International Management Competencies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

International Management Competencies - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that cultural intelligence has become inevitable for global managers and employees that have to constantly interact with people from other countries and cultures. Cultural intelligence comprises of certain key competencies that allow effective interaction with people from other cultural backgrounds, such as knowledge about attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, and values of different cultures; the ability to adapt and accept these differences and lead everyone effectively. A low score of cultural intelligence (CQ) based on self-assessment indicates the need for the development of cultural intelligence and cross-cultural leadership competencies in order to be an effective global manager. A leader’s role involves various functions such as leading, controlling, communicating, decision-making, negotiating, motivating etc. All of these functions require interaction with others. Therefore, it becomes necessary for leaders/managers to understand t he impact of culture on people’s behavior, attitudes, expectations etc in order to be effective in cross-cultural situations. Efforts to link theoretical learning with experiences while working as a team leader in the past will be made in addition to observations from other leaders/contexts, wherever relevant. Self-assessment of cultural intelligence had arrived at a score of 5, this meant low cultural intelligence. Understanding different cultures and possessing the ability to adapt to other cultures is important to thrive and perform in the globalized world. Low score of cultural intelligence corresponds with certain past experiences at work and outside work during certain interactions with people from different cultures. These interactions more often resulted in confusion, misunderstanding and also conflict. Learning related to various cultural dimensions, intercultural communication, and cultural attributes have been fruitful in assessing certain situations and experience s that had left undesirable memories and feelings in the form of confusion, low self-esteem, and underachievement. A self-analysis of cultural intelligence and self-reflection thereupon has helped in understanding these situations and experiences better. The self-analysis indicated a high motivational drive to learn about other cultures; however, low scores on the knowledge, understandings and behavioral aspects contributed to the low cultural intelligence score. Cross-cultural competencies for leadership include the abilities and attitudes to learn and accept other cultures’ values and belief systems; interpersonal skills; and the required technical expertise, which need to be acquired in order to become an effective leader in cross-cultural settings.

Economic Policy of Egypt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Economic Policy of Egypt - Essay Example Hence, in this case the economic policy of Egypt is taken up for study. Egypt is one of the most populous countries in the Arab world and the country has been undergoing many significant economic and political changes. The government of Egypt has begun the reform movement in the year 1991. The most important reform that the government has done is reducing the taxes and tariffs. The other reforms include making the national budgeting information more transparent and privatization of public enterprises. The government plans to make the private sector more empowered and hopes that these measures will increase their competitiveness. The essay attempts to highlight the challenges and the opportunities that are created through the new economic policy of the Egypt. Economic indicators show that after Egypt became more vigorously engaged in a process of structural reform to increase the role of private sector, the free market and the international trade in the economy, the country's growth performance has varied from a declining phase in the latter half of the 1980s, to acceleration through much of the 1990s, followed by another declining phase during 1999-2003. The GDP growth rate of Egypt between the period of 1960 to 2000 is as follows: During the period of 1960 till 1970 the country has low growth and the share of private sector was very low. Though the government had adopted import substitution and had introduced social services, the economic growth of the country did not take off. But the period of 1975 till 1985, the country was enjoying a high growth rate in the GDP levels and this was because of the introduction of the Open door policy and from the business created through the Suez canal. Between 1986 - 1991 there was a sharp increase in the inflation rates. The rise in inflation during that period was due to the government's expansionary monetary policy to finance the fiscal deficits which was about 15% of the GDP during that period. Also during this period the government adopted the fixed exchange rate policy which resulted in a very flourishing black market. After 1991, the government of Egypt introduced stabilization efforts and the fiscal deficit decreased from 15% to 1.3 % of GDP and the inflation has returned to single digit values. Also during this period the government adopted the privatization of the state enterprises and also free exchange rate mechanism was introduced. The level of budget surplus of Egypt was -20% in 1991 and there is a huge improvement in the budget surplus to -2% in 2003 because of the combined effect of these policies. According to a study, "between 1999 - 2003, though there was an increase in the budget the country experienced several shocks including the Luxor terrorist attack in 1997, the global financial crisis of 1997-99, and a domestic financial scandal in 1998-99. All of these events had severe repercussions for Egypt and sent the economy into a decelerating growth phase. The financial scandal, in particular, had a chilling effect on the growth of credit to the private sector. Negative shocks continued for the next few years, as witness the September 11 attack (2001) and the subsequent invasion of Iraq (2003). The Egyptian government reacted to the initial shocks by expansionary fiscal policies (clearing of arrears as a stimulus to the private sector, as well as an increase in public investment in "mega" projects), which resulted in a worsening fiscal stance. Budget deficits increased from 0.9% of

Importance of Profit in Business

Importance of Profit in Business Profit acts as a vital role in the functioning of the economic system. In any industry profit acts as a signal that buyers want more output from that industry. Profits provide incentive for firms to increase production and encourage new firms to enter into that industry. The profit cannot be seen as a selfish motive of any business but induces entrepreneurs to take long business risk. Unless there are no prospects of generating profit entrepreneurs will not devote time and invest resources in any business activity. It encourages firms to develop new products to lower production cost and to provide better services to the consumers. Profit is also expands business activity of the organization. Profit generated from the business reinvests again to expand production or invest into new business. So it allows the firm to continue to business operation. Entrepreneurs can only be motivated to expand its business when it can successfully generate profits from its business operations. The objectives of business objectives besides profit are facilitative objectives and are meant to be subservient to the profit motive. It can be pointed out that private enterprises are operated on behalf of and for the benefit of the owners. It can be advocated that the owners who have assumed the business risk of investing their funds should get suitable return in terms of profit. It is a reward for the entrepreneurs to share the owning and operating business and also serves as a stimulant for business effort. In any business organization profit is treated as a financial yardstick for measuring business efficiency and for evaluating managerial competency. It evaluates how well the decisions and actions of managements turn out to be effective and how well unwise resources to maximize value for the organization. Profit is the main indication how competitive be business organization is. Business efficiency is often expressed as price- Earning, profit to sales volume, earning to capita l employed, earning per share and so on. It is directly or indirectly released to profit generated by the business organization. Outside investors also equate profit with the degree of business efficiency and managerial competence and commit their funds in light of such equation and other related assessments. So the manger uses its resources and engages in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game. The directors of companies have a fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interest of the shareholders. The managers are agents of the shareholders and therefore have a moral obligation to manage the firm in the interest of the shareholders, which obviously is to make as much money as possible and maximize shareholder wealth. The shareholders are the owners of the organization and therefore the profits belong to them. The firms objective is also to finance companys growth, create value not only for its shareholders and also create wealth for all the stake holders for the society. Profit provides resources required to achieve the corporate objectives. As business is a continuing entity it must grow and expand for its sustainability and profit allows the firm to reinvest in new and emerging business opportunities. Profit is highly correlated to generating cash, which brings more flexibility to the business at a lower cost. Stockholders (owners) have a financial interest in the business and obviously expect financial return. The business affects their livelihood because they need money to live and purchase material things. In a market characterized by many firms competing with one another, above normal profits provide important signals, but are not likely to be maintained over long periods of time. That is firms already in the market respond to higher profits by increasing output and new firms will have an incentive to enter the market as well. The result will be on an increased supply of the product, lower prices and ultimately lower profits. The result in competitive markets is that profits provide important signals but are somewhat transitory in nature. It can also be argued that a manger of a business organization has a direct responsibility to his/her employers to conduct business in accordance with their desire usually to make as much money as possible. Elasticity An important concept in understanding supply and demand theory is elasticty and it has a profuound impact on the profit of an organisation. In this context, it refers to how supply and demand change in response to various stimuli. The elasticity of demand measures the responsiveness of demand to changes in a factor that affects demand. Elasticities can be estimated for price, income, prices of related products, and advertising expenditures. The own-price elasticity is the ratio of the percentage change in quantity demanded to the percentage change in price, and is a negative number. Demand is price elastic if a 1% increase in price leads to more than a 1% drop in quantity demanded, and inelastic if it leads to less than a 1% drop in quantity demanded. Price Elasticity of Demand A Price change can either increase or decrease total revenue, depending upon the nature of the demand function. The profit of the firm depends upon the sales revenue of the firm and sales revenue is subject marked demand and price of the product. Here Price Elasticity of demand plays a crucial role and determines the level of real demand of the product. Price Elasticity of demand mans responsive of the consumer towards product when there is a change in the price of the product. Price Elastic of Demand = % Change in demand / % Change in Price. The firm needs to consider aspects of their pricing whether they want to aim for a large market share with a low price. In this case they would want to consider market penetration as a pricing strategy. This would mean setting a low price (and correspondingly lower profit margin on each unit), but selling a higher volume. This depends considerably on whether the product is elastic in demand. If the product of the firm is highly elastic, any increase of the product will affects its sales in the market. For example when a firm decides to increase the price of any product which is highly elastic, the consumers demand for the product will decline in the market and in result affects the sales of the product in the market and consequently to the hampers the profit of the firm. If the product is highly inelastic the consumer usually doesnt respond to any increase or increase in the price of the product in the market. So if the firm increases the price of an inelastic product, it does not af fect the sales of the product significantly but on other hand it increases the sales revenue of that product. It should be kept in mind that high sales revenue does not necessarily mean high profit. The firm has to decide at what price the firm will attain maximize profit (when marginal revenue = marginal cost). Income Elasticity of Demand The income elasticity for a firms product is a crucial force of the farms success (profit) at different stages of business cycle. During the period of economic boom incomes are raising and demands for various products including the firms product increases in the market. As a result revenue of the firm increases and consequently firm generates profit from the product. During period of economic recession, it affects the sales performances of almost all industries across the broad as incomes of the consumptions decrease. The firms product does not find demand in the market. It leads to price reduction and lower sales revenue of the firm. Firms also have to incur various costs on marketing and advertising to woo customers. As a result profit of the firm suffered. Income Elasticity can be either positive or negative when income elasticity in negative, an increase in income is associated with a decrease in the quantity demanded of the good or service. Firms producing cheap goods, its profit is adversely affected when incomes of its targeted customers increase. The consumers switch over to better goods when their income increases and consequently sales of the firm affected adversely and so the profit. Similarly income elasticity is positive but less than or equal to the percentage change in income. Such goods and services referred to, as necessities demand for those goods is not longer affected by change in income. The sales of essential goods is generally unaffected by change in income of consumers and its profit depend on its pricing policy. But it must be remembered that government regulates directly or indirectly prices of essential goods in the market. In case of luxury goods the change in demand is proportionately greater than the change i n income. As individuals become richer, they have more income to spend or luxurious products and services. The sales of luxurious goods increases, as incomes of the consumers increase in the economy and it favorable affects the profitability of the firm. Labour Productivity and Profit Improving productivity is the most direct way to increase productivity. In business particularly in manufacturing industry wages of labour is a large share of cost production. Improved labour productivity curtails costs of manufacturing come primarily from. Improved productivity reflects two types of activity changes: Fewer people doing the same amount of work (due to automation and capital substitution), and reducing the number of employees necessary to reach a given level of sales (due to increases in labor productivity). In other words, greater labor productivity reduces the costs of operation for a given level of production, distribution, sales, makes it feasible to make higher profits from the business. Rapid productivity growth allows businesses to pad profits or boost pay without facing a need to raise prices for their products or services. As productivity slows, profit margins could erode unless businesses pass along their increased production costs to consumers. Profit shari ng is a form of labor compensation in which the employees get higher wages when company profits are higher. The idea is that profit sharing increases the incentive to work harder and work smarter, and thus increases profits. On the whole, the studies confirm this, showing that there is at least some scope for increasing profits through the productivity effect. Now let us assume that the firm introduces a new system of working that leads to a rise in output per worker from 2000 to 2500 per year. It may not necessarily imply that the workers are working harder; it could be that they are working smarter. Cell production for example, is one way in which waste can be reduced in terms of time spent moving units from one part of a factory to another and from one worker to another. It could be that the firm has invested in machinery that is more efficient or has reorganized the production line in some way. Of course, the workers might want extra money in return for these changing working practices so let us assume that they have been offered a pay rise of 5% taking their annual salary to $15,750 per year. The total cost of labour is now 50 x $15,750 = Â £787,500. Output however has risen from 100,000 to 125,000. The cost per unit therefore is now $6.30. Even if the firm continues to sell its product at the same price as before it has increased its profit margin. The purpose of the business is to maximize profits. But that’s not the purpose for other stakeholders—for customers, employees, suppliers, and the community. Each of those groups will define the purpose of the business in terms of its own needs and desires, and each perspective is valid and legitimate. It is also simply good business for a company to cater to its customers, train and retain its employees, build long-term positive relationships with its suppliers, and become a good citizen in its community, including performing some philanthropic activity. The business organization should deal with all its various constituencies properly in order to maximize long-term shareholder value. Cavanagh G H (1990), American Business Values, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Edgar G. Browning and Mark A. Zupan, 2002, Microeconomics: Theory and Applications Seventh Edition, Wiley Publication Friedman M, 1970, The Social Responsibility of Busines is to Increase it Profits, New York Times Magazine Paul M. and Roberts J., Economics, Organization and Management. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice Hall, 1992. Perloff, J. (2004) Microeconomics, Third Edition, Addison Wesley Longman Robert H. Frank and Ian C. Parker, 2002, Microeconomics and Behaviour, McGraw- Hill Robert Pindyck and Daniel Rubinfeld, 2001, Microeconomics Fifth Edition, Prentice Hall Sharon O., 1999, Modern Competitive Analysis. 3d ed. New York, Oxford University Press, 1999.

