What is one conflict that Brian faces in “Brian’s Return”?

Brian finds himself in conflict with nature as he ventures alone and somewhat unprepared into the wilderness. Nature proves relentless in her attacks against him, sending torrents of rain and billowing winds that harass his dwelling and begin a series of nearly fatal mishaps. The language expresses the hostility of nature toward him, as â€Å"the wind was hissing and slashing him with water† almost as it the elements had teamed up against him (par. 34). 2.Why are the memories of Willow Creek important to Rick Bass? Support your answer with evidence from the text. (2-3 sentences) Rick Bass remembers has strong memories of Willow Creek because it was there that he was able to commune with nature and find himself at one with and yet in awe of something so much greater than himself. The immensity of nature surrounded and pressed him and made him feel the substance of his life in a way he never had before.His memories of nature cause him to realise that he belongs in the wild and n ot in civilization, as he writes that the geese â€Å"flew away with the last of [his] civility that night† (par. 14). 3. How is the power of nature an important theme in both â€Å"Brian's Return† and â€Å"On Willow Creek†? Support your answer with evidence from both selections. (3-5 sentences) Nature has overwhelmed both the characters in different ways.Brian was overwhelmed with the powerful force of the elements and the danger that is always imminent living bare and unprotected in the wild. Even what Brian brings for protection, his tent, sighs under the pressure of the natural elements (par. 20). The narrator of On Willow Creek feels the power of nature in its vastness, but finds it inspiring. It causes him to feel his tiny insignificance in comparison with nature’s power, as he writes that â€Å"all of the hill country’s creatures had helped him† understand this (par. 1).

A paragraph on APA citation Racism in Middle East Essay

              Racism is one of the biggest challenges for people living in Middle East. It exists between domestic citizens and foreigners, across the ethnic groups and religions. Although religion could be the only way to integrate people, it has not been possible and instead it forms part of racism. Akbaba (2009 p. 324) argued that, â€Å"the deliberate and selective restrictions on religious minority groups may strengthen the ethnoreligious identity of those groups†. Racism is the main cause conflicts and wars among communities thus hindering it socioeconomic progress and as a result, the society lives in poverty. According to Ahmed, Nicolson, & Spencer, (2000) racism hinders populations from getting education and advancing their career thus their literacy progress being hindered. Therefore, it is important to find solution in the region so that people could assume their socioeconomic roles to improve their lives. However, this has not been an easy task to Middle East. Poor governance and political interference had led to worsening of the situation through trying to get solution through force by police officers and other authorities rather than solving it.                   The executive and legislative measures that have followed these initiatives ‘ have included mass arrests, secret and indefinite detentions, prolonged detention of ‘‘ material witnesses, ’’ closed hearings and use of secret evidence, government eavesdropping on attorney-client conversations, FBI home and work visits, wiretapping, seizures of property, removals of aliens with technical visa violations, and mandatory special registration, (Semati, 2010 p. 265).                  Lack of racism solution in Middle East can be attributed to selfish leaders who would like to remain in power for longer time and ignorant citizens who are not concerned about their development of the region. According to Ahmed et al, (2000) people in Bangladesh are aware of racism and its effects but have no time to solve the issues. A solution to racism can be found through courageous leaders who are informed and are concerned with the future of Middle East (Cohen-Almagor, 2013; Karsh, 2012; Baumann, 2013). References Ahmed, B., Nicolson, P., & Spencer, C. (2000). The social construction of racism: the case of second generation Bangladeshis. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 10(1), 41-46. Akbaba, Y. (2009). Who discriminates more? comparing religious discrimination in Western democracies, Asia and the Middle East. Civil Wars, 11(3), 321-358 Baumann,, L. (2013). The impact of national culture on project management in the Middle East. Lars Baumann, Cohen-Almagor, R. (2013). The failed peace process in the Middle East 1993-2010. Israel Affairs. N.p Karsh, E. (2012). The Middle East’s real apartheid. Journal for The Study of Antisemitism, p. 38. Semati, M. (2010). Islamophobia, culture and race in the age of empire. Cultural Studies, 24(2), 256-275. Source document

Is Global Warming Happening Or Not Happening Environmental Sciences Essay

What is planetary warming? Global heating can be defined as the increasing in temperature of Earth atmosphere and oceans. The increasing of temperature may be little yet important. Global heating is besides the enhanced of nursery consequence. Greenhouse consequence occurs due to the being of nursery gases. Greenhouse gases such as C dioxide, methane, etc absorb infrared radiation. Sunlight radiation passes through the Earth ‘s ambiance, arrives Earth ‘s surface. A part of it is absorbed by the Earth ‘s surface while the other will be re-radiated back to infinite in signifier of infrared radiation. Greenhouse gases like C dioxide, methane, etc trap this infrared radiation and reflect it back to Earth ‘s surface and cause warming consequence. Without those nursery gases, H2O will stop dead and there will be no life on Earth as the Earth ‘s temperature drops dramatically. With excessively much of it, planetary heating occurs. I believe there is happening of planetary heating. Even though there are some statements against planetary heating, For case, some of the people argued that the scientific discipline of planetary heating is non proved. Besides, they argued that scientists may overstate the consequence of planetary heating as they wish to have financess from environmental organisations. Furthermore, some people thought that scientist non ever right, they may do mistakes in computation and giving wrong anticipations. Besides, scientists believe that the Sun end product has greatly changed since 1970, so there is non-occurrence of planetary heating. And, some people said that the Troposphere information does n't demo the same grade of warming as expected. Meanwhile, some scientists believe that natural emanation of green house gases is greater than unreal emanation ( Human Activities ) . However, those statements are non-sense. As there are tonss of groundss prove that there is happening of planetary he ating. First, the concentration of nursery gases such as C dioxide is increasing at an speed uping rate. C dioxide graph.gif The graph above ( cited from hypertext transfer protocol: //co2now.org/ ) shows the concentration of C dioxide from the twelvemonth of 1955 boulder clay 2010. Concentration of C dioxide increases decennary by decennary. The increasing of concentration of C dioxide rises the temperature of Earth as it traps the infrared radiation that re-radiated by Earth. Hence, planetary heating occurs. Besides, concentration of methane is increasing dramatically since industrial revolution. The graph below shows that the methane concentration in ambiance from Methane concentration.gif twelvemonth of 1984 till twelvemonth of 2005. Methane is one of the nursery gases that able to pin down more infrared radiation if compared to carbon dioxide. High concentration of methane further increases the consequence of planetary heating. Second, sea degree rises. There are 2 factors that cause sea rise, one of the factors is the Increasing in planetary temperature melts the universe ‘s glaciers that will let go of H2O to raise the sea degree. For case, ice cap on Mountain Kilimanjoro ( a mountain that is located in north- eastern Tanzania and the highest mountain in Africa. ) will be disappeared in 20 old ages. About 82 % of the ice cap has disappeared since it was foremost mapped in 1912. Besides, great sum ( around 87 % ) of Antarctic ice sheets have melted and collapsed into the sea. The 2nd factor is thermic enlargement of sea H2O. As planetary temperature is increasing at an speed uping rate, the temperature of the H2O of the sea additions, sea becomes less dense. This phenomenon will do the sea H2O to distribute. Once spreading occurs, sea H2O degree rises. ( Jeffrey Chanton, 2002 ) This information has proven that sea degree rises twelvemonth by twelvemonth, decennary by decennary. Recent_Sea_Level_Rise. png This is the graph that shows the recent sea degree rise. It is increasing decennary by decennary at an dismaying rate. With merely one sea degree rises, islands such as Maldives would disappear shortly in the hereafter. If this phenomenon continues, shortly, metropoliss like London, Bangkok and New York will below the sea degree. These are the groundss of planetary heating. They are so important. Third, ocean becomes acidic. Concentration of C dioxide is increasing at an speed uping rate. Carbon dioxide will fade out in ocean H2O, increases the concentration of H ions ( H+ ions ) as C dioxide will go carbonaceous acid, carbonaceous acid will further hydrolyse to hydrogen ions. Here is the equation of it. CO2A + H2O & lt ; = & gt ; H2CO3A & lt ; = & gt ; H+A + HCO3-ATherefore ocean H2O becomes acidic. Since 18th century, pH of sea H2O beads by somewhat more than 0.1 units. In the hereafter, the pH value will drop further. The effects are important, H2O that is acidic able to fade out the shells of aquatic beings. Aquatic beings like salmon, oysters and clinchs are sensitive to acidified H2O. Harmonizing to the article of acidified ocean H2O endanger marine life from Mexico to Vancouver Island, scientist, Lanson and her co-workers did some research on sea H2O of Queen Charlotte Sound, North of Vancouver Island, to northern Mexico. They found out that the sea H2O is caustic. As she mentioned that, the acidified sea H2O brings great impact on shell aquatic beings as the corrosiveness of the sea H2O dissolve their shell. Soon in the hereafter, the ecosystem of ocean will be affected. Fourthly, O depletion zones across universe ‘s ocean. Dead and low life zones are spread outing in universe ‘s oceans presents. Fig. 2. The graph above shows the correlativity between the concentration of O and C dioxide in hatches and staircases. The concentration of C dioxide is reciprocally relative to concentration of O. This graph has proven that the increasing of concentration of C dioxide that cause planetary heating will do O depletion in universe ‘s ocean every bit good. Harmonizing to a scientific discipline study that published by the research workers of University of Kiel, Germany, states that O content is diminishing in cardinal and eastern equatorial Africa and in the equatorial of Pacific. Besides, zones off the seashore of California and in the Gulf of Mexico are confronting diminishing in O content. While, subarctic Pacific is the top of it. Oxygen depletion causes extinction of aquatic beings. This will greatly impact human shortly in the hereafter, as human loss their beginning of nutrient. In the hereafter, dead fishes and other aquatic animals will drift on sea surface. More and more oceans will turn into dead sea because of planetary heating. The image below shows that the dead fishes that float on sea surface due to oxygen depletion that occurs in their home ground. O depletion.jpg The 5th grounds is climate alteration. Climate alteration is the changing of clime over a period of clip. Climate alteration may be limited to specific parts or occurs globally. Nowadays, the conditions is acquiring warmer and heater. Heat is constructing up on Earth ‘s surface. Drought occurs often in the past 30 old ages due to planetary heating. As an illustration, monolithic California fires. Besides that, planetary warming leads to other utmost conditions forms such as more hurricanes. For case, in August/September 2004, a moving ridge of hurricanes devastates Caribbean islands and parts of south eastern United States. Increasing of temperature of ocean H2O increases the opportunities of hurricanes as the H2O evaporates, it will organize hurricane while warm H2O will assist to keep strength and strength of hurricane. Besides, heavy rainfall and intense rain occur often presents due to planetary heating. Warmer temperature causes H2O evaporates more and big sum of wet in th e ambiance. hypertext transfer protocol: //www.preventionweb.net/english/includes/gpgraph/bars_occurence_hazard_hubpage.php? hazard=flood The graph above shows that the figure of inundation occurred ( reported ) around the universe. ( Source of informations: OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database ) . Number of inundation is increasing twelvemonth by twelvemonth, because of planetary heating. The 6th grounds is the alterations in agricultural field. As planetary heating changes the planetary temperature, utmost conditionss occur ; modified weed, plague and pathogen exist. Crop output decreases at low-latitude country ( Schneider et al, 2007 ) . Increasing temperature causes A The past few old ages have seen the Northern Hemisphere and other topographic points around the Earth experience higher temperatures that caused by planetary heating, which could ease growing features for certain plagues. For case, British Columbia, Canada has had a pine beetle infestation that threatens to destruct between 70-80 % of their woods by 2013.A Besides, planetary warming nowadayss new challenges for corn plague direction, as high temperature improves prevalence of insect plagues, increases winter-survival. Plagues that onslaught corn that is winter-intolerance, due to increasing in planetary temperature, they survive during winter season and they attack corn and causes dropping of harvest output and besides alterations in harvest output variableness. This is proven by scientists, Noah SA Diffenbaugh, Christian HA Krupke, Michael AA WhiteA andA Corinne EA Alexander. Furthermore, harmonizing to on-line journal Environmental Research Letters proves that increasing in planetary temperature reduced production of maizes, wheat and barley by 40 million metric dozenss per twelvemonth between 1981 and 2002. Compared to the information from Food and Agriculture Organization, outputs of wheat, rice, maize, soya beans, barley and sorghum, fell by 3-5 % for every 1 grade F rise. Furthermore, harmonizing to MAHA Malaysia, maple sirup production in America is diminishing approximately 10 % due to warmer and shorter winter. While drouth that occurs because of planetary heating causes H2O deficit, serious thesis greatly affects agribusiness. A scientific study from Colorado State University besides shows that increasing in planetary temperature causes croping lands to be less produc tive. hypertext transfer protocol: //fishsnorkel.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/crop-yields-jpeg.jpg? w=460 & A ; h=314 The graph above shows the decrease of the 10 twelvemonth turn overing growing rate in universe entire harvest yield/hectare since the agricultural revolution ( Data beginning, FAO ) . Besides, human wellness is greatly affected by planetary heating and clime alterations. This can be strong grounds that prove the happening of planetary heating. Extreme conditions events greatly affected human wellness. For case, utmost conditions that causes flood causes human decease and besides water-borne diseases spread in an accelerating rate. While heat moving ridges in Europe in August, 2003 resulted in extra mortality in the scope of 35,000 entire deceases. And drought brought infective diseases such as meningitis that greatly infected occupants in semi- and sub-Saharan Africa. Climate alteration besides alters the distribution of infective diseases vectors, as hurricanes and rains provide engendering beds for the vectors. Those infective diseases vectors attack human being. Hence, human mortality rate additions. Some scientific surveies have found out that higher temperature increased episodes of diarrhoeal disease in grownups and kids in Peru. Increasing in planetary temp erature non merely affects harvest output, animate beings yet human being. Water crisis is really familiar in this modern epoch. As planetary heating, clime alteration affects H2O resources. In the West, there is a turning Water exigency in Southern British Columbia, as the reservoirs are now merely at 30 per cent. In China, drought brings H2O crisis, thaw of the glaciers of Qinghai-Tibet tableland in Western China due to planetary heating reduces their potable H2O resources. The other strong grounds that prove there is happening of planetary heating is the migration of works and aquatic beings in the ocean. For case, many species of plankton are traveling north to get away the warming H2O on the sea surface off Greenland and Alaska. Besides, Eider ducks that live on St. Lawrence migrate 100 stat mis north to a part with colder clime. This strongly implicates that the heating of H2O off the island. Furthermore, harmonizing to the on-line diary, Global Warming Effects seen in animate being and works universes, 99 species in North America and Europe showed that wildlife such as birds, butterflies and alpine herbs shifted northerly an mean 6.1km per decennary. Global warming causes temperature-sensitive wildlife to seek for ice chest locations that are farther North. Besides, 172 species of migratory birds, amphibious vehicles were engendering earlier in spring, workss and vegetations blossoming earlier. Those groundss support the happening of planetary heating.

