Defining Race and Ethnicity Essay

What do the terms race and ethnicity mean to you? Why are these concepts important to United States society? Race is usually defined by the color of a person’s skin such as black, or white. These words are used very frequently. Ethnicity is a more proper way to define us as people and usually refers to our cultural background/ancestry. For example: Africans, African Americans, Caucasians, and Hispanics. These concepts are important to the United States because of the diversity, and all walks of life, census plays a big role. Our ethnicity/race is what distinctively separates us from one another by groups. Also according to (Office Of Management and budget August 28,1995) In 1977, OMB issued the Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting that are set forth in Statistical Policy Directive No. 15. The standards in this Directive have been used for almost two decades throughout the Federal government for recordkeeping, collection, and presentation of data on race and Hispanic origin. The standards have been used in two decennial censuses and in surveys of the population, data collections necessary for meeting statutory requirements associated with civil rights monitoring and enforcement, and in other administrative program reporting. Data collection agencies have legislative authority to collect racial and ethnic data needed for Federal programs and in the case of the decennial census, for redistricting. They also use racial and ethnic data for analyses of social, economic, and health trends for population groups. Basically it is important for them to collect this info for federal, business, and statistical reasons. References: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg_race-ethnicity

Death Penalty in South Africa Essay

Witbank was established in 1890 and early attempts to exploit the coal deposits failed until the railway from Pretoria reached the area in 1894. It was proclaimed a town in 1903 and became a municipality in 1914. Despite attempts by governing bodies to establish the use of the name, eMalahleni, for the city as well as for the district, locals still tend to call the city by its original name. Similarly to the anglicised pronunciation of Johannesburg, English-speaking residents pronounce the name as â€Å"wit†¢bank† and not as â€Å"vit†¢bunk† as in the original Afrikaans pronunciation, nor as â€Å"vit†¢bank† as English-speaking visitors are prone to say. There are many stories about the city and its origination but the top story would be the arrival of Winston Churchill at the nearby Transvaal and Delagoa Bay Colliery during his escape from Boer imprisonment in Pretoria, on his way to Delagoa Bay (later Lourenco Marques, and then Maputo, in Mozambique). Some local residents, loyal to the Crown, assisted him in hiding and making the final leg of his escape, thus gaining Witbank the consequent credit once the details of these events could be made known. The town has grown since then from a farming community into a business destination where companies such as Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Evraz, Eskom, Exxaro, Joy, Komatsu, the Renova Group, SAB Miller, SAMANCOR, Shanduka Beverages, Xstrata and Zenith Inc amongst many others have found substantial returns on their investments. Witbank is located along the railway line linking Pretoria to Maputo and for many years served as the transport gateway to the Mozambiquean port. In recent years, this line has been under frequent threat of collapse due to underground coal fires in disused mines in the area. Two national highways, the N4 from Pretoria and the N12 from Johannesburg, converge at Witbank and then continue to Komatipoort, on the border of Mozambique. Together, these routes form the Maputo Corridor, a strategically important alternative to the South African ports of Richards Bay and Durban on the Indian Ocean shores of the country. Witbank is in a coal mining area with more than 22 collieries in the municipal radius. There are a number of power stations (such as the Duvha Power Station), as well as a steel mill (Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium Limited) nearby which all require coal. The farm land surrounding Witbank is fast being bought by investors, coal mining companies and real estate developers to accommodate the rapid growth of the city which is good for local businesses and residents. Likewise, the sustained growth of the commercial areas and suburbs has presented significant challenges to the municipal government. Potable water supplies, sewage treatment, electricity distribution, refuse collection and road maintenance are particularly affected, arousing sustained ire amongst the local residents. Relatively high summer rainfall since 2008 has caused significant damage to municipal roads, creating large numbers of potholes and leaving large amounts of debris on the road surfaces. As Witbank is en route to travellers from the Gauteng province to the Kruger National Park, attempts have been made to capture some of the potential tourist spend. Apart from a few hotels, there are many guest houses. These vary from the utilitarian to the luxurious, and also cater for many of the business travellers visiting Witbank as well as those travelling to Nelspruit, Swaziland and Mozambique. A casino complex is accessible within a few hundred meters from the N4 highway, providing two hotels, cinemas, ten-pin bowling and restaurants as well as the traditional gambling facilities. The Highveld Mall is built immediately next to the casino and is a retail hub for locals as well as for many residents of towns in the vicinity. Mpumalanga i/? m? pu? m l / (name changed from Eastern Transvaal on 24 August 1995), is a province of South Africa. The name means east or literally â€Å"the place where the sun rises† in Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, north of KwaZulu-Natal and bordering Swaziland and Mozambique. It constitutes 6. 5% of South Africa’s land area. In the north it borders on Limpopo, to the west Gauteng, to the southwest the Free State and to the south KwaZulu-Natal. The capital is Nelspruit (recently renamed to Mbombela). Prior to 1994, Mpumalanga was part of Transvaal Province. Mpumalanga Travel Guide / Formerly known as the Eastern Transvaal, Mpumalanga is one of South Africa’s top tourist destinations. People are drawn to Mpumalanga by the magnificent scenery, by the fauna and flora and by the saga of the 1870s gold rush era and a wealth of fascinating tribal legends. Aptly know as â€Å"Paradise Country†, few regions in the world can match the extraordinary beauty of the Mpumalanga Lowveld and escarpment. Mountains, panoramic passes, valleys, rivers, waterfalls and forests characterise the landscape. This is also Big Game Country, the setting for dozens of sanctuaries teeming with wildlife and birds. Among them, the Kruger National Park is world renowned, as are several of the luxurious private reserves on its western boundary. The entire Mpumalanga area offers exceptional opportunities for bird-watching, hiking, horse-riding and fishing. Streams once panned for gold have become the haunts of eager anglers and lazy trout. Steeped in the history of pioneers, hunters and fortune seekers, fascinating gold rush towns abound. Barberton and Pilgrim’s Rest are among the most famous. A special, additional dimension occurs in the Middleveld region which is inhabited by Ndebele people, notable for their traditional costumes and attractively decorated houses.

