Human: Ethics and Corporate Governance Essay

Business ethics at Chancellor College has as its main objective offering appropriate theoretical and practical formation in ethics as applied to the context of corporate governance. This objective is motivated by our interest at preparing our students for the various challenges they will encounter in their various businesses which they will undertake. We believe as a university that their success in business is partly dependant on their knowledge and practical readiness in confronting moral issues which will be part and parcel of their everyday experience at work place. Expectations It is expected that at the end of our course, students will be capable of demonstrating their understanding of the following: the basic ideas in the context of ethics; corporate Governance in general; and the application of ethical insights in corporate governance. The university expects further that the students will develop the personal ability to know how they can apply the various insights learned in their own activities after their graduation. Prescribed Texts1 1. Shaw, WH (2005): Business Ethics Thomson Wadsworth, Bangalore. India 2. Crane A and Matten D (2004): Business Ethics. Oxford University Press. New York. USA 3. Velasquez MG (2004): Business Ethics (Concepts and Cases). 5th Edition. Prentice Hall. New Delhi. India. Other texts will be given together with the rest of the module. 1 NB: This is conditioned by what we have in the library. 3 Business Ethics: Revision 0. General Introduction Welcome back to my lectures on Business Ethics after a long holiday of the so called Academic Freedom. I am aware of the fact that most of you have gone backwards intellectually, but we will try to catch up. I will commerce by making you aware of the relevance of our lectures or this field of study. Increasing current research in the context of business studies has shown a great interest in understanding and developing further the issue of corporate governance, for instance, O’Donavan’s ‘A Board of Corporative Governance’, Aras G & Crowther D. work on Culture and Corporate Governance [2008]; Coley J. ‘What is Corporate Governance’ [2005]; Monks R. A. G & Monow Nell’s work ‘Corporate Governance’ [2008]; and many others. This big interest in corporate governance suggests the centrality of understanding corporations and the incumbent mechanisms in doing any business. Indeed for our business to prosper necessitates a thorough knowledge of the various mechanisms in this context. Aware of the centrality of corporate governance, this course therefore suggests studying an aspect of this theme that is, the understanding of ethics inside this context. This study falls under the general study of ethics in the context of business studies, normally known as business ethics. The course has five parts as indicated in the course outline above. The first part deals with a theoretical presentation of ethics. This is directed at introducing the student to the ethical theories and principles which are then reflected in the context of corporate governance. The second part develops a theoretical understanding of what business is, through the study of the general aspects of ‘corporate governance’. This is intended at acting as a background where insights from ethics are discussed. The third part discusses ethics inside the corporations. It focuses more on how corporations utilize ethics in their systems as a fundamental component.

American Revolution Being a Civil War Essay

To a certain extent it is accurate to call the American Revolution a civil war. The colonists were  under British control at the time, between regions of the same country. It becomes a war between two  nation states.  Within the colonies, Revolutionaries were not only fighting against the British but also with the  Loyalists who still believed and agreed with the king. As Britain being the overall state, it was a war  within their sovereign, but also within their country. But, the American Revolution was the colonists  believing that they had a right to develop their own country and succeed from Britain. During the battle  of Kings mountain one side consisted of Loyalists under British control and serving in their army. The  other side consisted of Patriots who were the overmountain men. Both sides were completely American  but one side supported Britain and the other opposed. The American Revolution was to overthrow  the government and start to create one of their own, which is exactly what is what it was. So although  the American Revolutionary War was between those of the same citizens, like a civil war,  it also falls under the definition of a Revolution. Although some do believe that the Revolutionary War was, just that. But taking into  consideration the fact of the colonies being an actual part of Britain and being a war within Britains  control and their provence, it can be considered a Civil war. So to a certain extent, the Revolutionary  War can be considered a Civil War.

Road congestion

The underlying causes of congestion are far more complicated than many traditional interests have historically been willing to admit. The ability of available roadway space-the most traditional method of measuring supply or capacity to meet traffic demand, is just one of a set of several underlying factors that research has found contribute to traffic congestion. Whereas more than half of all children walked or bicycled to school in the 1950s, that number has now fallen below 10 percent as streets have become more dangerous due to traffic. Combined with the loss of school bus service, the resulting trend has been an overwhelming increase in parents driving their children to school, clogging local roadways during critical peak hours. An estimated 20-25 percent of rush hour traffic on local streets and roads is now attributable to the school commute. To make matters worse, not only does the typical suburban development model characterized by low-density cul-de-sacs, wide, high-speed arterials, and massive intersections make traffic management difficult, it also makes it less cost-effective for public transport to serve scattered destinations and makes walking or bicycling both inconvenient and dangerous. Many experts believe that widening motorways and main roads is only a temporary solution at best to the complex problem of traffic congestion. Indeed, research has pointed to a result known as â€Å"induced traffic† that suggests new and wider roads actually create additional traffic, above and beyond what can be attributed to rapid population increases and economic growth. In larger areas, drivers will often abandon carpools and public transport when additional roadway space is made available, thus creating additional trips and more traffic. In the longer term, the promise of more convenient transportation access allows commuters to live further from work, increasing development pressures and thus fuelling even more traffic demand. The lack of affordable and mixed-income housing near employment centres, and the imbalance between jobs and housing, creates the notorious commutes between the countryside and city areas. Also, with many people losing their confidence in public transport due to long delays, strikes and many rail crashes it seems much easier to take the car. It is important to note that the skewed pricing signals given to travellers appear to make road travel, even at the most congested periods of the day, entirely free, while public transport is often perceived as too expensive. Market failure is the inability of an unregulated market to achieve allocative efficiency in certain circumstances and we see a severe re-allocation of resources. There are various reasons why allocative efficiency may not be achieved, one of these is externalities. An externality is said to exist when the production or consumption of a good directly affects businesses or consumers not involved in the buying or selling of it and when those spill over effects are not reflected in market prices. The spill over effects are known as external costs or benefits. When people use their cars other people suffer from exhaust fumes, congestion and noise. These negative externalities make the marginal social benefit of using cars less than the marginal private benefit (i.e. marginal utility). The optimum equilibrium for society would be where the marginal social cost is equal to the marginal social benefit (Q!). However, a free market left to itself will produce where the marginal private cost is equal to the marginal private benefit (Q^). If there are negative externalities in consumption, a private market will therefore tend to over-provide a good. Congestion in urban areas can be seen as a form of market failure because the socially efficient output is not produced. The social optimum amount of vehicles on the road must be exceeded if congestion results. The marginal cost to the consumer is the only cost really considered when a driver makes the decision to use the car. What is not taken into account are the costs to other road users, the cost to society collectively; the social cost or themselves to some extent. The marginal cost to other road users is the added congestion caused by the extra car on the road. The marginal costs to society collectively are the increase in emissions produced by the extra journey made, the follow on effects from this are large, rising asthma levels in the local area, decaying buildings and collapsing roads could be caused because of the high congestion rates. The marginal cost to the individual could be the opportunity cost of the time spent in congestion. If the more space efficient bus made the journey, the traveller would be able to read the newspaper, play on a hand held computer or even do some work, this is not possible if the car is chosen to make the journey. The marginal utility of existing users of the congested roads would decrease with the addition of an extra motorist, an extra 10 or even 100 motorists would lower the marginal utility levels dramatically. But each individual's marginal cost wouldn't be affected, which explains why the marginal cost and marginal social cost diverge. Congestion is not the only cost that occurs from a large number of cars on Britain's roads. We must also consider, road damage costs, accidental externalities and of course environmental costs. Heavy vehicles basically cause Road damaging as the damage to the road pavement increases to the fourth power of the axle load. Accident externalities arise when extra vehicles on the road increase the probability that the other road users will be involved in an accident. Accident probability depends to a large extend on distance, driving time and particularly the other traffic. This is why accident costs will be treated like congestion costs. Environmental damage comes in various forms, such as local: emission of CO, NC, NO2, global: emission of CO2, CFC, water pollution and noise and vibrations. Congestion is inefficient, polluting and dangerous. Removing just 5% of traffic at peak times could substantially reduce or even eliminate rush hour congestion from many cities. One approach that is starting to stoke interest among municipal leaders is road pricing. The theory seems sound enough: introduce a price on bringing cars into congested areas that incite drivers either not to travel unnecessarily or to vary their times of travel or, indeed, to try public transport, walking or cycling. With the right approach, drivers who incur higher prices during rush hour periods would benefit from reduced congestion and travel time, while nonessential travel would take place at less congested and cheaper times. Road pricing has been debated in political circles for many years. The main debate was about the difficulties that would occur in trying to impose a system in order to toll drivers. These problems no longer exist, and advances in electronic devices have made sophisticated road pricing schemes more feasible. The new technology of electronic tolls no longer requires motorists to halt at tollbooths. Therefore, it prevents additional congestion. Drivers would be given an electronic number plate, which signals to the recording computer the presence of a vehicle. This would be the most direct way to charge the amount specific to the road and the time of the day. The devise could charge users via bank account or monthly bill. This would also allow a central computer to monitor roads with the greatest amount of use. Also, another method that has been put forward is for drivers to buy a travel card (similar to those on London Transport) and display these on their dashboards when driving in and out of priced roads. However, the political will is often lacking, perhaps because of uncertainty about voter reaction. I believe there are both advantages and disadvantages to the proposed road pricing theory. ADVANTAGES OF ROAD PRICING Road pricing is a good instrument to use to internalise most of the external effects mentioned earlier, especially in the case of congestion costs, it appears to be the optimal method of internalisation because a price mechanism would replace the present queuing mechanism, which is allocatively inefficient. Because road prices would be primarily connected with congestion costs, some distributional and locational effects could arise. Costs of driving in non-urban areas would probably fall whereas urban driving costs would increase so that in the medium run, the quality of the public urban transport system would improve. In the case of pricing highways on the continent, road pricing is a good instrument to overcome the free rider problem of foreign carriers using â€Å"home country† highways. This is especially interesting against the background that current ways of financing highways are very different. It is fair to say that foreign carriers buy their petrol abroad, which is cheaper, and they do not contribute to business in the UK. For that reason actual competition between international carriers is not neutral. With the proposed electronic system, there seems to be 2 benefits. The first of these is the business generated from the insertion of the microchips and the second is the ease of use i.e. simply driving past a scanner. Furthermore, Ken Livingston has stated that he believes traffic will reduce by 15% with the implementation of the system and he says money generated from the implementation of such a scheme will be used not only on the maintenance of our roads but also into investment of our public transport which again reduce the number of cars on the road leading to a better environment for all. A recent survey suggested that 70% of the public would not mind paying fuel tax if it was invested in public transport. The system is already used in Singapore and the immediate reaction was a reduction of 24,700 cars during the peak time and also, traffic speed increased by 22% at this time. And also, in Trondheim in Norway the toll was not introduced in order to make people leave their cars at home but soon, it was noticed that congestion was reduced and political consensus was that some of the money generated could be used for public transport within the city. DISADVANTAGES OF ROAD PRICING The cost of implementing electronic toll system is very high. The UK government estimates that the implementation of the system will cost à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½2 bn for only a small area such as London. Plus individual costs for every vehicle of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½40 each, not including additional costs of controlling the system. Also, we are likely to see a lagged response and it would take time to raise revenue. The initial costs are high thus; they would have to pay off in the long run. Ken Livingston, has suggested a charge of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½5 for entering London, many believe that when we consider, fuel taxes, road tax, and maintenance of a car, à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½5 to enter London is extortionate. It is important to consider those on lower incomes, who may find it difficult to pay a regular à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½5 charge. This could lead to the displacement of traffic, in the way that people will try to avoid the tolls and take other routes down side roads- this is likely to cause congestion in quieter streets not to mention accidents because the streets are so narrow. The introduction will be hard and people will object to it. They believe it affects their rights of passage and with an estimated 230 cameras per zone it compared to the big brother phenomenon. Tax on roads may have damaging effects on the economy. Because the cost to firms will be greater and it may also serve to make London a less desirable centre, there will be a reduction in Aggregate Supply. There will be growth in unemployment as firms will not be able to afford workers, this will cause a slowdown in economic growth and could even cause an inflationary threat. In terms of negative environmental externalities, road pricing is (with the exception of noise) probably not the optimal instrument for internalisation. Taxes on fuel or emission fees, for instance, charge vehicle emissions in a more direct way and they are very simple to design. Some believe that there should be different taxes for those people who do not have public transport available to them easily and those who do but choose not to use it. Furthermore it must be mentioned that the effect of road pricing depends to a large extent on the authority that receives the revenues and its way of using the money. Economists would argue that the profits made should be reinvested into the transportation system to generate an efficient outcome rather than cross-subsidising other traffic modes or other state activities. CONCLUSION In conclusion I believe that road pricing is the best instrument to internalise the costs of congestion and road damage. Although the initial costs of installation are high, these costs would probably quickly be exceeded by the efficiency gains of corrected prices. Nevertheless, road pricing cannot perfectly internalise external environmental costs. That is why instruments like â€Å"fuel taxation† or â€Å"emission fees† will still be necessary to design an optimal price mechanism in the transportation sector that sets the correct incentives. I believe pricing could be the trick to remove that 5-10% of traffic that causes congestion in peak periods in our cities. If that means picking up the children on time and being able to drive into city centres to shop, then surely that would be a price worth paying. Finally, what's perhaps most important is a recognition that solving these problems will require strong leadership from a government level in addition to management, planning and eventual implementation at the regional and local levels. Traffic congestion must thus be tackled within a broader context of economic, environmental and social goals and its solutions must be compatible and work in support of solutions for a broader range of issues.

