Aka Anta! Aka Anta

She was beautiful to last. One day, when she was taking a stroll, she met a young prince who happened to pass by. The prince was very handsome. When she first saw the prince she felt a strong sensation for him. So did the prince for her. They exchange pleasantries and search each other's feelings out. Everyday from then on they would go out together, until one day the prince revealed his true feelings to the princess. So since the princess had long et her heart for the prince, she didn't hesitate anymore and at once accepted his love for her.One afternoon after their usual walk together, the two engaged in a most intimate conversation under the sweet-scented plants kept by the princess. â€Å"Marring Magna†, how lovely your flowers are, but the flowers in our kingdom are far more beautiful and fragrant. None of those here could compare with them. † â€Å"Really? Tell me where your kingdom is? † â€Å"Yonder in those parts where no mortals can go. After a little w hile more, the prince bade goodbye with a sad look in his face. This prompted Marring Magna to ask the prince the reason why. â€Å"Well it's because the prince couldn't find the right words to explain himself. Well, because of what? What seems to be the trouble? † the princess kept skins, suspecting something was wrong. â€Å"l must return home, if not, I will not be able to return home to our kingdom anymore. I want very much to bring you along with me, but such is not permissible. Your kind is not allowed in our kingdom. Thus, farewell, my love. † â€Å"Come back tonight will wait for you here in the garden. Please, you'll come back? ‘ â€Å"I'll try, Marring Magna,† the prince promised. It was close to midnight when the prince came. He was greeted by the princess who waited for him inside the garden.They talked for hours and hours. Their conversation almost touched on every subject. All the time, the princess wrapped herself tightly around the arms of the prince, never letting go. Suddenly, the prince stood up and announced, â€Å"l must leave at once, Marring Magna! It's about midnight. If don't depart at once I won't be able to return home. Stay put. But I want you to remember you're the one love,† as he threw a gentle kiss on the petal lips of Marring Magna. The princess tried to stop the prince as she grabbed his arms with all her might.She could not bear the fact his lover would abandon her. While tugging at each other, suddenly the prince disappeared and left his arms behind held teen the palms of Marring Magna. The princess was shocked at this that she runs quickly to a corner of the garden and buried the arms. A few days after, there sprouted a strange plant on the spot where she buried the arms. It had wide leaves but no branches. A few days more, the tree shed flowers, everyday thereafter, she would visit the plant. Then a few days later, it bore fruits in the place of its flowers.The fruits came in bunches, eac h bunch looked like fingers set side by side and laid parallel to each other. These became known as the first banana fruits in the world. A very long time ago, in what is now the town of Cantina in Racial, there lived a woman named Jamaican who was well-known not only to the people of her native town but also to those of the neighboring towns. She was greatly admired for her beauty and wealth as she belonged to a rich family. But above all, she was very much loved and was highly respected by everyone for she possessed a king and generous heart.Charity was something inborn in her. Even as a little girl she would give kindly to each and every beggar who would pass by their house to ask for alms. She would also often go out of her way to invite the poor children in the trees to the house and let them play with her toys. As she grew up, she continued on with his charitable acts. It became a usual scene every Sunday morning when she came home after mass to see a long line of beggars, wai ting for her at the foot of the stairs. With open hands and an understanding heart, she would see to it that their needs are attended to.She would personally hand in food, toys, clothes, money and the like according to what each of them would ask from her. Her goodness was very much appreciated by her town mates who made her more endeared to them. Unfortunately, Jamaican was not as lucky in love as most other beautiful omen her age were who got married and had children. She didn't fall in love again when her first love got sick and died. She remained an old maid even after her parents have both died and was left alone in the house. Instead, she devoted her time and wealth caring for the needy.To openly express their gratitude and respect she truly deserves as would be fitting to one as elderly a woman she has come to be regarded, people began addressing her as â€Å"Aka Anta† – â€Å"Aka† woman and â€Å"Anta† which is short for Jamaican. Altogether, â₠¬Å"Aka Anta† became more than just a name; the name itself became a symbol of â€Å"salvation to the needy†. One Christmas day, like all previous Christmas, many poor folks flocked to the home of Aka Anta for the usual yuletide giveaways. Short of their expectations, Aka Anta was not by the open window for the first time in years.They called out to her but there was no reply, nor did anyone come to the window. They tried altogether to call out to her several times, but again there was no response. Anxious and all that, a number of them decided to enter the house if anything was the matter. As the door opened, they see Aka Anta lying on the floor. Certain she was dead, the women began to scream, the men made the sign of the cross. There followed loud weeping as they affectionately cried out her name, â€Å"Aka Anta! Aka Anta†. The more they were moved to tears when they noticed the gifts lying on the floor Aka Anta had prepared for them. x

Reading Music Essay

Of all the stuffs that people usually deal with ease, reading sheet music is just one of the downfall points. They think that the course is not as easy as ABC. Technically, reading sheet music effectively may certainly be impossible if one wants to learn fast. The course usually takes a lot of time and patience before everything is grasped and practiced. This is probably the reason a lot of music enthusiasts out there seldom know how to read sheet music. Undeniably, playing music is not impossible even if the person is unable to read sheet music. The thought is just similar to those who are able to speak, yet unable to write. But learning how to read sheet music will allow someone to explore and discover various music theories that are strange to others who just know the basics of music. On top of that, once techniques in reading sheet music are deeply understood, one is no longer limited to play songs that he/she encountered. The course will lead someone to play all types of music, even the foreign ones. Learning to read sheet music is a little complicated (Lux, n. d. ). Thus, we should take it one step at a time. The following are the ways to read sheet music effective and efficiently. The first lesson in reading sheet music is the study of the staff (Evans, n. d. ). It has five lines and four spaces wherein each corresponds to a single note. The space seen either above or below a certain line represents a note either below or above the scale. The next step a neophyte must learn is to identify the clef and its respective form (Evans, n. d. ). A clef is the first music symbol written over a staff. The clef plays a role that helps indentify which line or space in the staff represents a certain note. A chef is categorized into treble and bass clef. Each has distinctive characteristics. The former is known as a G-clef, a symbol that is used in writing music for melodic voices like soprano, alto, tenor, and the like. The latter, on the other hand, is known as F-clef, a symbol that is used for low-pitched instruments like bass, bassoons, and among others. Determining the key signature is the subsequent step in reading sheet music (Evands, n. d. ). The term, key signature, refers to a group of symbols that are placed directly to the right portion of the clef before a note is written. Such symbol could be a flat or a sharp. If the sheet music does not contain so many symbols, its key signature is considered â€Å"natural† which means it is neither sharp nor flat. Aside from the determination of key signature, it is important to observe the time signature. Such is usually located in the right portion of a key signature. It consists of two numbers that appear similarly to a fraction. These are top number and button numbers. When the preceding steps are followed well, the next step is to play the notes in relation to its time signature. Since, you are already aware of the lines or spaces that correspond to a note, you may now read the piece from left to right. It has to be remembered though that the symbols will either stand for notes or rests. The latter means silence. In other words, rests do not assign any pitch for they are placed in always the same position over staff. Types of notes and rests are whole rest, whole note, half rest, half note, quarter rest, quarter note, and a lot more. It is important to know and understand each type. The last important step in learning how to read sheet music is to listen how notes are played together vis-a-vis the sheet music. There may be some loopholes that will come out while playing, but a constant practice makes it perfect. Learning how to read sheet music is not simply memorizing it. One must understand its basic concepts well enough, see the patterns and apply them. Banking the concepts is something that everyone must do. Without it, real music will not come out. Work Cited Evans, Ashtyn. â€Å"How to Read Sheet Music. † n. d. How To Do Things. 12 April 2009 < http://www. howtodothings. com/hobbies/a2683-how-to-read-sheet-music. html> Lux, Kevin. â€Å"Introduction to Reading Music. n. d. DataDragon Information Services. 12 April 2009 < http://datadragon. com/education/reading/>