A Dirty Job Chapter 12

12 THE BAY CITY BOOK OF THE DEAD Charlie named the hamsters Parmesan and Romano (or Parm and Romy, for short) because when the time came for thinking up names, he just happened to be reading the label on a jar of Alfredo sauce. That was all the thought that went into it and that was enough. In fact, Charlie thought he might have even gone overboard, considering that when he returned home the day of the great firecracker/sewer debacle, he found his daughter gleefully pounding away on the tray of her high chair with a stiff hamster. Romano was the poundee, Charlie could tell because he'd put a dot of nail polish between his little ears so he could tell it apart from its companion, Parmesan, who was equally stiff inside the plastic Habitrail box. In the bottom of the exercise wheel, actually. Dead at the wheel. â€Å"Mrs. Ling!† Charlie called. He pried the expired rodent from his darling daughter's little hand and dropped it in the cage. â€Å"Is Vladlena, Mr. Asher,† came a giant voice from the bathroom. There was a flush and Mrs. Korjev emerged from the bathroom pulling at the clasps of her overalls. â€Å"I'm sorry, I am having to crap like bear. Sophie was safe in chair.† â€Å"She was playing with a dead hamster, Mrs. Korjev.† Mrs. Korjev looked at the two hamsters in the plastic Habitrail box – gave it a little tap, shook it back and forth. â€Å"They sleep.† â€Å"They are not sleeping, they're dead.† â€Å"They are fine when I go in bathroom. Playing, running on wheel, having laugh.† â€Å"They were not having a laugh. They were dead. Sophie had one in her hand.† Charlie looked more closely at the rodent that Sophie had been tenderizing. Its head looked extremely wet. â€Å"In her mouth. She had it in her mouth.† He grabbed a paper towel from the roll on the counter and started wiping out the inside of Sophie's mouth. She made a la-la-la sound as she tried to eat the towel, which she thought was part of the game. â€Å"Where is Mrs. Ling, anyway?† â€Å"She have to go pick up prescription, so I watch Sophie for short time. And tiny bears are happy when I go in bathroom.† â€Å"Hamsters, Mrs. Korjev, not bears. How long were you in there?† â€Å"Maybe five minute. I am thinking I am now having a strain in my poop chute, so hard I am pushing.† â€Å"Aiiiiieeeee,† came the cry from the doorway as Mrs. Ling returned, and scampered to Sophie. â€Å"Is past time for nap,† Mrs. Ling snapped at Mrs. Korjev. â€Å"I've got her now,† Charlie said. â€Å"One of you stay with her while I get rid of the H-A-M-S-T-E-R-S.† â€Å"He mean the tiny bears,† said Mrs. Korjev. â€Å"I get rid, Mr. Asher,† said Mrs. Ling. â€Å"No problem. What happen them?† â€Å"Sleeping,† said Mrs. Korjev. â€Å"Ladies, go. Please. I'll see one of you in the morning.† â€Å"Is my turn,† said Mrs. Korjev sadly. â€Å"Am I banish? Is no Sophie for Vladlena, yes?† â€Å"No. Uh, yes. It's fine, Mrs. Korjev. I'll see you in the morning.† Mrs. Ling was shaking the Habitrail cage. They certainly were sound little sleepers, these hamsters. She liked ham. â€Å"I take care,† she said. She tucked the cage under her arm and backed toward the door, waving. â€Å"Bye-bye, Sophie. Bye-bye.† â€Å"Bye-bye, bubeleh,† said Mrs. Korjev. â€Å"Bye-bye,† Sophie said, with a baby wave. â€Å"When did you learn bye-bye?† Charlie said to his daughter. â€Å"I can't leave you for a second.† But he did leave her the very next day, to find replacements for the hamsters. He took the cargo van to the pet store this time. Whatever courage or hubris he'd rallied in order to attack the sewer harpies had melted away, and he didn't even want to go near a storm drain. At the pet store he picked out two painted turtles, each about as big around as a mayonnaise-jar lid. He bought them a large kidney-shaped dish that had its own little island, a plastic palm tree, some aquatic plants, and a snail. The snail, presumably, to bolster the self-esteem of the turtles: â€Å"You think we're slow? Look at that guy.† To shore up the snail's morale in the same way, there was a rock. Everyone is happier if they have someone to look down on, as well as someone to look up to, especially if they resent both. This is not only the Beta Male strategy for survival, but the basis for capitalism, democracy, and most religions. After he grilled the clerk for fifteen minutes on the vitality of the turtles, and was assured that they could probably survive a nuclear attack as long as there were some bugs left to eat, Charlie wrote a check and started tearing up over his turtles. â€Å"Are you okay, Mr. Asher?† asked the pet-shop guy. â€Å"I'm sorry,† Charlie said. â€Å"It's just that this is the last entry in the register.† â€Å"And your bank didn't give you a new one?† â€Å"No, I have a new one, but this is the last one that my wife wrote in. Now that this one is used up, I'll never see her handwriting in the check register again.† â€Å"I'm sorry,† said the pet-shop guy, who, until that moment, had thought the rough patch that day was going to be consoling a guy over a couple of dead hamsters. â€Å"It's not your problem,† Charlie said. â€Å"I'll just take my turtles and go.† And he did, squeezing the check register in his hand as he drove. She was slipping away, every day a little more. A week ago Jane had come down to borrow some honey and found the plum jelly that Rachel liked in the back of the refrigerator, covered in green fuzz. â€Å"Little brother, this has got to go,† Jane said, making a face. â€Å"No. It was Rachel's.† â€Å"I know, kid, and she's not coming back for it. What else do you – oh my God!† She dove away from the fridge. â€Å"What was that?† â€Å"Lasagna. Rachel made it.† â€Å"This has been in here for over a year?† â€Å"I couldn't make myself throw it out.† â€Å"Look, I'm coming over Saturday and cleaning out this apartment. I'm going to get rid of all the stuff of Rachel's that you don't want.† â€Å"I want it all.† Jane paused while moving the green-and-purple lasagna to the trash bin, pan and all. â€Å"No you don't, Charlie. This kind of stuff doesn't help you remember Rachel, it just hurts you. You need to focus on Sophie and the rest of both of your lives. You're a young guy, you can't give up. We all loved Rachel, but you have to think about moving on, maybe going out.† â€Å"I'm not ready. And you can't come over this Saturday, that's my day in the shop.† â€Å"I know,† Jane said. â€Å"It's better if you're not here.† â€Å"But you can't be trusted, Jane,† Charlie said, as if that was as obvious as the fact that Jane was irritating. â€Å"You'll throw out all the pieces of Rachel, and you'll steal my clothes.† Jane had been swiping Charlie's suits pretty regularly since he'd started dressing more upscale. She was wearing a tailored, double-breasted jacket that he'd just gotten back from Three Fingered Hu a few days ago. Charlie hadn't even worn it yet. â€Å"Why are you still wearing suits, anyway? Isn't your new girlfriend a yoga instructor? Shouldn't you be wearing those baggy pants made out of hemp and tofu fibers like she does? You look like David Bowie, Jane. There, I've said it. I'm sorry, but it had to be said.† Jane put her arm around his shoulder and kissed him on the cheek. â€Å"You are so sweet. Bowie is the only man I've ever found attractive. Let me clean out your apartment. I'll watch Sophie that day – give the widows a day to do battle down at the Everything for a Dollar Store.† â€Å"Okay, but just clothes and stuff, no pictures. And just put it in the basement in boxes, no throwing anything away.† â€Å"Even food items? Chuck, the lasagna, I mean – â€Å" â€Å"Okay, food items can go. But don't let Sophie know what you're doing. And leave Rachel's perfume, and her hairbrush. I want Sophie to know what her mother smelled like.† That night, when he finished at the shop, he went down to the basement to the little gated storage area for his apartment and visited the boxes of all of the things that Jane had packed up. When that didn't work, he opened them and said good-bye to every single item – pieces of Rachel. Seemed like he was always saying good-bye to pieces of Rachel. On his way home from the pet shop he had stopped at A Clean, Well-Lighted Place for Books because it, too, was a piece of Rachel and he needed a touchstone, but also because he needed to research what he was doing. He'd scoured the Internet for information on death, and while he'd found that there were a lot of people who wanted to dress like death, get naked with the dead, look at pictures of the naked and the dead, or sell pills to give erections to the dead, there just wasn't anything on how to go about being dead, or Death. No one had ever heard of Death Merchants or sewer harpies or anything of the sort. He left the store with a two-foot-high stack of books on Death and Dying, figuring, as a Beta Male typically does, that before he tried to take the battle to the enemy again, he'd better find out something about what he was dealing with. That evening he settled in on the couch next to his baby daughter and read while the new turtles, Bruiser and Jeep (so named in hope of instilling durability in them), ate freeze-dried bugs and watched CSI Safari-land on cable. â€Å"Well, honey, according to this Kbler-Ross lady, the five stages of death are anger, denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Well, we went through all of those stages when we lost Mommy, didn't we?† â€Å"Mama,† Sophie said. The first time she had said â€Å"Mama† had brought Charlie to tears. He had been looking over her little shoulder at a picture of Rachel. The second time she said it, it was less emotional. She was in her high chair at the breakfast bar and was talking to the toaster. â€Å"That's not Mommy, Soph, that's the toaster.† â€Å"Mama,† Sophie insisted, reaching out for the toaster. â€Å"You're just trying to fuck with me, aren't you?† Charlie said. â€Å"Mama,† Sophie said to the fridge. â€Å"Swell,† Charlie said. He read on, realizing that Dr. Kbler-Ross had been exactly right. Every morning when he woke up to find another name and number in the day planner at his bedside, he went through the entire five-step process before he finished breakfast. But now that the steps had a name – he started to recognize the stages as experienced by the family members of his clients. That's how he referred to the people whose souls he retrieved: clients. Then he read a book, called The Last Sack, about how to kill yourself with a plastic bag, but it must not have been a very effective book, because he saw on the back cover that there had been two sequels. He imagined the fan mail: Dear Last Sack Author: I was almost dead, but then my sack got all steamed up and I couldn't see the TV, so I poked an eyehole. I hope to try again with your next book. The book really didn't help Charlie much, except to instill in him a new paranoia about plastic bags. Over the next few months he read: The Egyptian Book of the Dead, from which he learned how to pull someone's brain out through his nostril with a buttonhook, which he was sure would come in handy someday; a dozen books on dealing with death, grief, burial rituals, and myths of the Underworld, from which he learned that there had been personifications of Death since the dawn of time, and none of them looked like him; and the Tibetan Book of the Dead, from which he learned that bardo, the transition between this life and the next, was forty-nine days long, and that during the process you would be met by about thirty thousand demons, all of which were described in intricate detail, none of which looked like the sewer harpies, and all of which you were supposed to ignore and not be afraid of because they weren't real because they were of the material world. â€Å"Strange,† Charlie said to Sophie, â€Å"how all of these books talk about how the material world isn't significant, yet I have to retrieve people's souls, which are attached to material objects. It would appear that death, if nothing else, is ironic, don't you think?† â€Å"No,† Sophie said. At eighteen months Sophie answered all questions either â€Å"No,† â€Å"Cookie,† or â€Å"like Bear† – the last Charlie attributed to leaving his daughter too often in the care of Mrs. Korjev. After the turtles, two more hamsters, a hermit crab, an iguana, and two widemouthed frogs passed on to the great wok in the sky (or, more accurately, on the third floor), Charlie finally acquiesced and brought home a three-inch-long Madagascar hissing cockroach that he named Bear, just so his daughter wouldn't go through life talking total nonsense. â€Å"Like Bear,† Sophie said. â€Å"She's talking about the bug,† Charlie said, one night when Jane stopped by. â€Å"She's not talking about the bug,† Jane said. â€Å"What kind of father buys a cockroach for a little girl anyway? That's disgusting.† â€Å"Nothing's supposed to be able to kill them. They've been around for like a hundred million years. It was that or a white shark, and they're supposed to be hard to keep.† â€Å"Why don't you give up, Charlie? Just let her get by with stuffed animals.† â€Å"A little kid should have a pet. Especially a little kid growing up in the city.† â€Å"We grew up in the city and we didn't have any pets.† â€Å"I know, and look how we turned out,† Charlie said, gesturing back and forth between the two of them, one who dealt in death and had a giant cockroach named Bear, and the other who was on her third yoga-instructor girlfriend in six months and was wearing his newest Harris tweed suit. â€Å"We turned out great, or at least one of us did,† Jane said, gesturing to the splendor of her suit, like she was a game-show model giving the big prize package on Let's Get Androgynous, â€Å"You have got to gain some weight. This is tailored way too tight in the butt,† she said, lapsing once again into self-obsession. â€Å"Am I camel-toeing?† â€Å"I am not looking, not looking, not looking,† Charlie chanted. â€Å"She wouldn't need pets if she ever saw the outside of this apartment,† Jane said, pulling down on the crotch of her trousers to counteract the dreaded dromedary-digit effect. â€Å"Take her to the zoo, Charlie. Let her see something besides this apartment. Take her out.† â€Å"I will, tomorrow. I'll take her out and show her the city,† Charlie said. And he would have, too, except he woke to find the name Madeline Alby written on his day planner, and next to her name, the number one. Oh yeah, and the cockroach was dead. I will take you out,† Charlie said as he put Sophie in her high chair for breakfast. â€Å"I will, honey. I promise. Can you believe that they'd only give me one day?† â€Å"No,† Sophie said. â€Å"Juice,† she added, because she was in her chair and this was juice time. â€Å"I'm sorry about Bear, honey,† Charlie said, brushing her hair this way, then that, then giving up. â€Å"He was a good bug, but he is no more. Mrs. Ling will bury him. That window box of hers must be getting pretty crowded.† He didn't remember there being a window box in Mrs. Ling's window, but who was he to question? Charlie threw open the phone book and, mercifully, found an M. Alby with an address on Telegraph Hill – not ten minutes' walk away. No client had ever been this close, and with almost six months without a peep or a shade from the sewer harpies, he was starting to feel like he had this whole Death Merchant thing under control. He'd even placed most of the soul vessels that he'd collected. The short notice felt bad. Really bad. The house was an Italianate Victorian on the hill just below the Coit Tower, the great granite column built in honor of the San Francisco firemen who had lost their lives in the line of duty. Although it's said to have been designed with a fire-hose nozzle in mind, almost no one who sees the tower can resist the urge to comment on its resemblance to a giant penis. Madeline Alby's house, a flat-roofed white rectangle with ornate scrolling trim and a crowning cornice of carved cherubs, looked like a wedding cake balanced on the tower's scrotum. So as Charlie trudged up the nut sack of San Francisco, he wondered exactly how he was going to get inside the house. Usually he had time, he could wait and follow someone in, or construct some kind of ruse to gain entrance, but this time he had only one day to get inside, find the soul vessel, and get out. He hoped that Madeline Alby had already died. He really didn't like being around sick people. When he saw the car parked out front with the small green hospice sticker, his hopes for a dead client were smashed like a cupcake with a sledgehammer. He walked up the front porch steps at the left of the house and waited by the door. Could he open it himself? Would people be able to see it, or did his special â€Å"unnoticeability† extend to objects he moved as well? He didn't think so. But then the door opened and a woman about Charlie's age stepped out onto the porch. â€Å"I'm just having a smoke,† she called back into the house, and before she could close the door behind her, Charlie slipped inside. The front door opened into a foyer; to his right Charlie saw what had originally been the parlor. There was a stairway in front of him, and another door beyond that that he guessed led to the kitchen. He could hear voices in the parlor and peeked around the corner to see four elderly women sitting on two couches that faced each other. They were in dresses and hats, and they might have just come from church, but Charlie guessed they had come to see their friend off. â€Å"You'd think she'd give up the smoking, with her mother upstairs dying of cancer,† said one of the ladies, wearing a gray skirt and jacket with matching hat, and a large enameled pin in the shape of a Holstein cow. â€Å"Well, she always was a hardheaded girl,† said another, wearing a dress that looked as if it had been made from the same floral material as the couch. â€Å"You know she used to meet with my son Jimmy up in Pioneer Park when they were little.† â€Å"She said she was going to marry him,† said another woman, who looked like a sister of the first. The ladies laughed, whimsy and sadness mixed in their tones. â€Å"Well, I don't know what she was thinking, he's as flighty as can be,† said Mom. â€Å"Yeah, and brain damaged,† added the sister. â€Å"Well, yes, he is now.† â€Å"Since the car ran over him,† said Sis. â€Å"Didn't he run right in front of a car?† asked one of the ladies who had been silent until now. â€Å"No, he ran right into it,† said Mom. â€Å"He was on the drugs then.† She sighed. â€Å"I always said I had one of each – a boy, a girl, and a Jimmy.† They all nodded. This was not the first time this group had done this, Charlie guessed. They were the type that bought sympathy cards in bulk, and every time they heard an ambulance go by they made a note to pick up their black dress from the cleaner's. â€Å"You know Maddy looked bad,† said the lady in gray. â€Å"Well, she's dying, sweetheart, that's what happens.† â€Å"I guess.† Another sigh. The tinkle of ice in glasses. They were all nursing neat little cocktails. Charlie guessed they'd been mixed by the younger woman who was outside smoking. He looked around the room for something that was glowing red. There was an oak rolltop desk in the corner that he'd like to get a look in, but that would have to wait until later. He ducked out of the doorway and into the kitchen, where two men in their late thirties, maybe early forties, were sitting at an oak table, playing Scrabble. â€Å"Is Jenny coming back? It's her turn.† â€Å"She might have gone up to see Mom with one of the ladies. The hospice nurse is letting them go up one at a time.† â€Å"I just wish it was over. I can't stand this waiting. I have a family I need to get back to. I'm about to crawl out of my fucking skin.† The older of the two reached across the table and set two tiny blue pills by his brother's tiles. â€Å"These help.† â€Å"What are they?† â€Å"Time-released morphine.† â€Å"Really?† The younger brother looked alarmed. â€Å"You hardly even feel them, they just sort of take the edge off. Jenny's been taking them for two weeks.† â€Å"That's why you guys are taking this so well and I'm a wreck? You guys are stoned on Mom's pain medication?† â€Å"Yep.† â€Å"I don't take drugs. Those are drugs. You don't take drugs.† The older brother sat back in his chair. â€Å"Pain medication, Bill. What are you feeling?† â€Å"No, I'm not taking Mom's pain meds.† â€Å"Suit yourself.† â€Å"What if she needs them?† â€Å"There's enough morphine in that room to bring down a Kodiak bear, and if she needs more, then hospice will bring more.† Charlie wanted to shake the younger brother and yell, Take the drugs, you idiot. Maybe it was the benefit of experience. Having now seen this situation happen again and again, families on deathwatch, out of their minds with grief and exhaustion, friends moving in and out of the house like ghosts, saying good-bye or just covering some sort of base so they could say they had been there, so perhaps they wouldn't have to die alone themselves. Why was none of this in the books of the dead? Why didn't the instructions tell him about all the pain and confusion he was going to see? â€Å"I'm going to go find Jenny,† said the older brother, â€Å"see if she wants to get something to eat. We can finish the game later if you want.† â€Å"That's okay, I was losing anyway.† The younger brother gathered up the tiles and put the board away. â€Å"I'm going to go upstairs and see if I can catch a nap, tonight's my night watching Mom.† The older brother walked out and Charlie watched the younger brother drop the blue pills into his shirt pocket and leave the kitchen, leaving the Death Dealer to ransack the pantry and the cabinets looking for the soul vessel. But he felt before he even started that it wouldn't be there. He was going to have to go upstairs. He really, really hated being around sick people. Madeline Alby was propped up and tucked into bed with a down comforter up around her neck. She was so slight that her body barely showed under the covers. Charlie guessed that she might weigh seventy or eighty pounds max. Her face was drawn and he could see the outlines of her eye sockets and her jawbone jutting through her skin, which had gone yellow. Charlie guessed liver cancer. One of her friends from downstairs was sitting at her bedside, the hospice-care worker, a big woman in scrubs, sat in a chair across the room, reading. A small dog, a Yorkshire terrier, Charlie thought, was snuggled up between Madeline's shoulder and her neck, sleeping. When Charlie stepped into the room, Madeline said, â€Å"Hey there, kid.† He froze in his steps. She was looking right at him – crystal-blue eyes, and a smile. Had the floor squeaked? Had he bumped something? â€Å"What are you doing there, kid?† She giggled. â€Å"Who do you see, Maddy?† asked the friend. She followed Madeline's gaze but looked right through Charlie. â€Å"A kid over there.† â€Å"Okay, Maddy. Do you want some water?† The friend reached for a child's sippy cup with a built-in straw from the nightstand. â€Å"No. Tell that kid to come in here, though. Come in here, kid.† Madeline worked her arms out of the covers and started moving her hands in sewing motions, like she was embroidering a tapestry in the air before her. â€Å"Well, I'd better go,† said the friend. â€Å"Let you get some rest.† The friend glanced at the hospice woman, who looked over her reading glasses and smiled with her eyes. The only expert in the house, giving permission. The friend stood and kissed Madeline Alby on the forehead. Madeline stopped sewing for a second, closed her eyes, and leaned into the kiss, like a young girl. Her friend squeezed her hand and said, â€Å"Good-bye, Maddy.† Charlie stepped aside and let the woman pass. He watched her shoulders heave with a sob as she went through the door. â€Å"Hey, kid,† Madeline said. â€Å"Come over here and sit down.† She paused in her sewing long enough to look Charlie in the eye, which freaked him out more than a little. He glanced at the hospice worker, who glanced up from her book, then went back to reading. Charlie pointed to himself. â€Å"Yeah, you,† Madeline said. Charlie was going into a panic. She could see him, but the hospice nurse could not, or so it seemed. An alarm beeped on the nurse's watch and Madeline picked up the little dog and held it to her ear. â€Å"Hello? Hi, how are you?† She looked up at Charlie. â€Å"It's my oldest daughter.† The little dog looked at Charlie, too, with a distinct â€Å"save me† look in its eyes. â€Å"Time for some medicine, Madeline,† the nurse said. â€Å"Can't you see I'm on the phone, Sally,† Madeline said. â€Å"Hang on a second.† â€Å"Okay, I'll wait,† the nurse said. She picked up a brown bottle with an eyedropper in it, filled the dropper, and checked the dosage and held. â€Å"Bye. Love you, too,† Madeline said. She held the tiny dog out to Charlie. â€Å"Hang that up, would you?† The nurse snatched the dog out of the air and set it down on the bed next to Madeline. â€Å"Open up, Madeline,† the nurse said. Madeline opened wide and the nurse squirted the eyedropper into the old woman's mouth. â€Å"Mmm, strawberry,† Madeline said. â€Å"That's right, strawberry. Would you like to wash it down with some water?† The nurse held the sippy cup. â€Å"No. Cheese. I'd like some cheese.† â€Å"I can get you some cheese,† said the nurse. â€Å"Cheddar cheese.† â€Å"Cheddar it is,† said the nurse. â€Å"I'll be right back.† She tucked the covers around Madeline and left the room. The old woman looked at Charlie again. â€Å"Can you talk, now that she's gone?† Charlie shrugged and looked in every direction, his hand over his mouth, like someone looking for an emergency spot to spit out a mouthful of bad seafood. â€Å"Don't mime, honey,† Madeline said. â€Å"No one likes a mime.† Charlie sighed heavily, what was there to lose now? She could see him. â€Å"Hello, Madeline. I'm Charlie.† â€Å"I always liked the name Charlie,† Madeline said. â€Å"How come Sally can't see you?† â€Å"Only you can see me right now,† Charlie said. â€Å"Because I'm dying?† â€Å"I think so.† â€Å"Okay. You're a nice-looking kid, you know that?† â€Å"Thanks. You're not bad yourself.† â€Å"I'm scared, Charlie. It doesn't hurt. I used to be afraid that it would hurt, but now I'm afraid of what happens next.† Charlie sat down on the chair next to the bed. â€Å"I think that's why I'm here, Madeline, you don't need to be afraid.† â€Å"I drank a lot of brandy, Charlie. That's why this happened.† â€Å"Maddy – can I call you Maddy?† â€Å"Sure, kid, we're friends.† â€Å"Yes, we are. Maddy, this was always going to happen. You didn't do anything to cause it.† â€Å"Well, that's good.† â€Å"Maddy, do you have something for me?† â€Å"Like a present?† â€Å"Like a present you would give to yourself. Something I can keep for you and give you back later, when it will be a surprise.† â€Å"My pincushion,† Madeline said. â€Å"I'd like you to have that. It was my grandmother's.† â€Å"I'd be honored to keep that for you, Maddy. Where can I find it?† â€Å"In my sewing box, on the top shelf of that closet.† She pointed to an old-style single closet across the room. â€Å"Oh, excuse me, phone.† Madeline talked to her oldest daughter on the edge of the comforter while Charlie got the sewing box from the top shelf of the closet. It was made of wicker and he could see the red glow of the soul vessel inside. He removed a pincushion fashioned from red velvet wrapped with bands of real silver and held it up for Madeline to see. She smiled and gave him the thumbs-up, just as the nurse returned with a small plate of cheese and crackers. â€Å"It's my oldest daughter,† Madeline explained to the nurse, holding the edge of the comforter to her chest so her daughter didn't hear. â€Å"Oh my, is that cheese?† The nurse nodded. â€Å"And crackers.† â€Å"I'll call you back, honey, Sally has brought cheese and I don't want to be rude.† She hung up the sheet and allowed Sally to feed her bites of cheese and crackers. â€Å"I believe this is the best cheese I've ever tasted,† Madeline said. Charlie could tell from the expression on her face that it was, indeed, the best cheese she had ever tasted. Every ounce of her being was going into tasting those slivers of cheddar, and she let loose little moans of pleasure as she chewed. â€Å"You want some cheese, Charlie?† Madeline asked, spraying cracker shrapnel all over the nurse, who turned to look at the corner where Charlie was standing with the pincushion tucked safely in his jacket pocket. â€Å"Oh, you can't see him, Sally,† Madeline said, tapping the nurse on the hand. â€Å"But he's a handsome rascal. A little skinny, though.† Then, to Sally, but overly loud to be sure that Charlie could hear: â€Å"He could use some fucking cheese.† Then she laughed, spraying more crackers on the nurse, who was laughing, too, and trying not to dump the plate. â€Å"What did she say?† came a voice from the hall. Then the two sons and the daughter entered, chagrined at first at what they had heard, but then laughing with the nurse and their mother. â€Å"I said that cheese is good,† Madeline said. â€Å"Yeah, Mom, it is,† said the daughter. Charlie stood there in the corner, watching them eat cheese, and laughing, thinking, This should have been in the book. He watched them help her with her bedpan, and give her drinks of water, and wipe her face with a damp cloth – watched her bite at the cloth the way Sophie did when he washed her face. The eldest daughter, who Charlie realized had been dead for some time, called three more times, once on the dog and twice on the pillow. Around lunchtime Madeline was tired, and she went to sleep, and about a half hour into her nap she started panting, then stopped, then didn't breathe for a full minute, then took a deep breath, then didn't. And Charlie slipped out the door with her soul in his pocket.

