Current Event Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Current Event - Article Example A number of strategic factors have contributed towards Samsung’s increased success and dominance in the technological market. First is that Samsung is an ultimate fast follower. One successful strategy devised by Samsung in achieving success is the ability to learn from the competitors, and making innovations of the products and services. From the competitors’ products, Samsung has understood the market demands of the products and designed improved versions of competitors’ products thereby, capturing new markets (Nisen). The second strategy for Samsung’s success is its spending on research projects. Whenever funds are available, an organization needs to spend such cash on researching on new ideas of improving technology. As such, Samsung currently spends 5.7% of its revenue on research projects as compared to Apples 2.4%, a factor that has contributed towards its speedy success (Nisen). Samsung is not only a smartphone-maker, rather, a manufacturer and world’s largest chipmaker. Such a contribution enables flexibility in products production, and, therefore, making Samsung one of the greatest innovators in the technological

Is Aeneas pious Essay Example for Free

Is Aeneas pious Essay For many, Aeneas is the characterisation of piety: he honours his duty to the gods and his destiny, his duty to his family, to his people, community and to his fatherland and he adheres to stoic values. Arguably the most important aspect of piety is the adherence to his duty to the gods and his destiny, which I will discuss first. In book 1, Venus appears to her son, Aeneas in the guise of ‘a Spartan girl out hunting, wearing the dress of a Spartan girl and carrying her weapons’. Aeneas recognises that the girl is Augustus also deified Julius in the Lex Titia in 43 BC, which legalised the Second Triumvirate and marked the end of the Roman Republic. Augustus invoked the Lax Papia Poppaea in 9 AD to encourage marriage by making it more economically viable to be married and have children than to not. He also made adultery punishable by banishment by passing the Lex Iulia de Adulteriis Coercendis in 17 BC, and famously banished his only biological daughter, Julia the Elder in 2 BC. This encouraged family unity more than before, and encouraged fathers to stay with their wives and children, especially as there was an extra tax placed on unmarried men above the age of 30. Aeneas demonstrates an incredible sense of duty to his people, community and fatherland right from the beginning of the poem. After the storm induced by Juno and Aeolus, and Aeneas and his men are rescued by Neptune, who is furious that they were changing the natural pattern of his seas, without his permission. Aeneas thinks of his men first, and so, when he saw a herd of deer, he hunted, and killed ‘seven huge carcasses (which he laid) on the ground, one for each of the ships’. This demonstrates how he caters to their needs before his own. The household gods, which feature in book 2, are representative of the Trojan community, and so when Aeneas, ‘fresh from all the fighting and killing’, refuses to touch them because of this, it demonstrates his reverence for the community. In book 4, he also shows consideration towards the community, but Dido’s community in Carthage. Mercury tells us how he ‘caught sight of Aeneas laying the foundations of’ Carthage with Dido. This devotion to the wider community, even though it means that he is digressing from his destiny, is still demonstrating piety. Aeneas not only holds the Funeral Games in book 5 out of reverence for his father, but to also raise the morale of his men. Aeneas holds various races and matches which allow his men to be happy after the death of Dido, which they would have suspected happened, and also after the death of Anchises, and also of various men of the crew. Virgil represents Aeneas as having virtus, as he hides his true emotions inside, to protect his men. In book 1, Aeneas, although ‘he was sick with all his cares(;) he showed (his men) the face of hope and kept his misery deep in his heart’, which would have served to raise the morale of the men, if they knew their leader was not upset, they would be led by example. Augustus demonstrated his care for his community by giving 400 sercestes to each of ‘the Roman plebs’ in 44 BC out of his own money. He also ‘restored the Capitol, and the theatre of Pompey, (†¦) restored the channels of the aqueducts, (and) completed the Forum Julium and the bascilla between the temples of Castor and Saturn’ throughout his reign, up until 12 AD. Contrary to Aeneas and also Augustus, as Aeneas is a characterisation of Augustus, Mezentious is not pious in his care of his community and people. Virgil depicts him as a shocking leader and in book 8; the poet divulges how the leader devised a new form of torture ‘whereby living men were roped to dead bodies, typing them hand to hand and face to face, to die a lingering death oozing with putrefying flesh’. Mezentius’ disdain for his men contrasts to Aeneas’ care and respect for his own men, and indeed of all men, as we see Aeneas rescues the Greek, forgotten by Odysseus (Ulixes) from the Cyclopses, which enhances our views of Aeneas’ piety in comparison to this horrific leader. Aeneas’ piety is often defined by how he demonstrates stoicism, and he does so throughout the poem. Stoics believed that the notion of fate must be respected and that no mortal man could, or should interfere with fate, as it is an inevitable force. The ability to endure what fate throws at you is also an important stoic trait, and one that Aeneas demonstrates again and again. In book 1, Aeneas leads his men through the storm started by Aeolus and Juno, until they are rescued by Neptune. He endures the storm, and motivates his men to trust in him after the storm, and this is primarily why he is such a good leader- because of his resolve and endurance, which also defines his pious nature. A key stoic belief is rationality of the universe, and features within Aeneas. Stoics believed that a rational, and of course, male mind is the best leader for any community, and this is the only way for a community to thrive- under one, rational, male leader. Coincidentally Augustus Caesar fits these criteria, and so, had to kill Anthony. Likewise Cleopatra, who Dido is modelled of, had to die- she was female and so was irrational, so was a bad leader, and this also explains why she was so passionate, because the stoic stereotype of a woman, is that they are passionate, emotional and irrational. The divide between men and women is formed from the prejudice that women are irrational, and the stereotype that men are automatically rational. Throughout the poem, we are presented with the juxtaposition of the irrational females, predominantly Dido and Juno, and the rationality of Aeneas and Jupiter. Jupiter controls fate, installing rationality upon the universe and Juno attempts to derail fate, preventing Aeneas from following his destiny, which, of course, does not work. The victory of Jupiter’s fate is shown by how Jupiter guides Aeneas, which demonstrates how the rationality of the male mind cannot be overthrown by an irrational female, even one who is a goddess. Virgil was rumoured to believe that love and hate were both redundant as they were both concept which wavered from the ‘path’ of fate, creating two opposites that were equally negative to a stoic. This perhaps explains why Virgil shows that the acceptance of fate and your destiny is the only way to achieve rationality. Virgil’s association with Augustus explains why women are portrayed as negative, because Augustus was inherently a stoic, and believed that women were irrational, and destined for dominating the domestic sphere, while men should dominate politics and war. Stoics were firm believers of the concept of ‘mind over matter’, presented by the Trojan women’s matter of flames, which are extinguished by the ‘mind’ (or fate) when Aeneas has to set sail shortly after the Funeral Games. The poet presents his audience with fire for passion, desire and pain which all represent destruction. We learn from his epic poem that Virgil believes that these poisonous emotions will not succeed when faced with fate, as women are primarily linked with fire, as we see Juno frequently described as ‘burning with passion’, and we also see Turnus described as ‘burning’, importantly both effeminising him and scorning war. Aeneas often has to deal with the loss of his men so that he can achieve his destiny; one such victim of Aeneas’ fate is Creusa, who dies before they even leave Troy and another is Aeneas’ father, Anchises. He does more likely die of old age, although Aeneas still mourns his death. Aeneas must accept that there are casualties that must be endured if he can achieve his destiny. The father-son relationship was one that was influenced by stoic beliefs, as stoics believed that the father figure (pater patria) should always be obeyed as he is wise. At the beginning of the poem, Anchises is the pater patria, however once Anchises dies, Aeneas takes over as the pater patria. Aeneas shows his dedication to his father by symbolically carrying him on his shoulders out of Troy, prioritising him even over his only son. These definitions of piety are interlinked, and cannot exist without the others, however, sometimes we see that to fulfil one part of piety, Aeneas must ignore another, and so the rules of what defines a pious person are clearly not set in stone. Nevertheless, Aeneas is as good as a portrayal of a pious person there is, and he is a reflection of how Augustus wished to be viewed. Thus, we have to ask ourselves, as the Roman audience would have: Aeneas is undoubtedly pious and as pious as one man can, theoretically, be, but is he unachievably pious? And so, does this make him as much of a character of mythology as the monsters he encountered in hell, and because of this, I feel the important question is not: ‘is Aeneas pious? ’ but is instead, why is he pious? If Aeneas was not pious, and was instead a mimic of Homer’s Odysseus, who is often represented as Aeneas’ antithesis, would there be any purpose in Virgil’s poem? No, there would not, and this is why Aeneas is shown as pious, and was believed to be the ideal man by the Romans, a mould for which to cast their own characters in and form themselves by.

Comparison of Characters in Aphra Behn’s The Fair Jilt and Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa :: Compare Contrast Richardson Behn Essays

Comparison of Characters in Aphra Behn’s The Fair Jilt and Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa Superficially the characters Clarissa Harlowe and Miranda seem, not only to be extremely different, but complete opposites. Clarissa is an exemplary model of virtue and goodness. Samuel Richardson presents her as a chaste and innocent daughter. She is forced from her duty by a conniving brother into the arms of a manipulative man. She is the victim. Miranda is the villain of The Fair Jilt. Aphra Behn portrays her as a woman who knows what she wants and will do anything to get it, including murder. Miranda has no regard for family and is driven only by her desire for quality. On first reading, it seems that Miranda is manipulative and Clarissa is being manipulated. However, if one looks closely at these two characters, it becomes clear that they have a great deal in common. Both women are strong, intelligent and independent. Lack of parental control influences both of them, as do the inheritances they both receive from deceased family members. The characters of Clarissa Harlowe and Mi randa, although strikingly different, are also revealingly similar. Miranda and Clarissa both lack parents. Miranda’s parents pass away, leaving her an orphan and completely alone in the world, except for her sister. Her lack of a guardian gives her a large amount of personal control. Miranda must decide what to do with her life. â€Å"†¦the fair Miranda, whose parents being dead†¦ put herself into this enclosed religious house† (Behn 32). The phrase â€Å"put herself† is very important to both the story and the character. Miranda now has power over herself and this is both new and dangerous. Her freedom from parental control also has a heavy influence on her courtships and eventual marriage. If her father were still alive, Miranda would not have chosen her own husband. Her match with Prince Tarquin probably would not have come to pass. Although Prince Tarquin has a great name and â€Å"quality,† he does not have a lot of money. Miranda’s obsession with Henrick also would never occur because she wou ld never have entered the convent. Likewise, Clarissa suffers much from the absence of her parents. Her father is weakened by the gout. In his absence, James Harlowe Junior takes control of the family. Throughout the novel, Clarissa is asking her father to take control and tell her what to do.