Reflections on Night, by Elie Weisel Essay -- Reflection Essay

Night, by Elie Wiesel, is an autobiographical novel which tells the story of Eliezer, a Jewish teenager from the small Transylvanian village of Sighet. He is 15 when transported to Auschwitz, Buna, and finally Buchenwald with his father during World War II. Eliezer loses his faith, argues with God, and is sustained only by the need to care for his father. As well as the appalling memory of the Holocaust resurrected in this novel, Night bears with it the unforgettable implication that this atrocity must by no means be permitted to occur again. However, what if it is possible that these horrors could be carried out again in present day? Furthermore, have we really learned enough from this tragedy to be sure nothing like the Holocaust could ever happen? I believe after the world has witnessed the wickedness of the Holocaust during World War II, it is very unlikely that such a mass slaughter of innocent people could ever happen again. Nevertheless, that does not mean that I think it is i mpossible for any group of people to try and make history repeat itself. My first reaction when reading this book was simply â€Å"How could the world have not known about the crimes being committed by the Nazis?† In the novel, Elie Wiesel describes his first night in Auschwitz as â€Å"†¦life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke†¦the faces of the children†¦the flames†¦silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live†¦never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself.† Amazingly, the world had no notion of what the Nazis were doing, and didn’t stop them until over 11million people were killed. This was because the Nazi party did not make it known to t... ... them responsible? Not to mention the people of Germany who supported Hitler and allowed their Jewish friends and neighbor’s be subjected to such oppression. Could they also be responsible? I suppose there can never be a right answer to this issue. In conclusion, Night by Elie Wiesel is a spectacularly written and thought provoking novel. Not only does it tell of one young man’s struggle to survive, but it tells a story for all of those who suffered and died in the Nazi death camps. It brings up maddening thoughts that cause the reader to think and truly understand the outstanding terrors upon those not worthy of the Aryan race. Most importantly, it teaches the reader of the lessons of the tragedy that took place and how we must never allow another Holocaust to ever happen again which is what I believe is the main proposal Elie Wiesel tried to convey in his novel.

