hero Essay Example Louis Riel Hero Essay Louis Riel Hero Essay Louis Riel: Historical Hero Louis Riel is a well-known figure in Canadian history. Through his acts as a leader, despite his political mistakes, I believe he should be remembered as a Canadian hero. Riel, being well-educated and bilingual, would eventually emerge as a strong advocate for Metis rights in Red River. Riel practiced as a lawyer in Montreal, but returned to his home of Red River in the face of Rupert’s Land being purchased by Canada from the Hudson’s Bay Company (Histori). His home, Red River Colony, was a part of Rupert’s land and many Metis people were afraid of losing control of their homeland. He would rally the French-speaking Metis and the English-speaking half-natives together to protect their interests from the conflicting interests of those in the east. He urged the creation of an army, the institution of a provisional government, and insurance of the defence of Fort Garry, the HBC headquarters (University of Missouri-Kansas City). The Metis people went on to form a committee called the â€Å"National Committee† and named Riel as secretary. William McDougall, the new Lieutenant-Governor of the new jurisdiction, as well as a team of surveyors arrived at Fort Garry to survey the land but were not permitted to enter Red River. On November 2nd, the committee seized Fort Garry with no resistance from the HBC (Stanley). The government postponed the transfer until the planned date of December 1st, and McDougall and his crew headed back to Canada. At this time, Riel was preparing a â€Å"List of Rights† and he invited both English and French speaking citizens to attend the decision making at Fort Garry. The defence of his people, while inviting equal influence and ideas from the people being affected by the decisions at hand, is what I believe to be the first example of Riel’s leadership and heroism. While the List of Rights was being made by Riel and the National Committee of the Metis, John Schultz – who had originally came as a team to survey with McDonald – began to lead a group of Red River Canadians, welcoming the Canadian acquisition of the area. Riel’s provisional government arrested Shultz and other members of his group when it was found out they were plotting to recapture Fort Garry (University of Missouri-Kansas). Of the group arrested, one man named Thomas Scott was included who was an â€Å"Orangeman† that had recently migrated from Ontario that was greatly opposed to the group of Metis people (Histori). Scott was arrested a second time, consistently taunting his captors until the decision was made, and then approved by Riel to have him executed via firing squad. This act enabled the government to turn him into an outlaw, and he fled the settlement in August 1870 (Manitoba Historical Society). It should be noted that Riel himself never carried arms (University of Saskatchewan). The execution of Scott was the single instance of bloodshed influenced by Riel, and despite being the one mistake he should not have made; it was influenced by the mindset of protecting his people and setting an example. A few years later, Riel would be placed inside a mental institution by his Uncle after several examples of a deteriorating mental health condition, including claiming himself a prophet, giving away riches to a blind beggar, crying and shouting in public, and interrupting catholic mass to interrupt the priest (University of Missouri-Kansas). He was discharged in 1876. Riel became an American citizen in 1883, and in June of the following year he would be called upon in favour of returning to Canada. When Riel returned to St. Laurent he began recruiting drafting Metis and Native people from nearby reserves after a plea and petition to Ottawa failed (Stanley). This band of arms did eventually defeat a small force of mounted police sent west by the government. Fighting after this would last all but two months, known as the North-West Rebellion. Following defeat, Riel surrendered to General Middleton and would be taken to court for treason. His lawyers attempted defences of insanity, which Riel rejected, as he believed the defence of the Metis people was his duty (Manitoba Historical Society). Riel was convicted of treason for leading rebellions against Canada, and was sentenced to hanging November 16, 1885 (Rabson). Through Riel’s trials of mental instability and forthcoming battle, he remained strong and dedicated to his people. Returning to the nation that would eventually kill him, Riel showed that his heart rested in Rupert’s Land, and he wanted nothing but to protect his people’s language, religion and culture. For his bravery and unyielding effort over the course of a decade, I believe Louis Riel is a hero to Canadian culture and its history. Historica. Historica Minutes Louis Riel. Web. 25 July 2011. histori. ca/minutes/minute. do? id=10646. Manitoba Historical Society. Louis Riel (1844-1885). 9 Apr. 2011. Web. 25 July 2011. mhs. mb. ca/docs/people/riel_l. shtml. Rabson, Mia. Riel Was a Hero, Not a Traitor. Winnipeg Free Press. 17 Nov. 2010. Web. 25 July 2011. innipegfreepress. com/local/riel-was-a-hero-not-a-traitor-108625299. html. Stanley, George F. G. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Web. 25 July 2011. thecanadianencyclopedia. com/index. cfm? PgNm=TCE. University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. A Biography of Louis Riel. Web. 25 July 2011. http://law2. umkc. edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/riel/rielbio. html. University of Saskatchewan Library. Louis Riel. Web. 25 July 2011. http://library. usask. ca/northwest/background/riel. htm.