Implement financial management approaches

Provide support to ensure that team members can competently perform required roles associated with the management of instances 2. 3 Determine and access resources and systems to manage financial Budgets as plans, monitoring and communication tools What is the point of budgets and why should they be monitored? In order to plan effectively – both strategically and in terms of operations – management must have analyses that provide estimates of income and of factors that will cause variation in any or all of the factors related to income. Income will change and sales volumes will fluctuate.This is a certainty. Yet in order to maintain and initiate operations a forecast of how much things will change is necessary. Thus financial information – on costs, environmental factors, expenses, units, capital, revenue, variance etc is brought together to provide a picture which relates directly to operations -? its planning and function. Properly conceived budgeting can mean t he difference between a general drift that might (or more likely will not) lead toward a desired goal, and a plotted course toward a predetermined objective that holds drift to a minimum.Managing financial information and budgeting is not simply a once yearly (or 6 monthly) process – where a budget is prepared and at the end of the budgeting ERM you check to see whether your business activities match the projections. If you use the budget in this way, you might get a very big surprise at the end of the year. Use the budget to monitor work activities, resource use and income. The other thing that should be remembered is that it is very difficult for employees to work toward achieving a budget if they do not know what the projections are. Reports and other relevant financial information (e. . Cost cutting needs, sales targets etc) must be communicated to the employees within the organization, as well as to other shareholders and stakeholders. Age 13 Responsibility accounting Re sponsibility accounting is a method of attributing costs to specific departments/ sections/ teams or project areas within an organization. In this way a fair assessment of team and individual performance can be based on the resource costs for which the team/ section etc is responsible, and over which its members can exercise control and seek to improve their performance.Responsibility accounting can provide a sound basis for team decision making. It can be positively motivational because members who are directly responsible for the management of their own team/ section/ visional costs, can relate operations to financial outcomes. They become, to a large degree, self-managing ; waste reduction and cost improvement techniques are within their sphere of influence.Involvement The guidelines that should be followed if budgeting is to serve effectively as a source of motivation are that: C] subsequent evaluations of performance should be made carefully with opportunities to explain appare nt deficiencies objectives reflected in a budget should be obtainable -? they must be realistic – and clearly communicated 0 employees who will be affected by a budget should be consulted when the gadget is prepared and should be kept up to date with regard to monitoring Performance evaluation One of the hallmarks of leading-edge organizations is the successful application of performance measurement to gain insight into, and make judgments about, organizational effectiveness – to drive improvements and successfully translate strategy into action. A cohesive and clear performance measurement framework that is understood by all levels of the organization, including employees, process owners, customers, and stakeholders, supports objectives and the collection of results. High-performance organizations Leary identify what it takes to determine success and make sure that all employees and managers understand what they are responsible for. Accountability for results is clear ly well-understood and assigned.Budgets – as a planning/ forecasting and as a monitoring/ evaluation tool, contribute to the determination of performance expectations (Key Performance Indicators and Key Results Areas). They contribute to the design of information collection systems and those information results are, in turn, used to develop and design future budgets/ forecasts. Accountability requires understanding and information. It is amazing that in so many organizations employees have no awareness of the relationships between costs, profits and their own contribution to financial success. The communication aspect of a budget should enable employee awareness and involvement in waste reduction, cost cutting and revenue raising. Yet managers often withhold this information from employees.Performance measurements offer information on what expenditures are needed and on how to priorities expenditures – how to develop the financial plan (budget) that will support all or ganizational operations. They help to identify what works and what does not so as to continue with and improve on what is working and repair or replace what is not working. Thus performance management and budgets are critically linked. Budget analysis produces information about the efficiency with which resources are transformed into services and goods, on how well results compare to a program's intended purpose, and on the effectiveness of operations in terms of their specific contribution to program objectives.For this reason, it is vital that information be collected, collated and stored, so that it is both accessible and useable for hose purposes Page | 4 Budgeting steps Cash flow is the movement of money in and out of a business – the process through which the business uses cash to generate products/services for sale to customers, collects cash from sales, then completes this cycle all over again. Organization's need cash flow in order to operate. The cash position chang es constantly, depending on material/stock/supplies purchases, leases or wages payments or incoming payments. Inflows are the inward movement of money from the sale of products/ services.If your organization extends credit to customers and allows them to hare the sale of the goods or services to an account, then inflow occurs as money is collected on the customers' accounts. Proceeds from bank loans are also cash inflow. Outflows are the movement of money out of a business – generally the result of paying expenses. If the business involves reselling or on-selling goods, then the largest outflow is most likely to be for the purchase of retail inventory'. A manufacturing business's largest outflows will mostly likely be for the purchases of raw materials and the supply of other production components. Purchasing fixed assets, paying back loans, and paying accounts payable are also cash outflows.Profit is not the same as cash flow. It is possible to show a healthy profit at the e nd of the year, and yet face a significant money squeeze at various points during the year. Assignment tools Budgets provide for money and specify where it should be spent. They determine who should be accountable for what activity and are used to allocate human resources to processes, functions and projects. They are also used to match resources to results. The intention of budgets is to ensure: 0 sufficient cash flow which will meet all financial obligations 0 maximum profitability Types of budget There are a number of different budgets that will be prepared in an organization.Some of these are:: sales training cash flow capital expenditure operations advertising etc Page 15 Managers, frontline managers and supervisors will deal with some of these budgets; either trying to stay within budget, in terms of expenditure, or to reach budgetary expectations with regard to revenue (income). The different cost centre in the organization will obviously have different budgetary applications . The master budget pulls each of these individual budgets together to form a budget for the overall organization and provides a marry of the financial sources and requirements for operations. It establishes planned and authorized expenditure and when compared with financial reports and running operational information, provides a monitoring tool so you can determine whether events over the budget period are following the predicted course.It indicates revenue shortfalls, excess of over cost spending and sign efficient changes in the economic performance of the organization, a department, project or product. Thus budgets tell you where the organization's money is going and where the resources for operations will mom from. They tell you, therefore what money is available for your team/ division/ section or what the organization's expectations are with regard to income generation by your team/ section/ division. Budgets are one of the most commonly used management tools. Every business, large or small, public or private, profit oriented or not- for-profit should have a budget of some sort.They enable the organization and the people working within it to pull together its commitments, projects and plans and all its costs and to contrast expenditure with expected revenues. A budget enables an organization's financial manager (or team) to anticipate the business's cash resources and make sure they are available ahead of time. Every budget process, therefore, develops a cash flow budget and in most organizations there will be a capital budget (usually extending for more than a year), which sets expected needs against the various sources of capital, providing the basis for capital resources allocations – money for capital expenditures (CAPE). Rapports for expanding business, changing operations, purchasing new machinery and equipment are allocated from the capital budget. As a managerial and planning tool, when properly deployed, budgets ensure that key resources (including people) are assigned to priorities and results. In their capacity as a reporting and monitoring tool, they enable managers to know when to revise and review plans, either because results are different from those expected (better or worse) or because environmental, economic, market or technological conditions no longer correspond with the budget assumptions. Page 16 Forecasting and operations budgeting Budgets are concerned with the uncertain future.They forecast or predict what will happen to the various parts of the operation, and used to ask questions such as: What historical data or trends can we use to help us? How much cash will we need to operate the business? What profit will We make? What will happen to costs? What can we sell? Developing cost consciousness Controlling costs and continuously improving our cost performance requires that teams and individuals constantly review work procedures, practices and systems. This requires the cooperation of the whole team a nd their ongoing support to develop a cost conscious culture where searching for improvements is part of everyday activities. Many people in organizations know how to do things better and save costs and time, but they are often reluctant to suggest them.There can be a number of reasons for this: fear of rejection, fear of loss of a job if the idea could reduce the number of employees, or simply because they think the company does not care or would not act on their suggestions. One of the other reasons for this reluctance might come from the fact that they have not been informed of the budgetary requirements applicable to the team or group with which they work, therefore the significance of their suggestions is lost. These are the barriers that team leaders, frontline managers and supervisors have to overcome so that their team/ work group members will talk freely with them and know that good suggestions will be recognized, acted on and rewarded.Information regarding budgets should b e disseminated to team members; they should be given opportunities to contribute to the development Of new budgets, the tools to use for monitoring the budget and the training that will enable them to understand how their work impacts on organizational cost/ profit ratios. If they do not have this information, they cannot be expected to erect their work activities at cost savings and effective income generation. Thus, not only do team members require the right information, they also require the skills to be able to use that information to add value in terms of their work and in terms of improvements to work. Page 17 Budgets as controls (setting direction) Organizations apply financial controls in order to monitor progress.Cost or actively centered budgets and actual expenditure reports or financial statements are compared and analyses to budgets to identify variance, its causes and corrective actions. As a monitoring tool, budgets enable assessment of success in various areas â€⠀œ are we under, over or on budget? Figures show the organization's performance relative to a specified time frame – last week, last month etc. They act as an early warning system for poor performance and danger, or for the need to revise a forecast. Performance against budget should also be viewed as a warning system for opportunities – for performance that is better than expected and should, therefore be analyses and where appropriate, reproduced. Budgets as reporting tools Budgets are financial reports. They report on what is expected to happen.Comparing and monitoring what actually happens (or is happening) over a set period gives a picture of how well the organization is progressing in achieving its goals. In most organizations a business manager, accountant or accounting department will be responsible for the organization's overall financial management. This is usually achieved through input from the various cost centre which are the units, divisions or sections in an organization which carry accountability for their own expenditure. Such responsibility might relate to day-to-day operations or to the management of specific projects. The employees in the various cost centre would be responsible for collating, collecting and recording the data that will support financial plans.Examples of cost centre include the following departments: Production marketing administration manufacturing Smaller organizations will probably not be broken into separate cost centre. You might be required to record and collect financial data, and, at times, prepare financial reports, oversee the budgeting functions in your section/ division or manage project budgets. At the least, you should be able to read and understand the information contained within financial budgets and reports. Financial information relating to operations, costs, credit analysis, inventory management, invoices and accounts, etc enables management to monitor and control cash flow, production an d productivity, solve problems, plan for continuous improvement, implement quality control procedures and to plan future strategies.