Is Any Body Out There? Essay

‘The machine is not an it to be animated, worshipped, and dominated. The machine is us, our processes, an aspect of our embodiment. ’ (Haraway, 1991: 180) My paper starts with the recognition that Information, Communications and Telecommunication technologies (ICTs) are certain to play a central role in defining who we are, how we think and how we relate to one another. The guiding principle for my work, is that although change is an inevitable result of the conjunction between people and technology, the nature and extent of human intervention profoundly influences its shape and character. What I believe to be important changes in the nature of the body, subjectivity and identity are the key concerns of this paper. I want to explore these terms and the debates surrounding them with particular reference to developments in ICTs. Rather than focus on more esoteric examples of technological development, I will restrict my discussion to the Internet and computer games. My theoretical touchstones for this discussion are feminism and postmodernism, primarily because they have both been implicated and implicit in discussions of cyberculture and the possibility of social change that it represents. Postmodernism, that most polysemic of terms, seems nevertheless to be discussed along a continuum between the utopian and dystopian, particularly when considering the possibilities for social change. Whichever reading is made of the term, notions of profoundly fragmented subjectivities and identities appear almost as constants. This seems particularly apparent in feminist responses to postmodernism. Feminists have broadly read postmodernism as either a threat to feminist social criticism or an opportunity for the questioning and contestation of notions of gender and sexuality (presenting the possibility of re-inscription of the body in post-gender terms). Baudrillarian postmodernism sees the collapse of our referential universe, including its hierarchies and inequalities, as offering little hope for social criticism and change. This is a problematic position for much feminist thought, because of feminism’s identification of clear oppressive structures that can only be changed by unified social action by women. For Baudrillard, the descent into a mediated hyperreality offers us only the politics of refusal (to act) and the pleasures of the spectacle. In a short article, published in Liberation, he suggests that developments in media technologies have resulted only in ‘panic and resentment’, transforming us into ‘free radicals searching for our molecules in a scanty cyberspace’ (Baudrillard, 1995: 2). Here we have a clear sense of our corporeal bodies exchanged for atomised virtual bodies in what we might think of as life behind the screen. Although Baudrillard has not written specifically of the Internet, he has clearly indicated a belief that media technologies have accelerated the transition form the ‘real’ to the ‘hyperreal’. Baudrillard’s assertion that the ‘Gulf War never happened’ is his most memorable and misconstrued example of media induced hyperreality2. Following Baudrillard, Mark Nunes has suggested that an element of this shift to hyperreality has been the erosion of the realm of representation and the establishment of a mode of simulation. This new mode has produced, in cyberspace, an ‘increasingly real simulation of a comprehensible world’ (Nunes, 1995: 5). In The Ecstasy of Communication (1988), Baudrillard outlined the fate of the ‘real’, with particular reference to our corporeal bodies and their associated subjectivities and identities: â€Å"As soon as behaviour is focused on certain operational screens or terminals, the rest appears as some vast, useless body, which has been both abandoned and condemned. The real itself appears as a large, futile body. † (Baudrillard, 1988) For Baudrillard, the virtual world we are coming to inhabit is far from the global village envisioned by Marshall McLuhan in the late 1960s (McLuhan and Fiore, 1967). The rather comforting term, global village, was grounded in the assumption that ICTs would act as ‘extensions of man’ and serve to expand our knowable world and increase global interdependence. Baudrillard’s cyberspace is a colder, more desolate space, where information has no meaning because it has been dislocated from its referential universe. In an article on global debt, Baudrillard claims that information about debt is meaningless because the debt can never be repaid. However, whilst having no financial meaning, the spectre of debt still has a purpose: â€Å"It has no meaning but that of binding humankind to a destiny of cerebral automation and mental underdevelopment. † (Baudrillard: 2) For Baudrillard, both global debt and global media are so pervasive that they deaden any attempts at social change. There is too much to watch and to worry about to lift our heads from the screens and contemplate progressive social change. This pessimistic postmodernism hardly seems to offer a productive base for the re-definition of identities and subjectivities central to feminist theorising. One of the difficulties with this strand of postmodernism is the seemingly totalising belief in fragmentation and alienation which it asserts, whilst dismissing totalising explanatory categories such as race, gender, ethnicity and class. Such categories of inequality have until recently been seen as both the impediments to progressive social change and the means by which to agitate for such change. Baudrillarian postmodernism seems to sweep away these tools for liberation and domination. As Mark Poster has suggested: â€Å"The postmodern position is limited to an insistence on the constructedness of identity. In the effort to avoid the pitfalls of modern political theory, then, postmodern theory sharply restricts the scope of its ability to define a new political interest. † (Poster, 1995: 2). Anyone interested in progressive social change must surely ask if the transition to a simulated virtual world is really so contingent on a loss of value and meaning? To restate the question: is there anything left beyond Baudrillard’s morose fatalism? Many of those staking their claims on the electronic frontier of the Internet see themselves engaged in the construction of value-laden (and decidedly masculine) virtual worlds predicated on existing notions of subjectivity, identity and wider democratic concerns. Few pioneers of the Internet lack a sense of meaning and purpose. For instance, Mitch Kapor, founder of the US-based Electronic Frontier Foundation3, has little doubt about the guiding principles of the Foundation’s vision of cyberspace: â€Å"Life in cyberspace †¦ at its best is more egalitarian than elitist and more de-centred than hierarchical †¦ In fact, life in cyberspace seems to be shaping up exactly how Thomas Jefferson would have wanted: founded on the primacy of individual liberty and commitment to pluralism, diversity and community. † (Kapor in Nunes, 1995: 7) Kapor’s assessment of cyberspace is deeply contradictory. We are first offered a vision of a de-centred and egalitarian virtual space, then this is overlain with a Western (more accurately, North American) view of democracy based solidly on the primacy of the individual (neat shorthand for capitalist social organisation). Kapor’s vision seems to belie the supposedly fragmented and schizophrenic domain of cyberspace, which Baudrillard puts forward. Citizens of the Internet appear to be taking their cultural and social baggage with them on their journey to the other side of the mirror. Although existing structures of inequality are, I would argue, becoming apparent in cyberspace4, they may be even more heavily contested than they have been in ‘real’ space. The Internet, because of its decentralised structure seems to militate against unified concepts of citizenship and community and presents a heterogeneity of subjectivities and identities. Whilst people may wish to transfer the more stable values of the real into the realm of simulation, such attempts are often contested5. Resistance is more likely because virtuality, almost by definition, reveals the constructed nature of subjectivities and identities. The case of Louise Woodward reveals the jarring effect of juxtaposing contradictory identities and positions. In the domain of cyberspace (enabled by the trans-frontier nature of satellite technology), the reduction of Woodward’s sentence was presented simultaneously with celebrations at the Rigger pub in the English village of Elton. Judging from the Internet discussion group provided by the local Boston newspaper, American opinion was deeply offended by the virtual co-presence of the jubilant villagers and their assumption of Woodward’s innocence. For many contributors to the American discussion, the villagers appeared to be ‘dancing on the grave’ of a dead child. Before the advent of instantaneous cross-cultural communication such juxtapositions would not have been possible. Virtuality offers this co-presence, but the reaction to it in this case, seems to support claims that such cultural encounters are replete with struggle and meaning, rather than free of them. A posting by Katie is typical of the angry and mystified response of many American contributors to the clash of co-present cultural identities. Without a Doubt, Louise Woodward *IS* Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! by Katie, 11/6/97 As I said in other postings†¦ Poor Louise Woodward†¦ she loved eight-month old, innocent Matthew Eappen†¦ so she wrote to her family and friends back in England†¦ she did not see Matty hurt his head she testified teary eyed†¦ but smiled broadly and gave a little laugh when next she was asked if she slammed Matty’s head. Poor Louise. Woodward†¦ 27 seconds after the guilty verdict was announced she became hysterical†¦ (aah!how sad, she is just a child, such injustice, cried Geraldo, Gibson, and the like)†¦ her hysterics lasted all of 118 seconds†¦ minutes later she left the courtroom unassisted, composed, and dried eyed. Poor Matthew Eappen†¦ the media decided to focus on poor Louise Woodward. In the realm of cyberspace we become arbiters of the identities and positions paraded before us. Of course, our existing cultural ties have a considerable impact on who we choose to identify with us, but we cannot ignore the co-presence of other identities, which call into question the construction of our own. Texter has identified the Internet as the first stage in the construction of a virtual reality, towards the manufacture of identity without the corporeal body: â€Å"The social construction of the body becomes clear in cyberspace, where every identity is represented [for Baudrillard, simulated], rather than ‘real’. The consensus of cyberspace is a precarious one; identification is entirely contingent, based on a consensual agreement to take one’s word for it. † (Texter, 1996: 3) Texter suggests identity in cyberspace is often about ‘passing off’, offering up a fluid sense of self, projected onto an imaginary virtual body. As a slight corrective, I think it is important not to exaggerate the difference between the creation of real world identities and virtual ones. Judith Butler contends that the constitution of identity (with particular reference to gender) is always something of an unstable and contradictory performance, whether simulated or real: â€Å"Gender ought not to be construed as a stable identity or a locus of agency from which various acts follow, rather, gender is an identity tenuously constituted in time, instituted in an exterior space through a stylised repetition of acts. † (Butler in Texter, 1996: 4) Perhaps what the Internet does, by removing the visual cues that partly gender us, is open up possibilities for experimentation and play with existing manifestations of subjectivity. Here, the work of Dona Haraway is particularly important. Haraway’s influential Cyborg Manifesto (1985) has inspired other cyber-feminists, such as Sadie Plant, to foresee a post-gender future where existing boundaries and categories no longer have the profound structuring effects that have resulted in gender inequalities under patriarchy. Haraway’s work marks a profound break with feminist thought that posits a unified category of ‘women’, who can only be liberated by the development of collective consciousness and action. â€Å"There is nothing about being female that naturally binds women. There is not even such a state as ‘being’ female, itself a highly complex category constructed in contested social-scientific discourses and other social practices. † (Haraway in Keen: 1) Haraway’s profoundly anti-essentialist analysis rests on the notion of the cyborg, an entity based on the conjunction between technology and our selves. Haraway contends that we are ‘all cyborgs now’, because of our immersion in, and dependence on, techno-culture. She does not mean to suggest that we are robots in the Science Fiction sense, but that the relationship between people and technology is so intimate, that it is hard to tell where machines and people end and begin. As an example of our close relationship with technology, try to wrestle the TV remote control away from its regular user (who is also often, coincidentally, the male ‘head of the household’). For Haraway, we have come to see our bodies as high-performance machines that must be monitored and added to by technological innovation. Given that the boundaries between the natural and the technological have collapsed, then so have the assumptions that cluster around these terms. For instance, the belief that women are ‘naturally’ passive, submissive and nurturing can no longer be sustained in the era of the cyborg. The cyborg displays a ‘polymorphous perversity (Haraway in Kunzru, 1997: 4), and in conjunction