Corporate Social Responsibility At Adam Smith s The...

Introduction The subject of corporate social responsibility raises a peculiar, yet necessary question if its concept is to be understood: why do businesses exist? There are several was to answer this question, but none comes as close enough as the content contained in Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. According to Smith (2005), all individuals work for their own interests. This is affirmed by Hodgson (2004), who states that opportunism defines the transactional world of economic man. In the years gone by, businesses restricted the purposes of the existence of business solely for profit making. However, with the dawn of the 20th century, according to the International Institute for Sustainable Development (2013), businesses and corporates alike have realized that they are part of the society, and as such, can no longer operate in isolation. This concept is referred to as Corporate Social Responsibility. This report establishes that corporate social responsibility is important because it enhances the brand image, differentiation, and reputation of the business; increases stakeholder loyalty; decreases operating costs; and results in employee engagement and motivation. Brief Overview of Corporate Social Responsibility There is no universally acclaimed definition of what CSR is; rather its theoretical function is defined independently from entity to entity. However, according to Crowther Aras (2008), the conventional definition adopted by many businesses affords that CSRShow MoreRelatedThe Powers And Duty Of The Corporation1215 Words   |  5 PagesDuring a parliamentary committee hearing in 2006 it was stated that a director may fails its duty if consideration was given to factors other than maximization of profit . The same was argued by Milton Friedman, claiming that the only corporate social responsibility an organization has is to maximize its profit. The topic of abuse and exploitation of stakeholders often arises in the media in relation to decision making primarily focusing on profitability. There are a number of examples of multinationalRead MoreThe Primary Goal of a Firm Has Been Held Out to Be Shareholder Wealth Maximization Which Translates to Maximizing Stock Prices. in Light of This Statement, Do You Think Firms Have Any Responsibility to Society?2898 Words   |  12 PagesMBC 703 –CORPORATE FINANCE ACCOUNTS ASSIGNMENT: The Primary goal of a firm has been held out to be shareholder wealth maximization which translates to maximizing stock prices. In light of this statement, do you think firms have any responsibility to society? BY Akanji Emmanuel olusegun BSU/MS/MBA/08/3104 FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCE MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MBA) BENUE STATE UNIVERSITY MAKURDI. AUGUST,2010 1.0 Introduction: Read MoreThe Difference Between Professionalism And Ethics1590 Words   |  7 Pageswrong. Ethics is an attempt to discover that ought to be. Ethics forms critique of both ultimate values and goals and the means used in trying to achieve them. The history of business ethics displays a growing recognition of the need to examine the social transformations that have impacted organization, management and society. Ethics is a mass of moral principles or sets of values about what conduct ought to be. Ethics is a written or unwritten set of codes or principles governing business or professionRead MoreChapter 56435 Words   |  26 Pagesand largely discredited doctrine E. It still influences many governments 4. The theory of __________ was advanced by Adam Smith. A. absolute advantage B. capitalism C. similar opportunity D. mercantilism E. comparative advantage 5. Which of the following international trade scholars was the first to explain why unrestricted free trade is beneficial to a country? A. Adam Smith B. Bertil Ohlin C. Eli Heckscher D. Paul Krugman E. David Ricardo 6. __________ refers to a situation where a governmentRead MoreEthics And The Ethical Change Essay2190 Words   |  9 PagesCambridge Dictionary of Philosophy as, â€Å"the view that people ought to do what is in their own self-interest† (Audi 1999); this can be for the short-term desire or long-term interest. This theory is often illustrated by the ideas of the Philosopher Adam Smith. Humans are seen as egotistic as we all want to be selfish and maximise our own self-worth. Utilitarianism can often be referred to as the ‘greatest happiness principle’, the theory attempts to look at a dilemma and look at whether it is â€Å"morallyRead MoreHuman Resources Management And Human Resource Management2123 Words   |  9 Pagesresource management and enterprise s corporate strategy compared to China. The current situation of human resource management within most Chinese corporation keeps on tracks of planned economy 1) Differences on human resource management and the corporate training Human resource management is an activity to improve the performance of employees and organizations through planned and sustainable training, education, and exploitation. In the United States, corporate training focuses on planned and specificRead MoreTheories of Organizational Behavior10512 Words   |  43 Pagesorganizations interact has also been added to these two. . Modern organizational studies attempt to understand and model all such factors that come in play when an organization zooms in existence and continues being in functioning. Like all modernist social sciences, organizational studies seek to control, predict, and explain. One of the main goals of organizational theorists is, according to Simms (1994) to revitalize organizational theory and develop a better conceptualization of organizationalRead MoreCorporate Ethical Issues and Ensuing Influence-Case Study of Murdochs Phone Hacking Scandal2819 Words   |  12 PagesCorporate Ethical Issues and Ensuing influence-Case study of Murdochs phone hacking scandal 1. Research Background The business ethics refers to the ethics of enterprise operation. Not only for the enterprises, all organizations related to business are supposed to have ethical issues. As long as the groups of people are having business activities,there are always exist ethical issues in essence(Drucker,1981,pp66). A moral enterprise should pay attention to the human nature,avoid conflict and frictionRead MoreManagement Operations Management2057 Words   |  9 Pagesdifferent branches of business administration knowledge. Directors and managers should have the authority and responsibility to make decisions to direct an enterprise when given the authority[citation needed] As a discipline, management comprises the interlocking functions of formulating corporate policy and organizing, planning, controlling, and directing a firm s resources to achieve a policy s objectives The size of management can range from one person in a small firm to hundreds or thousands ofRead More1314297012 coco misc lifting the veil of incorporation 1 4708 Words   |  19 Pagestreating such companies as distinct legal entities.† Explain this statement. Consider the need for reform. Contents Introduction 3 Salomon v Salomon 4 Lifting the veil of incorporation 5 Fraud 5 Faà §ade or a sham 5 Groups of Companies 7 Adams Others v Cape Industries plc 10 Is there a need for reform? 12 Conclusion 14 Bibliography 16 Books: 16 Journals: 16 Cases: 17 Websites: 17 Bill: 18 Introduction In order to explain the statement this essay will explore the background to treating

Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps Free Essays

Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps Take the women into the armed service, who then will do the cooking, the washing, the mending, the humble and homey tasks to which every woman has devoted herself? From the mouth of a man who was against women joining the Armed Forces of the United States during World Wars I (WWI) and II (WWII) (Monahan). In 1917, thousands of women served during World War I (WWI), constantly fighting a battle to become part of the United States Army, a battle they were not winning (Monahan). They were nursing, supporting and helping the military forces overseas, but they were not recognized. We will write a custom essay sample on Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps or any similar topic only for you Order Now During that time period many Army Officers put formal requests into the War Department to allow the recruitment and enlistment of women, trying to create a bill to establish a Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). Secretary of War, Newton D. Baker, disagreed with this suggestion of a bill and the requests to establish a women’s service corps within the U. S. Army (Monahan). After the war was over the push for a WAAC was forgotten, out of sight out of mind, until World War II. The basis of the WAAC was to allow women into the Army and to try to create an equal environment for men and women from which the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence says we are built upon. When WWII kicked off women were not considered part of the Army, but they were allowed to help with many different roles. This time period posed many opportunities for American women, both domestically as well as roles they could play in the war. A big issue that dominated women’s lives during this period was how to combine home-life with the new demands of the war economy in the public’s eyes. Women had made a few gains between WWI and WWII in the military in terms of the political influence; female workers were utilized for short-term gains during the war, with a long-term goal of seeing women return to the domestic sphere and reinforcing traditional gender roles (Crockrord). Women who chose to help the military in times of war had to obtain their own food and quarters, they had no legal protection or medical care and most importantly they were not entitled to any type of disability benefits or pensions the Veterans were entitled to (Holm). Congresswoman, Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts was determined to change this, she introduced a bill on May 28, 1941, to establish a Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, and the bill eventually succeeded because there was no hint of full status for women; which meant women would be ecognized as supporting the Army but they would still not be a part of the Army (Holm). She felt women and men should have the same benefits and should be treated equally. When the final bill for the WAAC was presented both sides had to compromise, the women and the men’s side serving in the military (Bellafaire). The bill passed, and the bill passing meant that women would be allowed to serve with the Army but they still would no t receive the same pay or promotions and lot of the benefits that the men received. They did however receive food, uniforms, living quarters, minimal pay and medical care. There was also a lot of focus on preventing women from attaining high rank and on placing women in positions where they could give orders to men (Bellafaire). For example, although the duties of a WAAC first officer were comparable to those of a male captain, she received pay equivalent to that of a male first lieutenant (Bellafaire). Unfortunately, there were still many things that women had to overcome serving with the military. Men constantly criticized female soldiers, saying that they needed to be home with their family and community. They didn’t want a change and women in the military represented just that. The Office of Censorship ran a pole and discovered 84 percent of soldiers’ letters mentioning the WAAC were unfavorable (Bellafaire). They were questioning the moral values of women attracted to the military service and passed these beliefs to their families at home (Bellafaire). One of the biggest challenges that were faced with the WAAC was the rumors. Most of the rumors were started because they many were trying to force women back to â€Å"their domestic lifestyles† (Bellafaire). Many men started to say women of the WAAC were pregnant or were prostitutes; the women were often returned home based on the rumors and not factual evidence (Bellafaire). One story that was told was that any soldier seen dating a WAAC would be seized by Army authorities and provided with medical treatment (Bellafaire). Though there were many rumors about the WAAC and they were under serious scrutiny, Congress opened a hearing in March 1943 on the conversion of the WAAC into the Regular Army, hoping that it would help to mitigate the rumors and help the women become more of an integral part of the Army (Holm). Army leaders asked for the authority to convert the WAAC into the Women’s Army Corps, which would be part of the Army itself rather than merely serving with it (Holm). On July 3, 1943 the WAC was signed into law and all WAAC’s were given the choice of joining the Army as a member of the WAC or returning to civilian life. Many decided to join, 25 percent decided to leave the service (Bellafaire). Women in the military have been an instrumental part of our history. The WAAC was the first step for them becoming part of the military. Looking at the bigger picture, whether women were a part of the WAAC, the WAC or just the plain old Army today there will always be a place for women. Even in today’s world women constantly have to fight for their roles and to prove themselves. The Declaration of Independents states, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal (Jefferson), â€Å"men† is all people, including women. It is always a constant battle for equality, the WAAC was a positive step in that direction and it has only gotten better. Works Cited Bellafaire, Judith. â€Å"The Women’s Army Corps: A Commemoration of World War II Service. † www. history. army. mil/brochures/WAC/WAC. htm. CHM Publication, 17 Feb. 2005. Web. 29 June 2012. Crockrord, Vanessa. â€Å"Oveta Culp Hobby and Her â€Å"Lieutenants† Transformational Leadership in Action in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps of World War II. † Dissertation. 2003. Electronic. 29 June 2012. Holm, Jeanne. Women in the Military: An Unfinished Revolution. Novato: Presidio Press, 1982. Print. Monahan, Evelyn. A Few Good Women. New York: Random House, 2010. Print. How to cite Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, Essay examples

