Friday, November 29, 2019

How Did World War 2 Change The Role Of Women Essays -

How did World War 2 change the role of Women How did World War 2 change the role of Women If you were born right now, this instant, at you're present age without any knowledge about how women used to be treated, the assumption could be made that men and women are basically equal. Yes, men are a little stronger physically, but overall the two sexes are both equal. Things weren't always so picturesque, though. Since people first settled here, on what is now the United States of America, women were thought of as inferior. Ever so slowly though, the men's view on women began to change. The change started in the 1920's but it was going slowly and needed a catalyst. World War II was that catalyst. So much so that women ended up participating in the rise of the United States to a global power. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, mostly in the U.S. women were thought of as inferior. Men did anything they possibly could to prevent women from entering certain parts of the industry, backing up their actions with "Men are stronger than women". The majority of fighter planes were built by men and it was also men who worked in most of the factories that produced cars and other transportation vehicles, thus implying that technology was a man's job. Women were relegated to being seamstresses, some were secretaries, nurse, phone operators, and the majority were house wives. The misnomer that very few women had jobs back in the 30's and 40's, is not true. In fact, the majority of women had jobs. Even during the Great Depression, almost all women leaving school looked for jobs, and eventually found one. Of the women born in 1915, 91% had a job by 1938, which was relatively good compared to the 96% of men in the work force. Most women, however, quit their jobs after getting married so by 1939, there were millions of housewives with a variety of job experience. The untapped resource of high school and college women made for potential recruits for the wartime labor force (Campbell, p.73). December 7th, 1941 had came and gone, with the U.S. naval fleet being seriously damaged at Pearl Harbor by a series of air and submarine attacks by the Japanese. This move gave the Japanese temporary naval supremacy at the expense of a large portion of the U.S. fleet. With that, President Roosevelt, who had been avoiding entering the War, declared war on Japan and then eventually entering in the war against Germany (Hayes, p.659). As a result of this declaration, a military conscription was put into effect as the first step to the allocation of soldiers. Thus where there were men in jobs before, there was nobody and with that women flowed into factories and offices, taking over jobs previously thought that only men could do (Palmer, Colton, p.719). "May 22, 1942, will surely go down on the record," predicted the Christian Science Monitor. "It was the day that women joined up with the army..." It was obvious; the U.S. needed a larger military force. Thus women joined the army within organizations. From there came Oveta Culp Hobby, the director for the first American military organization of women. This organization was called the WAAC (Women's Army Auxiliary Corps). Many people were impressed by the strength of the WAAC and it is said that within three months, the AAF was discussing the possibilities of obtaining more members of the WAAC (Weatherford, p.34). In 1943 there was a U.S. male pilot shortage. In August, the WASPS (Women Airforce Service Pilots), were formed to aid the shortage. For the most part the WASPS weren't used for actually fighting. They were used mainly used for ferrying bomber and fighter planes from factories to airbases. Even in the Airforce, while helping the men, women were still antagonized by the men. The WASPS lasted only for one year and in 1944, when the male pilot shortage ended, a proposal to make the WASPS a part of the Airforce was submitted. The proposal, however, was narrowly defeated by the House of Representatives (Woloch, p.462). The U.S. used women as their "secret weapon". Between 1940 and 1944, the amount of women employed increased by half going from 12 million in 1940 to 18.2 million in 1944. The amount of women in steel, machinery, shipbuilding, aircraft, and auto factories more than quintupled to 1.7 million compared to 230,000 nearly five years prior. The only other country who had women to backup the men when the men went to war, was Britain (Campbell,

Monday, November 25, 2019

Children in Religion Essay

Children in Religion Essay Children in Religion Essay India Jones 9:00-9:50 Children And Religion With the increasing number of families turning to secular humanism as a replacement for religion, many questions arise when concerning raising a family. Should religion be a part of every child’s upbringing? Could the views of a secular humanistic family raise morally conscious adults? With the many questions that arise from the issue of secular humanism I look at the many reasons that bring people to the conclusion that this is right for them and their families. As Katharine Ozment, author of Losing our religion in the Boston magazine states in her article, many adult begin to drift away from the religion they were bought up to practice because they feel as if they were forced to believe something that their parents believed. When growing up it becomes easy to quit the rituals, stop celebrating the holidays, and to ignore the social preferences that go along with their previous religion. Secular humanism gives those individuals who don’t fit into the major religions such as Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism, a title. Even though the religions were created my different philosophers, with different mindsets and beliefs on how the world was created and works one thing that remains in common between them all is the morality and ethics. Secular humanist don’t believe in a afterlife, or salvation, which provide insight on what will happen to your body or soul after death when you live a fulfilling life according to your religion. It’s hard to believe that they have morals if they don’t concern themselves with how they live their lives based on the preconceptions of society. Secular Humanism doesn’t seem like a good replacement for religion for those reasons but when community service is brought into the argument it makes room for a difference of opinion. If a secular humanist spends time doing charitable work such as feeding the homeless, or keeping the community clean which shows good character, its hard to say that they lack good moral teaching. People go to church to feel uplifted, and doing community service can give one the same feeling. To say that doing so is a replacement for church service seems right. In church lessons are learned through a priest reading passages out of the sacred readings of the religion. Through community service lessons are learned through action on your part, which almost makes it more personal. The ideal way for me on how to teach a child about religion is to raise them up with a clear understanding on what their religious background is. If a child grows up without having an official position on religion then they will incorrectly learn how to morally carry themselves throughout life. The children’s peers become their teachers when the parents should be the ones to instruct morals. And example of this in Losing our religion is when at the thanksgiving table the child thanks Jesus when

Friday, November 22, 2019

Economic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 16

Economic - Essay Example The HS2 railway would be a great investment for the United Kingdom (Cowen, 2011). Since the railway line will run from London to Leeds and then Manchester, it would ease congestion on Britain’s railway line. However, critics of the projects argue that high-speed railway would not benefit the country accordingly because of the price tag. Despite the opposition, it is rational to argue that the HS2 project is a necessity in Britain. Given enormous growth in freight and passengers, the new line would help ease these problems. Having high-speed railway line in Britain would mean expansion and growth of areas outside London. As discussed in the paper, the HS2 railway line would contribute a lot to the economy of Britain. The benefits of the projects justify the revised costs given its long-term investment (Nash, 2010). The high-speed railway line in Britain will open up the region and in turn encourage trade among European nations. This project means that Britain has embarked on expanding its international trade, taking advantage of the newly competitive exchange rate to penetrate new markets. It will encourage new foreign investments, expand and ameliorate its tourism industry and improve the education and skills base to continue providing a platform for new employment. In addition, under the Economic Recovery Plan of Britain, the government with the new project will appreciate the role of the public sector in economic growth. The project has also mobilized a variety of cross-public activities, which are aimed at supporting the Scottish economy through the effects of the global recession (Nash, 201). With the aim of escalating economic recovery in the Northeast England, the approval of the High-speed railway will encourage competition among firms in Northeast England. The project will aim at making the Northeast region a more cohesive, ambitious, and attractive for investment and working based on

