Federalism Essay Example

Federalism Essay Federalism is a term that covers the relationship between the states and the federal government, from constitutional issues to the most pressing issues happening in the year 2001. It covers laws and rights of the citizens that can be either taken care of by the state or federal government. This paper will be explaining how the U.S. government figured out that federalism was the best way to bring sense into The United States. After the Revolutionary War, the American states were independent from Great Britain. They needed to create a system of government to run this new nation. Thefirst system created was known as the Articles of Confederation and was adopted by the Congress on November 15, 1777. In its final form, the Articles of Confederation were comprised of a preamble and 13 articles.The Articles of Confederation were finally ratified by the last of the 13 American states, Maryland, in 1781 and became the ruling document in the new nation. The Articles created a nation that was a league of friendship and perpetual union.The state governments retained most of the power under the Articles, with little power given to the central government. Congress, for example, had to rely upon the states for its funds and for the execution of its decrees. The central government received little respect and was not able to accomplish much because it had little authority over states or individuals in America. This is why the Articles of Confederation did not work for the United States. On May 25th 1787, The Constitutional Convention opened at Independence Hall in Philadelphia with seven states being represented. Few days later, delegates from four other states arrived. A government that will pay its debts and maintain a stable currency system would serve the personal financial interest of the delegates. A system of government in which the power is divided between a central authority and constituent political units is Federalism. Federal

Ted Bundy Essays - Ted Bundy, Necrophiles, Serial Killer, Ted

Ted Bundy Essays - Ted Bundy, Necrophiles, Serial Killer, Ted Ted Bundy Ted Bundy's Trail of Terror From the Beginning of Taking Life Until The End of His Serial killers tend to be white heterosexual males in their twenties and thirties. While it is impossible to predict who will become a serial killer there are traits that appear to be similar in all killers. These behaviors include cruelty to animals, bedwetting, lying, drug and alcohol abuse, and a history of violence. According to Robert Ressler et al., serial homicide involves the murder of separate of separate victims with time breaks between victims, as minimal as two days to weeks or months. These time breaks are referred to as a cooling off period. Because homicides involving multiple victims is gradually becoming more commonplace, and to facilitate an understanding of the aforementioned definition, it is helpful to differentiate serial murder from other types of murder, such as mass murder, which involves,four or more victims killed within a short time span, and spree killings, which Ressler et al. defines as a series of sequential homicides connected to one event committed over a time period of hours to days and without a cooling off period. Ted Bundy is one of the worst serial killers in history. His antisocial personality and psychotic character made him feared across the country. After all was said and done Ted left behind a trail of bloody slayings that included the deaths of 36 young women and spanned through four states. The biggest question in many people's mind was how could someone as intelligent,highly accomplished, and praised as Bundy do such a thing? Theodore Robert Bundy was born November 24th, 1946 in Burlinton, Vermont to a 21 year old mother. Ted's mom never told him much about his father except that he was in the armed forces and they had only dated a few times. Ted was left in foster care for two months while his mom and parents decided what to do with him. In 1946 an illegitimate child was extremely looked down upon by society. Once they decided to keep Ted his grandparents told everyone he was their adopted son. Ted knew who his biological mom was, but outsiders were told that she was his sister. Ted adored his grandfather. His grandfather was also particularly fond of Ted. He remembered camping and fishing trips he and his grandfather would go on. Other family members describe his grandfather as an ill-tempered tyrant. He was racist, intolerant, and a perfectionist. He expected everyone to meet his demands. His grandfather was also verbally abusive toward other family members and physically abusive toward his wife. He also physically mistreated animals including the family pet. Ted's grandmother suffered from depression. It got so bad that she was eventually treated with electroshock therapy. She also suffered from agoraphobia and never left the house. When Ted was three years old, his Aunt, age 15, said she awoke to find him slipping butcher knives into the bed beside her under the covers. She told him to leave and took the knives back. She said no one in the family did anything about this. (Time Life) The older Ted got, it became more difficult to hide his family's identity and his secret mother. With this his mother moved to Washington where she met and married John Bundy. At the time Ted was four years old. He was adopted by John and his new parents had four children together. From the beginning Ted did well in school. His teachers complimented him on his good grades. But they also commented on Ted's inability to control his violent temper. Friends recall Ted as one who would usually avoid fights, though when provoked could explode with frightening violence and anger. Ted was active in Boy Scouts and attended church regularly. He also held a part-time job and made excellent grades. Ted just dated once during high school and was described as shy. It was around this time that Ted began sneaking out of the house and peeping into windows. He became a Peeping Tom. He occasionally disabled a woman's car to make her more vulnerable, without actually doing anything to her(Time Life). He found these behaviors sexually arousing and masturbated while doing them.