with technology constructs identity, sexuality and gender as it pleases. Haraway has little time for either techno-utopians or the knee-jerk techno-phobia she sees in some feminist thought. She urges women to become part of networks (such as the Internet) that constitute the cyborg world. However, her ideas of connectivity should not be taken to equate with existing concepts of community based on the model of organic family. For her, the cyborg has no fear of ‘partial identities and contradictory standpoints’ (Quoted in Keen: 2). What is not allowable in the cyborg world, is a call to arms around a unified notion of ‘women’ posed against an equally cohesive notion of ‘men’. Butler’s work on the performative nature of gender reaches many of the same conclusions, regarding the category of ‘women’ central to much feminist thought as limiting and exclusive. She argues that feminist theory â€Å"has taken the category of women to be foundational without realising that the category effects a political closure on the kinds of experiences articulable as part of feminist discourse. † (Butler in Nicholson (Ed. ), 1990: 325) Post-structuralist feminism has long attempted to question the essentialising concept of gender in feminist thought, but some writers have been wary of jettisoning gender as a unifying and explanatory category for the nature of women’s oppression. Angela McRobbie, who is by no means hostile to postmodernism or post-structuralism, has expressed the tension poignantly, in a discussion of the nature of identity: â€Å"On the one hand, it is fluid, never completely secured and constantly being remade, reconstructed afresh. On the other hand, it only exists in relation to what it is not, to the other identities which are its other. † (Quoted in Texter, 1995: 18) I broadly accept McRobbie’s argument that any re-definition of identity needs something to define itself against. I would further argue that our existing tools for the construction of identities are drawn from often narrow and predictable paradigms, particularly when commercial considerations become part of the process. In my concluding section I would like to offer an example of how the structuring effects of gender seem to be still very apparent in the more mainstream sectors of cyberspace. Two computer games have secured huge followings in the last couple of years. Both are touted as offering virtual reality experiences (although without the headsets and gloves of experimental virtual reality). Quake and Tomb Raider are available across a variety of computer and video game platforms and both render quite ‘real’ simulated virtual worlds to explore and three-dimensional adversaries to shoot at6. My first example, Quake, presents us with a subjective view of our virtual world. Screen-shot: the view through your eyes. We, as the heavily armed protagonist, are able to freely roam through this world. All we see of our virtual self is the end of whichever weapon we have selected. In Quake we see the virtual world through our own eyes. When we are low on energy we hear our breathing become laboured. When we are killed we view the world from a prone position (our subjectivity seems to survive death) until the text ‘Game Over’ appears. The sound of our breathing and the grunts that emanate from us are decidedly masculine. Quake offers us an uncomplicated masculine gender identity based on the idea of identification with a male protagonist who drives the narrative towards a possible (although not inevitable) resolution. Quake closely conforms to the observations made by Laura Mulvey on the dominance of the male gaze in narrative cinema. Mulvey, writing in the early 1970s, suggested that Hollywood Cinema routinely places the active male at the centre of the narrative and invites us to identify with this character, which through force of personality, brings about narrative resolution. It is somewhat depressing to note that the virtual reality offered by Quake is such an unreconstructed one. The fit with Mulvey is very close: â€Å"As the spectator identifies with the main male protagonist, he projects his look onto that of his like, his screen surrogate, so that the power of the male protagonist as he controls events coincides with the active power of the egoistic look, both giving a satisfying sense of omnipotence. † (Mulvey in Easthope and McGowan, 1992: 163) In Quake identification is aided by the conflation of the male protagonist with our selves, perhaps even intensifying our ‘satisfying omnipotence’. Even if we read Quake ‘against the grain’ in a Barthesian sense (as some of my women friends do), it is hard to argue that this commercial manifestation of virtual reality offers us anything but a very clear, uncomplicated subject position to inhabit. What we do not get with Quake, is much space within the text to contest existing gender categories. My second example, Tomb Raider, offers a much more ambivalent experience. In this game, the main protagonist is a heavily armed female character identified as Lara Croft. Unlike in Quake, Lara is represented on-screen. She is modelled in the Anime style that originated in Japanese ‘graphic novels’ and animations. Lara, as can be seen from the screen shot below, is both attractive and physically powerful. Screen-shot: Lara Croft on-screen A number of my female students raised the issue of Tomb Raider in a discussion on the gendering of video games and said that they regularly played the game and found it an empowering experience (partly because of the novelty of having a female protagonist to identify with). Having played video and computer games since the late 1970s I was interested by the notion of a game that seemed to contradict the usual masculine gendering usually found within this medium. Although Lara does drive the narrative, she is also heavily eroticised. We control her movements and identify with her, but she is also the object of our gaze7. Mulvey suggests that female characters in narrative cinema often halt the narrative flow (Mulvey in Easthope & McGowan, 1992: 163) for moments of ‘erotic contemplation’. Initially, the active narrative role of the protagonist in Tomb Raider seems to defy this, but the game does encourage us to gaze at Lara ‘though male eyes’. We can manipulate our view of the character to see her from a range of angles using movements of the frame that closely resemble cinematic zooms, tracking shots and pans. These features make the game-play rather clumsy but allow us to fetishise the protagonist. As Mulvey comments on narrative cinema: â€Å"[This fetishism] builds up the physical beauty of the object transforming it into something satisfying in itself. † (Ibid. 165) This perhaps explains why, when I first played the game, I spent some time making Lara perform a variety of acrobatic manoeuvres that were far removed from the task of killing adversaries. The ambivalence in Tomb Raider lies in the unusual tension between its basis in the male gaze and its simultaneous identification with an active female protagonist. That my female students felt empowered by, and attracted to, Tomb Raider, suggests it does mark a shift in conceptions of subjectivity and identity. However, this shift is not total and still appears to be rooted in existing gender definitions. Whilst some of the claims of cyber-feminism seem overstated, and rather too willing to claim the existence of a virtual space where traditional dualisms and hierarchies have collapsed, virtuality may offer new sites for contestation and the expression of difference. Indeed, in a recent interview, Dona Haraway has suggested that technology is a value-laden area of contestation rather than a blank screen to be straightforwardly inscribed with new subjectivities and identities: â€Å"Technology is not neutral. We’re inside of what we make, and it’s inside of us. We’re living in a world of connections and it matters which get made and unmade. † (Haraway in Kunzru: 1997: 6) I am conscious of having steered a fairly delicate and cautious course through the hazards and attractions of structuralism, post-structuralism and postmodernism throughout this paper. I recognise that the body is becoming an increasingly contested site of theoretical debates and diverse social and cultural practices. The erosion of subjectivities and identities seems to be closely bound up with the heightened sense of mediation and virtuality that inflects the way we view the world, and equally importantly, how it views us. Postmodernism helps us trace the shifts from unified to fragmented subjectivities and identities, but it is a poor tool for investigating the possibilities of social change and identifiying the barriers to it. I have tried to show how the tools of structuralism still have salience, even when applied to the texts of cyberspace. It would perhaps be convenient to wish away the seemingly intractable hierarchies posited by structuralism, but to do so might also lessen the space for cohesive social criticism and unified political action. This is clearly a tension felt by many feminists and certainly not one I have managed to resolve in this paper. What I hope I have done, is to point out the necessity of retaining some existing explanatory categories, whilst recognising the need for constant reflection on, and reaction to, changing subjectivities and identities both in the ‘real’ world and the emerging virtual world. If Baudrillard is proved right, and we do eventually come to exclusively inhabit a rather hyperreal and schizophrenic virtual world, the need for critical engagement will surely be more vital than ever, however difficult and contradictory such critical practice might prove to be. Notes 1 Much writing on subjectivity and identity in cyberspace uses marginal practices as illustrative examples. I think this focus on what might fairly be called an avant-garde often descends into futurology. The mainstream may not be as exotic, but it is where most of us live, and will live, in the future. 2 What Baudrillard seems to have meant was that the Gulf War never happened for those of us in the West, beyond the simulated hyperreality of ‘surgical strikes’ and Cruise missiles with the ability to wait at traffic lights and avoid innocent civilians on the way to their targets. 3 The use of the term electronic frontier indicates powerful myths of male colonisation, the establishment of laws and the hierarchical regulation of behaviour. 4 According to UNESCO 95% of the world’s computers are located in advanced industrial countries and the ten richest countries have 75% of the world’s telephone lines. Networking and poverty seem to be effectively de-coupled at the moment 5 For example, the on-line group Guerrilla Girls are working against the masculine domination of cyberspace, albeit in a playfully aggressive and ironic manner. 6 Quake can be played across computer networks and has been held responsible for jamming up corporate networks in North America. 7 There are a number of Internet sites devoted to Tomb Raider. All of them contain numerous screen-shots of Lara Croft. On one site there were even a collection of images of Lara sans clothing, suggesting that male identification with Lara is rooted largely in objectification. Select Bibliography Note: Where publication dates are not listed this is because the material is drawn from Internet articles where such dates are absent. Internet addresses are given where known. †¢ Baudrillard, J (1988): ‘The Ecstasy of Communication’, Semiotext(e) (trans. Bernard Schutz & Caroline Schutze) †¢ Baudrillard, J (n. d. ): ‘Global Debt and Parallel Universe’, [WWW document] URL , first published in Liberation, Paris (trans. Francois Debrix). http://www. Ctheory. com/e31_global_debt. html †¢ Baudrillard, J (1994): ‘Plastic Surgery for the Other’, [WWW document] URL , Figures de l’alteritie (trans. Francois Debrix). http://www. Ctheory. com/a33-plastic_surgery. html †¢ Butler, Judith (1990): ‘Gender Trouble, Feminist Theory, and Psychoanalytic Discourse’ in Nicholson (Ed.) op. cit. , pp. 324-41 †¢ Easthope, A and K McGowan (Eds. ) (1992). A Critical and Cultural Theory Reader, Buckingham: Open University Press †¢ Haraway, Dona (1990): ‘A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s’. In Nicholson (Ed. ) op. cit. , pp. 190-234 †¢ Keen, Carolyn (n. d. ): On the Cyborg Manifesto, [WWW document] URL http://www. english. upenn. edu/~jenglish/Courses/keen2. html †¢ Kunzru, Hari (1997): ‘You are Cyborg’ in Wired, Issue 5. 02 †¢ McLuhan, Marshall and Quentin Fiore (1967): The Medium is the Massage. London: Penguin. †¢ Mulvey, Laura (1992): ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’. In Easthope and McGowan (Eds. ), op. cit. , pp 158-67 †¢ Nicholson, Linda J (Ed. ) (1990): Feminism/Postmodernism. London: Routledge †¢ Nunes, Mark (1995): ‘Baudrillard in Cyberspace: Internet, Virtuality, and Postmodernity’, http://www. dc. peachnet. edu/~mnunes/jbnet. html †¢ Pesce, Mark (n. d. ): ‘Proximal or Distal Unity’, Cyberconference Home Page, http://www. hyperreal. com/~mpesce †¢ Poster, Mark (1995): Cyber Democracy: The Internet and the Public Sphere http://www. hotwired. com/wired/3. 11/departments/poster. if. html. †¢ Sawchuk, K A (1995): ‘Post Panoptic Mirrored Worlds’, Ctheory, [WWW document] URL http://www. Ctheory. com/r-post_panoptic_mirrored. html †¢ Steffensen, Jyanni (1996): ‘Decoding Perversity: Queering Cyberspace’, Parallel Gallery and Journal, http://www. va. com. au/parallel/parallel@camtech. com. au †¢ Steinbach, J (n. d. ): ‘Postmodern Technoculture’, http://omni. cc. purdue. edu/~stein/techcult. htm †¢ Texter, W (1996): ‘†I May be Synthetic, but I’m not Stupid†: Technicity, Artifice and Repetition in Cyberville’, http://www. texter. com/Textual/thesis. html December 1997 †¢ E-mail the author: spittle@uce5. u-net. com.