Petro-Canada's Total Compensation Strategy and Program Research Paper - 3

Petro-Canada's Total Compensation Strategy and Program - Research Paper Example This paper illustrates that Petro-Canada is a public organization producing oil and gas organization and taking part in all of the upstream and downstream operations. The company is known for exploring for and producing energy not only locally but also internationally. It has as many as 1,323 retail outlets which supply petroleum products and services across the nation. Headquarter of the company is located at the in downtown Calgary in Alberta. In the year 2008, the total revenue of the company was $27,785,000, while its employee strength was 6,088. The oil and gas industry in Canada happens to be highly competitive having strong competitors like Encana etc. The objective to increase strength and emerge as a larger oil and gas company the company decided to merge with Suncor in the year 2009. However, now it operates as a subsidiary of the parent company, Suncor Energy. The cash compensation received by an Applications analyst I in Petro-Canada is CDN$75,000-85,000 (Tang, 2010). Thi s is a much higher amount as compared to the average market rate which is $50,795. Thus it can be said that the company has a lead policy in this regard. Apart from having an attractive salary the company also has a scheme of sharing profits with employees which happens at the end of each fiscal year. The amount of the profits shared with the workers depends on the performance of the company at that financial year. As per the rules of the company an Application Analyst I is able to earn an amount of 10% of his base pay as profit sharing. In this way, an employee could earn as high as 15% to 20% when the company has a successful performance in a year.