Accounting for Management Decisions Research Paper

Accounting for Management Decisions - Research Paper Example In order to be highly competitive in the market, an organisation must be able to forecast future changes in customer needs and market trends. Organisations normally predict possible future market changes by assessing past and current market flows. For this purpose, an organisation deploys a number of business evaluation tools. Activity based costing, value chain analysis, and customer profitability are the three major frameworks that assist an organisation to evaluate its business flow. This paper conducts a detailed research to identify the core concepts, objectives, pros and cons, and applicability of each of these business evaluation methodologies. The paper includes an extensive literature review section and an analysis section. The major findings reflect that: †¢ Cost centre and cost driver are two core concepts of activity based costing †¢ Governance, innovation and upgradation, benchmarking, and product positioning are the key ideas of value chain analysis †¢ Cash flow, customer capital/equity, and customer as a real option constitute the core concepts of customer profitability †¢ The ABC approach greatly assists users to better identify their overheads with regard to activities and resources. †¢ The most advantageous feature value chain analysis is that this methodology assists its users to get a clear view of their core competencies The concept of customer profitability aids an organisation to identify its profitable customer groups and secure them from competitors. II. Introduction Today, organisations are widely using business evaluation tools like ABC, value chain analysis, and customer profitability analysis to evaluate their (organisations’) business feasibility and secure future profitability. Application of these tools assists firms to identify their pitfalls in supply chain activities, their potential strengths and weaknesses, and most profitable customer segments. Although all these three techniques are complex and time consuming, they are the best available tools to accurately evaluate a business concern. The ABC approach is mainly concerned with allocation of cost to various supply chain activities along with the firm’s resources whereas the value chain analysis explores activities that create value for the organisation and those do not create. The former method specifically focuses on profitability of each activity and process while the latter tries to define the organisation’s core competencies over its rivals. In contrast, the concept of customer profitability aids a firm to identify profits generated by its individual customers. All the three approaches are based on some core accounting and management concepts. The following sessions critically analyse these three business evaluation tools in detail. III. Literature review 1. Activity based costing Activity based costing (ABC) can be simply referred to a special costing approach that clearly identifies and defines activities in an organisation and allocates costs of each activity among all products and services based on actual consumption by each activity. According to the Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing-International (CAM-I), activity based costing is a costing model â€Å"that assigns cost activities based on their use of resources, and assigns costs to cost objects, such as products or custome rs, based on their use of activities† (Lewis, 1995, p.114). The ABC is a valuable accounting tool as it provides an organisation with more clear view of the product and process costs. This concept can be effectively employed to improve management decision making process and thereby promote the firm’

Field Work Experience Within HR Department Essay

Field Work Experience Within HR Department - Essay Example This essay intends to provide a vivid description of the field work experience obtained in a LNG company (Liquefied Natural Gas) named Liquefied Natural Gas Limited. The researcher of the essay illuminates the different managerial practices in the organization detailing out the individual as well as corporate strategies undertaken by the organization to earn its competitive domain globally. Moreover, the field work also helps in identifying the major areas of discrepancies, which if rectified can help the company gain corporate excellence. The LNG is an Australian company having its headquarters in Perth in Western Australia. The company operates in three sectors namely oil and gas project development, investing in existing oil and gas discoveries and technology development and licensing. Liquefied Natural Gas Limited has a corporate strategy to become the leader in the mid-scale LNG sector. The company also plans to supply fast-track energy related solutions to the gas suppliers and energy users who do not have proper gas supply. The company has been managing its resources quiet well through proper decision making. The managerial approaches have largely been observed to be positive. However, the researcher concluds that human resource management related activities in the company should be monitored much more efficiently. Through the regular training and monitoring of the employees, the company will be able to upgrade the employee knowledge base as well as develop its competitive advantage.