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Cross cultural management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Cross cultural management - Essay Example The key messages that the author has tried to suggest in this article are that cross-cultural perception between supposedly similar groups in terms of similarity of national culture varies on the basis of the context in which the cooperation occurs between the groups (Heijes, 2011). The author asserts that power dynamics between different ethnic groups is one of the most fundamental drivers of the cross-cultural perception. Research along this line is a valuable aid that extends the understanding of the significant interrelationship between the culture and dynamics of power within organizations. The distinctive content of the article is that the author has achieved his objectives by compiling a comparative evaluation of the cross-cultural perception between two different ethnic groups. In the recent years, the number of cross-national studies has considerably increased, of which this research forms a part. The organizational research’s domain is getting increasingly internatio nal, thus raising concerns about the transportability of the models of social science across societies.The ethnic groups selected for the study were African Curacaoans and European Dutch. These groups were chosen in two organizations that operated in two different countries and the power dynamics of the selected organizations in their respective environments differed from each other. The author has used empirical evidence to demonstrate the way cross-cultural perception is influenced by differences of power. Â  ... Research along this line is a valuable aid that extends the understanding of the significant interrelationship between the culture and dynamics of power within organizations. The distinctive content of the article is that the author has achieved his objectives by compiling a comparative evaluation of the cross-cultural perception between two different ethnic groups. In the recent years, the number of cross-national studies has considerably increased (Renn and Rohrmann, 2000, p. 20), of which this research forms a part. The organizational research’s domain is getting increasingly international, thus raising concerns about the transportability of the models of social science across societies (Tsui, 2004). The ethnic groups selected for the study were African Curacaoans and European Dutch. These groups were chosen in two organizations that operated in two different countries and the power dynamics of the selected organizations in their respective environments differed from each o ther. The author has used empirical evidence to demonstrate the way cross-cultural perception is influenced by differences of power. Perception has been studied along two altering axes; the first of which was the external national context and the second was the internal organizational context. The author has studied the cross-cultural perceptions in Curacaoans and Dutch as well as in two organizations that were made part of the research; the police and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The author used these comparative case studies to offer a comprehensive account of the real-life cross-cultural perceptions between the selected ethnic groups so as to comprehend

Monday, November 18, 2019

Transitions of Culture and Identity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Transitions of Culture and Identity - Essay Example Proctor quotes James Clifford who said that â€Å"Once traveling is foregrounded as a cultural practice then dwelling too, needs to be reconceived†. The concept of traveling has redefined the ways in which home is an influence. As well, the difference between where one declares to be home and where one has traveled must be defined in order to situate the way in which one’s culture will be expressed. The difference depends on the identity that one decides to live within. If one has been raised on a Caribbean Island and has then moved to Britain, the question of identity has no real relevance to the official and legal place of residence.In contrast, it is possible to abandon the beliefs and traditions of home and to decide to adopt British traditions in order to fully integrate. Most often, it is somewhere in-between. The questions then become: Where does the naturalized culture stop and the adopted culture begin? What now defines the identity?The attachment to the concep t of home is married to the concept of the fear of homelessness. The need for home is as much about the fear of not having a home as it is about the existence of the dwelling itself. The problem with being ‘homeless’ is more than just not having an adequate roof and a place to put one’s things, but it is a sense of disconnection, the existence without roots and foundation. To be ‘home’ is to be in a place where one belongs, but to be homeless is to be within a space where there is not real social connection to the world.