Law and Intellectual Property Memorandum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Law and Intellectual Property Memorandum - Essay Example Yes, Mr. Kenobi is entitled to a fair royalty from Jedi and he also could seek a court injunction requiring his pictures to be removed from Jedi’s website until the royalty is received. Since i) Mr. Kenobi can prove that the pictures are his and ii) Jedi did digitally copy the pictures intentionally by deliberately uploading them onto Emperor’s server, this constitutes primary infringement. No, Mr. Kenobi is not entitled to any damages or royalties from Emperor. Since Empire is only providing a hosting service for Jedi’s website, Emperor did not directly nor intentionally copy the pictures, it simply received a copy of the pictures from Jedi through the rendering of a hosting service. This only constitutes secondary infringement and there was no intent to copy. Probably, Empire is liable to Jedi for the fair market value of the secret formula, unless specific damages had been outlined in the contract between them. Since Empire did not copy the information directly, it does not constitute primary infringement. Although it did inadvertently provide the means for others to do so, Empire did not have any intention of copying, therefore it does not constitute secondary infringement either. However, the data was explicitly labeled as confidential by Jedi and Empire was negligent in protecting the confidentiality of the data. Yes, Jedi is entitled to a fair royalty from its competitors for use of their unregistered design right and could also seek a court injunction to not only prevent the further illegal use of their secret formula but also have all products where their secret formula was illegally used recalled until the royalty is received. This office is considering possible liability between Jedi, Emperor, and Mr. Kenobi. Jedi has posted on its website (hosted by Empire) pictures reputed to belong to Mr. Kenobi.  Ã‚  

Qualitative method Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Qualitative method - Essay Example Broadly, there are two approaches in collection of information for research purposes in social sciences: qualitative research and quantitative research. Quantitative research originated in the natural sciences such as chemistry, physics, biology, geology and others, and focused on investigating things the researcher could observe and measure in some way. Evidently, applicability of this approach to social science research was rather limited: social world is impossible to objectively measure in the same way as natural world. Researchers working in the social sciences such as psychology, sociology, anthropology and others were interested in studying behaviour of human beings and various aspects of the social world inhabited by people. Attempts to explain human behaviour in simply measurable terms had only partial success: although measurements obtained with the help of quantitative research told researchers how often human beings demonstrate some or other type of behaviour or how often certain social phenomenon occur, no quantitative research could determine why people demonstrate such behaviour or why things in social world occurred in some specific way. Qualitative research is an effective alternative to find the answer to this question. Qualitative research is defined as "multimethod in focus, involving an interpretive, naturalistic approach to its subject matter" (Denzin and Lincoln, 1994: 2). Qualitative research is based upon a solid philosophical basis which includes a number of paradigms. Theorists outline four major philosophical paradigms that formed the basis of qualitative approach in social sciences: positivism, postpositivism, critical theory, and constructivism (Guba and Lincoln, 1994). Positivist philosophy founded by a famous French theorist A. Konte played exceptionally important role in development of qualitative research. Positivists argued that the objective reality did not depend upon the perspectives of taken by researchers. Consequently, there is no difference between reality and perception of reality, and the primary task of researchers is to disclose facts of the objective world. This paradigm is present in a diluted form in some qualitative research. Postpositivist philosophy is a contemporary modification of Konte's positivism. Adherents of this paradigm claim that human being is not capable of perfect and comprehensive understanding of reality admitting that serious analysis and accurate collection of information can bring the researcher close to such understanding. Postpositivism exerts substantial influence on qualitative research (Shaw, 1999: 45-47). Critical paradigm emerged in the second half of the last century in Germany. Proponents of this paradigm argued that reality could not be grasped without researcher's bias that is caused by historical, political, societal, ethnic, or gender conditions. Consequently, realisation of social conditions and values should be the primary purpose of research (Harvey, 1990). Critical ethnography, feminist research and participatory action research are the best known methods within qualitative approach which rely upon the critical paradigm. And finally representatives of constructivist paradigm claimed that reality was not possible to study and understand 'in pieces', but only holistically and in context. Therefore, the traditional relationship between researcher and subject of research was labelled

Corporate Health and Safety Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Corporate Health and Safety - Essay Example In business 'what gets measured gets managed'. Research carried out by RoSPA suggests that the variability in accident rates across UK organisations as a population is so great that any attempt to analyse accident statistics in studies, which consider less than 1,000 organisations are statistically meaningless. In other words, the variability of accident rates in UK industry is so large that the probability of making an error in the interpretation of the results is nearly 100 per cent. A further criticism that can be levelled is that, most often issues such as work related ill health and unsafe conditions are neglected as compare to other, such as the unacceptable exposures to health hazards. Health damage is generally a bigger issue than accidental injury but these are harder to identify and quantify. HSE estimate that early death from past exposure to hazardous working conditions is at least one (if not perhaps two) orders of magnitude greater than death due to workplace accidents (although much of this occurs after those affected have ceased employment). Some may seek to argue that good health and safety management which produces a low a lost time injury rate is more likely to address health protection as well. But an absence of accidents cannot be taken to imply neither a low rate of work related ill health since neither modelling nor data are available to support this. (Director action on Safety and Health, 2004) Although some employers and so-called workplace violence "experts" promote profiling of perpetrators to predict violence, it is often inaccurate and can lead to mislabeling and possibly discriminating against groups of people and workers. Identifying hazards, collecting information and documenting incidents is a very important part of addressing workplace violence problems. Employers are not required to correct hazards, which they do not know exist. Solutions cannot be found for unreported problems. A hazard assessment is a method of identifying, analyzing and documenting workplace hazards. Assessing workplace violence hazards involves some of the same tools used to document any other workplace safety or health problem. These include checklists and surveys, investigating incidents and reviewing available records. 1. Inspect the Workplace - Appendix A contains a workplace violence inspection checklist that can be used as part of a safety and health inspection or safety audit. While inspecting for work-place violence risk factors, review the physical facility and note the presence or absence of security measures. Local law enforcement officials may also be able to conduct a security audit or provide information about their experiences with crime in the area. 2. Conduct a Survey - The most important source of information on workplace hazards is workers. In fact, workers may be the only source of information on workplace violence hazards since management may not document incidents (or near misses). In addition, conducting regular surveys may also enable the local union to evaluate workplace violence prevention measures. Information can be collected either through a written questionnaire distributed to workers or through one-on-one personal interviews. A written survey may be appropriate if the union wants personal or sensitive information. For example, a worker may be reluctant to voice to a union representative fears about a co-worker, but may be more willing to describe the problem in an anonymous questionnaire.