Case X Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Case X - Essay Example Udon has none of these. Porter then goes back to her patrol car to call in the license plate. It turns out that the car, while registered to Udon, does not have current tags. Since Udons license plate displayed the current registration tag, Porter surmises, correctly, that Udon has stolen the tag. Porter also finds out that Udon does not have a drivers license, had never possessed a drivers license, and does not have insurance. Porter goes back to the car to talk to Udon, and then, upon coming back to the car, the policewoman notices the smell of alcohol on Udons breath. Therefore, Porter asks Udon to get out of the car so that she can give Udon the field sobriety test. However, Udon refuses, stating that she is pregnant and bleeding and needs to go to the hospital. Porter, having heard similar excuses 100 times a day from people who are trying to get out of a ticket or having to do a field sobriety test, refuses the request and continues to ask Udon to step out of the car so that Udon can take a field sobriety test. Udon continues to refuse, then finally relents. Since Udon was heavily intoxicated, she fails the field sobriety test in spectacular fashion, so Porter handcuffs her and takes her to the station. While in the car, Udon continually states that she is bleeding and needs to go to the hospital. Porter immediately assumes that, even if Udon is bleeding, it is probably because she is on her menstrual cycle and Udon was not to be trusted. After all, Udon gave Porter a false name, was driving in a car that was not registered, was driving intoxicated, and had neither a drivers license nor insurance. There was no reason for Porter to believe Udons story about having a miscarriage and needing to go to the hospital. And, as stated before, people, when pulled over, offer all kinds of excuses as to why they are speeding or why they cannot perform a field sobriety test.

Media Supported Soldiers During Deployments Iraq and Afghanistan Essay

Media Supported Soldiers During Deployments Iraq and Afghanistan - Essay Example The US army played an instrumental in weakening one of the largest terrorist organizations in the world; Al-Qaeda. The use of images, interviews and consistent reporting from the war on terror-afflicted areas created a connection between the public and those deployed for the purpose of eliminating the roots of terrorism. The sense of empathy and national pride that came into being was as a result of the successive efforts of the media forces. Media is an important tool that was available to the government to create an understanding between the public and the government regarding the effects and consequences of the war on terror. And the media certainly rose to the crisis as from programmes such as the Larry King show, Oprah Winfrey show, and news broadcasts of BBC, Sky News, and Fox News all outlined the risks borne by the army and the sacrifices which were being made for the sake of eliminating terrorism. MySpace and Face book are two social networking communities which have millions of users and this very access makes them a significant media force. Users of these networks include international users from all age groups hence, making the access all that influential. Face book in reference to the role that was played by it in terms of making the nation and the international world was certainly significant. Numerous supporting groups were created for the army forces and many groups were created by all those proud of the efforts of the army hence, initiating a positive movement. (Techtree News Staff ,2008). MySpace being a social networking website with a interactive set-up allows the users to create vides, pictures and profiles. During the war on terror, there was an influx of images and videos which were uploaded which were all connected to the actual sacrifices and efforts which were being undertaken by the US troops in order to create an understanding amongst the people of what the actual picture was. The communities that were created were as a result quite successful amongst the users and the influx of popular votes for polls conducted regarding the war on terror were actually used an indicator regarding the public opinion of the war. The comments page, blogs, groups and bulletins were all used as a technique of gathering public support and hence, the role which was played by these social networking websites was much greater than could have been deduced. All those soldiers and their families were able to receive support from unknown users of these websites who had been unaware till the active use of these websites which awakened a sense of social conscience. (Story,2008) The international users were able to have access to these videos and images as well and the users in fact created groups to show support for the soldiers who had made so many sacrifices for the sake of others. This sense of realization was played

Children of Men Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Children of Men - Movie Review Example This essay demonstrates that it is noteworthy that the only hope for the human suffering from infertility is vested in a black pregnant woman Kee. The latter, in her turn, embodies the European myth of ‘noble savage’, the person representing a more authentic version of people â€Å"surrounded by a natural environment and living according to the rules of nature† (Cornea 184). For this reason, human infertility in the film creates the opposition between people and nature because while people lose their ability to reproduce animals retain it, which is evident in the examples of farm animals in the immigrant camp. In other words, Kee’s racial identity symbolizes her return to the natural state of mankind, which is further stressed by her pregnancy as the sign of her close ties with nature. Animals are also significant in the film because Kee makes her pregnancy known to her protector Theo in the barn standing surrounded by calves. The scene takes on symbolic me aning because it equates Kee and her unborn child with the Madonna and child as the only hope of humanity. What is more, the barn scene partially explains the reason for the human-nature opposition and ensuing conflict in the movie. Kee notices that the cows are mutilated to fit the particular types of milking machines serving human needs. In her view, it would have been more reasonable to adjust the machines to nature (Children of Men). Thus, it becomes evident that the denial of nature lies at heart of infertility treated as a broad concept in the film.