Saturday, November 16, 2019

miRNA as Biomarkers in Forensic Body Fluids Identification

miRNA as Biomarkers in Forensic Body Fluids Identification miRNA profiling: What does not work for blood and urine identification Sarah S. Silva a, b, Teixeira, A.L b, MJ Carneiro de Sousa a,c and Medeiros, R.a, b a – ICBAS, Abel Salazar Biomedical Sciences Institute, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal b – Molecular Oncology group, Portuguese Institute of Oncology, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal c _ National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, North Branch, 4050-167 Porto, Portugal Abstract In forensics, the identification of blood, semen or vaginal secretions can represent an important support for a criminal investigation. They can be used as a source of DNA but also can hold, only by their presence, the most probative value. Through the years many methodologies were used to identify them but all presented serious drawback. Lately, mRNA surged as a potential tool for body fluid identification but their sensibility were a serious disadvantage, even more pronounced in forensic samples. Since 2009, miRNA profiling surged as a possible tool as a confirmatory test in forensics due to their tissue specific pattern of expression. Unlike mRNAs they are much more stable due to their proprieties whose makes them less prone to degradation processes. In this report, we studied the expressional patterns of miR-127, miR-221 and RNU-48 in 50 samples of urine and blood in order to define whether or not they could be used as biomarkers for urine or blood identification. Even though our aim was to assess whether or not our miRNAs could be considered as biomarkers, we came across 2 others interesting conclusions: the impact of RNA purity in miRNAs quantification and which miRNA cannot be used as a normalisation gene for blood and urine identification. Key words: miRNA profiling, Forensic, Serology, body fluids, biological biomarkers 1- Introduction Human body fluids are important components to rely on a criminal investigation [1, 2]. As a matter of fact, a complainant’s body fluids present on items belonging to a suspect – or vice versa – holds the most probative value. For example, in a case of a sexual assault in a child, where a DNA profile recovered from the child bedding and underwear coincide with his father DNA profile, can we consider his father responsible for the sexual assault? In a case like this, it is not enough to recover a DNA profile but it is also imperative to acknowledge its source. If no serological test were done, in court, the presence of DNA could be explained as a result of the presence of epithelial cells in the child clothing which is totally common when it comes from a sibling. On the other hand, if serological tests linked the DNA profile to semen it would be way more difficult to explain its presence there. Beyond the probative value that body fluid may have in a crime scene, it is also important to acknowledge them to optimize protocols to conduct a reliable DNA profiling [3, 4]. For example, DNA extraction processes are different for blood and urine. If we conducted the protocol of blood extraction in urine samples it may result in a reduced quality of the extracted DNA e enable any conclusive DNA profile [3, 4]. There is why, body fluids identification is considered as crucial step in criminal investigation. For some, it seems easy to identify body fluids such as blood (colour), urine (smell) or even sperm (texture) however, when dried, washed or mixed with other components their identification may not be that easy [1]. It is important to highlight that in court, there is no such thing as â€Å"It seems to be sperm because it looked like it and have the same particular texture†, it is needed an undeniable proof that it is sperm. Serological test are used in forensic biology to allow the detection and identification of body fluids in both native form or as a residue left at a crime scene. Serological tests are divided in two major fields: Presumptive and confirmatory test. Presumptive tests rely on methodologies that are sensitive and performed quickly, yet they are not specific to the body fluid. Those tests can only indicate if the fluids might be present and do not unequivocally states its presence. On the other hand, confirmatory tests are indeed specific to the body fluid we s eek to identify. As presumptive tests, confirmatory testing is sensitive however, it takes a lot more time. Idealistically, we should have a battery of confirmatory test for all important body fluids in order to reliably detect and identify them. Unfortunately, there is a large cluster of presumptive tests and far less of confirmatory ones. Moreover, till date no confirmatory test is able to reliably differentiate blood from menstrual blood which is an unquestionably important body fluid in sexual cases. Over the last years, mRNA profiling became a target for body fluid identification due to its tissue specific patterns. Still, mRNA susceptibility to degradation by physical or chemical factors was an unquestionable drawback. In order to sidetrack this problem, miRNA surge with a real potential as a confirmatory test. MiRNAs are small non-coding RNAs with more or less than 22 nucleotides of length that, combined with the RNA-induced silencing complex, seems to regulate a major part of human gene (5 e 6 do meu artigo). Moreover, their tight relationship with Argonaute proteins, they are much less susceptive to both biotic and abiotic factors. In 2009, Hanson and colleagues were the first to introduce miRNA profiling and soon enough others followed. Those studies pointed out a large collection of miRNAs with potential as biomarker, however very few were confirmed by more than one group which revealed the lack of reproducibility of results. Moreover, when some tried to replicate the resu lts of others, they failed. For this report, we choose to test four miRNAs in both blood and urine of 50 healthy individual and study their behaviour within those body fluids. 2- Material and methods We conducted an expression profiling of 50 healthy individuals. The case group was composed by Caucasian individuals with no major pathological condition in order to erase a variable that could alter miRNAs profiles. Peripheral venous blood (Xml) and urine were collected from each subject following the obtainment of a written informed consent from all subjects. After collected the samples were processed. The samples were used for miRNAs extraction with GRS microRNA Kit (Grisp) according to the manufacturers instructions. Subsequently, miRNa priorly extracted were used as a template for cDNA synthesis using TaqMan ® MicroRNA Reverse Transcription Kit (Applied Biosystems ®). To quantify miRNA expression, real-time PCR assays were performed with a StepOneâ„ ¢ System using TaqMan ®Universal Master Mix II (Applied Biosystems ®). The target miRNAs were amplified by a set of designed primers for miR-127-5p, miR-221*, miR-222* and RNU48. miR-222* was used as a normalization gene miRNAs relative quantifications. The data analysis was performed using the StepOne Software v2.2 (Applied Biosystems ®). Statistical analysis was carried out by the computer software IBM ®SPSS ®Statistics (Version 22.0). In order to assess any statistical alterations in our normalized miRNAs expression we used 2−ΔΔCt method and Students t test. 3- Results 3.1- Cycle threshold vs RNA purity Urine samples were processed and the resulting pellet was diluted in 1ml of Tripure. Visually a wide range of pink colour was noticeable within our urine samples. Those with a deep pink were related with samples with a more substantial pellet unlike those with a less considerable pellet who presented themselves with a lighter colour. After miRNA extraction, we quantify miRNA expression of miR-222 in urine samples and perceived that only few of them were detected. Interestingly, only the ones with a lighter colour were indeed detected. This tricky situation could be explained by the ratio of absorbance at 260 nm and 280 nm which is used to assess the purity of RNA. In this case, lighter colour was also an indicator of a greater ratio, on the other hand, those with higher optical density had a very low ratio, far from the ratio of ~2.0 which is generally accepted as â€Å"pure† for RNA. In order to sidetrack this delicate situation, we choose a sample (MU26) that has an optimal 260/280nm ratio and diluted the other samples to equalize their optical density with Tripure. Posteriorly, we choose 5 samples to test and noticed a considerable decrease of Ct in the samples processed with the optimized protocol (Fig.1). The difference of Ct value is very significant, nearly 6 Ct, demonstrating that RNA purity is clearly a factor that challenge miRNA profiling. As showed, miRNA quantification goes with a low concentration or can go totally undetected when 260/280nm ratio is low however, when optimized, miRNA concentration increased significantly. As said previously, different reports indicated miRNAs as biomarkers for human body fluids identification though, when others tried to replicate them, they failed. Our results shows that for the same sample, different degrees of purity can decide whether or not a miRNA is detected, once it definitely affect their concentration. There is why, RNA purity needed to be optimal otherwise it may lead to unreliable results, which could explain, the failed attempts done by some authors when trying to replicate others results. Figure 1 Cycle threshold vs RNA purity. This figure presents the Ct values of miR-222 taken from 5 samples processed with both normal and optimized protocol (first and second column respectively). It is showed that the considerable fall of Ct values correlates with an increase of 260/280nm ratio. 3.2 – Normalization gene In qRT-PCR, data normalization is imperatively required for quantification analysis [5-7]. The integration of an invariant endogenous essay, also called as reference gene, has as its main objective correct systematic technical and/or experimental errors [6, 8]. For this essay, we choose to use RNU-48 as our reference gene for the data normalization. Widely used as normalization gene, RNU-48 is expected to have a stable pattern among samples. However, within our essay the opposite transpired. As showed in figure 2, RNU-48 was the one with a major standard deviation when compared with other 3 miRNAs analyzed which make it inappropriate as an endogenous control for our essay. Seemingly, we were not the only ones that concluded this, Sapre and colleagues also assumed that RNI-48 was inadequate as an endogenous control due to its systematic perturbation in its expression [9]. Remarkably, the unexpected miR-222 profile remained barely unaffected and presented no significant difference between urine and blood. miRNA-222 behaviour within our samples was surprising once, it is being aimed for its deregulation by many other groups. Here, it does not present any variation within samples, any variation among both body fluids, it did even remained stable within different stages of age and do not alter with gender. This particular behaviour is expected of endogenous controls. Therefore, we decided to use miR-222 as our reference gene in order to normalise our data. 3.3 – miRNAs as biomarkers Since 2009, miRNAs has been a target for forensic researcher, especially in forensic serology. The importance of both detection and identification for body fluids in criminal investigation is undeniable. Scientifically speaking, 5 years is such a short time to develop reliable new methodologies and, as already lay out by some authors, there is still so much to do. Here, we choose 4 miRNAs and decided to study their expression level in urine and blood samples. As stated earlier, we choose miR-222 as our endogenous control for our data normalisation due to its behaviour within our samples. As showed in figure 4, we can state that all miRNAs considered have different expressional patterns and all of them probabilistically significant (P RNU-48 is the one with a major difference between urine and blood. The one used numerous times as an endogenous control is upregulated about 141 times more in blood than in urine supporting our decision to not use it to normalize our data. Till now, a minor number of miRNAs have been acknowledged as tissue specific at least reliably. By definition, miRNAs are considered tissue specific when they’re found with high abundance in a specific tissue while it has low or non-existent expression in others. That differential profile patterns would allow body fluids reliable identification and serve as a significant confirmatory test. Considering our results, we can conclude that miR-127, miR-221 and RNU-48 are not suitable for neither blood nor urine identification. Despite a significant difference of expression, they do not present the expected expressional patterns to be considered as a good biomarker. Table 1 – miRNA detection in both urine and blood samples and its corresponding fold change within the body fluids. As we stated within our introduction, the miRNAs considered as biomarkers for body fluid identification in other reports have been difficult to replicate. We believe that those difficulties are linked to several factors as environmental factors, methodologies, age, gender, pathologies among several others. We know that miRNAs expression levels do alter with both biotic and abiotic factors, there is why we try to minimize the impact of those within our samples excluding, as example, acute pathological conditions. Despite considering that miR-127, miR-221 and RNU-48 are unsuitable for urine and blood identification, we wanted to study their expressional behavior within samples with different stages of age and gender. Figure 4A displays an overview of their relative quantification within female and male samples. Within blood, we did not notice any significant alteration in their expression (P>0,05). On the other hand, in urine, RNU-48 presented itself with a significant overexpression i n females (P When it comes to age, we divided our 50 samples in 3 categories: 20-40, 41-60 and over 60 years old. As it is shown in figure 4B, the relative quantification we achieved demonstrated no significant change in their expression profile (P>0,05). 4 – Conclusion and future perspectives More than just a source of DNA, body fluids sole presence can have the most probative value. Hanson and colleagues introduced miRNA profiling as a reliable tool to identify body fluids such as blood, menstrual blood, semen, vaginal secretion and urine due to their tissue-specific pattern and stability when conditioned by degradation processes. Here we focused our attention in four miRNAs: miR-127, miR-221, miR-222 and RNU-48. Soon enough miRNAs purity struck our attention when we notice that low value of 260/280nm ratio was associated with a poor degree of detection. When we upgraded our protocol the consequence reflected in a considerable decrease of the samples threshold. It would be irrefutably helpful to understand what threshold could affect miRNA profiling once, as it was shown, miRNA purity do affect considerably their quantification. It could even convey wrong outcomes once even miRNAs with high concentration within body fluids can appear with low concentration or totally inexistent. Our second result emphasised the importance of a normalisation gene. At first, we choose to use RNU-48 as our endogenous control but its behaviour within blood and urine make us reconsider our decision. RNU-48 is usually used as a reference gene due to its stable behaviour within samples however, our essay showed otherwise. Within the 4 miRNAs testes, RNU-48 was the one with a more pronounced variability within samples, which is opposed of what would be expected of a normalisation gene. Unexpectedly, miR-222 presented itself with the lowest standard deviation between blood and urine. Furthermore, we studied its expression levels and compared them within age and gender and concluded that no significant alteration was noticeable (P As stated earlier, normalisation genes are indispensable to validate qRT-PCR results however, till date, no normalisation gene is universally acknowledged. This problem is reflected in our case, where one of the most used normalisation gene proved to be unsuitable for urine and blood miRNA analysis. This subject is a very sensitive point in miRNA profiling. There is why it is imperative to focus our future line of work towards finding a reliable normalisation gene before anything else. Our main goal was to define whether or not miR-127, miR-221 or RNU-48 could have the potential to be considered as biomarkers for body fluids identification. In this case, we could establish that all four have different expressional patterns in urine and blood (fig.5) however, to be considered as biomarker it would expected a major difference within body fluids which do not happen with our miRNAs considered for this essay. There is why we conclude that none of this miRNAs have the potential to be considered as a biomarker for body fluid identification. Conflict of interest None.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Cards of Fortune :: Free Essays Online

