How to Train to Run a Half-Marathon Essay

I. Step 1 Preparing the Mind Visualization- picture in your mind the runner you want to be. Picture yourself making a great training run. Affirmation- flood your mind with positive thoughts by talking to yourself every day. Tell yourself that you are a marathon runner. Our minds operate in the present so the more we tell ourselves something, even if it is not yet true, the faster our mind believe it. Also, put an affirmation, race brochure, or inspiring quote somewhere you will see it every day! Block the Negative thinking- Be aware of negative thoughts creeping into your mind. Stop them in their tracks by telling yourself the opposite. If you catch yourself thinking you are tired during a run, tell yourself several times that you feel great and strong! Think about why you have set this monster goal for yourself and see yourself enjoying the benefits you expect to have once you accomplish your goal. Motivation- Building mental stamina is essential. Staying motivation and developing the prope r mindset is key to enjoying training and crossing the finish line! Goals- You must have the right goals and reasons for running in order to be successful. Finishing time goals is a good way to start. II. Planning a Strategy Wear the right gear- Buy a good pair of running shoes. These will be the most important piece of gear. There are sold at specialty running stores that help you get fitted. Nutrition- Carbohydrates provide the fuel runners need. During training 65% of your total calories should come from complex carbohydrates, 10% should come from protein, 25% should come from unsaturated fats. Hydration- Consume 6 – 8 ounces of fluids every 20 minutes. During pre-training and marathon training this is of the upmost importance to help keep you going. Recovery- is an important part of training. You should not run every day. Your body needs to rest between runs so it can recover from one run to the next, getting stronger between each run. Avoiding Injury- Use the non-running days to rest and recover. Ice-down any soreness. Injuries often sneak up without warning. Doing all the right things will minimize your chances of injury. I. Executing the Plan Pre-training- Before beginning half marathon training you should be able to run for at least 30 minutes without stopping. Distance is not important right now. You just need to get your body used to running. Combinations of run/walks are great to use. It’s also a good idea at this point to go ahead and sign up for a half marathon! Training- Your mileage should gradually increase each week. Total weekly mileage should not increase by more than 10% from week to week. Completing a run of 10-12 miles about 3 weeks before the race will be enough to prepare you for the finish. Then taper off in the final weeks leading up to the half marathon to allow your body to recover from the training. Half Marathon Day- The big day! You will be full of adrenaline after leaving the starting line. Remember though, distance running is about endurance and pace is critical. Maintain pace to save everything you have left for your big finish!

An Essay on “Less than Zero”

Life is ever-changing, ever-moving in the passive world of today’s youth. This thought came to mind when I was reading Bret Easton Ellis’ novel â€Å"Less Than Zero†. It is a book that speaks of the life of young people in the society these days. This essay aims to describe the elements of textual style, time movement, and the leading character of the novel. First, the author’s style which employs fluidity of spatial location depict the constant changing of ads, videos, scenes, programs and channels on television to which this story resembles. It can be observed that the story jumps from one location to another. Indeed, reading the novel is like watching a television. Just like in this paragraph from the text: â€Å"After leaving Blair I drive down to Wilshire and then onto Santa Monica and then I drive onto Sunset and take Beverly Glen to Mulholland, and then to Sepulveda to Ventura and then I drive through Sherman Oak's to Encino and then into Tarzana and then Woodland Hills. I stop at Sambo's†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This scene narrates the constant search of Clay, the leading character of the story, for a place where he can find enjoyment and pleasure yet he always ends up feeling empty and frustrated. This characterizes the youth of the 80’s and of today. They do a lot of things, go to a lot of places, and meet a lot of people yet they end up with nothing. The teens in the story spend their time, money and energy in worthless activities such as drinking alcohol, sniffing cocaine, partying, and engaging in sex and more but they do not get anything worthwhile. There is another scene of Clay and Rip tells of the aimlessness of going from one place to another. It didn’t matter if they are getting nowhere as long as they are moving. Second, the fast and quick time movement of the story illustrates that people come and go. Nothing is permanent in this world and time flies fast. And this is probably the reason why it seems that the novel constantly talks of death. What is worse is that Clay and his friends do not even care. Like the case of the twelve-year old girl who was kidnapped, gang-raped by Rip together with his friends and was found dead the next day. It is such as gory sight yet it seems these teenagers in the story are unaffected. It can also be observed that together with the change of location is a change of time. Such as these phrases: â€Å"Blair picks me up from LAX†¦ Nobody’s home†¦ I bring Daniel to Blair’s party that night†¦Ã¢â‚¬  These scenes come after each other abruptly. There is no transition. It goes on and on. Lastly, Clay‘s character in the story portrays the nihilism and the passivism that characterizes the youth of today. He is the total picture of rich kids who have parents who can give them all the money and material things they want except for the love and time that they need. He narrates the story with passive indifference, probably because of his being constantly stoned with cocaine. He is detached in his feelings towards his family, his girlfriend, his friends and others. He seems not to care about what is happening to them. He sees the death that comes to people and yet he is unconcerned. However, he has a craving for something deeper. In fact, there are flashback scenes in the story where he remembered his grandparents and aunt. He even went back to Palm Springs where he grew up and he says: â€Å"I guess I went there because I want to remember the way things were.† This tells of a hidden part of him to get back to the good old days. In conclusion, the novel is an effective medium of presenting a picture of the younger generation’s life, struggles and hopes through the fluidity of spatial location, time movements and the character of Clay. Indeed, this novel â€Å"Less Than Zero† shows that the life of a teenager these days constantly changes and moves because of nihilism, passivism and aimlessness. Works Cited Ellis, Bret Easton. Less Than Zero. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc. 1