Tour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Tour - Essay Example Nowadays money is flowing into this business. To promote tours and travels, government and private companies are delivering different types of packages. Objectives like Festivals, Meeting and Events (FME) are playing an important role to promote tourism. London is the capital city of England. Because of its geographical structure travellers and business persons are coming to this place regularly. London is good for business like travel and tourism. Festivals are delivering high entertainment to people. I would like to organize festivals to promote tourism business in London. Generally, festivals and events attract people. As the major stakeholders in such activities realise the significant economic benefits of holding festivals, meetings and events. Tourism is a long term business. So stakeholders have to take enough responsibility when organizing and managing FME's. London is the safe bet for the stake holders. Why do we invest money to organise festivals or events to promote tourism business The reason is that it is totally a business programme. As far as I am concerned Travel and tourism industry is one of the world's largest foreign exchange earners. It is a very wide industry linked with so many areas which include government tourism department, travel agencies, hotels etc. Government tourism departments are associated with immigration and customs service. Many other departments are linked with travel agencies. Airlines, tour operators, hotels etc. are depending on travel agencies. This industry provides large number of employment directly and indirectly. Travel can be of different types. It can be leisure, pilgrim, adventure or purely business trips. In London, there are lot of things to see like London Eye, London Pass, and Madame Tussauds etc. London Eye is a giant wheel which provides you to see every tall building in London at once. This is one of the most attractions in London. M adame Tussauds is a wax museum where all cult figures like (Charlie Chaplin, Amithab Bachan, Tom cruise etc.) made by wax materials are exhibited. Travellers are coming to visit this place regularly. (Visit Britain direct). With the increase in visitors most travel promoters and companies are earning good revenue. This is a booming industry which offers good returns to the investors. With the increase of travellers, lots of people are investing their money in travel and tourism Industry. London is known as multicultural city. There are so many cultural and social programmes conducted in London. People of London gather together and celebrate social programmes like New-year Day, Good Friday, Easter Day, May Day, Christmas, Boxing Day etc. There are numerous festivals and events in London. Events like Wimbledon, FA cup football, Chelsea flower show, London Marathon, the queen's birthday parade, Europe's biggest and gay and lesbian festival, Notting hill carnival, Thames festivals, are attracting visitors to London. People of London celebrate plenty of bonfire festivals. Guy Hawks Night, Lord Mayor's show and Trafalgar Square are celebrated with bands and fireworks. Now we are planning to conduct festival

Viruses of the Mind by Richard Dawkins Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Viruses of the Mind by Richard Dawkins - Essay Example Religion does not have much to do with reason. Religion imposes a reality rife with belief and faith, and without requiring reason (it is interesting that the very few people who claim that they can converse with god are labeled as quacks or insane by the very ones who believe in god). Religion does have much to do with the pressure of conformity; this, among other reasons, is why most people unquestioningly accept and adhere to the religion of their youth. As Dawkins states, "...it is a telling fact that, the world over, the vast majority of children follow the religion of their parents rather than any of the other available religions." According to Dawkins, a person exhibits faith when he is "impelled by some deep, inner conviction that something is true, or right, or virtuous: a conviction that doesn't seem to owe anything to evidence or reason, but which, nevertheless, he feels as totally compelling and convincing." and that most religions "make a positive virtue of faith's being strong and unshakable, in spite of not being based upon evidence.

Federalism As a System of Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Federalism As a System of Government - Essay Example The present research has identified that federalism promotes diversity in the system by allowing states and provinces to devise their own policies in matters related to public welfare such as education, health, and agriculture whereas at the same time it also ensures the unity among the various units of the states by giving the national responsibilities like currency, foreign affairs and defense to the central government. Federalism creates a very healthy political environment in the country which ensures political activity at the grass root level as well because the system of provincial and the system of local governments directly involve people in political activity. In this way people get to know about correct policy making and various policies can be tested in the country at the same time; better political grooming ensures better political leaders as well. Due to the disintegration of powers to various systems of governments reaching the grass root level through local and provinc ial governments, federalism provides a system in which good governance can be ensured. Each government has its own responsibility, federal government is responsible for the security of the country, provincial governments are responsible for the welfare of the public whereas local governments are responsible for providing services to the public; in this way the duties are divided and governments can work with greater efficiency and their performance is greatly enhanced. ... Federalism has turned out to be a very successful system of government however it has certain disadvantages as well. It allows certain disorderly members of the society to manipulate laws of taxation on various different commodities by purchasing and using them in different states because the government cannot impose tax or duty on interprovincial transfer of goods. The diversity in other laws which include laws related to criminal offense also allows the wrongdoers to escape punishment by moving to another state where the offense is not punishable under law. The laws related to social contract like marriage and inheritance are also exploited by people due to diversity among them in provinces and states. In certain situations the system of federal government allows interstate conflict to occur because certain projects related to natural resources and infrastructure which are beneficial for one state can affect people and the interests of any other state, in such a situation a riv alry between the states is promoted and thus the spirit of nationalism is greatly damaged. Federalism very often leads to disputes between states over the division of resources and responsibilities among the states. The federal system of government with its all system of governments is economically very costly to support because there is a large number of elected representatives and officials in the government which are salaried by tax money (Freely and Rubin). The presence of three parallel systems of government also creates complexity in the governance. The federal government is always biased towards one or another province because of the inherent attachment with a political party and thus in certain areas of governance where the provinces and

Deutsche Telekom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Deutsche Telekom - Essay Example 2. When the letter from the technician becomes known to the public, what, do you think, various stakeholders might say about Deutsche Telecom? What would customers say? What would analysts say? What would the general public, say? What would employees of the organization say? The various stakeholders will end up disappointed by the CEO of Deutsche Telecom and his entire managerial team and immediately call for his removal from office. Many customers would feel pity for the employees of the company and would remain loyal to the company, whereas analysts will put it clear to the media that, the main reason for the company’s failure is due to the CEO’s incompetence. This will tarnish the corporation’s reputation besides prompting mixed reactions amongst the employees of the company. Some due to the fear of losing their jobs will start criticizing the move adopted by the company’s technician. However, others will be in full support of the move and encourage the technician. The employee’s actions of making the letter public will be below par. Therefore, I would insist on meeting with the CEO first to discuss on the way forward. Then I would also hold a meeting with all the company’s employees to discuss on their grievances and the steps to take. 4. Put yourself in the shoes of middle manager of DT. Imagine that your employees are actively discussing the letter after it became public. Would you be engaged in those discussions? If yes, would you do that informally or in a formal setting? What would you say or ask? Yes, I would engage myself in the discussions but in an informal setting to make them feel at ease, hence share their thoughts. I would ask them of their opinions concerning the letter, whether it was right or wrong. I would also try making them feel appreciated by asking what they think is the way forward for the survival of the