Cards of Fortune I suppose in a way Tonia is right, life isn’t worth living, if both of us aren’t there to see it, together. That’s what twins do after all. They are an intrinsical part of each other's life, ceasing to exist without the second. But, I feel that we’re drifting apart, separated by this something, intangible, unnamable, and yet more potent than all of our past put together. I can remember how as little girls we played together. There were no other children with the troupe, and even when we passed the towns†¦ well, the children were never friendly, preferring to fear and call names. But Tonia, she was always there to play with, to laugh with, to cry with. Playing by the fire, dancing under the moon, we were eccentric children, not given to the usual childhood games, preferring instead to talk quietly, and whisper our secrets, but it was always us, together, until now. One of our favorite games was to confuse Septemius, the poor man; he always did have trouble telling us apart. But then, we were children at the time, and not given over to worrying about the troubles of a grown man. Poor, dear, Septemius, even now I can sense his thoughts, and he’s worried, as I am. He knows that Tonia is growing apart from us, and every so often, I’ll catch him looking at her, realizing the distance that’s growing, between her and me, between all of us, and I see that look of daunting sadness in his eyes. I think he sees mother in her, in us rather. I remember the look he gives her now, and it’s the look he had when my mother†¦ left. People tend to think children do not remember such things, that in their happy naà ¯ve lives they don’t understand, but I knew then, as I do now, that mother broke his heart. And as much as Septemius grieves for Tonia’s departure from the family, and through that grieves still for the loss of the woman he once knew, so do I grieve. And, yet, somehow I feel my sadness deeper, a sharper pain, for it is not the loss of an abstract family member, or even a sister, it is the loss of part of myself.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Current Issues in Management Essay

