Wednesday, October 30, 2019

To what extent have feminist ideas influenced policy making since 1965 Essay

To what extent have feminist ideas influenced policy making since 1965 Critically discuss with reference to ONE of the followin - Essay Example While the first wave of feminism was primarily concerned with formal political rights, the second generation of feminist thinkers laid the emphasis on the issues of workplace and marital equality, as well as those of women’s representation in public agencies. This had an important impact on further policy making. National Organization of Women and the Struggle for Women’s Rights. While the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was founded in 1965 in order to combat the gender discriminatory practices in the sphere of employment, its activity was judged to be unsatisfactory by many activists of women’s movement. In 1966, liberal feminists led by Betty Friedan, a celebrated author of The Feminine Mystique, formed the National Organization for Women (NOW) that aimed at integrating women â€Å"into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, assuming all privileges and responsibilities...in truly equal partnership with men† (qtd . in Thornham 25). The foundation of NOW was caused by repeated refusal of the EEOC officials to seriously confront the prevalent discriminatory practices in the labour relations (Banks 212). ... Constitution (Harrison 198). The activities of NOW mainly concentrated on creating publicity for the organisation, which was expressed through pickets and other public demonstrations, and on lobbying political establishment, including the Presidency. Nevertheless, their actions eventually proved rather fruitful for the further development of women’s movement and the adoption of equality legislation. The first influence of feminist movement on equal opportunities policies in the USA after 1965 may be traced in the controversy surrounding the inclusion of provision on sex discrimination in Executive Order 11246, which aimed at creating affirmative action programmes for racial minorities. As the 1964 Civil Rights Act had already provided for prevention of sexual discrimination in employment, the omission of sex discrimination clause in that Executive Order was regarded as an expression of neglect for the needs of women. Consequently, the efforts of several women’s organisa tions, including the National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs and Federal Women’s Award Study Group, led to the inclusion of the provision against sex discrimination in the text of Executive Order in October 1967, with the NOW leadership asserting that it was a victory for their ideas (Harrison 202). Later on, NOW repeatedly clashed with the EEOC apparatus with regard to protective labour legislation. In 1967 EEOC was forced to back away from its previous non-interventionist attitude on such issues as labour rights for female workers and age and marital status discrimination at the workplace, with air flight companies being the

Monday, October 28, 2019

Macbeth, a Play Full of Darkness Essay Example for Free

Macbeth, a Play Full of Darkness Essay Macbeth is a play full of darkness, evil, and tragedy. It is the story of a man who goes against his conscience and commits a horrible deed which leads to his destruction and loss of everything he has around him. This includes the relationship he has with his wife, Lady Macbeth. In the beginning we see Lady Macbeth playing the more superior, more dominating role of the two. She comes across as a woman, who is persuasive and manipulative. She seems willing to trample anyone in order to get what she wants. She lays all the plans and all Macbeth has to do is obey her commands. Macbeth on the other hand is fickle-minded and unsure. We discover that the man, who is praised so highly by the public is actually a weak man. We see that he is not the brave loyal man he is portrayed to be in the beginning. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have a very strong relationship but this later deteriorates. Act 1 Scene 5 is a key scene which shows just how close Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were at the beginning of the play ;it shows their original relationship. Macbeth has written a letter to Lady Macbeth telling her of everything and in this letter states â€Å"my dearest partner† which shows that she helped him and they are in it together. . The following speech where Lady Macbeth doubts that he can get to the title of King he is too full of the milk of human kindness shows just how close they were. It establishes the fact that she knew him so well, she knew what he was like and it emphasises the closeness of their relationship. She speaks of how he has enough ambition but not enough courage. His overiding ambition is not enough. When Macbeth and Lady Macbeth speak, they speak to eachother with such closeness and bond ;he calls her his dearest chuck, his partner of greatness. She knows that he is too weak to do anything and states her position in the murder leave the rest to me. In Act 1, Scene 7 shows the force and power that Lady Macbeth has over her husband. Upon hearing of Macbeths decision not to kill Duncan, she is outraged and starts to work her force and power upon him. She knows where he is most vulnerable and attacks him at his weak spot. She strikes him at his manhood and courage. This of course works on Macbeth and she knows that it will. No one calls Macbeth a coward. She says that he is a coward and attacks his manliness. to be more than what you are, you would be so much more the man. She challenges his love for her and says that she would rather dash the brains out of her own child than break such a promise as Macbeth has to her. At this point in the play, Shakespeare re-confirms just how close the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is and that she has the power and he listens to whatever she has to say. Lady Macbeth is s major influence on Macbeth, but this of course changes later. After the murder, Macbeth is still carrying the daggers and he seems to be quiet and uneasy. Lady Macbeth has to clean up what he has done wrong and has to return the daggers herself. Lady Macbeth is still very much in control. Here, Shakespeare defines both Lady Macbeth and Macbeths strong and weak characters. Lady Macbeth being the strong one yet as a duo, he tones them down to be nothing but two whispering, frightened villains. Later on, when Macduff discovers the body of Duncan, Macbeth acts suspiciously and draws attention to himself. It is then that Lady Macbeth has to help him out and draw the attention away from him and to her by fainting. She does this later too, during the banquet scene. Lady Macbeth is always there to take the attention away from Macbeth. However, towards the end of the play, Lady Macbeth, comes across as one who has succumbed to her guilt. She discovers that nothing that she does could rid her off her guilt, by admitting that even the sweet-smelling erfumes of Arabia would not be able to remove the stench of blood from her little hand. She now takes up the role of the weak, submissive partner in the relationship, who is unsure of herself and very frightened of the future. Macbeth, on the other hand, now makes all his decisions by himself, and reaches the extent whereto he does not even bother to inform his wife of his plans. He gains false confidence from the witches second predictions and builds castles in the air. He becomes a tyrant and a man, despised and hated by his public. He becomes insane and goes out of control.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness :: Essays Papers

Heart of Darkness Setting: The author placed the novel’s setting on a stream boat on a river near London. "The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest" (1). Then the narrator tells his story in a flash back which he tells about Marlow’s experiences in the African jungle specifically on the Congo river. The majority of the story is told in flash back about the voyage in to the heart of darkness. Characters: The central character is obviously Marlow. He is a man of modesty and courage, which are not stereotypical traits of a sailor which he has become. The book focuses morally on his personal character and then describes to the norm of the rest of the world. The character that Marlow becomes obsessed with later is Kurtz. He is a mysterious dark man who made money trading ivory down the Congo river. "'In the interior you will no doubt meet Mr. Kurtz.' On my asking who Mr. Kurtz was, he said he was a first-class agent" (85) here Marlow is talking to a captain and first finds out about Kurtz. Later he finds out that he transports ivory. Among other insignificant characters on the boat deck of the Nellli were a lawyer and an accountant. Their role seemed as only to be and audience to Marlow and the other unnamed narrator. Point of View: The point of view is from Marlow, but the tale is told from a nameless observer. This is the reason why the novel is in third person, and Marlow’s is refereed to also in third person. Marlow sat cross-legged right aft, leaning against the mizzenmast. He had sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a straight back, an ascetic aspect, and, with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol. (69) Also the previous quote shows a honest virtue by being compared to as someone to look up to. Action: The story begins with Marlow and four other characters on a boat in the Thames river. The story line then goes into a flashback, and tells Marlow’s story of his adventures in the Congo. He has a connection to become a steam boat captain, but when he arrives at the first station he finds out that his boat is at the bottom of the river. Also Marlow has to rise the boat and repair it with inferior tools.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Epic of Beowulf Essay - Beowulf as Anglo-Saxon Hero :: Epic Beowulf herobeo

Beowulf - An Anglo-Saxon Hero A hero is a person of distinguished courage who has outstanding qualities and abilities, who is admired for these having these aspects of their character and also admired for brave and noble acts. An Anglo-Saxon hero is a person who has good leadership qualities, is able and willing to provide people with a sense of security, and is willing to go into danger despite possible harm to themselves. These Anglo-Saxon heroes usually were kings or thanes because they distinguished themselves above others by doing a good for the greater of everyone. This person has to be willing to put their own lives on the line for the benefit of others. There are several heroic characteristics, all of which Beowulf possesses. First of these characteristics is honor. Honor is showing a sense of integrity in one’s actions. When Beowulf went to the land of the Danes to kill Grendel, he did it not because he wanted money, but because he wanted to help out the Geats. Beowulf felt as if it was the right thing to do since he had been successful in past deeds which he proudly says in lines 321-322, where he says â€Å"They had in remembrance my courage and might. Many had seen me come safe from the conflict,†. Beowulf expected no reward for his action, but rather just being able to â€Å"put another notch in his belt.† Another heroic characteristic, which Beowulf possesses, is bravery. Bravery is being able to go against the odds and possibly risk your life in the process. An example of Beowulf showing bravery is when he goes to slay the dragon even though all his men abandon him. He realizes that the dragon is more powerful than he is, but he will still not back down. In line 1493, he says â€Å"Not one foot’s space will I flee from the monster,† thus showing his true bravery by not giving up to the more powerful foe. One more heroic characteristic of Beowulf is his strong sense of duty. This means that he is always devoted to his people, his king, and their security. An example of this is again when he goes to slay the dragon. He has no help, he realizes that the dragon is more powerful, and most importantly, he realizes that he will probably not be returning victorious from this battle.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Eddie Mabo Speech Essay