Food and Beverage Director Essay

The operation in food and beverages has been a staple source of income in hotels for many years. Development of a food and beverage department in most of the hotels supplements the income generated from room profits as well as builds the image of the hotel. People come to hotels now not just for the room accommodations but also for the food and beverages they offer in their restaurants, cafes, function rooms, and bars. The demand of food and beverages lead to the creation of a hotel position called food and beverage manager that spearheads the services offered by the hotel’s food and beverage department(Hubsch 1966). Food and beverages management is among the most complicated areas of hospitality and is an integral part of the hotel industry. The latest trend in the management of food and beverages in a hotel setting has shifted from a cuisine based job into a career that necessitates knowledge in marketing and productivity. The shift can be attributed to the challenge to provide a service of high quality despite the increasing competition, technological innovations, and clientele sophistication. At present, the duties and responsibilities of a food and beverage director of a hotel go beyond planning the menu. Food and beverage trends affects the preference of clients thus the food and beverage manager should be able to constantly monitor this and cope up with the trends so that the clients will be able to appreciate the services offered. Nowadays, to be able to compete and cope up with the fast paced hospitality industry individuals like hotel food and beverage managers need to have a wide knowledge on the various aspects of business. Aside from the basic knowledge on cuisine, these managers now need to possess an understanding on organizational skills, technical expertise, and dedication to high standards of the industry(Riley, 2005). A food and beverage department of any establishment especially in hotels is supervised and coordinated by a manager or director. This individual makes sure that the service delivery at all points of sale must be done appropriately. The primary responsibilities of a food and beverage manager include the following: guarantee that the guest will receive service of excellent quality; make sure that all the department as well as the company’s regulations are followed; responsible for the optimizing the chain of supply as well as the utilization of raw materials; and ensure that the costumers are satisfied by the services offered(HEG). The manager of the food and beverages in dining rooms, private clubs, institutions, restaurants, resorts, convention centers, and hotels is the one responsible for planning, directing, and controlling all aspects of the services in food and beverages(emerit, 2006). The individual suited for this type of job needs to be able to ensure that the organization’s financial and labor objectives are met with the application of management skills and balanced with excellent customer skills. The responsibilities of a person managing the food and beverages of an organization are the following: staff recruitment and training of staff; organization, direction, and assessment of services associated with food and beverages; scheduling of employee shifts; purchase and regulating inventory; management of staff performance that include staff performance monitoring and feedback provision; monitoring revenues and expenses; assure that the health and safety regulations are practiced; communicate and negotiate with clients regarding the offered services; and handle negotiations with the suppliers of food and beverages products(Society, 2007). Hotel food and beverage managers have various responsibilities as well as needed abilities to be able to do these responsibilities. Through management of the catering and beverages department is one of these responsibilities. The food and beverage manager (F&B manager) oversees the functions of the all of the employees in the department including the maitre d’hotel’s, production managers, and banquet mangers. All the operations in the department are under the scrutiny of the F&B manager. Designing and pricing menus is another role of the F&B manager. The menu is the first thing a client sees in the hotel restaurant or bar thus the design should be done appropriately with the prices based on the pre-determined gross profit. The purchasing or supervision of the purchasing of all the food, beverage, and related products is the third responsibility of an F&B manager. He or she can do the purchasing himself or can delegate the task to a subordinate with his or hers supervision. Adequate knowledge on quality, mark, grades, and counts of all the perishable and non-perishable foods must be possessed by the food and beverages manager. With his or her supervision the following are arranged: dealers guide of purchase specifications; a clerk that receives the products delivered; and, and chefs and stewards according to need. Part also of the F&B manager’s work is the search for better deals for goods in places like markets and packing houses(Brodnerc 1960). Another responsibility of a hotel food and beverage manager is working as the head of the food and beverage department which necessitates knowledge on handling labor organizations, scheduling staff duties, job descriptions, psychology of employment, and the likes. The regulation of the number of personnel and areas to staff needed during different occasions is the primary function of the H&B manager in staffing. He or she must be equipped with appropriate capability to determine the service needs of the clients in different instances according to room occupancy of the hotel; various functions or gatherings held in the hotel; and outside patronage(Brodnerc 1960). A wide knowledge on state of the art cooking methodologies and procedures will be of excellent value to a hotel food and beverage manager. This individual should be well versed in the kitchen and equipped with fitting experience about the cooking process for easier performance. The manager though will not have cooking as part of his or her duty can function better with the passion for cooking and food. The modern methods of food production nowadays is widely accepted so a F&B manager without excellent exposure and passion for cooking can do the job but still the position will be better performed by an individual that is not only well versed in the clinic but also has the passion for cooking(Brodnerc 1960). The food and beverage manager especially in big hotels supervises the maitre d’hotel, headwaiters, and other service personnel thus the individual needs to have the capability to direct this employees into achieving the appropriate standards of services offered. No matter how excellent the quality of food the staffs in the kitchen produces if the individuals that serve this to the clients will not be able to do so with the preservation of the food quality, the service provided would still be of inferior quality(Brodnerc 1960). Purchases of beverages, bar operations, cocktail lounges, and services during feasts are also taken care of the food and service managers. Without a department that specifically handles feast occasions the food and beverages department will come to the rescue hence the F&B manager needs to be competent enough to handle this situations. Success in the feast can be attained either with delicious and extravagant food or with excellent mixed drinks offered. The purchases of beverages as well as for the bar operations, feasts, and cocktail lounges must be managed well by the F&B manger(Brodnerc 1960). The control and regulation of every storeroom, refrigerators, and similar areas is another function of the food and beverage manager of a hotel. This individual needs to prevent losses due to the spoilage of raw materials purchased. He or she has the task to control all the storage rooms and refrigerators by mandating that these areas are to be locked when not used, all these areas must be of the proper temperatures needed for the materials or products, and prevent unauthorized individuals from having access to the area(Brodnerc 1960). Excellent knowledge about the lay-out of the kitchen, efficient utilization of the latest equipment and technologies, and compliance with the proper sanitation procedures will be of value to a food and beverage manager. The manager should be able to suggest to the management how to efficiently use the modern amenities in the kitchen. Despite if the kitchen is very old the F&B needs to ensure that practices in housekeeping are in compliance with the health standards of the area(Brodnerc 1960). The above mentioned responsibilities and capabilities of a hotel food and beverage manger are only representatives of the various functions of a person with this type of position. Though most of the things are not done by the F&B manager directly, he or she still needs to have necessary experience and passion for preparing and serving food so as to function well. Even though in big hotels there are many sub-positions from the manager, the F&B manger still has the responsibility to integrate and monitor the said aspects of food production(Brodnerc 1960). The job as a food and beverage manager requires skills that will enable the individual to fulfill the demands of the job. Among the skills needed for this job are: good team player qualities including team management and leadership; passion for organizational type of work; management effectiveness specifically on delivering profit centre profitability; excellent sales ability; good public relations especially sensitivity to the customers; financial awareness; capability to adopt with the diverse needs of the customers; and, having the initiative(HEG). Hotel executives now have a growing trend of hiring individuals that possess the qualifications to manage their food and beverage operations. The demand for a hotel food and beverage manager is high but the qualifications set for the position also parallels the demand. Hence, a person who is interested in having a career in the food and beverages industry must first have himself equipped with the necessary and education to be able to function in the competitive world in which the hotel food and beverage manager position is included. References Brodnerc , J. (1960). The Food and Beverage Manager. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 1(79). emerit. (2006). Food and Beverage Manager Certification [Electronic Version]. Food and Beverage Manager (FBM). Retrieved December 8, 2007, from http://www. emerit. ca/eng/pdf/foodandbeveragemanager. pdf HEG, H. E. G. -. Food and Beverage. jobsinhotels. co. uk Retrieved December 8 2007, from http://www. jobsinhotels. co. uk/Default. asp? page=83#1 Hubsch , A. W. (1966). Hotel Food and Beverage Management. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 7(9). Riley, M. (2005). Food and beverage management: A review of change. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 17(1). Society, T. H. (2007). Food and Beverage Manager. Retrieved December 8, 2007, from http://www. go2hr. ca/CareersbrinTourism/JobDescriptions/FoodandBeverageManager/tabid/590/Default. aspx

Learning through touch - why children who are deafblind or Essay

Learning through touch - why children who are deafblind or multi-sensory impaired (MSI) are more reliant on touch or their tactile senses to experience the world - Essay Example 2000; Bradley-Johnson et al., 2004; Chen, 1995 & 1999; Chen et al., 2000; Goold & Hummerll, 1993; McLinden & McCall, 2002; Miller & Ockelford, 2005; RNIB, 2011; SENSE, 2011). In many instances children who are deafblind or multi-sensory impaired (MSI) may also have additional physical and health problems that limit their ability to move about in the world as freely and independently as possible. The disability of deafblindness or multi-sensory impairment (MSI) presents unique challenges to teachers who must make sure that the person who has varying degrees of visual and hearing impairment, possibly combined with learning and physical disabilities, has access to the world beyond the limited reach of his or her eyes and ears. They must try to include them in learning and in experiencing the physical environments that surround them. If they do not, the child will not have the opportunity to develop (Department of Education, 2011; Huebner et al., 1997; Joffee & Rikhye, 1997; McInnes, 1999; McInnes & Treffry, 2001). In this assignment, I aim to discuss the reasons why children who are deafblind or multi-sensory impaired (MSI) are more reliant on touch or their tactile senses to experience the world. This assignment is divided into the following sections. Firstly, I have attempted to define the function of touch in development of a deafblind or multi-sensory impairment (MSI) child. Secondly, I have outlined the abilities of one particular pupil as I observed him over the period of two weeks in order to gain an insight into his learning. I have provided information about the child’s special educational needs based on references to information in the school class files, archived materials (medical reports) and my own observations. Thirdly, I have tried to point out the various challenges that were presented to me during the course of my observations. Finally, I will consider how to develop his early tactile skills. My role in relation to this project was chiefly

Hemingways creative symbolism of nature and elements of nature in A Research Paper

Hemingways creative symbolism of nature and elements of nature in A Farewell to Arms was used to intimately convey the characters feelings and desires - Research Paper Example Though experimental application of symbolic devices in literature was mainly popularized by French literary artists, with the due progress of time, gradually, the technique was adopted, practiced and perfected by authors of English literature and Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms can be regarded as an excellent example in this context. Set in the background of the World War I, A Farewell to Arms, apart from conveying the immortal theme of love and spontaneous reflection of human emotions during times of devastation, also deals with the horror of war, consequently also attempts to depict that how such horror plagues lives of human being. However, in the process of depicting the situation, the author has not remained focused on providing detailed, explicit description; rather, quite frequently, he has used the symbols and elements of nature, treated those masterfully in order to yield an imagistic representation of the surrounding chaos. In this context, the symbols and elements of nature are used by the author as to represent the pathos of human existence during war, existentialist crisis and to which extent the horror of war has spread its root to the very core of humanity. During a situation of war human misery and nihilism of existence prevail in abundantly. The author’s use of natural symbols and element s reassert that brooding presence of human tragedy during war becomes evident both in the microcosmic and macrocosmic layers of existence. Hemingway’s intention to effectively convey the essential theme of the novel in a symbolic manner becomes clear with the very title of the novel itself: â€Å"A Farewell to Arms†. The title quite explicitly gives an impression of the theme that the audience is about to experience a literary documentation of the devastation and plight of war and when the situation reaches its climax, when people learn to realize that war is actually corrupting the core of humanity,

This will be an evidence based appraisal of an aspect of your practice Essay

This will be an evidence based appraisal of an aspect of your practice and include making recommendations for nursing practice a - Essay Example 1472). Fall-related injuries are seen in about 15% to 50% of patients – these injuries include fractures or lacerations. Moreover, falls often cause fears of falling and it subsequently causes activity restriction and prolonged hospital stay (Schwendiman, p. 1472). Different factors have been considered as possible contributory causes for falls, including, an aging population, rising patient acuity, nurse shortages, an inefficient staff, and similar factors (Hendrich). Measures to prevent falls have been implemented by various hospitals in their clinical setting; however, for the most part, these methods have not been able to significantly reduce the rates of falls. This paper shall explore different ways by which nurses can prevent inpatient falls. It shall answer the question: according to evidence-based practice, what are the efficient nursing interventions which can be applied to prevent inpatient falls. Methods: An extensive literature search was conducted for this paper. First, a manual library search of the school library was carried out – searching medical and nursing journals for published studies in relation to falls and the prevention of falls. This search covered the past five years: January 2006 to December 2010. Relevant studies were set aside for further evaluation. Next, an internet search was carried out through the following databases: Medline, PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, and other nursing journals. The Medline database was used because it presented a reliable database of medical and nursing related peer-reviewed researches from a variety of nursing and medical journals. The Cochrane database was chosen because it has the widest and most extensive database for peer-reviewed medical and nursing-related researches. This database yielded studies which were used for this assessment. Finally, Google scholar was also used because it is one of the fastest databases to search. It stores all academic journals and studies from a wide-range o f topics. Moreover, it has search properties which were chosen in order to specify the search process and ensure reliable search results. A Google scholar search was carried out in order to facilitate the search process. The following search words and combinations were entered into the search engines: falls prevention; inpatient falls prevention; elderly falls prevention, and similar combinations. Studies falling within the 5 year period were set aside for further evaluation. Each study were then critically analysed based on the following elements: reliability of authors, peer-review process, publication in a reliable peer-reviewed journal, validity of research methods, reliability of results, and validity of general research process. Results: Based on the search results, there were 10 studies which fulfilled the criteria for this research topic. Various studies presented methods for the prevention of falls. Some of these methods were evaluated depending on effectiveness and impact on clients. In a paper by Schwendiman, et.al., (p. 1472), the authors carried out a serial survey study in order to evaluate in-patient fall rates and injuries before and after the implementation of an interdisciplinary falls prevention program (IFP) in a 300-bed urban public hospital. In the process of research, the authors were able to establish that falls often lead to negative consequences like injuries,