Executive Summary Aim of this study This study is to analysis the selected airline business environment and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program implementations of some airline and compare with the selected airline. What is CSR CSR is an approach to business that takes account of issues associated with society and the environment in addition to more traditional business concerns of shareholders and profits. The low-fare airline â€Å"Ryanair† doing about CSR We can see the result of Ryanair CSR performance from the interviewee in this section. Analysis and discuss how the airline performance Corporate Social Responsibility. 1. INTRODUCTION In the last few decades, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has grown in importance, which is reflected by an increasing demand from consumers, employees, legislative systems, and the society for inclusive evaluations about how corporations are meeting acceptable standards. CSR plays an important role in the formation of airlines’ strategies due to the unique characteristics of the airline industry. Nevertheless, CSR in the airline industry has received relatively little attention from academics. The purpose of this study are to understand and analysis how the selected airline communicates to the outside world by implementing CSR programs. This research is exploratory by nature and is based on CSR reports published by the selected airline and related CSR information on the company websites. This topic has been chose because of the importance of CSR in business, more specifically in airline industry. What makes the application CSR programs in airline industry a particularly interesting topic to research is the highly competitive and pollutive nature of the industry. This competitive market has been caused by the price sensitivity of customers, and their desire to get good service at a decent price, as well as by the saturated nature of supply market due to multiple operators. In order to compete in the market, companies have to be cost efficient while providing best possible service. This, however, is difficult due to high operating costs that influence the whole industry. CSR is considered to be a vital part of any contemporary business strategy. In our mind focusing on CSR can provide airlines with both operational efficiency, as well as image benefits. People are becoming more aware of the social and environmental effects of their consuming habits, hence it be projected that innovative and responsible companies will continue to do well in the future, as their actions affect the purchasing behavior of customers.  The purpose of this study is to provide overview of CSR, discuss and analysis the performance of selected airline in corporate social responsibility. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN AIRLINE INDUSTRY Corporate are inseparable from society. Nowadays, the responsibility of corporations is not solely providing products and services, it must also take care of the welfare of the various stakeholders in society (Robin, 1987). Corporate nowadays do not primarily focus on profits but being society responsible which generates more intangible value. Consumers prefer to be associated with socially responsible cooperates and as a result of this, corporate will allocate response to this area and play a private role. First, the flying of airplanes will adversely affect the global environment (Miyoshi, 2009). Favorable public image can be created if the airline â€Å"greening† the environment. Secondly, promoting CSR is an attractive differentiation strategy, it gains competitive advantages and growing competition between airlines when airlines are offering increasingly similar products and service in marketplace. For meeting the expectations of various stakeholders and customers, airlines can fulfill their responsibilities as a corporate citizen especially for international airlines operates in multiple countries. There seems to be no universally agreed definition of CSR (Frankental, 2001). He even argues that â€Å"CRS is a vague and intangible term which can mean anything to anybody, and therefore is effectively without meaning†. The continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the community and society at large(Holmes and Watts, 2000). It is generally agreed that CSR refers to the obligations of the firm to society (Smith, 2003). 2.1 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY THEORIES AND STRATEGIES CSR includes four kinds of responsibilities: economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic. The economic responsibility refers to the firm’s obligations  to be productive, profitable, and to maintain wealth. Firm’s legal responsibility refers to carrying out their activities within the confines of legal requirements. For ethical responsibility refers to having ethical codes, norms going beyond mere legal frameworks, and being honest in their relationships with their customers and their own employees. Finally, the discretionary component includes voluntary or philanthropic activities aiming to raise the well-being and development of society as a whole (Carrol, 1911). CSR issues under a variety of headings: Marketplace, workplace, community and environment will be used as CSR components. Safety is the most important social responsibility for the aviation industry. From All Nippon Airways CSR report 2009, the company reports the preventive measures for two incidents occurred in 2008 that influenced stakeholder trust in the airline. In order to improve workplace relationship and employee morale, Korean Air has created an Employee Counseling Center to resolve complaints and receive suggestions from employees. For community, â€Å"I Can Fly† Program from Cathay Pacific, program is designed to encourage young people to fly high and to reach for their dreams. Being an international airline, Cathay pacific’s community investments also extend to communities outside of Hong Kong. Singapore Airline participates â€Å"the Asia and Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emission (ASPIRE)† Program in 2010, demonstrated green flight, which operated from Los Angeles to Singapore via Tokyo. As a result, it was able to use around 6% less fuel than normally required for a s imilar flight. Nowadays, customers are more aware of ethical consumption so that the airlines act in positive role in society by implementing some corporate social responsibilities’ programs. At the same times, consumers are also vulnerable to the problems and crises they are facing to, such as crisis in values and climate change, huge differences among people and also economic crisis in developed countries. Therefore, company can gain customer satisfaction and market value when they are applying the above CSR components. Corporate social responsibility means that organizations take on responsibility towards others in society, not merely on their shareholders and customers (Holloway, 2004). On the other hand, corporate social  responsibility also can improve our quality of life in the local community to solving environmental or socio-cultural problems locally or globally. CSR has found a positive relationship in both the short and long terms (Lee and Park, 2009). (Kang et al, 2010) examined the effects of positive effects of positive (proactive) and negative (reactive) CSR activities. 2.2 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY CHALLENEGES AND ISSUES Despite the potential of a Value Chain approach, the following issues need to be considered if the airline is planning to adopt or develop further more comprehensive CSR activities. Financial implications The Low-Fares Airlines business model relies on cost-reduction (Grob and Schroder, 2007). There are costs associated with implementing a CSR strategy but many are already accounted for within existing budget lines such as: Charitable giving, environmental management programs, corporate sponsorship and etc. Staffing Monitoring, evaluation and management of CSR objectives and related actions do require a staffing commitment in order to facilitate accurate reporting of costs and benefits. The size of the staffing commitment depends on the size and commitment of an organization. British Airways at the time of writing employed 30 staff working on CSR related initiatives (GreenAir 2008) Time Implement on CSR is a medium to long-term commitment that can only be fully achieved with realistic timescales built in from the start. However, there are some objectives, or â€Å"quick wins†, that can be realized in the short-term. 2.3 SUMMARY OF KEY CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ELEMENTS Review of the corporate social responsibility theories, strategies,  challenges and issue has shown that most of the international airlines (for example, Cathay Pacific Airline, Air France-KML, British Airways and etc) are very proactive in some of CSR components, for example, climate change and environment; customer relations by proving a level of customer service and comfort that ensure customer loyalty by focusing safety and security; staff personal development of the airline’s staff by offering personalized career advice, training and encouraging job mobility within the group. However, some of budget airlines, they are not really focus on CSR as a business strategy, the reason are airlines didn’t want to spend too much money on CSR because they need to control expenses for other resources to ensure tickets are low prices. Therefore, those budget airlines only focus on environment and community only. 3.1 COMPANY BACKGROUND Ryanair was established in 1985 by the Ryan family with  £1 share capital and 25 staff. Operation started with daily flights from Waterford in the southeast of Ireland to London on 15 Bandeirante aircraft (Ryanair, 2010). In 1987, the company acquired their first jet aircraft and as a result increased their network with 15 scheduled routes from Dublin to Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester, Cardiff and opened new routes from Luton to West of Ireland. Consequently the number of passengers increased to over 600,000, but the company soon faced intense price competition with Aer Lingus and British Airways resulting to  £20m loss. During the 1990s, Ryanair decided to restructure the company by copying Southwest Airline low fares model (Ryanair, 2010). 3.2 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AUDIT OF RYANAIR From the above audit, it showed that community projects, local skill training, advertising, disability access and ethical policies are not good from interviewee’s view. CO2 emissions, charity giving, pricing, training investment and safety are just fair. However, Ryanair are good in environmental responsibility for example: paper usage, water usage and waste. To understand why the interview gave this result, it will be discussed by using the following evidences. 4. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSS OF RYANAIR CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY PERFORMANCE Ryanair Corporate Social Responsibility activities report in 2011, it showed  environment, emissions trading, ethical codes and staff benefits will be implemented in coming year. For instance, Ryanair released two press releases about its 2008 Cabin Crew Charity Calendar, seven press releases for its 2009 Cabin Crew Calendar, and one press release for its 2012 Cabin Crew Calendar. Also, they even created a website for greening the environment. However, the charity calendar and other philanthropic efforts were not mentioned since 2008 annual report. In 2011 annual report, it also didn’t mention what kind of activities they did for the environment and how much fuel consumption they used. The following are the Corporate Social Responsibility performance of Ryanair between 2009 and 2012. For community, Fredrick (1986) developed the CSR analysis to include an ethical base to managerial decision taking in the form of corporate social rectitude and terms this CSR3. The theory claims that the study of business and community needs an ethical anchor to allow a systematic critique of business’s impact upon human consciousness and human continuity. When consumers book tickets at their website, charged price at the purchased stage is higher than the showed price at book tickets page. Real price has been hidden, it also counted as unethical. If the company’s action can have either a positive or a negative impact on the quality of a group or individual’s life, then the group or individual is a stakeholder of that company (Lepineux, 2005). On the other hand, Ryanair was not willing to provide services to those people who are disabled and older passengers has resulted in court ruling and got fines from court. After that, the airline increased the fare to all passengers and started lobbing airport and airlines, not to provide free services to disabled passengers. In 2010, The central London Country Court found it had acted unlawfully due to there was a passenger who I suffering from cerebral palsy and arthritis and be charged GBP18. Eventually, the one claimed GBP1136. Another important example of Ryanair’s unethical practices is their advert in 2012. Two UK newspaper adverted for Ryanair have been banned after complaints from readers that they were sexist and treated women as objects (BCC News, 2012). The advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 17 complaints of this advertising, and said they were likely to cause offence. However, the airline said the adverts promoted its cabin crew charity calendar and used  images taken directly from it (BBC news, 2012). The company faced probe by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) after a string of complaints and the rules have been breached seven times in two years (BBC News, 2009). Corporate Social Responsibility as the purpose of business and the knowledge and abilities of those that run the business (Worthington and Britton, 1997). Of course, every company is making profit, even Ryanair. Therefore, their operation and the impact on the environment have to be administrated. Ryanair is not very good in marketplace of the CSR components. They got a lot of complaints of cancellations, missing bags and denied boarding. In 2011, the aviation watchdog revealed that Ryanair and EasyJet were subject to the most complaints from British airline passengers in 2010. From Ryanair website, it shows that baggage complaints per 1,000 passengers have increased from 1.18 to 1.88 from 2010 to 2011 respectively. EasyJet had the most complaints with 719 and Ryanair following with 673. It was also noted that Ryanair complaints have risen by 70% since 2005 and the Liberal Democrats said that the numbers proved service standards is a casualty of lower fares (Guardian, 2010). As explained earlier safety is the most important social responsibility for the aviation industry. However, the flight to East Midlands Airport was forced to make an emergency landing and oxygen masks were deployed (The Sun, 2012). There are differences between Ryanair and its competitors in terms of services and how they are delivered. Ryanair pledges simply to get passengers from point A to B safely and at lowest price. Some seats are sold as little as  £1 or â‚ ¬ 1, however, if flights are delayed, passengers should not expect free refreshments (Emerald, 2007). At the same time, the airline treats their employees are different with other airlines e.g. Southwest airline. Southwest airline believes that customers deserve respect, fun and dignity but that their employees come first. This is because employees would treat customers the way they are been treated (Emerald, 2007). Employees from Ryanair are disregard. Also the company is in major dispute with its operation being socially irresponsible. 5. STRATEGIC CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR RYANAIR Corporate Social responsibility is very important for growth of the business so that the airline should be more social responsible by addressing the demands of the stakeholders. Building the sense in the organization being socially responsible will improve corporate image to create value. In my opinion, environmental issues should be considered the most important. Despite the airline can only contribute few percent to global CO2 emissions, there still are so many people will consider flying to be much more harmful. Therefore airlines are pressured into contributing to the environment and reducing their environment impact. Moreover, focusing on environmental issues airline can gain competitive edge through improved image and operational efficiency. Fuel efficiency, waste and recycling should be the most important to be addressed. CO2 emissions nowadays can be considered. To tackle the issue of emissions, most of the airlines have implemented programs that aim to reduce overall emissions within a certain time period. For example, Air France aims to reduce CO2 emissions 1-2 % annually. This is also important in order to achieve emissions target set by IATA. Most of the airlines focus on improving fuel efficiency, as it is by far the biggest source of emissions. Ryanair should reduce fuel consumption immediately, improved maintenance and engine washing, improved route planning and navigation. Waste and recycling are the second important environmental topic. Waste produced by in-flight operations comprises of aluminum, plastic, mixed paper and organic waste. Chemical waste includes deicing and antifreeze products, paint and detergents used in washing airplanes and engines. Other waste sources are normal business operations where paper is the predominant material. Most airlines reviewed are trying to reduce waste and focus on recycling. Airlines should move towards recycling and reduction of waste production in all operational areas. In my opinion this can be achieved by favoring longer lasting, recyclable or biodegradable materials i.e. in  catering operations. Airlines have a high impact on neighborhoods and communities surrounding their major hubs. The airline should support communities by recruiting and training staff, offering educational support and etc. i.e mentioned previously â€Å"I Can Fly† Program from Cathay Pacific. Creating the organizational culture of shared values where employees are willing and enjoy to work. Empower employees to do their job, support and encourage them in their decisions. When employees are empowers to do their job and be respected at work place, they will feel that they are part of the organization and their decision are appreciated, then they will work wholeheartedly at the airline. It can improve customer servicing, reduce complaints and improve airline performance. Safety measures also to be one of the most important areas of airline business, concerning customers as well as employees. Therefore various systems should be implemented to support safe business operations. In order to ensure work safety, trainings supported by risk management systems should be implemented. Key performances should be regularly measured and improved according to the legal requirements. 6. CONCLUSION In the recent years the importance of CSR has been increasing immensely in the airline industry. Although in many aspects airlines are still behind in comparison to other industries, it has been made apparent that environmentalism and social responsibility issues will only increase in importance in the coming years and decades. Having a business strategy is as essential as never before due to a high need in business life for forecasting, measuring and developing business actions further. There will always be competitors that are potentially doing better business regarding overall revenue which consequently leads to a need of efficient and structured operations to ensure long lasting business success. Businesses that are going to last and also be profitable in the future are the ones  with CSR incorporated into their business strategy. We therefore believe that implementing it is inevitable. Like many other business aspects a clear vision on how to implement CSR is crucial. Therefore a â€Å"road map† needs to be developed in order to ensure a successful outcome. It allows the firm to be successful whilst using its resources within its unique environment to meet market needs as well as meet stakeholder expectations (Industry Canada 2006, pp. 32-33). 7. References Alle, M. M and Schmitz, A. M. (2004). â€Å"Ryanair plc†. Sà ©minaire d’elaboration d’un Business Plan, p. 1-45. Moir, L. (2001). â€Å"What do we mean by corporate social responsibility†. Corporate Governance, 1, 2, p. 16-22.Y CO Worthington, I and Britton, C. (1997). â€Å"The business environment†. 2nd Edition. Pitman Publishing: London Holloway, C. J. (2004). Marketing for tourism. Harlow etc.: Prentice Hall Lee, S., Park, S.Y., 2009. Do socially responsible activities help hotels and casinos achieve their financial goals? International Journal of Hospitality Management 28, 105–112 Kang, K., Lee, S., Huh, C., 2010. Impacts of positive and negative corporate social responsibility activities on company performance in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management 29, 72–82. Alle, M. M and Schmitz, A. M. (2004). â€Å"Ryanair plc†. Sà ©minaire d’elaboration d’un Business Plan, p. 1-45. Appelbaum, H.S and Fewster, M. B. (2004). â€Å"Safety and Customer Service: Contemporary Practices in Diversity, Organizational Development and Training and Development in the Global Civil Aviation Industry†. Management Research News. 27, 10, p. 1-26. BBCNews. (2008). â€Å"Ryanair faces probe over adverts†. [on-line] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7337165.stm [Accessed: 13/03.2010]. Bowman, C and Faulkner, D. (1995). â€Å"The essence of competitive strategy†. 1st Edition. Prentice: Hall. Carr, S., Penson, R and Bendell, T. (1995). â€Å"The quality gurus-their approaches described and considered†. Managing Service Quality. 5, 6, p. 44-48. Chilosi, A and Damiani, M. (2007). â€Å"Stakeholders vs shareholders in corporate government†. Munich Personal RePEc Archive. PN, 2334, p. 1-50. Davies, W. (2000).†Understanding strategy. Strategy and Leadership. 28, 5, p. 25-30. Data Monitor. (2008). â€Å"Ryanair holdings plc†. Data Monitor Europe: London. Data Monitor. (2009). â€Å"Ryanair holdings plc†. Data Monitor Europe: London. Donaldson, T., Preston, L.E. The stakeholder theory of the corporation: concepts, evidence and implications. Academy of Management Review. Vol, 20, 1, 1995, pp.65-91. Emerald. Easyjet and Ryanair flying high on the Southwest model. Strategic Direction. Vol, 22, 6, 2006, pp. 18-21.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Role of Technology in Retail Sector