History Speech Good Morning Ms Sparks and class. Today I will be doing my presentation on the Mabo Decision. A decision that was very significant in giving a massive boost to the struggle for the recognition of Aboriginal land rights. The Mabo decision was a legal case held in 1992 and is short for Mabo and others v Queensland (No 2) (1992). On June 3rd 1992, the high court of Australia delivered its landmark Mabo decision and rewrote the Australian common law. The High Court is the highest court in Australia’s judicial system. The Mabo decision in the High Court was the culmination of a legal battle started ten years earlier by a group of plaintiffs from the tiny Torres Strait island of Mer to establish their traditional ownership of the Murray Islands. The Mabo decision was named after Eddie Mabo, the man who challenged the Australian legal system and fought for recognition of the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional owners of their land. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples occupied Australia for 40,000 to 60,000 years before the British arrived in 1788. They spoke their own languages and had their own laws and customs. They also had a strong connection to ‘country’ – the Australian land. When the British arrived, they declared that Australia was terra nullius (empty land – or land that belongs to nobody. As a result, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ occupation of and unique connection with the land were not recognised, and the British took the land without agreement or payment. The Mer Islanders decided they would be the ones to challenge the legal principle of terra nullius in the High Court and that Eddie Mabo would be the one to lead that action. Eddie Koiki Mabo (29 June 1936 to 21 January 1992) was an Australian man from the Torres Strait Islands. Mabo’s love for his homeland drove the proud Torres Strait Islander to undertake a 10- year legal battle that rewrote Australia’s history. In 1981, Eddie Mabo made a speech at James Cook University in Queensland, where he explained his people’s beliefs about the ownership and inheritance of land on Mer. A lawyer heard the speech and  asked Eddie if he would like to challenge the Australian Government in the court system, to decide who the true owner of land on Mer was – his people of the Australian Government. And this is exactly what Eddie Mabo did. The Mabo case ran for 10 years. On 3 June 1992, the High Court of Australia decided that terra nullius should not have been applied to Australia. This decision recognised that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have rights to the land – rights that existed before the British arrived and can still exist today. The Mabo decision was a turning point for the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ rights, because it acknowledged their unique connection with the land. It also led to the Australian Parliament passing the Native Title Act in 1993. Sadly, Eddie Mabo never found out the result of his legal case. He died in January 1992, just five months before the High Court made its decision. Mabo Day occurs annually on June 3rd to commemorate Eddie Mabo and his incredible achievement to campaign for indigenous land rights led to a landmark decision of the High Court of Australia that overturned the legal fiction of terra nullius on June 3rd 1992. Eddie Mabo Jnr, on behalf of the Mabo family, said: We believe that a public holiday would be fitting to honour and recognise the contribution to the High Court decision of not only my and his co-plaintiffs, James Rice, Father Dave Passi, Sam Passi and Celuia Salee, but also to acknowledge all indigenous Australians who have empowered and inspired each other. Eddie Mabo made the incredibly brave decision to stand for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Rights which turned out to be one of the best decisions for Australia’s Indigenous people. Thank-you for listening.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Cindy Sherman Essays - Art Genres, Cindy Sherman, Self-portrait

Cindy Sherman Essays - Art Genres, Cindy Sherman, Self-portrait Cindy Sherman Terror and mockery come together in the portraits of Cindy Sherman on display at the Crocker Art Museum. Walking into the large, dimly lit ballroom, one may begin to feel a slight sense of trepidation as the viewer looks around to find nine sets of beady eyes watching one's every move. Sherman produced her History Portraits during the late eighties and early nineties, nine of which are displayed at the museum. In her portraits she uses lush fabrics, lavish jewelry, and false body parts to decorate herself in these self-portraits. Her portraits have been know to cause discomfort in the viewers who find the general stereotypes, depicted in her portraits, amusing, yet confusing and terrorizing. Sherman's Untitled #225 (Blond Woman) triggers those exact emotions. The portrait is a large colored photograph created in 1990. An eighteenth century blond, Madonna-like, young lady sits poised with one hand on her exposed artificial breast as if she is nursing a baby. She is well dressed in a blue satin dress, small white beads laced through her braided hair, and a tiara atop her head. Her icy, blue eyes stare off to the left with a harsh, cold expression. With her breast aimed high, spewing fluids, in the same direction as she stares, it is difficult to imagine what is going through her head, however it is clear that it is something of an almost vindictive and unforgiving nature. Possibly, she points her breast toward a man who betrayed her or harassed her. The overall painting, much like the others in the exhibit, is generally flat, yet she uses contouring lines and overlapping to give the paintings depth and perception. Like Untitled #225 (Blond Woman), Sherman's Untitled portrait #198 (Feather Mask) also stirs a sense of uneasiness. The portrait is a color photograph created in 1989. A woman with an open salmon colored shirt exposes both artificial breasts as she sits with a large, blue feather mask covering her face, as if to cover her identity for fear of being mocked for being a woman. Dark, black eyes peer from beneath the mask, and appear to follow the viewer while one examines the portrait. There's seems to be no reason for her shirt to be open and her breasts on display, unlike Sherman's Untitled #225 (Blond Woman) portrait, who seemed to have a definite reason. The fake, jewelry-like nipples on the breast are a deep ruby red color that match with a red pedant hung around her neck. A white tulle skirt covers the lower half of her body as she sits in front of a green printed fabric with red tassels that is hung loosely behind her. Sherman's Untitled #211 (Oval Profile of Woman) is also a color photograph created in 1989. The portrait shows the profile of a middle-aged woman facing the right with a stacked, beaded necklace draped around her neck. She is a well dressed aristocratic in a black sequence blouse with white chiffon sleeves. Her brown hair is held up with colorful scarfs. She holds her nose high in the air as to look sophisticated or arrogant. The uneven texture of the skin appears as if the nose was made out of clay and placed on top of her real nose. The technique Sherman uses to paint her cheek and chin makes it look as if the woman is wearing make-up that is caked and unevenly applied. The woman looks tired and pale with red in the corners of her eyes, and dark circles under her eyes. The woman symbolizes the arrogance in women and the need for lavish, material possessions. Cindy Sherman's work has been adorned throughout the United States and Rome, where her History Portraits made their debut. She has a way of depicting general stereotypes of women and distorting them to encourage the viewer to read further into the painting to create their own theories of what the painting represents. Her unique use of inanimate objects combined with her intrinsic attention to detail allows the portrait to come to life, yet remain simulated. She is truly a gifted artist who combines wit and shock to create portraits of hidden meaning value that is only to be revealed through the artistic mind