The Mississippi River Lab Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Mississippi River Lab - Assignment Example The two questions asked during the study are The subjects were also asked to give approximations of the length of the Mississippi River. Most of the respondents thought that the Mississippi River is 5000 miles. The summary of the length approximations of the Mississippi river as per the subjects is presented in table 2. It is rather conclusive from the results of this paper that many people think that the Mississippi river is longer than 840m miles. Many people as evident in the respondents also think that the Mississippi River is longer than 3840 miles. However, from the length approximations, we can speculate that most people do not know the actual length of the Mississippi River. Majority of the people thought that the river is 5000 miles as shown in table 2. The approximation is way above the length used in this study as a reference point. This study assumed that the length of the Mississippi River is 2340 miles long. In relation to the results from the subjects, the actual and real length of the Mississippi River is less than half the length approximated by the respondents. According to the National Park Service, the actual length of the Mississippi River is 2350 miles

Ratio Analysis Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ratio Analysis - Case Study Example This paper will shed light upon the financial ratios of Apple, how the company will fare in the future will also be comprehensively analyzed. ROI stands for return on investment, Apple’s ROI matches DELL which is great news for the company, return on investment goes to show that the products have been selling very well in the market. The sales growth of Apple has also seen a significant rise in the last quarter, all these are indicators that the company is performing very well. Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple has been coming up with strategies to promote the products, even though he has had severe health issues, he has been very successful in building the brand name of Apple. Apple has also managed to diversify which is again very good for the business, the company is not dependent on only one product but they have a plethora of products which can be relied upon, this has reduced the risk for the company. Apple operates on a much higher gross margin than other companies, Gross ma rgin of 29.02% is the margin that the company operates at, this goes to show that the company has adopted a higher selling price mix. Products like iMac and Ipads have really given Apple an edge and this is why the company can afford to set higher prices for their products. Apple spends 3.8% on research which is very good for the company, perhaps this percentage can be improved so that they can find new and better products. The operating expenses are about 13.38% which goes to show that the company is very stable and investors can invest in this company. The working capital of the company is very healthy; it is again because of the profits. The current ratio of the company stands at 2.96 (Million) which means the company can easily pay off short term debt not once, not twice but thrice. This is a very strong position to be in; Apple has no need to take loans because it can easily pay off debt. Acid-test ratio goes to show how quickly assets can be converted into liquid cash, Apple h as an edge once again and this is hardly surprising. The acid-ratio of the company stands at 2.63 which signify the operating efficiencies of the company give it a huge edge over other companies. Assets turnover ratio stands at 1.42, this means the sales of the company has been picking up, and this ratio is derived by dividing the sales by assets. The ratio is also an indicator of how assets are used to generate profits. Apple has been doing it very successfully thus far. â€Å"This tells us something about Apple’s pricing strategy. The Profit Margin for a product is the net of sales deduct the cost of goods sold. Therefore, Apple has higher pricing charged to its products offering as compared to that of Dell’s, even though Dell’s Inventory Turnover Ratio is much higher in this case. But looking at Dell’s turnover ratio on Net Sales; it is close to that of Cost of Goods Sold, therefore this also explained that Dell has lower pricing charged to its produc ts offerings.† (Inventory Turnover Ratio) Debt ratio of the company stands at 0.35 which means that there are still some debts which should be cleared; this is not a problem especially when the company is performing so well in the market. The company can easily clear this debt off whenever they want to, this is not an issue for them. The debt/equity ratio of the company is extremely healthy, it stands at 0.55, this goes to show that the equity has been well managed to pay off short term

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 93

Assignment Example The story reveals to the reader just how unfair identity prejudice restricted on women choices during the time period. The theme of gendered identity and roles gets illuminated throughout the book. This can be revealed when the author states that she liked to work outside while she noted that her mother worked inside. As a young girl, the narrator tells of how happy she was to work outside with her father who was a fox farmer. She liked being a hired hand that helped to bring water to the foxes, cutting grass, and watering plants. She notes that her mother worked inside the house concerning herself with housekeeping and particularly in the kitchen where she prepared foods such as jam, jelly, and preserves. The narrator notes of how her mother would on a number of occasions constantly try to negotiate with her father on getting her to work in the house more. This gendered view presented in the story is quite telling as it shows the place of the woman in the society back in the time period. Women got resigned to housekeeping and the kitchen as their traditional roles. The story is also interesting given the narrator persistence at trying to break down the social view on gendered roles at the time. As a young girl, she dreams of herself rescuing people from a building that got bombed. As an oldest child, she takes it upon herself to help her father with her pelting business which was traditionally a male chore. Through various descriptions in the book, the reader notes of the young girl’s adventurous nature, physical strength, courage, and her imaginativeness. As a young girl, she is clearly impervious to the concept of gendered roles. She happily dreams of opportunities that call for boldness, courage, and self-sacrifice. This illustrates her free spirit as a young girl that later becomes curtailed by societal conceptions of

Financial accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Financial accounting - Essay Example Liquidity Analysis 12 Investment Analysis 13 Part B 15 Findings 15 Recent Developments 16 Recommendations 17 Part C 17 About IASB & FASB 17 Transitional Reliefs 18 Conclusion 19 References 20 Appendices 24 Introduction This project is divided into three parts. The first part includes the comparative analysis of the two UK-based companies- J Sainsbury Plc and Tesco Plc, based on the financial statements and other relevant information provided in the companies’ 2011 annual reports. This includes the ratio analysis and share price movements along with the FTSE 100 movements for the past four weeks. The second part includes the findings based on the financial analysis from the first part and the recommendations which follow from the findings as to which company has potential for better long-term investment. The third part of the project has the brief history of International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and a list of transitional reliefs granted by the two boards for the retrospective application of a new revenue standard to ensure the comparability of revenues across all reporting periods. Objectives of the Project The objectives of this project are: †¢ To make a comparative analysis of Sainsbury and Tesco with the help of ratio analysis, share movements and related industry news †¢ To recommend which company would be better for long-term investment.... The analysis and interpretation is also helped by studying the business news related to the retailers’ industry. The four transitional reliefs related to the revenue recognition standard the IASB and FASB have granted in June 2011, are discussed. Part A Background of Sainsbury & Tesco John James Sainsbury and his wife founded Sainsbury in 1869 with only one retail store in London. Since then it has grown the largest retailer in UK with 934 stores consisting 377 convenience stores and 557 supermarkets. It has a joint ownership in Sainsbury Bank along with Lloyds Banking Group. The company also has 2 property joint ventures with The British Land Company Plc and Land Securities Group Plc. In the year 2010/11 Sainsbury grew by average growth rate of 8.5% in terms of space. It was the first retailer to open a bank in UK and the bank provides loans, credit cards, insurances and savings (J Sainsbury Plc, 2011). Sainsbury operates in 5 strategic areas driven 5 key values: Great food, general and merchandise clothing, complementary services and channels, new business development, and creating property value and growing space (J Sainsbury Plc-a, 2011). Tesco was founded by Jack Cohen in 1919 in London. The company has a vision to be highly valued by the community, customers, staff and shareholders and to become a modern innovative and growth company applying skills globally (Tesco Plc, 2011). The company has a seven part strategy to expand its business with sustainable long-term growth: Grow the core business in UK, be an outstanding online and store international retailer, become strong in other businesses besides food, grow retail services in all

Was Jesus Like Adam Before or After the Fall Research Paper - 1

Was Jesus Like Adam Before or After the Fall - Research Paper Example Each of the positions weighs greatly especially if one was to go by presentable evidence each side would produce. However, in the midst of this quagmire, Christians should not divorce their eyes and wisdom from the book of Ephesians 4: 21, â€Å"we should not depend not only our understanding of the work of Christ but also our understanding of the way of life expected from each of us as we seek the truth that is in Jesus†1. As a result, this research adopts a relatively divergent path from the two positions and postulates that the nature of Christ is both manifested by fallen and un-fallen nature of Adam. The un-fallen nature of Adam is characterized by sinless and un-separatedness from God, which Christ has. On the other hand, fallen nature of Adam is characterized by physical strength, mental power, and moral worth, which again Christ can be associated with2. Nature of Adam before the fall The bible describes the man God created and placed in the land of Eden as one created in God’s image. This man was Adam and as an image and spiritual creature of God, Adam possessed the image of God, which made him to remain connected to God. Adam’s original state was one of a sinless man who had favor from God. The sinless nature of this man was manifested through his purity and holiness, which made him to have an assured connection with God and at the same time, beloved by God3. Adam, in this state, was perfect and righteous. Adam in his original state is given noble powers by God as the head of earthly family who was to represent God and rule over other creatures. In this sense, the original Adam had God’s gift of well-balanced mind, he was perfect in his being and constantly in harmony with God. At the same time, his thoughts were largely pure and his aims had an element of holiness The notion of the image of God and Sin The sinless nature of original Adam is what God had wished man to live. The image of God (Adam) was to remain pure, was to remain perfect, and exhibit no propensity to sin. The sinless state was to put Adam in constant and unlimited communication with God in a special and privileged way as compared to other creatures. In other words, the sinless man was to remain representative of God glory and heritage. Adam obedience in God was to be uncompromised and this is what was required of him. Nevertheless, Adam profaned this sinless nature when through temptations became sinful. Adam through devil’s temptations became disobedient to God, pervert and selfish. Adam became weakened as a result of committed sin and he subsequently became a victim of devil, unable to resist the power of evil4. The special connectedness of Adam and God was weakened, communication violated and closeness disrupted. As a result, Adam became captive to Satan’s evils, unable to resist and hence it needed intervention of God to rescue His image (Adam). Adam and Eve committed sin and this was to become permanent transgressio n human being can be associated with especially with regard to consequential effects. Angel M. Rodriguez observes that Adam’s actions of sins became the fountain source in which human disasters and troubles emanated due to angered nature of God5. Punishment for Adam and Eve became an appropriate avenue God displayed His displeasure with human race and consequently the aftermath of this punishment befell the human race. Sin therefore became