Kinship and marriage from a cross-cultural perspective Essay

Kinship and marriage from a cross-cultural perspective - Essay Example According to the research findings it can therefore be said that the Kinship as a word has different meanings and mostly used in contextual manner however, from the perspective of anthropology, it represents a web of social relationships which are required by a person to live in a society. It also outlines the affinity between different entities based upon some or all of the characteristics which are focused and studied. From the perspective of Anthropology, it is also important to understand that it signifies the study of patterns of social relationships within different human cultures or the patterns of social relationships within themselves. The patterns of relationship defined in kinship are either related by descent or by marriage. Relationships which arise as a result of the marriages are called affinity and are viewed differently from the relationships emerging as a result of descent. There has been however different social changes which have relatively altered the kinship nor ms within the society. The modernization and urbanization combined with the industrialization has actually weakened the affinity especially in terms of extended kinship. The recent theory on Kinship has actually redefined the way the overall concept is being viewed. There has been a critical change in the basic assumptions of kinship theory and more focus has been on understanding as to how to view kinship along with other social theory. This paper will discuss as to how various authors have actually defined the social change in the kinship in specific settings with special reference to government laws and recent globalization changes which are taking place globally. Social Change in Kinship Norms There has been a tremendous change in the way the overall literature on the social change in the kinship norms have changed over the period of time,. Lewis Morgan defined kinship as a form of social organization and focused upon defining it from the perspective of structures and functions. This approach was mostly focused upon defining how the various relationship structures actually emerged during the kinship including residence patterns, mating strategies etc. There has been a consistent evolution of the kinship and it started to shift from paternal to maternal source of power and prestige. Since mother was actively involved in the rearing of the children therefore in certain societies, these trends started to change. In some societies, the transfer of property and its ownership was also dependent upon the mother-child link. (Levine, 2008) D. Schneider however provided a critique of the same and suggested that kinship differs from culture to culture and kinship actually encompass different other domains of social life also include economic and political. His critique was important in the sense that it attempted to identify and root kinship into the broader perspective of cultural and social norms. It is also critical to note that he critically associated the symbol s and what meanings can be driven from these symbols. It is however important to understand that most of the Schneider’s work has been focused upon North America and Great Britain. For Schneider, America was a single system of kinship with symbols having same meanings to both the males as well as females. (Peletz, 1995) Carsten defined kinship from the perspective of culture of relatedness and suggested that the biological relationships are socially constructed. She argues about the social construction of the biological relationships and specially the intervention of State as one of the means through which biological relationships are defined. In countries like India, marriage and biological relationships are often based upon religious association of individuals and to which religious class they belong to. The biogenetic relatedness therefore may not be important as kinship can also be defined under the sexual preferences as well as the establishment of kinship based upon pos t-natal associations. Carsten therefore refutes the assumption of Schneider that there is a clear division between the biological and