Queer critiques of gay marriage Annotated Bibliography

Queer critiques of gay marriage - Annotated Bibliography Example In the article, the community notes that the number of homosexuals has grown despite the widespread negativity the members face. The second article adopts an equally critical stand as it investigates the cost of achieving equality for the LGBT community. The author of the article understands the society’s skewed and skeptic approach to homosexuality despite the growing number of gays and lesbians in the society. In constructing their articles, the respective authors uphold some of the basic guidelines of writing. The make essential citations thereby enhancing the authority of the claims they make. In retrospect, the two articles are valid reports that make good arguments. Furthermore, they are good sources owing to the authors’ ability to present their facts systematically and attempt to provide evidence by citing the works appropriately. The LGBT community in the country sought to develop a new strategic vision to help redirect their future endeavors. The new vision seeks to safeguard immense economic benefits for gays, lesbians, transgender and bisexuals in the country. The article seeks to safeguard the acceptance, respect and recognition for members of the community in every feature of the society and numerous states within the country. In justifying their new vision, the community explains a number of intricate features of the society including the diversity in families and households as the number of homosexuals grow throughout the country. The community argues that the increase in its size implies that a greater number of people continue to face economic stress. The community uses its experience and experience on the issue by analyzing official reports in coming up with the blueprint. Despite such attempts, the article lacks statistical proof of the issues it raises a feature that make it inflammatory. The article vouches for equality for the LGBT community. The

Diabete Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Diabete - Essay Example The patient is drowsy and the pulse rate is counted as 110. The respiration is fast at 25 deep and sighing breaths per minute, acetone on breath and keto-acidosis has been made. Type I diabetes can occur in patients of any age and is characterised by the inability of the pancreas to secrete the hormone insulin due to autoimmune destruction of the beta cells. It occurs in children quite abruptly, though new antibody tests have been developed to detect new onset adult form of type I diabetes mellitus known as LADA (latent Auto-immune Diabetes of Adults). What distinguishes them from other diabetic patients is the fact that if insulin is withdrawn, they develop ketosis and eventually ketoacidosis. Hence such patients are always dependent on exogenous insulin. Many of the pathophysiological disturbances in a patient with DKA can be measured by a clinician and should be monitored on a real-time basis throughout the course of the treatment. Attention to clinical laboratory data can help the clinician to track and prevent the onset of secondary lethal complications such as hypoglycemia and hyponatremia and hypokalemia. In the absence of insulin, the primary anabolic hormone, muscles and fats as well as the liver do not take up glucose. Counter regulatory hormones such as glucagons, GH and catecholamines enhance triglyceride breakdown into free fatty acids and gluconeogenesis causing an upshot in the level of serum glucose levels in DKA while there is no insulin. Betaoxidation of these free fatty acids then lead to increased ketone body formations. Metabolism in DKA shifts from the normal fed state to the fasting state characterised by fat metabolism. Secondary complications of primary metabolic derangement include an ensuing metabolic acidosis as ketone bodies deplete extra-cellular and cellular acid buffers. The hyperglycaemia induced osmotic diuresis depletes phosphates, potassium, sodium and water together with glucose and ketones. Most commonly, it depletes 10% of body water and 5mEq per kg of body mass of potassium. The total body potassium may be masked by acidosis by sustaining an increased serum potassium level. The levels can fall precipitously once the rehydration and insulin treatments start. Loss of ketoanions in urine with brisk diuresis and intact renal function may also lead to hyperchloremic metabolic acidosis. Frequency In the USA, DKA is seen in patients with type I diabetes. The incidence is grossly 2% patient years of diabetes and almost 3% of diabetes patients initially presenting with DKA. It can occur in type 2 diabetic patients as well though not as a rule. The mortality rate of DKA is nearly 2% per episode. Before the discovery of insulin in 1922, the mortality rate was almost 100 percent. Though patients less than 19 years of age are more prone to DKA, it can occur to a person of any age. History of patients and symptoms at presentation. Clinicians should look out for the classical symptoms of hyperglycemia such as thirst, polyuria, polydispisia and nocturia. Other symptoms include: Generalised weakness Lethargy Nausea Fatigue Decreased perspiration Confusion Increased appetite and Anorexia Clinicians should also be on the

Hobbes and Internationalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Hobbes and Internationalism - Essay Example Hobbes’ State of Nature It would be taxing for anyone vaguely familiar with Hobbes to not be aware of his widely quoted vision of man’s brutal and short life in the state of nature. For Hobbes, man’s equality in the state of nature is the cause of his terrible existence in that every man has the right to everything, which causes conflict. Man possesses an inherent selfishness which causes him to strive constantly for self-preservation, and in turn is the cause of his suffering (or seeking) competition, glory, and distrust. Such a state is ultimately â€Å"no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death† (1996: xiii). This is not to say that man is a blundering, blind fool simply seeking to grab that which promises to bring greater comfort and success to his life. Rather, man is in possession of reason, which causes him to grasp an understanding of right and wrong conduct. Yet, because no formal standards of right and wrong exist in a state of nature, opinions and rights clash and differ. This is not to assume that Hobbes denies the universality of morality or natural law, rather man is governed by agreements and contracts. However, Hobbes’ contracts are a product of the selfishness of man, and hence are not based upon any form of honour or trust because they will be valid to the point that an individual believes that another will not fall foul of his promise. An example would be that Y does not punch Z because Y does not want Z to punch him. This ‘contract’ is formed on pure selfishness, and only extends to the point that Z complies with the agreement. If Y feels that Z’s agreement lacks strength, he will quickly feel free to break his part of the contract. Such contracts, because they are without honour and because they are a product of selfishness, are very likely to be breached. If we are to apply these points on an international scale, some contradictions emerge. While on the surface it would appear that each state has the right to do anything, the existence of equality is highly questionable. Hobbes evidently thinks that a â€Å"genuine condition of war† exists between states (Hokestra 2007: 118), though not their individuals; rather their sovereigns who are constantly â€Å"in the state and posture of gladiators† (1996: xiii, 12, 63/78). The lack of common power on an international level today is evident, yet could this be utilised to lead to the conclusion that each state is constantly read for, or under threat of war? The temptation to answer this query negatively is backed by the concept of equality. Indeed, there is a great deal of â€Å"radical uncertainty† surrounding the cooperation between states (Newey 2008: 161). Though Hobbes saw men as equal in a state of nature, it could not be said that all states are equal; the opposite is actually evident. America certainly does not feel the need to harbour pre-emptive aggres sion against countries such as Iceland, for example. This leads to the conclusion that internationally, states are in a state of war as man is in the state of nature (Bull 1977: 49). This concept can also be applied to Hobbes’ view of man in nature as essentially unsociable: states across the globe often enter into mutually beneficial agreements. Even larger states provide aid to third world countries, particularly after crises and where poverty is extreme. Although these distinctions may be rather primitive, they gather much ground in establishing weaknesses in Hobbes’ theory being applied on an international level. Man in the state of nature is certainly more equal than countries in the ‘

What is the main categories of Helel's argument in Part One of the Essay

What is the main categories of Helel's argument in Part One of the Philosophy of Right and how are they logically connected - Essay Example Brooks, on the other hand, identifies two great debates on the Philosophy of Right, as the work is more commonly known, namely one over its political sympathies and another on its relationship to metaphysics (2007). Thus, the first debate is thought to have arisen since the book’s first appearance, where the Philosophy of Right had been charged with â€Å"a dangerous conservatism† (Brooks, 2007) and the earliest reviews written by those Hegel had considered friends of him were nearly uniformly negative (Wood, 1991). These early attacks, however, viewed the book in relation to the immediate political situation, which may account for the reason why it was read as a blessing on the political status quo; not surprisingly, commentators and scholars in the liberal tradition followed that interpretation (Wood, 1991). The second debate, according to Brooks (2007), divided the scholarship into two camps – adherents of the â€Å"metaphysical approach to the study of Hegel’s work† and such of the â€Å"non-metaphysical approach to Hegel’s work†. Whereas the first debate, about the nature of Hegel’s political philosophy, is believed to be over, with the assertion that Hegel’s views lie in between the extremities of conservatism and liberalism, the second one has developed into an argument about â€Å"how strongly metaphysical† is Hegel’s Philosophy of Right (Brooks, 2007). This paper is intended to review Hegel’s Philosophy of Right’, namely its Part one – â€Å"Abstract Right†, in order to establish which are the main categories of Hegel’s argument and how they logically connect with each other. The paper argues that it is the philosophical method of Hegel, which holds the key to the understanding of his logic. There are two main categories of Hegel’s argument in Part One of the Philosophy of Right, as follows – the concept of ‘Abstract Right’ and the

Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 19

Personal Statement Example in Taxation. Another factor that builds on my capacity for an opportunity to pursue this program is the experience I have gathered working as a consultant for Tailite Chemical & Plastic Limited Company. I have gained knowledge pertaining to legal issues of investing in the Midwest states and in the United States and have encountered issues of taxation. This would help me identify with some of the content that I will be taught in my LL.M. in Taxation classes. This would be an added advantage for me because I will be familiar with elements of taxation (Mooih et al 2003, 513). Research assignments that I will be required to tackle while pursuing the program will benefit from the experience I got while on an internship in Direct2supplier Corporation. While on this internship, I learned how to conduct research and interact, meaningfully, with research results. My service with Akzo Nobel (Asia) Co., Ltd also equipped me with a chance to conduct research inclined to legal issues. Roles and duties that I have assumed in different companies that I have worked for in the past have also taught me the prudence that I will use when going about my studies (Mooih et al 2003, 514). This program is the right one for me because it will enhance my practice as a consultant for Chinese companies that want to start businesses in the United States. Currently, I am working with a company that provides companies with the information they need to launch into overseas markets and the trend is that the companies interested in expanding their businesses abroad are increasing by the day. This has motivated me into studying LL.M. Taxation program from the United States. This way, a faculty that has experience in the country’s taxation practices (Mooih et al 2003, 515) will teach me. While working, I have interacted with people from diverse cultural backgrounds and I will ease adapting to the diverse cultural