Dog Fighting Essay Example for Free

Dog Fighting Essay Fights between two or more animals have always been popular spectacles. Dog fighting is one of the most in-humane types of animal cruelty out there today; unfortunately pit bulls have been caught in the wrath of it all. Dog fighting is an animal abuse issue. Pit Bulls happen to be the breed most used in dog fights. But if Pit Bulls did not exist, dog fighting would still take place. There is no quenching the blood lust of human ‘kind’. Brutality against animals in the form of staged matches or fights between animals or even between man and animal is an activity almost as old as man himself – it was in existence long before the Pit Bull. History The original, old-time bulldog was used for all manner of stock-related work, particularly as a catch dog: used by the butcher to manage unruly bulls, and by the hunter for help in catching and holding wild boar and other game. The sport of bull baiting became popular in England, having arisen from these functional jobs that the bulldog performed for humans. The modern bulldog breeds descended from these dogs and those re-created through breeding programs include: alapaha blue blood bulldog, American bulldog, aussie bulldog, banter bulldogge, English Bulldog, French bulldog, Olde English Bulldogge, Olde Boston Bulldogge, and Victorian Bulldog. All of these breeds have kept close to the original type and traits of the ancient bulldogs, even when adapting to their local living conditions (Luca, 2010). Pit Bulls are descendants of the original English bull-baiting dog—a dog that was bred to bite and hold bulls, bears and other large animals around the face and head. Bulldogs were bred to hang on without releasing their grip, until the animal was exhausted from fighting and from loss of blood. When baiting large animals was banned in the 1800s, people then started to fight their dogs against each other instead (ASPCA, 2013). Treatment. With fighting Pit Bulls, they are raised in an environment that reinforces and maintains fighting behavior. All fighting dogs are conditioned from a very early age to develop what dog-fighters refer to as â€Å"gameness. † The scope and method of training varies dramatically depending on the level and experience of the dog-fighter. Dogs are run on the treadmills to increase cardiovascular fitness and endurance. Dogs are put on a manmade machine is called a cat mill or jenny also. Jenny: Apparatus that looks like a carnival horse walker with several beams jetting out from a central rotating pole. The dogs are chained to one beam and another small animal like a cat, small dog, or rabbit, is harnessed to or hung from another beam. The dogs run in circles, chasing the bait. Once the exercise sessions are over, the dogs are usually rewarded with the bait they had been pursuing (Gibson, 2005). People that so called train pit pulls for fighting will also have a spring hanging down from a pole to which a rope, tire, or animal hide is affixed that the dogs jump to and dangle from for extended periods of time. This strengthens the jaw muscles and back legs. The same effect is achieved with a simpler spring loaded apparatus hanging from tree limbs. A variation of the spring pole is a hanging cage, into which bait animals are placed. The dogs repeatedly lunge up toward the cage (Gibson, 2005). Granted these people think they are real dog trainers, they will take care of the dog’s health to a certain extent. Dogs are given vitamins, supplements and drugs to condition them for or to incite them to fight. Commonly utilized vitamins, supplements, and drugs include: iron/liver extract; vitamin B-12; Magnum supplement; hormones; weight-gain supplements; speed; steroids and cocaine. The dogs are trained against one another and against older, more experienced dogs. In the early stages of training, the dogs are incited to lunge at each other without touching and engage in quick, controlled fights called â€Å"rolls† or â€Å"bumps. † Once the dogs appear match ready, they are pitted against stronger dogs to test their â€Å"gameness† or tenacity in the face of exhaustion and impending defeat. If the dogs pass the test, they are deemed ready to fight. Types of Dog Fights All across the country, humans abuse dogs in heinous ways. From nonchalant, impromptu ‘street fights’ to the large-scale organized matches held on a regular schedule at set locations, dog fighting still occurs every day. Most law enforcement experts divide dog fight activity into three categories: street fighting, hobbyist fighting and professional activity. Street fighters engage in dog fights that are informal street corner, back alley and playground activities. Stripped of the rules and formality of the traditional pit fight, these are spontaneous events triggered by insults, turf invasions or the simple taunt, My dog can kill yours. Street fights are often associated with gang activities. The fights may be conducted with money, drugs or bragging rights as the primary payoff. There is often no attempt to care for animals injured in the fight (ASPCA, 2013). Some of the dogs are thrown out the car on the side of the road, left to die. Worst case scenario the dogs are killed immediately with a close range shot from a gun to the head. Hobbyist fighters are more organized, with one or more dogs participating in several organized fights a year as a sideline for both entertainment and to attempt to supplement income. They pay more attention to care and breeding of their dogs and are more likely to travel across state lines for event (ASPCA, 2013). Last but not least Professional fighters. Who would even label themselves as a Professional dog figh ter? People do; Professional dogfighters often have large numbers of animals (as many as 50 or more) and earn money from breeding, selling and fighting dogs at a central location and on the road. They often pay particular attention to promoting established winning bloodlines and to long-term conditioning of animals. (ASPCA, 2013) Punishment and Prevention Dog fighting, despite its felony status in all 50 states, is still a grave concern to animal advocates. Although the Michael Vick dogfighting case, and his recent release from home detention, have focused the national spotlight on dogfighting cruelties, dogfighting has long been a thriving underground industry across the country in both urban and rural areas (society, 2011). Those who make dog fighting a pit bull issue do the dogs a grave disservice. A new bill in the Senate would outlaw spectators’ willful attendance at organized animal fights and impose penalties for bringing a minor to an animal fight. This bill has bipartisan support (society, 2011). The Federal Animal Welfare Act prohibits the interstate transportation of dogs for fighting purposes. A pending federal bill, S. 382, would create the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act of 2005. The Act would amend the United States Code, making it a crime for any person to knowingly sponsor or exhibit an animal in an animal fighting venture if any animal in the venture was moved in interstate or foreign commerce. Additionally, it would be unlawful for any person to knowingly sell, buy, transport, or deliver, or receive for purposes of transportation, in interstate or foreign commerce, any dog or other animal for purposes of having the dog or other animal participate in an animal fighting venture. Finally, it would be a crime for any person to knowingly use the mail service of the United States Postal Service or any instrumentality of interstate commerce for commercial speech promoting an animal fighting venture except as performed outside the limits of the states of the United States. Penalties for violations of the Act would include a fine, up to two years imprisonment, or both. The Act would repeal any conflicting provisions of the Animal Welfare Act (Gibson, 2005). If a person see’s or suspect dog fighting they should not hesitate to report the owner to the authority. Conclusion These dogs are VICTIMS in every sense of the word. Exploited, abused, and tortured for human gain, Pit Bulls are innocent beings caught up in a tragic societal issue. The American pit bull has two powerful enemies: the humane groups working for his extinction, and the modern dog fighter who are producing dogs of dubious genetics and characteristics while keeping them in negative headlines. Dogfighting is tremendously widespread and has reached epidemic levels in America’s urban communities. The devastating impact of social, economic and racial injustice in these communities that are exposed to such cruelty to animals. Are just the tip of the ice berg? America’s finest legal minds, political activists and social advocates have painstakingly dissected the culture of poverty in an attempt to understand the disproportionately high rates of crime, drug use, and social deviance in inner-city communities (Gibson, 2005).

Tang Song Dynasty Essay Example for Free

Tang Song Dynasty Essay After the fall of the Han Dynasty, China saw much chaos similar to what happened in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. Unlike Europe though, China was eventually reunited. The Tang Dynasty was the next Chinese Dynasty to unite China for an extended amount of time. Tang Culture The Tang dynasty is known as the golden age of Chinese culture. The capital of the Tang Dynasty, Chang-an, became incredibly wealthy and supported the flowering of Chinese culture. Due to the popularity of the Silk Road trade routes, Chang-an became a meeting place of many different cultures and religions: Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Islam all influenced Tang culture. Syrians, Jews, Arabs, Persians, Koreans, Tibetans, and Japanese all lived side by side with the Chinese of Chang-an. In 636, Christians from Syria were allowed to build a church and hold Christian services barely six hundred years after the founding of Christianity and less than three hundred years after Christianity had become the state religion of Rome. The foreigners not only brought in new religions, but new clothes, cuisine, literature, and music as well. The imperial court itself had several performing troupes of actors and musicians gathered from surrounding nations permanently performing at the court. Among their cultural achievements, the Tang craftsmen excelled in making porcelain and jade pottery, utensils and sculptures. Tang weavers advanced their silk-weaving, making clothes much softer and more extravagant than what Europeans were wearing in their scratchy wool. Porcelain and silk were in high demand, furthering increasing the trade between the world and China. Poetry became a popular subject for all these new readers. The poet Li Po  (701-762) became quite popular. His poetry focused on simple language that allowed the reader to immediately understand his emotions. He loved to celebrate the beauty of life and nature and wanted to share that love. Questions: Tang Dynasty 1. Describe how foreign cultures were viewed in China during this time? 2. During the Tang Dynasty, what goods were in high demand on the Silk Road? AFTER YOU READ BOTH ARTICLES!!!!! (ONE ON THE BACK) RANK THE TOP FIVE IMPORTANT ACHIEVEMENTS FROM THE TANG AND SONG DYNASTIES IN ORDER AND EXPLAIN WHY!!!!!!!!! The Song Dynasty, 960-1279 AD Eventually, the Tang Dynasty fell under pressure from outside invasions and domestic rebellions. The Song Dynasty soon took control over China after the fall of the Tang. The Song Economy Under the Song Dynasty, China experienced an agricultural and commercial revolution. Chinese farmers saw their production and wealth increase  dramatically. For hundreds of years Chinese dynasties had required peasants to do free manual labor for the government each year. This was how China built the Great Wall and roads. All the time they spent working for the government, was less time they worked on their fields. The Song Dynasty eliminated forced labor. Secondly, farmers were allowed to buy and sell land for the first time. You see, some people are just better at jobs than other people. By letting farmers buy and sell land, good farmers could buy land from bad farmers and produce more crops on that land. These two factors resulted in a phenomenal increase in agricultural production, and the wealth of the government and individual farmer increased significantly (though most farmers never became â€Å"wealthy.†) The most important economic innovation of the Song was the widespread use of money. China was the first country to use both paper and coin money. This helped China in 2 ways. First off, peasants used to have to pay their taxes in grain. The Song Dynasty now allowed farmers to pay their taxes in money. Since they no longer needed to grow grain, this freed up weak farmers to sell their farms and go get jobs they’d be better at in cities. Anytime you give people more freedom to choose their jobs, the economy will improve as they get jobs they’re better at. Secondly, before the widespread use of money, trade had to be done as bartering – people exchanged goods for other goods. If a farmer wanted to buy a goat, then he and the goat’s owner would have to come up with some sort of trade. â€Å"I’ll give you half a cow!† Obviously, that’s an awkward way to do things. So the use of money made trade MUCH easier, and the economy increased due to this! The booming economy led to the growth of cities. The city of Kaifeng eventually had a population of 250,000 households. The city of Hangchow had a population of 391,000 households. Compare that to Europe during the same period: Rome had an average population of about 35,000 households and London had a population of about 20,000 households. No civilization on earth was comparable to China during the Song Dynasty. Song Technology These Chinese cities were bursting at the seams with merchants and trade.  What were some of the goods and inventions that other cultures wanted? Merchants along the Silk Road obviously made most of their money off the trade in porcelain and silks. During this time period, China also invented a process to make steel and began producing gunpowder weapons. The demand for goods and services was so great that China began an unprecedented acceleration of foreign trade. Chinese goods were traded as far away as Africa and the Middle East. China also created junks – the largest ocean-going vessels in the world at the time that carried Chinese goods over the Indian Ocean all the way to Africa. China also built numerous canals. Canals are man-made rivers that allowed shipping and transportation to new areas. The largest canal, the Grand Canal, was built to link the Yellow and Yangtze rivers and make it easier to ship rice from the north to the south, helping to prevent starvation and improving the economy. Even though they were prosperous, the Song Dynasty also fell like every other Chinese dynasty before it. This time, they were overrun by a dangerous people to their north: the Mongols. The Song Dynasty also saw the invention of the movable-type printing press. Originally, if someone wanted to make a copy of a book, they would have to write it all out by hand, which took a long time. Using movable-type however, craftsmen created blocks of letters like the type your future children will play with. When they wanted to make a book, they would arrange the letters into a copy of a page. While this took a long time, the printer could then roll ink over the blocks and then use the blocks to make hundreds and hundreds of copies. This allowed a VAST amount of books to be printed much more cheaply, causing literacy to be more widespread. Questions: Song Dynasty 1. Explain the TWO reforms made during the Song Dynasty that improved agricultural production from farmers. 2. Explain how the use of paper and coin money gave peasants more freedom. 3. Explain how the use of paper and coin money increased trade. 4. What were two technological inventions made in China during this time? 5. What function did â€Å"junks† have? 6. What was the purpose of the Grand Canal? 7. Why was the invention of movable type so important in Song china?