The 1975 • The 1975 free essay sample

There is a point in every teen girl’s life when she finds herself stuck deep in the mold of â€Å"The Average Teenage Girl.† During my young teen years it was a time of Uggs, leggings, and the famous black Northface jacket. I found myself in this outfit – this mold – quite frequently, trying to keep up with what was â€Å"cool.† At this time, I typically only listened to the iTunes top 10 list or whatever music my peers were enjoying. However, the beginning of sophomore year I stumbled upon a new band, The 1975, and their album by the same name. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this alternative rock band’s music. The first song I heard was â€Å"M.O.N.E.Y.† with an eccentric rock/electronic/alternative sound. I was drowning with astonishment at this beautiful new sound flooding through my headphones. It took one bus ride home to listen to the entire album and fall in love. We will write a custom essay sample on The 1975 †¢ The 1975 or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Usually someone’s favorite song draws them in because the lyrics speak to them. This is what surprised me about â€Å"The 1975† – three of the songs don’t have any lyrics at all, and I don’t know the words to half the songs on the album. Instead, they spoke to me through guitar, piano, electronic music, and drums. The electronic music beats waves of delight through me. The bass guitar holds steady in the background of almost every song, competing with the piano and drums. Each song explores different emotions, and hearing this album made me feel satisfied, whole. By listening to this album, I began developing into a real person, with wants, beliefs, ideas, and a perspective all my own. I found myself in a loving relationship with Converse, writing poems, and dressing in a unique manner I personally found attractive; I learned who Madison really was. All the songs on â€Å"The 1975† make me feel quenched inside. After almost two years of analyzing, my favorite songs are â€Å"Menswear,† â€Å"Settle Down,† â€Å"Heart Out,† and â€Å"Robbers.† When I need nurturing, this album always fulfills me, helping me regain my worth and voice.

Compare and Contrast What You Know About the Characters and Lives of Nancy Lammeter Cass and Dolly Winthrop Essay Example

Compare and Contrast What You Know About the Characters and Lives of Nancy Lammeter Cass and Dolly Winthrop Essay George Eliot offers a very rich portrait of nineteenth century rural life in Silas Marner. A key part of the picture focuses on the female characters of Raveloe, the village in which the plot of Silas Marner unfolds. Both in terms of character, social standing, and everyday experiences, two of the principle female characters, Nancy Lammeter Cass and Dolly Winthorp are very different in terms of their social standing and experiences, yet they are both caring and good-hearted women in their own respect. Of the two women, Nancy is the more physically attractive of the two. Her status determines that she in gentile and quite well-born within the rural community. Her family is wealthy by Raveloe standards and, although there is little evidence that Nancy is either well-educated or cultured, she is somewhat sophisticated in terms of her moral code. Dolly Winthorp is the wife of a wheelwright, which determines that she is working class and, certainly in comparison to Nancy, decidedly poor. Unlike Nancy, Dolly is also a mother, not only to Aaron, but in essence, to Eppie as well. Whereas Nancy provides for herself and, eventually, for her husband a strict code of values in an effort to achieve goodness, Dolly helps Silas Marner to raise Eppie in addition to caring for her own family. While Nancy’s moral code forbids her to adopt a child that is not her own, Dolly not only adopts Eppie in practice, becoming a sort of surrogate mother, she also lends Silas the emotional support of a co-parent and spouse in the context of his efforts to raise Eppie. We will write a custom essay sample on Compare and Contrast What You Know About the Characters and Lives of Nancy Lammeter Cass and Dolly Winthrop specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Compare and Contrast What You Know About the Characters and Lives of Nancy Lammeter Cass and Dolly Winthrop specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Compare and Contrast What You Know About the Characters and Lives of Nancy Lammeter Cass and Dolly Winthrop specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer While Silas Marner is distrustful and reclusive towards the beginning of the novel, prior to Eppie’s arrival, Dolly Winthorp is the essential epitomy of faith. She provides instinctive faiths that contrast’s Silas’ own distrust of God and mankind. More than Nancy, however, Dolly not only maintains a strong faith and follows a code of living that makes her a good person, she serves the community and actively cares for others. Nancy, when she initially appears in the novel, is both immature and misguided in her principles. Her introduction reveals as much about her character but also suggests what is to be her salvation. In chapter three, for example, it is revealed that Godfrey â€Å"a fine open-faced, good-natured young man who was to come into the land some day† (Chapter 3, p. 2), may lose Nancy’s affection if he behaves in the same way as his brother; â€Å"for it was well known that she had looked very shyly on him ever since last Whitsuntide twelvemonth† (Chapter 3, p. 2). What this extract also tells of Nancy is that she inherits from her family a very strict code to living: the Lammeters are â€Å"brought up in that way that they never suffered a pinch of salt to be wasted, and yet everybody in their household had of the best, according to his place†. It is also said that Nancy would be â€Å"a saving to the old Squire, if she never brought a penny to her fortune; for i t was to be feared that, notwithstanding his incomings, there were more holes in his pocket than the one where he put his own hand† (Chapter 3, p. 3). In chapter ten there is a portrait of Dolly Winthrop that truly demonstrates her difference from Nancy. She is described as being â€Å"in all respects a woman of scrupulous conscience† and unlike Nancy, â€Å"so eager for duties that life seemed to offer them too scantily unless she rose at half-past four, though this threw a scarcity of work over the more advanced hours of the morning, which it was a constant problem with her to remove† (Chapter 10, p. 4). She is also described as â€Å"very mild† and â€Å"patient† and â€Å"comfortable woman†. While Nancy and Dolly are both formidable women and, in their own ways, both caring and devout, Dolly manifests her caring and faith in actions designed to help others; Nancy, until she forgives her husband and shows him sympathy regarding Eppie and his earlier indiscretions, is rather grave and exacting to the point of being supercilious. Ultimately, George Eliot shows the power of actions and the significance of sympathy and forgiveness throughout Silas Marner. In her presentation of Nancy Lammeter Cass and Dolly Winthrop, these themes continue to be presented.