Regions and Regionalism in Global Politics

Regions and Regionalism in Global Politics Introduction – One View The concept of Regionalism has continued to grow, we can now unite and unify regions together to improve their political and economic agreements, the overall effect of this is to strengthen and stabilize globalization. The revival of old regionalists and the creation of new ones allows us to divide a state into smaller nations, this then gives us a better picture and greater transparency. Not everyone has the same ideology, views, values and beliefs and if we were to leave a state as a whole nation it could give rise to allegations of misconduct and corruption, but unity also isn’t guaranteed if you were to split the state into smaller sections. But there is the increased likelihood of unequal parity and rising tensions as there are so many smaller states within the nation that want to be heard and they all have different views and opinions on how they would like things to be handled. It is a fine balancing act to bring together so many people with different views and needs to be handled sensitively and diplomatically. Africa – Regional Economic Organization The African Economic Community (AEC) As a regional organization the AEC wants to enhance their economic development, based on their own rules, standards and principles, but they need to be capable of making their regionalism globalized if they wish to be successful and seen as a major contender in global politics, although the AEC is pivotal part of Africa’s regional integration; global progress has been slow as continued issues in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia have made democratic consolidation and sustained communications globally very fragile. Africa’s international economic trade agreements remain steady but they are pushing for better internal integration over global integration; their governments are backing more and more regional organizations with the aim to first better the country, their democratic roots and institutions from within before branching out internationally. Africa – Regional Security Organization The Eastern Africa Standby Force By 2015 EASF aims to have finalized the operations for an integrated regional and continental security standby force that will be able to respond to a wide range of crisis within African continent. As a regional organization they have the member states best interests at heart and can work closely with them to gain a better understanding of any situation that arises. With them only being regionalized they will only respond to the African nations conflicts and issues, African leaders felt it necessary to regionalize this African organization as they felt that there were complex challenges threatening the stability and security of their continent, and they didn’t want outside nations challenging their decisions and operations and risking the security and safety of their people. Their impact on global politics is a positive move towards cohesive crisis management not only in Africa but across the other continents. This is one of many regional organizations unlike the AEC that I think should remain regional as it will work with greater effect rather than globalizing the organization and spreading its resources to thinly that they can’t do what they were conceived to do, and in retaining their regionalism it means that they don’t figure on the global political scale, but the other continents can see what they are doing and achieving and work with them to develop their own security task force. Asia – Regional Economic Organization The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) The success of the ECO is dependent on their member states, whilst the status and power of the ECO is improving their member states are struggling economically as they lack the basic and correct geographical factors like appropriate infrastructures, sustainable land, and economic factors like poor intra-regional trade agreements and the full cooperation of some regional and international organizations which they need to be able to make greater use of the resources and materials they have, and promote better regional and international relations. To allow political and economic integration of this regional organization to a global scale they need to be able to be able to show that they have good governance, improved education reform, investing in social improvements, and extensive knowledge of the economy, but the ECO has some very powerful member states, Turkmenistan possess the worlds fourth-largest reserves of natural gas and substantial oil resources (About Turkmenistan, ) and Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have gas fields and a pipe line that connects with China. Continued issues with Afghanistan and the Wests mistrust of Iran has prevented outside people investing in economically struggling areas. Political tension with nations states outside of the ECO are causing strained relations within the political field, this doesn’t necessarily have to impact on the ECO but improving those relations could lead to more members joining the ECO and forging better international relations. Asia – Regional Security Organization ASEAN Regional Forum(ARF) The ARF uses a process of official and non-official diplomacy, this make it unique as an international organization because they then have a two pronged approach to the regional political issues and the security issues and their developments. The associated members have the resources via a forum to discuss current security concerns and work together to enhance the overall security and peace within the region. This organization has a massive impact on global politics and the overall unity of the world; in participating its members have the opportunity to discuss ways to resolve situations without unwanted interference, armed or otherwise, from others, this allows for a greater chance of resolving any security issues through political dialogue and without force being used. To date no armed confrontation has occurred since the ARF was established over 30 years ago. If security issues can be resolved through medication and without the need for conflict management then that country will have increased power within the political world as they will show that they are willing to discuss and negotiate for a peaceful solution. Positive or Negative Regionalism can segregate nations and regions, and can cause unhealthy corrupt alliances, but by allowing the unilateral presence of nation state organizations to prosper they can create a positive and productive playing field that will raise their affectivity in Global politics field. In my opinion, the ever changing and expending world of politics means that, the more regions that are integrated into regional organization then the greater the chance we have of globally and politically effecting change. The more alliances a country can have the more prospects and opportunities it will gain. I see regionalism as neither positive or negative as there are aspects to regionalism that can fall into both categories and most out way the others. International politics is a finely balanced game of whom you can win as allies and who you can succeed as enemies. Our world is constantly changing and unlikely nations are forming alliances in the hope of achieving global sustenance within the international community, only time will tell if these alliances will be able to work effectively or whether new groups will form and break away from our current international field and attempt to create their own One World Government. References About Turkmenistan. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.dragonoil.com/our-operations/turkmenistan/about-turkmenistan/

Macbeth Comparison Essay :: essays research papers

Macbeth Comparison Essay A quote which really defines Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s ambition regarding power is â€Å"Power does not corrupt men; fools; however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power† George Bernard Shaw. Lady Macbeth is more ambitious in terms of gaining power then Macbeth is and that Lady Macbeth will do almost anything to gain power, even evil things that she normally wouldn’t do. This is shown when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth learn about the witches’ predictions, then roles in the plans to murder king Duncan in order to gain power and then finally after the murder, Macbeth doesn’t want to finish the plan making Lady Macbeth angry and causing a chance they might get caught and gain no power at all. Lady Macbeth shows more ambition then Macbeth does in terms of gaining power regarding kingship. When Macbeth finds out about the witches’ predictions and the first two coming true â€Å"Glamis, and thane of Cawdor: The greatest is behind† (1.3.124-125) meaning that he got a taste of power, making him thane of Glamis and thane of Cawdor making him more ambitious for the power to become king. Proving that he will do anything for power he decides that he is going to murder Duncan. When Lady Macbeth receives the letter from Macbeth learning about the witches’ predictions and that two of them came true already, she becomes very ambitious towards gaining power. She doesn’t believe that Macbeth will murder Duncan, so she makes a plan for the murder. Secondly Lady Macbeth shows more ambition then Macbeth does in terms of gaining power regarding kingship. When Macbeth does not want to murder Duncan anymore, for he recognizes that he is a kind man, good king and thinks Duncan should remain the king. Lady Macbeth however shows more ambition for power, becomes very upset upon learning how Macbeth feels how he doesn’t want to kill King Duncan anymore, she says â€Å"And Live a coward in thine own esteem† (1.7.46) meaning she’s calling him a coward for not wanting to kill Duncan and thereby gaining power. She convinces him to change his mind to want the power of kingship now, which can only be achieved by killing Duncan. Thirdly Lady Macbeth shows more ambition then Macbeth does in terms of gaining power regarding kingship. When Macbeth doesn’t care for power anymore and regrets killing Duncan. Thinking of the consequences he says â€Å"I’ll go no more: I am afraid to think what I have done;† (2.