Role of Technology in Retail Sector Today, in the 21st century, retailers all over the world are increasingly obtaining profit in return by delivering customer satisfaction through the adoption of many powerful technologies.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Role of Technology in Retail Sector specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Indeed, technology has substantially shifted the landscape of the retail industry, as more retailers adopt and implement technological solutions that accentuate mobility, efficiency, competitiveness and sustainability (Delgado 2012; Fiorito et al 2010). The present paper attempts to discuss how technology is utilized in the retail sector, how it has impacted the retail business and its customers, and the critical technologies found in the retail industry. Technology is utilized in the retail sector in numerous ways not only to achieve profitability and competitiveness for the organization, but also to generate value for custome rs and change the relationship with customers and other trading agencies (Ko Kincade, 1997). Novel technologies such as Point-of-Sale (POS) systems can be utilized in the retail sector for efficient and effective transactions, proper accounting, â€Å"customer loyalty, CRM [Customer Relationship Management], PCI [Payment Card Industry] issues, back office transfers and receiving, time-keeping and scheduling, and task management†(Delgado, 2010 p. 10). Other technological solutions, such as the Retail Pro system and Microsoft Retail Management System, have been effectively used in retail to, among other things: minimize theft and human error; enhance efficiency and speed in the checkout process; provide extensive tracking of business transactions, discounts and products; avail up-to-date sales productivity statistics; facilitate inventory control and management; undertake purchase order management; and promote customer relationship management as well as payment processing solu tions (Delgado, 2010) Furthermore, some technological solutions such as e-business can be utilized to integrate emerging communication technologies with business processes and management practices via the internet, resulting in overall transformation of the relationships that retailers have with their customers, suppliers and other business partners (Bordonaba-Juste et al., 2012). In discussing the impact of technology on retail business and its customers, extant literature demonstrates that â€Å"web technologies help firms to understand customer needs, to customize products, to adopt product-market solutions, and to take customers’ orders† (Bordonaba-Juste et al., 2012 p. 533).Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Retail businesses, in particular, are impacted by newer disruptive innovations such as e-business as they have to reorganize and restruct ure themselves continuously, with the view to integrating the technological solutions into their existing work processes to achieve profitability and competitiveness. Additionally, mobile payment programs have positively impacted the retail sector in terms of faster checkout times and the capacity by customers to receive e-mail receipts that are more convenient since they can be stored on a smart phone and accessed more easily than paper-based receipts (Delgado, 2010). Moving on, it is a well known fact that critical technologies in the retail sector have the capacity to tie a customer to a transaction, and consequently to a broad range of products, not only leading to the opening up of a new frontier for one-on-one marketing (Delgado, 2010), but also substantially changing the way business is conducted through availing important data both within the organization and to suppliers, channel partners and customers (Bordonaba-Juste et al., 2012). Such capabilities have been known to sig nificantly reduce customers’ search-related costs, facilitate the speed of reaction to important market information, provide a better shopping experience, decrease stock-out rate, improve inventory and replenishment rates, assist retailers to predict what is likely to occur and decide what to do next, and enhance access to new products in new channels, hence positively affecting the retailer’s bottom-line in terms of profits and competitive advantage (Fiorito et al., 2010; Ko Kincade, 1997; Puleri, 2011). However, a major negative impact of technology on retailers concerns the fact that â€Å"competitors are more numerous because the marketplace has no barriers and new entrants have access to a global market† (Bordonaba-Juste et al., 2012 p. 534). Another negative impact concerns the fact that some web-based technologies such as e-business avail critical market information not only to customers but also to competitors, implying that retailers must employ strate gies to ensure such information becomes a core competency rather than a disadvantage to the company (Barlow et al., 2004). In discussing the last section of the paper, which concerns the critical technologies found in the retail industry, it can be argued that quick response technologies such as electronic data interchange (EDI), bar-coding, and point-of-sale (POS) data capture act to improve inventory and replenishment rates, optimize the flow of information and merchandise between channel partners to optimize customer value and satisfaction, and improve turn of goods (Ko Kincade, 1997).Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Role of Technology in Retail Sector specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is important to note the POS software solutions presently utilized in the retailing sector comprise â€Å" Retail Pro, Microsoft Retail Management System (RMS), and Keystroke POS, while examples of leading POS hardware sys tems are HP’s rp5800 Point of Sale solution, IBM’s SurePOS 500 system, and NCR’s RealPOS 25 system† (Delgado, 2010 p. 11). Other technologies currently used in the retail sector include smart phones, iPods, iPads, tablets, Quick Response (QR) codes, and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Individually and collectively, these technologies are known to enhance mobility, efficiency and customer satisfaction, while also providing valuable product information and facilitating the capacity for the retailer to know how much inventory of any particular product they have, right down to size, quantity and color (Barlow et al., 2004; Delgado, 2010). Overall, it can be concluded that the adoption of emerging technologies is the right way to go for retailers in their attempt to revolutionalize the sector in not only achieving profitability and competitive advantage for the businesses, but also in enhancing customers’ value, satisfaction and ability to researc h any product offering and making purchases wherever and whenever they wish. References Barlow, A.K.J., Siddiqui, N.Q., Mannion, M. (2004). Developments in information and communication technologies for retail marketing channels. International Journal of Retail Distribution Management, 32(3), 157-163. Bordonaba-Juste, V., Lucia-Palacios, L., Polo-Redondo, Y. (2012). Antecedents and consequences of e-business adoption for European retailers. Internet Research, 22(5), 532-550. Delgado, F.J. (2012). New retail technologies. Sporting Goods Business, 45(9), 10-13. Fiorito, S.S., Gable, M., Conseur, A. (2010). Technology: Advancing retail buyer performance in the 21st century. International Journal of Retail Distribution Management, 38(11/12), 879-893.Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Ko, E., Kincade, D.H. (1997). The impact of quick response technologies on retail store attributes. International Journal of Retail Distribution Management, 25(2), 90-98. Puleri, J. (2011). The future of technology in retail. Chain Store Age, 87(7), 22-22.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Homoioteleuton - Definition and Examples in English