Monday, October 21, 2019

Gideon v. Wainwright essays

Gideon v. Wainwright essays Summary: In 1963 Gideon v. Wainwright was a court case about Clarence Earl Gideon. He was accused of breaking and entering a pool hall and stealing a small amount of money. He was not provided with a lawyer by the state of Florida. He defended himself after being denied a request for free counsel. Later he was just found guilty. Louie L. Wainwright was sued for habeas corpus by Gideon. His case made it to the Supreme Court where it was argued by Abe Fortas. He argued in overturning his conviction, held that the right to counsel, guaranteed in federal trials by the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution, is fundamental to a fair trial. State failure to provide counsel for a defendant charged with a felony violated the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision was one of many by the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren that protected the rights of accused criminals and extended the guarantees in the Bill of Rights to state actions. The holding was expanded in 1972 to require counsel for any defendant who would spend even one day in jail if found guilty. Analysis: In conclusion to this case, I have learned that Gideon has proven that, he had rights. He had due process rights, found in Amendment Six, that are as followed right to speedy public trial, Trial by jury, State districted where crime was committed, change of venue, informed of the changes, right to confront a witness against you, right to subpoena, and then the right to counsel. Which before Gideon was only if you were being tried for a capital case. He proved that in the constitution that it did not specify weather or not it was a capital case, it was said for everybody. This case has shown me that there are mess-ups, which will always show up, sooner or later. Clarence Earl Gideon was found guilty with out a lawyer, trying to defend himself, put in jail, learned his rights which has showed me and probably others in my class, tha...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions These resolutions were written by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts. These resolutions were the first attempts by states rights advocates to impose the rule of nullification. In their version, they argued that since the government was created as a compact of the states, they had the right to ‘nullify’ laws that they felt exceeded the granted power of the Federal government. Four Measures of the Alien and Sedition Acts The Alien and Sedition acts were passed while  John Adams  was serving as Americas second president. Their purpose was to fight against criticisms people were making against the government and more specifically the Federalists.  The Acts consist of four measures designed to limit immigration and free speech. They include: The Naturalization Act  - This act increased the residency time for individuals applying for U.S. citizenship. Immigrants would have to live in the US for 14 years in order to be eligible for citizenship. Previous to this, the requirement was 5 years. The reason for this act was that America was in danger of going to war with France. This would give the president the ability to better deal with suspicious foreign nationals.  The Alien Act  - Following the passage of the Naturalization Act, the Alien Act continued to give more power to the presidency over foreign nationals living in the U.S. The president was given the ability to deport aliens during peacetime.The Alien Enemy Act  - A little less than a month later, President Adams signed this Act into law. The purpose of the Alien Enemy Act was to give the president the ability to expel or imprison aliens during times of declared war if those aliens had ties to Americas enemies.  The  Sedition Act  - The final act, pass ed on July 14, 1798, was the most controversial. Any conspiracy against the government including riots and interference with officers would result in a high misdemeanor. This went so far as to stop people from speaking in a false, scandalous and malicious manner against the government.  Newspaper, pamphlet and broadside publishers who printed articles aimed primarily at his administration were the intended targets. The backlash to these acts was probably the main reason why  John Adams  was not elected to a second term as president. The Virginia Resolutions, authored by James Madison, argued that Congress was overstepping their bounds and using a power not delegated to them by the Constitution. The Kentucky Resolutions, authored by Thomas Jefferson, argued that states had the power of nullification, the ability to nullify federal laws. This would later be argued by John C. Calhoun and the southern states as the Civil War neared. However, when the topic came up again in 1830, Madison argued against this idea of nullification.   In the end, Jefferson was able to use the reaction to these acts to ride to the presidency, defeating John Adams in the process.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Olympia, Edouard Manet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Olympia, Edouard Manet - Essay Example While the initial attempt with â€Å"Starry Night† received harsh critique on the bizarre aspect of his painting, van Gogh managed to justify â€Å"Starry Night Over the Rhone† with logical elements of texture and color fashioned to project the expressionist’s rich astronomical influence and perspective with the nocturnal theme of the work. Van Gogh is primarily drawn to the attractive contrasts emerging between the natural light of the stars and the gaseous luminescence radiating via man-made lamps. In particular, he is profoundly caught with the beautiful pattern the ‘Big Dipper’ makes with the rest of the constellation. Based on this, one may observe an apparent connection between darkness and the mental struggle, which van Gogh tends to exhibit with intensity, yet the well-balanced sparks of the European river in equilibrium with the sky creates symbolism for appreciation of the wonderful state of gloom. Besides fascination at the concept of blen ding lights from different dimensions as viewed from Arles with ample reference to the ‘Big Dipper’ or the ‘Great Bear’, by other name, van Gogh may be recognized to possess extended interest on astronomical geometry which is largely depicted by the manner the stars are spatially distributed so as to cast the night to its lovely degree or at least to the standard of van Gogh’s intellectual design. How mundane tasks and hard-work of training dance are carried out prior to the scene in which the moment of dance becomes an object of pure delight.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 48

Assignment - Essay Example s as breeders and argues that the proposal would make the parents take care of their children and women will be looked at like investments especially when expectant. The idea is absurd and does not solve the problem of poverty in Scotland. The essay presents the proposal to be cannibal and employs irony with the focus being on the reduction of the number of children born at all cost. The use of rhetoric in presenting the idea of cannibalism is effective and presents the idea in a broad and accurate perspective. In fact, rhetorical presentation of the proposal makes the essay interesting and fun. However, the critical evaluation of the proposal indicates that the proposal is absurd and non-operational because it proposes what cannot be done or implemented in life. The essay presents the challenge of family planning by presenting children as an investment for the family rather than a dependent. In brief the essay is simple with a lot of rhetoric

Mathematics and Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Mathematics and Technology - Essay Example Following adoption of technology in the classrooms, the curriculum has changed learning experiences, rigor with suitable emphasis on process. Similarly, technology has played a key role in enhancing the delivery of learning activities and improved the understanding capabilities of the students. In the unforgiving competition within the global economy, the need to develop new strategies to keep up with the market is certain. Such strategies include the understanding and application of new technologies in most fields with the nation’s economy. This is more so in the education sector to aid in improvement of skills with regard to mathematics and science. Incorporation of technology within educational institutions has seen a dramatic change of perception and increased level of innovation to the benefit of the students (Nguyen, Hsieh and Donald 2006, p.252). In this regard, technology has found a home in classrooms where active educators use it as a means of improving their present ation of concepts. The use of modern flash animations and videos as learning tools to illustrate concepts in various subjects, which is facilitated by use of unique software and projectors. Computers in education engage students making the learning more powerful and relatively easy to follow through simulated computations of scientific and mathematical problems. Laptops among students assist in delivery of assignments and reading materials. The application of technology in teaching mathematics demands new interpretations of the instructional process, with those who embrace it undergoing vigorous evaluation in a bid to keep up its evolution. A key feature of mathematics is in its use of physical and intellectual tools. The use of technology during the learning process has its application limited by the user’s imagination. Its generic nature leaves room for improvement in its application especially in mathematics. Mathematical activities that involve the application of computer technology include communication, mathematical modeling, manipulation of numbers, symbols and shapes, and investigation of patterns and problems. Calculators and Mathematics A learning environment enriched by technology should be characterized by collaborative and investigative approaches to learning, which increases content integration across the curriculum. In this regard, subjects being taught in a classroom are applied before the end of the day. This plays a critical role in the development of the learning basic concepts, which in turn facilitate understanding. The use of technology such as computers and calculators during mathematics lessons has seen an increase in efficiency especially in the delivery of content by teachers. The use of calculators in Australian schools received wide endorsements from the education system as it was seen as a new way of enhancing learning. Its endorsement has seen the development of significant technologies complement the use of calculators. On e of the key benefits for the use of calculators in mathematics classes is the improvement of conceptual understanding and visualization of mathematical concepts. A mathematics class incorporating calculators in their coursework tend to have an improved sense of grasping concepts as there are taught to them. Moreover, efficiency is enhanced as students move along the coursework with much easy. The use of calculators and other technologies within a mathematics course improve the procedural skills and knowledge in a student. This is as evidenced in studies conducted to examine the benefits of technology in classrooms. Therefore, in order to achieve successful application in the classroom, technology is based on a

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Diagnostic Assessment of an Arabic Speaker Essay

Diagnostic Assessment of an Arabic Speaker - Essay Example From this study it is clear that the big number of vowels in the English language increases the chances of wrongly pronouncing English words by native Arabic speakers whose first language has lesser vowels. As such, some vowels in English and their corresponding sounds might not exist in Arabic. A good example is Shouq’s pronunciation of ‘can’ as ‘cen’. The ‘a’ sound in such a word is not found in Arabic, and anyone who borrows from their Arabic vowels to read English words will make this pronunciation error. Another word that she pronounced wrongly according to this error is ‘hard’ which sounded like ‘hed’. Moreover, the word ‘that’ was pronounced as ‘thet’.This paper highlights that  Arabic speakers have the problem of replacing ‘t’ with ‘d’ in a word regardless of whether it appears in the middle, start or end of the word. An example is the word ‘nati ve’ that Shouq pronounced as ‘nadive’. This interchanging of ‘t’ and ‘d’ is also evident in the word ‘factor’. Being a native Arabic speaker, Shouq pronounces this word as ‘facdor’, putting a ‘d’ in the place of a ‘t’. An example of such an error occurring at the beginning of a word is with the pronunciation of the word ‘telephone’ which tends to sound like ‘delephone’. This segmental error that is common among native Arabic speakers learning English as a second language is due to the placement of the tongue when pronouncing the words.

Sony Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Sony - Case Study Example A critical analysis of this project discloses various value drivers as well as cost drivers. Tawfik and Enders define value created as the difference between alleged use value which is positively influenced by value drivers, and real costs increased by cost drivers. Use of UMTS technology and handset, applications that promote interaction and individualization are seen to promote the products quality, with UMTS technology also advancing speed and thus improve value. The implementation of the project comes together with some extra cost. However, it is worth noting that the increase in value is still larger than the increase in cost. For this reason Sony focused on capturing the value e which calls off for a wise tradeoff between consumer surplus and producer surplus; given that the company does not operate in a monopolistic market. Moreover, following the advancement in Sony’s operation with time, there is need t to include in the case study some other operations such as virtua l payment fee which Sony has recently introduced to capture the real value of their

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Diagnostic Assessment of an Arabic Speaker Essay

Diagnostic Assessment of an Arabic Speaker - Essay Example From this study it is clear that the big number of vowels in the English language increases the chances of wrongly pronouncing English words by native Arabic speakers whose first language has lesser vowels. As such, some vowels in English and their corresponding sounds might not exist in Arabic. A good example is Shouq’s pronunciation of ‘can’ as ‘cen’. The ‘a’ sound in such a word is not found in Arabic, and anyone who borrows from their Arabic vowels to read English words will make this pronunciation error. Another word that she pronounced wrongly according to this error is ‘hard’ which sounded like ‘hed’. Moreover, the word ‘that’ was pronounced as ‘thet’.This paper highlights that  Arabic speakers have the problem of replacing ‘t’ with ‘d’ in a word regardless of whether it appears in the middle, start or end of the word. An example is the word ‘nati ve’ that Shouq pronounced as ‘nadive’. This interchanging of ‘t’ and ‘d’ is also evident in the word ‘factor’. Being a native Arabic speaker, Shouq pronounces this word as ‘facdor’, putting a ‘d’ in the place of a ‘t’. An example of such an error occurring at the beginning of a word is with the pronunciation of the word ‘telephone’ which tends to sound like ‘delephone’. This segmental error that is common among native Arabic speakers learning English as a second language is due to the placement of the tongue when pronouncing the words.