Data Analysis for a business making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Data Analysis for a business making - Essay Example c. The model will be solved through the help of the objective function applied, in which the decisions variables will be used in terms of controlling the operations and also avoiding the constraints to get the maximized productivity. d. One of the main constraints in the functional operations was limiting the machine’s productivity due to the depreciation. Another main constraint was time management. The constraint that was not problematic was the labor issue, i.e. they worked properly. e. The reduction in the profit means either the low pricing or the higher material or labor costs. The value of the objective function will change because of the productivity concerns. Because as the material cost has increased, so a limitation will be applied on the working of the machine and the lesser productivity will be the case. f. The value of additional value of additional minute of time per week for the devices numbered 1 to 4 will be respectively as follows: 600, 390, 330, and 204. Th e company must add more test device time on 4th and 3rd device as they have experienced to be consuming lesser time. g. The management of the company should make the corrective measures in terms of the cost reduction techniques and profit maximizing mechanisms. The officials must hire firstly the trained engineers who must know everything about the functions of the machines and how the constraints can be avoided. The company needs maximum productivity and for that it is imperative to train the engineers or flour managers so that they already know what types of constraints can be there and must avoid them to keep the productivity maximized. Also the management must also make sure that the decision variables are only those that can really be controlled and they should be working for the interest of the company for taking the profits to maximized level, and also keeping the costs to the minimum level as that will be the key for the maximum profits. The company must also make sure that the objective functions are properly executed as they will be the important indicators for the success of the maximum productivity. Task 2: a. Mathematical expression for the linear programming function can be written as: Â   The constraints are as follows: These constraints actually mean that the productivity will be low if the resources are not applied efficiently, and the one reason might be the inefficiency of the labor. b. The optimal solution will require the client to follow a specific diet each day which will maximize the chances and objectives which he intends to achieve. The chocolate of 50 grams and sugar of 100 grams might be the best diet for him through which he can meet his aims. This will also incur him the minimum cost, as his problem is more intense but it’s the job of his doctor to suggest the prescriptions that can cost him less but offer him more. c. The creation of the objective function required the programming for which the matlab and java are best pr ograms. The data can be included there along with some calculations and programming. d. Yes, the resources are fully utilized and the materials before being utilized were in stable form and that is why the product quality will also be fine. The only source that was not utilized properly was related to the labor. The management experience of lesser labor doing more work that cannot be handled by them might be the one problem that caused the lack of the productivity that was

Contribution Margin and Breakeven Analysis paper Term

Contribution Margin and Breakeven Analysis - Term Paper Example Therefore, the simulation can be analyzed in terms of these two factors. Maria can decide on which cookie’s production to reduce or increase by considering the contribution margin per unit per cookie type. This means that the cookie with the highest contribution margin per unit should be considered since the fixed cost is assumed equal or constant in every period; therefore, the profits are expected to be higher. The concept of contribution margin will be used to consider the cookies with the lowest contribution per unit, and, therefore, the cookie’s production can be reduced. However, this concept should not be considered if the asking price per unit for the order would result in a contribution margin that would not cover the fixed costs incurred. Since the profits are attained after the fixed costs are deducted from the contribution margin, Maria should consider a state where the asking sales price creates a contribution margin higher than the fixed costs incurred in the production process. The concept of breakeven point is also important in determining the product to produce and the reasons for producing the product. Near-term demand for a product is an important part of the determination of the kind of product to produce. The fact that lemon creme cookies provided increased capacity for production and increased the demand means that Maria should have taken it into consideration. Before the decision of profitability is considered, Maria should consider the demand for the cookies in the near future, since this is what determines the amount of profits, and thus, the survival of the company. The decision to introduce a new type of production in the company is considered as if the company was a starting venture. This means that since the breakeven point for the new blend of cookies is 650,000 packs, Maria should consider the product as a new one. This means that the current production and the expected demand should be a factor in determining the ty pe of cookies to produce. The case study indicates that the current breakeven point for the cookies is 563,000 packs, and increasing capacity would increase in a new breakeven pint of 650,000 packs. The fact the new breakeven point is 650,000 packs should not be factor while considering the cookies to produce, instead, Maria should consider the fact that the production of the butter cookies would result in a loss for the company, therefore, it is advisable that the company produce the new blend of cookies. The decision for Maria would be to stop producing the peanut butter cookies and instead produce the lemon creme cookies. The simulation considered contains many key learning points, but the most important points are the contribution margin, fixed costs, and variable costs. As already described, the contribution margin refers to the difference between the variable cost and selling price per unit of a product, and determines whether a company will be profitable in a fiscal period. T he contribution margin is a key point because it involves both the variable costs and selling price of a product, therefore, these factors do not need to be considered separately. The contribution margin determines whether the variable costs per unit incurred in production are enough to justify the selling price, and if the variable costs

The Impact of the Privatization and Expenditures on the State Research Paper

The Impact of the Privatization and Expenditures on the State Employments in the US - Research Paper Example The data in this research consisted of the expenditures of 33 states in the U.S. and their respective employment level in each state for 2000, 2006 and 2007 years. State employment as a dependent variable, and expenditure and privatization as independent variables were analyzed for the following three years 2000, 2006 and 2007 respectively (Brown & Weisbenner, 2009). In conclusion, Privatization is adopted by the governments in order to transfer the ownership of the management of any service or a property from the control of the public or government to the private sector. Privatization may be complete or incomplete depending on the policies of the government and the fiscal pressure on the public sector (Pappa, 2009). Privatization is the procedure of transferring the ownership of a property or management of any activity or services from the hands of the public or the government to a private owner. The privatization leads to transfer of the properties and services from the public to the private sector which helps the government to increase the efficiency of operation and management of assets in a better way. The government has started to sell off or allow the lease of established assets of the public into the hands of the private sector for the purpose of cost reduction, increasing efficiency of operation, maintenance and open avenues for the source of funds required for new investments. Privatization has been the trend of the governments all over the world. The scope of privatization has not been much in the U.S. as the economy was developed as to be a free market economy. Moreover, the government has not owned several industries unlike other countries of the world. This provided little scope for the government to distribute public ownership to the private sector.  

Working as a fashion stylist Essay Example for Free

Working as a fashion stylist Essay I. Introduction The world of fashion is a very exciting, glamorous and challenging world. There is no doubt that everybody, the rich and famous as well as ordinary people with discriminating tastes, patronizes the fashion trends for nothing is much more satisfying than to indulge oneself in presenting beautifully to the public. In fact according to Sandra Burke, author of the book Fashion Artist: The Design Series â€Å"Fashion has become a global phenomenon†. It is because fashion caters to ones craving for change and excitement in presenting oneself. Burke added that fashion reflect a person’s sexuality, morality and individuality (10). Fashion is advertised in television, newspapers and magazines. From there one can see models dressed glamorously or fashionably with all the matching accessories, make-up and hair do. But these models did not attain their glamorous or fashionable look by themselves. Models are dressed and adorned beautifully by a stylist. For it is the stylist’s job to make people look and feel beautiful. II. Discussion A. What is a stylist? When the word â€Å"stylists† is mentioned, common people automatically thinks that this is a person who cuts hair or do make-up and works in a beauty saloon. Little did common people know that to work as a stylist is to engage in a job that provides opportunity for working with the rich and glamorous of the world. If a stylist is lucky, he/she gets to work with the celebrities, high-profile politicians, businessmen and royal families (Sullivan and Simon 1). Far from being an ordinary beautician in a saloon, a professional stylist is an† expert who uses art and science to make people and objects look good in order to make a statement†(â€Å"Breaking Into†2007). In other words, a stylist is more than just someone who is trying to make a simple ordinary woman looks like a glamorous babe in a haphazard manner. To transform someone to a fashionable person or somebody of discriminating tastes, a stylist employs an extraordinary talent to create a distinct style for a particular individual. Stylists are not just ordinary people who are knowledgeable in fashion although it may be one of the requirements. What is important is that a stylist should have an eye for style and is not ignorant of the latest trends in the fashion industry. A degree in fashion may be an advantage for any stylist, but there are some who learned about the trade by experience. For those who want to learn about styling there are many schools that offered varied courses about the subject (Marie-Claire 2007). For a stylist to be successful he must possess certain qualities. First, he must love to shop to get acquainted with various fashion styles. Shopping is very essential for it enables the stylist to get to look for materials available in the market which will give him additional inputs on styling techniques. Aside from that a stylist must have an eye for detail, meaning that he just do not look at things like any ordinary people do but should scrutinized details of how are things are made or is made up of. He should notice how colors and shades are combined and where and how accessories are placed. If he is a fashion stylist he must be able to know what certain styles fit certain body types, and how they should be put on and what color, shades or color combination is suitable for certain skin tones. In other words, he just do not pick things up or conceived styles without much thought and consideration otherwise his client would look like a clown or would be a laughingstock to the public. Another characteristic of a stylist is his ability to present traditional things in unusual and trendy ways. Other words, he must love to experiment things and see which combination, style, materials would bring out the best in the physical appearance of his client (Fibre2fashion 1). A stylist should always remember, however, that having all this traits would not guarantee that he would become successful. Like in any other profession, stylist should exhibit exceptional interpersonal skill. He must be able to communicate clearly, politely and tactfully with a number of people for in his chosen field of work he will have to interact with various individuals whose work is connected with the fashion industry (Marie-Claire 2007). In other words, a stylist must be able to maintain and initiate good personal relationships B. What are the works of a stylist? The work of a stylist varies and with such specific tasks they are also known in certain job titles as hair stylist, makeup stylist, celebrity stylist, costume stylist, fashion stylist( Fibre2fashion 1-2). As stated earlier, a stylist creates a distinct style for a particular individual. His clients include celebrities, royal families, businessmen, models and other ordinary individuals who desired to present a distinct image of themselves (Fibre2fashion 1). To achieve a certain look a stylist, especially a fashion stylists, should be able to rightfully combined wardrobe, accessories and hair for his client’s style (makeup is included specifically for women). In choosing a dress to wear it is very critical that a fashion stylist should be able to know certain body types. According to Kendall Far author of The Pocket Stylist: Behind-the-Scenes Expertise from a Fashion Pro on Creating Your Own Look a stylist must know about silhouette (the outlined shape or contour of a person’s body and what will flatter it best), proportion (individual pieces of an outfit in relation to one another), fabric as well as other information needed in fashion wear( 1-4). More often than not, stylist are called trendsetters for they are the ones who first dictate to the public what’s in, what’ new and what’s right for the occasion. For example, he may require a certain to celebrity to wear a fancy accessory in an important event that would surely catch the eye of the onlookers and then eventually the onlookers will wear the same type of accessories themselves. Or they can give certain styles a hip look to traditional garment that sets the trend in the fashion industry (Fibre2fashion 1).