Business Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Business Plan - Assignment Example It is projected that the company can be able to fulfil its predetermined business targets by following the aforementioned aspects at large. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Introduction and Background of the Venture and Management Team 4 Background of the Venture 5 Management Team 5 Main Objective of the Proposed Business Plan 6 Marketing Section – Including Market Research & the Marketing Mix 7 Market Research 7 Marketing Mix 9 Competition 13 Operations Section - Including Manufacturing & Physical Distribution 15 Manufacturing 15 Physical Distribution 19 Financial Section 22 Source of Finance 22 Financial Goals 22 Income Statement 23 24 Projected Profit & Loss 25 Break-Even Analysis 25 Implementation Time Table 26 Conclusion 27 References 29 Introduction and Background of the Venture and Management Team A business plan is often regarded as a crucial step for an entrepreneur intending to inaugurate a new business venture or expand the existing business unit at a newly loc ated marketplace. It essentially plays the role of a guide to the various operations of the organisation within the marketplace (Tiffany & Peterson, 2011). In order to demonstrate a viable business structure, the business plan reflects a clear depiction of the business including its offerings, sales and marketing strategies, information of management groups and their roles along with making a prediction of the financial forecast for succeeding few years that the organisation will take into concern (Analoui & Karami, 2003). Moreover, in order to demonstrate the viability of the overall business design, it is also important for the organisation to identify the specific market for the products and services, find out the competitive advantages as well as to evaluate the cost and profit margins of the business (GRANT finder Ltd., n.d.). With regard to the notion of business plan, the primary objective of this study is to prepare an effective business plan for XYZ Company concerning the p ractice of manufacturing and marketing of electronic dash duster product especially for the car care and aftermarket accessories segment in Australia. Background of the Venture XYZ Company intends to commence its business operations as a small competitive car care product manufacturer in Australia. The company would aim to perform a competitive role in the Australian car care product market through rendering a range of innovative and creative products to the customers. Moreover, the company would also like to build a respected position through its exceptional marketing and promotional campaigns which further would enable the company to execute its activities efficiently in the respective industry. The business processes of the company will be highly focused on manufacturing innovative car care products which would offer substantial benefits for the customers. Moreover, the manufacturing process of XYZ would be focused on providing adequate facilities to its ultimate customers in ter ms of maintaining their cars in an efficient manner. Management Team XYZ aims to establish itself as a pioneer in the field of innovative product offerings in the Australian car care aftermarket industry. The company will be incorporated with the aid of a well-built management team with a feasible number of staff in its different

The Use of Psychotropic Medication in Hospital Settings Research Paper

The Use of Psychotropic Medication in Hospital Settings - Research Paper Example From the study it was evident that the factor which was strongly associated with fall was medication. Other risk factors determined by the study were level of activity, age of the patient,confusion, depression, history of fall in the past. staff vigilance and number of inpatients in the ward. According to Blair and Gruman (p. 353), it is very important for the staff of the hospital to know that risk assessment for falls in elderly patients must be continuous because the status of risk can change quickly, especially if the patient is on some psychotropic medication. They opined that a fall prevention program must be present in all hospitals admitting elderly patients and nurses and other staff must be educated about strategies to prevent falls in that population. Another important aspect of medication is the inappropriate dosing of psychotropic medication which can increase the risk of falls. This aspect was studied by Peterson et al (p.802). The researchers studied the association be tween appropriateness of psychotropic medication and in-hospital fall rate. From the study, it was evident that inappropriate dosing of psychotropic medication is strongly associated with falls. As such, psychotropic medications are associated with several side effects including falls leading to hip fractures, over sedation and delirium. Geriatric patients who are vulnerable may suffer from various injuries disproportionate to the fall when on psychotropic agents because; these medications are used frequently, slow the rate of metabolism and decrease physiologic reserve (Peterson, p.803). According to a meta-analysis by Leipzig et al (cited in Riefkohl, p.726), psychotropic drugs are strongly associated with falls. The data for... From this paper it is clear that several medicines have been attributed to cause falls in the elderly population. In this regard, psychotropic medicines which are frequently administered for older people for various psychiatic and cognitive problems are studied widely and are known to increase the risk of falls. Medicines, especially psychotropic ones, cause orthostatic hypotension, confusion, oversedation, delirium, dizziness, cognitive changes and psychomotor impairment and thus contribute to falls. Other medications which can increase the risk of falls are diuretics, antihypertensives and cardiovascular medicines. In this research article, the association between use of psychotropic medications and falls in elderly people admitted to hospital settings will be studied through review of suitable literature.As the discussion highlights  inappropriate dosing of psychotropic medication is strongly associated with falls. As such, psychotropic medications are associated with several si de effects including falls leading to hip fractures, over sedation and delirium. Geriatric patients who are vulnerable may suffer from various injuries disproportionate to the fall when on psychotropic agents because; these medications are used frequently, slow the rate of metabolism and decrease physiologic reserve.  Falls are a major source of concern among elderly patients admitted to hospital. Several risk factors are present which can be assessed using risk assessment scales.

International managment (Vodafone) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

International managment (Vodafone) - Essay Example As the company claims, Vodafone is the company that loves change. So, driven by the desire to constantly change and expand, in 2010 Vodafone entered into agreement with a Libyan state owned mobile network, Almadar Aljadid (Al-Madar) (Al-Madar, 2010). The agreement implied that Al-Madar would have access to Vodafone’s products while Vodafone would be able to use Al-Madar’s network to provide mobile telecommunication services in Africa. For this agreement one of the target population groups of Vodafone were multinational companies, for whom Vodafone’s service would solve a number of communication problems. However, as public uprisings started in North Africa, Vodafone faced a public relations disaster. Vodafone was blamed for impacting the Egyptian society because of cooperating with Egyptian ex-President Mubarak (ESG Insider, 2011). In February the company, experiencing pressure from the government of Egypt, had to close its nationwide network. At the same time, o n behalf of the regime, the operator spread anonymous text messages to service users that encouraged people not to oppose the existing regime and, on the contrary, fight against those willing to change the rule. It should be remembered that Al-Madar company, through which Vodafone was providing its services in Africa, is owned by Col. Gadaffi’s eldest son. So Al-Madar, in an attempt to limit communication between the rebels, shut down its mobile phone network. Therefore, it can be concluded that it was not Vodafone who closed the network. Nevertheless, the company itself does not refuse the fact of sending text messages that called for loyalty to the regime. Allnutt (2011), an editor-in-chief of Radio Free Europe, believes Vodafone’s shutting down the networks to be a human rights... Recent popular uprisings in North Africa have shaken both the MENA countries and the global society. The demonstrations against non-democratic governments paralyzed or slowed down operations of many multinational corporations. However, to some extent it might be said that the very same multinational corporation played certain role in the development of the conflicts. International companies are frequently blamed for undermining development and exacerbating inequality and poverty in the developing countries. Furthermore, they leave no space for operations of small and middle-sized domestic companies, thus transferring money â€Å"that could be put towards poverty eradication into the hands of the rich†. Another point of view is that revolutions in North Africa have purely social roots – unemployed want to have jobs and those who works want to earn living wages. In any case, the result is clear – companies have to embrace change and adapt to the innovations, whethe r they impact the company positively or negatively in the short run.

Dualism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Dualism - Essay Example It must be noted that dualist principles attribute almost equal powers to the opposing forces, whose balance is critical for the existence of the world. Even man, when considered as a microcosm can be considered under the principles of Dualism. Often philosophers have propounded theories that have maintained that man is a unique self, who is governed by a higher self. Descartes also proposed the concept of dualism in his philosophy. He has explained his concept of dualism in detail so that it makes sense to his readers who may be inclined to approach philosophy with a critical and analytical mind. Descartes acknowledges the existence of a spiritual reality, which he calls God, that exists beyond the plane of the human mind and intelligence. He also stresses that the mind, body, and intelligence and entities that are distinct from the supreme reality, which is the cause of the universe. Hence, he says that God and the human mind are different entities and that the entity called God is the causative reason for the mind, which is again controlled by the entity called God. Descartes developed his idea of dualism in similar lines to how Aristotle developed his views on philosophy. Descartes questioned his very senses and existence and tried to derive solutions from the doubts that arose in his mind. This sequence of questioning and answering helped him to derive his philosophy, which was developed on the basis of sequential negation and analysis. Descartes proceeds in this manner to derive the logic that his mind and body are two different substances. He finds that it is possible for him to doubt the existence of his body, without doubting his own existence. Hence, he must be a mind distinct from a body. Expanding on the existence of the body and the substances that make it up, he argues that each substance is similar to his body. They extend into space, are divisible, and obey

Civil War Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Civil War - Research Paper Example Belgian rule created more of an ethnic divide between the Tutsi and Hutu. Tutsis, who were visually fair in complexion and usually taller, were considered superior to the Hutus and had their roots in the region for centuries. The Belgian government being aware of that fact supported Tutsi political power. Each individual was issued a racial identification card which stated one as legally Hutu or Tutsi. By 1931, an ethnic identity was officially mandated and each Rwandan possessed an ethnic identity card at that time (Globalsecurity.org, 2011). Tutsis due to their superior racial status started exploiting their power over Hutu majority. There was discrimination all over the region. Any person owning 10 or more cattle was considered as a member of the Tutsi class. The Hutus were treated as the third class citizens and were not given any opportunity to excel in the society. Even the education system was entirely different for both groups. This created a sense of social injustice and hat red among the Hutus for Tutsi behavior and started rebelling against them. In 1960, the Belgian diplomats surprised everyone by reversing their favoritism and encouraged Hutu uprising in the name of democracy. In the same year, Belgium government decided to hold democratic elections in Rwanda-Burundi region. The Hutu majority elected Hutu representatives ending Tutsi monarchy. By 1962, Rwanda had become a Hutu dominated state and most of the Tutsis were exiled, if not killed, to the neighboring countries for their undesirable behavior with the Hutus (Phillip, 2000). By 1990, Hutus had gained full control and were administering the country. But there still was political unrest due to slumping economy and food shortages. The main reason however was something else. The Tutsis who were exiled more than 30 years ago were now grouping together in an attempt to overthrow Hutu led government in Rwanda and also to attain the right to live there. As a result, Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) was formed with the help of Ugandan army consisting mostly of Tutsi refugees or their descendants who were exiled earlier. The RPF, under the command of Major General Fred Rwigema began to pressurize Rwandan government and demanded Habyarimana, the Rwandan president, to make concessions and allow Tutsis to freely live there and be a part of the democratic system in the country. Habyarimana, after not being able to satisfy RPF’s demands and also RPF’s unwillingness to wait any longer and trust any longer the Rwandan government to fulfill its promises led RPF to wage civil war in the country (Globalsecurity.org, 2011). On 1st October, 1990, around 50 RPF rebels crossed the Ugandan border into Rwanda killing a guard at the Kagitumba border post. Hundreds more followed them with artillery and support provided to them by the Ugandan National Army. In few days after the first attack, the RPF army had advanced 60km to the south in the town of Gabiro creating violence and chaos in the region. This forced the government to launch a counterattack on RPF. The Rwandan Armed Forces (RAF) had a greater army and more advanced weaponry provided to them by the French as compared to rebels. However, RPF forces continued to invade Rwanda and more and more troops were deployed. As the civil war continued in the north, opposition to the government increased in Kigali. President Habyarimana was placed under immense pressure to take democratization measures and