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Effective marketing planning requires full research of the marketing Essay

Effective marketing planning requires full research of the marketing environment. Discuss what needs to be considered when under - Essay Example An effective marketing plan requires a research on the drivers of demand in the business environment. This may entail secondary research or primary research, or both in order to investigate consumer behavior and motivation. Some of the aspects contained in an effective marketing plan are demographic and social changes that may affect sales of the company’s product, for instance a change in the lifestyles and the age structure. New technologies that may open up some markets while at the same time closing some. Economic trends that have an impact on the consumer purchase decision, as well as political environment that alters public spending due to aspects like taxation. By conducting a marketing audit, a firm is able to explore its internal capabilities (Alison, 2011, p 23). Effective marketing planning also calls for an examination of the external environment to a firm, which entails focusing on the existing marketing strategies; the company’s marketing mix, and market s egmentation and segmentation, as well. Scanning and interpreting all these areas of market changes calls for knowledge and experience, and might be the source of competitive advantage. Much of the marketing planning also varies on anticipating the response of competitors. The reason is that interpreting and responding to market changes ahead of t6he competitors may result in high gains of both sales and profits. Marketing audit Marketing audit is a fundamental element of the marketing planning process, which ensures that a firm is profitable. Marketing audit considers both internal and internal influential factors. Most tools for conducting a marketing audit include the SWOT, PESTEL and the porter’s five forces (Bensoussan & Fleisher, 2008, p 23). PESTEL analysis PESTEL analysis is an examination of forces outside the business, but has an impact on firms sales and marketing. These are the political, economic, social, technological and legal aspects. The political element deal s with the impacts of government policy. Government legislation also incorporates legal elements that include taxation policies and laws that govern business operations. Government regulation has the effects on privatization and deregulation policy, which have an overall effect of opening up markets to competition. Companies should not be something for companies to fear, as regulations like lowering pollution may act to spur competitive firms to innovate and lower costs to counter increasing costs of regulation. Economic factors like disposable incomes, unemployment, prevailing interest rates, recession and booms have an impact of a company’s sales. Marketers have to scan and monitor the general economic environment before making any marketing move, as this may have impacts on sales and eventual profitability in a certain time. Social-cultural factors refer to consumers’ patterns of behavior, lifestyles and preferences that affect purchase and buying behaviors (Debra, 2005, p 23). Marketers need to be ware of changes in consumer behavior as a result of change in preferences. Trending social elements affects the demand of a company’s products. Additionally, it is vital to examine the technological changes that happen in the industry, especially changes in information technology, research and development and rate of technology change. The reason is that technology changes affect

Castration Essay Example for Free

Castration Essay Sexual assault and child molestation are a constant emergent problem in the United States today, the bigger issue is the fact that the pedophiles are being released from prison early due to overcrowding of the prison system. One such famous pedophile is David Wayne Jones, who was convicted of several different charges involving child molestation against more than 40 boys. Mr. Jones, who served only 15 years due toa plea agreement for those charges, underwent voluntary physical castration in lieu of hemical castration (Schmalleger, 2009). He was previously on medicine that was for chemical castration, or testosterone blocking medicine. This opens up the discussion for castration and if it is a viable option for sexual predators. Castration is best described as removing the reproductive organs of an individual to prevent virility Oennett Blakemore, 2012). While in the past castration was only in the physical for, in todays society there are two types of castration, chemical and physical. Both hysical castration and chemical castration have the prospective to decrease the recidivism rates of sex offenders by lowering testosterone hormone levels, weaken sexual impulses, and making erotic urges more manageable if the sexual urges are encouraged by amplified testosterone hormone levels. Chemical castration is intended to be less invasive and a temporary fix, while physical castration is permanent. In relation to sexual predators, some see castration as an easy answer to an appalling and intricate problem. Given that the current penitentiary systems does not seem to be successfully functioning to decrease the rates of recidivism. It is even failing to be a deterrent to future sexual offenders. As with castration is supposed to lower the different hormones that are needed to become aroused, it is not always 100 percent. I believe that there are some cases where the Judge should have the option of surgical or chemical castration. I strongly believe that surgical and chemical castration should not be an option for first time offenders. If the Judge sentenced castration on a first time offender, how would that give the offender possibilities of rehabilitation. The statics show that majority of all sex offenders was once a victim of the same crime. While this does not mean let the offender get away with a crime because of their history, it basically means give the offender a chance to go through therapy. Also, I believe that all first time sex offenders should be mandated to take a psychiatric evaluation. This evaluation would distinguish a mental illness from a sick ndividual. As for second time offenders, I believe this should most definitely be an option for a Judge. After the first offense and having the resources of rehabilitation, the offender should have learned a lesson. Obviously, if it is a second offense, that shows the offender may not be able to control themselves or not care about the harm he is doing to others or the consequences of his actions. If the second time offender is sentenced to castration, I believe this offender should be eligible for early parole or early release. For the third time offenders, I believe there should be Justice served for this individual. A third time sex offender should be mandated to chemical and surgical castration when at their sentencing hearing. An offender who commits the Instead using castration as a method to release sex offenders because of the problem of overcrowding of the prison system; castration should be used as a punishment. If the prison system wants to reduce any offenders sentence due to overcrowding, it should be those offenders that have committed a non-sexual abuse offense.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Business Leadership: Chanda Kochar