Intrinsic Water Use Efficiency: Carbon Isotopic Composition

Intrinsic Water Use Efficiency: Carbon Isotopic Composition Determination of intrinsic water use efficiency of different Mediterranean forest species by carbon isotopic composition Abstract An experiment will be conducted to study the C-13 composition in the tissues of Pinus halepensis, Quercus ilex and Arbutus unedo under different water availability conditions. C-13 composition will be determined using elemental analyser. An ANOVA will be conducted to analyze the composition of C-13 within the plant tissue of plants in different water availability conditions. We will compare the C-13 compositions in the plant tissues of the species within same year with relation to water availability. The relationship between the C-13 composition in the plant tissue and water use efficiency (WUEi), different strategies to couple water stress will also be discussed. Introduction The Mediterranean landscape has low precipitation and humidity, and high sun intensity with less productive soil (FAO, 2010). Previous studies show that changes are occurring in the amount, intensity, frequency and type of precipitation with climate change. Mediterranean Forests are generally composed of broadleaf and pine species. All the species have different water requirements. It is needed to determine the intrinsic water use efficiency of main species (Pinus halepensis, Arbutus unedoandQuercus ilex) of the landscape for better compositional management of the landscapes keeping in view the water demands of the species. Literature review The Mediterranean region has limited and unevenly distributed water resources with only 1.2% of total renewable water resources (FAO, 2010). The basin has high sun light and low humidity. The freshwater resources are expected to decrease upto 20-30% in 1950 due to global warming. The mediterranean region is most vulnerable to the climate change (Milano et al., 2012). The region is rich in biodiversity. Quercus (broad leaf) is well-represented genus, with a great range of species including Q. ilex (FAO, 2010). Oak is also a heritage plant in Portugal (Galmà ©s et al., 2007). Pinus halepensis and Arbutus unedo are the two other prominent species of the Mediterranean region (Molina et al., 2012). P. halepensis has water saver behavior and Q. ilex behaves like water spender (Baquedano et al., 2006). Water stress affects the vegetation production by a reduction of the leaf area, the stomatal conductance and the CO2 uptake and hence of the photosynthesis, and by a slowdown of root elevati on and development (Verstraeten et al., 2006). Under water stress conditions, plants exhibit several short to long-term adaptive responses. Reduced stomatal conductance (gs) and transpiration (E) due to closing of stomata (gs) is the first functional adaptations to water shortage (Galmà ©s et al., 2007). The adaptive responses are related with carbon splitting and create changes in vegetative and fruit growth (Chalmers and Ende, 1975: Hsiao, 1973). The intensity and duration of water stress, whether imposed via irrigation or resulting from natural drought, may affect leaf gas exchange and nutrient uptake (Boyer, 1996 and Flexas and Medrano, 2002). Oak tree minimizes water potential of the leave to extract water from a region of higher water potential that is soil (Guehl and Aussenac, 1987; Lo Gullo and Salleo, 1988). Plant takes carbon (C-12 and C-13) during photosynthesis. In normal water conditions, Plants prefer carbon 12 during photosynthesis (Farquhar et al., 1989). This is called carbon-12 discrimination (Craig, 1957). The discrimination takes place in two levels. Firstly, it takes place during gas exchange through stomata. Secondly, the discrimination is by RuBisCO enzyme (Farquhar et al., 1989). In stressed conditions, plants tend to minimize water loss through closing stomata. This will also decrease the gaseous exchange through stomata. In this condition, there is not adequate carbon dioxide in the leave tissue for photosynthesis. So plants have no more preference for carbon-12. They take both carbon-12 and carbon-13 (Ferrio, 2003). Problem statement Mediterranean ecosystems are strongly limited by a long and intense drought period that coincides with the hottest period. Moreover, in the next decades, the Mediterranean region of the Iberian Peninsula is predicted to face a 20% decrease in precipitation, and an increase of 2–3 °C in temperature (MARM, 2009), all of which will lead to higher water stress. Plant growth in the region is strictly limited by drought in recent scenario (Rey and Alcà ¡ntara, 2000, Quero etal., 2008andGonzà ¡lez-Rodrà ­guez etal., 2011). The field simulations suggest that in future, this will become even more problematic (Matà ­as etal., 2012) due to climate change (Milano et al., 2012). The pressure on freshwater resources will also increase because of tourism, tanning, food and textile industry and agriculture sector. Possible future changes in water resources availability in this densely populated region may have dramatic societal and environmental effects (Gracia-Ruiz et al., 2011). With shortage of water, we have to face desertification, erosion and food security problem. Both broad and narrow leaf species are inhabited here (FAO, 2010). All species of the landscape vary in their water requirement. Some species consumes more water than the others. So we have to identify the species with lower water requirement and better strategies to cope the water scarcity problem. It is needed to determine the intrinsic water use efficiency of main species (Pinus halepensis, Arbutus unedoandQuercus ilex) of the landscape for better compositional management of the landscapes keeping in view the water demands of the species. Research Questions: Which one is the best suited species among P. halepensis, A. unedoandQ. ilex for the water scarced Mediterranean landscape? Specific Objectives: To analyze the intrinsic water use efficiencies of P. halepensis, A. unedoandQ. ilex over space. To analyze the intrinsic water use efficiencies of P. halepensis, A. unedoandQ. ilex over time to determine the best species for the future landscape composition to minimize the water consumption. To determine variability in water requirements of the P. halepensis, A. unedoandQ. ilex Hypothesis: Intrinsic water use efficiency of P. halepensis, A. unedoandQ. ilex is same and they consume same amount of water. There is no variability in the water requirement of P. halepensis, A. unedoandQ. ilex over space. Limitation The time to analyze the temporal and spatial changes is short. Materials and Methodology Plant samples of three species will be collected from botanical garden, arboretum of University of Lleida, Spain. The water supply will be artificially varied. Carbon-13 composition of collected samples will be analyzed by Europa Scientific 20-20 IRMS coupled to a Europa Scientific elemental analyser. Plant C-13 analyses are currently used for a diverse range of applications including environmental (Ferrio, 2003) and ecophysiological studies (Arens et al., 2000; Kohn, 2010). The data will be analyzed by ANOVA. References Arens NC, Jahren AH, Amundson R. 2000.Can C3 plants faithfully record the carbon isotopic composition of atmospheric carbon dioxide? Paleobiology 26:137–164. Boyer J. (1996). Advances in drought tolerance in plants. Adv. Agron., 56 (1996), pp. 187–218 Chalmers D.J., and Ende B.V.D. (1975). A Reappraisal of the Growth and Development of Peach Fruit. Australian Journal of Plant Physiology 2(4) 623 – 634 Craig H. 1957. Isotopic standards for carbon and oxygen and correction factors for mass-spectrometric analysis of carbon dioxide. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 12: 133–149. FAO (2010).Aquastat–Systà ¨me d’information de la FAO sur l’eau et l’agriculture Farquhar G.D., Ehleringer J.R., Hubick K.T., 1989. Carbon isotope discrimination and photosynthesis. Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology 40, 503-537 Ferrio J.P., Voltas J., Araus J.L. (2003). Use of carbon isotope composition in monitoring environmental changes. Management of Environmental Quality 14, 82-98. Flexas J., Medrano H. (2002). Drought-inhibition of photosynthesis in C3 plants: Stomatal and non-stomatal limitations revisited. Ann. Bot., 89 (2), pp. 183–189. Galmà ©s j., Medrano H., Flexas J. (2007). Photosynthetic limitations in response to water stress and recovery in Mediterranean plants with different growth forms. New Phytol. 175 (1), pp. 81–93 Guehl JM, Aussenac G (1987). Photosynthesis decrease and stomatal control of gas exchange in Abies alba Mill. in response to vapour pressure difference. Plant Physiol 83:316–322 Hsiao T.C. (1973). Plant responses to water stress. Annu. Rev. Plant. Physiol., 24 (1) (1973), pp. 519–570 J.L. Quero, L. Gà ³mez-Aparicio, R. Zamora, F.T. Maestre (2008). Shifts in the regeneration niche of an endangered tree (Acer opalus ssp. granatense) during ontogeny: using an ecological concept for application. Basic Appl. Ecol., 9, pp. 635–644 J.M. Garcia-Ruiz, J.I. Lopez-Moreno, S.M. Vicente Serrano, T. Lasanta-Martinez, S. Begueria (2011). Mediterranean water resources in a global change scenario. Earth-Science Reviews, 105, pp. 121–139 Kohn MJ. 2010. Carbon isotope compositions of terrestrial C3 plants as indicators of (paleo) ecology and (paleo) climate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 107: 19691–19695 Matà ­as L., Quero J.L., Zamora R., Castro J., (2012). Evidence for plant traits driving specific drought resistance. A community field experiment. Environ. Exp. Bot., 81, pp. 55–61 Lo Gullo MA, Salleo S (1988). Different strategies of drought resistance in three Mediterranean sclerophyllous trees growing in the same environmental conditions. New Phytologist 108:267–276 M. Milano, D. Ruelland, S. Fernandez, A. Dezetter, J. Fabre, E. Servat (2012). Facing climatic and anthropogenic changes in the Mediterranean basin: What will be the medium-term impact on water stress? Comptes Rendus Geoscience. 344(9), pp. 432-440 P.J. Rey, J.M. Alcà ¡ntara (2000). Recruitment dynamics of a fleshy-fruited plant (Olea europaea): connecting patterns of seed dispersal to seedling establishment. J.Ecol., 88, pp. 622–633 Quinta Comunicacià ³n Nacional de Espaà ±a (2009). Convencià ³n Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Cambio Climà ¡tico Diciembre, Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino. V. Gonzà ¡lez-Rodrà ­guez, R. Villar, R. Casado, E. Suà ¡rez-Bonnet, J.L. Quero, R. Navarro Cerrillo (2011) Spatio-temporal heterogeneity effects on seedling growth and establishment in four Quercus species. Ann. For. Sci., 68, pp. 1217–1232 Baquedano F. J., Castillo F.J. (2006).Comparative ecophysiological effects of drought on seedlings of the Mediterranean water-saver Pinus halepensis and water-spenders Quercus coccifera and Quercus ilex. Trees. 20:689–700.