Economic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Economic - Essay Example When the government relaxed its price control and promoted foreign investment, the United States started to invest in PRC beginning 1979 after both countries establish diplomatic relations. With Japan as their fund provider since 1978 through soft loans, PRC is now the fastest growing major economy in the world. Its success has been attributed to a formula of cheap labor, ease government policy, overall infrastructure, high productivity, and some say, an underrated exchange rate. In spite of a growing trade surplus, PRC is consciously making effort to lower its inflation rate and/or manage inflation expectations by raising bank reserve ratio of deposits through a directive from PRC’s Central Bank. This brings as to the first question as to how will this affect the balance sheets of both the banks and the PRC’s Central Bank. As regard to the banks, their assets, particularly deposits will decrease and the same amount will increase the reserve in the â€Å"Liabilitiesâ⠂¬  portion in their Balance Sheet. Expectedly, the assets of the Central Bank either in receivables or deposits will increase as well as their reserves. Normally, banks hold two bank reserves, one is use for cashing checks or satisfying client’s withdrawals while the other is called â€Å"legal reserves† or sometimes called â€Å"federal reserves† or central bank reserves. ... Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in its 2011 Asian Development Outlook that â€Å"there is very little risk of hard landing because growth momentum remains robust for the medium term†. As compared to last year the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth will slow to 9.3% in 2011, a dip from 10.3% annual growth in 2010 (Global Times), mainly due to stubborn inflation this year. One determinant factor of inflation is the Consumer Price Index (CPI), as the CPI rise so is the inflation. Consumer consumption is one of the major components in arriving at the total GDP, the others are government expenditures, gross investment and the net of exports versus imports. Consumer consumption may not be a factor at this time because wages will not outpace production. Government expenditures were already programmed to pay maturing foreign loans, hence will be constant, while investment will decrease minimally due to expected increase in interest rates. The one that will affect most in computing the GDP is the net difference between exports and imports. As I analyze it, imports will continue to outpace exports due primarily to higher demands for fuel consumption, which are outsourced externally. The World Bank said â€Å"strong domestic demand and relative price changes has reduced the importance of external trade for China† (Reuters.com) There might be an oversupply of products which will considerably affect prices and therefore have an effect on equilibrium. As regard the aggregate expenses, again this will tend to be low as the net effect of imports versus exports is high. PRC’s Central Bank raising of RRR will certainly have an effect on the money multiplier since it will

Zara Inc Success Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Zara Inc Success - Research Paper Example As the paper highlights the Fashion Retail world has evolved ahead of others with companies fighting for share in the market and the consumers demanding the next exotic collection every few months. The internationalization has enhanced the commercial aspect of these Fashion Titans who struggle to roll out new designs and trends every season with the hope of getting noticed in a crowd of thousands. The new global economic environment has provided Zara with an opportunity to improve its current brand perception and become the premium brand for European consumers. This can be achieved by creating a high end line for Zara. This would not only increase the potential target market for Zara but also allow Zara to charge premium prices. This study declares that in 1963-74 Amancio Ortega Gaona, chairman and founder of Inditex2, begins his business activities in the textile manufacturing sector. The business grows steadily throughout the decade to include several manufacturing centers distributing products to various European countries. The first ZARA shop opened its doors in 1975 in A Coruà ±a (Spain), the city that saw the Groups early beginnings and which is now home to its central offices. Its stores can now be found in the most important shopping districts of more than 400 cities in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa which is indeed a remarkable achievement. Interesting as it may seem, its first store featured low-priced lookalike products of popular, higher-end clothing fashions. This was of course an instant success as it enabled the people to have copies of the more luxurious clothes at a reasonable price and so Mr. Ortega opened more stores all over Spain. â€Å"ZARA was a fashion imitator.  ZARAâ€⠄¢s strategy of low volume per style and changing products quickly in its stores helps it to down on the discounts as well. Of its 12,000 distinct items annually, only about 18% of its clothing does not work with customers and has to be discounted.  

Origin of babies Essay Example for Free

Origin of babies Essay Once, there is young man who wished to have a good life, a great family he can call his own and offspring that he wanted to share his life with. During his bachelorhood, he would usually sit on his patio and think of these things. Years went by and he was able to marry the love of his life, the queen of his heart. He shared with her, his dreams when he was still a bachelor and together, they made that single simple dream come true. Under the clear blue sky of Paris, they both decided to have a family of their own, raise kids and be good parents. Soon after, their dream materialized and was blessed with a son. Being the kind of man that he his, he wants to raise his son the same way that his parents did to me. He would read to his son stories that deal with bravery, courage and respect to others. They were both a loving parent to their son they would give him all that he want if it is the best for him. When he was a year older, his father wants to mold his son into the kind of man that he is. They would often go out together and enjoy things that boys really do enjoy. Years and years passed, the son was already full-grown. He had finished college, had a secure job and is intending to marry his college girlfriend. They got married after several months of preparation and eventually bore their own child and a grandchild to their parents. The life cycle was already completed. The cycle of human life is chain and so it needs to be fulfilled step-by-step in order to arrive at the finish line. Upon the birth of their son, they were able to satisfy their urge of having a child and raise it the same that their parents did to them. They were able to fulfill the dream of their parents’ who wanted to see little children running around the lawn.

Chuck Close | Art Style Analysis

Chuck Close | Art Style Analysis When he left the UW for Yale in 1962, Close changed his style completely, dumping abstract paintings based on de Kooning in favor or photorealist portraits. He turned his back on abstraction in favor of photorealism because he wanted to find his own voice and not continue to do work similar to that of his UW mentor, Art Professor Alden Mason. It was a dramatic break: Photorealism is a painting style resembling photography in its close attention to detail, the opposite of abstract expressionism. He achieved his international reputation by demonstrating that a very traditional art form, portrait painting, could be resurrected as a challenging form of contemporary expression. His work has been superficially described as photo realist, but is more revealingly positioned with the development of minimalism and process art of the 1960s and 1970s, says Christopher Ozubko, director of the UW School of Art. Closes large, iconic portraits are generated from a system of marking which involves painstaking replication of the dot system of the mechanical printing process. The portraits he producesutterly frontal, mural-size, and centered in shallow spacereplicate the veracity of a photograph and undermine the objectivity of photography at the same time, critics say. In the early days, though, his work was the complete opposite of realism. Upon his arrival at the UW from Everett Community Collegewhich back in the 1950s was a feeder for the UW art programhe was influenced heavily by the now-retired Mason. They used to get thick paint by the gallon from a special dealer in Oakland, and churned out lots of abstract works. It was the opposite of the precise work he is best known for, says Mason. We just glopped on tons of paint and followed the influence of de Kooning and other New York painters of the time. The brushwork then took a lot of energy, was emotional, hard work, full of anxiety and trauma because it was all improvisational. You had no idea what was going to turn out. The Marxist Analysis enables a piece of illustration or artwork to be put in its historical, social and cultural context. This can be done by analysing the production, consumption and status of the image. The work of Chuck Close can be analysed in this way to discover its purpose and context. I am particularly interested in the dramatic shift in the work of Chuck Close and the way he completely changed his style and way of working. Close began by producing very large photorealistic portraits and had a unique and very well liked style. Photorealism was very popular at the time culture However, he was not able to continue working in this way after suffering from a spinal cord injury in 1988, which caused him to lose mobility in all parts of his body except a small amount of movement in his neck. His accident left him feeling helpless and many believed this was the end of his career as an artist. However, he did not give up and continued producing artwork by holding a paintbrush between his teeth and painting small pixel-like sections to make up a larger image. Although his later paintings differ in method from his earlier canvases, the preliminary process remains the same. To create his grid work copies of photos, Close puts a grid on the photo and on the canvas and copies cell by cell. Typically, each square within the grid is filled with roughly executed regions of color (usually consisting of painted rings on a contrasting background) which give the cell a perceived average hue which makes sense from a distance. His first tools for this included an airbrush, rags, razor blade, and an eraser mounted on a power drill. His first picture with this method was Big Self Portrait, a black and white enlargement of his face to a 107.5in by 83.5in (2.73m by 2.12m) canvas, made in over four months in 1968, and acquired by the Walker Art Center in 1969. He made seven more black and white portraits during this period. He has been quoted as saying that he used such diluted paint in the airbrush that all eight of the paintings were made with a single t ube of mars black acrylic. However, Close continued to paint with a brush strapped onto his wrist with tape, creating large portraits in low-resolution grid squares created by an assistant. Viewed from afar, these squares appear as a single, unified image which attempt photo-reality, albeit in pixelated form. Although the paralysis restricted his ability to paint as meticulously as before, Close had, in a sense, placed artificial restrictions upon his hyperrealist approach well before the injury. That is, he adopted materials and techniques that did not lend themselves well to achieving a photorealistic effect. Small bits of irregular paper or inked fingerprints were used as media to achieve astoundingly realistic and interesting results. Close proved able to create his desired effects even with the most difficult of materials to control. He soon regained some movement in his upper arm and was able to produce artwork even more freely. He then found he was not completely powerless and developed a new style of working which was even more amazing than before his accident. By losing something valuable, he found something he never would have even imagined and realised he was stronger than anyone ever thought. The cultural context of Closes work contributes a lot to its meaning. At a time of Abstract Expressionism he went against the mainstream with his photorealistic portraits and redefined portraiture. He has always worked strictly from photographs, producing canvases usually about three meters high. Chuck Close uses grids to transfer the images to the canvas producing lifelike images with intricate detail. His earlier work had a very strong photographic feel- he even blurred out things further away from the face, as a real camera lens blurs the background of a photo. Chuck Close did not work in the same way as anyone else at the time. His portraits focused on the hair, skin and details such as wrinkles, rather than on the eyes, as many other artists at the time did. Such realism was created as Close captured every pore and wrinkle. This technique started out with a series of portraits in black and white, and the artist began using more colours in the 1970s. In the 1980s, he started towards abstraction. His best known technique is the fingerprint paintings in which he used an inkpad and his own fingerprints to fill in the grid of his canvas. The canvases got bigger, but the realism was still there, in fact, if a person were to stand at a distance where he/she could see the entire image, it would be very difficult for that person to tell that the piece was created with fingerprints. Once the person gets close enough to see the fingerprints, it is very unlikely that he/she can get a good view of the piece as a whole. His most current stage of abstraction is one developed after he became partially paralyzed. He fills each of his grids with an oval composed of a few rings of bright colors. The style is still realistic, but not to the degree of Superrealism. Average paintings done with this technique is typically smaller than his earlier work. Close usually works in stages but in this piece the rounded or hard-edged scribble shapes are not determined by a grid, unlike his other work. Closes actual hand drawn pencil lines on the softground plate seem physical. To make this piece he had to alter his approach to the image but had wanted to make a face using colour separations for a long time. Colour separations are made through variations on the primary colours red, yellow and blue so rather than creating the image one square at a time, he needed to think in terms of the whole face at once even though the whole face could not come together until the final colour was layered on. Each individual state is scribbled echo of the entire face. The print is relatively small compared to the rest of his work, being only 18 1/4 x 15 1/4, zooming in on Closes face, cropping it off on all four sides. The extreme close up may symbolise the mature artist looking back on his career, confronting both the viewer and himself in a portfolio of i ntimate-sized etchings with a hand-drawn feel. Closes own explanation for why he made this piece is practical and unpretentious I wanted to demystify the process so that people understand how things happen. This piece would have been very time-consuming and labour intensive for Close as each stage had to be planned expertly. How does it communicate with the audience? This Marxist approach can lead on to Semicotic analysis which studies the use of a set of signs which enables the intended audience to understand the artworks meaning.