Relationship between Media Coverage and Social and Environmental Issues

Relationship between Media Coverage and Social and Environmental Issues Free Online Research Papers Media denotes a section or form of communication channels that is intended to get in touch with a very large audience such as the population of nation or state. Examples include newspapers, magazines, books, televisions radios and the internet. It serves various constructive purposes such as advocating both for business and social concerns, entertainment, and public service announcements. Media also has negative characteristics some of which include the inability to transmit tacit knowledge, manipulation of large groups of people through its outlets, biasness and its inability to act as peoples’ watchdog to wrongs happening in the society. The population covered by media consists of people with diversified characters, opinions, educational backgrounds, and religion. The influence of media to people in a given population- their social, political, environmental, economic and religious issues- is therefore quite variable. Social issues are matters directly or indirectly affecting many or all members of the society and may be considered as societal problems, moral degraders or both. Some examples include poverty, violence, abortion, rape and social injustice. Environmental issues on the other hand are those changes in the environmental conditions which directly or indirectly affect the society such as global warming, climate change, pollution, loss of biodiversity, etcetera. The media has a social and moral obligation to highlight these issues and help in mitigating them if not totally curbing them. This paper describes both negative and positive nature of the relationship between media coverage and social and environmental issues within the perceptual and contextual role of media in contemporary society. The writer assumes that media has continued to maintain a positive relationship with both social and environmental issues facing the society despite its false starts. Man is a social being and cannot exist on his own. He has to depend on others for co-existence. This mutual relationship with others brings forth the aspect of society. Due to the fact that people are of different characters, co-existence portends social problems whose magnitudes depend on how the society copes with them. This is the point where the media comes in. Media are business entities out to make profits (Kiousis McCombs 142). This drive leads them into selecting topics suitable in improving their business through strategies like maintaining their audience by appealing to them. This fact has been stressed further by the agenda setting theory of media which claims that media does not direct people into what to think, but what to think about (Kiousis McCombs 142). This role conflicts with media as a watchdog to and an instrument of fighting social norms. Some social issues which may have a more significant impact on the society are not reported extensively whereas others whic h may not be as important or even negative to societal existence are reported accurately with extensive coverage or sensation resulting in moral panic. Mass media, especially television, has also contributed to some social evils like violence through broadcast of programs which are violent in nature like wrestling or episodes of unnecessary wars. The effect of this has been found to affect severely the children and the youth as depicted in the media’s effect cultivation theory. This theory, developed by George Gerbner, has in its fundamental claim that persistent long-term exposure to television content has little but measurable effects on the perceptual worlds of audience members (Entman 121-122). Gerbner further claims that heavy television viewing creates an exaggerated belief in a â€Å"mean and scary world† and that television has surpassed religion as the key storyteller of our culture (Carrie Bonds 56). The theory is most famous for its applications to the correlations between media violence and violent behavior and according to Gerbner, the children, elderly, African-Americans, Latinos, women and the less educ ated are often the victims of television violence (Bryant Zillman 46-7). Television is not a reflection of the world but a world in itself and a kind of modern day religion that affects every aspect of social life of its audience. People cultivate perceptions of reality by television, meaning that they make assumptions about others, places and things from fictional sitcoms, soap operas, dramas and television news all of which have direct impact on social decisions and actions (Gerbner et al, 17-40). From fictional sitcoms, people tend to take the fiction in them seriously and even go to an extent of reflecting them on their life. From soap operas, they take the stage acting as a real life situation; many envying to live the ‘movie superstar’s life’ forgetting that it is only stage managed. Dramas have similar effects too while the effect of the news is variable depending on its content and area of coverage. For instance, news showing people striking or demonst rating for their rights ends up spreading the message that striking and demonstrating are the solutions to oppression and decaying societal morals. If such news receives countrywide coverage, mass revolts may be opted for instead of conventional democratic processes and political dialogues. The repetitive nature of mass-produced messages and images forms the conventional symbolic environment that people base their perceptions on. For example, most of television programs are commercially designed to be watched by nearly everyone in a moderately nonselective fashion. This design is aimed at widening the target audience. Newsprints and radio programs may also have the same strategy. These strategies cultivate the very predispositions and preferences that used to be acquired from other primary sources like parental counseling and are largely contributed by the continuous absence of parents to preoccupy their children with other activities and to monitor their habits of utilizing the mass media. Children who watch violent television programs like wrestling end up being violent and aggressive in schools (UCLA Center for Communication Policy par 2-14). Later in life, they become more prone to being on the wrong side of law. They grow seeing incidences of violence in these prog rams whose effects are gradual. At first, they may not be influenced much but as time elapses, they unconsciously start engaging in violence when faced with some situations since their minds are already preformed to think that violence can solve problems better. In fact, in 1993, at a conference of the National Council for Families and Television, it was estimated that 10% of the violence in the United States result from television viewing (UCLA Center for Communication Policy par 2-14). Television violence incidences forms a necessary part of plot and character development accurately portraying real life and it is responsible for actual violence in society, a diehard social issue in many societies. Social moral decadence has also been compromised to some extent by the media. When the society gets exposed to some other cultures through the mass media, their moral values become affected. This effect is more rampant in developing countries in the East and in Sub-Saharan Africa where western culture has been of great influence to the youth propagated by the mass media whose coverage extends that far. Western hip-hop music which seems to glorify social evils like adultery, demeaning the feminine as sexual pet, fornication and use of vulgar language is of great impact to the youths who tend to give a try to whatever they hear or see. Evidently, the youths’ modes of dressing have changed from decent wear to scanty clothes whereas cases of premarital pregnancies have been on the rise ostensibly perpetuated by glorification of sex. To this effect the media which is supposed to be the societal guider in maintaining morals and preventing social evils, acts contrarily by promoting t hem. The role of media in propagating environmental issues is an area of concern to many who view it as a champion of societal good. Media coverage has in many instances failed in sensitizing environmental issues facing the society such as global warming, climatic change and resource depletion, loss of biodiversity, pollution, land degradation and global dimming. Instead of having enlightening coverage of the issues, they make them a liberal versus conservative or science vs. scientific hype issues (Boykoff Boykoff par 1-10). Instead of doing analysis, they drive the issues into political discussions, because they draw better media ratings from making politics out of virtually everything that is contentious. Environmental issues are real and usually find their way into the media, but only in ways that are not so important. They are relegated to the periphery of importance compared to all other topics of media coverage (Kester, 2008). Most media channels do not comprehend the consequences of environmental relapse until the society is faced with them in such a way there is a radical change in the lifestyles of the people. This reflects the fact that many modern journalists find environmental issues unrealistic and not worthy of descriptions that endear journalists to their clients. The old aspirations of journalists to report societal ills and imbalances are equated with words like fairness, accuracy, balance, comprehensiveness and truth only if these describe the more important aspects of news coverage of which environment is not as appealing until its issues are grave. In terms of arising issues, journalists are taught to abide by the norm of balance; identifying the most prevailing, widespread positions and then telling both sides of the story. Balance aims at attaining neutrality. It requires that reporters present the views of legitimate spokespersons of the conflicting sides in any significant dispute, and provide both sides with roughly equal attention. Balanced coverage does not, however, always mean accurate coverage. In terms of environmental issues, balance may allow skepticism. Many skeptics most of whom have vested interests in environmental issues or are not able to appreciate environmental responsibility opting for other forms detrimental to it, use every coverage opportunity to take control of the media (Boykoff Boykoff par 1-10). This is exemplified in the case where carbon based industries fund environmental skeptics to come up with theories contradicting the known causes of global warming in a desperate move to keep themselves in business. On the positive, media coverage can be praised for its efforts in counteracting some social and environmental issues. Mass media coverage promotes civic education to the society; teaching people about their civic rights and enabling them to understand their leaders and the government better (Anderson Meyer 67). Through such coverage, social issues such as injustice, suppression of human rights, social or gender discrimination and affirmative action have been well and clearly highlighted in the society promoting democracy and a unified community whereby all people are equal as per the provisions of their country constitutions. Without civic education, people fail to know their constitutional rights and are likely to be oppressed. Media comes first as the most trusted institution by many people even before judiciary or the government in contemporary society. Due to this, mass media has for a long time been the people’s watchdog; monitoring the government and its agents, other agencies and peer journalistic establishments in their activities. As a result, social issues like corruption have been reduced in places where effective media exist. Nowadays, people have become busy in their jobs and businesses thereby giving little regard to social development of their children on issues like sex education and drug control. This can also be attributed to the fact that some parents fear their children reaction when they initiate these topics. Mass media has been left as the only tool for teaching these topics on a neutral ground evidential in many counseling programs in media broadcasts. Counseling programs do not only benefit the children. Parents also have their share on late night programs which target societal issues like marriages, sex education, societal relationships and politics. In so doing, media coverage helps in providing the necessary information to them on these topics and thus mitigating the long term effects of such societal issues. Media also has played its role as a gatekeeper; mediating the flow of messages by incorporating a diverse and unbiased range of political perspectives and social actors. Through this role, the media facilitates conflict managements which are serious social issues facing many countries. For example, the resigned acceptance in Russia, ethnic violence in Kenya and protests in Turkey and Mexico, the political turmoil and cholera crisis in Zimbabwe, the middle east crisis and many more. Mass media as people’s watchdog has been monitoring government concern toward environment by covering its environmental crusades and since the government needs to appeal to its citizens, it has continually intervened in instances where environmental degradation threatens the very comfort of its citizens. This has somewhat minimized most environmental crises around the world. Media coverage on environmental issues like draughts, pollution and environmental degradation has helped to highlight areas of the environment that are seriously affected. This coverage attract the attention of ‘would be problems solvers’ like the non governmental organizations (NGOs) or community based organizations (CBOs) and other advocates of environmental sanity and sustainability who could not have known the magnitude of the problems had the media not highlighted them. The extensive coverage of the mass media in almost all regions is due to the fact that most media houses have reporters based at grass root levels and who are primary witnesses of devastating societal disregard for environmental responsibility, circumstances that they sometimes report with a passion. During crises like droughts, famine or any other serious environmental or social issue, media coverage plays a significant role in organizing well wishers who are ready to help in such situations. As an example, following the recent draughts and escalating prices of consumer goods early this year, Kenyan media houses hit international news headlines by organizing one of the most successful campaign of its kind in history dubbed Kenya in twenty four hours, whereby well able citizens dropped off food donations at strategic points during the stipulated twenty four hours. These donations were later forwarded to specific NGOs for distribution. In such a case, media coverage played an important role in highlighting the plight of the less fortunate and organizing the citizens towards their rescue. Conclusion The role of media coverage on social and environmental issues remains central to its measure of strength in serving the society. The population covered by media consists of people with diversified characters, opinions, educational backgrounds, and religion and thus the influence of media on them varies as a function of how effective the coverage is the kind of media in use and what the journalists consider profitable and appropriate for its client audience. Media has negative as well as positive characteristics. Its negative characteristics are exemplified in its inability to transmit tacit knowledge, manipulation of large groups of people through its outlets, biasness and its inability to act as peoples’ watchdog to wrongs happening in the society while on the positive, media acts as the watchdog on social and environmental enlightener and as a gatekeeper to societal virtues. Evidences adduced herein suggests that, in reality, the show of media systems frequently fall far s hort of lofty desires, with important costs for the workings of the civic sphere and the general society. Whereas the media has faltered in many instances in its core coverage roles, it is also important to note that it has continue to maintain a positive relationship with both social and environmental issues facing the society. Boykoff, J. Boykoff, M. ‘Journalistic Balance as Global Warming Bias: Creating controversy where science finds consensus’. In FAIR. (2004). Retrieved 01 April 2009 from fair.org/index.php?page=21extra_issue_id=138 Bryant, J. Zillman, D. Perspectives on media effects. Hilldale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1986. Carrie, P Bonds, J. Cultivations of Reality through Television. University of South Carolina Press, 1999. Entman, R. M. ‘Framing public life: Perspectives on media and our understanding of the social world’. Political Communication, 23.1(2006):121-122. Gerbner, G., Gross, L., Morgan, M., Signorielli, N. Living with television: The dynamics of the cultivation process. In J. Bryant D. Zillman (Eds), Perspectives on media effects, (1986). (17-40). Hilldale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Kester, Will. ‘Assessing the US media coverage of global warming’. Helium. 2008. Retrieved 01 April 2009 from Kiousis, S., McCombs, M. ‘Agenda Setting Study: Agenda Setting effects and strength’. MT Journal Nr (2003, March): p. 142. UCLA Center for Communication Policy. The UCLA Television Violence Report 1997. Retrieved 01 April 2009 from Wober, Mallory. The use and abuse of television: A social psychological analysis of the changing screen. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc, 1988. Research Papers on Relationship between Media Coverage and Social and Environmental IssuesEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesPETSTEL analysis of IndiaMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XThree Concepts of Psychodynamic

The Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean Overview

The Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean Overview The Gulf Stream is a strong, fast moving, warm ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It makes up a portion of the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre. The majority of the Gulf Stream is classified as a western boundary current. This means that it is a current with behavior determined by the presence of a coastline - in this case, the eastern United States and Canada - and is found on the western edge of an oceanic basin. Western boundary currents are normally very warm, deep, and narrow currents that carry water from the tropics to the poles. The Gulf Stream was first discovered in 1513 by the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon and was then used extensively by Spanish ships as they traveled from the Caribbean to Spain. In 1786, Benjamin Franklin mapped the current, further increasing its usage. Path of the Gulf Stream Because these areas are often very narrow, the current is able to compress and gather strength. As it does so, it begins circulating in the Gulf of Mexico’s warm waters. It is here that the Gulf Stream becomes officially visible on satellite images so it is said that the current originates in this area. Once it gains enough strength after circulating in the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf Stream then moves east, rejoins the Antilles Current, and exits the area through the Straits of Florida. Here, the Gulf Stream is a powerful underwater river that transports water at a rate of 30 million cubic meters per second (or 30 Sverdrups). It then flows parallel to the east coast of the United States and later flows into the open ocean near Cape Hatteras but continues moving north. While flowing in this deeper ocean water, the Gulf Stream is its most powerful (at about 150 Sverdrups), forms large meanders, and splits into several currents, the largest of which is the North Atlantic Current. The North Atlantic Current then flows further north and feeds the Norwegian Current and moves the relatively warm water along the west coast of Europe. The rest of the Gulf Stream flows into the Canary Current which moves along the eastern side of the Atlantic Ocean and back south to the equator. Causes of the Gulf Stream The northern branch of the Gulf Stream, the North Atlantic Current, is deeper and is caused by thermohaline circulation resulting from density differences in the water. Impacts of the Gulf Stream The greatest impact the Gulf Stream has on climate is found in Europe. Since it flows into the North Atlantic Current, it too is warmed (though at this latitude the sea surface temperatures are cooled considerably), and it is believed that it helps keep places like Ireland and England much warmer than they would otherwise be at such a high latitude. For example, the average low in London in December is 42Â °F (5Â °C) while in St. John’s, Newfoundland, the average is 27Â °F (-3Â °C). The Gulf Stream and its warm winds are also responsible for keeping northern Norway’s coast free of ice and snow. As well as keeping many places mild, the Gulf Stream’s warm sea surface temperatures also aid in the formation and strengthening of many of the hurricanes that move through the Gulf of Mexico. Additionally, the Gulf Stream is important to the distribution of wildlife in the Atlantic. The waters off of Nantucket, Massachusetts, for example, are incredibly biodiverse because the presence of the Gulf Stream makes it the northern limit for southern species varieties and the southern limit for northern species. The Future of the Gulf Stream There has been evidence that the Gulf Stream is weakening and slowing and there is growing concern about what impacts such a change would have on the world’s climate. Some reports suggest that without the Gulf Stream, temperatures in England and northwestern Europe could drop by 4-6Â °C. These are the most dramatic of the predictions for the future of the Gulf Stream but they, as well as today’s climate patterns surrounding the current, show its importance to life in many places around the world.

High Staff Turnover in Healthcare Industry Lab Report

High Staff Turnover in Healthcare Industry - Lab Report Example This research will help to identify the intensity of the problem persisting in the industry, to examine its different aspects and to make potential recommendations to solve the problem. This research intends to obtain a clear view of the issue based on both primary and secondary sources. In short, this research is aimed to show how a real life problem can be solved using primary and secondary research methodologies. What Do I Hope to Accomplish? This research tries to address staff shortage issues in modern healthcare. Although the recent healthcare reform aims to deliver quality care and increased patient safety at affordable costs, the issue of staff shortage continues to be a potential challenge to smooth performance of the US healthcare sector. In this context, it is relevant to explore the issue more in order to develop strategic measures to deal with this problem in future. For this purpose, this research paper will discuss the significance of maintaining adequately staffed hea lthcare system. Short term as well as long term consequences of staff shortage issue related to the US healthcare can be identified through this research. This research would highlight the necessity of placing a particular emphasis on staffing while developing healthcare policies. The research will give specific attention to the root causes of the staff shortage issue. Such an investigation would be useful to find potential ways to eliminate staff shortage issues in the healthcare. Various studies conducted on this topic indicate that different healthcare sectors adopt different strategies to address the staff shortage issue. Hence, this paper will examine which policy or set of policies would be most effective to avoid current troubles in healthcare staffing. Hence the findings would help to attract more qualified and experienced candidates to this field. In addition, the research is framed to evaluate whether or not geographical factors can have any influence on the staff shortage issue. Finally, the paper will explore some potential practices that can identify staff shortage issue in a healthcare setting on time. Primary Research and Target Group Surveys and interviews will be the major sources used as they would increase the accuracy and reliability of data or information collected. Professional assistance will be sought to ensure the efficiency of surveys and interviews. In addition, the organization’s annual reports will be considered as primary sources because those reports clearly indicate staffing status of the firm throughout the fiscal period under consideration. The organization’s human resource management and senior management team will be the target group for this research. In addition, the research will interview departmental heads in order to clearly identify staff shortage problems in different departments. Finally, external healthcare professionals’ views and suggestions will also be collected for making this work authent ic and effective enough. Potentiality of the Chosen Primary Sources For this research, the above mentioned primary sources would be highly effective. It is obvious that primary research techniques such as interviews and surveys are considered as direct methods of data collection. Through interviewing officials concerned, the interviewer can directly ask questions and record more reliable and accurate information. Furthermore, interview is one of the simplest and cost effective methods of acquiring required data/information within the minimum possible time. In addition, it is the perfect way to get complete information required for the project with less chance of misunderstanding and documentation errors.

The economic performance of the UK compared to Japan since 1990 has Essay - 1

The economic performance of the UK compared to Japan since 1990 has clearly demonstrated the superiority of the Anglo Saxon model over State Led Capitalism. Discuss - Essay Example Where as in state led capitalism, the productive forces are directed and controlled by the government in a capitalist manner. It is a social system combining capitalism with state ownership. Anglo Saxon economic model encourages innovation, competitiveness, and promote overall prosperity, and produces less inequality and poverty at the lowest margins of a society. It creates more jobs and delivers better working conditions as seen in UK where working condition is better than Japan. When people invest their own money, they have a chance to make profit by best efforts. Here production utilises at optimum level as the individual interest is involved. Competition pushes the producer to take up productive steps such as new technology, cost cutting, and use of best supply chain for making good profit (Schmidt, Vivien A., 2002). Other than these advantages, this economy also proves some disadvantages. This model of economy is responsible for a life of low wages and long hours for its employees. It creates inequality in society as the more talented and innovative people build strong financial position compared to less skilled individuals. Adding, poverty rates which were substantially higher in recent years in UK, where the economy is basically followed by Anglo Saxon economy model (Schmidt, Vivien A, 2002). State led capitalism economy advocates for the principle of individual rights. Consistent and rapid economic growth is the proven outcome of this economy. Human welfare is common in this economy. Its decentralised system of coordination is the greatest strength of its economy. But it has also some negative factors in its model. Because of more government intervention, social evils like nepotism, corruption, poor management may hurt the growth rate. In United Kingdom, Anglo Saxon model has allowed higher incomes for low paid workers, and at the same time it enhanced