Answer: Ohio Art Company’s Decision Essay

Most of you did well on questions 3 and 4, so here I post only sample answers to questions 1(a) & (b) and 2: 1(a) & 1(b): Question on whether moving production to China is ethical; Question on the economic and social costs and benefits of such a move. Sample Answer (A) Note: this student earned high grades for looking at the issue from multiple perspectives, for looking at the benefits and costs to all major stakeholders, and for acknowledging that moving productions overseas is a controversial topic. Excellent use of facts to support his/her claim. 1. Whether or not Ohio Art Company’s decision to shift production offshore was ethically wrong is a controversial topic. In strictly business terms, Ohio Art Company (OAC) did not break any laws or perform an illicit act; OAC’s decision to offshore was one that had few other options – if the company did not find ways to lower production costs, the company would have eventually gone bankrupt. If production had not been moved, OAC would have been unable to lower production costs, and would therefore be unable to generate enough profits to continue business. Either way, OAC employees would have suffered job losses. Furthermore, OAC’s decision benefited shareholders, which is one element of judging an ethical decision; there are no standards that prohibit off shoring. However, OAC’s obligations to its employees are something that must be considered as well. The company, which is perceived as a family, should not just abandon its employees; it this sense , the company holds moral obligations and employment practices which complicate the question of whether outsourcing is ethical. Sample Answer (B) Note: This student combined 1(a) and 1(b) but made it perfectly clear. Again, the student considered the question of ethics from multiple perspectives, and weighed the benefits and costs to various stakeholders and clearly defined what standards (s)he adopted. 1. The question asked is the one about social responsibilities of corporations. Nevertheless, before making an ethical judgement, one has to look at the decision from at least three perspectives: economic, social and macro-level. On the one hand, it is possible to enumerate a lot of economic benefits for both the US and China. American consumers gained lower prices (an increase in wealth) and poor Chinese villagers were able to move from the impoverished countryside and start a new life in cities[1]. Furthermore, Ohia Art did not go bankrupt, which means that the company and its owners are still a source of revenue for the federal and state government. As to social costs (here the social responsibility of an employer comes into discussion), the closing of a factory resulted in the collapse of the local community. Furthermore, 100 workers lost their jobs and this number is big if we take into account that Bryan has only 8,000 inhabitants. Such a conduct of a company can be considered a violation of ethical obligations springing from the position of the company. Nevertheless, the company did not make any abrupt changes. Moving out of Bryan was gradual and most workers were probably able to find new jobs[2]. Moreover, even though the company does have social obligations, the Friedman Doctrine is at least partly relevant: a company has to seek profits in order to survive. Summing up, in order for the decision to be ethical, the company should seek profits, but also minimise social and this is what Ohio Art surely did. Question 2: Whether it is ethical for Ohio Art to continue employing Kinki Answer A Note: This student acknowledges that there are many ethical standards, not all of which lead to the same conclusion. S(he) clearly shows how the same set of facts can lead to divergent conclusions. This issue can be analysed from multiple perspectives. From the cultural relativist point of view, the fact that the Chinese authorities turn a blind eye to such practices means that the company should do the same. According to the righteous moralist perspective, the company should desist cooperating because doing so would be applying double standards. The proponents of the naà ¯ve immoralist views would claim that since the Chinese businessmen have problems with property rights or keeping the RMB undervalued, western employers should not comply with ethical standards in China. Nevertheless, since the view that human rights are undeniable rights of every human being is now widespread (judging on the number of NGOs and governments supporting such a view), it seems to be reasonable to assume that human rights are a benchmark of what constitutes business ethics. From this follows that the Ohio Art should desist cooperating with Kin Ki, because the contractor violates basic rights of th e workers as enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (e.g. the right to just and favourable remuneration). Answer B Note: Very thoughtful analysis that considers the different economic situations in different countries. Assuming that the dismal working conditions of Kin Ki employees is true, it seems unethical for Ohio Art Company to continue manufacturing with Kin Ki. Again the clear line between what is ethical and acceptable is hazy. However, Ohio Art Company secured a contract on the grounds that employment practices were acceptable, and human rights were enforced. The living conditions of Kin Ki employees are far from decent living conditions – employees are exploited, work long hours, paid below standard requirement, and live in impoverished conditions. It also seems as if labor unions are implicitly forbidden (though not formally stated). The question of â€Å"how much divergence is acceptable† between living conditions between the U.S and China still exists, however, it seems that basic human living conditions are being denied at Kin Ki. ———————– [1] In general, outsourcing seems to be a general trend of globalisation. The division of labour is one of the greatest inventions of humanity and now it is rapidly spreading into the international area. As the Ricardian model of trade predicts, the division of labour will benefit all sides in the long term [2] The other question is whether the company should provide their employees with a training so that they can find new jobs, or whether training programmes should be financed by the state as in a Dutch-Danish flexicurity model. I would say that a company having financial problems (which is the reason for outsourcing) should not be forced to incur further costs.