Indias Anti-Corruption Movements

Indias Anti-Corruption Movements Kanika Dass 1.0 Introduction These days corruption is the word occurring maximum in the print and electronic media and the mind of the people in India today is constantly preoccupied with no other item as the issue of corruption. There are scams galore today which is happening in every corner of our country so that the country is even nicknamed as â€Å"Scamstan† which means land of scams. Perhaps in India the most chanted word next to Gods name is Corruption. According to Elliot and Meril writes, â€Å"Corruption is a willful failure to perform a specified duty in order to receive some direct or indirect personal gain†[1]. Thus in corruption a person willfully neglects his specified duty in order to have undue advantage. In fact to call an act corruption, the following characteristics should be present namely, in corruption the specified duty is neglected, there is a willful negligence of the duty and have a personal gain. The prevention of corruption act which proposed in 1988 defines, â€Å"Cor ruption means and includes all corrupt activities notified by a body designed by the government from time to time†. 2.0 Combating corruption In India a three pronged approach is advocated in combating corruption namely enactment and enforcement of a law against it, mobilization of public opinion against behavior, and the strict vigilance. Accordingly the Indian legal system came up with The Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) 1988, chapter 9 of our Indian Penal Code (IPC) states the measure for the violation of corruption by the citizen of the country, and it also state that any citizens found in this act is liable under criminal conduct under the judiciary. In chapter IX A under no.171-B of the Indian Penal Code, Bribery is defined under offences relating to moral misconduct and criminal activity. Indian judiciary has introduced various commissions to check corruption namely, The Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). The lokpal bill has along chequered history as it was first rooted in 1968 in terms of the recommendation of the administrative reforms commission. The introduction of The Right to Information Act (RTI) has given the right to citizens to force the government to lifts its veil of secrecy and ensure a corrupt-free system. In spite of this during Nehru era we had innumerable commissions of inquiry on corruption namely, The Railway Corruption Inquiry Committee under Acharya Kripalani (1953), The Vivian Bose Commission (1962), The Santhanam Committee on Prevention of Corruption (1964), The Wanchoo Committee on Black Money (1974). After these unsuccessful commissions hailed the campaign of Anna Hazare with his team of Santhosh Hedge, the retired Lokayukta of Karnataka, RTI activist Arvind Kejarwal, former Police officer Kiran Bedi and others came forward to mobilize young people to the cause and to gain the massive support to the Hazare movement they invited middle class and the young gene ration of the country to protest against corruption in the country.[2] 3.0 Anna Hazare`s Anti-Corruption Movement I would be wrong if I say the fight against corruption began with this movement because the awareness had begun earlier but it was more hidden and less intense in action. With the nexus of the state with corporations, the poor losing more and more of their assets and the governing class increasing their wealth and publicly vulgarizing it, there was a pent up anger among the people of the country which the government underestimated. And this gradually turns into movement and these anti corruption movement had the following context for the movement namely, About 15% of the 548 Lok Sabha and 245 Rajya Sabha MPs face serious criminal charge for murder, rape and extortion. A high court judge of west Bengal faces impeachment by parliament and the chief justice of Sikkim took voluntary retirement. There have been serious charges of corruption against some judges of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has voices concern over corruption in the lower levels of Judiciary. An ex-cabinet minister, a sitting MP and a few corporate honchos are in jail facing serious corruption charges for cheating thousands of crores of our money. The commonwealth games which should have been a showcase of excellence to remember, is now remembered for completely the reasons of corruption and this is the symbolic of a rotten governance system in every walk of our life. The members of parliament have been increasing their salaries perks and allowances. People in the country do not believe that our parliamentarians need that sum of money for the services they render; it is the national wealth that they have been engulfing. Parliament has not functioned for several days with parliamentarians collecting their perks and salaries for the work done and meetings not attended. Several chief ministers in state have been involved in corruption of great magnitude. Their land deals, mining operations, oil scandals and involvement in financial and business deals have lowered their status and dignity in the public realm. Elections have become a mockery. Where candidates and parties try to outdo each other during elections by corrupt deals. Promises are made that are never implemented, all kinds of tricks are adopted, and people are divided on various grounds. Posts are auctioned. Even the teachers, police officers and people in the administration have to pay bribes for transfers. Ordinary employees of the state-clerks, peons and the others are caught with huge excess and unaccounted wealth that does not belong to them. It is a robbery of public wealth. Those close to the administration have unaccounted money.[3] These were few of the contexts of the Anti Corruption Movement led by Anna Hazare. These issues were addressed in the lokpal bill. 3.1 The Evaluation and the Limitations of Movement I feel this movement had worked for the instant solutions to the immediate problems, where the changes in any society are slow and gradual. The other major aspect which involved in the movement were the middle class people of the society who had only material cause in their minds of getting things at the cheaper rate by bringing back the black money to the country and during the movement there were many money (profit oriented) factor came into picture. We used the Gandhian symbols of white-cloth caps mixed with new age symbols of candles but there ideology was about market exchanges.[4] And this movement was not a social justice movement like our Independence movement because any movement should be driven by the masses but this movement is driven by a single person who is transformed as a messiah by a disillusioned people. Corruption by those in power is all about he invites people to fight against. The method to get rid of that corruption for hazare is all about a law to be enacted. What a simple solution for a complicated problem! What Anna is determined to do is mobilize the people, dictate a bill to the parliament, and ask them to act. This is authoritarianism because in democracy all voices have to be heard and decisions can be made only through dialogue. This bill needed wide consultation and the team of Anna Hazare alone does not constitute civil society. On the other hand bill needed to bring everyone into accountability because judiciary and the parliamentarians were not under the bill. Take the case of India`s caste system where we are not able eradicate it. The caste system is a socio-religious corruption which is more dangerous than the corruption Anna Hazare engaged to fight against. Dalits still suffer untold pain and discrimination because of this corruption it is like a cancer and this caste corruption is on the increase manifested in different forms. Why was Anna Hazare silent on caste corruption? We have a social evil of prostitution thrives in the name of religion (Devadasi system), female feticide is concern. , we had anti-Sikh riots in 1984, Gujarat genocide of 2002, Kandhamal riots of 2008-09, these are form of corruption that has destroyed and divided our society, and many questioned where Anna was during this situation? Dalit columnist Chandrabhan Prasad says, â€Å"The Anna Hazare phenomenon is leading us to the rejection of representative democracy and this movement is against the India`s political democracy itself†[5]. Because those involved in the movement want everybody to believe that only politicians are corrupt. 4.0 Conclusion The massive participation of youngsters in anti-corruption movement led by team Anna is seen to achieve hidden interests of invisible forces. As the team had good financial support from where did this aid come from to a normal social activist. Anna followed fasting method in the protest which was considered has the warning and treat for the nations by Mahatma Gandhi he also said people should not go on hunger strike after the independence of our country. Being the follower of Gandhi, Anna has disobeyed what Gandhi has asked us to follow. This movement has brought a class of people to the politics in the notion of making a difference. The public opinion is valued in governance but that public opinion cannot be based on the class interests. The common people are affected by the corruption of our country and we have also contributed to it. Bibliography Abdulraheem, â€Å"Corruption in India: An Overview,† Journal of Social Action, no.59, (October 2009). All India Reporters (AIR) SC 870 â€Å"State of Madhya Pradesh v. Shri Ram Singh†, (April 2000). Deep Pankaj, â€Å"Corruption, Transparency and Good Governance,† Journal of social action, no.59, (December 2009). Pinto Ambrose, â€Å"Anna Hazare Movement and India`s middle class,† Journal of social action, no. 61 (Dec 2011). Singh Avtar, â€Å"The problem of corruption and its remedies,† Journal of Social Action, no.61 (December 2011). Times of India (Bangalore Edition), 19th August, 2011. Transparency International. The TI source book. Berlin: Transparency International, 1998. [1] Avtar Singh, â€Å"The problem of corruption and its remedies,† Journal of Social Action, no.61 (December 2011), 373. [2] Pankaj Deep, â€Å"corruption, transparency and good governance,† Journal of social action, no.59, (December 2009), 385. [3] AmbrosePinto, â€Å"Anna Hazare Movement and India`s middle class,† Journal of social action, no. 61 (Dec 2011), 337 [4] Ibid., 344 [5] Times of India (Bangalore Edition), 19th August, 2011.

inertia and car accidents Essays -- essays research papers

Exp # 1 Title: Inertia and Car accidents. Aim: To find out how inertia plays a part in accidents. Materials: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wooden ramp, approx 1.5m long and 30cm wide. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bricks or wooden blocks 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2 dynamics, trolleys or toy cars 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Plasticine 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  metre rule Method: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Two plasticine dummies weighing 20g each were made and placed on the trolleys. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Trolley B was placed 30-40cm in front of the ramp. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Trolley A was placed 100cm from the end of the ramp. Directly in line with the other trolley. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Trolley A was released and was let to collide into Trolley B, observations were made on what happened to the dummies. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The experiment was repeated twice making sure everything was in the same place. Results: Refer to table 1. Questions: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What happened to the dummy on trolley A during the collision? Did it move during the collision? Did it move forward, backward, or stay in the same place? The Dummy on Trolley A fell forward during the collision, as the gradient increased, the dummy fell further forward. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The conclusion I have drawn from the evidence suggests that the steeper the gradient, the greater the impact. T...

Comparing Brave New World and George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four (198

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is more relevant today than George Orwell's 1984. Although both of the two totalitarian societies are based on plausible premises, the Utopia depicted in Brave New World still has a chance of appearing today, while the Big Brother-dominated society created by Orwell, being based to some extent on the totalitarian societies that existed at the time of the book's inception, is simply obsolete.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Brave New World remains more believable in modern times because the events that led up to the creation of Huxley's Utopia have the greater chance of occurring tomorrow. In both novels, the birth of the totalitarian society is brought on by a catastrophic war that probably involves the entire world. However, in 1984, the war is in the process of being fought, giving the reader the impression that somewhere in this world, there is still a non-totalitarian government which could defeat Orwell's nightmarish police state. In Brave New World, the war that preceded the creation of Utopia has long since passed; it often appears as though Utopia has always existed. This makes it much more believable than Big Brother, especially since it seems more likely to occur when the world is at peace. Also, the war depicted by Brave New World contains technology that seems particularly significant in modern times. In Utopia, Western Europe Controller Mustapha Mond mentions that the war preceding the inception of their society was fought using Anthrax Bombs. Because biological weapons have become more common part of military arsenals in recent years, readers of Brave New World have more reason to believe that its version of the war that starts the rise of totalitarianism could happen today. Finally, 1984 ... ... in Huxley's Brave New World, is more universal and more relevant to modern society than 1984's Big Brother. While both Utopia and Big Brother are equally plausible versions of a future society, the two were brought into existence by different preceding events. Also, Big Brother has a faint historical basis: Orwell meant for it to reflect the totalitarianism of the communist governments that existed in his era. Huxley gives no indication in Brave New World whether Utopia echoes a particular totalitarian society in real history, allowing it to remain plausible in an era when the brutal Communist regimes that existed in Orwell's time are virtually gone. Finally, Big Brother ensures its dominance by inflicting pain on dissidents while Utopia uses pleasure. Utopia, therefore, would stay in power more easily because pleasure is a more effective method of control than pain.