Homoioteleuton s in English Homoioteleuton is the use of similar sound endings to words, phrases, or sentences.   In rhetoric, homoioteleuton is regarded as a figure of sound. Brian Vickers equates this figure with assonance or prose rhyme (In Defence of Rhetoric, 1988).  In The Arte of English Poesy (1589), George Puttenham  compared the Greek figure of homoioteleuton to our vulgar rhyme, offering this example: Weeping, creeping, beseeching I wan / The love at length of Lady Lucian. Etymology:  From the Greek, like ending Pronunciation:  ho-moi-o-te-LOO-ton Also Known  As:  near  rhyme, prose rhyme Alternate Spellings:  homeoteleuton,  homoeoteleuton Examples My mother weeping, my father wailing, my sister crying, our maid howling, our cat wringing her hands. (Launce in Act II, scene three of The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare)The quicker picker upper. (Advertising slogan for Bounty paper towels)That’s why, darling, it’s incredibleThat someone so unforgettableThinks I’m unforgettable too. (Unforgettable, sung by Nat King Cole)Loose lips sink ships. (Public service ad during World War II)Crispety, crunchety, peanut-buttery Butterfinger. (Advertising slogan for Butterfinger candy bar)I must aim at lucidity, simplicity and euphony. (William Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up, 1938)But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow, this ground. (President Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address, 1863)He would clap his hands, lick his lips, narrow his eyes into a squinty gaze and extemporize, patronize, chastise, sermonize and crack wise all at the same time. (Linton Weeks, de scribing U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in Rumsfeld, A Newsmaker Whos Certainly Hard to Follow. The Washington Post, November 9, 2006) Chieftain Iffucan of Azcan in caftanOf tan with henna hackles, halt! (Wallace Stevens, Bantams in Pine-Woods)A very delectable, highly respectable,Threepenny-bus young man! (W.S. Gilbert, Patience, 1881)Reinhart and Rogoff admitted their errors but claimed, incorrectly, that it remains true that high public debt levels are correlated with slower growth. In fact, as sensible economists observed when their study first came out, correlation is not causation. (The Nation, May 13, 2013) Homoioteleuton as a Pattern of Repetition Homoioteleuton is a series of words with similar endings such as those with the Latinate suffixes -ion (e.g., presentation, action, elaboration, interpretation), -ence (e.g., emergence), and -ance (e.g., resemblance, performance). These suffixes work to nominalize verbs (transform verbs into nouns) and tend to appear most regularly in what Williams (1990) referred to as the various -eses (idioms such as legalese and bureaucratese. Like other patterns of repetition, homoioteleuton helps to build or reinforce connections, as in this example from the English politician Lord Rosebery in an 1899 speech: Imperialism, sane imperialism . . . is nothing but this - a larger patriotism. (James Jasinski, Sourcebook on Rhetoric. Sage, 2001)