Rise of the Superpowers :: Superpowers International Affairs War Essays

Rise of the Superpowers It is often wondered how the superpowers achieved their position of dominance. It seems that the maturing of the two superpowers, Russia and the United States, can be traced to World War II. To be a superpower, a nation needs to have a strong economy, an overpowering military, immense international political power and, related to this, a strong national ideology. It was this war, and its results, that caused each of these superpowers to experience such a preponderance of power. Before the war, both nations were fit to be described as great powers, but it would be erroneous to say that they were superpowers at that point. To understand how the second World War impacted these nations so greatly, we must examine the causes of the war. The United States gained its strength in world affairs from its status as an economic power. In the years before the war, America was the world’s largest producer. In the USSR at the same time, Stalin was implementing his ‘five year plans’ to modernise the Soviet economy. From these situations, similar foreign policies resulted from widely divergent origins. Roosevelt’s isolationism emerged from the wide and prevalent domestic desire to remain neutral in any international conflicts. It commonly widely believed that Americans entered the first World War simply in order to save industry’s capitalist investments in Europe. Whether this is the case or not, Roosevelt was forced to work with an inherently isolationist Congress, only expanding its horizons after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. He signed the Neutrality Act of 1935, making it illegal for the United States to ship arms to the belligerents of any conflict. The act also stated that belligerents could buy only non-armaments from the US, and even these were only to be bought with cash. In contrast, Stalin was by necessity interested in European affairs, but only to the point of concern to the USSR. Russian foreign policy was fundamentally Leninist in its concern to keep the USSR out of war. Stalin wanted to consolidate Communist power and modernise the country's industry. The Soviet Union was committed to collective action for peace, as long as that commitment did not mean that the Soviet Union would take a brunt of a Nazi attack as a result. Examples of this can be seen in the Soviet Unions’ attempts to achieve a mutual assistance treaty with Britain and France. These treaties, however, were designed more to create security for the West, as opposed to keeping all three signatories from harm. At the same time, Stalin was attempting to

A Novel Perspective

When we hear crimes of murder, rape or abduction of women, we usually judge the case relying on the credibility of those involved. In accordance to evidence law, we try to establish credibility of the personalities involved such as the offender, the victim, and the witnesses to see who is telling the truth. However, as trial prevails, relying on credibility sometimes acquits the offender, after presenting enough evidence to destroy the credibility of the victim. In Oates’ short story, â€Å"Where Are You Going and Where Have You Been? the author presents an example of a crime where the criminal could be easily acquitted based on evidence of the victim’s willful submission to the desires of the offender. However, revealing the hypnotism behind the crime, the author implies a way to judge crimes using a novel perspective. Similar to the process of providing evidence in a trial, the author builds foundation of the case through characterization. She establishes the persona lity of the main character named Connie. In the introduction, Connie is strongly contrasted with her stereotypical sister, June. She is described as far more independent than the latter, making her a strong and willful character. Based on this, it is easy to think that Connie is partly responsible for whatever she experiences from her abductor, Arnold Friend. In addition, her strolling activities with her friends, not to mention her acquaintances with men, add to the denigration of her character. Her choice to be on her own while her friends go different ways suggests her adventurous nature. Also, her beauty makes it easy for her to attract attention especially from boys. Furthermore, occasions where she displays split personality, â€Å"Everything about her had two sides to it† (408), could emphasize Connie’s inclination to hang out with guys like Arnold Friend. While most aspects of the characterization could lead one to believe that Connie is to be blamed for her fate, the plot of the story, supported by the dialogues, reveals the truth about the crime. The development of the action shows Connie’s resistance to the will of the criminal. During the time Arnold tries to convince Connie to get out of the house, Connie repeatedly dismisses him, telling him that she does not recognize him at all. She even tries to use the phone to ask for help. As employed, the dialogues support the fact that Connie is taken against her will, and that she should not be blamed for the events that follow. Some points leading to the abduction can be established against Arnold Friend. Specifically, Arnold Friend’s age, which is twice that of Connie, shows the man’s sole accountability for the crime. Moreover, considering the fact that they are not of the same age confirms Connie’s dissociation from the man. Other evidences confirm that the crime was perfectly planned by a hard criminal. Specifically, the car, which bears Arnold’s name, is used to show outward identification, thus convincing Connie of his honest intention. Conversely, this could be used by Arnold as evidence of his innocence. It is easy to believe that if he really plans to abduct Connie, Arnold will not put his identification on his car. However, the judge should see the real motives behind the eager display of identity, which are to convince the victim of the abductor’s â€Å"honest intention,† and even to deny later allegations of abduction. Considering the car as evidence, it can be considered that the crime is carefully planned, thus adding degree to the sentence if Arnold gets convicted. Further to the evidences provided, analyzing the crime in view of hypnosis could provide a different angle to the story. The way Connie behaves at the end, as she deliberately follows orders from Arnold, illustrates the latter’s use of hypnosis. Just before her complete submission, Connie attempts to call the police, shut the door, scream out loud, but feels too weak to do so. This weakness can be attributed to the hypnosis that Arnold uses upon her. Particularly, Connie’s cold feeling, and her sudden weakness to even touch the phone’s dial are signs of being under hypnosis. The narrator of the story recounts instances when Connie feels â€Å"a wave of dizziness rise in her †¦Ã¢â‚¬  when she realizes how old Arnold and Ellie are, when she stares at the â€Å"x† sign that Arnold makes, and when she looks at Arnold’s face as Ellie mumbles words from the background music in the car. The final part, where Connie submits to Arnold’s embrace and closes the door of their house shows her fully hypnotized condition. Under hypnosis, Arnold easily convinces her to head into the car and elope with him, as if they two have a special relationship. Thus, to a bystander, this scene would make it look as if Connie really knows the guy, and that she intends to come with him in his car. This evidence, when presented later in court, could convince anyone of Connie’s willful consent, and could thus free the criminal. Revealing the element of hypnosis, the author suggests a novel perspective in judging crimes especially those related to Connie’s case, where the abductor is much older, and is a complete stranger. Showing symptoms of hypnotism, the author provides some insights one may use seeing a similar scenario in real life. There are times when one sees some couples who look strange, for instance, the woman is too young for the man, or the girl looks too submissive or too innocent. Although this thought does not apply to all appearing in this guise, it may be wise to observe if hypnotism is present in such cases. This way, one may help solve the problem of heinous crimes committed against women and children. Further to the symptoms of hypnosis that the author presents, tracing the ways by which hypnosis is employed provides readers some ideas on how one can be placed under hypnosis, and consequently, how one can rid of it. In the story, Arnold employs different means to put Connie under hypnosis. One is through the music he and Ellie play in the car. Notably, the mention of music in the scenes where Arnold sees Connie for the first time and when he is in front of Connie’s house suggests the offender’s use of music to induce hypnosis. As Connie listens to the music, it makes her feel so good, â€Å"like music at a church service† (408) which she could depend upon. Tapping to the tune of music from Ellie’s radio Arnold makes Connie feel disoriented to the things around her. She suddenly diverts attention to different things, like asking Arnold’s age, and becomes more aware of space than before. These behaviors show a significant change in her, thus implying abnormality of her state. In addition to the music, the â€Å"x† sign which Arnold makes in the air is likewise used to hypnotize her. â€Å"After his hand fell back to his side the X was still in the air, almost visible† (415). This illustrates Arnold’s use of hand sign similar to a pendulum during process of hypnosis to intensify Connie’s submission. Afterwards, â€Å"all †¦ things did not come together† (415) for Connie, and she finds it difficut to make sense of things, including the way Arnold talks and taps his finger to the beat of the music. The final part which implies Connie’s hypnotism implies the use of a novel perspective in dealing with crimes in the modern society. As the story shows, putting subjects under hypnosis allows the offender to conduct the crime without force, thus avoiding accountability for it later on. Applying this to reality, people who serve as witnesses to the closeness between the offender and the victim at the time of hypnosis will not shed light to the case because what they see is a mere facade, which happens under the control of the offender. Therefore, only the victims’ recall of what actually happened can help to convict a criminal. Until then, statutory evidence establishing credibility of the accused and the victims will not serve to bring justice. Instead, the use of a novel perspective such as uncovering occurrence of hypnotism proves to be the best way in dealing with crimes.