Basic Implementation of OpenStack

Basic Implementation of OpenStack 3.1 Basic Installation   Ã‚   In this project Open stack was installed through pack stack that is a repository module, help to implement various parts of OpenStack. It represents a utility which facilitates the deployment on multiple nodes for different components of OpenStack via SSH. This requires multiple pre-installed servers. In our case it is CentOS. There are two ways to work with packsack. As follows. Packstack Interactively: the Interactive way is the user commands are run at same time as he gives the command. The user enters the command Packstack Non-Interactively: the Non-Interactive way is the way when the user updates the file known as answer file. Enables and customize the options in the answer file, that customize file is run for OpenStack. In this project, Non interactive is used to install pack stack. Answer file will be applied on our controller node, as all service will work in controller node. The answer file is a file that pack stack takes in order to take decisions that we put in the script, that we want to setup in OpenStack. Services will be enabled such as Glance, Cinder, Nova, Horizon, Swift, Ceilometer, and Heat as shown in FIG 3.1 and FIG 3.2 FIG.3.1 (Answer File with services) FIG.3.2 (Answer File with heat services enabled) Answer file also consists of IP addresses of the three main nodes, Compute, Controller, and Neutron. Compute node, in this project the three nodes are on one single node as shown in FIG.3.3. All these nodes should be interconnected. FIG.3.3(Answer File with all IP address) Moreover, the answer file also consists of keystone authentication user and password in plain text as well as the token that is discussed in the previous chapter as well. This token allows the user to the services that user is allowed to get access. After Answer file is modified the file is run through pack stack through the following in FIG3.4 . FIG.3.4(Run Answer File over pack stack ) Then access the dashboard through GUI as it is successfully installed after as shown in FIG 3.5 FIG.3.5 (User Authentication by open stack (Keystone)) As discussed before keystone plays the authentication role, known as identity service as well. It ask for username and password when this authentication is done the keystone provides the token to the user that consist of the services that are been allowed to the user to access 3.2 Implantation Projects and Other services FIG.3.2 (Different projects of OpenStack) After getting access we can see different projects. OpenStack can deal with different project at a time. Every project has different members as shown is FIG 3.3.A member can be a part of two different projects. FIG.3.3 (Project Members) The cinder volume is the block storage that is provided to the user related to different projects. This is a logical storage to every user that can be attached or detached to the user. This memory can be reused for another user as user finished his work and memory is deleted. The user can be given different memory chunk according to the use. FIG.3.4 (OpenStack Volumes attached to different users) As in FIG.3.4 different volumes are attached to different users for the project admin, their IDs are showing as their name with size of their volume, with the contrast of their instances those are attached to. The next service will be glance service in OpenStack picture. Glance is the storage service that is responsible for keeping images for different instances. All the instances will run through the image file that will be stored in Glance. There can be more than one image but in our scenario its just one image as shown in FIG.3.5 FIG.3.5 (Openstack Glance service) 3.3 Networks and Router The network is the neutron service of the OpenStack that provides the interfaces for different user and services to connect with each other. Since OpenStack deals with cloud computing with private and public cloud, therefore there will be a big role to play for NATing. As shown in FIG 3.6a. OpenStack not only provides compute and data storage service but also understands the role of networks to connect these services. In the following FIG it clearly shows the instances those are connected to a private cloud, on one side of the router with all private IP addresses, will be nated on the other side of the router through public cloud. FIG.3.6a (OpenStack Network) In other words, these private instances can also be accessed through external network. In this unit, this will be explained further. FIG.3.6b (OpenStack Network) As shown in FIG.3.6b private and public IP addresses are shown that will be used for nating. Furthermore, router is also available is OpenStack networking services that not only help in nating but also manages the external and internal networks of OpenStack services. FIG.3.7 (Openstack Router) Unlike other vendor routers, it does not need so much of command configuration, which is the best part of OpenStack router. It is capable of doing all basic required routing functions. These all capabilities plays great role in OpenStack. As shown in FIG.3.7, FIG.3.8 and FIG.3.9 some of the routing capabilities. FIG.3.8 (Openstack Router) In the FIG.3.6 you can easily identify the router ports, where the ports are assigned with the IP addresses, these are the IP addresses from the private and public cloud as shown in FIG.3.4. Moreover, this clarifies that NATing has done by the router, where one port is towards external gateway of the network. This is towards the internet in our scenario. The port is defined on internal or private network. FIG.3.9 (Openstack Router) Public IP addresses are defined as floating IP for the project that needs to be accessed from external network. In the given FIG 3.10 following floating public IP addresses are shown that are for the admin projects, where instances are also defined with their tagged names, as well as their status. FIG.3.10 (Floating IP addresses) For any network it very important to have systematic way of deployments and organize the way of understanding the deployment of any network. This cannot be possible without a graphical representation of network topology diagram as shown in FIG.3.11, as well as in FIG.3.6a in the beginning. FIG.3.11 (Floating IP addresses)

Relations of the Ascending Aorta :: essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The ascending aorta, or aorta ascendens, along with its constituents, amounts to about five centimeters in length. It constitutes the initial division of the aorta, the largest artery in the body. It originates from the upper portion of the left ventricle of the heart at the aortic valve â€Å"on a level with the lower border of the third costal cartilage behind the left half of the sternum; it passes obliquely upward, forward, and to the right, in the direction of the heart’s axis, as high as the upper border of the second right costal cartilage, describing a slight curve in its course, and being situated, about 6 cm. behind the posterior surface of the sternum.† (Gray† 1) It then gives rise to the right and left coronary arteries, which supply the heart muscle. It then curves left continuing into the arch of the aorta. Originating from the aorta are the right brachiocephalic trunk, left common carotid, and left subclavian arteries. The corona ry arteries, thus being, the only branches of the ascending aorta.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At the entrance of the ascending aorta are three minute aortic sinuses and the Aortic Semilunar Valve, a three-cusped valve located at the base of the ascending aorta behind the sternum at the level of the third intercostal space (Grine 273). The point at which the ascending aorta converges with the aortic arch is termed the bulb of the aorta, a swelling due to vessel increasement on the right wall. Lying superior to the ascending aorta is the trunk of the pulmonary artery and the auricular appendage of the right atrium. It is partitioned from the sternum by the serous pericardium, the right pleura, the anterior margin of the right lung, some loose areolar tissue, and the remains of the thymus. Posteriorly, it is propped upon the left atrium and right pulmonary artery. Lying adjacent on the right border is the superior vena cava and right atrium.

Sports, Athletes, and Weight Loss: Health Concerns Essay -- Health Nut

Weight Loss by Athletes and Health Concerns Waking up, sophomore Mike Fumagalli would peel off the garbage bags and layers of clothing he had worn to bed the night before hoping to "sweat away" some extra weight. Throughout the day, he would ask teachers to use their trashcans and would spit constantly. Sometimes, he would even cut his hair or sit in a sauna, all to lose a couple more pounds. Many people may wonder why someone would go to such extreme measures just to lose a few pounds. For Fumagalli, the answer was simply: "Everyone likes to win. That's why you cut weight." "Cutting weight" is a term that refers to a wrestler's attempt to lose a certain amount of weight in order to compete in a particular weight category in wrestling competitions. Some wrestlers choose to lose weight so they can find a spot on the team, said Keith Healy, varsity wrestling coach of the nationally ranked team at Smallville High School. Since only a certain number of slots are open per weight class, a wrestler may be beat out of a spot at one weight but perhaps can drop down to a lower weight where more openings are available. Junior Sean Randich said that cutting weight also could be important because as one moves down in weight classes it is easier to win. A common weight-loss method among the athletes is to wrap their body in garbage bags during exercise to maximize sweat loss, said Randich. He added that while the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) prohibits this method, it is still commonly practiced. JT wrestling coach "Mac" McLaughlin said that although he could not control what athletes did at home, at practice, garbage bags are not allowed. He added that most of his wrestlers, in fact, wear onl... ... children's bodies," said Haas. McLaughlin said that he tells parents, "If your kid looks like he's getting tired, souped out, stop." Healy also consults parents about their child's weight loss and said that before any wrestler on his team makes the decision to cut a large amount of weight, he first consults the parents. "Because of cutting weight, my mom doesn't like the whole sport," said Fumagalli. He said that while his mom was supportive in helping him cut weight by doing such things as making salads, she drew the line when he began to get sick. Fumagalli, who said he frequently cut weight in junior high, said he lost 12 pounds before this season but stopped when he started to get light-headed and dizzy. "There is a fine line between determination of sport and health," said Fumagalli. "Strength is more important than losing two pounds."