An integrated critique of kozols and dawkins Essay Example for Free

An integrated critique of kozols and dawkins Essay AN INTEGRATED CRITIQUE OF KOZOL’S AND DAWKIN INTRODUCTION Richard Dawkins was born on March 26, in 1941. He is an ethnologist, an evolutionarily biologists and a popular writer in science. He also holds the Simonyi Chair, which is designed to promote the understanding of science to public at Oxford University. The first time Dawkins come into the limelight and became popular was after writing his book ‘The Selfish Gene’ in 1976. This book introduced the term ‘meme’ and consequently helped discover memetics fields. It also made ‘gene-centered view of evolution’ popular. Around 1982, he made significant contributions toward evolution science. THE SELFISH GENE BY RICHARD DAWKINS Richard Dawkin’s ‘The selfish Gene’ was a very popular reading and to some extent controversial on evolution. The book elaborates and goes deeper to discuss more about the theory of William’s first ever book to write ‘Adaptation and Natural Selection’. The theory discussed on this book is principal to William’s book. Richard introduced, ‘Selfish Gene’ to provoke and express his views on gene’s evolution. This view states that evolution acts on genes and when we select some organisms or a population, this selection is normally based on the type of genes. According to his book, an organism must evolve since it is the only way of maximizing its ‘inclusive fitness’, which refers to the total number of the genes which are transmitted globally, rather than the genes passed on by a particular individual. Consequently, a population tends to learn towards ‘Evolutionarily Stable Strategy’. (Richard, 1990) This ‘selfish gene’ came up with the term ‘meme’. ‘Meme refers to a single unit of human’s culture evolution which is analogous to genes. It suggests that this is a ‘selfish’ replication of human genes, and it can affect the culture of human in a totally difference sense. There is no doubt that ‘memetics’ evoked a discussion of meme since he published his book. ‘Meme’ is cultural information units, which can be transferred from one mind to another. Examples of memes are tunes, clothes fashion, catch phrases, pot making or building arches. â€Å"Meme’ is properly defined in the theory of memetic, which is comprised of information on culture in a unit theory; how evolution of culture or diffusion is blocked, how it propagates form mind to mind and the way a gene propagates from one person or from an organism to an organism. Where memes are multiple, they propagate as â€Å"memeplexes’. Meme complexes act as cooperative groups. (Richard, 1990) A ‘gene’ on the other hand, is a region that can be located and has a sequence called ‘genomic sequence. This corresponds to an inheritance unit that is closely associated with regions that play a regulatory function, the regions, which are transcribed, and other regions with functional sequence. The phenotype and physical development of organisms is believed to be productivity of genes, which interact among themselves and with their environment. Genes are generally inheritance units. A gene generally defines human or organism’s characteristic and the functionality of potential products. Genes do not define products but rather they contain regions. Eukaryotic organisms contain regions, which do not have coding regions and are called introns. These are taken away from RNA, which acts as the messenger in a process referred to as ‘splicing’. Exons are regions, which encode the products of gene. A total number of genes, which make a set, is called ‘genome’. The genome size of an organism is usually low in prokaryotes, which come in base pairs and the gene’s numbers. The theorists of meme state that meme evolve through natural selection, this is similar to biological evolution of Darwin through competition, inheritance, variation and mutation. THE ROLE OF CULTURAL EVOLUTION Cultural evolution and socio-evolution fall under the umbrella called ‘socio-cultural evolution’. It describes how societies and cultures have come into being over time. Cultural theories provide us with models to enhance our understanding on the relationship between our social structure, technologies and society values; and give reasons why and how they change gradually. They change to a degree to which specific mechanisms of social change are described. (Richard 1990) Around 20th and 19th century, there were approaches, which were aimed to give models for humankind evolution. The argument is that the social development of different societies is not in the same stage. The recent approaches of the 20th century emphasize on changes, which are specific to a society as an individual and turn down social progress and directional change. Archeologists and anthropologists use modern theories as the framework of socio-cultural evolution. Sociobiology and neo-evolutionism are some of modern approaches employed to cultural evolution. Richard Dawkins, the ethnologist discovered ‘meme’. According to his book, â€Å"TheSelfish Gene’ 1976, likened human’s cultural evolution unit to a gene. His argument was that replication happens in the culture, through in a different sense. Dawkins contends that meme, which resides in the brain represents units of information and it is the replicator that controls mutation in cultural evolution of humans. This forms a pattern, which has the power to influence surroundings, that is, it can propagate and possesses causal agency. However, his theory caused a heated debate among biologists, sociologists and scientists from other disciplines. Dawkins failed to given adequate explanation about the information units replicates, in organism’s brain, how it can control the behaviour of a human being and finally culture. It is apparent that it was not Dawkins intention to give the theory of memetics. Comprehensively in the selfish gene, he coined the word meme in a kind of speculative spirit. In the same sense, ‘unit of information was given different definitions by different scientists. (Richard 1990). MEME AND EDUCATION It is not entirely impossible though it is hard to debate the subject matter of the functions of emotions in education system if we are lacking the right words to sufficiently discuss the topic. This is the scenario when we reach a point of discussing the functional role of ‘emotional intelligence’ because it has got to do with the needs of our younger brothers and sisters as well as great grandchildren and become stochastically and mathematically proficient so as they can exist and fit in the competition which is characterized by technological advancement. Many educators are failing because they lack words such as ‘eipiphiny’ and ‘mehme’ and hence do not have words, which play an important role of ‘emotional intelligence,’ and how it relates to stochastic and mathematical literacy sufficiently and appropriately address attempts that can be made. The outcome is a system of education that is believed to be failing. If the kids can experience and feel eipiphinies and MEHMES, kids will definitely love maths, and see its relevance to their lives daily. It also contributes a feeling of self-confident. The key here is to create the terms mehme and eipiphiny. Introduction of mehme and eipiphiny may have a positive effect if incorporated in the meme selection process.