An analysis of the Latin American Banana Industry

An analysis of the Latin American Banana Industry It is hard to believe that the bright yellow, delicious and nutritious banana has greatly affected Latin America and, in particular, Ecuador. As Latin America produces 83% of the worlds bananas, the majority of the bananas that Canadians consume are exported from there. Most of these are from Ecuador. (Hellin and Higman, 2002a:65) During my time in Ecuador, I ate a wild banana. It tasted nothing like the bananas that North Americans have access to all year round in the grocery store. It is because of my experience in Ecuador and the relationships that I formed with the indigenous people there, that I am very connected to this topic. The process of trading bananas that have been produced in Ecuador and then transported all over the world relates to the concept of comparative and absolute advantage, from the Classical liberalism theory (David Ricardo and Adam Smith) and Globalization. The primary goal in the classical liberalism theory is economic freedom. This could be achieved by rem oving all obstacles that could potentially get in the way of free trade and the market, such as regulation by the state. (Wagner 2010.) Globalization fits into the Classical liberalism theory as it functions around free trade, and therefore, requires the removal of obstacles such as tariffs. (Herold 2011.) It is because of the implications of Globalization and the concepts of comparative and absolute advantage, there has been an emergence of transnational corporations (TNCs) and multinational corporations (MNCs) in the Global south, for example, in Ecuador. In this paper, I argue that globalization, though may generally be positive development, can have a detrimental affect for the Global south, when it comes to the production of food commodities such as bananas. Theoretical Approach: The role of TNCs and MNCs in the processes of the banana industry are related to the concept of Comparative and absolute advantage from the classical liberalism theory. (David Ricardo, Adam Smith) Companies from the Global north (U.S and Canada) set up their production in the Global south, where the production of good quality fruit is less costly. The workers that work for these companies are paid substantially lower wages than workers in more developed economies where there are governmental regulations to provide standards of working conditions and wages. As mentioned in the article, Smallholder Banana Producers Need Policy Adjustments, Ecuador is an example of a country in the Global south that has a comparative advantage over other exporters in the banana industry. The European Union and the United States are the two major importers of bananas from Ecuador, due to Ecuadors fertile land, cheap labour and low chances of being impacted by storms that could potentially destroy the ban ana crops. (Hellin and Higman 2002a:29) Because Ecuador has this comparative advantage, the Global north will rely on them for bananas and not much else. As a result, this banana producing country must rely upon its trading partners in the developed world for providing other goods which are produced at substantially higher costs and therefore are very expensive for them and other developing countries. In the end, as mentioned in, Smith, Ricardo and the world marketplace 1776-2007, Back to the future, an imbalance of trade occurs between the Global north and Global south, where trade agreements between industrialized countries and the Global south are skewed against developing economies. In the majority of cases, the terms of trade between the Global north and Global south heavily favour the industrialized countries, therefore leaving slim pickings for the Global south (Sapsford, 2007). The Role of Multinational Companies in the Banana Industry Globalization has provided the opportunities for a diverse market of products, but at a cost. As Globalization increases, more MNCs and TNCs make their mark on developing countries by focusing on producing one commodity from those countries for the benefit of the company. As mentioned in the article, Bananas, the world trade of bananas is controlled by 5 major companies that control 80% of the market. These are: Chiquita brands, Dole Food Company, Del Monte Fresh Produce, Noboa and Fyffes. (Hamer, 2007) Although these five companies do not own the farms that produce the bananas for trade, they have control of the market for selling the bananas for export. As a result, they have the power to set a fixed price on the bananas, while controlling the wages paid to the producers. (Hellin and Higman.b. 5,11) The MNCs therefore control just under 90% of Ecuadors banana exports. Although there are independent producers of bananas in Ecuador, the majority of them sign contracts with these comp anies to guarantee a limited income, because having a low income is better than not knowing when you will be paid when competing in the open market. (Hellin and Higman, 2002a:65) This is another example of banana producers dependence upon multi national companies. Having to compete in the world wide market place for U.S farmers and markets is daunting for independent farmers, making them vulnerable to MNCs to swoop in and take advantage. The contracts that bind the MNC to the small farmers in Ecuador are very beneficial to the companies. While not directly controlling the farmers operations, the MNCs influence how farms are run by turning a blinds eye to working conditions and environmental management. As a result, because of their products low prices, farmers resort to using child labor with long working hours, or to neglecting the environment to meet production obligations. (Hellin and Higman:b.12) As farmers become more dependent on the MNCs, they are less likely to contradict what the company demands, or to take a political stand against them. (Hellin and Higman:b.12) The five multinational corporations mentioned above have substantial power in the banana industry by controlling the market of bananas and entering into lopsided contracts with farmers. They also have a large influence over politics and governments in countries where the farmers live. As the power that these companies have over third world governments is what caused the banana dispute between the European Union and the United States. The American banana exporting companies, with a vested interest in Latin America, encouraged the American Government to involve the WTO in the banana trade because of the preferential access that the European Union was giving to African, Caribbean and Pacific Country banana exporters (OPEC). (Hellin and Higman 2002a:5) These events are examples of how Globalization has had negative effects on the Global south, especially in the case of Ecuador. Scholars in, Could Developing Countries Take The Benefit Of Globalisation? argue that if certain countries in the Global South did not meet the criteria required of MNCs such as slack labor laws and nonexistent unions, they would pack up and head to the other countries, who are willing to enter into one sided relationships in order to have some employment. ( Foo and Bass cited in Could Developing Countries Take The Benefit of Globalisation?2006:731) Although employment is necessary for the economies of countries in the Global South to grow, there should be a limit as to what extent exploitation of the Global South and the workers is justified. Exploitation of workers in the Banana Industry: In the Global south, the exploitation of workers is increasingly a problem. Companies from the Global north move their companies to developing countries with lower wages to lower the cost of producing the commodities they sell to us. This is an issue for Ecuador. According to the article, Small Holder Banana Producers Need Policy Adjustments, the Ecuadorian government sets a minimum price that the MNC must pay the independent producer per box of bananas. This minimum price by itself barely covers the price of production. This results in farmers paying their workers at or below subsistent wages. The workers are afraid of losing their jobs, therefore they will not complain. If they were to complain, there would be many capable people waiting for jobs, as there are many unemployed people in these economies. This makes it easy for these companies to find replacement producers. (Hellin and Higman, 2002a:65) When the Chiquita fruit company, formally known as the United Fruit company, began using local farmers to produce their fruit in Colombia, there were many rules attached as to their business contracts. (Enforcing Business contracts in South America: The United Fruit Company and Colombian Banana planters in the twentieth century. Bucheli, 2004) As noted by Bucheli, in these contracts the United Fruit company had the option of not buying the fruit produced by the local growers; however, these growers could only sell their fruit to this company. These contracts guaranteed the protection of the United Fruit Company and left the fruit growers to deal with the risks and at the same time, if the fruit being exported was not up to standards, or if there was no demand for it, then the planters would receive no pay and could not sell the rejected fruit anywhere else. They would be forced to deal with the blemished fruit that was unsellable. The United Fruit Company created many rules in the contracts and were sneaky when it came to preventing fruit producers from joining f orces and forming their own company by issuing the contracts in a staggered manner; that is, the different producers at different times to hedge one farmers production against anothers. (2004) Not only do MNCs take advantage of the farmers producing bananas, but they also turn their backs on the immoral employment of children in the banana sector. Children are being employed in the banana industry from as young as eight years old, where they are put into jobs that require hard labor, the use of dangerous tools and exposure to pesticides and other hazardous fumes. Unfortunately, the Ecuadorian Government has not implemented strong labor laws to prevent this labor abuse of children, and therefore it will likely continue. (Ecuador: Widespread Labor Abuse on Banana Plantations. 2002) Workers Unions are a way of implementing regulations on working conditions and protecting workers rights. In Ecuador, Unions are found in the more formal sectors of work, which does not include the Banana Industry. These formal sectors are where the minority of Ecuadorian workers are employed, where an education is required. As a result, the majority of workers in Ecuador are not protected by these regulations and laws. (Ecuador Working Conditions) All of these examples portray how the American companies interested in the fruit of a developing country are only interested in profits and are prepared to take advantage of the disadvantaged circumstances of the local producers to maximize their returns, even if this leads to the degradation of the environment and the local population. Effects of the Banana Industry on the environment and health: With the increase of MNCs entering Latin America and exporting bananas, the environment and health of the workers within these countries has greatly decreased. As stated in the article, Major Concerns of Developing countries: Applications of the Precautionary Principle in Ecuador, Globalization has been one of the key reasons for the introduction of hazardous materials into Latin America. If the market remains open for free trade, it becomes very difficult to control what materials enter these countries and therefore hazardous substances are introduced into these countries to increase production. As well, the article states that it is much more difficult for developing countries to implement ways to prevent the impacts of hazardous chemicals to the environment and the society. MNCs knowingly take advantage of this by moving their companies to countries such as Ecuador, where they have not yet implemented rules against using certain bio-hazardous products. This leads to certain chemic als that have yet to be tested for safety reasons to be legally sold and then used improperly. (Harari.H, Freire and Harari.F 2005:249-254.) According to Ecocertification of Ecuadorian Bananas: Prospects for Progressive North-South Linkages, the production of Bananas is one that requires the heavy use of pesticides and other environmentally degrading fumes. These are necessary to keep up with the increasing rate of production that is required by the small farmers. (Castillo et. al. 2000; Clay 2004; Henriques et al. 1997; Muenos-Carpena et al. 2002 cited in Ecocertification of Ecuadorian Bananas: Prospects for Progressive North-South Linkages. 2007:262) The use of pesticides is not only harmful to the environment, but also to the workers. Hamer discusses in his article, Bananas, that even if workers wanted to complain about the impacts of the practice of these companies on their health, the company would more likely end up firing the workers rather than admit their faults. (2007) Unfortunately because there is a lack of education on how to properly use the pesticides, the risks that come along with these harmful sprays are even more toxic to the workers, as many of them do not receive the proper protective equipment. (Henriques et al.1997 cited in Ecocertification of Ecuadorian Bananas: Prospects for Progressive North-South Linkages 2007:262) As well, because of the large rainfall in Latin America, it is necessary to spray the banana plants repeatedly with pesticides, as the rain washes the pesticides off of the plants into the soil. According to the World Wild Life Fund, The banana industry produces more waste than any other agricultural sector in the Global south. (Hamer 2007: 24-27) In view of the fact that its climate and environmental conditions are more suitable for the production of bananas, the entire world relies on the Global south for their production. As the Global south produces more bananas, the greater will be its contribution to the decline of its environment. Globalization can lead to many positive events, such as uniting the world and bringing people closer through a freer flow of information, trade and ideas. In the production of bananas, however, Globalization has had a number of negative effects in those countries which grow them. Multi national and Trans national corporations continue to have huge amounts of power which allow them to virtually ignore any laws or regulations stand in their path of making a profit. In the end, the Global south and in this case, Ecuador suffers, as their workers are exploited and paid low wages while engaging in farming practices that degrades the environment.