Pitch for a documentary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pitch for a documentary - Essay Example In the industry of drum making it is a modern trend they have started the use of fiberglass to make them. From the Patagonia Company, which dealt with the construction of surfboards, they inspired him to use the knowledge gained to assemble his drums. He has been working tireless for the last one year. He even went to the extent of sacrificing himself by going hungry most of the time so that he can manage to make the drums. It was hard for him since his grandmother would pay his rent since he was unable to gather enough funds for other expenses in his life. He has struggled emotionally since he is not able to fully sustain himself. Since he is unable to sustain himself fully, he is in conflict with himself and is wondering whether he should continue fiberglass drums making. He is struggling for his survival and still not making enough in the manufacture of the drums. One day he decides to completely quit the business and do other things outside his field of specialization. The landlord learns about his idea of quitting the job. He decides to work with him as his partner and lets him use the warehouse for free without payment of rent. With the help of his landlord he manages to make fiberglass drums in an easier way. He makes many of these kits and is looking for customers for his work. He makes quality kits and takes his time on this. This will make him rise again in his business and he will be able to create more employment for people in this industry. Once you hit the drum, it makes a cool relaxing sound and is light enough which makes it convenient for a person to carry around. The target for his work can be music bands, church choirs and many other people in the music industry who have passion for music. His drums are of good quality and can play good music which is not deafening or unpleasant to the ears. He has a goal to reach as he explains to me.

Critically discuss whether birth control is good or bad Essay

Critically discuss whether birth control is good or bad - Essay Example The figure below indicates the projected growth rate for the global population. These growth rates have prompted government officials to consider the importance of birth control measures. For many countries, these control measures have already been put in place. The controversy with these measures relate to political, social, and economic considerations for various countries (Worldometers, 2012). This paper will now consider the controversy using various perspectives, including scientific analysis to determine whether or not birth control is good or bad. This paper is being undertaken in order to establish a basis for making decisions on the issue, for policy-makers and for the citizens of the world. Body In general, birth control or contraception is a means of preventing or avoiding pregnancy via artificial methods including the use of condoms and birth control pills or through the use of natural methods like abstinence (Crossway, 2012). The more common and more effective methods in clude: condoms, diaphragm, pills, chemical patches, intrauterine devices, surgical sterilization, and in some extreme cases, surgical abortion. Traditionally, most Christian religions have condemned artificial contraception because they believe that it is against the will of God and that it has potentially moral implications on the unborn foetus (Crossway, 2012). In later years, many of these religions have shifted in their position, accepting some artificial means of contraception as essential methods needed in population control (Crossway, 2012). To date, the Roman Catholic Church still condemns the artificial methods of contraception because they believe that these methods bring harm to the female body and that these methods are tantamount to the killing of an unborn child. Deciding whether or not birth control is good or bad is based on various considerations, mostly in relation to the actual effect of contraception on the body as well as its social and political implications. F irst and foremost, the natural methods of contraception are relatively good, mostly because they work well in preventing pregnancies and they do not impact negatively on the female body (Crossway, 2012). They are also reversible, free, and safe methods of contraception. These methods also do not require surgery, chemicals or other drugs. They can also be used with other methods of contraception. The issue of planning and discipline are the most important hurdles which couples often face with this method because they may not always be disciplined in avoiding intercourse during fertile periods; moreover, their plans in avoiding pregnancy may be subject to human error (Borgman, 2005). Nevertheless, despite these issues, natural forms of birth control are relatively beneficial for couples. Artificial birth control methods however are more controversial because of their moral and medical implications (Borgman, 2005). In general, these forms of contraception are very much effective in pre venting pregnancies; and in the end, they help accomplish the primary goal of controlling the population. One of these artificial methods of contraception is the hormone-based birth control. This hormone-based birth control can cause side-effects on the woman, including headache and nausea (Borgman, 2005). However, for some women, switching brands of birth control can help relieve

Raymond Carver, Cathedral Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Raymond Carver, Cathedral - Essay Example Indeed â€Å"blindness and sight† is embedded within both the structure and the content of the story. The author essentially propounds that, though blessed with eyesight; the crust of individualism does not let modern man see what lies beneath the surface or appearance. Indeed Carver’s narrator is one of those commoners who never want to go through the stress to interpret mindfully what they are attached to. Ingenue Simplicity in the story’s Plot Indeed the plot of Carver’s story is ironically simple. It is endowed with a great fluidity of expression that enables the readers to read the story palatably. Apparently it details a homely dialogue between a narrator and his guest Richard, a blind man who is paying visit to Richard’s house. Like any other homely conversation the story’s plot also continues having no apparent predestined goal. But elements like the blind guest’s success in bonding a relationship, in opposition the narratorâ⠂¬â„¢s failure, etc make this apparent simplicity ironical and provoke Carver’s readers to delve deep in what lies beneath the surface level of the story. Regarding the ironical simplicity of the story, Carol Simpson Stern says that like other stories of Carver, the Cathedral’s plot is â€Å"about people who work mindlessly, drink, have broken marriages, and take in life, not directly, but through an immersion in mediated images† (1). Indeed the ‘blindness’ of the narrator has been used as an irony in the structure of the whole story. The narrator relates the story in his own way that provides the readers with the opportunities to look into the communicational incapability in his character. Analysis of Major characters All the two major characters of the â€Å"Cathedral† are those who do not stand alone in the society; rather they are submerged in the society and fraught with all the characteristics of a modern man. In the story, the unnamed narrator, the only developing character, is self-doubting, introvert, and self-absorbed. At the beginning of the story, he lacks communication skills. But as the story progresses, he, breaking his comfort zone of â€Å"nonchalant detachment†, gradually learns to decode the unfathomable meaning of the blind man’s long-lasting relationship with his wife and eventually forges a true connection with him. One of the stories’ themes is to unearth and uphold the root cause of modern man’s failure to forge a successful relationship and to perceive what lies beneath the materialistic existence, coming out the crust of individualism induced by materialism. This theme has prudently been applied in the literary relationship that exists among the three characters of the blind man, Robert and Robert’s wife who are the characters in focus. These three characters uphold the three themes of religion, public relations and composition. The author cautiously and sensi bly engages these characters to explicate and, at the same time, explain the theme. Internal and External Conflicts in the Story In the story the narrator is in conflict with his blind guest Richard. He is quite annoyed at the blind man’s visit and a bit jealous of his relation (Richard’

Opportunities of Emerging Market Multinational Enterprises Assignment

Opportunities of Emerging Market Multinational Enterprises - Assignment Example There are numerous opportunities in developed markets that can be tapped by EMMEs. The first opportunity that EMMEs have in developed countries is the high number of middle income consumers. Developed markets normally have a large proportion of people in the middle income category as compared to emerging. Middle income consumers comprise of the largest consumer base in developed markets (Tse, Russo, & Haddock, 2011). The middle income earners have a high purchasing power which presents a valuable opportunity for EMMEs in the developed market. Middle income consumers are willing and able to pay high prices for products and services from the EMMEs. Middle income consumers are able to drive up the profitability of enterprise. EMMEs can tap into this segment by embracing innovation, branding and implementing effective marketing policies targeted at this category. The EMMEs should be flexible enough to develop product lines that can attract this segment of consumers. The company must carr y out market research to identify the product attributes that are desirable in that particular consumer segment and comply accordingly in order to attract more customers. Developed markets present the opportunity of highly advanced technology and equipment. Unlike the home bases in emerging markets, developed markets have more advanced technology and equipment. The lack of technological and machinery advancement in emerging markets puts a strain on the effectiveness and productivity of the EMMEs.

Don Quixote Essay Example for Free

Don Quixote Essay He was a retired nation scholar: Alonso Quijano, obsessed with books and knowledge, dried up his brain and lose his wit; chose to be a knight-errant, journeyed the world with horse. He wore himself in armour though rusty it was and a cardboard helmet; rode in his horse, searched his adventures, called himself: Don Quixote de la Mancha. Alas! Metamorphosis revealed. Married a farm girl whom he renamed: Dulcinea del Toboso. Beat up by servants of traveling merchants, who refused to recognize Dulcinea’s immense splendor; rescued by a neighbor and carried him home. Expedition came another expedition. Suffered in his long quests. Don Quixote whose real name was Alonso Quijano returned home humiliated, locked in an ox-cart that served as his cage. The Odyssey An epic poem created by Homer, said to be a ‘sequel’ of Iliad. It was Odysseia in Greek, as what Herodotus has called it. Odyssey, derived from the Greek’s, indicated an important and arduous journey. Kept as a prisoner in Calypso, Oh! Odyssey, until the gods held a meeting and set him free. He built a raft and voyaged over stormy seas. Entered the palace of King Alcinous, took part with the games that were held, sang the Trojan War; the King queried who he was: â€Å"I am Odysseus. † He then narrated his quests: the Island of the Winds, the kingdom of the dead; of psyches of ancient heroes and women, passed over the magnificent song at the isle of Siren. Fortunate he was, he survived from Zeus’ thunderbolt which struck the ship; carried he was at the shore of Phaeacia, he then met Athena in Ithaka. Fight has transpired; Yet peace and victory awaited. Flourished. Oedipus He has been made King of Thebes due to his heroic act of liberating the people from the plague and pestilence of Sphinx. Epidemic from another epidemic, people have always asked him to rescue them. Oedipus has always foreseen the needs. Hero he may seem, he has been accused as the murderer of Laius, the former King. Infuriated by allegation, announced it as a plot. A conspiracy for Creon to gain his throne. A battle soon to happen, yet Jocasta arrived in time to stop the fight. She guaranteed that prophets, who declared the accusation, were not reliable. As evidence, she cited the old prophecy that her son needed to murder his father, and have children by his mother.