Adultery and Society Essay Example for Free

Adultery and Society Essay Much has already been said about Couples – John Updike’s controversial 1968 novel about the lives and indiscretions of well-off couples living in the suburban town of Tarbox, Boston. At first glance, the novel may seem like a run of the mill erotic novel – tawdry and titillating, but nothing more. This was, in fact, the common perception that greeted the novel on its debut in 1968, hence its notoriety as a â€Å"controversial† novel. Much of its hype, however, is not lost, considering the amount of sex – illicit and otherwise – that graces the pages of the novel, as well as the forthright manner with which Updike boldly discusses these activities. Scandal and notoriety prevented a proper and contextual understanding of Updike’s novel, leaving it languishing in literary purgatory. In time, however, with the changes in society and modern views on sex, Updike’s Couples has, to some degree, been resurrected and reevaluated with a different perspective and point of view. Though still shocking in its extensive discussion of adultery and lecherous behavior in general, the novel has finally emerged from under its tag as a bawdy piece of B-rated literature to become one of Updike’s signature novels. No longer viewed as eroticized sensationalism, the novel is now seen as a representation of Updike’s most striking leitmotif: suburban adultery. If not erotica for eroticism’s sake, what then is the central thought in Updike’s Couples? Such is the question that this paper now intends to answer. This paper posits that John Updike’s Couples reflects the collapse of traditional values in the face of modernity particularly in the early 1960s. With the parameters of sexuality shattered by the advent of birth control, wealthy men and women living the â€Å"perfect† life are actually morally in disarray. Society, despite its beautiful and urbane facade, is in reality rotting away and slowly experiencing a moral decay. The beauty of suburbia and its polished citizens stand in sharp contrast to the breakdown of social norms and propriety. Such is the theme of John Updike’s Couples. To prove so, it is necessary to first look into the writer himself, John Updike. Much of his writings reflect his personal opinions, of course, and understanding the writer will most certainly provide a better contextual understanding of the novel. Moreover, it is necessary that a discussion of the era (early 1960s, under the Kennedy administration) be conducted in order to fully relay the circumstances that give way to the morally reprehensible â€Å"system† established by the titular couples. Lastly, this paper shall look into the juxtaposition of aesthetics (the beauty of both the people and the suburban town they inhabit) and the rotten structure of banality they willingly cling to. These are the significant aspects of John Updike’s Couples that shall be discussed. First of all, who was John Updike? Little is known about Updikes childhood, except that he was born to a middle class Pennsylvania family in 1932. John Updikes interest in writing began with his mothers instructions, herself a prolific writer. His mothers influence proved intense and enduring, giving him the strength and courage to continue with writing. Despite the lack of sufficient funds for his education, Updikes talents received recognition and earned him a full scholarship at Harvard University, where he joined the Harvard Lampoon. Upon graduation, he joined the New Yorker, which published his first story, Friends from Philadelphia, in 1954. The story would soon be followed by several more of his writings, all published through the New Yorker. By the end of the 1950s, Updike was reaping the fruits of a successful literary career (Pritchard 2000, p. 2). It was not, however, his writing technique that caught the fancy of critics. Though fluid and never boring, it is not his efficient style that gained support for John Updike. Unfortunately, his choice of subject matter overshadowed his style of writing, essentially giving way to the â€Å"controversial† tag. Couples is just one example of his unique point of view and manner of describing even the most intimate of details (Amidon 2005, p. 51). The mention and overt discussion of sex remained quite touchy, if not entirely taboo, even as society during the 1960s had significantly modernized. The effect of his controversial topics, however, had led to a period wherein his writings were shunned, to a certain degree, and remained misclassified as bawdy erotica. â€Å"Suburban adultery†, a topic most associated with John Updike, is born of his own experiences in grappling with the temptations of sex and desire. The writing of the novel Couples came at a time when he was completely confused in his personal life, particularly with regards to his marriage. Updike was in the middle of a passionate love affair and was, in fact, contemplating filing for a divorce. In the end, he decided not to push through with the plan for divorce (Pritchard 2000, p. 119). The topic, therefore, is described vividly in every scene of the novel, reflecting Updikes own struggle with his inner demons and the destruction of the institution of marriage before his very eyes. The crumbling of his own marriage proved to be the very basis of Couples. To Updike, a certain degree of the story of a failed marriage is â€Å"sad magic† (Pritchard 2000, p. 124). Extramarital relations for Updike are not erotic, despite the manner with which he describes the sexual activities of his characters in the novel. Rather than titillating, the goal of Updikes prose is to portray the emptiness that these affairs and illicit relationships cause. There is no desire to eroticize or sexualize the characters; the idea is to present the weaknesses of their personalities and the ramifications of unbridled desire. It is not specifically aiming for preaching either, focusing only on the emotional hollowness that gives birth to the seed of lust and temptations in the first place. As Updike himself explains, his idea of sex in his literary achievements is far from intentionally erotic. Rather, the idea is to create a portrait wherein sex is a tool; it is a means by which Updike indicts the weaknesses of societys moral fiber. As he said of sex in his writings in an interview with CNN, â€Å"Ive seen it said of my work that its anti-aphrodisiac, that it doesnt – that my descriptions of sex doesnt turn you on. But theyre not really meant to do that. I mean, sex described in detail is not a turn-on† (Austin 1998). Updike is far from a prude, true, yet his writings are not erotic for eroticism’s sake. The goal is to present moral weaknesses, not join banality. Unlike the earlier accusation of critics, the story of Couples is far from erotic, despite its routine use of sexual scenes and explicit activities. The story revolves around the lives of several couples living in an upscale community in Tarbox – a fictional suburb located in Boston. These young couples live wealthy lifestyles and have enough time on their hands to fool around. Piet Hanema, for example, is a serial adulterer. He has trysts with Foxy, as well as with several more of the novels women. His decadence is merely one of the morally bankrupt scenes in the story. It is not just Piet, though, who experiences a life of immorality and lack of a moral center. The couples engage in â€Å"wife-swapping† activities, such as in the case of the Applebys and the Little-smiths. None of the members of the community are entirely above the erotic rondalla, sending everyone in the community into a moral tailspin. In the end, however, it is Piet and his mistress Foxy who are cast out from the lot. Piet, since the beginning of the novel, is insistent on gaining freedom from his marriage. Though initially not bent towards the destruction of his own marriage, in the end, Piet divorces his wife Angela and his thrown out of the apartment with his mistress. As Greiner (1984) points out, â€Å"lovers are drawn as much to what destroys marriage as to what supports it† (p. 146). They are far from completely beyond the trappings of love, hence its effect as a double-edged sword. While it is love that bound two souls together under the sacrament of marriage in the first place, it is also â€Å"love† or whatever passes for it that successfully questions the sacrament and stands as a threat to its stability. Despite accepting the sacrament of marriage and his chained life, Piet needs and wants room, seeking sex and love from elsewhere despite his wifes presence. There is a need to hone his skills as an illicit lover, and the adrenaline rush of such relationships do exist. And yet despite their illicit activities and immoral actions, Updike refuses to view his characters as villains. They are far from perfect, given their morally unstable relationships, and they are all tottering over the edge of hell with their hypocritical Presybterian lives. None of them truly lives up to the Christian ideals, and they can be described as having their own religion – the religion of sex and lust. Despite these errors and flaws, however, the characters are not evil per se. They are, rather, personifications of Updikes understanding of suburbia and the moral decay that goes on behind the facade of wealth and propriety. They are weak, not evil, and are merely caught in the struggle to keep up with the liberal times even with the significant changes in society during this period (Greiner 1984, p. 148). Unfortunately, the highlighting of adulterous Tarbox soon became news across every home in the United States. Rather than view the sublime veins incorporated in Updikes novel, it was soon branded sensationalized and controversial. Protests emerged, decrying Updikes use of explicit words and graphic portrayal of sex. Perhaps most important of these criticisms, however, may be Anatole Broyards criticism of Piet Hanema, noting that there could be no sympathy for a â€Å"fornicator† (Greiner 1984, p. 149). In this the critics see the point of Updikes novel, yet completely miss it as well To classify Updikes novel as no more than a potboiler is to ignore its finer and less prominent points. To many, the adulterous activities and their graphic descriptions are the core of the novel. Looking past beyond such however, is the only way to find the true meaning of Updikes Couples. In the world of Tarbox, sex is just another ordinary day. Despite their preoccupation with it, sex is not the core of the community. It is, of course, an ironic glue that brings various couples together and inevitably unhinges them when the time comes. The characters are simply wandering from one relationship to another, in search not of true love, but of companionship and momentary beauty. Rather than portray the couples as treacherous villains determined to subvert the values of the day, Updike presents them as brats unwilling to succumb to the demands of married life. The central concept of their lives is â€Å"fun†, and with the end of each day, beyond the trappings of the suburban community, husband and wife find themselves alone with the bills, the children, the leftover food and the dishes to wash. To a certain degree, such a relationship is less exciting and not quite as desirable as spending time with the equally bored neighbors (Grenier, 1984, p. 151). The couples, therefore, are far from total villains and much easier to understand as adults with the minds of young children, unwilling accept responsibility yet entirely willing to pursue the cult of fun. To say that they are the product of a determinedly lost generation is to heap unnecessary blame on the characters. It is not that they preeminently wished for the structure of such a morally reprehensible situation. The issues in the novel are, in fact, the product of the times. The characters are merely swept up in the current, following the changing values and transitional problems that occur when modernity clashes with traditional values. There are changes in society, with growing wealth and scientific advances, and it is simply not possible to ignore the changes; the characters succumb to the call of the â€Å"wild† despite their surface urbanity. As mentioned earlier, it is not an innate â€Å"evilness† that Updike wishes to uncover in his Couples. The underlying core is less sinister than what critics and censors of his day had easily assumed. In truth, the story of Updikes novel is no more a potboiler than a thriller. It is simply a portrayal of Updikes own nostalgic view of the changes in society, including the slow deconstruction of a small town similar to the one he grew up in. Throughout the novel, the tone is largely wistful, reminiscent of a different past. There is something in the manner with which Updike contrasts the beautiful town and the rotting away of its core; a resounding sigh seems to escape Updikes lips with every word. Much of the storys very core is essentially reliant on the time frame of the novel. Updike pegs it on the early 1960s, under the Kennedy administration. As he himself pointed out, there is no way that the plot couldve existed in a different era. He noted that the action â€Å"could have taken place only under Kennedy; the social currents it traces are as specific to those years as flowers in a meadow are to their moment of summer† (Neary 1992, p. 144). There is something specific in the era that Updike particularly takes note of: the introduction of the bill and the liberation of women from the yokes of pregnancy. Without fear of pregnancy hanging over their heads, sex outside of marriage becomes a much more realistic possibility. It is what Updike calls the â€Å"post-pill paradise† (Sheed 1968), a world wherein the problem of unwanted pregnancy no longer exists. Updike describes his characters as wealthier than their predecessors, having been born into an era of relative prosperity. There is no limit to their desire for fulfillment, regardless of the price. They are driven by the id, raised in a culture of â€Å"me† and supported by the changing society. It is not just Tarbox which is changing. It is far from a microcosm entirely separate from the rest of society. Updike does not portray the suburb as a cancer entirely separate and different from the rest of the country. Rather, the suburb of Tarbox is a representative of many. The characters, themselves generic, are easily interchangeable and quite possibly recognizable in any town across the United States. In this world of change, not omly the couples of Tarbox are transformed. They are part of a larger social transformation, and Updikes focus on their interactions and illicit affairs present his understanding of society (not just suburbia) in general. The couples, though seemingly too deviant and unbelievable to be considered general stereotypes, are in fact Updikes definition of the moral breakdown of society. It is not an indictment of suburban life (despite the use of the term â€Å"suburban adultery†). The location of his subjects is more of a realistic portrayal than an unfair indictment. His judgment is not one of localization. Rather, Updike is presenting the class most affected by the changes in the Kennedy administration, primarily due to their wealth and social status. It is also in this level that the reality of class versus crass becomes most realize. Behind the beautiful homes and educated facades, there is darkness. The players randomly select their next partner, playing a grand, elaborate and ritualistic game of musical chairs with their neighbors. Play, again, is a significant theme in Updikes novel, being the central concept that drives the couples to pursue sexual adventures again and again. The significance of the time period should not be ignored. Updike describes his characters as the products of national tribulations. Following the Great Depression and World War II, these young couples find themselves thrust into a new America, one that struggles to keep up the facade of decency while slowly eroded away by modernity and the vulgarity of the new world order. These characters are far from intentionally indecent, however. Their initial goal was to be enveloped in beauty, separate from the staleness of the rest of the nation and the vulgarity that threatens to creep up the morality ladder (Sheed 1968). In the end, however, they find themselves in a vulgarity of their own making, hidden under the sheen of decency and beauty that the suburbs signify. Quoting Updike, â€Å"the ultimate influence of a government whose taxes and commissions and appetite for armaments set limits everywhere, introduced into a nation whose leadership allowed a toothless moralism [sic] to dissemble a certain practiced cunning, into a culture where adolescent passions and homosexual philosophies were not quite yet triumphant, a climate still furtively hedonist† (Neary 1992, p. 146). The passage describes Updikes view of the world in which the couples were molded. For all their failures and flaws, these characters were but the products of a bigger problem. Society itself, led by the government, was far from the pristine, moral structure it once was. The Applebys, the Little-smiths, the Guerins, the Constantines, the Hanemas etc. are merely the by-products of a flawed era. The destruction of society, therefore, does not begin and end with suburban adultery. It is merely a microcosm of a larger decay – one that goes beyond the wife-swapping activities of the inhabitants of Tarbox, Boston. In part, Updike’s focus is on the period and the circumstances that give rise to the opportunities for suburban adultery. One significant detail that Updike notes is the introduction of birth control. Whereas the novels of the 1950s focused on the â€Å"everyone is pregnant† motif, in Updike’s novel it is more of an â€Å"everyone is guilty† narrative (Greiner 1984, p. 145). Previously, pregnancy outside of marriage was the biggest obstacle for illicit lovers. Physical consummation, after all, could always leave an undeniable proof in the woman’s womb. With the introduction of the pill, however, a new â€Å"paradise† is opened to the people, with the characters of Updike’s Couples taking full advantage of the situation. These new methods of birth control had, to some effect, liberated the characters from the burdens of pregnancy. Now as long as his mistresses would remain on the pill, Piet would have no problems keeping his affairs in order. No longer would the characters of Updike’s novel fear the repercussions of sex outside of marriage, hence the ease with which they gradually fall into the abyss of sexual debauchery and adultery. And yet it seems as if this is just the tip of Updike’s metaphorical discussion. More than an indictment of the potentially â€Å"evil† consequences of birth control (such as the encouragement of promiscuity, perhaps), Updike’s inclusion of the pill is less of a reproach and more of a symbolism. It is not the pill per se that drives the characters into the arms of others. It is the slow break-down of society, particularly religion. The pill is merely a tool by which society slowly presents its disintegration. In itself, it cannot be identified as the cause of social decay. Rather, it is a sign of the changing times – a symbol of the struggle of the old traditional values to keep up with the changes in the modern world. In Updike’s own point of view, the concept of the novel is not really adultery. It is a discussion of the disintegration of society through the disintegration of church. Marriage, after all, is a sacrament. The destruction of marriage, therefore, does not signify the end of a union alone. It is a metaphor for the slow destruction of the church and its foundations. Sex is the new religion (Greiner 1984, p. 149). With the church crumbling and religion not as reliable as it once was, the characters of Updike’s Couples seek comfort and solace from another source. Marriage is not enough to provide the human warmth the characters require. They are not villains, just people trapped by circumstances and incapable of escaping from the needs of the flesh. It is a religion in itself, this search for fun. Quoting from the jacket blurb of Couples, Sheed (1968) notes how one character is supposed to be a priest and the other a scapegoat. In some ways, the idea of a spiritual leader leading the empty towards greater hypocrisy and shallowness is apt for the story. Fred Thorne is identified as the priest, the leader who organizes parties and games for the bored couples. His party on the night of Kennedy’s assassination is telling; the couples swear to be solemn yet soon revert to their partying ways. In a sense, this invokes a feeling of emptiness, of floating through space. These characters have nothing else but their physical selves to cling to. The government’s leader is assassinated, God strikes his own church with lightning and society is giving way underground to new bores. In essence, they are free of religious and political encumbrances, only to realize that without these structures there is almost nothing to hold on to at all. In the end, there is nothing but the warmth that sex provides – be it illicit or otherwise – giving a physical reality to the world. Without this physical connection, they are lost. The couples move around, shuffle in their beautiful clothing and beautiful homes. Beyond the facade however, are emptiness and a world of gradual moral decay. Works Cited Amidon, Stephen. â€Å"Unzipped: John Updike’s Prose is as Supple as Ever in This Chronicle of a Lifetime’s Erotic Exploits. † New Statesman, 134. 4724(2005): 51 Austin, Jonathan. â€Å"His Characters Allow Updike to be ‘Free’. † CNN. Com, 16 November 1998. Available 27 April 2008, from http://edition. cnn. com/books/news/9811/16/updike/index. html Greiner, Donald. John Updike’s Novels. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1984 Neary, John. Something and Nothingness: The Fiction of John Updike and John Fowles. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992 Pritchard, William. Updike: America’s Man of Letters. South Royalton, VT: Steerforth Press, 2000 Sheed, Wilfrid. â€Å"Couples. † The New York Times, 7 April 1968. Available 27 April 2008, from http://www. nytimes. com/1968/04/07/books/updike-couples. html? pagewanted=1 Updike, John. Couples. NY: Ballantine Books, 1999