Researching Variable Naming Rules Visual Essay

You can’t use a space, period (.), exclamation mark (!), or the characters @, &, $, # in the name. You must use a letter as the first character. You can’t use any names that are the same as the functions, statements, and methods. The name can’t exceed 255 characters in length. You can’t repeat names within the same level of scope. Python There are some reserved words which you cannot use Other characters can be letters, numbers or _ Case Sensitive Must begin with a letter (a – z, A – B) or underscore (_) Can be any (reasonable) length Java Cannot begin with a number Must begin with a letter (a – z, A – B) or underscore (_) Can be any (reasonable) length Uppercase characters are distinct from lowercase characters. Similarities & Differences Similarities in the languages are that their variables should be made up of Alphanumeric characters. Another similarity is they should refrain from using most symbols. A third similarity is each has reserved words that the language uses for its own purposes. A difference is that they are not all case sensitive. Another difference is not all of them use the same reserved words for functions and methods. A third difference is Java and Python are platform independent while visual basic is not.

History of Tikal

History of Tikal Tikal (tee-KAL) is a ruined Maya city located in the northern Petà ©n province of Guatemala. During the heyday of the Maya Empire, Tikal was a very important and influential city, controlling vast stretches of territory and dominating smaller city-states. Like the rest of the great Maya cities, Tikal fell into decline around 900 A.D. or so and was eventually abandoned. It is currently an important archaeological and tourism site Early History at Tikal Archaeological records near Tikal go back to about 1000 B.C. and by 300 B.C. or so it was already a thriving city. By the Maya early Classic era (roughly 300 A.D.) it was an important urban center, thriving as other nearby cities declined. The Tikal royal lineage traced their roots to Yax Ehb Xook, a powerful early ruler who lived sometime during the Preclassic period. The Peak of Tikals Power At the dawn of the Maya Classic era, Tikal was one of the most important cities in the Maya region. In 378, the ruling Tikal dynasty was replaced by representatives of the mighty northern city of Teotihuacan: it is unclear if the takeover was military or political. Other than a change in the royal family, this does not seem to have altered Tikal’s rise to prominence. Soon Tikal was the dominant city in the region, controlling several other smaller city-states. Warfare was common, and sometime in the late sixth century, Tikal was defeated by Calakmul, Caracol, or a combination of the two, causing a gap in the city’s prominence and historical records. Tikal bounced back, however, once again becoming a great power. Population estimates for Tikal at its peak vary: one estimate is that of respected researcher William Haviland, who in 1965 estimated a population of 11,000 in the city center and 40,000 in the surrounding areas. Tikal Politics and Rule Tikal was ruled by a powerful dynasty which sometimes, but not always, passed power down from father to son. This unnamed family ruled Tikal for generations until 378 A.D. when Great Jaguar Paw, last of the line, was apparently defeated militarily or somehow deposed by Fire is Born, who was most likely from Teotihuacn, a mighty city located near present-day Mexico City. Fire is Born started a new dynasty with close cultural and trade ties to Teotihuacn. Tikal continued on its path to greatness under the new rulers, who introduced cultural elements such as pottery design, architecture, and art in the Teotihuacn style. Tikal aggressively pursued its dominance of the whole southeastern Maya region. The city of Copn, in present-day Honduras, was founded by Tikal, as was the city of Dos Pilas. War with Calakmul Tikal was an aggressive superpower which frequently scrapped with its neighbors, but its most important conflict was with the city-state of Calakmul, located in the present-day Mexican state of Campeche. Their rivalry began sometime in the sixth century as they vied for vassal states and influence. Calakmul was able to turn some of Tikal’s vassal states against their former ally, most notably Dos Pilas and Quirigu. In 562 Calakmul and its allies defeated Tikal in battle, beginning a hiatus in Tikal’s power. Until 692 A.D. there would be no carved dates on Tikal monuments and the historical records of this time are scant. In 695, Jasaw K’awiil I defeated Calakmul, helping propel Tikal back to its former glory. The Decline of Tikal The Maya civilization began to crumble around 700 A.D. and by 900 A.D. or so it was a shadow of its former self. Teotihuacn, once such a powerful influence on Maya politics, itself fell into ruin about 700 and was no longer a factor in Maya life, although its cultural influences in art and architecture remained. Historians disagree on why the Maya civilization collapsed: it may have been due to famine, disease, warfare, climate change or any combination of those factors. Tikal, too, declined: the last recorded date on a Tikal monument is 869 A.D. and historians think that by 950 A.D. the city was essentially abandoned. Rediscovery and Restoration Tikal was never completely lost: locals always knew of the city throughout the colonial and republican eras. Travelers occasionally visited, such as John Lloyd Stephens in the 1840s, but Tikals remoteness (getting there entailed several days trek through steamy jungles) kept most visitors away. The first archaeological teams arrived in the 1880s, but it wasnt until an airstrip was built in the early 1950s that archaeology and study of the site began in earnest. In 1955, the University of Pennsylvania began a long project at Tikal: they remained until 1969 when the Guatemalan government began research there. Tikal Today Decades of archaeological work have uncovered most of the major buildings, although a good portion of the original city is still awaiting excavation. There are many pyramids, temples, and palaces for exploring. Highlights include the Plaza of Seven Temples, the Palace at the Central Acropolis and the Lost World complex. If youre visiting the historical site, a guide is highly recommended, as youre certain to miss interesting details if youre not looking for them. Guides can also translate glyphs, explain the history, take you to the most interesting buildings and more. Tikal is one of Guatemalas most important tourism sites, enjoyed annually by thousands of visitors from all over the world. Tikal National Park, which included the archaeological complex and the surrounding rainforest, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Although the ruins themselves are fascinating, the natural beauty of Tikal National Park merits a mention as well. The rainforests around Tikal are beautiful and home to many birds and animals, including parrots, toucans, and monkeys. Sources McKillop, Heather. The Ancient Maya: New Perspectives. Reprint edition, W. W. Norton Company, July 17, 2006.