employment at will doctrine Essays

employment at will doctrine Essays employment at will doctrine Essay employment at will doctrine Essay ASSIGNMENT # 1: EMPLOYMENT AT WILL DOCTRINE by Mohammed A Khan November 1, 2013 LEG 500: Law, Ethics and Corporate Governance Prof. Charles E. Wilson Employment at will doctrine is a doctrine of American Law that defines an employment relationship in which either party (employer and employee) can immediately terminate the relationship at any time with or without any advance notice and with no subsequent liability, provided there was no express contract for a definite term governing the employment relationship and that the employer does not elong to a collective bargaining group. In USA, any hiring is presumed to at will that is the employer is free to discharge individuals for good cause or bad cause or no cause at all and the employee too is equally fit to quit, strike or otherwise cease work. In this assignment, we have some cases/incidents that faced by the highest authority of a company after his appointment and need to take actions/decisions on those incidents. Case 1: John posted a rant on his Facebook page in which he criticized companys most important customer. In this case Jonhs action of posting a egative statement on Facebook is truly unprofessional and unethical. According to the National Labor Relations Board, criticism by the employee over social network site is a protected activity that employers should not violate by punishing workers for such statements. Hence it prohibits employers to retaliate against employees for will surely have impact on the operation of the company. To limit the liability and impact on the company as a COO, I would simply arrange a workshop on the code of ethics and conduct for the individuals working in the company. Case 2: Jim sent an mail to other salespeople to protesting a change in commission schedules and bonuses suggesting everyone boycott the next sales meeting. Being an internal issue within the company, as a COO I will talk to Jim in person and issue a letter to him to show cause why he did such actions towards destruction of organizations discipline. I will also issue a notice to everybody to keep under organization discipline otherwise taking disciplinary actions to those employees who will break the order. Case 3: Ellen started a blog to protest the CEOs bonus, noting that no one below director has otten raise in two (2) years and portraying her bosses as know nothings and out of- touch. These all issues like CEO bonus, appointment of higher authority are parts of management decision. These are not a part of Ellens concern. I will warn Ellen verbally not to do anything which is not within the scope or authority of her Job. If she keeps going with the same gesture or attitude, I will fire her to restore the chain of command within the company. Case 4: Bill has been using his company-issued Black Berry to run his own business on the side- It is a matter of ethics. As a COO, I will initially warn Bill to do such activities which is not ethical on moral perspective. If he fails to follow the rule I will cut off the facility. Case 5: The secretaries in the accounting department decided to dress in black and white stripe to protest a memo announcing that the company has installed keylogger software on all company computers. It is companys sole authority to introduce or install new software or program for achieving their business goal. Being an employee, you can or cannot like it. You have the right to protest it within the rules of company guidebook. If it permits to demonstrate by dressing black and white stripe to protest, you can do that. Being a COO, I must address a notice mentioning the companys position regarding the issue and will warn those employees not to do such things which may lead to termination due to violation of company memorandum. Case- 6: After being disciplined for criticizing a customer in an email (sent from his personal email account on a company computer), Joe threatens to sue the company for invasion of privacy. First of ll, being a representative of a company, it is not a private issue to criticize any customer of that company even though Joe sent the email through his personal email account. I think its not a violation of privacy rather he should be terminated due to criticizing the customer. Case- 7: One of the departments supervisors requests your approval to fire his secretary for insubordination. Since the secretary has always received glowing reviews, you call her into your office and determine that she has refused to prepare false expense reports for her boss. Since the company does not have any histleblower policy, I will send a show cause notice to that secretary to clarify his/ her position for insubordination of his/her superior in written. Getting the written notice, I will mark that piece of paper to our audit department to scrutinize the matter. If the allegation of the secretary is true I will fire the superior and if the secretary was wrong, I will transfer her to a more unimportant department. Case- 8: for being absent without permission. Being a citizen of United States, it is an obligatory duty to attend in the Jury board and nothing can supersede such duty. So Annas boss has no right to fire her. I must call anns boss and let him know the importance to Join Jury board being citizen of this country. I think every company should have a whistleblower policy in their organization. It draws a line to keep attention to each employee that what would be the consequence of a whistleblower on a particular issue as well as the reward. It is necessary to admit that the protection of whistleblowers is only can be ensured through establishing a whistle blowing policy in the organization. In addition to the whistle blowing legislation, it is ery important that policy implementers use a pro-active management approach to whistle blowing that emphasizes the establishment of functional organizational structures and procedures that ensure actual protection of whistleblowers. Among the most important points with regard to a whistle blowing policy are the following: Managers should address disclosures of wrongdoing to avoid damage to individual or organizational reputations and other negative consequences; A pro-active management approach to whistle blowing feature three simple guidelines: 1) do ome groundwork; 2) be professional; and 3) protect whistleblowers Ongoing training of staff handling disclosures will make an internal reporting system more effective; Ongoing review of the effectiveness of internal whistle blowing systems is needed to ensure effectiveness of whistle blowing policy. In closing, I certainly do not believe that whistle blowing policies are a panacea for all ethical problems. Employees should understand that they must be responsible in making accusations for wrongdoing, and malicious or reckless charges not sanctioned. Employees should nderstand how the organization will respond to their concerns in terms of an investigative process. References 1) Information retrieve of definition and understanding of employment at will doctrine from the website www. bls. gov/opub/mlr/2001/01/art1full. pdf. 2) Information regarding employment at will retrieve from the website vwwv. ncsl. org/ research/labor-and-employment/at-will-employment/ at-will-employment- overview. aspx. 3) Information retrieves from http://ethics. csc. ncsu. edu/old/12_00/ basics/whistle/ rst/wstlblo_policy. html regarding whistleblower policy.

Example Sentences of the Verb Hit

Example Sentences of the Verb Hit This page provides example sentences of the verb Hit in all tenses including active and passive forms, as well as conditional and modal forms. Base Form hit / Past Simple hit/ Past Participle hit / Gerund hitting Present Simple:Â  He often hits balls with his son in the park.Present Simple Passive:Â  Home runs are often hit out of this ballpark.Present Continuous:Â  He is hitting the ball hard today.Present Continuous Passive:Â  The ball is being hit hard today by all the players.Present Perfect:Â  She has hit fifteen home runs this season.Present Perfect Passive:Â  Fifteen home runs have been hit by Susan this season.Present Perfect Continuous:Â  Jack has been hitting that punching bag for the last twenty minutes.Past Simple:Â  Mary hit a home run out of the park yesterday.Past Simple Passive:Â  A home run was hit out of the park during yesterdays game.Past Continuous:Â  Hank was hitting the punching bag when his trainer walked into the gym.Past Continuous Passive:Â  The punching bag was being hit when the trainer walked into the gym.Past Perfect:Â  She had already hit four home runs when she hit the grand slam!Past Perfect Passive:Â  A grand slam had already been hit when the g ame was canceled due to the rain.Past Perfect Continuous:Â  Alan had been hitting the punching bag for twenty minutes when the trainer walked into the gym. Future (will):Â  She will hit the roof when she finds out!Future (will) passive:Â  The ball will be hit out of the park.Future (going to):Â  Jack is going to hit the ball out of the park today.Future (going to) passive:Â  The ball is going to be hit out of the park today.Future Continuous:Â  This time tomorrow we will be hitting the punching bag in the gym.Future Perfect:Â  William will have hit three home runs before the game is finished.Future Possibility:Â  She might hit him if he doesnt shut up!Real Conditional:Â  If she hits a home run, the team will celebrate.Unreal Conditional:Â  If she hit a home run, the team would celebrate.Past Unreal Conditional:Â  If she had hit a home run, the team would have celebrated.Present Modal:Â  You should hit a punching bag to get rid of your anger.Past Modal:Â  She must have hit a home run. Quiz: Conjugate With Hit Use the verb to hit to conjugate the following sentences. Quiz answers are below. In some cases, more than one answer may be correct. Mary _____ a homerun out of the park yesterday.She _____ fifteen homeruns this season.He _____ the ball hard today.The punching bag _____ when the trainer walked into the gym.A grand slam _____ already _____ when the game was canceled due to the rain.She _____ the roof when she finds out!William _____ three homeruns before the game is finished.If she _____ a homerun, the team would have celebrated.A homerun _____ out of the park during yesterdays game.He often _____ a punching bag to relax. Quiz Answers hithas hitis hittingwas being hithad been hitwill hitwill have hithad hitwas hithits

Report of Antigone Essays

Report of Antigone Essays Report of Antigone Paper Report of Antigone Paper 2005) Page 40

Organizational Transformation Q&A Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Organizational Transformation Q&A - Essay Example â€Å"The human capability for creative thinking, creative behaviour, and innovation is a major source of organizational change† (Levy and Merry, 1986, p.221). This reinforces that the people are integral to the development of any organization. This is an on-going process that requires the participation of the members of the organization for its efficiency and must be for the common benefit of all. These innovations are illustrative that the organization places individual growth as a part of its policy. Leadership is an important characteristic which guides the direction of the organization and is oftentimes the make or break catalyst which could either propel success, keep the status quo or lead to its demise. Many great leaders have become the cornerstone of their organization and have often been simultaneously the face which identifies the company. The leader is the one who is in the forefront of creating, managing and sustaining innovation. In the same light, he fosters th e kind of culture that is adopted by each member of the organization. Adair outlines the duty of a good leader which is necessary in implementing innovation, â€Å"It is your job as a leader at any level in the organization to facilitate desirable change and to encourage that attitude throughout the management team† (2007, p.17). ... Even ethical standards may at times differ in such a way that what is acceptable to one may be utterly deplorable to another. But this also is imperative in the continuing growth of an organization because it is important to stimulate creativity and hard work, and this could only be positively done through a reward system. The individual reward system gives the best sense of fulfilment to an employee and this may not be dispensed with. Schein proposes a logical ascertainment of this system, â€Å"Every group must develop a system of sanctions for obeying or disobeying its norms and rules. There must evolve some consensus on what symbolically and actually is defined as a reward or punishment and on the manner in which it is to be administered† (2010, p.107). This responds to the ethical implications that will necessarily exhibit because of the reward system. By creating clear-cut rules supported by an innovative and unyielding leader, the conflicts will be mitigated or at the v ery least they will be amenable to such rules. I will describe my organization as innovative because it incorporates the necessary tools that would define one to be adoptive to change and open to creativity. Admittedly, there are times when people may be butting heads and there are those who are not wholeheartedly supportive of the decisions and the policies of the management but I deem these to be necessary to the growth of the organization. Not everyone can be in good terms all the time because the company is essentially composed of people with different backgrounds and education that differences are inevitable. The policies of the company promote individual rewards which can be immensely gratifying not only on a

What do you think the likelihood of success will be for President Essay

What do you think the likelihood of success will be for President Obama to implement the remaining items of his agenda - Essay Example Congress members from both fronts of the political divide all have an input in what is to be implemented and what is not. They exercise their power through voting for or against any policy. For any of these items to be implemented, a majority of the Senate members must vote for the item through persuasion and lobbying. The likelihood of President Obama to implement the items of his agenda that are yet to be done is high. The fulfillment of items in his agenda led to the recent up-surge in his approval ratings. President Reagan is an excellent example of a president who was able to push his agenda forward despite all odds. His changes especially in the budget and tax reforms cannot go unnoticed.2 Reagan was successful in his bid to implement his agenda because he possessed the self discipline and clarity required to control the agenda. His strategy was to take on an issue a time rather than to have a full plate that neither he nor congress could handle at a time. President Jimmy Carter, on the other hand, was relatively unsuccessful. This was because the challenge of being president was simply overwhelming. He did not prioritize his agenda laying emphasis on the most urgent ones and lacked enthusiasm. He instead took on everything at a go, and this portrayed him as a man who had no concrete plan for the nation. His style of handling business did not impress Congress