Business Leadership: Chanda Kochar If one monitors much of the success that most recognized products have had in the past, one would realize that all these products have relied on proper financial planning to make it happen. It requires a style of its own, a craftsmanship that can aid in distinguishing a product from every other in the market. The role of the leader who manages this is very significant in making it happen. This raises the interest in me to pursue a career leading me to be the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of a company. The sort of leadership skills necessary in making it happen is exhaustive in nature. It covers areas related to sales management, product management, advertisement, promotions, channel management, financial planning and accountancy. With such diversity, a CFOs role is highly challenging from a leaders perspective. He is required to be highly analytical in his day-to-day approach as well as equally creative in planning his finances to lead the company to success. Even those areas which d o not have a direct impact on finance and accounting are in some manner associated with reaching the financial objectives. So, a CFO has to co-ordinate with even such departments including information technology, public affair, HR management, marketing management, production etc. This certainly helps in understanding the challenges that a CFO has to take care of. One can very well understand this in terms of co-ordination that the CFO needs to have with the information technology department. Every promotional ad that is made these days is dependent on the extent to which a company can afford it. As for example the famous zuzu ads given by Vodafone are highly technology dependent. In other words, a CFO, rite from the time he is chosen as one has to deal with the most complex of the challenges of the corporate world. (McGirt, 2007) As far as my personal leadership philosophy is concerned, a leader is required to be a system thinker. He is required to take care of all the people working under him. The entire organization should be worked as centralized and problems related to all need to be solved by a leader. This can be seen from all the leadership dimensions persistent in the company. As far as motivation is concerned, there should be no rivalry on grounds of favouritism in this regard. In terms of operations, a leader has to ensure that there is equal contribution from all. It is only a leader and his ways that can make this a possibility. Also, a leader should ensure that every individual works to the best of his abilities no matter what group or team he is working for. At the same time, he should keep the organizational strategy at the broader level in mind before taking any decisions. Precisely, a leader is supposed to take charge of resolving all brainstorming sessions resulting due to conflicts in views at the organizational level. Also, with strong domain knowledge, a leader is supposed to ensure that any deficiency in terms of talent and expertise in the organization is sorted with immediate effect. Another important parameter here is that a leader is expected to have integrity in his approach. This is because only then would he be able to set an example for his followers. Once the leader is honest in his own ways, his team would work to the best of its capabilities. This is expected to be truer for a job like that of a chief financial officer who has a big team to follow and integrity becomes the most essential part in all the team members. Five Most important leadership skills In the modern world of today, where one can just not afford to lose out on any grounds with the competitors, an organization has to do all that it can so as to turn out most effective. Under the conditions, effective leadership has been found to be the most significant trait to deal with the issues in the internal organization. This has been seen in case of a CFO and is viable for every other designation a person might hold. We are all aware of the fact that an organization can just not do with a half-hearted approach of the members. To make the organizations streamlined, a leader has to play an important role. Leader is a very common personality essential in every area of an organization. Leadership is the inherent quality which has to be possessed in abundance for effective leadership. The most important functionality of leadership is to motivate people to work so as to have enough efficiency from the organizations perspective. This is a characteristic which is common in all the sk ills that a leader carries. Leadership can also be said to be the process by which a leader has the social influence on the people by providing them support and aids who are working for the accomplishment of a common goal. It is leadership that draws maximum contribution from an individual. A leader must possess quality leadership. He could also provide people working for him the social security so that they feel secure under him and should also be able to motivate them for common beliefs. Also, leaders enjoy a number of powers in an organization. With these powers leaders are said to be engaged in power-politics that is using the authority for its own sake. Some authors reflect it to be unethical use of administrative power. Leaders face a lot of problems in an organization in terms of issues related to power and politics. The first one is favoring of own people in organization. Others are related to unethical use of the authority in business process. Looking at the diversities in which a CFO has to deal in, it is highly likely that there would be cases pertaining to power and politics. A leader has to be skilled enough to deal with the same. Considering all these different situations and responsibilities, it is certain that a leader requires having at least some basic skills in him so as to deal with corporate culture effectively. These traits have been listed as follows: (Mason, 2011) Systems Thinker: A leader should take the entire organization into account before addressing any issue. Considering the competition in every field, every corner of an organization needs to be checked of its operations so as to provide the best possible final services or products. This does not only include those areas that are internal to an organization. External interaction has included the outside stakeholders in the organization system as well. A leader has to take care of this region with equal zeal as he does of the internal region of the organization. Every bit of favouritism should be avoided and performance appraisal methods should felicitate only those employees who deserve. (Shead, 2010). From this, perspective, there are eight different traits required in a leader to be a systems thinker. These have been listed as follows: Forward looking: This guides the leader toward successful completion of the project or work. By having an optimistic idea of the entire organization, a leader is expected to raise the level of confidence in the team members as well as in him. Ultimately, it is the overall progress of the organization which is expected by a leader. Honest: This helps in building a non-partial and efficient relationship with both the upper administration and employees hence completing the entire internal organization. Having this approach would set examples for the team members to follow. This would be beneficial in the long run. So, this trait of a systems thinker increases a leaders probability of success. Broad-minded: It is necessary for a leader to be broad-minded so that small matters do not create hurdles during work. At times, a leader is expected to ignore a number of activities in the system for the ultimate benefit of the system. So, ignorance accompanied by patience helps in making this happen. Ambitious: An ambitious leader can handle new and creative projects more willingly. Being a systems thinker, a leader can very well distribute work load amongst the organizational members. This would make it easy for the new projects to be handled. A reason for the same is that only a leader who is a systems thinker would be able to know distinguished qualities of every individual within an organization, thus using his ambitious nature to work it best for overall success. Competent: There is competition in business everywhere. The leader must be competitive in order to survive. Only a systems thinker can afford to be competitive. He would thus know the areas which would serve as core competencies for his team and improve accordingly to beat the competitors in every respect. Caring: A caring leader motivates and manages workforce more efficiently. Here, caring does not only refer to the employees. It also relates to the reputation of the organization. This is where a systems approach comes into play. It is the emotion that a leader develops for the benefit of the organization that takes his team forward. Inspiring: A leader who inspires his workforce better can extract more from his employees. Here again, the mentioned workforce is in totality. The motivation appeals of systems thinker is highly significant in making it happen. Communication Skills: A leader should be able to communicate all his ideas and perspective so that it reaches even the bottom most classification of employees. In fact personal interaction should be most possible so that it is justifiable to all. Communication skills required in a leader can be better understood as follows: Interpersonal Role: This is a role of a leader that provides information to all the other parts of the organization. Also its purpose is to receive feedback from the rest of the organization. The following characteristics come under this: -Figurehead: A leader should create an impression amongst the organizational members so that his orders are respected and he is considered worthy enough to have the final say in organizational issues. This can be developed by giving equal opportunities to all the members. In other words, a leader has to be a common favorite for an organization to succeed. Here, the concept of election can be taken into account for getting the best results. One must understand that it is the job of a leader to create an employee friendly environment. This is much associated with the organizational success. The reason for the same is that once the employees are contented enough, they would be ready to deliver the best possible and hence make the best fortunes for the organization. (Communication skills for the Leader and Manager , 2011) -Liaison: Communication skills are not only handy within the organization. An equitable responsibility exists for maintaining outside relations. A leader is a representative of the organization. The ways in which he deals with the people external to the organization, decides the forward link. Patience as well as intelligence at the same time is extremely fruitful in making this a possibility. None of the functionalities in a system would be required if a leader lacks in this very requisite. Informational Role: This performs a processing on the information provided by the organization and gives it to decisional authority. Its basic functions are: -Monitor: There are numerous activities going around in the vicinity of an organization. A leader is expected to manage them all. But when the strength of an organization is big, monitoring every department would not be possible for a leader. Here team work becomes important. A leader would monitor the different teams in on organization by maintaining terms with the sub level leaders. -Disseminator: Every bit of information that originates from a leader should be disseminated at an appropriate time to all the departments of the organization. This has a number of benefits associated with it. The first is that once the shop floor staff knows the strategies of the organization, they would be able to incline themselves accordingly. Also, they would develop respect for the leader having been given the privilege to have access to vital information about the organization. This ultimately lifts the work spirit of the entire organization. The skill also lies in laying the boundary between the confidential information about the organization and access of the same to the employees. Every level should certainly have authenticity of information. So, a leader has to establish a trade-off between accessibility and security at the same time. This is where the disseminator quality of a leader comes into play. (Forster, 2010) -Spokesperson: This is another important communication skill of a leader. No matter who does the backhand work and the scripting, it is finally the leader who is the spokesperson. So, this trait determines the presentation skills of a leader. It marks the beginning of association of an organization with another. Good Listener: A leader should give equal opportunities to all his team members so that they can contribute to the organizations welfare. A direct interaction of a simple salesman with customers could be very useful for the leader to incorporate changes if required. The following are the common errors made by the leaders at the workplace which results in disturbed organization of employees and colleagues sometimes when a leader is not a good listener. This typically reduces the loyalty of employees towards the leader. It also makes the employees less satisfied by the job environment and thus results in increased job turnover and thus decreased productivity. Feeling that the leader alone is responsible for carrying out the responsibilities of an organization can widen the gap between the employees and the leader. All the skills that have been discussed so far would go for a waste if this persists in a system. If a leader wants everybody to like him, he would probably never be happy with his team. This would result in failure of substantial magnitude. Whenever there is a brainstorming session, there would have to be a solution. It is the job of a leader to be wise enough to get to the correct conclusion, but this is likely to create dissatisfaction for those speaking against the final solution. The leader has to make an attempt to convince the opposition but not waste resources in overdoing it. Until or unless there is no bit of favoritism involved in it, it would be safe for the organization. Excess socializing can also be a hindrance for the organization. It is a challenge for a leader to be able to draw the line between the organization and its external associations. An excess of socialization would reduce the bargaining power of the system. It can have a magnitude of affecting the core competency of the system as well. Also, if a leader is always in a spree to prove that he has the best solution, would go for nullifying his effect. A leader should always appreciate others solutions and only under suitable conditions he should discard others says. Becoming friend of the employees is never a good practice. A leader is supposed to create an interactive atmosphere but here again; there should always be a difference between the leader and the team members. If this does not persist, the team would lose accountability. There would be nobody reporting to the leader and the work discipline would vanish. Hence, here again a leader has to maintain a balance in the work culture. A leader is not supposed to do everything himself. This would increase the probability of dissatisfaction amongst the team members because of work scarcity. Also, a feeling of mistrust starts to exist under the conditions. So, a leader is supposed to trust his team mates and distribute work justifiably between each member. These are the common errors made by the leaders at the workplace which results in disturbed organization of employees and colleagues sometimes. This typically reduces the loyalty of employees towards the leader. Hence, a leader is expected to keep his ears open to every requirement of the organization and as seen in almost all the cases