Culture Shock: Causes and Effects

Culture Shock: Causes and Effects In the business industry the importance of expanding the business internationally is progressively growing. One industry which is constantly expanding its presence in international market is telecommunication industry. Telecommunication plays an increasingly important role in the world economy and as the global telecommunication industry. Due to increasing new market access and large number of global mergers and acquisitions within telecommunication industry larger number of managers and employees are becoming an expatriate working and living abroad. Therefore it is extremely vital to educate managers or employees in intercultural awareness. One of the very important aspects in the field of intercultural is the issue of Culture Shock. Many theories have been proposed to explain what Culture Shock is. Although the literature covers a wide variety of such theories, this review will focus on few major culture shock models which emerge repeatedly throughout the literature reviewed. Definition of Culture Shock The word Culture Shock was first introduced by world-renowned anthropologist Kalervo Oberg in 1960.He used the word culture shock to describe the anxiety resulting from not knowing what to do in new culture. Oberg (1960) as (cited in Dharm and Richard 2000, p. 2) Defined culture as occupational disease of people who have suddenly been transported abroad and suggested that culture shock is precipitated by the anxiety that result from losing all our familiar signs and symbol of social intercourse In other words the term culture shock refers to the situation where an individual migrates from a culture to which he/she is familiar with to an unfamiliar one resulting in new experiences and causing distress and discomfort or sense of loneliness. Oberg definition on culture shock was supported by many renowned scholars. For example, Hofstede (1999) as (cited in Sonja Manz 2003,p.2) has also defined culture shock as a stress of distress following the transfer of a person to an unfamiliar cult ural environment . Furthermore, Alder (1975) as (cited in Yun and Qynh Le, 2012, p. 2). Also agreed with Oberg and Hosted definition and state that culture shock is a set of emotional reactions which occurred when an individual leave its own culture and move completely into a new culture. However, Marx contradicts with Oberg, Adler and Hofstede view on culture and offers far more interesting and promising view on Culture. Her view on culture shock is more interesting because she views culture shock as a positive and learning experience. Marx view on culture shock was supported by Hawes and Kealey (1981) study (Cited in Marx 1999, p6) which was conducted on Canadian expatriates working or living in Africa. The study showed that expatriates who experienced intense culture shock are most likely to adapt effectively and adjust into the new culture easily. Thus Culture Shock should be seen as positive experience not negative. Different Theories on Culture Shock Oberg was the first one to develop a model of adaptation that suggests that going abroad or working interntionally put individuals through a cycle of distinct phase on a way to final adaptation. The model has four stages in which expatriate goes through. The first stage is honeymoon stage. In this stage telecommunication expatriate is very excited about moving into different country. The expatriate viewed his new life as providing endless opportunities the expatriate is usually in the state of exhilaration. This is followed by crisis-phase, culture shock set in-In this stage expatriate realize that something not quite right. Expatriate feels frustrated, anxious and angry. In this stage expatriate realizes the problems and starts to cope with the new culture. This is followed by recovery stage. This third phase of recovery usually starts accepting that he/she has a problem and start to find ways to deal with the problems. Finally expatriate reached into Adjustment stage, in this stage anxiety and frustration vanishes and is replaced by confidence and acceptance of host values, the expatriate is able to work effectively and accept the culture and behaviors of host society are accepted. (Marx, 1999). Other Academic professors also came up with a model which was very similar to Obergs model but with a different terms. For example Adler 1975 (Cited in Pedersen, 1999 pg. 4), came up with a model which divided the process of adaptation into five stages: contact, disintegration, reintegration, autonomy and independence. Furthermore, Richard 1974 (Cited in Pedersen, 1999 pg. 4), came up with a model which named the four stages as: elation, depression, recovery and acculturation. Even though the model developed by Richard and Adler vary little bit compared to Oberg model but the general linear process of culture remains relatively constant. However Marx criticizes the model developed by Oberg, Richard and alder. She states that it is not necessary that not every individu al will go through the same process according to Obergs models. She also states it is more realistic to use a model of culture shock that does not strictly linear but integrates a dynamic and repetitive cycle of positive and negative phases until you break through culture shock (Marx, 1999 pg. 10). However, one of the popular models on adjustment is U-Curve. It was initiated by Lysggard (1955) as (cited in Thomas 1947, page 221) The U-curve is very similar to Obergs fours stages of transition. According to (Lysggard , 1955) expatriate progress at regular interval through three phases of honeymoon, culture shock, and finally adjustment. In the Honeymoon stage, expatriate is excited about moving into new culture; new environment intrigues the expatriate in much the same way as if the expatriate was tourist. This is followed by Culture Shock stage, in this stage expatriate is frustrated and confused because the new environment is not providing familiar cues and finally reaching to Adjustment Stage, in this stage expatriate start to understand the new culture, learn the way to get things done in the new culture. In 1963 the U-Curve model expanded to W shape when repatriation is considered in other words the expatriate achieve the mastery stage and begins to function effectively int o the new culture almost as well as at home. Even though U-Curve has been a really popular model but After testing 54 years of testing the research support U-Curve has not been convincing. Although some support have found for the U-Curve but it has been criticized by many scholars. Church (1982) has regarded U-curve to be very weak. Furthermore academic professor like Furnham and Bochner 1986 (cited in Jan Selmer , 1999 pg .4) Also reject the U-curve and argue that it is too vague and too generalized. However, Black and Mendenhall 1991 (Cited in Jan Selmer, 1999 pg. 6) Conclude due to the lack of methodological rigor in many of the investigations, a rejection or acceptance of the U-Curve by scholars or cross cultural trainers would be premature. Despite the lack of empirical support, the idea that expatriates might go through some systematic and discernible pattern of adjustment remains a very attractive notion both on an academic and a practical perspective. Acculturation There are a number of studies which have emerged on the culture shock but one of the most prominent theories on acculturative stress proposed by Berry was established as an alternative of word culture shock. The term culture shock was redefined by (Zheng Berry, 1991) as a form of stress. The reason berry gave for replacing the term Culture Shock with acculturative stress is the word shock is very negative while stress can be either both positive and negative aspects. The term stress was developed based on the concept of acculturation. (Redfield, Linton, and Herskovits (1936) as (Cited in Yun Quynh, 2012, p, 3) defined acculturation as, Acculturation comprehends those phenomena which result when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact, with subsequent changes in the original cultural patterns of either or both groups..However (Berry, 1970; Furnham Bochner, 1986) as (Cited in Yun Quynh, 2012, p, 3) did not agree with the definition of Refiled and Herskovits they argued that acculturation should be discussed at an individual level because acculturation is a change in the psychology of the individuals rather than group level. One of the popular acculturation model that has emerged in many studies by scholars is Berrys acculturation strategies model .Which list four response or types or acculturation. These are Assimilation, Separation, Marginalisation and integration. This model describes possibilities of response around two dimensions and acculturation. The first, based on maintaining cultural identify and the second around maintaining links with other groups. Depending on how respondents react to these two dimensions. Berrys (1991) model yields the fourfold classification of the acculturation model chosen by individuals. When individuals maintain a strong cultural identify, yet associated with member of other cultural group this leads to an integration strategy in which important elements of both cultures are bl ended. A separatist response refuses to identify with the host culture and idealizes home culture leading to increased ethnocentric societies and chaunvisnism. Individuals only weakly identifying among their culture of origin and becoming strongly attached to the host culture are assimiltionsit. Finally individual who does not have an interest in their own culture or fail to build relationship with the host local community are marginalized. Although acculturation theory stimulated a great number of studies on intercultural. There are some questions about the theory that Scholars pose. Firstly Benet-Martinez Haritatos, 2005 (Cited in Yun Yue Quynh le, 2012, p. 5) Argues , that Berry Four acculturative strategies are very generalized. Secondly, Rumdmin, 2003 (Cited in Yun Yue Quynh le, 2012, p. 3) Questioned the validity of marginsiation. Problems caused by culture shock for expatriate When an Individual encounters a new culture and experience culture shock .The change and unfamiliarity within the new culture affect their psychological adjustment and participation in that new cultural surrounding. This psychological. This psychological mystification and emotional discomfort usually create tremendous amount of stress. The negative impact of culture shock individual psychology often includes a large and diverse set of symptoms such as anxiety, depression etc.However, not everyone will be affected by all of these symptoms but almost all people will experience some part. When depression, anxiety and feeling of helplessness accumulate individuals who are affected by these symptoms find it very difficult to pay attention to the learning of new culture as a result it decreased their motivation of adapting new environment. However, if an individual fails to fight against the symptoms of culture shock they are more likely to become a hostile to host nationals which may lead to handicap of interpersonal relationship. It is often discussed by many scholars dealing with psychological stress caused by culture shock such as depression, anxiety very significant for those people who come in contact with new culture .( Junzi Xia,2009).Culture shock is one of the challenge that will might act as a barrier for telecommunication company. As part of their plan they want to ensure that the process of internationalisation runs as smoothly as possible. Initial meetings and research between your team and the senior board has identified the following issues that are likely to cause challenges within cross-cultural working  cause challenges within cross-cultural working PART TWO: Recommendations for Overcoming Cross Cultural Challenges Choose THREE recommendations to help prevent the challenges from occurring. In this section three recommendations will be provided to the organization in order to minimize the impact of culture shock on their employees. 1. Cultural Awareness In order to adjust quickly into a new environment. It is very important for expatriate to become familiar with the culture of the host country before departing. One of the main reasons for this it will provide expatriates a better understanding of host culture values and customs. With the familiarity of new culture expatriate can imagine of the problems or obstacles he/she might encounter as a result it will make the new surroundings more acceptable. According to research carried out by many scholars the more understanding and knowledge expatriate has about the new culture the more quickly he/she will be able to adapt to the environment. In a different culture, non verbal communication might be different, such as physical space between two people who are communicating. For example, For Americans twenty inches is normal distance during communicating .While Saudi Arabians prefer to stand closer during communicating. This can be viewed as rude and bad-mannered by Americans. Consequently when Saudi Arabian enters America , He/she might find hard to adjust in a new environment which is completely different to their home culture as a result anxiety and nervousness appear as he/she is not prepared to cope with culture shock. It is very important that expatriate has full knowledge and understanding of the new culture before they go there. This will not only help them to adapt quickly but will also lessen the chances of suffering from stress and anxiety. The disadvantage of this type of approach is it is very time consuming and sometimes its not possible to understand all the aspects of the new environment through books, journal etc. Before transferring expatriate aboard.It is very important that organization provide a range of literature on the country where they are sending expatriate these might include books, journals, newspapers etc. (Ferraro, 2006). 2. Cross cultural training programs Another method I would recommend to organizations in order to lessen the impact of culture shock on their employees is to provide Pre-departure Cross Cultural Training programs. These are designed to reduce the uncertainty associated with a new environment. The purpose of these cross cultural programs is to provide information about the culture of new environment where expatriate will be working as well as to provide information how to interact with the people of that particular culture. Many Scholars have view cultural training as an effective tool for expatriate to adjust into a new environment successfully. (Mendenhall et al. 2002, p. 177) state Cross cultural training can be effective in sensitizing individuals to cultural issues, in facilitating adjustment to foreign culture, in improving work performance abroad, and in helping employees to develop a global mindset. Furthermore, Mendenhall 1990, (cited in Rehg, M. and Gundlach, M. 2001 p. 3) Carried out the study in which they f ound a significant relationship between cross-cultural training and performances. Other studies suggested this view for example, (Black et al.,1991; Harrison, 1994; Katz and Seifer, 1996) as (cited in Robert H and Mike, 2004, p. 5) Carried out studies which suggest that various forms of pre-departure and post-arrival orientation programs provided by the organization can lessen the impact of culture shock and improve cross cultural adjustment process. However Scholars like Selmer, Torbio ¨rn de Leon, (1998) as (cited in Jan Selmer , 1999 pg. 14) states that post cultural training is more effective compared to the pre-arrival-cross cultural training. Even though it is acknowledged by many scholars that intercultural training help to reduce the impact of culture shock but some top-level manager believe this kind of training is very expensive, time consuming and an effective. It can cost companies up to $80,000 or more to provide a rigorous, in- depth to an expatriate. Therefore , Some organizational officials perceive cross cultural training program waste of time and money. In some cases managers feel thats there is insufficient time to provide the necessary cross-cultural training required and decide to forego such training.One of the biggest disadvantage of training is it is not guaranteed that after receiving the extensive training expatriate will be able to adapt more quickly in the new environment. Even though studies suggest that cross cultural training help expatriate to adapt more effectively but everyone is different some expatriate may benefit it from it some might not . Although it is very cost effective to provide cross-cultural training and some manager find it ineffective but it is really important to provide some cross-cultural training to expatriate. If the company does not provide any cross-cultural training the expatriate might take time to adapt into a new environment or might fail completely. As a result company might incur huge cost. T he cost might range between around US $250,000-$1 Million (Vo ¨gel, Millard and Vuuren 2008, p. 3). As (cited in Gupta, R. Et al. 2012, p. 2 Help and support during the assignment It is very important that expatriate receives a support and assistance during their It has been proven in many studies conducted by many scholars that social support and guidance contributes significantly in adjusting into the new environment. If the expatriate does not get any support and is being left alone. It would increase the negative impact of culture shock therefore making it more difficult to adjust in the new environment. Research also show culture that emphasize interdependence suffer less from psychological stress than who live in culture which emphasizes independence Lafreniere Cramer, 2005 (as cited in Junzi xi, 2009, p. 3), In order to avoid being left alone lot of companies who send their expatriate abroad offers support with day-to -day life like banking, transpiration etc.. Many companies have their own relocating services that helps expatriate with all the basic tasks these include organizing schools for children etc. All these measures help to prevent culture sho ck. Overall it is very important that expatriate keep receiving support and assistance for the 1-2 months or until the expatriate settle into a new environment. Even though it is very time consuming but it will definitely help expatriate to settle into new environment easily .If the organization cannot afford to provide cultural-training to its employee providing support and assistance is the best method they can choose to help expatriate . The advantage of this type of approach is that company does not have to spend lots of money on training and secondly, the expatriate will be able to adjust more quickly