Human resources management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Human resources management - Research Paper Example Mayo Clinic is one of the top 50 companies in the United States. This position represents the success of the company in terms of employment, revenue, and profitability. The current number of employees at the company is estimated to be around 61,100 (Mayo Clinic). This number comprises staff physicians, scientists, residents, fellows, students, and allied personnel in clinics and hospitals. In terms of revenues and profitability, Mayo Clinic has revenue of around $8.8 billion, an estimated profit of $395 million, and benefactor contributions of around $245 million. On its part, NuStar Energy is a leading company in the energy sector. This company ranks in the second half of top 100 companies in the United States. NuStar Energy is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, and undertakes business operations in at least six countries (NuStar Energy). The company’s progressive growth came after it went public over a decade ago. Today, NuStar Energy has at least 1,900 employees, and its revenue standings are in excess of $6 billion. In light of the above discussion, human resources are critical to the success of any given organization (Noe et al. 91). Mayo Clinic’s human resource policies are aligned with the organization’s objective of enhancing patient care, education, and research. To do this, the company employs diverse and dynamic human resource strategies. Notably, Mayo Clinic works with physicians, scientists, fellows, students, and allied health practitioners. This allows the company to diversify its human resource approach towards long-term effectiveness, efficiency, and success. Most importantly, the company understands that remuneration and employee rewarding are significant in the health care sector. The company’s benefits include comprehensive health benefits to employees over and above part-time or full-time pay. Work hours are divided into up to three shifts of around eight hours per shift. In terms of pay,

Law Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Law - Term Paper Example The author will also try to explain why Canada has the highest rate of illegal MP3 downloads in the world. The author will analyze the legislative acts that regulate the copyright protection in Canada and will point out their weak points, those that make illegal music downloading possible and, to some extent, legal. Examples of law cases based on illegal MP3 download will be produced and analyzed. The research paper will be concluded with several suggestions on how this situation might be improved in such a way that Canada is no longer the â€Å"winner† among the top countries with the highest level of piracy in music downloads. The USA Digital Millennium Copyright Act has certainly gained its â€Å"fans† among the people who not so long ago were downloading mp3s without any restriction and who now must check twice before accepting a download or a file-sharing. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act has outlawed many online activities, among which it is easy to find the mp3 downloading. So, unless you are a librarian who desperately believes that music is important for the library (and you can even prove it) or a researcher, there is no other legal way which would allow you to download or share music files in USA. The DMCA and the United States Copyright Law also outlaw making copies of copyrighted music, unless it is for personal use. The infringements include penalties of thousands of dollars and jail sentence is also possible. In the USA the copyright belongs to the composer and it is created from the moment that the composition is â€Å"fixed in any tangible medium of expression†1. So if one wishes to download that composition, it is recommended under the provisions of the US Copyright Law and the DMCA that he does it from an authorised legal site, by purchasing it from the provider. Furthermore, peer-to-peer sharing is also prohibited under the law regulations. In Canada, on the other hand, music downloading

How contemporary designer Anna Sui, has reinterpreted and been Essay

How contemporary designer Anna Sui, has reinterpreted and been influenced by the past - Essay Example Anna Sui had a rough start as a designer, not only did she get fired from her job for featuring her collection in a New York fair trade but also started a small business in her apartment with only 300 dollars in her account. Her collection, which consisted of only 5 pieces, was designed and made exclusively in her studio apartment and got featured in New York Times. From that point on her talent as a designer was a force to be reckoned with, however she highly struggled next to â€Å"big-name houses† in the 1980’s as power dressing was the popular style and Anna Sui focused mainly on quirky design that incorporated her love for music (folk, gunge, punk etc.) and her fascination for the past (Victorian, Rococo, Parisian Boudoir etc.) Her close friend Naomi Campbell then suggested that she host a fashion show in order to show the world her different approach to fashion. Thus she rented a small space and rewarded the models with clothes, the show was a breakthrough in her career. Not only did her name get known but also she understood that staying true to herself and her inspirations was going to be the key to her success and to this day her designs still incorporate her love for music and her fascination for the past.

Law Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Law - Term Paper Example The author will also try to explain why Canada has the highest rate of illegal MP3 downloads in the world. The author will analyze the legislative acts that regulate the copyright protection in Canada and will point out their weak points, those that make illegal music downloading possible and, to some extent, legal. Examples of law cases based on illegal MP3 download will be produced and analyzed. The research paper will be concluded with several suggestions on how this situation might be improved in such a way that Canada is no longer the â€Å"winner† among the top countries with the highest level of piracy in music downloads. The USA Digital Millennium Copyright Act has certainly gained its â€Å"fans† among the people who not so long ago were downloading mp3s without any restriction and who now must check twice before accepting a download or a file-sharing. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act has outlawed many online activities, among which it is easy to find the mp3 downloading. So, unless you are a librarian who desperately believes that music is important for the library (and you can even prove it) or a researcher, there is no other legal way which would allow you to download or share music files in USA. The DMCA and the United States Copyright Law also outlaw making copies of copyrighted music, unless it is for personal use. The infringements include penalties of thousands of dollars and jail sentence is also possible. In the USA the copyright belongs to the composer and it is created from the moment that the composition is â€Å"fixed in any tangible medium of expression†1. So if one wishes to download that composition, it is recommended under the provisions of the US Copyright Law and the DMCA that he does it from an authorised legal site, by purchasing it from the provider. Furthermore, peer-to-peer sharing is also prohibited under the law regulations. In Canada, on the other hand, music downloading

The Provision of Architect-Engineer Services Assignment

The Provision of Architect-Engineer Services - Assignment Example Because of the focus of the company on government projects, the need to abide by the provisions of the FAR has been necessary for preparing this RFP to find the right outfit to carry out the planned project. The approach to this RFP is based on key clauses of the FAR including FAR  §Ã‚ § 15.203, 15.204 and 15.209, which focus on contracting by negotiation (Bowie, 2002). There are design development documents that confirm an award of the project rather than notice to proceed. This is in congruence with FAR  §Ã‚ § 15.207 and 15.208 to begin work 15 calendar days after the award has been given. There shall be two major progress payments which are design phase and construction phase. Any payment to be made during the design phase shall be done only upon submission, review, and acceptance of design deliverables. For the construction phase, progress payment will be done on the percentage basis, where the percentage of work completed on the items listed will determine payment to be made. In order to ensure that Government Accountability Report guidelines are implemented, verification of completeness of work will be carried out with the direction of representatives of the Contracting Officer. Calculations for payment shall also be based on Governments Verification of Works. The interested parties are to aid with the transparency of the whole selection process by enclosing a complete stamped and signed design-build construction documents that will make the work of the selection team easier. By comparing the contents of these documents, it should be possible to achieve the outcome of the FAR  §Ã‚ § 13, which ensures Simplified Acquisition Procedures. In pursuant to this, all the following indicators in the table must be covered.

Warsaw Uprising Essay Example for Free

Warsaw Uprising Essay It all started on August the 1st. The Warsaw Uprising was in fact the largest single operation conducted by a partisan organization during 2nd world war. The Warsaw UPRISING was actually a struggle of the Polish armed struggle in order to liberate Warsaw and its 1,000,000 people from the German pursuit when the Soviet army was entering the city limits from the east.   The 378,000 Polish armed people augmented by 2,000-strong nationalist and communist units in the beginning controlled a major part of Warsaws left bank. Later, with the German determination for a complete invasion on all the installation as well as the military checkpoints, the Warsaw Uprising ended after 63 days of effort killing more then fifteen thousand people dead and 5,000 wounded in addition to 200,000 Polish civilians who also died during this whole process where the entire city was devastated. On the other hand German lost its 16,000 lives and 9,000 wounded. (Krall, Hanna. 1986) United State and British army had already landed in Normandy and the Red Army had entered through the Eastern front into the city of Warsaw. Ever since the start of the Nazi occupation the locals had been planning for a complete underground attack, and on 1st August 1944 the order was ultimately given by General Bor Komorowski for the forces of the Armia Krajowa (AK) get the Warsaw back from the Germans, which was been occupied since 4 years. In Warsaw the polish army was commanded by General Antoni ChruÅ›ciel, codename Monter initially. Under his command the polish insurgents came out on the street to fight the Germans. The Germans were prepared fortified forces, and they had been on full alert; however the polish youth who initiated the insurgency were inexperienced Polish youths had to attack an experienced, fully equipped enemy in daylight. Realizing the fact of being weak the polish commander requested the British Army for help. British army was already helping the locals against the Russians and Germans in a lot of other areas of USSR. British helped the polish but were not on their priority list. Despite their help was very small but that made a difference in their regime as it has a great psychotically affect on the German army. Americans also sent the help to polish but it was too very late like in mid of September In some parts they succeeded and in some partisans had to retreat. The attacks on the major installations like airbase and radio stations were all repulsed. The first attack is the most crucial step, was thus only partially achieved as the city was largely in control of insurgents, however within there were still a lot of fortified pockets of German army. The first day at war, ended with a lot of casualties from both sides. (Ciborowski, 1962) The fight went on for four continuous days and till 4th, Srodmiescie was largely in Polish hands. Germans had to retreat from Ã…Å¡rà ³dmieÅ›cie-PowiÅ›le-Starà ³wka-Wola region, the Zyrardow region, and the Mokotow. The polish was out of supplies thus General Komorowski asked the British and Americans to send them with ammunition and air support. The aid began and the city was largely in control   Polish fighter pilots flying from bases on the Apula (Italy) started shelling over Warsaw. Those pilots had to return to Italy, however the Soviets denied them permission to use there bases. First determined fighting by the Germans came out on 5th of August. The thrust came from the Wola region, and after three days of intense fighting, the 5000 Wehrmacht soldiers succeeded in dividing the part of the ARMIA KRAJOWA defense which was the most important area of polish insurgency, which comprised of about 2000 unequipped soldiers.   (J. Kirchmayer Powstanie Warszawskie†) Simultaneously, the other German failed in Mokotow-Ochota region. The insurgents were successful in protecting the Ã…Å¡rà ³dmieÅ›cie for over a week, staving off an early fall down of the armed effort. The Germans were able to make only limited movement. During August 8, Stalin ordered to delay militant actions close to Warsaw. He denied any allied transport air aid to land on Soviet airfields which practically denied helping the uprising by airdropping the supplies, as the nearest airport were located in England and Italy. By August 10th, however, the ARMIA KRAJOWA leadership knew the result of the Soviet-German war. They knew that they would not be able to combat the insurgents. As a result they started to expel their rage on the civilians. That activity changed the war into dirty struggle where a lot of innocent people were executed. The polish insurgents were very determent to be liberated. After the fall of Wola, the German army concentrated all their army on the Stare Miasto region. That area was considered to be most insurgent region, having bridges conceiting it to Vistula. The attack came on the 12th of August, and after heavy fighting, the Poles were forced to retreat, evacuating from old Jewish ghetto.   While the German retreat they had to face insurgency thus making the Germans to divert some troops from the main thrust to deal with this new event. Polish requested the British for air aid. Thus ARMIA KRAJOWA units were sent to help the insurgents The insurgents became successful in drawing some of the German forces from the Warsaw. (T. Bà ³r-Komorowski Armia Podziemna) Powisle was conquered by the Germans on 6th of September, pacifying defenseless civilians. On September 11th 47th Soviet army conquered the Prague. The Bach regiment was ordered to fully shut off the partisans from the Vistula with help of German air force and the 9th Armored Division. Red Army resumes its fight towards Warsaw. German and Russian airplanes engage in dog fights over the city. Soviet artillery shells German positions in Praga, Saxon Garden and Okenche air base. The German offensive became successful in narrowing the positions of insurgents to only a small piece of land near the Wilanowska Zagà ³rna streets. On 10th September the Red Army ordered the Marshal Konstantin Rokossovy, to enter the city however they met heavy resistance. After five days of struggle the Soviet forces were able to capture the right bank of the city. Rokossovy then restricted his army from further fight and waited for reinforcements. On 15th of September, when the uprising was already on the edge of disaster, a mass air-drop was possible. However to their dismay the air drop was mostly been acquired by the insurgents instead of the Germans. Even they captured the arms and ammunition. That affected the Germans position in the region diversely. (Adler, Stanislaw, 1982) For three consecutive nights, 1,600 soldiers from Berlings army cross the Vistula and join insurgents in the Czerniakow district. The tried landing in September 17th to 18th in the district fails with most of the 1,050 people executed or captured. On 20th of September germen army did some strategic changes to fight western allies along with the polish insurgents. The complete force, renamed the Warsaw Home Army Corps (Warszawski Korpus Armii Krajowej) and commanded by General Antoni ChruÅ›ciel   Heavy fighting in Czerniakow continues till September 23rd. Some defenders left across the river, others reach the City Center. Germans killed all captured insurgents and take Berlings soldiers as prisoners of war. (A. Borkiewicz Powstanie Warszawskie 1944†) On 16th Germans with help of the 9th army targeted the bridges followed by attack on Mokotà ³w, and taken over Makotow on 27th of September On 30th September the 19th Armored Division supported by Bach regiment attacked Ã… »oliborz, and captured it. This all resulted in hunger, the lack of arms, ammunition and medical help, therefore ARMIA KRAJOWA started negotiating with Bach. The Polish Red Cross negotiated with Bach-Zelewski the act of act of surrender was signed by both parties on October 2, 1944 and. 20,000 Armia Krojowa soldiers   were held as prisoners of war by Germans. The civilian were allowed to    References: A. Borkiewicz Powstanie Warszawskie 1944 Adler, Stanislaw. In the Warsaw Ghetto: 1940-1943: An Account of an Eyewitness. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1982. Ciborowski, Adolf and Stanislaw Jankowski. Warsaw Rebuilt. Warsaw: Polonia Publishing House, 1962. J. Kirchmayer Powstanie Warszawskie T. Bà ³r-Komorowski Armia Podziemna Krall, Hanna. Shielding the Flame: An Intimate Conversation with Dr. Marek Edelman, the Last Surviving Leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. New York: Holt, 1986.