Theories Of Patriarchy Essays - Gender Studies, Feminist Theory

Theories Of Patriarchy Essays - Gender Studies, Feminist Theory Theories Of Patriarchy This is an A grade essay Assess the claim that gender inequalities in the domestic and occupational divisions of labour are best understood with reference to the concept of patriarchy. You should illustrate your answer with reference to a range of feminist perspectives. Introduction Western female thought through the centuries has identified the relationship between patriarchy and gender as crucial to the womens subordinate position. For two hundred years, patriarchy precluded women from having a legal or political identity and the legislation and attitudes supporting this provided the model for slavery. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries suffrage campaigners succeeded in securing some legal and political rights for women in the UK. By the middle of the 20th century, the emphasis had shifted from suffrage to social and economic equality in the public and private sphere and the womens movement that sprung up during the 1960s began to argue that women were oppressed by patriarchal structures. Equal status for women of all races, classes, sexualities and abilities - in the 21st century these feminist claims for equality are generally accepted as reasonable principles in western society; yet the contradiction between this principle of equality and the demonstrable inequalities between the sexes that still exist exposes the continuing dominance of male privilege and values throughout society (patriarchy). This essay seeks to move beyond the irrepressible evidence for gender inequality and the division of labour. Rather, it poses the question of gender inequality as it manifests itself as an effect of patriarchy drawing from a theoretical body of work which has been developed so recently that it would have been impossible to write this essay thirty years ago. Feminist Theory and Patriarchy Although patriarchy is arguably the oldest example of a forced or exploitative division of social activities and clearly existed before it was ever examined by sociologists, the features of patriarchy had been accepted as natural (biological) in substance. It was not until feminists in the 1960s began to explore the features and institutions of patriarchy, that the power of the concept to explain womens subordinate position in society was proven (Seidman, 1994) . The feminist engagement with theories of patriarchy criticised pre-existing theoretical positions and their ideological use, tracing theoretical progenitors of popular views about gender, gender roles etc (Cooper, 1995; Raymond, 1980). Developing theories to explain how gender inequalities have their roots in ideologies of gender difference and a hierarchical gender order, feminist theoretical concepts of patriarchy are able to explain and challenge gender inequality and the gendered division of labour in the private and social spheres (Seidman, 1994). They have done this by challenging concepts of gender, the family and the unequal division of labour underpinned by a theory of patriarchy that has come to reveal how it operates to subordinate women and privilege men, often at womens expense. Patriarchy, Structure and Gender Inequality Walby (1990) reveals how patriarchy operates to achieve and maintain the gender inequalities essential for the subordination of women. Crucially for this essay, she shows how it can operate differently in the private and public domain but toward the same end. She identifies patriarchy as having diverse forms of and relationships between its structures in the public and private spheres, and yet still operates in a related fashion. Walbys explanation sees the household and household production as being a key site of womens subordination but acknowledges that the domestic area is not the only one that women participate in. She shows how the concept of patriarchy is useful in explaining the relationship between womens subordination in the private and public arenas by showing that they work equally to achieve this subordination as well as supporting, reflecting and maintaining patriarchy itself. Firstly, Walby points out that the structures of patriarchy differ in their form. The household has a different structure to other institutional forms, e.g., the workplace. This is an important point because if feminist theories of patriarchy are to stand they must show that patriarchy operates to the same end in both the private and public sphere, even if it uses different strategies, otherwise it could not be the main reason for the continuing inequality of women in both the private and public sphere. Walby shows that within