Sedaris Essay Through the Readers Eyes Essay Example for Free

Sedaris Essay Through the Readers Eyes Essay David Sedaris’ â€Å"Me Talk Pretty One Day† adds a comedic touch to his experience of learning a foreign language. The essay takes place in France where he is taking a French class to learn the language; he believes this class will be simple. His professor verbally attacks each student, which defeats Sedaris’ spirit for learning the language. He recognizes his language skills are not up to par with his classmates so he studies every night. He then stops participating in class because he feels that everything he says is incorrect. Sedaris realizes learning a language can’t be done with just textbook concepts but with understanding the language itself through experience. Sedaris uses descriptive language and comedy to appeal to his audience and keep them interested. Sedaris uses descriptive language to keep the readers interest through the story. When a classmate fails to know a verb tense Sedaris described that â€Å"the teacher poked her eyelid with a freshly sharpen pencil† (585). Sedaris uses words that describe the scene exactly as the reader would see it through their own eyes. He uses colorful words to paint a picture in our minds. This descriptive language keeps the reader alert to what is happening in the essay. Also in Sedaris’ essay, since he does not completely understand what his teacher says he creates jargon to substitute for some of the words. Sedaris’ writes, â€Å"If you not meimslsxp or lgpdmurct by this time, then you should not be in this room† (555). Having jargon in the essay keeps the readers engaged because at first glance you may over look these words, but looking deeper you see that Sedaris really doesn’t understand the key words his professor is saying. Sedaris essay is uneventful and could be characterized as dry but with his humor it helps bring the essay to life to keep the reader on their toes. His style of writing grabs the reader’ attention and keeps it throughout the essay by using humor and painting a picture. Worked Citied Sedaris, David. Me Talk Pretty One Day. 100 Greatest Essay. 4th ed. New York: Penguin Academics, 2008. Print.