Moths as Ecological Indicators

Moths as Ecological Indicators Results Articles from peer-reviewed journals, revolving around the topic of moths as ecological indicators, were collected and reviewed. The articles dealt with various studies conducted in different parts of the world and reveal the relationship between various anthropogenic impacts on ecosystem and change in moth diversity. To begin with, the studies carried out in the Australian rain forest, the moth assemblages were considered to be an effective indicator of the ecosystem. Light trap method was used to study the differences in diversity and richness of moths between the disturbed and undisturbed sites. As a result, a clear decrease was accounted in the number of moths of few of the studied species from less disturbed to more disturbed locations whereas few other species showed the exact opposite response. The reason behind this variation in the response could be the presence of the flora on which that particular species depends for its food. The literature shows that the moths present on the undisturbed site were mainly dependent on those large trees and the moths on the disturbed sites depend on herbaceous plants. Another study was carried out in the Eastern deciduous forests of North America where several moth families were studied as indicators of habitat disturbance. The selection of moth species was done on the basis of ease of sampling and the ease of identification. A comparative study was done in terms of accessing the moth communities of the prevailing forest edge and that of the interior habitat. Forest edges, recovering clear-cut stands, and small forest remnants were considered disturbed habitat types (Brown and Hutchings,1997; Usher and Keiller, 1998; Hamer and Hill, 2000;Summerville and Crist, 2003). There was a considerable decrease in the species richness in the interiors as compared to that of the edge. This shows that the selected species of moths can be considered as indicators of habitat disturbance. The phenomenon of global warming has devastation implications. The next study deals with the effects of climate change on moths in the forest ecosystem. The change in climate leads to an increase in temperature which in turn leads to termination of diapauses. It is a condition during which the development is on a standstill. This is considered to be a good example of indicator of climate change. Another article deals with the study carried out in Carinthian Alps in the years 2002 and 2004 which dealt with the study of population trends of moths as a result of restoration and the conservation and control sites were defined and monitored. It revealed that there was a decrease in the number of moths from 2002 to 2004 but the decline was more in conservation sites that control ones. This decline was attributed to the transformation of dense forest like habitats into open landscapes with the final outcome of semi natural grasslands with are rich in species. Therefore, the transformation from forest to open habitat is considered to be negative for moths. Moths proved to be an effective indicator to define the health of a forest ecosystem. The final article is based on the similar concepts and addresses the impacts of climate change on moth populations. Discussion and conclusions The study involved a literature review of several articles from peer-reviewed journals and was focused on the consideration of moths as ecological indicators. The main factors identified were: the effects of restoration, habitat changes, climate change and other anthropogenic activities on the moth population and the way in which they respond to it. Overall, the review revealed that the influence of the above mentioned factors on moth population has been well studied. However, there were many constrains in the studies. The studies were mainly limited to the local scale and local geographical and environmental conditions which can be considered as a limiting factor. The selected species of moths might be considered as an accurate indicator of ecosystem quality the articles reflected the same. The selection of such an indicator species to monitor the health of an ecosystem can be considered as a powerful tool for the analysis. It can be noted from the articles that climate shifts are the drivers of extinctions and the habitat contractions of moth species. It can also be inferred that the role of the host plant plays a major role, in the response of moths, towards ecological changes. As we saw in one of the articles, few species of moths showed higher richness in the disturbed sites because of the presence of the preferred plant. We can even compare the inferences of this article with the results we obtained at Agumbe Rainforest Research Station, where we studied the moth diversity over three different sites. By taking into consideration the results of the Shannon-Wiener index, the highest diversity was obtained in the forest site which was the least damaged as compared to the other two sites where the damage was comparatively higher. However, we cannot completely rely on the results because the study was too short. An inference can still be made out of it because the disturbance had negative impacts on moth diversity. Therefore, the decline in the moth population has been a matter of concern and these declines point towards the catastrophic loss of biodiversity because of anthropogenic environmental and habitat changes. On a concluding note, I would like to say that a future research based on the impacts of anthropogenic activities and climate change and its relation with moth population is necessary. An understanding has to be developed regarding the decrease in moth population and related conservative steps has to be taken. References S. Netherer, A. Schopf. 2010. Potential effects of climate change on insect herbivores in European forests—General aspects and the pine processionary moth as specià ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ c exampleJournal ofForest Ecology and Management259:831–838. P. Dieker et al. 2011. Two high-mountain burnet moth species (Lepidoptera, Zygaenidae) react differently to the global change drivers climate and land-useJournal of Biological Conservation. 144:2810–2818. R.L. Kitching et al. 2000. Moth assemblages as indicators of environmental quality in remnants of upland Australian rain forest.Journal of Applied Ecology37:284-297 F. Richard. 2013. The decline of moths in Great Britain: a review of possible causesJournal ofInsect Conservation and Diversity6:5–19. L. Rà ¡kosy, T. Schmitt. 2011. Are butterflies and moths suitable ecological indicator systems for restoration measures of semi-natural calcareous grassland habitats?Journal of Ecological Indicators11:1040–1045. K.S. Summerville et al. 2004. Forest moth taxa as indicators of lepidopteran richness and habitat disturbance: a preliminary assessmentJournal of Biological Conservation116:9–18. .

Graduation Speech: We are Winners :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

Parents, family and friends, faculty, Class of 2012: Tonight we celebrate the completion of 12 years of schooling and look toward what will be in store for us in the future. It has been a long road for most of us, and a difficult one for some, but the fact is, we made it. Tonight we are all winners. However, I would like to talk for just a few minutes about losing. Throughout history there were many people we consider winners, who, in fact, lost many times in their lives. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because he had "no good ideas." Even though he hit 714 home runs, Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times. Thomas Edison performed more than 1100 unsuccessful experiments before inventing the light bulb. He said, "I found out 1100 ways how not to do things." Even the great Secretariat lost his first race. I can remember a time when I so desperately wanted to win, but I didn't. My fourth grade class was having a spelling bee. Every student had to stand at the front of the room with his or her own mini chalkboard. When Mrs. Reed, my teacher, said a word, everyone had to spell it on their chalkboard at the same time. If you misspelled the word, you were forced to sit down at your desk and keep quiet. At first I did not see the enjoyment in the exercise. In fact, I can distinctly remember drawing on my chalkboard while my teacher explained the rules of the spelling bee. It wasn't until I heard the words "Tootsie Roll Pop" that I looked up and saw the bright red cherry Tootsie Roll Pop that would be given to the winner. In fourth grade there was little I would not do for a Tootsie Roll Pop. The spelling bee that was about to start all of a sudden became important too me. My hand was ready to spell out any word that came out of my teacher's mouth. I was a spelling machine! My teacher kept putting up new words, and I kept knocking them down. I wanted that Tootsie Roll Pop. I was going to get it if it killed me. My teacher had given us more than 20 words, and I spelled every one of them correctly. The problem was, so had someone else. Elaine was her name. She was all that stood between me and my Tootsie Roll Pop.