Ernest Hemingways Hills Like White Elephants Essay -- Ernest Hemingwa

Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants"   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ernest Hemingway's short story 'Hills Like White Elephants' is a story about a couple who are having some trouble in their relationship. The main characters in the story are an American man and a girl. The whole story is mostly a dialogue between the couple. They are trying to have a fine time, but there is a tension between them and some kind of operation needs to be done. The operation can easily be done and if it's going to happen it will be done on the girl. In the story it's not being said what the operation is. The second time I read it I understand that they are talking about an abortion. The man wants the girl to do the abortion while the girl is not sure.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The setting of the story is well described; the couple is waiting at a little train station between Barcelona and Madrid. The couple is sitting outside a bar 'at a table in the shade'. (171) They are having a cold drink. It?s warm outside and the view is beautiful, in the distance they see white hills.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The story doesn?t give very much information about the characters. The American man and the girl, whose name is Jig, are a couple, but they are not married. The man are probably a bit older than the girl, he is mention as an American man while Jig is just mention as the girl, the story doesn?t say what her nationality is. But she can?t be Spanish because she doesn?t speak Spanish. They are traveling around because they have bags with ?label... Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants Essay -- Ernest Hemingwa Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants"   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ernest Hemingway's short story 'Hills Like White Elephants' is a story about a couple who are having some trouble in their relationship. The main characters in the story are an American man and a girl. The whole story is mostly a dialogue between the couple. They are trying to have a fine time, but there is a tension between them and some kind of operation needs to be done. The operation can easily be done and if it's going to happen it will be done on the girl. In the story it's not being said what the operation is. The second time I read it I understand that they are talking about an abortion. The man wants the girl to do the abortion while the girl is not sure.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The setting of the story is well described; the couple is waiting at a little train station between Barcelona and Madrid. The couple is sitting outside a bar 'at a table in the shade'. (171) They are having a cold drink. It?s warm outside and the view is beautiful, in the distance they see white hills.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The story doesn?t give very much information about the characters. The American man and the girl, whose name is Jig, are a couple, but they are not married. The man are probably a bit older than the girl, he is mention as an American man while Jig is just mention as the girl, the story doesn?t say what her nationality is. But she can?t be Spanish because she doesn?t speak Spanish. They are traveling around because they have bags with ?label...

A Discussion on the Dialectical in Hero

Discuss the usefulness of the idea of the ‘dialectical’ with regard to any of the texts on this module. ‘Dialectic’ refers to the dialogue between two or more positions, holding different perspectives about a subject, who wish to establish the truth of the matter by dialogue with reasoned arguments. It may be postulated that Hero works on a Hegelian dialectic model, in that the tensions between the protagonist and antagonist of the film are constantly reworking the other, till a synthesis of their essence is achieved. Aufhebung† or sublation, being the motor by which the Hegelian dialectic functions (Palm, 2009) indicates the preservation of a useful portion of an idea, while moving beyond its limitations. The dialectic of Hero is realized in two ways; multiple narratives and multiple forms of dialogue-and suggests that there is no absolute truth, and that we arrive at the final truth through the dialectical interplay of different truths that challenge , change and preserve each other at once.The framed narrative structure of Hero displays the dialectic that exists between the King and Nameless as multiple narratives are being set up to communicate the different points of view existing between Nameless and the King. The celebration of the multiplicity of perspectives, or points of view, serves to highlight the nature of truth as a product of dialectical interplay between multiple presented truths. Hero functions as a prism, as seen from the division of the film into various vibrantly colored narratives as emblems of different truths.The self-similar fractal dimension each narrative holds highlights the fact that each narrative contains elements of the narrative before it, and each truth is derived from the truth before it, where each progressive narrative retains select elements of the previous one but changes others to create a different story. This is evident in the dialogical exchange between Nameless and the King, where the Ki ng chooses to accept parts of Nameless’ story as true and other parts as false.This fragmentation and subsequent reinvention of the truth creates a disjoint between the perceived truth and the accepted truth, suggesting that truth consists of many individual parts, and that in order for a unified truth to be assembled, deconstruction of it into its individual parts must happen before it can be reconstructed into a larger whole. Hence, the dialectical interplay between the multiple truths creates a new composite truth that retains the essence of each truth before it.Sublation occurs in the interaction between Nameless and the King, where both of them have their own truths in terms of ideologies, and the dialectical interaction of the two allows the two truths to interact and change each other as a result. For example, in order to get within 10 feet of the King, a limitation Sky, Broken Sword and Flying Snow could not breach, Nameless presents their weapons and in Broken Swordà ¢â‚¬â„¢s case his calligraphy. The items here are symbolic of each swordsman’s ideologies, and Nameless through accepting their weapons has similarly internalized their ideologies, hence changing his own truth as a result.Nameless as the bearer of Broken Sword’s truth then influences the King, so much so that the latter places his life in his would-be killer’s hands. Broken Sword’s truth resonates strongly with the King’s truth here, and this unification of their truths represents the power of the unification the King is striving to achieve, in the sense that it is powerful enough to make Nameless give up his goal of killing the King, something he had trained for more than 10 years for and defined himself by.Therefore even though Nameless has to be killed for the preservation of the social order, the King who is left standing at the end of the film has been changed, and this is evident from his hesitance in sentencing Nameless to death, something h e would not have hesitated to do prior to their meeting. Truth is seen here as something that we define ourselves by, and when our truth is changed, so do our definitions of ourselves and hence our identity.The dialectic in Hero finds physical form through the dialogical form that fighting takes on in the sense that there is an oppositional structural clash between two people holding on to different ideals. Over the course of the film, fighting is seen as a form of self-expression, and it shows how two people, charged with different ideals, clash, with the result that the one left standing has been changed in some manner by the other.The fight at the end of the film, between Broken Sword, who has forsaken his revenge for the sake of unification, and Flying Snow, who holds on to her revenge and blames Broken Sword for giving up his, represents exactly this point. The dichotomization between opposite ideals creates a cognitive dissonant effect which highlights the struggle between per sonal ideals and greater ideals that supersede the self. This conflict is ealized in Flying Snow whose triumph over Broken Sword grants her the unfortunate belated realization that at some level she yearned for coexistence with his ideal despite its clash with hers, as connoted by the repetition of â€Å"why didn’t you defend yourself? †, and this dissonance leads her to commit suicide to be reunited with her lover. Ultimately the clash of two people representing their own ideals has resulted in the prevalence of one person whose ideal has changed as a result.The communicative exchange between Nameless and Broken Sword as seen in the swordfight, over the water’s surface, in which calligraphic elements are embedded, signals a dialogic exchange not only of martial arts but also in terms of ideals. The constant parallelism of each other’s movements in the water signals that it is not a swordfight of conflict but rather conversation, as seen from the sword st rokes through the water akin to the strokes of a calligraphy brush on a canvas.Significantly the fight climaxes in the back-and-forth hitting of the water droplet, where the fluidity of water alludes to the fluid nature of truth and how it can be molded to serve one’s purpose. The fight ends when the water droplet hits Flying Snow’s face, and Nameless who turns back from his original purpose of striking Broken Sword also ends up with water droplets on his face.By drawing a parallel between Flying Snow and Nameless, who both sought revenge against the King for the destruction of their homelands, we see a tension between Nameless and Flying Snow’s common ideal and Broken Sword’s ideal. This tension is only resolved through Flying Snow’s death, and Nameless’s act of turning away, suggesting that when one holds on to a particular ideal such that it becomes one’s truth and identity, the inevitable clash of this truth with another’s will result in the deconstruction of one and the reconstruction of another.In conclusion, when we view things through different lens, we will come away with different truths each time. Hero exemplifies this for us and causes us to examine the nature of truth through the dialectical intercourse of each truth. Truth serves an existential purpose and it is important for each and every one of us to derive our own truth and hence determine our identity and purpose in life.The message of Hero is that though there are forces in existence that are greater than ourselves, the power of a common truth of all the nameless citizens can sometimes influence the truth of the one in power, in this case the King, and determine his actions. Everyone’s truth is different, but it is the meaning that we attach to it that defines us and sets us apart. Bibliography Palm, R. (2009). Retrieved October 17, 2012, from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven: https://lirias. kuleuven. be/bitstream/123456789/23467 0/1/PALM+dissertat..