Concepts in Cognitive Psychology

Concepts in Cognitive Psychology Memory, Thinking, Attention, Perception, Language Cognitive psychology is primarily interested in the role of the mind and its conceptual functioning. As by way of communicating information to and from each other and understanding the external world through the process of labelling and categorising certain elements pertaining to that world, the cognitive approach to psychological investigation has been interested in the nature of language from its origins. Such conceptual structures as memory , thinking, attention, perception and language have been put into place informing much research relating to this school of psychology (Sternberg, 2006). The concepts associated with memory, thinking, attention, perception and language are prominent within the school of cognitive psychology are inter related across a multitudes of experiments. Memory can be seen as having a basis in the retrieval, store and recall of information and is commonly divided into the working memory model (or short term memory) and long term memory (or long term store) . Thinking is often associated with the way in which a process of logic is undergone by any subject. Attention is the mental ability to focus and apply thinking and memory, usually characterised in experiments as the. Perception is the way in which the individual may perceive any task and language is the underlying source of communicable information that externalises the subject of any culture. Research into the functioning and processes of semantic memory suggested a key model that was a primary source in the formation of the memory system. This was called the working memory. This model of the working memory, which is a system and procedure whereby information is internalised and subsequently turned into stored long term memory, was believed to be more than just a simple function involving storage and retrieval. At its procedural stage, we can see from the concept of the short term memory model that the process is broken into a schematic procedure in which stimuli, such as words, signs or symbols are encoded and stored within the memory. At this point it is believed to be rehearsed in the mind before being either rejected through forgetting or being accepted into the long term store, probably due to the perception of its significance (Waugh Norman, 1965). Due to its limited capacity, the working memory is believed to incorporate this forgetting procedure due to the effect s of either decay (unrehearsed code) or displacement (rejection due to irrelevance) of the encoded stimuli (Bjork, 1970). However, although many studies have indeed indicated that this model is accurate in terms of the basic procedure of memory, it can not be considered as fully accounting for other important phenomena as the effects of rehearsal are not always found to be defining (Craik Watkins, 1973). For instance, primacy and recency effects that are found in many free recall tests are suggested as being due to the length of rehearsal time spent on the initial words presented to individuals, whilst also finding that fewer words present to displace the more likely the encoding of the latter words presented (Murdoch, 1972). In terms of memory, this research into the phenomenon of primacy and recency effects indicated that slow presentation of words would increase primacy performance, but would have no effect on recency performance (Murdoch, 1972). This indicated that the more tim e permitted to information rehearsal, the stronger the likelihood would be for that information to enter the long term store, whilst contrastingly, the faster that the information was presented to the individual the more likely it was for that individual to forget. What this research suggests is that the working memory model requires an engagement with a target stimuli rather than just mere exposure alone, which suggests a strong relationship with the perception of language and the nature of thought processes (Nickerson Adams, 1979). Further study on the effects of primacy and recency with relation to language indicated that individuals required subjects to identify early and late acquired nouns presented in noise (Young Ellis, 1980). Subsequent findings from these studies indicated that early acquisition of words were recognized more accurately than words acquired at a more recent stage of language acquisition, when the words were matched on frequency, image-ability, concreteness , familiarity and letter length. However, they did not examine the full effect of frequency and the identification of words matched onto age of acquisition or other factors. Subsequently, further research suggested that high frequency words were more intelligible when heard in white noise than words of lower frequency, using lists uncontrolled for age of acquisition (Broadbent, 1971). Essentially, this meant that language and attention were fundamental factors in determining the process of memory. Another important phenomenon regarding the role of language and attention within memory is chunking. This phenomenon indicates the role that thinking plays, in particular the encoding of language meaning. This is the phenomena in which the individual categorises an array of information and configures it as one chunk. For instance, the numbers one, nine, four and five could be stored as one whole chunk as opposed to four individual units when rehearsed under one set of information known as nineteen forty five; a key cultural date. What we can see in this phenomenon is the construct of perception. Essentially, because no significance is placed upon the individual’s prior knowledge or their difference in experience, we can see that the memory model can not account for chunking alone. For example, the chunking of one, nine, four and five would more likely be stored if this chunk correlated with a significant date or number already maintained in the individuals learned experience, such as a soldier who saw the end of the Second World War (Ericsson et al, 1980). Therefore, seeing memory as language alone does not take into account the reality that prior meaning vastly reduces the significance of time taking in memory, as rehearsal is reduced due to recognition of former learned categories in relation to semantic structures held in the mental lexicon. This would suggest that prior learning, familiarity, chunking, categorisation as well as rehearsal can determine the success of word recognition of different lexical constructs. Subsequently, Baddeley suggested a notion of limitation within the working memory, which indicated that encoding stimuli (or information) and storing memory was a system of varying depths of processing (Baddeley, 1992). Situating all five factors as one inter related mechanism we can see then a notion of a mental lexicon from which all language can be understood, constructed, learned and articulated via communication and understanding (Aitchison, 2003). Subsequent inquiry into such a word store has created an appreciation of certain phenomena relating to how individuals understand and articulate language. This has become a very useful resource for research into anything involving the nature of language within the cognitive realm. One such piece of research was conducted by Collins and Quillian, who constructed a model of semantic memory storage and retrieval that was imperative to language. This was called the hierarchy of semantic memory (Collins Quillian, 1969). We can see from this model how memory and language inter relate. In their model, it was suggested that individuals would store memory in sets and would retrieve knowledge judgements according to the familiarity of a certain concept and it s association to certain definers regarding any particular concept. In further studies, it was established that semantic distance was based upon the strength of the perceived relationship between one concept and its hierarchal group (Rosch, 1973). Essentially, knowledge was seen as being stored in the structure of a mental lexicon and concepts were recognised and categorised due to the specific and relevant qualities and properties that it accorded to in the mental lexical structure (Conrad, 1972). This conceptual notion forms the basis for perception as information is seen as belonging to certain defining features held by the knowledge of the individual. The assumption was that the farther you moved up this hierarchy of conceptual information, the more the defining features would decrease (Loftus, 1973). For instance, a Robin would be more strongly accorded to the hierarchy of birds than a flightless bird, such as a chicken, as the defining variable of flight was recognised (Rips e t al, 1974). It was believed that if something were to disturb this hierarchal structure of word storage, then incorrect recall would become present (Loftus, 1973). Subsequently, this suggests that cognition is governed by perception as well as memory and word meaning. Essentially, the conceptual construction of this mental lexicon gives us good indication as to how words are conceptualised, understood and recognised by the individual. This avenue of research requires the investigation into thinking and learning in relation to perception. The role of perception with relation to thinking formed the interest of the seminal cognitive psychologist Bruner, whose studies investigated the nature of learning. He famously devised a test to measure and explore the nature in which people constructed and comprehended meaning. Bruner’s findings suggested that there was an intelligent procedure in operation during learning that performed by way of a hypothesis testing. This form of logical thinking was indicated as being understood through stages of either acceptance or rejection of similarities and categories based upon an intelligent process of trial testing (Bruner et al, 1956). Bruner gave a sample of individuals various sets of pictures, each portraying a variety of different and similar shapes. The different categories of shapes were considered as the conditions of the experiment. Some of the pictures in the conditions shared the same number of shapes; some of them shared the same colour of shapes while others shared t he same number of borders surrounding the shapes. However, in each condition the shapes were marginally different; none were identical. From the findings of these studies, Bruner was able to discern that there were two forms of learning that could be identified. These were dubbed successive and conservative scanning (Bruner et al, 1956). Successive scanning was deemed the type of learning that used a thinking process that involved trail testing that attempted one hypothesis at a time before either accepting or rejecting similarities. However, conservative scanning was believed to indicate a deeper form thinking that categorised certain classes of type before carrying out the acceptance or rejecting of any hypotheses. It was concluded that the latter thought process was a much faster and more efficient process than the former. What is crucial here is that these thought processes have little to do with language or memorised knowledge. However, not everyone within the field of the cogn itive psychology accepts this notion of thinking. Many researchers and theorists related to the field of thinking and perception have argued that categories are an innate knowledge rather than a learned one and so the use of language and memory are not essential to thinking (Fodor Chomsky, 1980). The main implication in this idea is that empirical category learning may not be done with the rejection of hypothesis but with the rejection of the externally governed conceptualisation of the external world. Studies relating to word recall have highlighted the role of attention in the role of psychological research. In one such piece of research the ability to read words was indicated by letter identification and visual configurations (McClelland Johnson, 1977). Other research has indicated the use of non literal cues in the recognition of word (Marchbanks Levin, 1965). In either case, we can see that an attentional basis for word recognition. More contemporary research into the relationship between word recognition and the effects that peer groups had within the educational learning structure indicated that there was a significance of both memory and the symbolic structure of the mental lexicon within the recognition of words that could be applied to the acquisition of knowledge (Fuchs Fuchs, 2005). It would seem that from the results involving lexical decision tasks that the more a child is familiar with the semantic construct of words the more likely they are in recognising the wor ds without error or side effects. Particular attention has focused upon the possibility that the numerous amounts of previously reported effects of word frequency in attentional tasks might actually result from confounded effects of the age of acquisition as the two variables are related. Subsequently, high frequency words tend to be learned earlier in life than low frequency words, so that sets of words selected as being of high or low frequency of occurrence tend also to be sets of words which are acquired early on or more recently. There has been evidence put forward suggesting that the age at which a word is acquired during a child’s development affects performance throughout life. Essentially, the earlier that the process of word acquisition is incorporated the more successful it will be in producing meaning. It would seem that the later the words are acquired, even when attentional factors such as frequency of usage and word image-ability are controlled, the poorer the memory and articulation will be (Brown and Watson, 1987). The effects of frequency can be understood in the interaction activation model of McClelland and Rumelhart (1981). This suggested that there is a node for each familiar word in this connectionist stimulation of word recognition. Each node was believed to have an activation level which varied from cycle to cycle and a resting level which is determined by the node’s level of activation over a long period of time. The node for a high frequency word was believed to be constantly activated. This was effective by having a higher resting level than the node for a low frequency word, which rarely received this activation. Studies have revealed that the age of acquisition is known to affect object naming speed, yet not the speed with which pictures of objects can be classified into semantic categories in the mental lexicon (Morrison Ellis, 1992). The naming of words was then followed by a delayed cue which has also been established as being unaffected by the age of acquisition (Morris on Ellis, 1995). This strongly indicates that the effect of language does not accord to the process of articulation, but to a process of deductive reasoning. However, research by Brown and Watson (1987) has suggested that the phonological output representations of early acquired words are more complete than those for later acquired words and can be accessed more easily. We can see from our analysis of the five key components regarding cognitive psychology and the way in which they inter-relate with one another philosophically and practically that they apply to the psychology of everyday life. Whether it is the perception of birds, the recognition of a word or concept, the thought process that delivers a solution to a problem or simply the recall of a particular number, such as a bank sort code or telephone number, the roles of memory, thinking, attention, perception and language are fundamental components in the psychological study of cognition. It is difficult to conceive of a world without these five components working together. Without perception we would not be able to conceive of a world or understand the processes in which we experience the external environment and inform our knowledge of it. Without language we would not be able to categorise the various constructs that we encounter in the world, exchange our experiences of them or recognise the amount of information that we do. Without memory we would not be able to retain any information or experience that we had gathered about the world or be able to determine what in our immediate experience was relevant and considered vastly significant from what was not. Without attention we would not be able to discern between the varying contexts in which we experience language and information about the environment or acquire specific knowledge and without thinking and understanding thought processes we would not be able to solve problems, reason, make decisions, extract symbolic meaning or even conceive of mental imagery or spatial awareness. These factors are then, vastly significant in the understanding of both cognitive psychology and ourselves and although distinctions between these five components is necessary for both academic knowledge and practical application, they are best seen as factors that inter-relate and are prevalent to studies and practices of cognitive psycho logy. Bibliography Atchison, J., (2003) Words in the Mind: An Introduction to the Mental Lexicon Sydney: Blackwell Publishing. Baddeley, A.D. (1992) Is Working Memory Working? The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 44A, 1-31 Broadbent, D, E., (1971) Decision and stress. London: Academic Press. Brown, G. D. A., Watson, F. L. (1987). First in, first out: Word learning age and spoken word frequency as predictors of word familiarity and word naming latency. Memory Cognition, 15, 208-216. Bruner, J, S., Goodnow, J, J., and Austin, G, A., (1956) A Study of Thinking New York: John Wiley and Sons. Bjork, R, A., (1970) Positive Forgetting: The Non-Interference of Items Intentionally Forgotten. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 9, 255-68. Chomsky, N., and Fodor, J, A., (1980) Statement of the Paradox, in Piatelli Palmarini, M. (ed.). Collins, A, M., Quillian, M, R., (1969) Retrieval Time from Semantic Memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 8, 240-47. Craik, F, I, M., Watkins, M, J., (1973) The Role of Rehearsal in Short Term Memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 12, 599-607. Ericsson, K, A., Chase, W, G., Faloon, S., (1980) Acquisition of a Memory Skill. Science, 208, 1181-1182. Marchbanks, G., Levin, H., (1965) Cues by which children recognize words. Journal of Educational Psychology, 56 (2), 57-61. McClelland Johnson (1977) The role of familiar units in perception of words and nonwords. Perception and Psychophysics, 22, 249-261. McClelland Rumelhart (1981) An interactive activation model of context effects in letter perception: Part 1. An account of basic findings. Psychological Review, 88, 375–407. Morrison, C, A., Ellis, A, W., (2000) Real age of acquisition effects in word naming and lexical decision. British Journal of Psychology, 91, 167-180. Murdoch, B., (1962) The Serial Position Effect of Free Recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64, 482-488. Nickerson, R, A., Adams, M, J., (1979) Long-Term Memory for a Common Object. Cognitive Psychology, 11, 287-307. Rosch, E, H., (1973) On the Internal Structure of Perceptual and Semantic Categories. In Moore, T, E., (Ed.) Cognitive Development and the Acquisition of Language. New York: Academic Press. Sternberg, R, J., (2006) Cognitive Psychology (4th ed) Belmont: Thomson Waugh, N, C., Norman, D, A., (1965) Primary Memory. Psychological Review, 72, 89-104.

Christianity: New Teachings for a New Way of Life Essay -- essays rese

Christianity: New Teachings for a New Way of Life   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Christian vision of Human Sexuality compared to many religions is seen as quite restrictive. Religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism do not put near as much effort in restricting human sexuality as Christians do. Particularly in Hinduism, sex is seen as a good thing and is even celebrated. Even more, some Hindu’s practice the teachings of the Kama Sutra â€Å"which provides the details of erotic method†¦presenting the particulars of various types of positions, caresses, and embraces† (LoPresti 25). These views of sexuality in Hinduism are significantly different to the views of Christianity. â€Å"How would you characterize the Christian vision of human sexuality, as relatively positive and affirming or more cautious and restrictive?† (LoPresti 137)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One issue of Human Sexuality in Christianity is the idea of contraception. â€Å"Until 1930, when the Anglican Communion modified its teaching, Christians around the world had been unanimous in their condemnation of artificial means of birth control† (LoPresti 132). For centuries, procreation has been the primary purpose of marriage. Now with the advancements of a reliable birth control, sex has taken on a whole new consciousness. Sex now can be seen as fun and pleasurable and independent of procreation. The idea of sex separate from procreation is highly debatable especially in the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church â€Å"continues to hold that each and every act of intercourse must remain open to the transmission of new life† (LoPresti 133). This argument is the source of much heated debate due to the steady rise of the Aids Epidemic. The Aids epidemic in the world today is the source of a huge problem. Millions are infected and will continue to infect others without the proper means of contraception. Since there is no cure for Aids, the condom is the catalyst in attempting to control the Aids virus. Since the issue of contraception is in direct contradiction with the Roman Catholic Church, many Catholics find themselves torn between religion and health. So the question for Catholics becomes: Do we follow our catholic teaching or do we try and eradicate this disease? Although most devout Catholics would be opposed to disregarding the teachings of the church, the issue of sav... ...ersons† (LoPresti 136). Christian teaching of homosexuality has created a hatred towards homosexuals, which in turn, causes homosexuals to be oppressed. This oppression is in direct contradiction with the teachings of Jesus’ ministry which stressed â€Å"a call to compassion and solidarity with those who are oppressed† (LoPresti 135). Therefore, the Christians view of homosexuality seems to be restricting, in that homosexuals are restricted from living a life without oppression.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Overall, the Christian view of human sexuality appears to be quite restrictive on the issues of contraception, nonmarital sex, and homosexuality. Furthermore, these unresolved issues within the church need to be updated to fit new circumstances which we know to be ok today, like homosexuality and contraception. No religion is a perfect religion, but it is though the continual evaluations of church teaching that we begin to find more logical, and accepting religion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Works Cited LoPresti, Anthony. â€Å"Christianity.† Sex & Religion. Ed. Christel Manning & Phil   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Zuckerman. Belmont, CA: Thompson, 2005. 117-141.