Identifying Reading Skills Lesson Plan

Identifying Reading Skills Lesson Plan Teaching reading can be an arduous task as it is often difficult to know how to improve student skills. One of the most obvious, but I have found often unnoticed, points about reading is that there are different types of reading skills. Skimming - reading rapidly for the main pointsScanning - reading rapidly to find a specific piece of informationExtensive - reading a longer text, often for pleasure with emphasis on overall meaningIntensive reading - reading a short text for detailed information These different types of skills are used quite naturally when reading in a mother tongue. Unfortunately, when learning a second or foreign language, people tend to employ only intensive style reading skills. I have often noticed that students insist on understanding every word and find it difficult to take my advice of reading for the general idea, or only looking for required information. Students studying a foreign language often feel that if they dont understand each and every word they are somehow not completing the exercise. In order to make students aware of these different types of reading styles, I find it useful to provide an awareness-raising lesson to help them identify reading skills they already apply when reading in their native tongues. Thus, when approaching an English text, students first identify what type of reading skill needs to be applied to the specific text at hand. In this way, valuable skills, which students already possess, are easily transferred to their English reading. Aim Awareness raising about different reading styles Activity Discussion and identification of reading styles with follow-up identification activity Level Intermediate - upper intermediate Outline Ask students about what types of reading they do in their own mother tongue(s).Write different categories of written material on board. i.e. magazines, novels, train schedules, newspapers, advertising, etc.Have students describe how they go about reading each kind of material. You may want to prompt them by asking the following questions:Do you read every word in the tv schedule?Do you understand every word you read when reading a novel?What kind of clues can the presentation of the material give?How much time do you spend reading the newspaper? Do you read every single word?What kind of assumptions do you make when you read the first few lines or a headline? (i.e. Once upon a time....)How much time do you spend reading the various types of materials?Based on students answers to such questions, ask them to identify the type of skills they are using in the various reading situations.Divide students into small groups and give them the skills summary and short worksheet.Have students di scuss their opinions about the various skills required for the listed materials. Present various real world materials (i.e. magazines, books, scientific materials, computer manuals etc.) and ask students to identify the necessary skills required. Reading Styles Skimming - Reading rapidly for the main points   Scanning - Reading rapidly through a text to find specific information required Extensive - Reading longer texts, often for pleasure and for an overall understanding Intensive - Reading shorter texts for detailed information with an emphasis on precise understanding Identify the reading skills required in the following reading situations: Note: There is often not a single correct answer, several choices may be possible according to your reading purpose. If you find that there are different possibilities, state the situation in which you would use the various skills. The TV guide for Friday eveningAn English grammar bookAn article in National Geographic magazine about the Roman EmpireA good friends homepage on the InternetThe opinion page in your local newspaperThe weather report in your local newspaperA novelA poemA bus timetableA fax at the officeAn advertising email - so-called spamAn email or letter from your best friendA recipeA short story by your favourite author