maintain a balance in communication. (POSNER, 2007) Innovation: In this world of today where demand lives on the direction of innovation, a leader is expected to be highly innovative in his means to be able to replace every function as soon as it becomes traditional no matter how quickly it happens. Innovation does not only relate to using new technology in improving the pace at which an organization works. (Forster, 2010) In fact every dimension of the system requires innovation. If one considers the human resource system for example, it would need innovation in its management. In the recent days, there used to trade unions in every organization. Today there is no room for such trade unions. As soon as the corporate world saw the need to put it to an end, it did so which has made todays smarter employees easy to be managed. Also, the style of leadership needs to be innovative these days. The old system of tall hierarchies should be removed completely. The degree of customization in this respect depends upon the perception of the lead er about his team members. Also, the degree of motivation in the employees suggests the type of organizational structure followed. For an organization where the employees are motivated from initial times, a flat hierarchy could be followed. For others it would be customized as required. Also, a leader is expected to show innovation in the manner in which he approaches the external world. Even in B2C businesses, the customers are smart enough to seek value addition whenever they are approached. Innovation in terms of technology, work process and delivery is highly material under the circumstances. If this does not take place, the organization is bound to succumb to competition. Also, managing a business requires innovation. The entire supply chain from procurement to customer service requires innovation. A very recent manner is the use of innovative IT solutions in the operational process. This can be possible by using innovative solutions of ERP, CRM etc. It would automate the proce ss as and when a leader feels that one should incorporate changes in the same, he should go for some innovative measures of doing it. (Lee, 2011) Decision-making abilities: A leader should have the prowess to be fast in decision making at the same time consider all the pros and cons of the decisions. A lot of the organizations effectiveness depends on the decision making capabilities of the leader. Here again, there should be consensus of the entire team before a decision is made. This means that whenever required, a leader should have the confidence to gather the entire team at work and reach to the most viable decision taking every constraint into account before reaching to conclusions. There a number if errors a leader is likely to incur in this area. They have been mentioned as follows: (Forster, 2010) Making natural decision-The world is changing every moment. Under such situations, it is not feasible for a leader to make natural decisions. There are a number of occasions where what seems likely is not what is suitable. This requires that a leader is not lethargic in his ways. A natural decision would never lead to accelerated progress. Current demands which are mostly latent in nature do not recommend such form of decision making. So, a leader should be appropriate rather than predictable which is also a threat from the competitive point of view. Being defensive when mistaken- A leaders confidence is seen during times when he is actually mistaken. Rather than becoming defensive under such conditions, a leader is expected to react in the best possible way so as to resurrect from this situation. This will test the leader of his ability to adapt to change in policy. Also, it is fact that learning comes from failures. A leader is expected to believe in this fact and follow the same so that his team members also get the inner strength to get over their mistakes hence improving the morale of their entire team. Giving praise to employees for their answers- There is always a difference between appreciation and praising. A leader is expected to maintain this difference so that none of his team mates develop an impression of favoritism in any of his deeds. Consistent appreciation for good work would result into a healthy competition within the organizational environment where as praising a person again and again can even lead to high attrition rates. Development of three leadership skills Communication Skills: This can be developed by consistently understanding the needs of the corporate both within and outside the organization. The reason for the same is that once there is sufficient understanding, communication would be made easier. It is not easy to develop communication skills in a system where there is substantial bit of diversity. We have seen the case of a Chief Financial Officer. The team or the group of teams that he has to handle is huge. So, understanding the needs of every person would be highly complex if one takes personal interviews. A consistent round of questionnaire should thus be distributed amongst all the team members from time to time. This questionnaire should include all aspects of work culture. Also, it should have a portion for personal views of each employee. This is highly important because better communication can only be established if a leader is able to understand the views of all the employees and the other team members who work under him. Even the factors which are taken into consideration in the questionnaire should depend on the type of situation existing in the industry at the time of survey. The reason for the same is that, it will fetch the latest problems that people have and be more effective in decision making. As for example, during the period of recession the requirements of team members would have been different from otherwise normal occasions. As such periods are highly critical; a leader needs to have even better communication with the team members. So, questionnaires need to be customized accordingly to reflect the time of distribution. Also, there should be training period to improve communication. Working with a diversity of people would mean that there would be different levels of communication between the team members. This could be with respect to language, motivation, level of understanding etc. This can be developed in a span of 4-5 years by getting across all the different situations of business that can arise in an organization. Communication can also be improved by shifting designations. In a span of around 4-5 years, if a person shifts his position in the company, he would get to interact with a greater diversity of population. As a result of this, he would be acquainted with more number of situations in hence develop into a better communicator of things. The position of a CFO should only be given to that person who has the experience of leading different categories of teams so that his experience can be put to use. If every coveted place of an organization is given on the basis of diversities in which a person has been under, it would not only increase the team spirit in the individuals but also make them better communicators. (Leadership Communication Skills The Importance of Connection, 2008) Innovation: Innovation is a part of the original thought-process of an individual. But, it can be developed with respect to an industry depending upon the experience and the honesty of work so that a leader is able to understand the marker better and come up with suitable ideas at the time it is required. It is never an easy task to develop a project or a product for a company. It is also true that this cant be done alone by practising any form of leadership. As it has been mentioned earlier, a leader is expected to have interactions with the research and development department of the company. This is one of the areas from where an innovation proceeds. A leader should be aware of all these innovations and make note of the reactions of the market after every new innovation made in the company. This would give him a better view of the corporate environment which in turn would develop his innovation skills in about 4 to 5 years time. This is a reactive approach towards innovation. A lea der can also look for some proactive approaches in this regard. As for example, if in about 2 years, a leader feels that he is capable enough to understand the latent demands of the customers, he can design products that have no relevance with the past. A lot of stress would have to be given on reliability tests of the product before it is launched. Here, again the communication skills of the leader are under scrutiny considering the challenge behind taking up the job. There could be various example of doing this. For example the introduction of i-phone was a complete innovation of its leader, Steve Jobs who has enough experience to go for such risky innovations. The basic factor for success of this gadget is that it completely satisfies the latent demand of the customers of the product. Similarly, when Reliance introduced a phone in India that was priced as low as 75 Dhms, it sent a wave of demand across the nation. Here again proactive form of leadership can be seen in use. Not only in the form of products, but innovation can be seen in the form of marketing to a large extent. As for example, the different forms of advertisements would largely follow innovation. We have all seen the latest zuzu ad given by Vodafone. This form of advertisement had never been seen before. But, no matter what age group one might belong to, it is highly appreciated by all. So, this teaches a lesson to all the leaders that one can make innovations not only in the form of introducing new products or services in a company. This can also be done by presenting the same product but in an innovative manner so as to attract the crowd even further. Innovation within the organization management has also become highly important these days. HR system would not work in the same manner as mentioned earlier. A company should always use measures like free shares of the company to its employees to show them a variety of benefits. This would raise the level of satisfaction. Benefits like holiday packages, free passes, increased breaks, special meals etc can add to innovative practices in increasing HR satisfaction. Only an experience of 4-5 years would make one understand the relevance of each of these approaches in the HR system. Decision-making capabilities: This trait can also be developed over time, concentrating more on the necessities of the customers and the requirements of the employees at the same time. Decision-making abilities develop as a result of confidence. One needs to be confident in his own mental abilities so that he can envision the situation around him which would give him the guts to take decisions. Being in the industry for about 4-5 years would mean that a leader would be able to analyse the world around him. One cant state the level of analysis that a leader would be able to do. It all depends on how much he can break down a situation, looking at the individual parts and then providing an overview of all of them. Also, decision making can be improved by thinking critically. This means that a leader must develop the ability to be an optimist and a pessimist at the same time. Years of experience would bring forward all the possible consequences and the good possibilities of a decision. A leader should be able to grasp those that are more likely to occur before he can make a decision. For example, for every movie that is released at the box office, there is always a critical review made. If in a span of 4-5 years time a leader can make such a critical review before even the release of a movie, he can consider himself a good decision maker. Development of decision-making skills would also come from being able to understand the value of research. Rather than wasting too much in a particular direction, a good decision maker would know exactly what would be most beneficial. Research conducted by Coke and Pepsi is a highly suitable example to showcase the developed leadership abilities in this respect. Also, a leader can develop decision making by being able to manage the conflicts that arise within him and in the world around him. All these characteristics make up the decisive behaviour techniques including all the assumptions of risk in it. The developed parameters of a capable decision making leader would be his self-awareness, skill acquisition and improved competence. Also, an ability to appreciate decentralized decision making developed over a period of 4-5 years with the above mentioned characteristics completes a leader in this context. (Lessons in Leadership: Decision Making A Must for Success, 2010) Woman Business Leader Here, I would talk about the highly capable Chanda Kochar who is the MD and CEO of ICICI Bank in India. This great business leader even without completing a half century of her life holds this herculean responsibility. Also, ICICI bank, that she leads is the largest private bank in India and on an overall basis, it is the second largest bank in the entire nation. She is the head of the Corporate Centre of this bank. She was born and brought up in a city called Jaipur in western Rajasthan in India. She received a bachelors degree from Jai Hind College in Mumbai and subsequently pursued Cost Accountancy in the year 1982. She has done her MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. She has a financial background. In her academic career itself, she received two of the most prestigious awards of all times. She was the proud winner of Wockhardt Gold Medal for Excellence in Management Studies and also the J.N. Bose Gold Medal in Cost Accountancy for being the topper in that very year. The best of all this is that both these awards come in the same year which just personifies her domain knowledge proficiency. Mrs. Kochar has consistently appeared in the Fortunes List of Most Powerful Women in Business from 2005. This is even before she got her current authority. Moreover, she started from the twentieth position in Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women list in 2009. She has also been dignified with Padma Bhushan award which is the third highest civilian award in India. (Directors Profile, 2010) Mrs. Kochars professional career started in the year 1984 and can be divided into 3 phases. The first phase is that from 1984-1993. It was in the year 1984 that she joined The Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Ltd (ICICI Ltd.) as a management trainee. From the early years itself she got the herculean task of Project Appraisal and Monitoring. This shows the mark of leadership in an individual who is given such tasks also in diversified ranging from Petrochemicals to Cement including Textile and Paper. The second phase was that from 1993 to 2006. It was in this intermediate phase of her life that she was sent to be a part of the core team of the bank and set it right. After 10 years of working in the same bank she was given the responsibility to be the General Manager in 1994 followed by which she became the Deputy General Manager in the year 1996. At that time she was heading the Infrastructure Industry Group of the bank. Her basic focus was to create expertise in Power, Telecom and Transportation sectors. Then the major turn round in her career was seen in the year 1988 when she became the General Manager of the bank and was considered suitable enough to lead the Major Client Group. In about a decade from then she started to handle Strategy and E-Commerce divisions of the bank as well. It was under her leadership in the year 2000 that ICICI started Retail business and in only 5 years it became the largest retail finance in India. Then in 2001, her qualities gave her the position of Executive Director from where she heads the entire bank. Finally, the third phase started from 2006 and c