What it Means to be a Boxer Essay -- Boxing Sport

Boxing is a combat oriented sport developed by the ancient Greeks in which two opponents fight each other with their fists. It was first introduced into the Olympics in 688 B.C but the sport was discontinued after the fall of the Roman Empire. It later resurfaced in the early 18th century in England by the name of "bare-knuckle fighting", the "boxing gloves", as we know them, did not come until much later. The Marquess of Queensbury rules, developed in 1867, are the general rules that modern boxing is based around today all around the world. Today, boxing is among the toughest sports in the world and requires a rigorous amount of training and exercise. It requires a unique mindset to which one must have the killer instinct to never give up and to attack at the opponent's weaknesses without mercy. Some consider boxing to be a reckless sport in which two unintelligent beings indulge to punching each other until one of them is knocked out. Others consider it poetry in motion. People say that sports are meant to enhance the body, whereas in boxing it would seem that the objective is ...

Requiem for an Aristocrat :: essays research papers

Requiem for an Aristocrat   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"It’s lonely at the top,† a cliche that Faulkner reaffirms in his classical short story, â€Å"A Rose for Emily.† In this southern tale, a social class structure separated the â€Å"high and mighty Griersons† from the rest of the town. After the Civil War, the southern upper class society was dwindling with the northern industrialists rising in national influence. Emily Grierson was the product of an overprotective single father raising a high society child. During this era the southern high society type was considered a dying breed. Emily’s father instilled values and morals that only an arrogant aristocrat could set in a child. Emily’s inability to involve herself in social settings, her blatant disregard of the law, and her radical approach to intimate relationships all stem from her father’s upbringing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The town was filled with people Emily had no desire to interact with. She kept herself locked inside her house and sent Tobe, her servant, to take care of mostly all obligations that required social interactions. She spent the greater part of her life inside this fortress of solitude she considered home. During Emily’s years as a young lady, she was led to believe none of the young men deserved her. The young men did not measure up to her father’s expectations so he dismissed them. Even at thirty years of age, Emily remained single because her father would limit her social interaction. So it was common for the townspeople to refrain from associating with such distinguished people. The entire town attended Emily Grierson’s funeral without knowing her beyond her name. This type o f upbringing left Emily isolated.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Emily held an â€Å"above-the-law† attitude that was common amongst aristocrats in the southern states at that time. Once Emily’s father died, the mayor felt obligated to allow Emily to refrain from paying taxes. When Emily visited her druggist for arsenic, he allowed her to purchase the poison without having to give reason for its use even though the law states that you must. Emily even disregarded the unwritten laws of high society. It was unheard of that a person of her stature would date a Yankee laborer. She went against even the most fundamental of social laws and gave a laborer, by the name of Homer Barron, an opportunity to court her. This shocked the entire town and â€Å"reaffirmed her imperviousness† (429).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Emily was unable to produce a healthy relationship with a person because her father kept her single to her thirties, making her feel as though no man deserved her hand.

Merits and Accomplishments of Educational Leaders Essay

It is datum of experience that every field of knowledge is inspired by some leaders whose efforts work as the guiding fundamentals. It is through their shared vision of continuous amelioration that education systems enjoy their success better than ever before. Although many thinkers have enlightened the philosophies behind modern education system, some have relatively excelled in the extent of their research and devotion to the field. In the contemporary world, any field without the intervention of IT is unimaginable. So is the case with the field of education where the work of IT starts from the concepts like Webinars and Distance Learning to the doctoral research works being carried out on IT dimensions like Netspeak. With his books like ‘Classic Writings on Instructional Technology’, Donald Ely is reckoned as one of the most prominent educational leaders regarding the use of technology in the contemporary world. Apart from his achievement of bringing IT into instructional fields, the merit of Ely’s studies lies in the inoculation of creative ideas for instruction while using IT as a medium of instruction. With an acknowledgment of latest approaches being introduced in the dynamic field of IT everyday, Donald Ely is also known for inviting the perspectives of novices in the field as a reflection of his development philosophy (Anderson, 2005). When it comes to the assessment practices of learners to the students in an online interactive environment, Ely has not deviated from the fundamentals of assessment used in the real life instructional environment. However, he has modified the very principles to mould the ideas into a more viable shape that fits the IT involving education. The cynosure of Gene Hall and Shirley Hord’s studies lies with the development and training of instructors if any change in the current education system is to be achieved. In this concern, a major merit of the two educational leaders’ approach is the systematic aspect which starts from a gradual inculcation of vision inveterate in the philosophy of change. Once the vision is adequately communicated, required resources to plan on it are provided to the instructors. From the stage of planning, the model suggests a gradual move towards the practical aspect of training and development of necessary skills. This practicality is followed by a constant evaluation and control technique through monitoring. As a result of evaluation, proper reinforcement is made possible. By considering teachers as the major tools of change, the two educationists have laid enormous amount of importance on instructors’ concerns and feelings about the nature of change. Another unique plus point of Hall and Hord’s studies is the level of pragmatism attached to their studies by identification of stages to trace the actual level of implementation of the change. These levels of use range from ‘no use’ to ‘renewal’ marked by complete shift towards the concerned change (Hord, 1994). Gerald Zaltman and Robert Duncan’s area of research can be considered as a furtherance of Hall and Hord’s work as the former educationists focus on the obstacles in the way of successful implementation of changes proposed for an education system. By attempting to trace the causes of resistance towards the change, Zaltman and Duncan propose a logical course of action in the pursuit of eradicating the impeding forces as they may arise due to the well established beliefs or insecurities attached to the adoption of change (Ellsworth). An importance merit of their work is that it is not just confined to the identification of problems and their causes, but is also associated with the strategies to overcome them. These strategies involve modification of the change process according to the context. Where the changes are unalterable, the experts propose a strong communication in favour of change. By proposing four types of strategies based on the level of opposition to the change, Zaltman and Duncan provided a framework for the educationists in order to plan a suitable change keeping in mind the extent of agreement and willingness to the change. By providing Facilitative, Re-educative, Persuasive and Power strategies, they have added a pragmatic aspect to their research thereby making it more lucrative for implementation (O’Brien, 1999). To express succinctly, the efforts and research works of all contemporary leaders in the field of education cannot be denied. However, the works of the educational leaders discussed above provide the most critical of all dimensions touched by the educationists today. References Anderson,T. J. (2005). Dr. Donald P. Ely. Retrieved May 22, 2009, from: http://doctja. com/docs/edd8008/DonPEly. ppt. Ellsworth, J. B. A Survey of Educational Change Models. ERIC Digest. Retrieved May 22, 2008, from ERIC Digests Website: http://www. ericdigests. org/2001-2/survey. html Hord, S. M. (1994). Staff Development and Change Process: Cut from the Same Cloth. Issues †¦ about Change, 4(2). Retrieved May 22, 2008, from Southwest Educational Development Laboratory Web site: http://www. sedl. org/change/issues/issues42. html O’Brien, R. (1999). Social Change Activism and the Internet: Strategic Online Activities. Retrieved May 22, 2008, from: http://www. web. net/~robrien/papers/netaction. html