Monday, November 4, 2019

Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 9

Case Study - Essay Example The firm has asked for my advice regarding possible growth strategies other than franchising. In evaluating possible strategies, I evaluate Armellini’s growth objectives; analyze Armellini’s internal strengths and weaknesses and its external opportunities and threats; develop relevant conclusions; and then offer specific recommendations. By definition, a strategy is an action plan to achieve a certain objective. So in order to suggest possible growth strategies, I must understand the firm’s objectives, especially those that have been agreed to between Armellini ownership (Armellini family) and top management (Helen Patterson). The case mentions only three overall business objectives that have been expressly agreed to: These objectives present several problems in fashioning appropriate growth strategies. First, only the third objective definitively addresses Armellini’s business growth; the others may affect the nature and quality of growth, but that is not entirely clear. Next, there are no financial objectives mentioned despite the recent precipitous decline in financial performance. Third, each objective is extremely vague; in order to serve as a guide to action plans, well-developed objectives should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely (SMART). Finally, these objectives ignore two critical standards for good business objectives: that they aim to create sustainable competitive advantage and build value for business owners. When crafted well, such objectives would reinforce each other, with competitive advantage leading to improved financial performance and value, and improved financial performance providing financial resources to invest in growth opportunities that promote competitive advantage. In light of these problems, in the following analysis I will also consider other growth objectives that would be appropriate to recommend to Armellini along with recommended growth strategies. These other

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Research and critically evaluate the context of addiction, Essay

Research and critically evaluate the context of addiction, (multi)generational trauma, and social determinants of health in rela - Essay Example Many theories have been put forth to explain the context of addiction, but only a few have linked the individual experiences and relationships in the society to the context of addiction. This paper will address how family life, social structures, and other socio-economic factors contribute to substance abuse resulting in addiction. More specifically, the paper will analyze how an individual’s experiencein early childhood as well as multi-generational trauma contribute to the development of addiction. First Nation’s People in Canada The First Nations people are the aboriginal groups in Canada such as Inuit and Metis that suffered acculturation, after the Europeans imposed a new culture, replacing the people’s traditional culture. This occurred via compulsion, with the people losing their cultural identity. These communities exhibit a form of social disability that has defined the society since the acculturation. These communities have lagged behind the rest of Can ada, aw exhibited by the socio-economic factors of the society (Satzewich & Wotherspoon, 2002). Substance Use and Addiction among First Nation’s People As described above, the socio-economic factors of these communities exhibit the need for intervention. ... The Inuit community experiences a high prevalence of substance abuse with the most commonly used substances being cocaine, marijuana, and solvents. Among the Nunavik, cannabis is the leading drug abused by the people (Satzewich & Wotherspoon, 2002). Males form the high population of the people using substances, although this does not exclude women, who also report a high level of substance use. In addition, smoking is very prevalent among the First Nation’s people, with pregnant women indulging in the habit posing serious health risks to the child. Other statistics indicate that two thirds of the population indulges in smoking compared to lesser statistics in the rest of the Canadian society. Previous understanding of addiction Many researchers have attributed addiction, which is the term used to denote the compulsive urge to use drugs to the molecular structure of the substances used. For example, nicotine in tobacco, marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol contain certain compounds that trigger addiction. Many studies have been carried out with the aim of demonstrating how the molecular structure of these substances has contributed to addiction (Dube et al, 2002). Many of the other theories surround the availability of drugs in the society as well as peer pressure. Only a few studies have sought to establish the roots of substance abuse. As the sections below will indicate, the cause of addiction may lie deeper into the societal make-up and the experience of individuals in the society. Causes of adverse Childhood Experiences and Multigenerational Trauma This is kind of trauma that transcends different generations, emanating from the family or