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Macbeths Queen Essay -- Macbeth essays

Macbeth's Queen      Ã‚   There are two main characters in William Shakespeare's Macbeth, one of which is Lady Macbeth. Let us in this paper study her character in detail.    Blanche Coles states in Shakespeare's Four Giants evaluates the character of Lady Macbeth:    A woman who could speak as Lady Macbeth does, who could call upon the spirits that tend on mortal thoughts to unsex her and fell her from head to foot full of direct cruelty, who could entreat these same spirits to stop all avenues of remorse so that no compunctions of conscience will interfere with the carrying out of her purpose, who could call upon the night to wrap itself in the murkiest, gloomiest smoke of hell in order to hide, even from the keen knife she would use, the wound she would make when she herself stabs the sleeping King, such a terrible, frightful woman would not scruple at telling a little wife-to-husband lie to accomplish her purpose. (52)    In Everybody's Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies, Maynard Mack shows how Lady Macbeth complements her husband:    Her fall is instantaneous, even eager, like Eve's in Paradise Lost; his is gradual and reluctant, like Adam's. She needs only her husband's letter about the weyard sisters' prophecy to precipitate her resolve to kill Duncan. Within an instant she is inviting murderous spirits to unsex her, fill her with cruelty, thicken her blood, convert her mother's milk to gall, and darken the world "That my keen knife see not the wound it makes" (1.5.50). Macbeth, in contrast, vacillates. The images of the deed that possess him simultaneously repel him (1.3.130, 1.7.1) When she proposes Duncan's murder, he temporizes: "We will speak further" (1.5.69). (189)    ... ...Blakemore Evans. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1972.    Knights, L.C. "Macbeth." Shakespeare: The Tragedies. A Collectiion of Critical Essays. Alfred Harbage, ed. Englewwod Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1964.    Mack, Maynard. Everybody's Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.    Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. http://chemicool.com/Shakespeare/macbeth/full.html, no lin.    Siddons, Sarah. "Memoranda: Remarks on the Character of Lady Macbeth." The Life of Mrs. Siddons. Thomas Campbell. London: Effingham Wilson, 1834. Rpt. in Women Reading Shakespeare 1660-1900. Ann Thompson and Sasha Roberts, eds. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1997.    Wilson, H. S. On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1957.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Buy a Bride :: Marriage History Papers

Buy a Bride In the mid-eighteen hundreds the first waves of Americans began heading west. They were in search of the American dream; their chance to live happily ever after. This first wave of settlers was for the most part, composed of miners looking to strike it rich. They exploited the mineral resources all over the west, wherever gold was found; the most famous places were in California, Colorado, and the Dakotas. The brave and adventurous men streamed over the continent in wagon trains or around it in ships in order to reach the west coast. Towns sprang up around the different places where gold had been found as well as around places for ships to dock. The next wave of people to head west was the ranchers. They needed land and western land was far cheaper than land in the east. The ever growing cities in the east needed an ever increasing supply of food and the cattle found on the western plains proved a good and profitable solution. Shortly after the ranchers the farmers came looking for land. The land in the east was worn out from over cultivation, in stark contrast the western land was rich and virtually untouched, not to mention cheaper. The west was a new and promising land with endless possibilities. (Summitt) Despite the promise and possibilities there were a few minor problems. One such problem was that the vast majority of the settlers were men. "Men from the eastern states, Canada, and Europe often preceded the women, and then found themselves longing for feminine companionship." (Yalom 226) Population imbalances, combined with geographical isolation and physical distance, often made men frantic to find wives from among the few single Anglo women living in their region of the west. Unfortunately, interracial marriages were not looked upon favorably by the population at large, so even men who had taken Indian brides were looking for women of European decent (15) In some places the problem was worse than in others. In the Washington Territory it has been estimated that the ratio of men to women, regardless of marital status, as high as 9:1 and that there were at least two thousand men in the Territory that wished to get married (Holbrook 47). This problem was not a simple one to remedy. Men who had enough money traveled east and brought back a wife, but the vast majority of the populous did not have the capital needed to make such a journey possible.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Retail Management Essay

What can an independent retailer learn from this case? An independent retailer can pull several insights from this reading. First and foremost the market is becoming severely competitive which means that independent retailers will have to adapt to the environment. Adaptations such as; benchmarking other retailers, pinpointing customer needs & wants, developing a long-term strategy for adaptation are to be made. It is imperative that retailers find ways to draw-in and maintain customers by changing with the market. Soft line specialty stores have found that the recent economic downturn has hurt the industry and in turn created intense competition for retailers to find new ways to get more sales from existing customers. Some good ideas for retailers to consider after reading this case are, repositioning old images, continuing to target the youth market, and creating a life cycle of retailing whereas, when a customer outgrows a particular brand, you have another brand for the consumer to grow into. There are also many ways that our ever-advancing technology can be incorporated into retailing to aid companies in increasing revenues.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Time Warner Analysis

BUSINESS CASE ASSIGNMENT 1 Jie Tian Zhaopeng Li A. As part of strategic planning exercise, describe and analyze the vision and mission statements of Time Warner Inc. There is no explicit vision or mission statements on Time Warner’s website. But according to the description of vision and mission statements on class the â€Å"ABOUT US† statement on the company’s website resembles the mission statement and the â€Å"OUR VALUES† statement fits the definition of vision statement. The â€Å"ABOUT US† statement describes that Time Warner Inc. a global leader in media and entertainment with businesses in television networks, film and TV entertainment and publishing, uses its industry-leading operating scale and brands to create, package and deliver high-quality content worldwide through multiple distribution outlets. First off, this mission statement is a product-oriented mission because it states what products and services it serves its customers. Second, the statement emphasizes that Time Warner is a global leader and provide services worldwide. It shows the scope and domain of the organization is around the globe.And it also clearly describes the organization’s purpose is to create, package and deliver high-quality content through multiple distribution outlets. The â€Å"OUR VALUES† on the website describes that the company encourages risk-taking and divergent voices, makes the highest quality premium content available on every device, creates value by working together within and across our business, upholds editorial independence and artistic expression, attracts and develops the world’s best talent and takes pride in serving the public interest.The â€Å"OUR VALUES† statement falls into seven categories which are creativity, customer focus, agility, teamwork, integrity, diversity and responsibility. The statements show the ambitious long-terms goals of the organization such as recruiting the worldâ₠¬â„¢s best talent and making its content available on every device. It also mentions how the organization will generate value for the future through effective teamwork, innovation and originality and embracing changes and opportunities B. Explain, in detail, its basis of competitive advantages using Porter’s generic strategies (show how this is supported through the firm’s value hain activities) Time Warner has four main subsidiaries which are Turner Broadcasting System, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Home Box Office, and Time Inc. Turner’s entertainment networks include TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, tru TV, Turner Classic Movies and Boomerang. Turner’s news networks consist of CNN and HLN. Each of the subsidiaries of Turner has their own specialties for example that TBS focus on contemporary comedies like The Big Bang Theory, TNT focus on drama, tru TV focus on real-life stories from a first-person perspective.Warner Bros. Entertainment include Warner Bros. wh ich produces and distributes feature films, Warner Bros. Television Group which develops, produces and distributes television series, reality-based entertainment shows and animation programs for the Company’s network and third parties. Other subsidiaries under Warner Bros. Entertainment are Warner Bros. Animation Inc. , Warner Home Video, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Consumer Products Inc. and DC Entertainment.The third segment of the organization is Time Inc. which is the largest magazine publisher in the U. S. based on commercial avenue and published 21 magazines in print in U. S. and over 70 magazines out of U. S. which covers the topic of style and entertainment, lifestyle, news and sports. Time/Warner Retail Sales & Marketing Inc. is also a subsidiary under Time Inc.. Home Box Office (HBO) is the nation’s most widely distributed multi-channel premium pay television service which consists of recently releas ed uncut and uncensored theatrical motion pictures.Based upon the brief introduction of various segments in the organization above it can be concluded that the competitive advantage of Time Warner is founded on differentiation. Porter suggested that a firm could only apply one of the three generic strategies or the company could be â€Å"stuck in the middle† and will not achieve a competitive advantage. However, he also argued that firms could only succeed at multiple strategies by creating separate business units for each strategy.In Time Warner case differentiation strategy and differentiation focus strategy are both applied in achieve its competitive strategy. For networks and film business the company is competing with other film production and network companies. Television programming, feature films and news are the products of these industries which always have a massive audience scope and the companies try to differentiate themselves from competitors. The uniqueness of the product is the key in the competition that customers would like to pay a premium price for the products.Time Warner exploits its brand recognition and embraces innovation and creativity to product various different focused programs and movies to distinguish itself from its competitors. The competitive advantage is achieved through differentiation focus for HBO and magazines business because of their narrow market focus. Magazines like Essence and Golf face targeted audience instead of the broad scope audience. Time Warner has its own well developed distribution channel and sales& marketing company.Therefore, its differentiation could be effectively supported by the outbound logistics and Sales &Marketing sections in the value chain. C. Mintzberg’s family of strategies. Time Warner is involved in both the midstream and downstream business because it develops, produces and distributes feature films, TV programming and magazines. Time Warner distinguishes itself in achievin g competitive advantage through differentiation strategy and differentiation focus strategy. Time Warner elaborates its core business by market development strategy and diversification strategy.Time Warner develops its market mainly by geographic expansion and technology expansion. For example, Turner distributed 57 networks of it regional entertainment brands in over 200 countries. Time Inc. made all of its’ U. S. magazines available at tablet editions. The CW broadcast network cooperated with Netflix. Inc. and Hulu to expand its distribution channel. Time Warner extends its core business by the strategies of entry and control and listening. The 50-50 joint venture between Warner Bros. and CBS Corporation created the CW broadcast network.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Management paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Management paper - Essay Example The book is a collection of various case stories that are divided into two parts labeled Opportunity and Legacy. From these stories Malcolm Gladwell draws his conclusions. The book has attracted both strong support and strong criticism, but many of the author’s ideas are extremely interesting and thought provoking. 1) The Introduction to the book deals with small town of Roseto in Pennsylvania that had a far lower incidence of heart disease than neighboring towns. The better health of the population was unrelated to diet or other lifestyle reasons or genetics. The reason was identified as the strong family ties amongst the people represented by several generations living together. These ties were ingrained in the people from the practice in the Italian region from where they immigrated. 2) The first chapter of the book is titled â€Å"The Mathew Effect† from a biblical quotation that says that those that have shall be given even more while those that do not have will have even the little that they have taken away from them (Gladwell, 2008, p15). Gladwell quotes a study in the mid-1980s of Canadian hockey players which found that in any team, the majority of the players were born in January, February or March compared to the later months of the year. The reason for this was found to be the system from the school age where age group teams were formed with a cutoff date of January 1. The children born in the first quarter of a year are on average bigger and more developed than children born six months later. The older children get selected into teams and given coaching in preference to younger children. 3) Chapter two of this section is titled â€Å"The 10,000- Hour Rule† and makes two separate points. Software pioneers like Bill Joy and Bill Gates had the opportunity to work on software programming for over 10,000 hours. The then expensive computer access time was made possible due to