How does Wal-Mart Keep their competitive advantage Essay

Founded in 1962 by Sam Walton, Wal-Mart has grown to be the largest discount retail chain in the world. Wal-Mart currently has over 6,500 thousand stores in 14 different countries, 1.8 million plus associates and nets sales this last quarter of over 85 billion dollars, an increase of 8.3 percent (walmart.com). The only other corporation larger than Wal-Mart to date is Exxon Mobile. So how does Wal-Mart keep their competitive advantage and sustain their position in discount retailing?Historically Wal-Mart main competitive advantage has been their low price of brand name goods. Though their most important competitive advantage, it is not their only one. Wal-Mart’s competitive advantage is based off of many key strategic choices, not just their low prices. Their strategic choice of location has given Wal-Mart a first mover advantage. By Wal-Mart strategically placing their stores within the proximity of their distribution centers, Wal-Mart is able to keep their in-house inventory at a minimal. Their distribution network is based on the hub-and spoke concept, which places stores no more than a day’s drive from its distribution centers and replaces goods within 24 hours (refrigeratedtrans.com). Their distribution centers carry more than 85 percent of all merchandise sold by Wal-Mart. With over 3,000 tractors and 12,000 trailers, Wal-Mart has one of the largest private fleets in the country with an on-time delivery record of 99.5 percent, which Mauldin believes is not good enough, that anything less the 100% is unacceptable (refrigeratedtrans.com). Not only has Wal-Mart’s strategic placement of their stores and distribution centers given them a competitive advantage, their strategic operations and inventory management has played a vital role in their success. Wal-Mart’s in-store inventory is kept at a minimum, allowing them to achieve maximum efficiency of their store floor space. Inventory is tracked by UPC scanners allowing Wal-Mart to better communicate with vendors via satellite when supplies need to be replenished. This strategy helps Wal-Mart lower inventory cost, which allows them the ability to meet the demands of local consumers, and the ability to avoid overstocking. Thus in return giving them a higher operational efficiency and keeping their prices significantly lower  that other discount retail stores. According to A.T. Kearney, Wal-Mart’s three-biggest sources of cost advantage are low corporate overheads, the efficiencies of its supply chain and above all, it’s low labor cost. However, I believe their biggest source of cost advantage is their corporate culture. Not only is this their biggest source, it is also the one source that will help Wal-Mart sustain their position in the future. Wal-Mart’s corporate culture dates back to the beginning when Sam Walton founded Wal-Mart in 1962 with a vision to keep prices as low as possible. He also emphasized frugality, customer service, an open book policy, building loyalty among associates, suppliers and customers (Wilbert, 2007). He built Wal-Mart from leading by example, and instilling in his people and his business a belief system that is still currently in place today (walmart.com). Sam Walton had three basic beliefs and 10 rules for building a business that he believed to be the secret of their success. His three basic beliefs were respect the individual; service to the customer; and strive for excellence. He believed that applying these beliefs would make an associate a better person, which in return would make a better organization. All great beliefs and are still followed today (walmart.com). However it is the 10 basic principals where I believe gave Wal-Mart the competitive advantage and defines their culture. These basic principals are:†¢The customer is always right†¢We are a merchandise-driven company†¢Our people make the difference†¢We communicate with our associates†¢We maintain a strong work ethic†¢Associates are partners†¢Our leaders are also servants†¢Associates are empowered†¢We have integrity in all we do†¢We control our expensesThese basic principal are the driving force of Wal-Mart. Sam Walton knew that in order to be successful that the associates held the key. That an unhappy associate could project their feelings to the customer and a business could not succeed by attracting one-time customers (walmart.com). Walton also knew that in order to develop a successful corporate culture,  both management and employees had to work together, with the sole purpose of serving the customer. Wal-Mart has followed this culture for the past 45 years. Wal-Mart’s cost-leadership, culture, operations, geographic location, distribution system and organization strategy has all played a vital role in Wal-Mart’s success and will continue to play a vital role in their future. Though some more important than others, without each one Wal-Mart could not duplicate their competitive advantage. Wal-Mart is an organization that shows a strong culture. Associates as well as outsiders can observe many elements of the culture within Wal-Mart. Every aspect of the culture has been instilled in each associate of this company and has helped make Wal-Mart successful and will continue to help them be successful (Berg, 2001). Wal-Mart is a large corporation which stands for the small town community values, that operates with the efficiency of a major corporation. References Berg (2001, July 2). Wal-Mart and Organizational Culture. Retrieved on May 26, 2007 from http://academic.emporia.edu/smithwil/001smmg443/eja/ardmg443ej.htmBernstein, J. and Bivens, J. (2006, June 15). The Wal-Mart Debate. A False Choice between Price and Wages. Economic Policy Institute. Issue Brief #223Corporate Culture Provides Wal-Mart Competitive Advantage. 2002, July 1. Refrigerated Transporters. Retrieved on May 26, 2007 from http://refrigeratedtrans.com/mag/transportation_corporate_culture_provides/Wal-Mart Home Page. Retrieved on May 26, 2007 from http://walmart.comWilbert, C (2006). How Wal-Mart Works. How Stuff Works. Retrieved May 26, 2007 from http://money.howstuffworks.com/wal-mart.htm

Snow Removal in Broome County New York

The removal of snow in the towns, cities, and villages of Broome County of New York is a social service that the county owes it inhabitants. It is such services that justify the taxes the people of Broome county pay. Towards achieving the aim of a cleaner, safer and healthier Broome county, several agencies have been set-up to oversee the snow removal services in the county. This service is particularly the responsibility of the Broome county Environmental Management Council (EMC). The EMC was established in 1971 by the Broome County Legislature to preserve, protect, and enhance the local environment.The county’s highway division maintains and preserves the highway in the county and thus removes the snow that lies on the highway in the Broome County. The aim of the highway division is aptly captured in its webpage as thus:† The Highway Division is responsible for the administration, operation and maintenance of highway bridge and capital projects; this includes road wide ning and straightening, resurfacing and patching of existing county roads to ensure that maintenance is at required engineering standards and safety levels.Emphasis is also placed on snow and ice control. The department also assists other local municipalities with specialized equipment and expertise. † Broome County Parks and Recreation is in charge of maintaining and preserving the recreational facilities in the county for the good of the inhabitants of the county. This means it also removes snow from these parks. Division of public waste seeks to manage all the public waste in the county. Snow is handled as one of the solid wastes handled by this division. These solid waste are either disposed or recycled.Department of Public Works is the chief overseer of the divisions mentioned above. However we need to, from this research establish who has the responsibility of removing snow and how best the snow should be removed and will tis method be cost effective. We will with this r esearch seek to ensure that the method adopted will be the most effective, efficient and cost effective. We want to by this research find the most effective way of snow removal: the best way to remove snow without creating hazard or environmental issues.How snow removal will be more efficient so that the snow will be removed promptly. Cost effective so that it will save the county some money so that other pressing needs of the county will be met without straining the resources of the county. The challenge here is to make the snow removal more effective, efficient and cost tolerant. Design questions for this research are as follows: 1. Who are/is currently responsible for snow removal in Broome County? 2. What method do/does the party/parties responsible for the snow removal employ?3. Is the method employed effective? 4. Is the currently used method efficient? 5. How much does it cost to remove snow in Broome County under the current arrangement? 6. From the cost in answer 5, is this method cost effective? 7. Under the current arrangement, what is the average time it takes to remove snow in the Broome county? 8. Can the responsibility for snow removal in Broome County be shared? 9. If answer to 8 above is yes, who are those that can share this responsibility? 10.Does their sharing in this responsibility bring about better efficiency or reduce the cost of snow removal? 11. Is there a more effective way of removing snow? 12. Does this more effective way of snow removal affect the cost of snow removal? 13. If answer to 12 above is yes, by how much? 14. Are the in habitants of Broome County satisfied with the current snow removal arrangement in place? 15. If no, what improvements will you like to see? References 1. Broome County Website; http://www. gobroomecounty. com/; Sourced 18:26 GMT +1

Designing Activity Systems Research Essay

The greatest challenge facing an Activity-Theory-based approached to researching interconnected networks and activity systems is the tension between the necessarily holistic view of â€Å"better contextuality† suggested by Kuuti, and the need for an appropriate level of analytic abstraction and â€Å"generalizable† research results required for the research to have utility across disciplines (as cited in Nardi, 1996, p. 22; Nardi, 1996, p. 70). This tension can be partially mitigated by focusing simultaneously on object/motive-oriented research of individuals and on community-object-oriented research of larger subject communities. Thus in a research setting, the object, activity, and operation levels of each individual subject would be documented, both as subjectively articulated in interviews, and as prescribed in that individual’s task description. The overarching community object, activity, and operation levels of the various interacting subject communities would also be documented, in terms of a written prospectus of the group’s initial goals and any obtainable data regarding any sub-group’s particular objects, either explicitly or implicitly stated. Because of the magnitude of data likely resulting from such research techniques, trends from the collected data are probably best analyzed through statistics-based computer modeling. Any truly contextual understanding of activity systems requires researchers to pay close attention in particular to what Kuuti calls action-operation dynamics, noting when and how, for individual subjects, the orientation phase of a given action has passed and the action has been internalized as operation (as cited in Nardi, 1996, p. 31). This phenomenon could be identified in a number of ways. For instance, when individuals begin to elide unnecessary orientation-phase-steps in a process, or when they have re-articulated their objects to indicate a broadening of scope, it is likely because they have moved beyond the orientation phase for a given action and internalized it as operation. Research into interrelated activity systems and networks also requires a nuanced understanding of how community subjects interact, both which each other and with individual subjects. Documenting these interactions through research would require a thorough enumeration of how both formal and informal subject groups affect one another, and the specific â€Å"contradictions† that they exhibit through their objects (Kutti as cited in Nardi, 1996, p. 34). For example, to fully define and therefore research the activity of a software company working on a new database platform, researchers would need to understand the myriad goals of each sub-group and engineer within the company, as well as the company’s larger goals, and the intentions of competing companies. This would require ongoing observation and interview data, and given the vast amounts of data likely to be mined in this process, a computer-based, statistical approach would likely be most effective. Situated Action vs. Activity Theory Because Situated Action Models explicitly reject an intention or goal-based definition of action, they do not lend themselves well to analytical abstraction. Each model being â€Å"inextricably embedded in a particular situation,† no two models are likely to offer enough commonality to allow comparison across situations, let alone across disciplines (Nardi, 1996, p. 1). Activity Theory, by contrast, offers its fundamental tenet as its organizing schema: consciousness and intent are the defining the elements of all activity (Nardi, 1996, p. 11). This perspective has several benefits. First, since Situated Action refuses to consider a subject’s intent in its analysis, â€Å"the activity can only be known as it plays out in situ† (Nardi, 1996, p. 82). This means that Situated Action researchers must posit their own interpretation of a subject’s actions, and ignore the subject’s stated intention. Such â€Å"constructed rationalizations† are more the province of speculative psychology than observational science (Nardi, 1996, p. 82). This view appears even more absurd in light of the fact that Situated Action offers no explanation as to why, despite its guiding premise, human subjects invariably do explain their actions through their intentions, and often â€Å"demand or believe† such explanations from others (Nardi, 1996, p. 81). Second, Activity Theory, by starting from the premise that intention and consciousness are fundamental elements in the definition of action, immediately offers a means of demarcating and understanding activity that Situated Action Models lack (Nardi, 1996, p. 83). As Nardi points out, two subjects in identical environments may display disparate actions that can only be parsed in light of each subject’s intent or object (Nardi, 1996, p. 83). Using the â€Å"object† as the organizing rinciple further allows Activity Theory to maintain a consistent analytical schema across disciplines and at varying levels of generality. For instance, both individual subjects and subject communities can be parsed according to the subject/object and object/action/operation paradigm. Lastly, Activity Theory allows research to continue over a â€Å"longer time horizon† because, while the situations examined in Situated Action Models tend to be quite ephemeral, the objects of Activity Theory may persist for months or years (Nardi, 1996, p. 3). This allows research of a given subject to proceed cumulatively, and not be wasted as soon as a given situation expires. It further allows researchers to focus on a higher level of abstraction, recurrence, and commonality than Situated Action Models, and to avoid the â€Å"claustrophobic thicket of descriptive detail† that becomes necessary when disregarding intentionality (Nardi, 1996, p. 92).