The raise of Taxes at the United States

The raise of Taxes at the United States Abstract This essay will look at the effect of a change in tax rate in an economy. Based on the current economic and financial crisis relationships with be established on taxation with work incentives, labor productivity, investment decisions, budget and the rich so as to make informed opinion.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The raise of Taxes at the United States specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More When an economy is facing a crisis, it adjusts its tax system as policy to rectify the deficit in the economy. For instance, United States has been hardly hit by the economic crisis and is contemplating on increasing taxes for the rich. The change in taxation has both positive and negative effects. Introduction The current economic and financial crisis has adversely affected all the countries in the world. Those that have been hard hit by the crisis include the United States of America and European countries. Other countries, especially developing countries are suffering from the spill over effects. In United States, the effects of this crisis have been evident in various sectors of the economy. The country has been hit by high rates of employment with nearly ten million people registering for the unemployment benefits. The number of people registering in job search centers has increased, with fresh graduates taking the highest percentage. The economy has failed to create new jobs, with jobs lay off mounting by the day. Most industries are streaming their workforce since they cannot adequately meet their needs, such as paying salaries and other benefits. The situation has rendered a high percent of the populace jobless, with most of them having difficulties in paying their bills. Those who are unable to meet their bills have resorted to pegging in streets so at least to get something to sustain them. The suffering of most Americans has not gone unnoticed, with the President Barack Obama const antly giving an account of government progress on how the crisis is being handled. The most recent announcement by the President is an increase in the rate of tax for the rich. The tax raise among the rich will lead to an increase in national revenue that can then be used to create jobs at national levels. This move has elicited controversy, with some supporting while others attack the move as inappropriate. It is like taking from those who are rich and distributing it to those who are poor. Despite raising taxes for the rich, taxes for foreign people should be lowered. Discussion Taxation is a fiscal policy tool that government can use in order to have a balanced fiscal budget. The government to attain certain objectives like full employment, price stability and economic growth normally uses fiscal policy. Other policy tools that can be used include printing of money, sell of fixed assets, internal or external borrowing as well as consumption of fiscal reserves.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More When a government is facing huge deficits, tax revenue can be raised by increasing the tax rates. Taxation is a tool that can be used to rescue an economy facing difficult times. Proper design of a tax policy can be a panacea to the prevailing economic hard times such as unemployment. United State has sought to follow Germany’s way to rescue its economic from adverse effects of its current debt position. Economist asserts that the only way in which an economy can reverse a crisis is using an expansionary fiscal policy. This will solve the issue of fiscal budget imbalance, unemployment and ‘crowding out’ effect. Conversely, high taxes will look out private companies from investing in the country because of the cost of production which will translates to higher commodity prices. It will be hard for businesses to carry out bus iness in countries with high tax rates. This is because it will render most establishments less competitive in the global market. To encourage foreign investment tax rates should be reduced for them and sometimes coupled with tax havens, allowances and subsidies, this will encourage them to take up their new investment in the economy (Kivel, 2002). Taxation and work incentives When there is an increase in the rate of income tax, the effect will be that the post-tax income of individuals will reduce. This is because the net income resulting from each hour of work will be lower. The move might encourage workers to increase their number of working hours to meet their target income. On the other hand, an increase in tax might be used as a disincentive to promote less work. The government normally sets a lower income tax rate for low-income employees. This will act as an incentive for workers to do their job for long hours and earn more money. Low taxes on low-income earners serve as a t ool of reducing ‘poverty trap’ risks where individuals will get high net financial benefits from their work. When tax reforms are favorable, it leads to an increase in supply of labor thus a reduction in unemployment equilibrium rate hence, the growth rate will increase. Taxation and the pattern of demand Demand patterns for goods and services vary as indirect taxes are changed. When value added taxes (VAT) on commodities such as alcohol and cigarettes increase, it is aimed at causing a low consumption among consumers or a substitution effect. The result will be a low demand for such commodities. Indirect taxation can be applicable where there is a total market failure, as well as when the government wants to ensure equitable distribution of resources such as health care.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The raise of Taxes at the United States specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Taxation and invest ment decisions When the rates of business taxes and corporate tax are low, this can stimulate a business to increase its spending in fixed capital investment. An increase in investment will mean that the capital stock of a nation has increased thus an increase in capital stock of every worker employed (Mankiw, 2011). Government can use incentives such as tax allowances to boost research and development and in encouraging new business developments. A tax regime that is favorable will attract increased inflow of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment). This will be a stimulus that will benefit an economy’s aggregate supply and aggregate demand. Low rates of corporation tax will attract huge amounts of private investment. Tax changes act as a stimulus of investment in capital assets, social infrastructure, and labor force skills as well as in technology. A good tax system will ensure an improvement in infrastructure, which is essential for economic growth through increased production an d competitiveness. Government spending can be terms of development of an education system that is skills oriented and technology focused. This will ensure a steady long-term supply of human resources (Dye, 2011). Company’s risk attitude and corporate income tax are the main factors that are considered by an organization before making an investment decisions, this is because this factors can affect the rate of return on investment. Amount of corporate tax to be paid is an important factor that is taken into consideration before making a financial investment decision. This is because low taxes will mean lower prices for goods and higher revenue generated. The Rich Should Pay More For equal sacrifice and fairness among citizens, those individuals who benefited from favorable economic times such as boom, rescue packages among others should find it necessary to shoulder the costs that arise from a crisis. There willingness will save the economy from suffering the worst effects of a crisis that a time may spill over to drain resources of the rich. This argument looks at increasing government revenue through an increase in income as well as an increase in capital gains tax. This was illustrated by Germany’s case after the World War II where legislation was passed which mandated financial compensation to gather for loses that arises during the war. This lead to a creation of tax on property and capital, this law was applicable to individuals who still possess substantial assets after the war. The law required them to pay half of their asset worth to a compensation fund over a period of thirty years. In case of United States, an increase in tax has no chance any time soon. The reason being the required budget consolidation should occur on the expenditure part. This will imply a reduction in government expenditure and this will have adverse effects on the economy. On the other hand, an increase in income tax disproportionately has an effect on higher earne rs. The impact of high tax on the rich is minimal because large proportions of their income go to savings while minimal amounts are spent (Blinder Baumol, 2011).Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More United States cannot undertake spending cuts since it will adversely affect their growth. This is because the economy is spending less on infrastructure, education and social transfers. For other countries that are facing similar crisis, an increase in government revenue will serve the country better. Therefore, if Americans refuse to contribute more to their economy through tax, they will suffer from a middling economy. Conclusion Taxation as an expansionary fiscal policy is applicable when an economy is facing difficult economic times, where the government spending exceeds its revenue significantly. The current financial and economic crisis has led to increase of tax rates to generate more revenue. The revenue generated is ploughed back to the economy to offset the high standing levels of debts. Increased tax will hurt the economy in terms of reducing the disposable income of consumer and investment income for companies. Individuals will be left with insufficient money to spend he nce a decline in aggregate demand. The rich should make a greater sacrifice to shoulder the costs that have accrued due to a crisis as the low-income earners still pay their tax at the usual lower rates. Poor economic standing of an economy will imply that sectors such as education, health care, communication, physical infrastructure among others will suffer, yet they are the main drivers of economic growth. A good tax system should be developed to realize economic progress. Good taxation we stimulate accumulation of capital stock in the economy in terms of new industries being set up and new technology adopted. This will ensure that the rate of unemployment reduces with a significant margin. Increase the tax rates for the rich will increase the revenue base of a country with the money generated channeled towards job creation in the economy. An economy in a crisis should receive compensation from those who benefited from it during good times such as times of rescue package, social t ransfers and boom. The wealthier should make huge sacrifices in terms of tax payment even though the burden may be overwhelming. A good tax system should act as a magnet for attracting foreign investors through the provision of tax haven for newly established industries. This will encourage foreign investors in the country; hence help in solving the problem of unemployment. References Blinder, A. S., Baumol, W. J. (2011). Macroeconomics: Principles and Policy. New York: Cengage Learning. Dye, T. R. (2011). Understanding Public Policies (13th ed.). Boston: MA Pearson. Kivel, P. (2002). Uprooting racism: how white people can work for racial justice. New York: New Society Publishers. Mankiw, N. G. (2011). Principles of Economics. New York: Cengage Learning.

Biology Prefixes and Suffixes Index

Biology Prefixes and Suffixes Index Have you ever heard of pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis? This is an actual word, but dont let that scare you. Some science terms can be difficult to comprehend: By identifying the affixes elements added before and after base words you can understand even the most complex terms. This index will help you identify some commonly used prefixes and suffixes in biology. Common Prefixes (Ana-): indicates upward direction, synthesis or buildup, repetition, excess or separation. (Angio-): signifies a type of receptacles such as a vessel or shell. (Arthr- or Arthro-): refers to a joint or a junction that separates different parts. (Auto-): identifies something as belonging to oneself, occurring within or occurring spontaneously. (Blast- , -blast): indicates an immature developmental stage. (Cephal- or Cephalo-): referring to the head. (Chrom- or Chromo-): denotes color or pigmentation. (Cyto- or Cyte-): regarding or relating to a cell. (Dactyl-, -dactyl): refers to a digit or tactile appendages such as a finger or toe. (Diplo-): means double, paired or twofold. (Ect- or Ecto-): means outer or external. (End- or Endo-): means inner or internal. (Epi-): indicates a position that is above, on or near a surface. (Erythr- or Erythro-): means red or reddish in color. (Ex- or Exo-): means external, out of or away from. (Eu-): means genuine, true, well or good. (Gam-, Gamo or -gamy): refers to fertilization, sexual reproduction or marriage. (Glyco- or Gluco-): pertains to a sugar or a sugar derivative. (Haplo-): means single or simple. (Hem-, Hemo- or Hemato-): denoting blood or blood components (plasma and blood cells). (Heter- or Hetero-): means unlike, different or other. (Karyo- or Caryo-): means nut or kernel, and also refers to the nucleus of a cell. (Meso-): means middle or intermediate. (My- or Myo-): means muscle. (Neur- or Neuro-): referring to nerves or the nervous system. (Peri-): means surrounding, near or around. (Phag- or Phago-): pertaining to eating, swallowing or consuming. (Poly-): means many or excessive. (Proto-): means primary or primitive. (Staphyl- or Staphylo-): referring to a cluster or bunch. (Tel- or Telo-): denoting an end, extremity or final phase. (Zo- or Zoo-): pertaining an animal or animal life. Common Suffixes (-ase): denoting an enzyme. In enzyme naming, this suffix is added to the end of the substrate name. (-derm or -dermis): referring to tissue or skin. (-ectomy or -stomy): pertaining to the act of cutting out or the surgical removal of tissue. (-emia or -aemia): referring to a condition of the blood or the presence of a substance in the blood. (-genic): means giving rise to, producing or forming. (-itis): denoting inflammation, commonly of a tissue or organ. (-kinesis or -kinesia): indicating activity or movement. (-lysis): referring to degradation, decomposition, bursting or releasing. (-oma): indicating an abnormal growth or tumor. (-osis or -otic): indicating a disease or abnormal production of a substance. (-otomy or -tomy): denoting an incision or surgical cut. (-penia): pertaining to a deficiency or lack. (-phage or -phagia): the act of eating or consuming. (-phile or -philic): having an affinity for or strong attraction to something specific. (-plasm or -plasmo): referring to tissue or a living substance. (-scope): denoting an instrument used for observation or examination. (-stasis): indicating the maintenance of a constant state. (-troph or -trophy): pertaining to nourishment or a method of nutrient acquisition. Other Tips While knowing suffixes and prefixes will tell you much about biological terms, its helpful to know a few other tricks for deciphering their meanings, including: Breaking down words: Breaking down biological terms into their component parts can help you decipher their meanings.Dissections: Just as you might dissect a frog to separate (it) into pieces, as Merriam-Webster explains, you can also break down a biological term to expose its several parts for scientific examination.