Innovation of Ipad

IS THE IPAD A DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY? Technology has been moved towards advancement day after day bringing new and improved devices and system. People are always on the verge of inventing something new and exciting. About a decade ago, mobile phone was rarely used by people but now everyone has a smartphone with all the possible gadgets in it like camera, video player, internet and more. Talking about disruptive technology which almost replaced any other company in new innovation was Apple. Apple launched iPhone which was one of the major successes in disruptive technology because it provided every bit of comfort to its user while using it.When apple launched ipad in 2010 there was a huge marketing and hype about its new innovated technology in the market. It was 10 inch tablet which runs on IOS (iphone operating system) as any other apple product. The ipad only runs apps from the Apple App Store. There are thousands of these applications available in the iTunes from movies, songs, ga mes and more. The ipad is not a necessity like the smartphone which do have the same gadget however it improves the quality of life of its users.Ipad has been used by the first author in two units offered by the Department of Statistics at Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia): a second-year Introduction to Probability unit (PROB) and a masters-level unit Mathematical Background for Biostatistics (BCA), delivered through the Biostatistics Consortium of Australia (Simpson, 2009). The use of technology, particularly the use of ipad, has supported a different mode of teaching in these two units that takes account of the general needs of the students and it enables students to be responsive to their individual requests.The ipad has been used as a way to involve, and motivate students through high-level presentation and communication tools. It has changed the approach in learning, experience simpler and deeper. Students will now experience the most amazing textbooks they’ve eve r read through the means of ipad because it provides with the images and dictionary one tap away to find the meaning of any word. This facilitates the user to become more relax while reading through ipad. Talking about the market that ipad is looking to compete is kindle. A kindle is a device just like ipad but smaller than ipad.Kindle is specially design only for reading purposes. It is dark ink display which enables user to study freely in the sunlight without any hesitation unlike ipad. Ipad is more likely a multi-purpose device which is used for almost everything that we need. It is easy to study at night rather at day because of its multi-colour display. But after apple launched the new ipad it has been solidified its presence on the e-reader device market, a market that has been previously been the dominated by Amazon, with its Kindle, and Barnes and Noble.Those devices are especially dedicated to e-book readers, while the new ipad series is an e-book reader in along with its various features, such as web browsing, multimedia, and support. But that flexibility doesn't make ipad a better product than kindle. Sometimes device that can do only one thing can be way more interesting than a multi-purpose device. The smallest, lightest, least expensive, easiest for reading purposes are the black-and-white e-book readers. If user wants only a reading tablet device it is to say the kindle is the favourite excluding the joy of watching videos and images.Each company offers varieties of models which gets the best lighting conditions. The one you want is the Kindle Paper White, whose brilliance is more pleasant than the equivalent any other device out on the market With plain, no-touch, no-light Kindles, with the ads on the screen saver, are quite cheaper but the light and the touch-screen are really worth having. One of the important parts in the learning experience is when a student does not understand a topic or a step in an exercise. The easiest way to help him or her is to go through the question using written words.With the introduction of the ipad into the teaching method, written answers can be incomplete to some cases when they are applicable and an answer to a student’s question can be produced in the form of a video lecture particular to the topic or exercise. The learning module of distance students has now been completely changed. If they cannot solve a problem or face any problem with the subject material by themselves, there is a new possible way by dedicating video by the tutorial/lecturer that shows every step of the problem and solution.This format is particularly important and has been successful. Written solutions are the same as the textbook and are often unable to provide the student with a new approach on solving the problem. It is common that a lecturer’s first response to a question is not enough and students ask for more visions. A video is different because it allows the student go through every step of the explanation in a more verbal way and probes asking for further explanation after such a mini video lecture are unusual.

Hunting Skills Essay

Without head for the hillsing we would all be dead. Our ancestors takeed to hunt for food and clothing. track down is very important to our human history. directly search is non as satisfying to some people, the populaces who hunt these days hunt for food or they hunt for a hobby. To hunt successfully, you need patience, the equipment and skill.Patience is wizard of the key ingredients to a approximate hunt. wiz of the hardest things to do for me is being patience because half(a) of the time you are sitting (or standing) in mavin spot looking for the creature and if you see the animal you got to debate whether you unavoidableness it or to look for a pause animal. If it is non in a good position you got to wait for it to move to arse around a good piquancy. Having patience is one of the best things to have when chase.Having the right equipment when hunt down is like going to school with a pencil it is common sense. The weapon is the most(prenominal) important so yo u can sire the animal, but you need diametrical weapons for different animals like 22. is good for hunting grouse, not for hunting a moose. Clothing is endorsement you do not want to go hunting in a island of Jersey and jeans there is clothing made barely for hunting. The right gear is vital to a successfully hunt.Skill is everything you need to be a great hunter. First a skilled hunter would know how to beget the animal, where it lives. Second you need to be a good shot because you do not want to miss the animal thence it would get scared and run away. alike you do not want to shot the animal more than once because the shopping mall would get ruined. Skill is all you need to have a good hunt. chase is a way of life and a hobby to some. People have been hunting throughout the ages and are still hunting today.

Challenges Faced by Pvos in Effective Mobilization of Communities in Rural Agriculture Projects in Kirinyaga District