Change Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Change Rosabeth Moss Kanter Change Management Organisations Must Change and Change quickly INTRODUCTION Rosabeth Moss Kanter is the professor in business at Harvard Business School, where she holds the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professorship. She is known for her classic 1977 study of Tokenism. As a business leader and expert on strategy and leadership for change, she was nominated as the top ten on the list of the â€Å"50 most influential business thinkers in the world†, and she is on the list of the â€Å"100 most important women in America† and the â€Å"50 most powerful women in the world†. Her main concepts include changing organisations, bureaucracy and characteristics of resistance to change. (drfd.hbs.edu, 2007) In 1989, she argues that: â€Å" today’s corporate elephants must learn how to dance as nimbly and speedily as mice â€Å". (Burnes, 2004) In other words, she points out that big organisations should change and change quickly to meet the changing environment. This repo rt is going to analyse the key drivers for this statement and find out the reason behind change. This report contains three sections. Section 1 will give definitions to change management and the importance of change. Section 2 is discussions, which is divided into two sub-categories, first part is concerned with the models of change management, and part 2 goes on to show examples of how big organisations keep up with change and the possibilities of failure. This section contains examples of big organisations successfully changed to meet their goals and objectives, while some other organisations stay the same and fail to maintain their strong market position. Section 3 is conclusions. CHANGE MANAGEMENT â€Å" Today’s corporate elephants must learn how to dance as nimbly and speedily as mice if they are to survive in our increasingly competitive and rapidly changing world† (Burnes, 2004) According to Paton it is no surprise that change is also a fact of life within huma n systems. Recent developments in the global economy have catapulted this fact to the forefront of management concerns as well. Therefore, even though Professor Kanter’s statement was mentioned about 18 years ago, it is still valued today. Additionally, Kanter (1989) mentioned that in order for organisations to change, it requires faster action, more flexibility and closer partnerships with employees and customers than typical in the traditional corporate bureaucracy. To quote from her, â€Å"Corporate giants, in short, must learn how to dance†. Therefore, the â€Å" corporate elephants † represents big companies while â€Å" mice â€Å", on the other hand, represents small firms. To summarise her statement above, we could conclude that small firms are more flexible in changing compare with big organisations, because big organisations have more management levels and more bureaucracy; therefore, corporate giants should adapt this ability to change and change qu ickly. More over, the most important reason for organisations to change, is to keep pace with the ever changing business environment and give a good company image to the public that they are keep up dating themselves and stay competitive.

Quality Control Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Quality Control - Essay Example The above example also shows the fact that there are certain parameters which can be used to measure or identify the quality level of a certain product. These are called as ‘Quality Characteristics’ by Mitra (6). These characteristics may include the aesthetics of the product, its durability, cost, utilization factor etc. 1.1. History of Quality: The sense of maintaining the quality of products and services has been existent since times immemorial. The early Egyptians, Greeks and Romans maintained quality standards in their buildings, structures, artifacts, utensils etc. The term ‘quality’ itself is however relatively newer. During the early days of industrial revolution, the need of maintaining quality in the production industry recognized but not emphasized. As a result no special workforce was designated to check the quality control. Instead, the foreman or the supervisor was the person responsible for the quality of product being made. Hence it was entir ely on his discretion what efforts he puts in order to maintain the quality standards. As the industries grew in size and the strength of personnel reporting to a particular supervisor increased in size, it became impossible for the supervisor to check the quality of each unit produced at the industry. The task of maintaining the quality was then assigned to quality inspectors. ... This moved the engineers and mathematicians to develop statistical methods of quality control. Walter Shewhart, in 1924, proposed his quality control charts which aimed at controlling the features of a product through statistical methods (Mitra 3). In 1929 he formed ‘Joint Committee for the Development of Statistical Applications in Engineering and Manufacturing’ with the support of American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM), American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME), American Statistical Association (ASA) and Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS). The committee made efforts to promote the principles of statistical quality control in the industries. The use of statistical methods in the quality control procedures gained wide acceptance in the days of World War II. Good quality machinery was vital for the armies to win battles hence quality control was essential. But large amount of weapons and machinery supplies has to be produced and every single unit cou ld not be checked for quality assurance. Hence powerful statistical methods were required for ensuring quality in industries. The rules of Sampling gained were widely accepted and implemented. The American Society of Quality Control was established in 1946 to standardize the quality control procedures 1.2. Quality Control and Six Sigma: Six Sigma is a technique used to measure the degree to which a process conforms to the consumer needs. It is based on the number of units produced that comply with the quality standards set by the organization or demanded by the customers. The method was developed by Motorola Corporation in 1986. Six Sigma basically focuses

Adverse Possession Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Adverse Possession - Essay Example However, adverse possession is now governed by the Land Registration Act 2002, which came into force in October 2003. The Land Registration Act 2002 reduced the statutory amount of time to qualify for adverse possession from 12 to 10 years. However, the time required for adverse possession to be proved still remains at twelve years if the person claiming adverse possession had had possession of the said piece of land for a period of more than twelve years. An analysis of the issue of adverse possession in different jurisdictions indicates that the statutory period is varied and the elements that justify adverse possession are sometimes different. For example, in France, adverse possession is only acquired if a statutory period of thirty years has elapsed, while in Spain, the period is determined by the state of the property. In the Netherlands, statutory time is based on good faith, where the squatter is granted the land after ten years wit the presence of good faith, or twenty years otherwise. As already stated, the issue of adverse possession before the Land Registration Act 2002 came into force did not give the paper owner the right to challenge the application for adverse possession by the squatter. However, with the introduction of the new act, the simple fact of adverse possession for 12 years will not imply automatic ownership for the squatter; the squatter will be entitled to apply for adverse possession after 10 years possession.After the application is made, the registered owner.

An Overview of the Economy of Bermuda Research Paper

An Overview of the Economy of Bermuda - Research Paper Example The country has enjoyed steady economic superiority since the end of the Second World War, although it has been affected by recession since 2007 following the global recession. The country enjoys the fourth highest per capita income, which is 50 percent higher than that of the US. The industrial sector mainly focuses on construction, and there is little agriculture since only 20 percent of the island is arable. Bermuda has a robust financial regulatory system making it an important regional and global offshore financial center. International business is the major foreign exchange generating industry in the country (Anderson, 2011). Bermuda is a reinsurance center and an insurance region with firms writing significant business from USA and U.K. In 2010, 15,078 international companies were registered in the island, many of which are U.S owned (Reinsurance Association of America, 2011). These companies spent approximately $2 billion in the country in 2009, making them an important sourc e of foreign exchange. This sector provided $1.5 billion in its total output corresponding to 26.1 percent of the total GDP. International business is also the third largest employer in the country. The sector had 4,287 jobs in 2010, a reduction from 4,431 in 2009. This reduction has made tourism the largest employer in Bermuda. ... Other countries involved in the import chain are the UK, Canada, and Caribbean countries. Bermuda’s exports are mainly re-exports of pharmaceuticals. These exports are valued at $783 million and export partners include Spain, Germany, Denmark, and the UK. Duty on imports and exports is a major source of revenue for the government (Fabian, 2011). Duty rates in the country are high and are reflected in the consumer retail prices. High prices are countered by high wages that keep up with the cost of living and poverty is practically nonexistent. The government generates approximately 24 percent of its revenue base equivalent to $225.4 million from import and export duty. The government does not impose income, sales, or profit taxes, but levies real estate tax (Fabian, 2011). Bermuda’s tourism industry is the second largest employer with over 4,349 jobs in hotels and restaurants. The industry has been experiencing declining numbers of visitors, which currently stands at 585 ,266 visitors (Ministry of Finance, 2011). The decline can be attributed to the declining travel industry particularly the airline sector. The tourism industry generated approximately $383.9 million in 2011. The cruise and yacht front have reduced the gap created by the failing airline sector. The number of visitors arriving by air grew to 236,038 in 2011 and cruise visitors were 415,711. Three quarters of visitors to Bermuda are from the US, and the slowdown experienced in the country has significantly affected tourism (Government of Bermuda, 2011). Tourism sponsored events such as the Bermuda International Invitational Race Week increased the number of visitors to the island. Hotel occupancy rates have increased with large hotels enjoying the highest occupancy rates. The 2010 census