Employee Recognition and Reward Program Essay

Abstract I believe that a robust employee recognition program can/will increase employee satisfaction and increase the organization’s customer service rating. In the past, employees were recognized according to their section leadership. Some were recognized and others were not. Since the implementation of the group wide recognition program, I believe the employees are happier. I will verify this through an electronically administered survey, observing the customer service trends, and comparing the rate of recognition now versus recognition prior to program implementation. Reviews of the training expectations (make the experience, do it with style, and go above and beyond) will be conducted to ensure their compliance. The 375th Medical Group (MDG) â€Å"Your Medical Home for Healthcare† initiated a new employee recognition program in 2011. They implemented the program while achieving; in 2011 the 375 MDG received NCQA Recognition as Patient Centered Medical Home. In 2010 & 2011 it was named AMC Best Patient Safety Program of the Year. In 2010 it was named as AMC Best Clinic of the Year, awarded 3 year Accreditation by AAAHC, and rated excellent by Health Services Inspection. So, in order to determine if the program was successful we must first look at the background of the MDG. (Saunders, 2012) The medical group is proud to provide many services and consists of different programs as well. â€Å"The 375 MDG supports the 375th Air Mobility Wing and 31 tenant units in the global reach mission by providing, expanding, and deploying medical capability for contingency tasking. The 375 MDG trains healthcare professionals annually through four specialty training programs and sustains the readiness skills of more than 476 active duty and Air Reserve Component personnel. Additionally, the 375 MDG provides health services for more than 26,000 beneficiaries. The 375 MDG is accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care,  American Dental Association, and College of American Pathologists and has affiliations with the American Hospital Association, and American Medical Association.† (375th Medical Group, 2012) This organization was formally a hospital with emergency and inpatient services. Today the 375 MDG is a clinic with outpatient services only. With commanders coming and going every two years, all the quantum changes were taking their toll on the staff that remained behind. This was primarily your civilian staff in the world of the military. (Saunders, 2012) Method The commander1 had arrived right after an exhausting inspection, which granted the MDG a 3 year accreditation (no inspections for 3 more years). Everyone could breathe easier knowing that the inspection was done. But, wait the commander1 saw things that could be improved. She formed groups and committees. Changed/rearranged meeting names, dates and times. The new commander1 left no stone over looked except staff happiness when it came to changing the organization. The commander1 should have used Lewin’s 3 step change model. The change process would have made the change go smoother. Lewin’s Planned Change Model 3 step process is as follows: step 1) Unfreezing, prepare for the change. This is the most critical and hardest step. Step 2) Movement, implement the change. This is the easiest step. Step 3) Refreezing, reinforce the change. This step is the second most important and difficult step. This may have kept the staff from being so upset with the many changes from above without any real information about the organizations direction from the commander1 herself. A leadership survey was conducted; it identified commander1 visibility and lack of organization direction as key areas of focus. In October 2011, commander1 made some changes so that she was more visible and delivered information to the staff herself. Even though commander1 made these changes, complaints came in about staff attitude and rudeness. The patient satisfaction surveys were showing signs of unhappy followers. That is when commander1 did something about the staff’s happiness. She formed a customer service group to help with all the complaints about rude service. The patients were happy with the care they received, they were not happy with the way in which it  was being delivered. Discussion The first meeting of the group went very well. Commander1 had given clear goals; develop/implement a customer service program by 1 Jan 2012. There are five members of the group which is the average size. Groups normally go through four stages; forming – people are coming together on the team, storming – struggle for leadership role, norming – clear emergence of leader, and performing – members were focused on the task. Our group seemed as though it did these four roles in a matter of minutes. This could be because there were no less than three executive staff members in the group. The ranking member lead and we moved to performing due to the tight time schedule. The group first decided on a name for themselves. They tossed around several ideas until â€Å"375 MDG Star Council† became the official name. Then, they decided on how to replace members of the group as each member left. Commander1 had sent several members of the organization to a formal cu stomer service course, so we decide these staff members would be the replacement pool when needed. Now, we needed to figure out what the staff finds rewarding. We conducted a survey of the entire 375 MDG staff. We collected survey forms from everywhere. When we tallied the forms, it was discovered that we had received less than a third of the forms back. Plan B had been hatched; catch all of the 375 MDG staff members while they are in attendance at commander’s call. A captured audience! Without even counting the surveys, it was obvious that we had a much better collection rate. In the survey we asked only one question; what type of recognition would you like to receive and how would you like to receive it? The staff of the 375 MDG results were as follows from the highest votes to the least: a day off presented by the Group Commander, a certificate of Appreciation from the Group Commander, a written note of appreciation from their respective Squadron Commander, recognition in the weekly Commander’s blog and to be recognized by the Executive Team in front of peers. The se were the top five results of the survey the 375 MDG Star Council had to work with. The 375 MDG Star Council had to develop a set of standards which could be used as guidelines for the recognition process. They challenged themselves with the following: â€Å"To recognize those individuals who demonstrate the values and  objectives of the 375 MDG STAR program. To identify methodologies to foster a climate and atmosphere where customer focus and service permeates the organization with the ultimate goal of quality healthcare, service excellence and customer satisfaction. To understand the range of options and actions necessary to affect a cultural change in our approach to customer service.† (MDGI36-2803) â€Å"The Quality Services Office will oversee the 375 MDG STAR Customer Service awards program. Each member assigned to the 375 MDG may nominate anyone displaying outstanding customer service by completing the nomination form found on the MDG’s Enterprise Information Management (EIM) homepage. 375 MDG military and civilian employees will be recognize d under the 375 MDG STAR program. For 375 MDG contract employees, the 375 MDG STAR council will forward their nomination to the 375 MDG Contracting Services Office for entry into the Contract Tracking and Reporting (CTAR) system.† (MDGI36-2803) A set of guidelines, training, and marketing of the program needed to be developed. The 375 MDG Star Council started with the MDG acronym. The â€Å"M† stands for â€Å"Make the experience.† A positive customer hand-off would give the person you are sending the customer to information about what is needed and what has been done. It would also send a message to the customer that they are valued because they would not need to explain their situation to another person. The â€Å"D† stands for â€Å"Do it with Style.† Greet all customers with a smile as you come in contact with them. Remember the â€Å"10 foot rule†; if you come within 10 feet of a customer greet them. Take pride in yourself and your job. If you look professional and act pr ofessional then you are a professional. The â€Å"G† stands for â€Å"Go above and beyond.† When giving directions to a customer escort when possible. Stay aware and attentive to the customer’s situations such as letting them know if their provider is running late. The council then had to turn their attention to training. How do we train the entire staff of the 375 MDG? We decided to start as Kurt Lewin’s would, with his 3-step change process. (Kurt, 2012) This first stage of change involves preparing the organization to accept that change which involves breaking down the existing status quo before you can build up a new way of operating. The key to this is developing a compelling message showing why the existing way of doing things cannot continue. This is easiest to frame when you can point to declining customer satisfaction surveys: These show that things  have to change in a way that everyone can understand. To prepare the organization successfully, you need to start at its core. You need to challenge the beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviors that currently define it. Using the analogy of a building, you must examine and be prepared to change the existing foundations as they might not support additional levels; unless this is done, the whole building may risk collapse. The transition from unfreeze to change does not happen overnight: People take time to embrace the new direction and participate proactively in the change. In order to accept the change and contribute to making the change successful, people need to understand how the changes will benefit them. Not everyone will fall in line just because the change is necessary and will benefit the company. This is a common assumption and pitfall that should be avoided. Time and communication are the keys to a successful change campaign. People need time to understand the changes and they also need to feel highly connected to the organization throughout the transition period. When you are managing change, this can require a great deal of time and effort and hands-on management is usually the best approach. When the changes are taking shape and people have embraced the new ways of working, the organization is ready to refreeze. The outward signs of the refreeze are a stable organization chart, consisten t job descriptions, and so on. The refreeze stage also needs to help people and the organization internalize or institutionalize the changes. This means making sure that the changes are used all the time; and that they are incorporated into everyday business. With a new sense of stability, employees feel confident and comfortable with the new ways of working. The rationale for creating a new sense of stability in our every changing world is often questioned. Even though change is a constant in many organizations, this refreezing stage is still important. Without it, employees get caught in a transition trap where they aren’t sure how things should be done, so nothing ever gets done to full capacity. In the absence of a new frozen state, it is very difficult to tackle the next change initiative effectively. How do you go about convincing people that something needs changing if you haven’t allowed the most recent changes to sink in? Change will be perceived as change for change’s sake, and the m otivation required to implement new changes simply won’t be there. As part of the Refreezing process, make sure that you  celebrate the success of the change this helps people to find closure, thank them for enduring a painful time, and help them believe that future change will be successful. With the unfreeze step of Kurt Lewin’s change process being the most difficult and stressful. The 375 MDG Star Council lead the way by cutting down the â€Å"way things are done† which put everyone off balance. This evoked strong reactions in the staff, and that’s exactly what needed to done. By forcing the organization to re-examine its core, the 375 MDG Star Council effectively created a crisis, which in turn can build a strong motivation to seek out a new equilibrium. Without this motivation, you won’t get the buy-in and the participation necessary to effect any meaningful change. What better way to get buy-in, than to start with the top down process. The 375 MDG Star Council trained the Executive Team, who would then in-turn preached the new concept to their respective squadrons. Each squadron commander would then gather their managers to be trained within the next two-weeks. The squadron commander would lead off the training program with their support and motivation on how important the program is to the organization. The 375 MDG Star Council then co nducted the training for the management staff. This took place within all five squadrons and their management teams. No more than a week later each manager had to go back and deliver the training to their sections and report back to the Executive Team when the training was completed and what percentage of staff was captured. To sustain the training it will be conducted during newcomers orientation and as requested by leadership or if trends dictate the need. While the training was being conducted on all levels the 375 MDG Star Council initiated the marketing campaign which transformed into the development of the wall of fame, an â€Å"I got caught† campaign which asks the question, â€Å"How do you serve our nation’s heroes and their families?† (MDGI36-2803) The 375 MDG Star Council purchased and distributed chrome plated name plates at each clinical patient check-in desk. The 375 MDG Star Council needed to develop a way to show at a glance that 375 MDG staff member was recognized for displaying outstanding customer service. A plastic blue card with the MDG logo and explanation on one side and the phrase â€Å"The 375th Medical Group is proud to serve our Nation’s Heroes and their families.† (MDGI36-2803) On the bottom of the card is â€Å"MDG STARS† each time a staff member is recognized one of the letters is  punched in the shape of a Star. This will cause our customers to ask about the card and a way for 375 MDG staff to recognize one another. What is considered worthy of a nomination? â€Å"An act that goes above and beyond the normal expectations of daily customer service actions. These actions may be towards either our internal or external customers.† (MDGI36-2803) â€Å"The individual making the nomination may send, through electronic means or in writing, the justification as to why they believe the individual warrants this award to any member of the 375 MDG Star Council. Electronic nominations are accomplished by selecting the â€Å"STAR Catcher† banner found on the MDG STAR EIM homepage. Customer service comments provided on the 375 Medical Group Customer Satisfaction Survey forms and Service Delivery Assessment (SDA) will be transferred into the MDG STAR Catcher database.† (MDGI36-2803) â€Å"All customer service submissions will be compiled monthly and validated by the 375 MDG Star Council. The 375 MDG Star Council will punch individuals’ Star badges based on valid submissions. Additionally, the council will maintain a system to track all Star punches for MDG personnel. Individuals who receive their initial punch will earn a blue Star badge holder; individuals who receive their third punch will be recognized in the weekly MDG Commander’s blog. Individuals who receive their fifth punch will receive a written note of appreciation for their respective squadron commander. Individuals who receive their seventh punch will receive a certificate from the group commander. Individuals who receive their tenth punch will earn a one day pass for military personnel and one-day time-off incentive award for civilian employees. Individuals who receive more than ten punches will Start back at third punch for recognition. For example, individuals who receive their thirteenth punch will be recognized in the weekly MDG Commander’s blog.† (MDGI36-2803) â€Å"Monthly, the 375 MDG Star Council will determine the top three customer service submissions. These top three personnel will be showcased on the Wall of Fame board and on the 375 MDG Star EIM site . In addition, they will be nominated for the Wing’s Quarterly Customer Service recognition program. Quarterly, the 375 MDG Star Council will submit three individuals for the wing’s quarterly customer service recognition program. These individuals will be selected from the three months prior nominees. Monthly, the 375 MDG Star Council will randomly identify three 375 MDG employees for the â€Å"I got caught†¦ Serving our  Nation’s Heroes and Their Families† program. Their picture and comments will be posted on the Wall of Fame and at their duty locations.† (MDGI36-2803) Results The customer satisfaction rate is extremely important for the success of any organization. The 375 MDG Star Council will use SDA, customer surveys, patient advocate contacts and secret shopper to validate the employee recognition and reward program. The organizations standard satisfaction rate is 90%. The 375 MDG commander1 wants there to be at a minimum a 90% satisfaction rate at all times; on any given day, at any given time. The top trends/issues for patients contacting the Patient Advocate are; PCM change, Information, Assistance, Communication, Kudos/Access. From this information it would appear that the program is working well. In March 2011 there were a total of 3 positive contacts, 22 negative contacts, and 9 neutral contacts for a total of 34 individuals contacting the patient advocate for assistance of some kind. These numbers have decreased from the same timeframe as last year. (Patient Advocate, 2012) Not only are the patient advocate contacts tracked, there are feedback forms around the clinic that patients can fill out, in the month of March 2012 there were a total of 136 forms filled out with 14 individuals requesting feedback. 122 forms were positive, 12 were negative, and 2 were neutral. A snapshot of the negative feedbacks were wait time at the pharmacy was too long, waiting too long for an appointment, being told the wrong appointment time and being told to reschedule. Snapshots of the positive feedbacks were prompt and professional, great and very responsive to patients needs. (Patient Advocate, 2012) Not only is the patient advocate available along with paper surveys around the clinic, there is also a contracted company that calls patients and ask ten questions about the visit you had this week. The contracted company has no information in regards to the visit or the patient’s personal information, to ensure Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is complied with, but they ask 10 questions on a 1 – 5 scale to get feedback about the facility and its services. Some of those questions are: How many days did you wait for an  appointment; were you satisfied with the care received, management of healthcare needs, and the provider you saw. (Patient Advocate, 2012) Customer satisfaction is very important to this organization and they ensure there are many ways available for customers to voice their concerns; whether good or bad. Communicating with your customers is vital to the success of the organization and providing quality care. This is an important aspect to maintain with all of the cutbacks when it comes to the healthcare industry. Quality care is essential to patient satisfaction and to the delivery of healthcare. There has been a major focus on the delivery of healthcare and the satisfaction of patients in the healthcare industry as a whole. The 375 MDG Star Council is still in the process of implementing the secret shopper program to assist with validation. They have made progress and will have the program in progress before the end of November 2012. The data from this program is unavailable at the time of publishing. If the data were available I would speculate that it would show a positive trend with a dip here or there. Overall, the SDA data, patient advocate data, and customer satisfaction surveys all show a positive trend toward program success. The 375 MDG now has a new commander who is very visible, and not just focused on how well the numbers say the organization is doing. The new commander wants to see what bad is being said and if it has a trend. He does like that the organization is maintaining well over the 90% standard, but what is the one or two percent who is not satisfied saying? How can you be sure about the staff and their approval or acceptance of the program? The 375 MDG employees will be surveyed by the year’s end to validate the program. The survey will be based on the Likert Scale. Likert developed the principle of measuring attitudes by asking people to respond to a series of statements about a topic, in terms of the extent to which they agree with them, and so tapping into the cognitive and affective components of attitudes. (McLeod, 2008) It will contain no more than five questions. The questions will be phrased to ascertain if the employee is aware of the program, knows how the program works, and how frequently do they utilize the  program. The information collected will then be analyzed to determine the effectiveness of the program. Once the determination is made is either for or against the program, appropriate adjustment will be made. The adjustments can range from staff education and training to changing the incentive awards presented to each Star recipient. The Employee Recognition and Reward Program started on 1 Jan 2012 as was charged by the former 375 MDG Commander1. The MDG instruction for the program is posted on the EIM site for all to view at their leisure. The star tracking system has successfully tracked over 1000 star submissions since the January 2012 kick-off. With Commander2 the customer satisfaction rates at 90% or higher the 375 MDG is meeting or exceeding its goal of the program. 2013 began as it did 3 years ago. In 2012 & 2013 we were named AMC’s Best Patient Safety Program of the Year. In 2013 we were awarded 3 year Accreditation by AAAHC, and currently pending the excellent rating by Health Services Inspection in September 2013. (Saunders, 2012) So, I believe the program to be a success, because with all the leadership changes that has taken place in the organization over the last few years. The organization would not rate as high as it does in customer satisfaction if the program was not working. In January 2013 Commander2 met with the 375 MDG Star Council to discuss the Employee Recognition Program and its current status. Commander2 gave his wish which was to have the Mystery Patient Program operational by 1 May 2013. The Star Council invited the Patient Safety Representative to assist with the development of the questionnaire. The staff was informed that the Mystery Patient Program was being developed and would be operational by 1 May 2013. The organization began its Mystery Patient Program on 1 May 2013 as commander2 wished. With only one month of data collected and reported. It is this author’s belief that the 375 MDG will see similar results over the next few months to prove the program’s success. Continued education and training of the program will help to increase the patient satisfaction rating over time.