Wake Up Willy :: essays research papers

Wake Up, Willy "He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine †¦ A salesman is got to dream, boy." (Requiem, page 138) Willy Loman longs for the success of his brother Ben, but refuses to accept the drudgery in the work of his friend, Charley. Essentially, Willy wants the freedom that Ben has – leaving for Alaska on a whim, ending up in the wrong place, and still succeeding on his own – without the responsibility and hard work that Charley puts in to be modestly and stolidly successful. The incongruity in Willy’s wishes – that Willy wants all the glory without any of the guts – leaves him in a place where, truly, he is still a child. And, like a child, Willy could never live like Ben because he needs the security of a job and life like the one Charley has. As the play winds on, Willy cannot wake up from his fantasized version of true American success and, ultimately, allows Miller to illustrate the shallowness of the American Dream. Ben represents success based on the benchmarks Willy has created: that if a man has a good appearance and is well-liked, he will thrive in the business world. Yet, the amount of truth in Ben’s character is questionable. More likely, Ben has been idealized in Willy’s mind to become a mix between truth and fantasy – one who exemplifies the principles that Willy lives his life by and bestows on the Loman boys. "William, when I walked into the jungle, I was seventeen. When I walked out I was twenty-one. And, by God, I was rich!" (Act 1, Page 52) In fact, either Ben leaves out the part of the story where he worked tirelessly for four years in the jungle to make his fortune or this is another example of Willy nurturing his fantasies in his own idealized hallucination of Ben. Either way, Willy cannot wake up from the dream world his head is in involving the seemingly effortless success that comes about his brother Ben, nor can he realize that, at least in his world, success is based on more than projecting a good, confident appearance and being well-liked: it involves hard work and effort. And, while he idealizes Ben and raises him to the point of symbolic greatness, he idolizes Dave Singlman (single-man), who, at the age of eight-four, can â€Å"go into any city, pick up the phone, and†¦ [make] his living,† because he represents the only solid example of success under Willy’s principle – and even then, Singleman is alone.

Critical Analysis of Interview with the Vampire Essay -- essays papers

Critical Analysis of Interview with the Vampire Charismatic. Charming. Sensual. Beautiful. Would you ever use these adjectives to describe a vampire? The common theme in portraying vampires in literature has always involved depictions of great violence, ugliness, and fear. Novels involving vampires never portrayed the vampire as a heroic character, but rather as the villain who was then destroyed in the end. Stereotypical vampires terrorized towns, lived in grim, dark, towering castles and turned into bats when in trouble. Authors were simply not inspired to build a tale around the life of a vampire, his shortcomings, his doubts, his fears. Rather, authors used the vampire as a metaphor for evil that resides in humanity. Essentially, vampires were the demons inside ourselves that we had to slay. In the 1970’s, Anne Rice reinvented the vampire genre by publishing Interview with the Vampire. Unlike other vampire novels, Interview was the life account of Louis du Pointe du Lac as an interview conducted throughout the night with a reporter recruited by Louis himself. Louis unlike the common stereotype is not a vicious killer. In fact, his tale is of his struggle to keep his humanity intact, to battle his nature and his thirst for blood. In reminiscing he introduces us to the colorful and vibrant vampire world inhabited by the likes of Lestat, Louis’ creator and lover; and Claudia, a child-vampire created by Louis and Lestat who later becomes Louis’ lover. The threesome becomes an unorthodox family unit, living in splendor and happiness. However, their happiness is not permanent as Claudia matures mentally but is forever stuck in the body of a child. There is a striking difference between the classic vampir... ... the charismatic, chic and sensual creatures have made their way into modern culture, the concept of vampirism has undertaken many new meanings. Meanings that are not associated with the thirst for blood and brutality, but rather a thirst for understanding. Vampires have metamorphosed into a metaphor for our human desires, needs and passions. No longer are they the metaphor for our dark side, but rather they’re an accepted part of us. Bibliography: Rice, Anne. Interview with the Vampire. Randomhouse: 1976. Tomc, Sandra. "Dieting and Damnation: Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire," Blood Read: The Vampire as Metaphor in Contemporary Culture. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997, pp. 95-113. Waxman, Barbara Frey. â€Å"Postexistentialism in the Neo-Gothic Mode: Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire.† Mosaic, Vol. 25, No. 3, Summer, 1992, pp. 79-97

Part Two Chapter I

Fair Comment 7.33 Fair comment on a matter of public interest is not actionable. Charles Arnold-Baker Local Council Administration, Seventh Edition I It rained on Barry Fairbrother's grave. The ink blurred on the cards. Siobhan's chunky sunflower head defied the pelting drops, but Mary's lilies and freesias crumpled, then fell apart. The chrysanthemum oar darkened as it decayed. Rain swelled the river, made streams in the gutters and turned the steep roads into Pagford glossy and treacherous. The windows of the school bus were opaque with condensation; the hanging baskets in the Square became bedraggled, and Samantha Mollison, windscreen wipers on full tilt, suffered a minor collision in the car on the way home from work in the city. A copy of the Yarvil and District Gazette stuck out of Mrs Catherine Weedon's door in Hope Street for three days, until it became sodden and illegible. Finally, social worker Kay Bawden tugged it out of the letterbox, peered in through the rusty flap and spotted the old lady spread-eagled at the foot of the stairs. A policeman helped break down the front door, and Mrs Weedon was taken away in an ambulance to South West General. Still the rain fell, forcing the sign-painter who had been hired to rename the old shoe shop to postpone the job. It poured for days and into the nights, and the Square was full of hunchbacks in waterproofs, and umbrellas collided on the narrow pavements. Howard Mollison found the gentle patter against the dark window soothing. He sat in the study that had once been his daughter Patricia's bedroom, and contemplated the email that he had received from the local newspaper. They had decided to run Councillor Fairbrother's article arguing that the Fields ought to remain with Pagford, but in the interests of balance, they hoped that another councillor might make the case for reassignment in the following issue. Backfired on you, hasn't it, Fairbrother? thought Howard happily. There you were, thinking you'd have it all your own way †¦ He closed the email and turned instead to the small pile of papers beside him. These were the letters that had come trickling in, requesting an election to fill Barry's vacant seat. The constitution stated that it required nine applications to enforce a public vote, and he had received ten. He read them over, while his wife's and his business partner's voices rose and fell in the kitchen, stripping bare between them the meaty scandal of old Mrs Weedon's collapse and belated discovery. ‘†¦ don't walk out on your doctor for nothing, do you? Screaming at the top of her voice, Karen said – ‘ ‘ – saying she'd been given the wrong drugs, yes, I know,' said Shirley, who considered that she had a monopoly on medical speculation, given that she was a hospital volunteer. ‘They'll run tests up at the General, I expect.' ‘I'd be feeling very worried if I were Dr Jawanda.' ‘She's probably hoping the Weedons are too ignorant to sue, but that won't matter if the General finds out it was the wrong medication.' ‘She'll be struck off,' said Maureen with relish. ‘That's right,' said Shirley, ‘and I'm afraid a lot of people will feel good riddance. Good riddance.' Methodically Howard sorted letters into piles. Miles' completed application forms he set aside on their own. The remaining communications were from fellow Parish Councillors. There were no surprises here; as soon as Parminder had emailed him to tell him that she knew of somebody who was interested in standing for Barry's seat, he had expected these six to rally round her, demanding an election. Together with Bends-Your-Ear herself, they were the ones he dubbed ‘the Obstreperous Faction', whose leader had recently fallen. Onto this pile he placed the completed forms of Colin Wall, their chosen candidate. Into a third pile he placed four more letters, which were, likewise, from expected sources: professional complainers of Pagford, known to Howard as perennially dissatisfied and suspicious, all prolific correspondents to the Yarvil and District Gazette. Each had their own obsessive interest in some esoteric local issue, and considered themselves ‘independent minded'; they would be the ones most likely to scream ‘nepotism' if Miles had been co-opted; but they were among the most anti-Fields people in town. Howard took the last two letters in each hand, weighing them up. One of them was from a woman whom he had never met, who claimed (Howard took nothing for granted) to work at the Bellchapel Addiction Clinic (the fact that she styled herself ‘Ms' inclined him to believe her). After some hesitation, he placed this on top of Cubby Wall's application forms. The last letter, unsigned and typed on a word processor, demanded an election in intemperate terms. It had an air of haste and carelessness and was littered with typos. The letter extolled the virtues of Barry Fairbrother and named Miles specifically as ‘unfit to fill his sheos'. Howard wondered whether Miles had a disgruntled client out there who might prove to be an embarrassment. It was good to be forewarned of such potential hazards. However, Howard doubted whether the letter, being anonymous, counted as a vote for an election. He therefore fed it into the little desktop shredder that Shirley had given him for Christmas.