The Rock Cycle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Rock Cycle - Essay Example The rock cycle is a way of representing the relationship among the three main types of rocks namely sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks. The rocks undergo a constant gradual transition from one form to another. The transitions depend on the physical conditions around them. This paper discusses the cycle and the way in which the rocks change from one form to the other.  The rock cycle is a way of representing the relationship among the three main types of rocks namely sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks. The rocks undergo a constant gradual transition from one form to another. The transitions depend on the physical conditions around them. This paper discusses the cycle and the way in which the rocks change from one form to the other.  Under the earth surface, the conditions available do not allow the rocks to exist in their solid state. Instead, they exist as magma that is a hot liquid. As the magma moves upwards, cooling takes place, and it finally solidifies to for m the igneous rocks. Some of the magma under pressure during the process of volcanicity moves out as lava on the earth surface. The result is volcanic rocks, which are of fine grains (Mattern, 2005).   On the earth surface, igneous rocks undergo the process of weathering since their components do not stabilize at the surface conditions. Moving water and wind are the main factors of weathering. The rocks are broken down to pieces or sediments and carried away mixing up with other components. After quite a long duration of time, the sediments are finally glued together to form sedimentary rocks (Mattern, 2005). Exposing the rocks to high temperature and pressure on the earth surface causes a physical change on them. The high temperature cause hardening of large masses of rocks called metamorphic rocks. The metamorphic rocks are responsible for forming Mountains. Both the metamorphic and sedimentary rocks can melt again to form magma under high temperature. Weathering occurs again on metamorphic rocks, resulting to the formation of sedimentary rocks. The rock cycle starts over continuously (Mattern, 2005).

Information, Information Technology and Information Systems Essay

Information, Information Technology and Information Systems - Essay Example This is true with Integrated Report System Company who’s specialty includes conceptualizing programs that assists sales oriented industries become a market leader. These programs work well with firms that requires vast resources of information to be broken down, analyzed, compare and plotted, useful in establish a strong foundation of judgments. This web based business intelligence software provides a concrete and accurate data collection and analysis that helps small and medium scale industries anticipate/plan their move and realize strategies that could allow them to achieve their goal for their product. The business activities and functions this software supports is basically sales related, a sales interactive reporting designed to fit the needs of Sales reps and mangers, CEOs and CFOs, product or account managers, whereby necessary market information and trend are made available through data collection and banking together with other programs that monitors the movement and turnover of their product. This system also allows the abovementioned individuals a critical view of the business that necessitates well calculated anticipation and aggressive moves. Interactive Reporting system provides state of the art tools for integrated interactive reporting such that makes use of templates which encapsulates pertinent records of transaction history and other raw data that can be inquired upon, and a mapping technology that connects the user to their data source. These tools are set to be modularized and separated from a specific installation which therefore "permits the re-use of logic, the provisioning of the BI integration process by domain experts and the significant reductions in the cost and time required for an enterprise's acquisition of BI capabilities". More specifically, these tools are "highly scalable; flexible in design; easily integrated into any data source; have a unified view with drill-down capability and an 'Out-Of-The-Box Solution' that runs on top of any system leveraging existing IT investments. This software supports Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, MS Access, Informix, MySQL and IBM DB2. It is a web based intranet product that uses data extracted from your data warehouse. It also provides a standardized templates and mappings so you don't need to design sales reports or spreadsheets from scratch. With Integrated Reporting highly critical information pertaining to sales function are easily accessible and comprehended in terms of what products being sold, areas of distribution, means and method of positioning, and most importantly its corresponding figures. With this in hand, reporting and analysis is made easy, while concrete and immediate solutions are readily perceived. This software assumes that there is a preexisting operating system installed as well as a network, as it simply brings you into using existing software in any activity you wish to engage upon, whether creating spreadsheets or report templates. It cam also be patched to the existing accounting system whereby i t allows you to synchronize previous information to present and integrate, differentiate or update them. This software is designed to make things simpler and faster and therefore hassle free. This software is also created upon the assumption that there is basic knowledge in various computer applications, otherwise an orientation is required. In a business that

Using Effective Promotions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Using Effective Promotions - Essay Example It was also a good advert as it alerted consumers that Nike offered free shipping on some orders. Therefore, it encouraged consumers who could not visit a Nike outlet, due to varying reasons, and are not members, to order the products online. Consequent to this, the advertiser has to communicate the intended message, which informed consumers of the possibility of online purchasing. Online purchases contribute to the increase of the sales of the company, which makes the advert significant to the company. Informing people about the free returns for members also made this a good advert, because, it motivated online purchasers to order for the goods they needed without worrying that the goods may be in bad condition. Therefore, the advertiser has to communicate about the free return service offered to members of the community, if the delivered products fell short of their expectations. The advert was also good as it drew more customers to join the Nike community, and it promoted the loya lty of consumers to the organization. Such offers also help in shifting the attention of the consumers from the price of the products to the services offered, which gives Nike an opportunity to create good relations with its customers. Conclusively, the discussed advertisements allowed the advertiser to achieve increased sales of the products. The seller gets to advertise to the consumers at a personal level, through the social media, which reached a wider group of people. This boosted the competitiveness of the company.

Management Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Management Accounting - Essay Example Well whatever the reason is, it is surely time that we sit down, assess and analyse the system as a whole and try coming out with both, a reason and a solution for all this happening. Arguably the main reason of reaching such a unpleasant situation is that, major stakeholders, whether it’s the big companies or the government, they have mainly focussed on short term achievement and plans rather than analysing, assessing and planning for longer term success. Hence before we consider entering in a developing country for investment purposes I would like to reflect some light on different aspect of sustainability reporting, the differences between sustainability reporting and traditional reporting and the benefits of sustainability reporting. Introduction A sustainability report mainly focuses, in fact constitutes, three elements or dimension, namely, social, economic and environmental. Due to this fact is often known as triple bottom line or 3BL. Some even regards is as a planet, profit, people principle. While discussing this aspect, sustainability reporting is often substituted for environmental social and governance reporting and corporate social responsibility as the whole idea is almost the same. The framework of sustainability is set up by GRI (Global Reporting initiative), a non-profit organisation. Difference between sustainability reporting and traditional reporting Sustainability reports differs from traditional reporting in a few important ways. Sustainability reports stress on the fact of maximising stakeholder value rather than only shareholder value. Stakeholder in this context refers to someone in fact anyone that is affected by the organisations actions whether it be directly or indirectly. Customers, civil societies, employees, financers and the community as a whole are all included in the list of stakeholders. Another crucial difference is that sustainability reports do not require each aspect to be in monetary term. That is some indicators may just be included as a comparison as the previous years to help analyse how the company is performing. In traditional reporting all reported data is produced in monetary terms. Sustainability reports produce comparison data due to the fact that some performance indicators may not be valued accurately in monetary terms, thus, are better off used as a mean of comparison. An example may be that of the pollution waste produce by the organisation. This may be reported as number of tons of wastage produced or even waste per unit of production. Both can be compared with that of other organisations depending on what indicator the other organisation has preferred. The sorts of information that they will need to include in a sustainability report of why they should be included The main reason to produce a sustainability report is to provide a true representation of the sustainable performance of an entity, that is, a reasonable and balanced presentation of the entity performance that incl udes both its positive contributions and negative contributions. Sustainability reporting helps organisations produce sustainable information of an

Article Critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Article Critique - Essay Example The Great Conversation is a means to involve community in the educational process. It consists of two different tracks: informal and formal. Vollmer cites the remarkable progress in relations achieved using the Great Conversation in Colorado, Wisconsin, and Kentucky. However, he does not give the details of these three situations. He merely makes a few vague comments about the schools systems and their relationship to the public. One of the major drawbacks of the article is that Vollmer largely ignores the informal track of the Great Conversation. While he admits that the focus of his article is the formal track, he devotes only three short paragraphs to the informal track. If an approach to public relations involves two main tracks, an article should address both equally in order to create a balanced view. Vollmer seems to bias the article toward the formal track. Vollmer uses the last half of his article to explaining the formal track of the Great Conversation. ... The most obvious errors in the article are two. Firstly, the major obstacle to creating public relations programs between schools and the community is a lack of time on the part of both parties. Vollmer never addresses how the Great Conversation solves this fundamental problem. If anything, the article points out that public relations programs are almost impossible to create due to the time commitment needed on both sides. Secondly, and most importantly, author Jamie Vollmer is president of Vollmer, Inc., a public education advocacy firm focusing on increasing community involvement in education. Clearly, he has bias in relation to the subject about which he is writing. His firm exists to help schools create and maintain public relations programs. Additionally, the firm sells certain approaches to public relations to school districts. There can be little doubt that Vollmer sells a package that includes the Great Conversation. Finally, as Vollmer is president of the firm, he is respons ible for the financial health of the organization. This fact means that he must sell his firm’s product, and this article is an advertisement for his firm. I feel that public relations programs are important for school success to a limited degree. The success of a school can be impacted by the amount of involvement from the community. However, in my experience, the most important involvement is individual, i.e. between parents and teachers. The intrusion of business into schools is detrimental as it affects the operation and goals of the school. Also, the general public does not understand the workings of the educational system and often public relations programs spend the majority of their time