Competition Between Companies

For years many companies have struggled to be and to remain the best. To do this they had to go through advertising their products; televisions, radio, internet and sports. This is called competition; the main purpose for this is mainly to attract customers. These procedures can benefit but also be harmful towards the company. Thus brings the main concern of this essay which shall discus both sides of this situation opposing and supporting it. Firstly, brand quality of products sometimes does not matter to consumers; just as long as it is affordable.For instance there are many varieties of brands such as Nike, Adidas, Coca cola and so forth. Yet commercials show all these products and companies do not realize that the price of the product gets higher as the cost of advertising contributes to the products cost thus making it expensive. This leads consumers shopping elsewhere for instance, MARANELLO – Manufacturers of super sports cars have just announced a host of new models, b ut many of them may not reach the showrooms, as the global financial crisis hits a customer segment previously immune to economic downturns. Haupt, 2009: 1) This statement proves that consumers prefer cheaper products than fancy cars as it is too expensive. Furthermore on flexibility; Flexibility means the company’s â€Å"ability to respond to changes† (Stevenson, 2007: 38). These can be seasonal changes; winter, summer or maybe economical changes. Nevertheless they also contribute to the company’s competitiveness thus leads sometimes to price wars. Take for example; Adverse weather conditions could reduce the demand for our products.The sales of our products are influenced to some extent by weather conditions in the markets in which we operate Unusually cold or rainy weather during the summer months may have a temporary effect on the demand for our Products and contribute to lower sales, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations for such p eriods. (Coca cola company, 2009: 6) This explains that during competition companies are very flexible thus should be alert and find ways to be the best thus sometimes lowering the products cost by forty percent as to keep up with the market.This incident shows that companies such as coca cola are overdoing it thus facing a major lose. Moreover on location, during competition companies look for a marketable location. From here they start of by looking at the customer’s convenience; like closest to shop thus less travel expense for consumer. However they don’t look at the side as when location of company is way crowded other customers will shop elsewhere due to less space to park cars and so forth. Furthermore other companies go to famous foreign countries or new location as their products are in demand over there.Yet as foreign companies they must find ways to introduce their production thus using advertisement again. In the end either companies, will lose a lot of pro fit. This same case happened to Toyota according in his writing of Ford outsells GM, Toyota in February sales, J. Ewing (2010: 1) claims that while Toyota and Honda where busy competing in America, another company called Ford which is originally an American car business took over by most recently, during the summer last year 2009. Thus, leaving Toyota to report a record annual net loss of 4. billion, this misfortune of Toyota’s occurred as it did not realize that it was consuming too many expenses hence; contributing to another disadvantage for companies when they compete. However these are true yet if considering another side to this argument, these may show the disadvantages of competition, but the advantages outweighs it as competition actually promotes the brand quality, flexibility and locations. In addition to Brand quality, consumers always buy the best as they believe it is worth the expense as it last for a very long time.Yet how do the consumer know which brand is t he best; simply as companies compete they broadcast the latest shoes, bikes, food and so forth. From here consumers try and differentiate one company after another due to the quality of its product. Take for example Article base (2007) states that Honda and Toyota knows America wants fuel-efficient vehicles. This case made the two companies work hard thus producing a vehicle that gets more and more mile per gallon. It is very expensive but a lot of people are waiting in line to get this product.This example shows that consumers go for the best brand quality no matter what. Another point is Flexibility; companies know that season changes thus consumer’s demands also changes. Therefore Coca cola and Pepsi two competing companies produce besides soft drinks, water, ice tea etc. This was to resolve the problem they faced during seasonal change that their soft drinks coca cola or Pepsi sales decreased; from this solution they remarkably still continued selling and earning profit a s they produced other products which will be essential during that particular season.This is also the advantage of flexibility and competition to a company. Finally is the location, Companies compete for the best location as it ensures the flow of profits, by one; marketable areas such as America are good places to locate business Thus most famous companies are located there for instance Toyota number one and holding fifteen percent of Americans sales. Honda, Nike and Adidas all these companies also go to a marketable location thus becoming the most famous companies in the world.Therefore the competition expenses for good spots to place business is worth it, as it will eventually repay the companies ten times the amount of money it has spent, just like Honda and Toyota which are now leading the world car manufacturing business. In conclusion the advantages of competition between companies when marketing products seems to be much favourable than the disadvantages hence, the practice should continue or be more creative with their competition strategies as the more competitive they are the more flow of profits there will be.