Amazons New Store Utility Computing Information Technology Essay

Amazons New Store Utility Computing Information Technology Essay With the leadership of the dynamic, young chief executive and co-founder Jeff Bezos known as the king of cyber commerce, who started a business with selling books from his house basement in a Bellevue garage to creating Seattles biggest Internet venture, Amazon made the first sale on the cyber and crossed the borders with its invention that gave millions of people the opportunity to sell and buy online with ease and freedom. Amazon the worlds largest online retailer was probably the first truly worldwide community that was built online with allowing average consumers to create online product reviews and gave them the opportunity to research them before buying. (Frey, Cook, 2008) Since its toddler years, Amazon creation was based on new and invented ideas which no one has made before, first by adopting the explosion of cyber era and creating the first online store which gave consumers easy access to products they never seen before with a feasible price they will not find in the retail stores, then Amazon astonished the public by providing the first online community that allows consumers to create product reviews and gave them a chance to closely know and research the products before they buy them. In despite of losses that exceeded a billion dollar in its early years, Amazon didnt stop its continuous improvements and revolutionary products and services with introducing new concepts and technologies which are completely new inventions no one made before which have an extensive advantage and promise in the advancement of the whole world. One of Amazons recent great inventions in the cyber is cloud computing, also known as on-demand computing or utility computing which will be our main concern in the discussion of this case study and to discover how Amazon which is not known as a technology company exceeded its reputation as a retailer and possessed an infrastructure considered by many to be among the most robust in the world and getting ahead of technology companies like IBM, HP, and Sun Microsystems with offering utility computing without requiring service-level agreements. (Laudon, 2010) Also among our study of Amazons cloud computing, we will compare other suppliers of utility computing and exhibit the services they provide, their availability promise, payment model, and their target clients in comparison to new services offered by Amazons utility computing. Furthermore, I will go through some of the IT infrastructure hardware and software components which are explained in chapter five of the Laudon, K. C., Laudon J. P., Management Information Systems textbook and discuss their relevant to Amazons case; also we will describe how these components fit into Amazons Web services and/or the customers that subscribe to these services. In the last part of our discussion, I will try to discuss an idea of a Web-based startup business and explain how this business could utilize Amazons S3 and EC2 services which should give us a practical example of a real live scenario. Cloud Computing: What Is It Really? There has been a huge amount of Hype around the term Cloud Computing, with people wanting to move Applications on the Cloud, or Security on the Cloud and now even talks of an OS on the Cloud. The question for folks who have just heard of the term typically is, what really is Cloud Computing and How is it going to change things in IT? (Raghupathi, 2009) So lets first explain in more detail the concept of cloud computing and what it does, so we can understand the whole story and discover its pros and cons. Well Cloud Computing has recently emerged as one of the very hot technology trends and is quickly turning into a game changing trend given the significant implications that it can have on all of IT and IT driven businesses. Cloud Computing as the term indicates implies using the Cloud Infrastructure or Internet Based Shared Infrastructure to host and access critical business and personal applications. Typically it involves hosting applications and their corresponding data on shared servers on the Internet and accesses the applications through a browser. (Raghupathi, 2009) Today Cloud Computing changed the way of IS with complete shift from a desktop based model. Most applications have been installed on desktops and are used locally and typically needs to be installed on each desktop that needs to access that specific application or data. With the Cloud computing model, applications are Web Based hosted on a Cloud Server and users can access their applications and data from any machine which has a browser and Internet access. Also Cloud Computing change the way of hosting Applications and services. Today most businesses own and operate their own servers within their network firewalls and host and maintain their application and servers. This typically adds an additional overhead for companies to maintain their infrastructure and is typically sub optimal in terms of utilization of resources. Moving the Cloud model involves businesses hosting their applications and services on third party servers using shared resources. (Raghupathi, 2009) Amazons Technology Services Amazon provides cloud computing, also known as on-demand computing or utility computing. Similar to other utility providers like electric, water, and natural gas, Amazon provides computing capacity to businesses that want to pay only for what they use. (IT Infrastructure, 2009) Amazon can generate extra revenue from other businesses by offering its excess capacity to those that need it. Like most companies, Amazon used only a small portion of it total computing capacity at any one time. Its infrastructure is considered by many to be among the most robust in the world. (Laudon, 2010) Subscribers to the Simple Storage Service (S3) can use only what they need without having to purchase their own hardware and software. That reduces the total cost of ownership for small and medium-size businesses. The system is scalable and reliable for both Amazon and subscribers. The Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service enables businesses to utilize Amazons servers for computing tasks without having the overhead costs. Risks associated with incorporating the technology are minimal for businesses-Amazon takes most of the risks. Companies may want to go with more established names in computing; Amazon is not known as a technology company-its reputation is more as a retailer. Its combating this perception by not requiring service contracts. However, its competitors like IBM, HP, and Sun Microsystems may follow Amazons lead and offer utility computing without requiring service-level agreements. Some companies are wary of using a supplier that doesnt offer SLAs which guarantee the availability of services in terms of time. The growth of Amazon Web Services (AWS) could be harmful to its Web services line as well as its retail line if the company doesnt position itself to handle a dramatic increase in demand on its infrastructure. (Laudon, 2010) Customers may experience outages in the service and not have any recompense since there are no service level agreements-only Amazons word that it will maintain 99.9 percent availability. (IT Infrastructure, 2009) Businesses, large and small, can benefit from using AWS. The service relieves small business from the TCO of having its own systems. AWS creates the opportunity for others to work at Web scale without making the mistakes that Amazon has already made and learned from. Large businesses can use AWS as an auxiliary unit without having to increase their hardware and associated TCO. (Laudon, 2010) In my perspective, Amazon made a great shift in the IT field with the introduction of Cloud Computing services. Having the ability to run many applications on many different operating systems and storing your data through a web browser for a fraction of a dollar with no need to multiple devices or operating systems is really awesome. In using Amazons services, individuals and especially developers have more advantage than mid-size or large businesses because they cant afford to have many devices or systems if they want to try different applications or operating systems but with using Amazons services everyone will have the opportunity. To learn how Amazon Web Services enables you to achieve your goals with great flexibility, go to Amazon Web Services site and sign up to free account and explore the potentials of Cloud Computing Figure Home Page Of Amazon Web Services Source: http://aws.amazon.com/ Capacity planning, scalability, and TCO Amazon must provide hardware capacity planning and scalability for not just its own needs but for all its subscribers. Overestimates will create a drain on Amazons financial assets. Underestimating capacity and scalability will create shortages for its own business and its subscribers. Too many instances of non-availability will create the impression that Amazon cant manage the service. Estimating scalability for such a large, diverse number of users without breaking down is a huge task. Amazon must bear the total TCO of its services, all the while ensuring it can profit from it. The services subscribers benefit from not having to worry about these issues and not bearing the brunt of TCO issues. (IT Infrastructure, 2009) I think Amazon should pay a serious attention to the capacity and scalability issues because these two factors may lead to the demise of Amazon. Amazon should plan a head to increase its capacity due to the proliferation of its AWS and the growing number of subscribers to its cloud computing services. Utility Computing Suppliers There are many different suppliers of utility computing and everyone provide different services with different prices and variety of targeted clients, even though Amazon is considered to be the cheapest utility computing supplier which made it possible to everyone to have a chance of trying and implementing this new trend of technology. In the table below we will compare Amazon to other two suppliers based on different criteria. Criteria Amazon Sun Microsystems Hewlett-Packard HP Available Services Amazon provides cloud computing through Web Services, Simple Storage System (S3), and Compute Cloud (EC2) offers utility computing through grid computing provides utility computing for PCs, server storage, mail and messaging, print, and centralized data center infrastructure through its distributed grid technology. Target Clients Serve start-up businesses because it has been geared towards small and medium sized businesses since its inception. It doesnt bring the same baggage to the table as the larger, more diverse companies do It provides platforms for its target users in computational mathematics, computer aided engineering, electronic design automation, financial services, life sciences computing tasks. Software developers It targets small, medium and large sized companies for a variety of computing services Price 15 cents per 1 gigabyte of stored data per month and charge 10 cents per CPU hour It charges $1 per CPU hour Costs were not available on its web site Availability It promises 99.9 percent availability It promises 99.9 percent availability 99.9 percent If I decide to launch a start-up web business, I will definitely choose Amazon for my web services and needs, also I believe most of us will be in the same track as I did because Amazon is the cheapest supplier and it has been geared towards small and medium sized businesses since its inception and It promises 99.9 percent availability. Furthermore, everyone when starts a business especially online will always look for efficient and affordable services. Amazons IT infrastructure Amazons Web services use the following hardware components: (IT Infrastructure, 2009) client/server architecture as the server grid computing distributed processing storage area networks virtualization multi-core processors Customers using Amazons Web services utilize the following hardware components: (IT Infrastructure, 2009) client/server architecture as the client distributed processing storage area networks Amazons Web services use the following software components: (IT Infrastructure, 2009) Linux and Unix operating system software Java, Ajax, and HTML as the provider XML Software as a Service (Saas) as the software provider Customers using Amazons Web services utilize the following software components: (IT Infrastructure, 2009) Windows operating system or Mac OS Java, Ajax, and HTML as the recipient Software as a Service (Saas) as the software user Mashups, widgets, cloud computing could be used by customers Startup Business Utilizing Amazons Utility Computing Every student knows how expensive is buying text books directly from the college/university book store which most of us sometimes cannot afford if want to graduate without a heavy load of student loans. My startup business idea will be based on this issue in which I will try to give students an affordable source for buying textbooks and then selling them back at the end of the semester. My startup business will be an e-commerce website the give the users the ability to buy or sell textbooks online or give them an option to buy electronic version of the text book they need which is in common more affordable than buying a hard copy. Every new user will sign up for a free account and provide his/her Name, Address, DOB, University/College, School Year, Major, and Last Semester. Then based on this information which the user just entered, I will add his university, major, and current term to my database of universities, their majors, terms, and related courses with the required text books. The users will have three options: buy a used book which is available and offered by another user, list his/her book for sale, or buy an electronic version of the text book. The users will have the freedom to put the prices they want to sell their text books for, in case they want to buy a text book they are free to accept the listed price or to negotiate with the seller to further reduce the price, the last option will be a fixed price for the electronic version of the text book which I will get from other providers and add a three dollars as a profit. When users sell their text books, they will pay three dollars for listing fee. This startup business will utilize the following Amazons web services: Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud which delivers scalable, pay-as-you-go compute capacity in the cloud. (Amazon Web Services. 2010) Amazon SimpleDB which works in conjunction with Amazon S3 and Amazon EC2 to run queries on structured data in real time. (Amazon Web Services. 2010) Amazon Simple Storage Service that provides a fully redundant data storage infrastructure for storing and retrieving any amount of data, at any time, from anywhere on the Web. (Amazon Web Services. 2010) Utilized EC2 and S3 of the proposed system Our e-commerce website which will provide students with affordable text books will have the below EC2 and S3features: Instance type is a Standard Instance and this family of instances is well suited for most applications. At the start up of the business we will choose Small Instance (Default) 1.7 GB of memory, 1 EC2 Compute Unit (1 virtual core with 1 EC2 Compute Unit), 160 GB of local instance storage, 32-bit platform which will be more than enough at the first year of launce. Operating System: we will run the website on the Amazon Linux AMI Databases: we will run the website on Oracle Database Management System which is the most reliable and famous among DBMS. (Amazon Web Services. 2010) In the first year of the business launch, we will run the website utilizing EC2 and S3 by choosing the basic plans which are cost effective because at this time our online book store will still unknown and in its early stage and we need to focus our attention on marketing and promoting the website. At this stage, we will not consume a huge amount of data storage or data transfer bandwidth, so choosing basic plans of EC2 and S3 will be more than enough to run our business for its first year of launch. After the first or second year of the launch, if we notice the website is getting well known and we have thousands of users and sales transactions, we can decide and make a plan of expanding our EC2 CPU instance and S3 data storage which can be implemented easily in Amazon AWS without even service interruption. Figure Snapshot of Proposed EC2 Implementation Source: http://aws.amazon.com/ Figure Snapshot of Proposed Amazon S3 Features Source: http://aws.amazon.com/ Figure Snapshot of Proposed Amazon SimpleDB Source: http://aws.amazon.com/ Costs Associated With Utilizing EC2 and S3 Services The total implementation cost of our proposed business based on the selected plans of EC2, S3, and Amazon Simple DB is depicted in the figures below using Amazon AWS Simple Monthly Calculator Figure Estimates of Implementation Costs Source: http://aws.amazon.com/ Figure Costs of S3 Source: http://aws.amazon.com/ Conclusion Today Cloud Computing changed the way of IS with a complete shift from a desktop based model. The term Cloud Computing implies using the Cloud Infrastructure or Internet Based Shared Infrastructure to host and access critical business and personal applications. Typically it involves hosting applications and their corresponding data on shared servers on the Internet and accesses the applications through a browser. (Raghupathi, 2009) Amazon was smart to bet early and bet big on the cloud computing opportunity and has transformed the computing landscape and nurtured what is generically known as the cloud computing industry. By turning expensive storage and computing hardware into a billable service, it has opened up new vistas for entrepreneurs and made corporations rethink how they build and use their computing and storage resources. (Malik, 2010) Amazon gave the opportunity to thousands of individuals to have an affordable access to their full line of computing and web services with pay-as-you-go rule and without any contracts or agreements. Also costs are billed per consumption, so no one get charged while not using Amazons web services. Amazon has twelve AWS product lines, EC2 and S3 are the most services that compete in this subcategory. AWS essentially rents out IT infrastructure to companies that seek to outsource IT needs such as Application Hosting, Web Hosting, High Performance Computing, Storage, E-Commerce, and more. (Malik, 2010) Utilizing some of Amazons web services and cloud computing technologies we can manage to start up a effective and powerful business with an affordable monthly payment without a need to an expensive startup costs which result from buying PCs, servers, and other software applications which are critical components required for the operation of any new business. Figure Amazons Web Services Infrastructure awsplatformexplained.gif