Peeling Back the Label Essay -- Sociology

Have you ever heard yourself mentioned by someone else as â€Å"mature or immature?† This status is so easy to place on people that they often don’t even realize that they are slapping a label on someone. Have you ever pondered why this person is acting immature? Often people see someone do something obnoxious or stupid and their first thought is â€Å"that person is so immature.† However, what about the effects that leads up to them behaving in this manner? Within my paper I plan to broaden your viewpoint and ideology and show you that immaturity and maturity aren’t just labels, but are the results of many leading affects in a person’s life. The first idea we want to look at would be, â€Å"what does maturity or immaturity really mean and what all does it involve? Maturity and immaturity are only two parts, and the most commonly heard, however there is a third aspect; pseudomaturity. According to the International Journal Of Behavioral Development, pseudomaturity is an attained social maturity without the psychological maturity. Drug abuse can be categorized in the pseudomature area because people who become addicted to drugs do it to look cool, or fit in, not because it is a better way to understand themselves or because is it healthy for them. Maturity is often used to define someone, or their actions, instead of themselves. A teen graciously takes over watching her little siblings without being asked and her Mom instantly praises her with, â€Å"sweetheart, you are becoming so mature these days.† This type of labeling is becoming so common in our culture, because parents throw the word out and the teen comes to connect the word mature with their actions. Maturity in actual reality is not whether you perform a task correctly or what you did, but... ...o, David, Seung Hee Yoo, and Johnny Fontaine. "Hypocrisy Or Maturity? Culture And Context Differentiation." European Journal Of Personality 23.3 (2009): 251-264. PsycINFO. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. NIV Bible Rutger C. M. E. Engels, et al. "Parent-Child Relationships, Partner Relationships, And Emotional Adjustment: A Birth-To-Maturity Prospective Study." Developmental Psychology 43.2 (2007): 429-437. PsycARTICLES. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. S. Alexandra Burt, et al. "Genetic And Environmental Influences On Personality Trait Stability And Growth During The Transition To Adulthood: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study." Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology 100.3 (2011): 545-556. PsycARTICLES. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. Wim H. J. Meeus, et al. "Maturation Of Personality In Adolescence." Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology 96.4 (2009): 898-912. PsycARTICLES. Web. 25 Apr. 2012.