GANGS :: Gang Essays

GANGS I'm doing a report on gangs. I need to start off by saying that a lot of the stuff I'm about to say, I think is bull shit. I think this because I am in a gang and do, or did drugs. I also have to disagree with some of, no actually a lot of the stuff I am about to say. Before I babble on about gangs I have to say one thing. Not all gangs are based around Latino's and or African-American's. Nor are all the gangs from Los Angeles area, but the Barrio is in East Los Angeles. There are many different gangs around. Some consist of African-Americans, Latinos, Skinheads, Caucasians, and Asians. Some are mixed. A lot of the gangs I've heard about and are friends with, mainly consist of colored-folk. In my gang for instance, we have five Caucasians, the rest of us are either black, latino, or dark like me. However, we do not have any asians in our gang. And no, we are not racist towards hispanics. There's a gang that is called The Satanic Cult, which is into some pretty weird rituals. They consisted of animal and human sacrifices and people with brown hair were forbidden and non-caucasians. There are many different gangs. Now there's one I am familiar with, the Necronomicon, who jumped me and my homeboy (who's Latino) just because we weren't white. Another one would belong to the punks. Which I do not have a problem with. The only two punk gangs I know of, do not call themselves "Gangs" but they call themselves a crew. They call themselves CFH, (Cowboys From Hell) and the other one is the Martians. A lot of the gang members come from broken homes, or something is wrong. So the kids end up in gangs doing drugs, drinking, smoking, committing crimes, and getting into violence. Some of us consider our gang "family." Some of the gangs actually do have real families in them. There's the problem of joining gangs. I got jumped into my gang. But that's one of the most common ways. The other ways are to have sex with someone who's already in it. Or you can get walked in. Some other ways which are sick and twisted that I've heard of are; the leader holds a knife to the newcomers throat. If the leader thinks the newcomer is lying he can slit his or her throat.

Google Inc. Essay

Google Inc. began in 1996 as the brainchild of two bright computer science grad students, Sergey Brin and Larry Page. These two intellectually gifted men met in 1995 at Stanford University where they were doing their PhDs. During their time together at Stanford, both came up with creative ways of finding and organizing large amounts of data. After that, Brin and Page developed a technology called PageRank that enabled them to analyze a particular website’s significance. The idea of a search engine occurred to Brin and Page after they came up with the idea for PageRank. The search engine was based on the on the same algorithm that PageRank used, but would be much more effective at obtaining better and accurate results than existing search engines. The idea soon became the world famous search engine simply known as Google that was launched on September 15, 1997. Brin and Page’s company was formally incorporated on September 4, 1998 at an acquaintance’s garage in Me nlo Park, California. Google, a play on words, received its name from â€Å"googol†, the mathematical equivalent of the number one followed by a hundred zeros. Naming the company Google was seen by both Brin and Page as the perfect way to reflect their original mission to â€Å"organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful†. Over the years, Google has become so popular that is has gained a vast number of followers who liked its simple design and useful results. In 2000, Google began selling text-based advertisements associated with search keywords in order to maintain an uncluttered page design so that speed is maximized when loading a page. Their innovative advertising system, comprised of its AdWords and AdSense products, is so successful that 99% of their revenue is derived from it. However, the technological industry demands constant innovation and Google’s strong focus on continuous improvement is reflected in the company’s ever expanding line of innovative services and products that includes webmail (Gmail), blogging (Blogger), and interactive maps (Google Maps). Google†™s strong organizational culture that includes values such as creativity, simplicity and innovation plays a huge role in their tremendous success and gives them a huge competitive advantage over their rivals in the search engine market.

Reader Responses

Real Relationships Fahrenheit 451 , written by Ray Bradbury, introduces many motifs to the reader. One of them being television. Television isn't the problem, but the over-indulging was the thing that hurt the many relationships of this book. Having so much technology and instant satisfaction at one's fingertips can be deadly. Specifically, so many people watch It because It's an escape from the viewer's real life. They don't have to face their problems. Without problems being faced, relationships are being less cared about, and less emotions are rolling to the reface.As In Fahrenheit 451 , the protagonist Montage's wife Mildred attempted seclude because of her great pain and Inability to confront her sad life. As the book says, the only attachment she has, Is to the â€Å"family on her favorite television show. In article â€Å"Face Time vs.. Screen Time†, written by Chancre Johnson, researchers found that people, especially teens are communicating with their families more, but with less emotions. Parenting expert Denies Daniels says, â€Å"These kids aren't connecting emotionally.Just like in Fahrenheit 451, no one in this futuristic society was connecting emotionally. They would talk about things that would happen, but not why. They never wondered. They were never emotional. Dry Kate Roberts says, â€Å"Families text rather than have conversations. We're living in a culture of sound bites, and that is not developing our verbal skills or our emotional intelligence. † Like in the book, a character, Mrs.. Bowels (Milliard's friend) has obviously had problems with emotional attachment, emotional intelligence, and communicating with her cabanas/past husbands.She had one divorce, one husband killed in a car accident, and another that has committed suicide. Not to mention that both of her kids utterly despise her. If she wasn't so superficial and had good verbal skills and emotional intelligence, she would be liked. This isn't necessarily her fault though, because this is a normal thing in this books society. Compared to the article, it is talking about real life too! This isn't part of a science fiction book anymore, this is slowly happening to our society.We are losing our communication skills. And if we cannot turn technology off more often, we are likely to lose the people we love. Reader Responses for Fahrenheit 451 By Audrey-Scrooges Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, introduces many motifs to the reader. Deadly. Specifically TV, so many people watch it because it's an escape from the viewer's real life. They don't have to face their problems. Without problems being faced, relationships are being less cared about, and less emotions are rising to the surface.As in Fahrenheit 451, the protagonist Montage's wife Mildred attempted suicide because of her great pain and inability to confront her sad life. As the book says, the only attachment she has, is to the â€Å"family' on her favorite television show. With less em otions. Parenting expert Denies Daniels says, â€Å"These kids aren't connecting emotionally. † Just like in Fahrenheit 451 , no one in this futuristic society despise her. If she wasn't so superficial and had good verbal skills and emotional life too! This isn't part of a science fiction book anymore, this is slowly happening to

PROJECT MANGGMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

PROJECT MANGGMENT - Essay Example Within the Project team, teams are formed based on the interdependence of tasks to be performed. The composition of groups is to ensure that time is not lost in processing of information and consequently the decision-making process (Chapin & Huber-Sannwald 2001). The current project team performance has been enhanced by creating a scenario where each member of the group has sufficient understanding of the tasks expected concerning performance. Such is the clarity in task assignment that the team members can self-monitor their performance and daily progress. Another feature of the group is the communication channels that exist and must strictly be adhered to. These channels are developed to ensure the shortest time lapse between the sender, the receiver, the feedback and the implementation of available information. The channels ensure that the departmental heads get a periodic briefing on the progress of their groups and can be prompt in their responses and effectively manage situations before they get out of hand. Under communications and information processing, the project management team has a program design that demands regular meetings with the primary objective being performance evaluation and charting the way forward. With short term goals being the norm, these impromptu meetings serve to ensure that the activities are on track as per procedure requirements. For those activities not at par with their projections, necessary steps are taken to ensure that any disruption erupts in relation to the progress of the organization (Project Management Institute 2013) The limits of authority are currently clear such that team member is aware of the boundaries of their authority. Such limits are set to ensure that there are no overlapping duties that may raise conflicts of interests among the team members. Additionally, to ensure accountability, each level

Creating a Compelling Vision Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Creating a Compelling Vision - Assignment Example otivation needed for growth, provides a feeling of significance among the parties involved and most importantly, it provides a basis for decision-making (Holbeche, 1998). A number of global leaders are taking the leading role in formulation of visions geared towards placing their organizations in favorable ranks with reference to corporate performance. For example, BBC staff became much more engaged when the British broadcaster switched its vision to â€Å"to be the world’s most creative organization† from the previous â€Å"to be the best managed organization in the public sector†. The employees at the broadcaster have been quoted as saying they are â€Å"lucky† to be there (Mackin, 2007). Such roadmaps have been very effective; both in terms of their communication and implementation, and their fruits can now be seen. Some visions may create more impetus than others may, but the most important thing is that it should capture the core values of the organization, should be attainable and be able to distinguish the organization from its peers in terms of defining the organizations expected

Physics for Future Presidents Writing Assignment Essay

Physics for Future Presidents Writing Assignment - Essay Example technological advancements and the improved knowledge in scientific fields, the deductions and conclusions made by scientists have proven to be accurate and even in some instanced averted disasters in the recent past. Therefore, for future heads of state to prevent future disasters from affecting the inhabitants of their respective countries, they ought to turn to scientists for counsel regarding certain issues of national security. It is necessary for them to display some level of scientific consciousness and edge themselves with qualified advice-givers to be able to make more profound long term decisions (Muller, 2010). Environmental consciousness and strategic prowess in decision making would be very vital tools in determining the success of our future leaders in safeguarding the planet. The comprehension and understanding of science, acts like a compass to our frontrunners directing them to making the most appropriate decisions. There exists pandemonium all over the globe and the urgent matters resulting to all the confusion, ought to be looked into by our leaders and appropriate decisions be made on how to tackle these matters. The comprehension and understanding of science by our prime ministers and presidents is most vital due to the environmental disasters that are looming, due to the way human being are continuously destroying and polluting the environment. Radicals have made it their goal in life to use the obliviousness of the ignorant leaders as a weapon against them. Resulting to individuals living in constant fear, these radials involve themselves in acts of terrorism. They are using ungrounded justifications as explanations to fulfill their own selfish desires. It is up to our future leaders to put under control such delicate issues without resulting to additional collateral damage. The utmost danger is that of extremists acquiring nuclear armaments and weaponries. Deterrence from these catastrophes is beneficial to each and every one of us.

Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 48

Journal - Essay Example Mostly, ethical practices in manufacturing organizations include taking care of the surrounding community with regard to avoiding pollution. This shows the integrity of the organization, which is usually determined by reasoning and habit to make the ethical behaviour continuous and consistent. Ethical behaviour attracts many benefits for the organization that include attracting many customers, which boosts sales and profitability, increase the human resource retention capabilities of the organization, which improves productivity, and attracting additional investors that helps in eliminating business takeover possibilities while increasing the market share. Ethical behaviour can also be said to be corporate social responsibility whose main function is to boost an organization’s image and reputation. In fact, an organization would achieve more when practicing ethically than it would when undertaking its practices unethically. This is because the contemporary world values businesses that value the environment and that protect the interests of the customers through provision of healthy products. Although at times, unethical practice may result in profit, it takes a shorter period of time before the investors start pulling out of the organization and the customers abandon the organization due to negative effect on the organization’s reputation (Ethical Behavior is Good Business, n.d). This causes extensive loss making and could lead to bankruptcy. This implies that the organization’s reputation is mainly sustained through ethical behaviour. Therefore, maintaining high principles of conduct is the best course of action for any organization so as to achieve its objectives ethically and to realize more benefits from the available

The night mother Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The night mother - Essay Example It is mentioned she is a lonely girl who doesn’t find much interest in talking to other people, but struggles to put herself together. Unlike her daughter, Thelma Cates is described as chatty and nosy yet as we read the play we realize that she is just as lonely as her daughter. She is in her late fifties and is quiet aware of her age. She tries to take this in positively, but cannot ignore the obvious that she is getting older and her time will soon come too. The play takes places in Thelma’s house and from there on Jessie has made the decision to take control of her life, thoughts and feelings. By the very first look of â€Å"Night Mother† we are able to determine that the play revolves around gloom and loneliness, from Jessie and Thelma, and grows around the issues they have had throughout life with a failed marriage, her epilepsy, and her delinquent son, Ricky. The main issue revolving the story sets around the fact that Jessie has decided to commit suicide, and straightforwardly tells her mother of her plans. â€Å"Jessie is full of vengeance and decides to commit suicide; oblivious to the fact that it might hurt her mother† (Brustein 160.) Before she does so, she must complete the list of things she has set herself to make before she kills herself, or as she told the people around town, â€Å"taking a vacation† (Norman 15). ... The author makes a remark by indicating that the appearance of the house shouldn’t be associated with the personality of Jessie, given that her mother is the one who is most outgoing. Norman adds on to the dialogue invisible characters that come up, meanwhile the two of them are having a deep conversation about how and why Jessie has taken the decision she has. While talking, they bring up characters like Dawson, Jessie’s brother, Loretta; Dawson’s wife, Ricky; Jessie’s son, and Cecil; Jessie’s ex husband. In addition to these characters, Jessie’s dad plays a very important role. From the conversation she and her mother are having, her mother admits to never loving him, but unlike Thelma, Jessie loved her father very much. I believe the importance of Jessie’s father plays after his death, since she did not have a father figure and her mother did not seem to worry about other than herself. It is also mentioned in the play that Cecil, wa s a handy man that made the porch and Thelma ended up marrying him to her daughter. Such actions have made the character of Jessie to submerge herself in the memory of her father, because â€Å"she never saw an environment in which love and harmony were abundant† (Burkman 36). In my opinion, Jessie’s suicidal thoughts come from the lack of affection she has received throughout her life. Cecil, her ex-husband has also taken most of her happiness since she became epileptic and fell off a horse and he divorced her. Her ideal marriage never really came together, and to only see her son grow to be somewhat of an antisocial or a delinquent. Although her mother wants to convince her that this is just a phase Ricky is going through, she

Retail Bank's Marketing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Retail Bank's Marketing - Case Study Example Pricing is a very integral part of marketing. Decisions about price are those which determine profitability (Stephenson, 2005). It is also one of the factors which determine whether the customer will actually acquire the product or service. Customers base their purchase judgments based on price (Stephenson, 2005). Pricing of the financial products is one of the most crucial decisions. Some of the most common pricing strategies used by the marketers include both cost-based strategies and non- cost based strategies (Winston, 1986). Ethics are moral principles and values that govern the actions and decisions of an individual or group. These serve as guidelines as to what is the fair and right thing to do. Customers have the right to be informed, and it is the marketers' responsibility to ensure they are providing customers accurate and complete information about their products and services, i.e. they should disclose complete costs associated with financial services, but this is not always practiced(Kerin, Hartley & Rudelius, 2003). Social responsibility is an important part of the marketing concept of any organization in any given industry. This is especially important for financial institutions since they serve the public. They need to not only focus on profits but also on the society as a whole. At times it is possible for a company to satisfy its customers yet fail to meet social responsibility. Despite the fact that banks and other financial institutions play a active role in the society, they still manage to conduct practices that abuse the environment discriminate in hiring employees, manufacturing unsafe products or engaging in misleading advertising or labeling. At times these organizations are still focuses on meeting their goals rather than meeting customer needs (Pezzullo, 1998). In the article 'Interest rate clustering in the UK financial services market' (2008), Ashton and Hudson explain through empirical evidence the price and interest rate clustering practices used by retail banks. In their study they explain how financial services marketers capitalize on the difficulties customers face in recalling and processing price information. They do this to maximize their revenue from deposits made by customers. Ashton and Hudson (2008) explain that price and interest rate clustering occur as a result of an individual's limited number recall.

Epidermic cell observation Essay Example for Free

Epidermic cell observation Essay The sample of epidermal cells were taken from two onions instead of one onion (layer 6-10 from the first onion, layer 1-4 from the second onion) due to the time limit of experiment which may cause an inconsistency in raw data because the two onions are slightly different in preserved temperature, shape, and growing environment. When cell samples were taken from the second onion, some of the cells are frozen due to the preservation which causes a distortion of the shape of the cells and may result in errors of counts. Because of the time limit of this experiment, there is a limitation in the size of samples. When counting the cells, there is no strict rule on regarding or disregarding part of a cell. The researcher estimated the number and may cause an error in counting. The standard deviation is much smaller than one third of each mean, and gives the data more reliability The exponential function does not fit the means well enough that for layer 9, 6, 5, 3, 2, 1, the value according to the function is not included in the range of the mean plus or minus the standard deviation. Possible improvements Use consistently one onion for the experiment. Preserve the samples with restricted conditions. (Preserved time, temperature, moisture) Collect more samples. Restrict the proportion of length that a cell has in the range of scope to be regarded in the counting.