Rhetorical Visions in the Film, American History X Essay -- Films Movi

Rhetorical Visions in the Film, American History X â€Å"Hate is baggage. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time†. This is a quote from the film American History X. This film sends out a powerful message about hate groups such as skinheads and Neo-Nazis. The vision of this movie is to make others aware of the complex life of a skinhead. Through different symbolism we see how society views this group. We also are made aware of the continuous cycle of violence that continues to exist even after a powerful leader changes his view. American History X is important to analyze because it shows how one man’s rhetorical vision changes through life experiences. This film depicts the lifestyles of skinheads and how one person with a vision leads others to worship everything he is and everything he believes in. How can a leader with so much rhetorical vision and passion about one thing change over a period of time? The importance of this film is to observe how a character develops. It also shows a social and psychological issue that has been around for many years and how it only takes one person to change how a group thinks. I will attempt to answer the research question by using Bormann’s Symbolic Convergence Theory and Fantasy Theme. The goal of this paper is to â€Å"provide insight in the shared worldview of a group of rhetors† (Bormann as cited in Foss 121). I will also show repeated phrases that lead to different rhetorical visions. I will explain how fantasy types emerge and also how symbolism reflects the rhetorical visions. The first part of my paper will include two different literary reviews that have been done on fantasy themes. One of them specifically deals with hate groups and how th... ...spectives (1999): Vol. 1 Issue 3: p19, 4p. Academic Premier. InfoTrac. Scarborough- Phillips Lib., Austin, TX. 20 Feb. 2004. Benoit, William L., et al. â€Å"A Fantasy Theme Analysis of Political Cartoons on the Clinton-Lewinsky-Starr Affair.† Critical Studies in Media Communication. Vol.18, No.4, December 2001, 377-394. Billingsley, Robert D. â€Å"Hard working youngsters or Nazi thugs?† Federal Probation; Sep. 93, Vol 57, Issue 3. p88, 2p. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. InfoTrac. Scarborough-Phillips Lib., Austin, TX 20 Feb. 2004. Duffy, Margaret E. â€Å"Web of Hate: A Fantasy Theme Analysis of the Rhetorical Vision of Hate Groups On Line.† Journal of Communication Inquiry 27:3 (July 2003): 291-312. Foss, Sonja K. Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration & Practice. (2nd Edition). Illinois Heights: Waveland Press. 1989.

body image project :: essays research papers

I visited the art gallery this month they are featuring Larry Kirkwood's Body Image Project. The purpose of this exhibit to to help people understand that it's who we are on the inside that makes us beautiful. The first thing I saw when I walked into the gallery was a big piece of cardboard with pictures from magazines and people who visited made comments about them. Overall, everyone who commented stated that beauty that we see in magazines is not real. The people in the magazines send the message that you aren't beautiful if you don't look like them. But in reality beauty is whatever you see it as, not how you look. This exihibit shows that beauty is found in all shapes and sizes, not just one shape and size. As I continued to walk around I saw all different body shapes. Each of them were beautiful in their own way. There was one body of a woman who was 56 years old. Her chest was not that of a 'normal' woman because her breast implants leaked, and left indentations in her chest. There was another woman who had one breast removed and wanted to be a part of this art because she wanted to offer hope to those who are going through breast cancer. After I left the exhibit I went to the artists website, he has pictures of some of the bodies he's casted and why each of them is beautiful. Also on the website he has his mission of this project. He says his mission is to " give you a more honest and healthy view of who we really are physically." As an example of that there is a model who, in the past was bulemic. She still thinks shes fat, but now she has a more realistic view of what she looks like. One man stated that the media is trying to make people feel ugly and disgusting. One of his examples was a few years ago he saw a shampoo commercial on tv. A man was in an elevator and noticed he had a few dandruff flakes on his shoulder.