Performance Management at Jet Food Services Essay

It is now the end of Sampada’s first year as regional manager for Jet Food Services. As regional manager, Sampada supervises a total of ten districts, each of which has a manager responsible for sales and service to customers in that area. Jet Food provides contract food services for hospitals, schools, colleges, business firms, and other institutions that need meals prepared on site but that do not wish to be responsible for operating such services. Jet Food Services hires all necessary kitchen employees, purchases all supplies, and prepares meals in accordance with specifications agreed on with customers. The district manager is responsible for coordinating all customer activities. This includes planning, budgeting, hiring and supervising Jet`s on-site representative (customer service manager), customer satisfaction, and contract renegotiations. Sampada was recruited after years of experience as director of food services for a multicampus university. In that job, she had oversight responsibility for the food services at several campuses. The Jet Food position offered an opportunity for continued growth and advancement. In her first year, Sampada has concentrated on getting to know the district managers and the customers with whom they work. She spent more than a week with each district manager and visited each customer with him or her. At this point, she feels comfortable with her job and the knowledge she has gained of both operations and personnel, and it is time to appraise the performance of the district managers and to schedule review meetings with these employees. Sampada`s assessment of Ranjan: Ranjan is the longest term district manager in Sampada’sregion. He completed less than one year of college, held several short term jobs, and then joined Jet as a shift supervisor of the company`s services at a large college. At present, he is completing twelve years of employment with Jet. He has been a district manager for three years. In working with Ranjan, Sampadahas observed his strengths, along with some problems. Ranjan has a talent for working with people, Jet employees and customers alike. In fact, in his years with Jet, no customer he worked with has ever switched to a competitor. Many on-site supervisors recruited, trained, and supervised by Ranjan have gone on to become managers of other districts.On the other hand, Ranjan’s unhealthy eating habits – despite doctors` warnings – have contributed to some serious medical difficulties. During the past year, Ranjan was out of work for three months with gallbladder and heart problems, attributable in part to obesity. And Ranjan’s behaviour towards others can be overbearing. Sampada kept track of her phone calls from district managers during the year, and there were more calls (or messages) from Ranjan than from the other nine district managers taken together – calls to promote or advertise his own efforts. Although Ranjan can be charming, he has started to be loud and rude with regional personnel whom he perceives as excessively rule – oriented. All in all, Ranjan’s style and appearance have become entirely different from what Sampada is accustomed to in colleagues and employees.Further, it has been announced that Sampada’s region is going to be expanded and that a new position, that of assistant regional manager will be created. Ranjan has made it clear that as Jet`s longest tenured district manager in the region, he feels entitled to this promotion. However, Sampada does not feel she could work with Ranjan as the assistant regional manager. She feels that their management styles are too different and that Ranjan’s behaviour might irritate regional and corporate personnel. As Sampada looks over Jet`s performance assessment and management instrument, she realises that her honest assessment of Ranjan’s performance in his current job is generally excellent. She glances at the last page of the assessment and management form and the overall ratings from which she will have to choose. Jet`s overall rating system is on a 1-10 scale, with 10 as outstanding; 7-9, different degrees of excellent performance; 5-6, satisfactory; 3-4, below average; and 1-2, unacceptable. Sampada is uncertain as to what overall rating to assign. If she gives Ranjan too high a rating, he will expect to be promoted. If the rating is too low, Ranjan will doubtless be angry, feeling that an injustice has been done. Ranjan`s Self-Assessment and Management: Ranjan sees himself as different from the other district managers. An outgoing, gregarious type, he loves to visit his customer locations and work with his company`s personnel. His idea of a successful day is one spent teaching a customer service manager a new operating procedure or management technique. In fact, Ranjan is known to roll up his sleeves and teach Jet employees a new recipe or how to improve an existing dish.Ranjan has worked for several district managers and has always liked to keep them informed about his activities, sometimes phoning two or three times a day. From discussions with Sampada, he is aware that she thinks many of these calls are not necessary, but he wants her to know how things are going with his employees and customers. He is also aware of Sampada’s views regarding his ignoring medical advice. Ranjan is proud of his career and of what he has been able to do without much higher education. He feels he is qualified to become a regional manager, and he looks forward to the possibility of promotion to the new assistant regional manager position as a step toward this ultimate goal. Ranjan’s Assessment Rating: In reviewing the situation, Sampada decides to give Ranjan an overall rating of 6. She feels justified, given that Ranjan did miss months of work as a result of neglecting his health. She knows that Ranjan will expect a higher overall rating, but she is prepared to stand behind her evaluation. Sampada then goes back to considering the separate ratings she will assign and to making plans for their feedback review. Questions:1 How would you describe Sampada’s approach to the assessment and management of Ranjan’s performance? 2 Are Sampada`s concerns with Ranjan’s performance legitimate? Will Ranjan have justifiable reasons for feeling dissatisfied with the assessment and management results?

Night World : Witchlight Chapter 2

They'd gotten a dragon. Keller's heart was pounding. Somehow, somewhere, the people of the Night World had found one and awakened him. And they'd paid him-bribed him-to join their side. Keller didn't even want to imagine what the price might have been. Bile rose in her throat, and she swallowed hard. Dragons were the oldest and most powerful of the shapeshifters, and the most evil. They had all gone to sleep thirty thousand years ago-or, rather, they had been put to sleep by the witches. Keller didn't know exactly how it had been done, but all the old legends said the world had been better off since. And now one was back. But he might not be fully awake yet. From the glimpse she'd had, his body was still cold, not much heat radiating from it. He'd be sluggish, not mentally alert. It was the chance of a lifetime. Keller's decision was made in that instant. There was no time to think about it-and no need. The inhabitants of the Night World wanted to destroy the human world. And there were plenty of them to do it, vampires and dark witches and ghouls. But this was something in another league altogether. With a dragon on their side, the Night World would easily crush Circle Daybreak and all other forces that wanted to save the humans from the end of the world that was coming. It would be no contest. And as for that little girl in there, Iliana the Witch Child, the Wild Power meant to help save humankind-she would get swatted like a bug if she didn't obey the dragon. Keller couldn't let that happen. Even as Keller was thinking it, she was changing. It was strange to do it in a public place, in front of people. It went against all her most deeply ingrained training. But she didn't have time to dwell on that. It felt good. It always did. Painful in a nice way, like the feeling of having a tight bandage removed. A release. Her body was changing. For a moment, she didn't feel like anything-she almost had no body. She was fluid, a being of pure energy, with no more fixed form than a candle flame. She was utterly†¦ free. And then her shoulders were pulling in, and her arms were becoming more sinewy. Her fingers were retracting, but in their place long, curved claws were extending. Her legs were twisting, the joints changing. And from the sensitive place at the end of her spine, the place that always felt unfinished when she was in human form, something long and flexible was springing. It lashed behind her with fierce joy. Her jumpsuit was gone. The reason was simple: she wore only clothes made out of the hair of other shapeshifters. Even her boots were made of the hide of a dead shifter. Now both were being replaced by her own fur, thick black velvet with darker black rosettes. She felt complete and whole in it. Her arms-now her front legs-dropped to the ground, her paws hitting with a soft but heavy thump. Her face prickled with sensitivity; there were long, slender whiskers extending from her cheeks. Her tufted ears twitched alertly. A rasping growl rose in her chest, trying to escape from her throat. She held it back-that was easy and instinctive. A panther was by nature the best stalker in the world. The next thing she did was instinctive, too. She took a moment to gauge the distance from herself to the black-haired boy. She took a step or two forward, her shoulders low. And then she jumped. Swift. Supple. Silent. Her body was in motion. It was a high, bounding leap designed to take a victim without an instant of warning. She landed on the dark boy's back, clinging with razor claws. Her jaws clamped on the back of his neck. It was the way panthers killed, by biting through the spine. The boy yelled in rage and pain, grabbing at her as her weight knocked him to the ground. It didn't do any good. Her claws were too deep in his flesh to be shaken off, and her jaws were tightening with bone-crushing pressure. A little blood spilled into her mouth, and she licked it up automatically with a rough, pointed tongue. More yelling. She was dimly aware that the vampires were attacking her, trying to wrench her away, and that the security guards were yelling. She ignored it all. Nothing mattered but taking the life under her claws. She heard a sudden rumble from the body beneath her. It was lower in pitch than anything human ears could pick up, but to Keller it was both soft and frighteningly loud. Then the world exploded in agony. The dragon had caught hold of her fur just above the right shoulder. Dark energy was crackling into her, searing her. It was the same black power he'd used against Winnie, except that now he had direct contact. The pain was scalding, nauseating. Every nerve ending in Keller's body seemed to be on fire, and her shoulder was a solid red blaze. It made her muscles convulse involuntarily and spread a metallic taste through her mouth, but it didn't make her let go. She held on grimly, letting the waves of energy roll through her, trying to detach her mind from the pain. What was frightening was not just the power but the sense of the dragon's mind beneath it Keller could feel a terrible coldness. A core of mindless hatred and evil that seemed to reach back into the mists of time. This creature was old. And although Keller couldn't tell what he wanted with the present age, she knew what he was focused on right now. Killing her. That was all he cared about. And of course he was going to succeed. Keller had known that from the beginning. But not before I kill you, she thought. She had to hurry, though. There almost certainly were other Night People in the mall. These guys could call for reinforcements, and they would probably get them. You can't†¦ make me†¦ let go, she thought. She was fighting to close her jaws. He was much tougher than a normal human. Panther jaws could crush the skull of a young buffalo. And right now, she could hear muscle crunching, but still she couldn't finish him. Hang on†¦ hang on†¦ Black pain†¦ blinding†¦ She was losing consciousness. For Winnie, she thought. Sudden strength filled her. The pain didn't matter anymore. She tossed her head, trying to break his neck, wrenching it back and forth. The body underneath her convulsed violently. She could feel the little lapsing in it, the weakening that meant death was close. Keller felt a surge of fierce joy. And then she was aware of something else. Someone was pulling her off the dragon. Not in the fumbling way the thugs had. This person was doing it skillfully, touching pressure points to make her claws retract, even getting a finger into her mouth, under the short front teeth between the lethal canines. No! Keller thought. From her panther throat came a short, choking snarl. She lashed out with her back legs, trying to rip the person's guts out. Afo. The voice didn't come in through Keller's ears. It was in her mind. A boy's voice. And it wasn't afraid, despite the fact that she was now scrabbling weakly, still trying to turn his stomach to spaghetti. It was concerned and anxious but not afraid. Please-you have to let go. Even as he said it, he was pushing more pressure points. Keller was already weak. Now, all at once, she saw stars. She felt her hold on the dragon loosen. And then she was being jerked backward, and she was falling. A hundred and ten pounds of black panther was landing on whoever had yanked her free. Dizzy†¦ Her vision was blurred, and her body felt like rubber. She hardly had enough strength to twist her head toward the boy who had pulled her away. Who was he? Who? Her eyes met blazing green-gold ones. Almost the eyes of a leopard. It gave Keller a jolt. But the rest of the boy was different. Dark gold hair over a rather pale and strained face with perfectly sculpted features. Human, of course. And those eyes seemed to be blazing with worry and intensity rather than animal ferocity. Not many people could look at an angry panther like that. She heard his mental voice again. Are you all right? And then, for just an instant, something happened. It was as if some barrier had been punctured. Keller felt not just his voice but his worry inside her head. She could feel†¦ him. His name†¦ Galen. And he's someone born to command, she thought. He understands animals. Another shapeshifter? But I can't feel what animal he turns into. And there's no bloodtbirstiness at all†¦. She didn't understand it, and her panther brain wasn't in the mood to try. It was grounded in the here and now, and all it wanted was to finish what she had started. She wrenched her eyes away from Galen and looked at the dragon. Yes, he was still alive but badly wounded. A little snarl worked out of Keller's throat. The vampire thugs were still alive, too; one was picking up the injured dragon and hauling him away. â€Å"Come on!† he was shouting in a voice sharp with panic. â€Å"Before that cat recovers-â€Å" â€Å"But the girl!† the second vampire said. â€Å"We don't have the girl.† He looked around. Diana was standing by a display of porcelain figures, looking just as pale and graceful as any of them. She had both hands at her throat and seemed to be in shock. The second vampire started toward her. Afo, Keller thought. But she couldn't get her legs to move. She could only lie helplessly and stare with burning eyes. â€Å"No!† a voice beside her said, out loud this time. Galen was jumping up. He got between the vampire and Diana. The vampire grinned, a particularly nasty grin. â€Å"You don't look like a fighter to me, pretty boy.† It wasn't exactly true, Keller thought. Galen wasn't pretty; he was beautiful. With that gold hair and his coloring, he looked like a prince from a storybook. A rather young and inexperienced prince. He stood his ground, his expression grim and determined. â€Å"I won't let you get to her,† he said steadily. Who the hell is this guy? Keller thought Iliana, pale and wide-eyed, glanced up at him, too. And then Keller saw her†¦ melt. Her drawn features softened; her lips parted. Her eyes seemed to quiver with light. She had been cowering away from the vampire, but now her body relaxed just a little. He certainly looked more like a champion defender than Keller had. He was clean, for one thing. Keller's fur was matted with her own blood and the dragon's. More, she couldn't help the little raspy snarls of rage and despair she was making, showing dripping teeth in a red-stained muzzle. Too bad he was about to be slaughtered. He wasn't a fighter. Keller had seen the inside of his mind, and she knew he didn't have the tiger instinct. The vampire was going to massacre him. The vampire started forward. And a voice from the front of the store said, â€Å"Hold it right there.†