Collaborative Work in Social Care

Collaborative Work in Social Care Introduction The following essay proposes to consider the question of collaborative working in social care, looking in particular at the impact of collaborative working between agencies and professional disciplines within the context of children and families. This represents an especially complex problem to attempt to tackle with the issues of both collaborative working and working with children families subject to an almost constant process of reform and change in the contemporary era. When, for instance, we pause to consider the way in which collaborative work has become such a central feature of contemporary social policy in western liberal democracies with the promulgation of the partnership approach to government dictating the pattern of a variety of social, cultural, economic and political initiatives, we can see that any discussion relating to multi-agency work must reside in some part within the realms of a constantly changing political ideology that seeks in the first instance to instil new parameters for social work practice (Quinney, 2006:5-21). Likewise, when we consider the changing nature of working with children and families in the contemporary era, we can see that a decidedly pervasive legislative and policy framework increasingly that seeks to infringe upon the practice of social work on both an individual and a collaborative level cannot help but impact upon our understanding of the nature and role of the social worker within the context of children and families (OLoughlin and Bywater, 2008:14-27). Thus, we need to observe from the outset the way in which the following essay constitutes an inherently subjective discussion where any conclusions garnered should be understood as open to further change and reinterpretation. For the purpose of perspective, we intend to adopt a dualistic approach to the problem at hand, looking firstly at the political, ideological and legal context in which social work with children and families currently takes place. In this way, we will be better able to demonstrate an effective understanding of the field of child and family work, the social work role and the multidiscipline system in relation to children in need and children in need of protection. Secondly, we will look at the implications of our own evidence-based research yielded from group dynamics involving a specific case study of children and families. In this way, we will be better able to demonstrate an understanding of the importance of evidence-based practice. Moreover, in this way, we will be better able to consider both the strengths and the weaknesses of the collaborative approach to social service provision at the dawn of the twenty first century. Before we can begin, though, we need to briefly consider the historical context in order to establish a conceptual framework in which the remainder of the discussion can take place. The political, ideological and legal context of working with children and families To understand the significance of the multi-agency, collaborative approaches to child protection we need to first mention some of the most profound cases of child cruelty, which have acted as a launch pad for reforms of social services. When, for instance, we pause to consider the case of Dennis ONeil who was starved and subsequently beaten to death by his foster father in 1945, we can see that instances of extreme abuse of looked after children directly contributed to reform of the child social services system. Maria Colwell was similarly abused and killed at the hands of her stepfather in spite of over fifty official visits to the family by social services, health visitors, police officers and housing officers before her death in 1973. As a result of the ensuing enquiry into Maria Colwells death, looked after children were assigned a guardian by the state. (Cocker and Allain, 2008:24) Likewise, public outrage, internal inquiries and institutional reform accompanied the murders of J asmine Beckford in 1984 and the uncovering of widespread sexual abuse amongst looked after children in Cleveland in 1987. In addition, the wrongful fostering of children on the Orkney Islands in 1991 after social workers mistakenly assumed that parents were part of a satanic cult triggered a reconfiguration of child protection policy, acting as a timely reminder as to the fallibility of decision making at an individual as well as an organisational level. Yet while it is true that childrens services have been influenced by individual historical cases of neglect, abuse and murder, it is also true that social work and childrens services are inherently tied to the dominant political ideology of the day. As we have already asserted, social work practice in the contemporary era is an inherently political issue with a pervasive neoliberal political ideology dictating the pattern of social policy and welfare reform over the course of the past two decades. Nowhere is this modernising neoliberal impetus more prominent than in the field of social work with children and families (Johns, 2009:39-54). Beginning with the Childrens Act of 1989 and continuing with the amended Childrens Act of 2004, the state has increasingly sought to make provisions for disadvantaged children and failing families in order to reduce the debilitating ill effects of marginalisation and social exclusion. These two Acts, in conjunction with a variety of other related social policies and statutory framework such as the Every Child Matters programme, constitute an ideological watershed with regards to the way in which the state legislatively copes with the numerous issues arising from children and families. Most obviously, these pieces of legislation and the broader emphasis upon social inclusion that they entail telegraph a new way of responding to issues arising from children and families by looking to target the causes (rather than the consequences) of neglect, exclusion, abuse and the ubiquitous problem of failing families. As a result, it is important to observe the way in which the reforms initiated over the closing decades of the twentieth century and the opening decade of the twenty first century represent a move away from the permissive social policies of the post-war years so as to incorporate a discernibly more preventative agenda for working with children and families (Morri s, Barnes and Mason, 2009:43-67). It is within this climate of preventative action that we must consider the genesis and subsequent evolution of collaborative social work practice with multi-agency work being intrinsically tied to the broader imperative of safeguarding children. The statutory framework of the Every Child Matters initiative, underpinned by the Childrens Act (2004) is, for instance, inherently tied to the partnership, collaborative approach to social service provision involving the active participation of professionals across all spectrums who work with children and young adults (Brammer, 2009:166). Understood in this way, the role of the social worker represents one part of a broader network of rights and responsibilities incorporating General Practitioners, psychologists, educational practitioners, housing association officers, National Health Service professionals, law enforcement agencies, government officials, local councillors, parents, family members and any number of related workers and associa tes who are able to help formulate an effective social agenda which places the child at the epicentre of all key decision-making. In this way, the social worker is better able to communicate with children who have suffered or are suffering from cases of neglect and abuse (Davies and Duckett, 2008:164-166). As a consequence, it is clear that partnership and collaboration should be understood as the ideological bedrock of the contemporary legal and political framework for dealing with children, families and young adults, constituting the single most important guiding principle for social workers operating in the highly complex, risk-orientated contemporary social sphere. Fuelled in some part by the high profile cases of internal failings contributing to childrens neglect where, most notably, the untimely death of Victoria Climbie in 2000 highlighted gross failures of the system (Laming, 2003:11-13), collaborative working between agencies and professional disciplines is today understood as the most viable means of positively impacting upon the well being of both children and families (Brammer, 2009:182.) In response to the murder of Victoria Climbie and, more pertinently, as a result of the economic imperative to cut back on public sector spending, the New Labour government, followed by the present coalition government, has increasingly sought to further the multi-agency approach to social services. The Childrens Plan (2007), for example, constitutes an ideological extension of the collaborative methodology championed in the Every Child Matters campaign with the government, agencies and professionals all charged with improving childrens lives. (The Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2010:29) Safeguarding the well being of children is therefore no longer considered to be the sole responsibility of the state; rather, it is clear that promoting the welfare of children and families is increasingly dependent upon adopting an integrated approach with a variety of agencies, organisations and individuals sharing the responsibility for welfare while at the same time ensuring that the child remains the focus of proactive, preventative action (The Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2010:31-34). It is consequently important to underline the strengths of the multi-agency approach to social care provision, underscoring in particular the way in which focusing upon collaborative working with children and families offers a holistic approach to what is an essentially multi-faceted problem. However, while we are correct to acknowledge the modernising ideology that underpins modern social work practice, we also need to observe the way in which the day to day practice of social work with children and families has revealed a significant underlying chasm between, on the one hand, the preventative legal framework and, on the other hand, the deep-seated flaws in the multi-agency, inter-disciplinary approach to welfare provision in the modern day (Oko, 2008:16-39). In spite of the best efforts of policy makers and in spite of the preventative statutory framework enshrined in the Every Child Matters initiative, there remain deep-rooted structural and logistical problems pertaining to the multi-agency approach. For example, the horrific death of Baby P in 2007 which occurred after social services, National Health Service consultants, and police officers demonstrates that there remains a clear and identifiable problem with regards to communication between agencies, organisations and professions. Moreover, the harrowing case of Baby P serves to demonstrate that, even when extreme levels of abuse are being reported, there remains a problem regarding intervention. The multi-agency approach to social care provision in the contemporary should therefore be understood as being inherently flawed with the collaborative system beset by a variety of structural weaknesses and new ideological complexities (Milner and OByrne, 2009:19-23). Although we should not seek to overlook the strengths of multi-agency, collaborative working we must, as Eileen Munro attests, consider the way in which an exceedingly risk-orientated socio-political culture has created additional problems for social workers in the modern era with an increasingly bureaucratic, administrative understanding of social services hampering the attainment of a critical understanding of the underlying economic, cultural and political factors that create problems in the social sphere (Munro, 2008:58-76). An over-emphasis upon res earch and policy has not yet yielded a significant reduction in the chasm between theory and practice. Working in a Group: The Lessons for Working with Children and Families Hitherto, we have focused upon attempting to understand how the dominant political, ideological and legal framework looks to dictate the pattern of social services at the dawn of the twenty first century. We have also seen that while policies and frameworks seek to instil a fresh, collaborative approach to working with children and young families the practical reality of working in a multi-agency context still leads to significant problems pertaining to communication. This, in the final analysis, is an inevitable consequence of working with the dynamics of groups where there is little by way of direction and where, more importantly, different group members harbour different perspectives and different ambitions with regards to the nature, role and purpose of the project at hand. In the group that I worked in, there were six participants. Two were two white women one a young woman in her early twenties; the other a woman in her thirties who is the mother of two young children. There were also two black women in the group; both of these women were in their thirties and both had children. In addition, there were two black men present in the group. As soon as the group began to convene, it was immediately apparent that there was a significant problem with regards to when the group could meet. Family commitments, coupled with work placements, conspired to make agreeing on a time to meet extremely difficult. Furthermore, when work was assigned to particular individuals it was not completed on time. A lack of structure was therefore prevalent from the start. As time went by and the problems with communication within the group continued to grow, it became apparent that the two white women took it upon themselves to act as the leaders of the group, delegating work as if they had been assigned the role of the managers. The younger woman in her early twenties was observed to be especially aggressive and domineering. When confronted she failed to act in a professional manner, which placed further strain upon the dynamics of the group. Furthermore, as the two white women exerted increasing levels of managerial control, it became apparent that they were withholding important information from the rest of the group. This was either because they did not trust the other members of the group to work to their standards or because they wished to take sole responsibility for the project upon completion. Regardless of their true intentions, the lack of co-ordination and communication resulted in a disappointing final presentation that had been undermine d on account of a wholesale lack of rehearsal. The lack of cohesive, coordinated action within the group revealed a great deal about the inherent problems of inter-agency work with children and families. Most obviously, there was a clear and identifiable problem relating to a lack of leadership and direction in the group. Although there were only six members, every participant appeared to have their own specific agenda, which meant that the overall goal became lost in the resulting confusion of responsibilities. This, according to Michael Gasper, is a key problem in multi-agency working with children and young people where a convergence of interests creates fertile grounds for problems relating to management and leadership (Gasper, 2009:92-110). In such circumstances, it is often the agency or partner that adopts the most rigorously aggressive attitude which ends up assuming a leadership-type role largely against the best interests of the project in hand. This was certainly the case in the group we observed where the two white w omen assumed leadership roles although no such premise had been discussed and in spite of the fact that no such policy had been agreed. In this instance, of course, it is impossible to ignore the spectre of underlying race issues that may have consciously or subconsciously influenced the behaviour of the two white women within the group. Race issues are intrinsically tied to power issues; thus, the white women might have felt the need to assume control of a group dominated by black people. Again, the issue of power and the impact that this has upon inter-personal relationships within a multi-agency setting is an important factor for us to consider. As Damien Fitzgerald and Janet Kay underscore, power is an inexorably important factor that needs to be legislated for when teams come together in an interdisciplinary, multi-professional context. This is especially true during the early consultative stages of group work the storming stage where there may be fighting, power struggles, disputes and destructive criticism, which need to be managed effectively so as to minimise the impact upon the setting or the service. (Fi tzgerald and Kay, 2007:92) The relationships that emerge from the storming stage are subsequently normalised during the ensuing norming stage where the team starts to adopt its own identity. If, however, the relationships between the various agencies have not settled down into an egalitarian pattern by the norming stage of development, the power struggles and internal disputes will inevitably affect the performing stage of task management. Most notably, the creative process will be stifled and the focus that should be dedicated towards the completion of the task will be diverted towards the power struggles within the group (Cheminais, 2009:38-40). This was certainly the case in the group I worked in where problems in the storming stage were translated into more serious structural problems in the norming stage, both of which ultimately affected the final performing stage of the task. Thus, once more, we need to acknowledge the significant divide between theory and practice in collaborative working with children and families where, as Jayat suggests, policies can be well intentioned, yet are often poorly co-ordinated and, in practice, under-resourced. (Jayat, 2009:92) Furthermore, while acknowledging the problems that multi-agency, collaborative work entails, we also need to consider the way in which the infusion of children into the scenario creates further avenues for a lack of cohesive, co-ordinated action. If, as the evidence suggests, information sharing is negatively influenced by multi-agency, collaborative working with adults, then it stands to reason that there is bound to be much greater scope for withholding information when children and families are integrated into the procedure. If relationships at an agency level are strained then it stands to reason that, as Butler and Roberts attest, that social workers will find it even harder to maintain open and honest relationships with children and their parents in a social work context (Butler and Roberts, 2004:129-130). More importantly, it is clear that there is little time for power struggles and disputes when a childs welfare is at stake. In the final analysis, this kind of internal wrang ling runs contrary to the central tenet of the Every Child Matters and the Working to Safeguard Children campaigns, which look to make sure that the child remains the centre of task-centred, multi-agency focus (Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2010:32). We should, of course, be careful not to assume that all group dynamics follow the pattern of the group we observed. While evidence suggests that there remains a significant scope for problems of power, communication, authority and direction within multi-agency settings it is also true that, if handled in the appropriate manner, collaborative practice allows differences in values to surface and, if effectively minded, to be aired and resolved over time (Glenny and Roaf, 2008:111) In such circumstances, multi-agency work with children and families can serve to positively influence the health and well being of service users. As a consequence, it is important not to assume that the structural weaknesses of collaboration mean that there are no strengths to the multi-agency process. Conclusion Understanding the strengths and the weaknesses of collaborative working between agencies and professional disciplines is dependent upon first understanding the distance to be travelled between the theory of prevention and the practice of collaboration at a grass roots level. Looking to reduce the divide between theory and practice, between the political and ideological framework and the multi-agency, collaborative approach, consequently represents the most critical challenge facing social workers and social policy makers alike. This is especially true as far as childrens services are concerned. Ultimately, though, when looking to pass a judgement on the relative strengths and weakness of multi-agency working with children and families we need to recall that agencies involve individuals responding to crises in the social sphere. As Beckett attests, every individual participant in the child protection process, and every profession or agency, necessarily sees things from his, her or its own particular standpoint and has his, her or its own particular axes to grind. It is important to bear in mind that no one participant possesses the pure and unadulterated truth.' (Beckett, 2009:29) Social work is an inherently complex and subjective discipline where there is no right or wrong answer to the multitude of questions arising from the breakdown of interpersonal relationships. Collaborative work should consequently be understood as being inherently fallible. Only by concentrating upon improving the internal group dynamics of multi-agency functioning can the chasm between theory and practice begin to be reduced.