Ancient Egyptian Religion Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ancient Egyptian Religion - Research Paper Example While studying ancient religion of Egypt it is clearly understood that most of the concepts of that religion was due to the people’s observation of environment surrounding. The basis of the religion was based on the concepts like attraction and worship of sunlight, satisfaction gained by changing tones of the nature (Watson). Agriculture due to changes in flow of river Nile was also in the core concepts of the ancient religion of Egypt. Every aspect of Egyptian culture like laws, medicine, arts and crafts carried a clear image of religious concepts. Another concept greatly raised during those days of Egypt was concept of gods. It is very difficult to differentiate between gods worshipped by Egyptians. There was a time when Egyptians worshipped 2000 gods. Gods of Ancient Egypt Gods worshipped by ancient Egyptians were evolved and diminished with time. These gods had some individual properties and they also used to fight one another to get hold of the powers possessed by each ot her. One God was used to split into multiple forms of gods at a time like Amun-em-Opet, Amun-Ka-Mutef, and Amun of Ipet-swt (Teeter,  E., & Brewer, 2004). Every God had a specific role to play for the people used to worship them. Gods were in human form, they were used to born and die after a certain age and some of them had rebirth. They were like human males and females and families. One of the common such case is Amun, his wife Mut and their child Khonsu. Ancient Egyptian civilization was over the era of 3000 years. Creation of World Egyptians used to have different concepts regarding creation of the world. According to one of the beliefs the whole world was a part of a big dark ocean. Suddenly a large portion of land appeared with reappearance of Sun god. Sun as a god is of great importance in ancient Egyptian religion as it created all things. This Sun god had many versions one of them is the emerging of Sun god from a large piece of mud. This concept was believed by most of ancient Egyptians. One of the great evolutions the ancient Egyptian civilization gave to mankind was place of worship to gods (Brown, 2007). Temples were considered as sacred places where Gods should be worshiped by the people. There was a time in ancient Egypt when every city had its own god and its own temple for the worship of that god. These were the places where communications with those gods was supposed to happen. Priest was an essential part of society. Priest was responsible for taking care of god and fulfilling the needs of god. Also these priests used to advise people for their problems. One example that needs to be mentioned for such case was ancient Egyptians thought Nile as a god. Each ever a virgin girl was sacrificed to keep god Nile happy by drowning her in river Nile. In return Nile irrigated crops of the people. Concept of Life and Death. Ancient Egyptians having unique civilization also had a unique concept of life. They believe in life after death and considered life as a preparation period for the life after death. Many civil laws of ancient Egypt were based on this concept of life. It is amazing to note that in present day modern world this concept of life after death is adapted or believed by followers of major religions of the world (Parsons, 2011). Ancient Egyptians considered death as a transfer to life after death. This concept of death is an important part in the funerals that took place at that time. The body was preserved for the next life with help of â€Å"Natron† and placed in a coffin. These bodies are now known as mummies. After 70 days the final ritual performed on the mummy was â€Å"

Organizational strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Organizational strategy - Essay Example The assessment herein discusses three strategic aspects of GE with application of the academic valuation models. The areas discussed include: Core competencies and capabilities assessment Real options to improve business performance assessment Strategic Options Available For GE Each section will be developed including critical analysis of GE with respect to the assessment tools followed by conclusion. CORE COMPETENCY ASSESSMENT Assessment f business on road of success with competitive advantage from 1980s to 1990s has moved in from capability to empower business layers to developing, exploiting and strengthening core competency of business. De Saa?-Pe?rez and Garca-Falco?n, (2002) established that only resources and capabilities transformed into core competency can develop business competitive advantage (De Wit, & Meyer, 2004). Hence, in line with importance stated for core competency, the section develops assessment for the core competency of General Electric. CORE COMPETENCY Selzni ck (1957) first introduced the concept of core competency as competence with distinction for depicting corporate advantage in various activities (Barney, & Hesterly, 2008). The strategic perspective of core competency was put forward by Hamal and Prahalad (1990). ... xpertise with newer areas in a manner more interestingly than routine framework (Cravens, and Piercy, 2008) TESTS FOR CORE COMPETENCY Firms to retain their competitive advantage must possess distinctive competency that provides business separate positions as against competitors. The simplest test for competency to be core as well as distinctive one is core competency does not finish like physical assets (Grant, 2009). Instead core competencies increase their strength to bind the businesses together. Hamal and Prahalad (1990) core competence as competencies that must following three tests: Core competency must provide business capability to reach wide variety of markets. Competency must pass the litmus test to add value to the perceived benefits by customer through product. Organization to rely on the competency as core competency must enable business to retain their distinctive position in a way that cannot be imitated by competitors (Hamel, 1991; Prahalad, & Hamel, 1994). Resource b ased view also provide a litmus test for strategic capabilities to be regarded as core competency. Barney’s (1991)Â  VRIN model is also taken test for competency of an organization to be regarded as core competency (Gamble, and Thompson, 2010). VRIN model, an acronym, states that core competency must be Valuable, Rare, In-imitable, Non- Substitutability to benefit firm with competitive advantage over competitors (Fleischer, & Benoussan, 2003). GENERAL ELECTRIC’S CORE COMPETENCY General Electric (GE) under Jeff Immelt to position GE for stronger growth planned to reposition business with resources transferred to areas that have stronger growth prospects from business that have already undergone heavy juice extraction. To strengthen value based system, Jeff Immet defined Growth Platforms.