Reinventing Government Example

Reinventing Government Example Reinventing Government – Coursework Example Reinventing Government Reinventing Government Introduction The main purpose of reinventing is to enable the government, private sectors, local government efficient and result-oriented. Similarly, reinventing must help in keeping cost of production in the economy as low as possible.Streamlining Government BusinessReinventing government initiative can help in streamlining government methods of doing business in many ways. The government forms various partnerships with local government and private sector. During the reinvention, government agencies build more contacts with the public (Kamarck, 2013). Consequently, the agencies should undergo reforms that enhance faster and better delivery of services to customers.Reinvention of the government incorporates the efforts to have an e-government. E-government promotes critical information and services through use of the internet. The government establishes NPR that works with agencies in developing one- stop websites. Consequently, students in learning institutions manage to make educational loan application and elders find it easy to know more about their social security benefits (Cropf, 2008). In addition, enterprises belonging to small business owners find access and assistance to capital.It is unjustified to outsource government services because reinventing government aims at restoring the trust of people of America into self-government. Further, the process should also provide the basis for confidence that the government can effect positive impacts in their lives (Breul & Kamensky, 2009). Reinvention, therefore, should be self-sustaining without necessarily outsourcing services from other economies. The government, however, should not hire fewer employees because it would render many American citizens jobless. The government should consider hiring a good number of employees. Further, it should keep favorable wage rates to ensure cost of production remains lower.ReferencesBreul, J. D. & Kamensky, J. M. (2009), Fede ral Government Reform: Lessons from Clinton’s â€Å"Reinventing Government† and Bush’s â€Å"Management Agenda† Initiatives. Public Administration Review, 68:  1009–1026. doi:  10.1111/j.1540-6210.2009.00950.xCropf, R. (2008). American Public Administration: Public Service for the 21st Century. New York, NY: Pearson Longman.Kamarck, E. (June 18, 2013). Lessons for the Future of Government Reform. Brookings. New York.

Application Performance Optimization and Load Balancing

Application Performance Optimization and Load Balancing Application Performance Optimization and Load Balancing using RAID and Caching Techniques Akilesh Kailash Sunil Iyer Kolar Suresh Kumar Sabarish Venkatraman    ABSTRACT As the data processing and demand for storage grows, the performance of a critical application should always be intact with respect to disk I/O. There has been considerable improvements related to disk seek, latency and spindle speeds; However, these improvements have not met the challenges and addresses the need for better performance and load balancing. The challenge of any Database administrator is to maximize the Application I/O performance and ensure the high availability with zero downtime. This performance challenge can be met using I/O monitoring, Load balancing, Cache management and RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) technologies. The primary goal of this paper is to exemplify the details of successfully solving the I/O problems of a database application in a consistent fashion with the ap propriate RAID configurations, caching mechanisms and load balancing algorithm. Categories and Subject Descriptors B.3.2 [Design Styles]: Mass storage – RAID. D.4.2 [Storage Management]: Secondary storage, Storage hierarchies. D.4.3 [File Systems Management]: File organization. D.4.4 [Communications Management]: Input/Output. D.4.5 [Reliability]: Backup procedures, Fault-tolerance. General Terms Algorithms, Performance, Design, Theory, Reliability. Keywords RAID – Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks I/O – Input/Output DBA – Database Administrators HA – High Availability OLTP – Online Transaction Processing. IOPS – HBA – 1. INTRODUCTION RAID technology addresses the need for higher storage capacity in IO system and provides the feature of data redundancy. This helps in efficient and improved disk access and avoids data loss by disk failures. Theoretically, RAID is mainly used to create a logical disk from two or more physical d isk drives in order to provide high bandwidth. RAID is an imperative part of storage stack and fabric layer and is coordinated by various storage vendors like EMC, Hitachi, NetApp. RAID technologies have enumerated different methods in building storage stacks and sub-systems for different kinds of databases. Thus, the two main technical reasons for switching to RAID are scalability and high availability in the context of I/O and system performance. As the database sizes of today have grown manifold from the gigabytes to petabytes range, the intricacy to scale I/O performance of such gigantic systems is needed very much for critical applications. Load balancing is a critical factor in environments like Operating Systems, Clusters, Networking and Applications. They play a quintessential role in the performance and reliability of any environment avoiding catastrophic failures. In a quotidian scenario, the resource allocation and load balancing are done through hash methods, genetic alg orithms and several scheduling algorithms in Operating systems. Many database applications demand high throughput and availability from storage subsystems. For instance, a stock market application running in New York stock exchange will need to have a high throughput and bandwidth with absolutely no downtime. This requires continuous operation i.e., the need to satisfy each I/O request even in the case of disk failures. It is not acceptable to meet the aforementioned requirements at the cost of deprived performance mainly in real-time applications such as video and audio. It is highly unacceptable if a video is played at slower speed or the data is lost during transmission and ends abruptly.

An analysis of 3 turning points in history from 8000 B.C.E up to 1500 Essay

An analysis of 3 turning points in history from 8000 B.C.E up to 1500 - Essay Example From an academic point of view, analyzing the history of societies, cultures, disputes, inventions and technological advances allow us to understand the methods through which primitive nations overcame their limitations and attempt extract useful information from the patterns of change that have been there in the previous millenniums. In comparison to the world that we live in today, these patterns of change were much less disruptive and slow paced before the last few centuries. Change, when it came, was gradual and took several generations to be implemented with visible effects. The life of one generation would be nearly identical to those of their fore fathers and the lifestyle continuing on the same patterns; utilizing the same resources. Consequently, even with the restricted sources of information scholars have about the people that existed in the time before the AD years it is possible to identify and categorize those points when the human population went through a drastic tran sformation. In a positive sense, these events could symbolize a discovery, a way of travel, communication or livelihood- anything which made life easier for the groups and allowed them to increase their populations. The opposite would be any happenings which damaged their ability to survive or removed the effects any previous developments. It is easy to understand why the positive disruptions are the ones highlighted and researched more extensively. The introductory period in the studies of world history is known as the â€Å"foundations†. this period ranges from 8000 BC to 600 BC and is so named because of it was the beginning era for the all future trends and discoveries which have shaped human civilizations to eventually transform it into the modern world we recognize. This was the time of emergence of major Early "River Valley" Civilizations (about 3500 B.C.E. - about 1200 B.C.E.) and Classical Civilizations (about 1000 B.C.E. - 600 C.E.) which were the first formally des igned societies1. Though there is still some argument between academics about the exact dates of this era, the marker events have been recognized by all and it is accepted that many of these may not have occurred at a specified date but would have happened during a certain period with discoveries being made simultaneously in different regions and different populations. The major transforming events could not remain restricted to any one group or area; they had to be and spread and adopted on a global scale in order to have a true long lasting impact on the human species and their life style. In some cases sharing of knowledge between different groups enhanced the cumulative knowledge base as a greater number of minds could then work on producing new solutions to the existing problems and improving the ones that existed. As such we will be discussing the three major turning points of the period ranging from 8000 BC to 1500 BC from the view point that these were continuous processes a nd the contributions and scale of impact from these differed for different geographical areas. 1. The Agriculture Revolution: Man cannot live without food; as any other species it lives where food can be gained easily and follows where its prey goes. However, humans had many advantages over their animal companions including bipedalism, highly defined motor skills, and most importantly greater mental capacity that allowed them to use