Evaluation Proposal Prospectus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Evaluation Proposal Prospectus - Essay Example The present study will be conducted on the basis of participant observation, where the researcher has planned to interview eight elderly patients and healthcare staff members each to explore the nature of diseases as well as the method of care provided to the aged. The researcher looks for completing his research within 3 to 4 weeks. The participant observation will also be supported with the questions established in the interview schedule, so that psychological problems could also be revealed. The research will be supported with the studied carried out in past on the same or relevant topics and the researcher will add the relevant literature in the study. After the completion of the paper, the findings will be analyzed by applying statistical tests. The senior citizens are an important part of every social set up, which have rendered noteworthy services for the political, social, cultural and economic growth of their country. Since they are not capable of playing their role in the same effective manner as they had performed it at their young age, they are being neglected and ignored by an overwhelming majority of society. â€Å"Abuse and neglect of elderly persons†, Mildenberger & Wessman submit, â€Å"particularly by adult family members, is a serious social and health phenomenon that cannot be ignored. Physical therapists who deal with elderly persons must prepare themselves to recognize signs of abuse and neglect and to become familiar with existing intervention agencies and outlets for prevention. (1986: 2) Political authorities have established healthcare centers and institutions for the adequate look after of the aged people. In addition, private sector is also working efficiently in this field on non profit basis to provide them with care and supervision under a comfortable environment. Hence, the health improvement of the aged community is vital both for public and private health sectors.

Article Critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Article Critique - Essay Example The Great Conversation is a means to involve community in the educational process. It consists of two different tracks: informal and formal. Vollmer cites the remarkable progress in relations achieved using the Great Conversation in Colorado, Wisconsin, and Kentucky. However, he does not give the details of these three situations. He merely makes a few vague comments about the schools systems and their relationship to the public. One of the major drawbacks of the article is that Vollmer largely ignores the informal track of the Great Conversation. While he admits that the focus of his article is the formal track, he devotes only three short paragraphs to the informal track. If an approach to public relations involves two main tracks, an article should address both equally in order to create a balanced view. Vollmer seems to bias the article toward the formal track. Vollmer uses the last half of his article to explaining the formal track of the Great Conversation. ... The most obvious errors in the article are two. Firstly, the major obstacle to creating public relations programs between schools and the community is a lack of time on the part of both parties. Vollmer never addresses how the Great Conversation solves this fundamental problem. If anything, the article points out that public relations programs are almost impossible to create due to the time commitment needed on both sides. Secondly, and most importantly, author Jamie Vollmer is president of Vollmer, Inc., a public education advocacy firm focusing on increasing community involvement in education. Clearly, he has bias in relation to the subject about which he is writing. His firm exists to help schools create and maintain public relations programs. Additionally, the firm sells certain approaches to public relations to school districts. There can be little doubt that Vollmer sells a package that includes the Great Conversation. Finally, as Vollmer is president of the firm, he is respons ible for the financial health of the organization. This fact means that he must sell his firm’s product, and this article is an advertisement for his firm. I feel that public relations programs are important for school success to a limited degree. The success of a school can be impacted by the amount of involvement from the community. However, in my experience, the most important involvement is individual, i.e. between parents and teachers. The intrusion of business into schools is detrimental as it affects the operation and goals of the school. Also, the general public does not understand the workings of the educational system and often public relations programs spend the majority of their time

The Pursuit of a Just and Stable Society Essay Example for Free

The Pursuit of a Just and Stable Society Essay In Plato’s writings that reached its full expression in his famous dialogue, The Republic, he argued that attainment of a just and orderly society lies on the establishment of a society wherein the reigning regime or leader is a philosopher king or queen who possesses the necessary wisdom of philosophy, ethics and politics. In Plato’s republic or just and ordered some of the main features are the abolition of private property or the holding of all goods to belong in public. These extended to the sharing of wives and husbands, establishments and almost anything in the city. Summing up Plato’s ideas in The Republic, a just and ordered society can only be attained by the reign of the philosopher king or queen and the abolition of anything that is private (Cooper, 1997). For about 2000 years after Plato wrote these ideas, almost the same framework or way of thinking had rose in to fame and managed to take the world by storm. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published what is known as The Communist Manifesto, which is considered as one of the most influential political text of all time. In the said literature, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had tried to explain how our modern society can manage to attain a society that is just and orderly. Reading the said manifesto, we can conclude that one of the most central ideas for the attainment of this ideal society that we are talking about is this – the abolition of private property. For the two thinkers, they believed that the most important foundation of any capitalist society that is the dominant idea on the world is the concept of private ownership. In the text, they had tried to build an argument that says that capitalism is evil. With arguments like alienation and exploitation, they almost declared that capitalism is the cause of all the evil that is happening in the world (Marx et al 1888/1967). However, as they argued, this evil (capitalism) has been always rooted on another evil which is also one of the central concepts in Plato’s discussion on The Republic – private property. In this respect, we are together with Plato, Marx and Engels on the belief that a perfect society can only be attained through the abolition of private property. Adopting the arguments in both The Republic and The Communist Manifesto on the evil of accumulation of private property, we are going to solely base the attainment of a just and order society by the virtue of the abolition of such characteristic in the society. Discussing whether our modern arrangement can afford a framework wherein private properties were abolished, we are going to answer if the world can attain true justice and order in the future. For more than 200 years, the framework and system of capitalism had managed to encroach in every part of our lives. Ranging from the mainstream politics of liberalism to our food in our refrigerators up to our system of education, the world had been dependent and managed to exist on capitalist grounds. The ideas of capitalism have been engraved on every human psyche that made us always think in terms of currencies, money and other capitalist traditions. The question is very simple and it is this, â€Å"Is it possible shift to a society wherein accumulation of private properties was abolished just like the socialist community of Marx or Plato’s republic. The answer is very simple. Yes. The history had taught us that a shift from a feudal or capitalist society (i. e. the case of China, Russia, Cuba, and North Korea) to a communist country (socialist in the future) is possible. Reviewing the history, these countries had managed to shift to a society that is communal in nature using the revolutions of the masses, the workers or the farmers. However, the answer is not as simple as it seems to be. Though the answer is straight yes, we must remember that the price to pay for this kind of shift is hefty and huge. We must remember that these countries managed to attain communal revolutions through the death of hundreds of thousands or even millions of lives. In the case of China, much of their cultural and historical artifacts were destroyed and sacrificed for these kinds of shift and revolution. The communal revolution had been so bloody and costly that it connotes negativity for many people (Gascoigne, 2010). Now, we must ask ourselves if we are willing to pay the price for this kind of revolution. Are we ready to let go the benefits, the beauty and the luxury of a capitalist society for the pursuit of the idea of a just and stable society? Are we ready to give up our properties and let the central government to decide on what we have to do or what will be our job? Are we ready to boycott anything that is a product of the capitalist system? Are we ready to go ‘underground’ and grab weapons and arms to fight the reigning capitalist class? All of these questions must be answered first before we can be able to decide if we are ready to pursue the just and orderly society that a communal society (that abolishes private property) promises. Lastly, it is important to note for each one of us that the basis of our discussion for the criteria of our just and order society are only the writings of thinkers such as Plato, Engels and Marx. We are never sure if their ideas can really work on the real world. Reviewing the history with the nations and countries that follow them, we can conclude that the communal government that abolished private property is not as perfect as what is seems to be (though we can also argue that they were wrong in understanding and following these thinkers). However, the question will remain simple, The question is simply, â€Å"Are we ready to sacrifice our current societal arrangement for the pursuit of an idea that are not still sure. † This is a very important question. This is an addition to the difficulty of the shift or revolution itself. These questions should be answered before we have to do anything. It is very difficult that in the end, as we pursue these ideas, we will found ourselves in the end frustrated because of the mistakes, errors and inaccuracy that made us sacrificed what we already had. The point in this discussion is simple. Assuming that the thinkers in the name of Plato, Engels and Marx were true (which is difficult to prove), the question whether we can create a just and orderly society remain complicated. It is no longer a simple Yes or No. The capitalist system and framework had been so wide and huge that it became difficult to kill it. Even if we managed to kill it, there is also a possibility that we can also be killed in the process due to our heavy dependence on it. It can be said that the last ten generations had been bred by the capitalist system making it difficult for any one of us to counter it. However, the possibility of shifting to a society that Marx and Plato had thought is still possible. Yet, the question will remain, â€Å"Are we ready to do what is necessary to achieve such system? †