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

The hells nature debate Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The hells nature debate - Research Paper Example The debate about the nature of hell is covered in consideration of three main aspects about hell: the duration of hell; the main reason for hell and finally the felling in hell (is the feeling experienced in a state of consciousness or unconsciousness) From this point of view; it is definitely clear that hell’s nature is far much more complicated to understand that one could easily think. As a matter of fact, with the rising of new knowledge each and everyday, it becomes very confusing as to what exactly is hell made up of. This paper approaches the topic of the nature of hell with much criticism so as to clearly analyze two main approaches that are used in an attempt to explain the nature of what is believed to be hellii. In doing effectively doing this, the classical view and the annihilationist view about hell have been critically analyzed with their strengths and weaknesses being closely assessed against the benchmark offered by the Biblical explanations about the nature o f hell. Classical View Despite the fact that the classical view regarding the nature of hell is mostly pegged on the Biblical teachings, it is very important to take note of the fact that the classical view explaining the nature of hell has different versions which are mainly differentiated as per the interpretations that arise from the Biblical teachings regarding hell. The first version is the literal view of hell’s nature. ... Hells nature will be so rough according to this version that the people who will be damned to be in hell will be forever having regrets of their lives. They will be wishing that they move out but on realizing that hell has no way out, and then it will forever be an eternal psychological suffering to them. From this interpretation, it can be clarified that hell is actually a place with only the way in but it totally has no way out. This is due to the fact that the people who will be damned to be suffering in this place will be wishing that they repent their sins and move out but all this will be in vain as they would be damned to stay in the place eternally. The second version is the psychological interpretation of the Biblical teachings. This version sharply contradicts with the initial interpretation as it argues that the nature of hell ought not to be literally taken from the Biblical teachings. On the contrary, this version sees the darkness and fires that are used to describe the nature of hell as merely symbols and metaphors that are strategically used to depict the suffering that is in helliv. The fundamental argument that is used by the proponents of this line of thought is the fact that human beings were made by God. It is therefore in their nature that whatever they desire most is to be with God eternally. Once this aspect is withdrawn then humans are bound to suffer (endure hell’s nature-withdrawal form God’s presence). According to this version, the nature of hell is therefore basically total withdrawal from the presence of God eternally. The darkness and fires that are used o describe the tough nature of hell simply

Monday, October 7, 2019

MBA Strategic Analysis and Choice Research Paper

MBA Strategic Analysis and Choice - Research Paper Example This study is initiated to investigate and analyse Tesco strategic resources, environment, choices and action while defining the company's reaction should it discover that a competitor is competing on the basis of the BCG growth Matrix. The study first of all scans the market environment, then using Porters Five forces framework, Porters generic strategy, the SWOT matrix and the core competences and capabilities of Hamel and Prahalad, the study analysis Tesco in order to identify those invisible taken for granted assumptions, capabilities and resources that competitors have found difficult to emulate. The study made three important findings. Firstly, Tesco unlike the competitors is focused on cost leadership, generic focus and product differentiation. This has become part of the company's culture. To the company lower cost does not mean lower quality. Secondly, as a company's reaction to a competitor using the BCG growth matrix, the company's management emphasizes on its core values, lay emphasis on product differentiation and lower cost; that is using the cash cows and stars to reduce the company's question marks. Also, it has been argued in this paper that, the company should enter into exclusive long term relationship with suppliers, co-branding with celebrity, artist and designers to create a unique product. It should be so, because taking a lead of innovation might mean innovation in branding, innovation in product variation and innovation in other formats. Introduction Today, business environment has become more turbulent, chaotic and challenging than ever before. In the present phase of events, to survive it is vital that a firm does something better than its competitors (Wonglimpiyarat 2004). Globalisation has not only altered the nature and the intensity of competition but has dictated and shaped organisations in terms of what consumers want, how and when they want it and what they are prepared to pay for it (Hagan 1996). In the context of today's global competition, businesses and firms no-longer compete as individual companies but try to corporate with other businesses in their activities (Wu & Chien 2007). These researchers further argue that, this strategy is now quite common in many businesses including the retail chain stores. In the retail chain stores, the conventional vertical integrated company based business model is gradually being replaced by collaborative relationship between many fragmented, but complementary and specialized value stars and constellation (Wu & Chien 2007). Having said this, the remaining parts of the paper will be structured as follow. The next section provides an introduction to the company under case study. There after, the purpose of the study will be defined. Using certain analytical techniques,

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Gender isues in employment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Gender isues in employment - Essay Example "It is a people business. Tourism is the largest employer of any industry in the world now; its growing by leaps and bounds. And tourism is the largest employer in San Francisco. This gives women a chance to hone their management skills." (Armstrong, 2006) Employment opportunities in the hospitality profession abound all over the world. In the majority of West European countries women predominate in the hotel staff but unfortunately, only a small number of women are in management positions. Purcell postulates that there are three mutually-reinforcing but distinct elements which influence the allocation or denial of particular work to women: labour cost, sexuality and patriarchal prescription (Purcell, 1996) A study by Kattara in 2005 on career challenges of female managers in Egyptian hotels found out that the majority of female managers were not in situations that would lead them to the positions of general managers. â€Å"The study detected several factors preventing female managers from reaching the glass ceiling. The stepwise multiple regression showed that 35.5 percent of the variance in the existence of challenges could be explained by four factors; gender discrimination, relationships at work, mentor support and lack of network access† (Kattara, 2005) In the hospitality sphere there also exists a strong gender-segregation in work. Burgess, in her research, claims that there exist considerable discrepancies between the career development and salaries of men and women in the hospitality industry. The most prestigious and, therefore, better-paid job positions are occupied by men (Burgess, 2003).. Female employees tend to work in housekeeping, the kitchen or in the food and beverage departments. While there tends to be an equal amount of men and women in front office, top managerial positions still tend to be held by men. There appears to be a constant conflict between mutually beneficial

Saturday, October 5, 2019

Appeal letter (defer standing) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Appeal letter (defer standing) - Essay Example She controls my credit card and has twice failed to give me money for my daily upkeep and tuition fees. As an international student, this affects my schoolwork as the stress of finding money to cater for tuition fees and daily life is very high. I did not perform very well in my last exams, thus she sent me back to china. However, through begging she gave me a second chance. On 30th December last year, I went to China to visit my folks. Unfortunately, my parents had already divorced and father was now living with his younger lover. The new relationship that my father was into was now over two years old. It was depressing that my father cheated on my mother before the divorce with this girl. Before my arrival in China, I thought everything could turn up well but contrary the opposite happened; I got more depressed. What was annoying is that father treated the new girl much better than my mother; he showered her with love and care. He also prepared food for the new girlfriend something I have never seen him do for my mother. This made my life more unbearable, anger and jealousy clouded my mind. China was now intolerable and at some moment felt like returning to Canada. However, going to Canada at that time could not be possible considering the intense and deteriorative relationship with my aunt. The divorce agreement of my parents saw my mother retain the house. However, her wages are low making it difficult for her to pay the rent while sustaining the family. My mother’s death only worsened the situation; it deeply affected me emotionally and psychologically. It is a miracle I stayed strong until now. Each day was a nightmare and concentrating with my academic revision was impossible. Many times my mind was clouded with things beyond my control, always thinking on how unfair life has become. Last year I was very serious with my academics, always reviewing my notes in time and reading ahead of the teacher. However, now I seem to