The History of the African Women

70% of African women with disabilities get them from their husbands. In Africa, most women have little or no rights. This effects what they can do for work, how their family life is, and what future they have. Women throughout time, especially in African culture, have always been subservient to men. The status of women in Africa is second-rate. In countries like the United States, women have the same rights as men and are almost equal. But in Africa it†s totally different. Women have to know that they should be equal to men. It's important to understand that every race is discriminated at one point in time. This should not happen if we have a realization. This understanding would be realizing that everyone put on this planet was created equal. Women, unfortunately, have been very discriminated against, even in this century. Women are so cruelly thought of that now, women see nothing wrong with mental and physical cruelty towards them. Since the status of women in Africa, is so low, it has caused many men to overpower women†¦ physically. More and more women are being beaten and thinking that it is okay because the women think men are superior to them. A frightening fact is that 16 2/3 percent of women are battered by their partners and 46% of these cases the children are beaten too. â€Å"If you go to the police and complain that your husband is abusing you or hitting you the authorities would think, ‘Oh well she probably deserved it! â€Å"† Said Lindy Mieza. A woman named Geli wrote about her life in which she says, â€Å"My mother†¦ she constantly suffered terrible physical and mental abuse from him†¦ Fifty percent of women in Africa women will be raped in their life time. There were 23,806 rapes in the first six months of 1996. And what worse is that police estimate that for every rape reported another thirty-five takes place. South Africa, â€Å"Already confronting the worlds worst murder rate the country has a harrowing new fact to face: there is a rape every 25 seconds.. † Geli wrote, â€Å"Being raped doesn†t mean it†s by some you don†t know, I was raped by my husband and his friends†¦ † In conclusion, when men over power women, women feel less and less important and the status of women becomes worse. Poverty is a problem because most children who grow up in poverty, die there. They don†t necessary get shot or killed, they end up not being able to climb out poverty and get a decent job, especially women. Women in Africa are forced to be prostitutes because they need to support their family. When women do this they end up having a bigger family. Women live in poverty in a disproportionate number. â€Å"My mother lived and died in poverty and so did her mom, one day I will too because I have no food or money. † â€Å"Why have women become so much poorer? There is no one reason. In countries like Kenya and India, cut backs resulting from the International Monetary Fund†s and Structural adjustment policies (SAP†s) have affected women most because they are the main recipients of education and health. † There are more women than men in poverty. Out of the 4. 3 million displaced 80% of them are women. In a study carried out over 20 years the number of rural women in poverty has increased by 50% reaching an awesome 565 million. â€Å"Poverty has influenced women†s lives more than any factor over the last decade. † If women are in poverty they will not be able to help fight to gain their rights. For many many years, generations of girls would and will give up their education for their brother because he getting an education is more important than her getting one. Lindy Mieza once said, â€Å"If you look at our country, it is the women who are the first to dropped at school to give places to their brothers. † Girls in Africa get a second class education. Many girls have dropped out of school because they were raped and need to take care of their babies that have no fathers. â€Å"I once went to school, but then I was raped and had a baby. † A fourteen year old girl told a reporter. Women should be able to go to school just like men but, â€Å"Only the wealthiest girls are able to obtain an education. † , There are 52 million boys who do not go to primary school. But their are 77 million girls who don†t go to school where one learns the two most important things, reading and writing. Because women are that last ones in schools and the first ones out, obviously they are the ones who can†t read. If one took out nine hundred illiterate people, women would out number men two to one. In Africa, 68. 3% of the women can not read. If women aren†t educated then they won†t get jobs and will have no way for a secure future. Women are taught in their tribes and cultures that it is all right for men to mistreat them. This is not helping women realize that they don†t have to be treated the way they are. Tribal women are brought up thinking it†s okay for them to be men†s slaves. Once an African woman said â€Å"I came to the conclusion that part of our problems with men†¦ is that we were brought up to see out lives incomplete without them. We were taught to consider man as our superiors, the absolute rulers not only of our home but of our lives too. † Geli said â€Å"Customs and tradition told us it was normal for men to lie and abuse to cheat and domineer†¦ Geli†s mom was abused by her husband as well as her Grandmother was abused and so was she. Geli grew up think it wasn†t wrong for men to hit women. She Grew up thinking it was all right for her husband to hit her. It wasn†t till American groups came and told her what her husband did was illegal, after that, she left him â€Å"Women were told we were duty-bound, to remain steadfast and faithful; to our husband no matter what they did do to us or how undeserving of our affections they were† If women keep growing up thinking that it is right for men to overpower then women will never be equal to men. Since men make up all of the laws and rules most laws proteins only to men. Laws are only fair to man. Black women of Africa have suffered the most because of discriminating laws. Up in till this century women couldn†t own property, vote. Get jobs, and sometimes even leave the house. â€Å"The women acknowledge that under apartheid, women†s issues were pushed to the back burner while black men and women fought together for liberation. But now women are devoting attention to old and pervasive obstacles. The whole system has placed women in a inferior position. Women were not involved in any environmental decisions or economical decisions. Woman had different jail sentences then men. If a woman killed any one she would be put to a torturous death. If a man he would get a life time sentence with a chance of parole. In Kangaroo courts, punishment for women can be rape by a government official(s). Nelson Mendela the Prime Minister of South Africa once said, â€Å"I pay tribute to the mothers and wives of our nation. You are the rockhard foundation of our struggle. Apartheid has inflicted more pain on you than anyone else. Women can†t be equal to men if laws don†t allow them to. â€Å"If you don†t get a chance to take part in you laws you don†t take part in the rules the govern you life† said Mrs. Shays. In African women are very prone to getting diseases. Women not only have to deal with having no rights but they also have to deal with disease. â€Å"At the hospitals we see women who are brought in wheel barrows who have had ten pregnancies and have ruptured uteruses. They die in those wheel barrows. In America you have 911. You call on a telephone and an ambulance comes. Here we can†t call on a phone because their are none and you can†t call for an ambulance because their are none. † Also malnutrition, starvation, AIDS, and even diarrhea are deadly in Africa. â€Å"29. 3 percent of pregnant women have AIDS. † Nelson Mendela once said â€Å"We must give health to the aged to the pregnant women and to the young children. † Doctors are rare and expensive in Africa. Many people who need them can†t afford them. Women are the main people who take care of the family, and because if they are busy fighting off disease they can†t fight for their rights. Being sick put a damper on a women†s attitudes. The attitudes of women's rights are very poor, women and men have bad attitudes about it. Forty women with the idea of them having the right to vote went to court to see what they could do. When the women brought up the idea the judge just sat and laughed. He told them to leave. â€Å"Men think nothing about us, we are slaves to them, and nothing more. When we asked for rights they wanted nothing to do with us. Sadly many women felt the same way. † A women's rights leader said. Men don†t want to let us share their power† Lindy Meiza tried to lift women attitudes in her speech, â€Å"We must think we can. Think you can and you can. Now lets win the rights we deserve!! † If women think they can they can. They will rise up against men. Just like in the story The Little Engine Who Could he thought he could and then he did it. South Africa has made a new constitution with a charter for women. The new constitution will eliminate all laws that discriminate whites and black, and males and females. The new constitution with the first charter for women will give women the rights the deserved. Some of the laws are: â€Å"Women shall have equal legal status and capacity in civil law including amongst others, full contractual rights, the right to acquire and hold in property, the right to equal in heritance and the right to secure credit† States the charter. â€Å"Every woman shall have the right to education and training at any stage of her life in order to realize her full potential. Women shall have special access to funds for education and training. Child care facilities shall be provided. Education to develop awareness of women†s status, to build women†s self confidence and able them to claim their constitutional and legal rights should be implemented. Ensure women†s full and equal participation in power structures and decision-making. Develop education and training to increase women†s capacity to participate in decision-making and leadership. The state shall establish appropriate institution to ensure the effective protection and promotion of equality for women. Women demand equality in the development, application, adjudication interpretation and enforcement of the law. Women shall have equality within the family and within marriages and intimate relationships. Women shall have equal rights during and it the dissolution of a marriage. Women married under customary law shall have the right to inherit from their spouses. All family types shall be recognized and treated equally. Women shall have the right to choose the partner of their choice. Women should have equal access to financial resources of the household. Women should have equal decision making powers and access to information in regard to the economic management of the household. Social services should be a right not a privilege. Women must be protected from sexual harassment and violence in all places where women are working. Violence in all it†s forms is endemic to South African society both sexual and domestic violence are pervasive and all women live under the threat of experience violence women experience secondary victimization at all stages of criminal justice system which shall include the right to be free from all forms of violence in the home in communities in the work pace and in public spaces. These are some of the important laws for women that will make drastic changes in Africa. Authorities have made some changes to protect women. Last year, marital rape became a crime and women can now more easily obtain restraining orders against their abusers. As a result, an older man who was convicted of raping a nine year old girl received a ten year sentence. Women are getting rights and the MALE government is realizing that they must make both genders equal. â€Å"We demand the rights we deserve. † The women of Africa demanded it and they got it. Women groups, like the ANC, have been helping women win their rights. â€Å"The ANC now regards the champing of women†s rights an integral part of its agenda. † â€Å"Already the ANC has enriched the women†s rights in the charter and constitutional guidelines. † They†ve made laws with government to become equal. The ANC has strongly advocated that that 33% of all political nominees be women. â€Å"Once the ANC was un-banned various groups united to form the Women†s Coalition to facilitate gender issues in neglected for the new government. † â€Å".. countless other women-the unsung heroines of black women liberation. If more women join these women†s groups, women will have some control over their own lives. Not only are women helping themselves but now other countries are trying to help African women too. Many countries like the United States have helped Africa by donating money, sending representatives to help villages become better place for women and even given countries food. â€Å"†¦ other countries are making giant leaps to show Africa the way. † The United States aid is providing 65 million or 80% of it†s basic education assistance to Africa, so every child will have access education. The United States also provided 4 million for the African women abuse. If other countries help Africa it will become a better place for women. Women†s thoughts on the future are strong and hopeful. â€Å"The fight will go on forever. Women will never be equal to men. One day men will be equal to women. † Many leaders even thought even though, being beaten and jailed still are positive. Just like Thandi. She was an ANC leader. She protested against women have to where passes that stated information like birth, place of birth, town and reacords. At that protest, was arrested and put into jail for eight years. She says, â€Å"One is still doughtful about the future. † Felicia Mabuza, another ANC member, says, â€Å"South Africa is going to have to get used to seeing women in the board room as well as the bedroom. † She also said, â€Å"In the coming years black South African women will continue to stand and assume their roles in a fast changing society that is filled with hope and optimism. † Women in Africa are gaining hope about their future. The more this happens the more confidence they will get and they will soon be able to face men as equals. To help women in Africa my organization, S. O. F. A. W. , Shout Out For African Women, will show women how to build homes, coaxes the governments to change some laws and most important give all women an education. S. O. F. A. W. will be collecting money from private and public distributors. This money will used for sending our representatives to places of poverty to show women how to build a house. We will teach them the basic skill. They women we teach will show their neighbor and then the neighbor would teach their neighbor and so on. If we do this more and more women will get out of poverty, less and less women will live in poverty and finally we are teaching women a skill that that will be able to use. The S. O. F. A. W. is going to set up meetings with counties all over Africa. In our meetings we will try to coax the government to change laws so men and women are equal. Then we would help them enforce the laws. If the laws are equal then the women will soon be equal. Finally and most importantly the S. O. F. A. W will build 200 schools. We will build 100 primary schools because that is where reading and writing are taught, the two most important things in the world. We would build 50 high schools and 50 middle schools. Of course all of these schools will be for girls only. If women are educated the more money would know their laws and how to do something about is. â€Å"If women are free from violence, if they are healthy and educated, if they can live and work as full and equal partners in any society their families will flourish and when they do, communities and nations will thrive. † Bill Clinton. I personal think that Africa will not remain odd man out. I think this because If organizations like mine help problems like status of women, hunger, over population, health, wildlife, rainforest and black liberation problems like these will be non existancet. Women are humans, they shouldn†t be treated like animals. Like I said before women need education, and jobs. But women also need better health facilities and better shelters. You can help by donating money to organizations like mine. I care because people are being hurt when they shouldn†t be. Please if you can call 1-888-WOMEN-AF.