Writer's choice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 12

Writer's choice - Essay Example competitive advantage over a competitor, the company has employed various marketing strategies that help it in reaching out to its wide range of customers all over the place. Production of different sports wear for the different sports is among the strategies that the company uses in its market dominance. A marketing mix helps the company in producing sportswear that satisfies the different sports participants. SWOT analysis is also another concept that the company has been using in dealing with its business strategy. This involves analyzing a company’s strength, weaknesses, opportunity and the threats that the business is prone. This helps in the growth and development of the company’s strategic plans involving its marketing the goods and services. Lululemon is a clothing company that produces clothes of different models and fashions for running, yoga, working out as well as sweaty clothes. The company makes the clothes for different clients both male and females. The concept of capturing both the male and the female genders makes the company have a wide range of customers. This is a marketing mix that targets both genders thus having the maximum number of clients. This makes the company have a competitive edge over the other competitors. Having well distributed retail shops all over helps the company to reach out its extensive number of customers all over the world. This also brings out the customer satisfaction thus earning customer loyalty. This involves the satisfaction of different customers with different tastes of the goods and services. This is achieved through the production of goods with different styles and models. By having a wide range of products, the companies would have the wider range of customers to offer their services to (Paley, 2007). A marketing mix would greatly serve the different cohorts in the different

Assimilation paper Communication Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Assimilation Communication - Research Paper Example However, for an effective human communication, four things need to be done. The representation of information from the sender should be clear. The receiver must receive the information and ask questions to clarify issues. The mode of delivery should be considerate of the needs and situation of both parties. The information has to be in line at some level with the beliefs of the receiver. Human communication occurs every day, every time, everywhere in the world in successive processes. Human communication on all levels of communication has become a part of our life. Therefore, human communication is concluded as an interconnected form of communication, existing as systems governed by rules and laws, which can portray different messages though the same information is sent. The relationships and interactions in communication seek to achieve goals with reduced costs and increased benefits. (Littlejohn and Karen 151) The theories of communication strengthen this conclusion. Constructivism Jesse Delia theorized this theory of communication in 1982. The communication constructivism theory explains there is a greater capacity in terms of sophisticated communication among people that are cognitively complex in perceiving others that helps them in the achievement of positive outcomes (Littlejohn and Karen 180). These persons may employ the logic of rhetorical message design creating a person-centered message pursuing multiple goals of communication simultaneously. The theory deals with the cognitive processes preceding actual communications in a given situation. Observing and measuring these processes is a painstaking task difficult to complete. The theory however states that deducing that those who are cognitively complex do not always achieve more success. A statement claiming otherwise is a misrepresentation of the truth. Multiple truths varying with the abilities of creation and understanding of messages, which are cognitively complex by the receiver and the communic ator. This is the epistemological assumption of the theory the ontological assumption lies in the ability of some people to act in a rhetorical design. Others make use of conventional or expressive designs. The theory value conscious as it recognizes the capacity of influence of value without subscribing to any specific pattern (Littlejohn and Karen 182). The theory is a scientific one that seeks to explain the attainment of interpersonal communication success (Littlejohn and Karen 216). In the process, it concludes that more success is attained by people who are cognitively complex as they use the logic of rhetoric design in sending messages. However, the application of this theory is a complex undertaking due to the difficult and complex nature of the process of studying cognitive processes. Symbolic interactionism Symbolic interactionism is the learning of interpretation and giving meaning to the world in the process of interactions with others. This theory attempts to explain th e interaction of people through symbols (Littlejohn and Karen 128). The basis of the theory is the human ability to generate a complex set of symbols used to convey messages. In the theory, a family is labeled a unit of interacting personalities. The interactions of the people in their environment evolve the symbols applied in the interpretation of the actions. Understanding human