Communication and Social Work Essay

This essay will identify and discuss key communication skills in the context of social work practice. The importance of communication skills will be acknowledged by talking about three different skills of communication. The subjects discussed will be non-verbal communication, effective listening and questions, what these skills are and why they are important. It is essential for a professional social worker to hold effective communicative skills as one will encounter people from all different walks of life and the aim to treat a service user as an individual and enable empowerment is paramount to meeting a person’s needs. There is also the need to communicate effectively with colleagues, agencies, professional bodies and the accuracy of one’s communication is essential if the possibility of appearing in court was to be encountered. Communication within social work practise is essential in the way of addressing a person’s needs to enable improvement on one’ s quality of life. Effective communication can build trust, respect and self esteem and this can help a service user to becoming more independent. Good communication skills can also create psychological safety and aid a person to retain and establish links with friends, family and society. (Moonie, 2000). Buggins, Cornwall and Cunnane discuss that psychological safety is created in leadership so staff are able to discuss and raise issues that are of concern without fear (2013). Transferring this to the context of a social worker and a service user can enable the service user to engage in a more open conversation with a feeling that one is being viewed as trying to rectify mistakes instead of being seen as incompetent. There are different elements of communication and a distinct part is non-verbal communication, such as body language, how one dresses, timekeeping for example being too early or too late, touch, distance between people, eye contact and face expression. (Cooper, Lymbery, Ruch and Wilson 2011) Face to face contact with service users who are hard of hearing is particular important in reading one’s expression o f the face or lip reading. Also in this instance sitting closer and the use of touch may be useful and necessary to visually impaired people. On the contrary though as stated by Koprowska (2008) people with autism find face to face contact difficult and may not be able to judge expressions on a face and this may seem strange if it is unfamiliar to a person until some other way of contact is found. Another important part of communication is effective listening. As Rayudu (2010) puts forward,  effective listening is not an attribute that one is born with, but a skill that is learned with practice, experience and training. A guideline for effective listening is paraphrasing which is when the listener repeats what a person has said in one’s own words. The importance of this is to keep control over listening and ensuring accuracy. An equally important skill when effectively listening is mirroring, referred to in a training paper developed for the government, National Park Service (2011) which helps build empathy and trust. Mirroring is when a person’s verbal and non verbal actions are matched subtly. This can ma ke the speaker unconsciously like the listener as the speaker thinks that there are similarities between the listener and the speaker and that the listener is in touch with who they are. Listening skills come in to play when asking questions and the many types of questions that are asked are very helpful to retrieving information from a service user. Another aspect in order for the questioning to work is that a person must show that one is interested in the answer which is why effective listening as referred to earlier plays a big part. Trevithick (2005) There are different types of questions such as open questions, closed questions and leading questions or maybe the non use of leading questions. Although these questions can be helpful they can result in putting words in to a person’s mouth. Open questions result in broad answers and can result in an in-depth expression of thoughts, feelings and opinions and can be left up to the respondent as to how to answer the question. Hargie (2006). These questions encourage service users to talk more in-depth or deeply about any concerns. Opposed to the open ended questions there are closed questions which usually resul t in one word answers being given. These questions can be good for retrieving very specific information. Although these questions should be used carefully as stated in scie (2008) the service user may want to expand on an answer but maybe unsure of how to interrupt. It also limits information and may not give answers to information needed in order to learn about the service user. On discussing the different skills on communication this essay has shown why each skill is important when communicating with a service user or professional body. For a person to feel that they are being listened to and that what one says is not being judged or seem inept is paramount to realising concerns and not missing information. The skills are acquired through training and experience and are needed to get the fullest  and most accurate picture. References Buggins, E, Cornwall, J and Cunane, D.(2013). Create a culture of ‘psychological safety’. Health Service Journal. Issue 8th January. Retrieved from http://www.hsj.co.uk/resource-centre/leadership/create-a-culture-of-psychological-safety/5052550.article#.Um5qk3CG4-o Cooper, A, Lymbery, M, Ruch, G and Wilson, K. (2011). Social Work: An Introduction to Contemporary Practice. (2nd ed). Essex. Pearson Education Ltd Hargie, O. (2006). The Handbook of Communication Skills. (3rd ed). London. Routledge Koprowska, J. (2008). Communication Skills and Interpersonal skills in social work.(2nd ed). Exeter. Learning Matters Ltd. Moonie, N. (2000). Health and Social Care.(3rd ed).Oxford. Heinemann Educational Publishers. National Park Service. (2011). â€Å"Advanced Communication Skills Building and Maintaing Trust† : Module II, Part 2 – Cohort B : Consulting Skills Curriculum for HR Specialists. Retrieved from http://www.nps.gov/training/tel/Guides/Adv_Comm_Skills_Trust_M od2_CB_Part2.pdf Rayudu,C,S. (2010). Communication. Mumbia, IND. Global Media Scie. (2008). elearning : Communication Skills, Gathering information. Retrieved at http://www.scie.org.uk/assets/elearning/communicationskills/cs04/resource/index.html Trevithick, P. (2005).Social Work Skills. (2nd ed). Berkshire. McGraw-Hill

Consumerism Essay

Taking the green to the extreme A lot of consumer groups are starting to show up against capitalism and consumerism. They strive to come out with the message that â€Å"less is more†, meaning that buying less is better for the environment. They are taking recycling to another level. The question is, is it possible to make a huge impact? Do we really need to stop consuming to make a difference? And how bad do we need a change? One of these groups are called freegans. Freegans are people living an anti-consumer lifestyle, they choose to re-use food that is being tossed to the curbside but the food being tossed is edible.A lot of people think that it is obscene to eat food out of a dumpster or curbside and that it is impossible to know how long the food has been out there. They are not necessarily being freegans out of economical issues they are doing it out of principle because they do not wish to fund those big corporations that are spoiling the environment and they also think about the homeless people and give them some of the food they find since they get so much that they cannot take it all home. Their message is being well received, since some stores put the food in way that makes it easy for them to pick and choose and they even wink at them.Another group is the Compact that are against consumerism. It originated in 2005 at dinner party in San Francisco, where the guests decided to take recycling to another level by going a whole year without making a new purchase but they are allowed to buy used items and are encouraged to borrow and reuse whatever possible. They too think that consumerism is destroying the world and that most of us own more than we need. Their concept is being taken rather seriously and has quickly been spread all across the United States of America. Almost 3. 00 people from all over the world has taken part of the concept on Yahoo and the participants think that it has been a rewarding experience. Quote from John Perry the co-foun der of the Compact group – â€Å"We’ve enjoyed the camaraderie and competitive spirit with friends,â€Å" Perry said. â€Å"And it’s been really good for us to think about what we need, as opposed to what we want† When Colin Beavan got the news about global warming and he did not feel that the government was doing something about it, so he decided to do something about it, therfore he did something that nobody has done in thousands of years.Colin Beavan decided to live without electricity through a whole year with his daughter and wife. Other initiatives are to use low-energy transportation, eliminating trash, eating locally and seasonal and so on He wrote a book called â€Å"No Impact Man: A Year Off the Grid† based on his experiences throughout the year he was living without electricity. Colin Beavan says that whenever they were bored they went to the park and hung out with their neighbors and in this way they were both being social and sparing the environment. Colin Beavan has encouraged people to do the same by starting the No Impact Experiment.There is a webpage were you can register yourself to join the No Impact Experiment, you can schedule how you are going to live a week and upload videos of how well you are doing, so that everyone can see your results. Personally I think that these are some amazing initiatives and it is very inspiring but I do not think I would be able to live by eating food from the dumpsters or without electricity, I am too accustom to the way I am living like right now and I believe a lot people would have difficulties because they are to accustom to the way they are, I know a lot of people who cannot live without their cell phones or being on Facebook.A lot of the things that a couple years ago we almost did not use have become a necessity for us, e. g. internet, or at least for my generation. I do think that even the smallest thing you do, can help the environment and the small steps are the ones that are going to help the environment. ?