CHALLENGES FACED BY PVOS IN businesslike MOBILIZATION OF COMMUNITIES IN RURAL farming final ca wasting diseaseS IN KIRINYAGA DISTRICT Name PATRICK KARIMI Adm No EMB/0088 COURSE DIPLOMA IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT Subject Project look Methods (DPM 5) Lecturer Mr. J. Ndukanio Due bestow extinct fifteenth Aug 2009 A query Proposal Presented In Partial Fulfill manpowert for the Award of parchment in Project Management Kenya bring in of Management AUG, 2009 DECLARATION proclamation by Student I do present decl atomic calculate 18 this is my original work and has non been presented for exams before.SignatureDate. Patrick Karimi Adm No EMB/0088 Declaration by Supervisor LETURER Mr. Ndukanio Signature. Date DEDICATION To My wife and friend. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT convey to my lecturers at KIM and class mates. Thanks as hearty as to my workmates and friends TABLE OF CONTENTS Title pagei Declarationii lettering iii Acknowledgementiv Table of contentsvii CHAPTER ONE founding 1. psych iatric hospital 1. 1 land of the excogitate 1. 2 Statement of the problem . 3 Objective of the report 1. 4 interrogation interrogates 1. 5 Signifi drive outce of the study 1. 6 Limitations of the study 1. 7 Scope of the study 1. 8 Conceptual framework CHAPTER twain LITERATURE REVIEW 2. 0 netherstructure 2. 1 Empirical review 2. 2 Critical review 2. 3 look for gaps CHAPTER trey RESEARCH DESIGN AND methodological digest 3. Introduction 3. 1 inquiry anatomy 3. 2 Target nation 3. 3 Accessible existence 3. 4 try out technique 3. 5 breeding entreaty method and functionings 3. info analysis technique References APPENDICES APPENDIX 1.. Questionnaire APPENDIX II Time line APPENDIX trine Budget CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1. Introduction This chapter leave cover the background of the study, affair of the study, problem statement, objectives of the study, inquiry questions, importance of the study, limitations of the study, kitchen stove of the study and the conceptual framework 1. 2. The Background of the study Agricultural production and productivity in the EAC is bigly cons cosmic stringed by inborn featureors, policy and adoption of technologies.The reasons for measly per formulaance of the outlandish sphere of influence acknowledge Policy link factors, Technology re new-fangledd factors, Nature cerebrate factors, Cross new and cross-sectorial related factors. The above constraints subscribe moderate the agrestic economys probable to alleviate leanness through employment creation and income generation, meet growing forage needs driven by speedy population growth and urbanization step on it overall sparing growth, given that kitchen-gardening is the just virtually potential lead sector for growth and maturement and conserve earthy visions.The main altercate facing the inelegant sector is to increase productivity and sparing growth in order to occlusive the worsening food guarantor and to overturn destitution by 50 portion by the year 2015. This is at a time when eastern Africa faces declining financial pickax base, HIV and back up pandemic, globalization and declining ingrained resources, which lessen availability of investment funds. east Africa has a signifi shagt irrigation potential that frame unexploited.Irrigation can play an important employment in change magnitude coarse productivity, expanding celestial orbit under production and stabilizing awkward production in situations of adverse hold nonpareilst conditions. Opportunity to expand irrigated gardening exists. purpose of this opportunity would boost agricultural production. From early(a)(prenominal) studies in companionship befuddles, it is clear that meaningfully involving communities at all phases of a ontogeny externalise be determinant to ensuring developing. merely in such a elan can people become leash actors in and generators of their own development, or else than beingnessness passive rec ipients of external verify (Bessette, 1996). 1. 3. The worry Statement The federation is confront with a number of challenges harmonizing unhomogeneous policies and legislations increasing closeness of local communities in stick outning and purpose making increasing production and stinting growth excreta of trans boundary pests and diseases including wildlife diseases expanding irrigated agriculture reducing poverty levels combating the HIV and AIDS pandemic decrease down the environmental egradation and desertification knead sustaining utilization of natural resources establishing an in force(p) early warning system and up(p) governance, security and political stability presidency agencies, non- political relational cheeks (nongovernmental organizations) and separate placeholders in Kenya return of late been exerting grand efforts to increase communities access to sanitisation and hygienics facilities and to promote safe endure behavior, peculiarly in campes tral r distributivelys. However, their efforts take hold non been able to bring approximately the desire output.Underlying reasons for this failure atomic number 18 that nearly of the projects were supply-driven top-down interventions intentional and implemented with scant(p) or no stake by the exploiter communities. In fact, most of the projects were compel interventions formed and implemented with infinitesimal or no feignment by the drug user communities. In fact, most of the projects were obligate interventions rather than agreed-upon involvements. There has been more vehemence on the reflection of latrines than on the promotional material of their good use and usage and technologies apply were, by and large, expensive.Thus, coverage, access and usage of sanitization are mum inadequate. In other words, with imply to safe hygienic behavior, untold remains to be desired. Consequently, diarrhea unwholesomeness and fatality rate originating from fecal con tamination, especially among under-five children, are still high. Demographic wellness statistics found that 46% of childhood deaths in Ethiopia are ca employ by diarrhea, and 80% of the diarrhea is traceable to severe water supply and hapless sanitation and hygiene.These suggest the need for a development approach that empowers communities mentally and psychologically and promotes vainglory and self-reliance for communities to properly excogitation and act. Programs designed should center on needs-based and partnership-led panning and execution of projects to cause a strong perceive of ownership on the part of the user communities. This study on that pointfore seeks to address the challenges approach by PVOs in hard-hitting militarisation of companionship connection in agrestic agriculture projects in Kirinyaga District. . 4 Research Objectives 1. 4. 1 General Objective The look for Project aims to improve the mobilisation approaches to corporation agriculture productivity and sustainability of existing microscopical and medium farmer-managed irrigation systems suffering from low productivity and poverty in Central Kenya and thereby enhancing the livelihoods of the poor. 1. 4. 2 Specific Objectives 1. To examine the challenges caused by incidence of poverty in effective militarisation of community mesh in coarse agricultural project 2.To look into the challenges caused by societal infrastructure in effective mobilization of community participation in countrified agricultural project 3. To find out the challenges caused by sexual body process balancing in effective mobilization of community participation in rural agricultural project 1. 5. Research Questions 1. To what finis does incidence of poverty a challenge in effective mobilization of community participation in rural agricultural project? 2. What challenges are caused by affable infrastructure in effective mobilization of community participation in rural agricultural pro ject? . are there challenges caused by Gender balancing in effective mobilization of community participation in rural agricultural project? 1. 7. Significance of the say To community workers and stake holders The research project pass on raise the livelihood of rural smallholders by improve the performance of the existing farmer-managed irrigation systems. By establishing sound evidence on service saving mechanisms and community institutions to support such initiatives To in store(predicate) detectives As this research study is throttle to the challenges faced by PVOs in effective mobilization of community participation in rural agriculture projects in Kirinyaga District, it can be used as a platform for further research studies to station additional challenges and similarly explore how these challenges can be overcome. 1. 8. Limitations of the Study ? Collection of information Lack of extensive selective information in some aspects of the study entrust be overcomed by making use of a diverse range of sources for the data including the internet, newspapers, magazines, books, strain journals, and e truly other available material. Questionnaire responses So that respondents would not find it time overpowering to complete(a) the questionnaire, the police detective attempted to alter the questionnaire as more than as executable so as to make it easier to complete without it being time consuming. 1. 9. Scope of the Study The study covers agricultural based irrigation projects in Kirinyaga District. The study forgeting cover the challenges faced by PVOs in effective mobilization of community participation in rural agriculture projects in Kirinyaga District. The study continuance ordain be October-December 2009. . 10. Conceptual enclose Independent variables Dependent variable CHAPTER ii 2. 0. LITERATURE REVIEW 2. 1Introduction The Chapter reviews literature related to agriculture based project and its involve on community mobilization through with(p) by different writers and tecs. 2. 2. Main check out The main challenge facing the rural sector is to increase productivity and economic growth in order to accommodate the worsening food security and to reduce poverty by 50 per centum by the year 2015.This is at a time when East Africa faces declining financial resource base, HIV and AIDS pandemic, globalization and declining natural resources, which reduce availability of investment funds. East Africa has a significant irrigation potential that remains unexploited. Irrigation can play an important usage in increasing agricultural productivity, expanding area under production and stabilizing agricultural production in situations of adverse support conditions. Opportunity to expand irrigated agriculture exists. consumption of this opportunity would boost agricultural production.The Community is faced with a number of challenges harmonizing various policies and legislations increasing involvement of local communit ies in purposening and decision making increasing production and economic growth elimination of trans boundary pests and diseases including wildlife diseases expanding irrigated agriculture reducing poverty levels combating the HIV and AIDS pandemic slowing down the environmental degradation and desertification process sustaining utilization of natural resources establishing an effective early warning system and improving governance, security and political stability Government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other stakeholders in Ethiopia have of late been exerting great efforts to increase communities access to sanitation and hygiene facilities and to promote safe hygienic behavior, especially in rural areas. However, their efforts have not been able to bring somewhat the desired output. Underlying reasons for this failure are that most of the projects were supply-driven top-down interventions designed and implemented with little or no involvement by the user communities. In fact, most of the projects were forced interventions designed and implemented with little or no involvement by the user communities. In fact, most of the projects were forced interventions rather than agreed-upon involvements.There has been more emphasis on the construction of latrines than on the promotion of their proper use and usage and technologies employed were, by and large, expensive. Thus, coverage, access and usage of sanitation are still inadequate. In other words, with regard to safe hygienic behavior, much remains to be desired. Consequently, diarrhea morbidity and mortality originating from fecal contamination, especially among under-five children, are still high. Demographic health statistics show that 46% of childhood deaths in Ethiopia are caused by diarrhea, and 80% of the diarrhea is attri howeverable to unsafe water supply and poor sanitation and hygiene.These suggest the need for a development approach that empowers communities mentally and psych ologically and promotes self-respect and self-reliance for communities to properly figure and act. Programs designed should enter on needs-based and community-led panning and implementation of projects to create a strong sense of ownership on the part of the user communities. Accordingly, in early 2007, plan Ethiopia and externalize regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa (RESA) acquire that the Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach proven advantageful in countries of Southeast Asia and Latin America in producing desired outcomes. Thus, inviting the groundbreaker of CLTS, Dr. Kamal Kar it introduced the approach in eight kebeles in Shbedino District of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and peoples Region (SNNPR).CLTS kit and boodle by encouraging communities to call a spade a spade, thereby creating an piece of shame, of disgust, and of fear as triggering elements. Dr. Kar similarly admonishes facilitators, or experts, not to dictate communities but, instea d, to encourage them to find their problems and come up with solutions. He also recommends close follow-up and periodic monitoring. In March 2007, Plan Ethiopias Shebedino architectural plan unit, together with the Shebedino District Health Office, irrigate Action, Kebele health extension workers, health messengers, community leaders, and communities themselves began exercising the CLTS approach. Members of Furas community ere highly triggered and they promised to proactively involve in sanitation activities dig pit latrines and put an end to stretch defecation in their kebeles by mid-April 2007. Their motto was No to open defecation No to eating and drinking shit They so made good on their promise. With notwithstanding some facilitation and follow-up by plan Ethiopias Shebedino Program Unit, the Shebedino Wereda Health Office, the health extension workers, the health messengers, and the community leaders, the communities in many of these kebeles registered impressive achie vements. For instance, 465 of the 1265 abodes in the Fura kebele constructed household pit latrines after introduction of CLTS.That was rough one-hundred-percent pit latrine coverage in the kebele. Furthermore, determined to make their kebele open-defecation-free (ODF), the residents of Fura built nine common pit latrines for passers-by and for the pupils of the Fura Elementary School. They did it all on their own initiative, and with no subsidy, victimisation exclusively locally available materials. The pit latrine construction has accelerated in many her keeles, too. observe reports indicate the communities in Taremessa, Midre Genet, Morancho Negash kebeles as well have constructed pit latrines and reached almost one hundred percent coverage, as compared to 28%, 25%, and 65% coverage respectively.Plan Ethiopia supported this initiative at paltry live around US$ 2,000 to train community leaders and other facilitators in Fura and other kebeles as well as module members fro m partner institutions.. In the past, plan Ethiopia spent or so US$ 25 per household for san plat provision alone. Thus, to support the construction of 465 pit latrines in Fura would have, therefore, cost plan Ethiopia more than US$ 11,625. Children, women and men are involved not completely in construction pit latrines but also in keeping a watchful eye to make sure that passers-by do not defecate out in the open in Fura. They have set rules for penalizing offenders offenders scoop their feces into nigh toilets and penalize and amount of US$ 0. 5-1. 00. data from clinics operating in these areas indicate that the number of diarrhea carapaces is continuously declining.The residents of the Fura kebele designated September 02, 2007 as Open-Defecation- Free Environment Day. Around vitamin D people, including community members of the Fura keble, various government officials, health extension workers of the 35 kebles in the Woreda, staff members of Water Action and staff members of plan Ethiopia attended the celebration. Success recorded was however, not without challenges. Lack of efficiency and commitment on the part of the community leaders in some areas or among stakeholders was one of the problems. The fact that the various beneficiaries of the CLTS approach did not perpetually reach a consensus also make up challenges. At times there have been problems of regressing to the old, unhygienic practice.From this project it is clear that meaningfully involving communities at all phases of a development project are determinant to ensuring development. further in such a sort can people become legislate actors in and generators of their own development, rather than being passive recipients of external support (Bessette, 1996). CHAPTER THREE 3. 0 RESEARCH DESIGN AND methodological analysis 3. 1 Introduction This chapter outlines the process the detective uses to identify the target population, research design, sample design, data charm methods and data analysis methods. 3. 2 Research Design The research design that will be follow in this research study is the descriptive survey research design.Descriptive case study is a method of collection information by referenceing or administering a questionnaire to a sample of individuals (Orodho, 2003). It can be used when collecting information about peoples attitudes, opinions, habits or any of the variety of education or social issues (Orodho and Kombo, 2002). The design adopt is an investigative design since it will be easy and efficient to use and is an accurate counter and indication to measure (Pamela, 2003). The researcher chose this research design because the study aims at collecting information from respondents on their experiences, perceptions and opinions in relation to the challenges of merchandising the credit card services to teachers. some(prenominal) primary and thirdhand data will be colleted.Primary data will be curbed using questionnaires while secondary data w ill be from the internet, newspapers, magazines, journals, government publications, published company records and reports. 3. 3. Study population The target population will be all PVOs involved in community agriculture projects in Kirinyaga district. The accessible population is 12 PVOs. 3. 4. Sample Size The researcher selected 32 respondents on whom to conduct the survey. The choice of 32respondents will be based on Mugenda and Mugenda (2003) recommendation. The accessible population consisted of 32 respondents and so the sample size of 32respondents will be 100% as recommended by Mugenda and Mugenda (2003). 3. 5 Sampling designThe research will be use a secernate random sampling method to gibe that all categories are equitably represented in the sample. Then the researcher adopted case study census. 3. 6. selective information collection legal document The researcher will be use a questionnaire for the teachers and an interview guide for the Bankers as the data collection inst ruments. The interview guide will be modify collection of in-depth information and they are arrogate where the population size is not large (Kothari 2007). The questionnaire is made up of both structured and unstructured questions so that qualitative and quantifiable data is collect for the study. The researcher chose to use a questionnaire because of the next benefits.First, the questionnaire enables the researcher to accept structured or closed-ended questions which are easier to analyses as well as to administer since each question is followed by alternative attend tos. Secondly, the questionnaire also enables the researcher to use open-ended questions thereof permitting a greater in-depth response from the respondents. These bad-tempered responses enable the researcher to get greater insight into the feelings, decisions and thinking of the respondents (Fraenkel, 2000). 3. 6 Data collection procedure Questionnaires were self administered as all respondents are literate exuberant to for purpose of the questionnaire items. The questionnaires will be conveyed to the respondents by use of the drop and pick method.An forward letter from the KIM authorizing the research to be undertaken will be used by the researcher to assure the authenticity of the study. 3. 7. Reliability and lustiness Data reliability and validation will be done to maintain accuracy. Data reliability is the pointedness to which research instrument yield consistent results or data after repeated trials Mugenda and Mugenda (2003). To achieve this, the questionnaire has been designed with systematic and comprehensive questions to enable respondents to answer them without much reference. Data validity refers to the degree to which results obtained from analysis of data actually represents phenomenon under study, Mugenda and Mugenda (2003).To achieve content validity the researcher will seek assistance from the experts (supervisor) on various sections in the questionnaire as instrume nts for data collection. 3. 7 Data Analysis social occasion Analysis of raw data collected will enable the researcher to have information. Data analysis will involve reducing accumulated data expression for patterns and applying statistical techniques. Data analysis will be done using both qualitative and quantitative analysis, because it is important to obtain data on the study by trying to establish trends. Patterns and relationships from the data gathered. The procedure included recording results from respondents and, evaluating the accuracy and relevance of data.Quantitative analysis will be used since the distribution of measures or stacks need to be extensively expound using descriptive statistical analysis as these are suitable in giving accurate findings revealed by research. Data will be presented in form of tables, graphs, charts, figures, to give meaning to the responses. APPENDIX I REFRENCES Thomas F. Patterson (1987) (HTML). Refining death penalty Appraisal. http //www. joe. org/joe/1987winter/a5. html. Retrieved on 2007-01-18. Joyce Margulies (2004-03-24) (PDF). Performance Appraisals. http//www. bnabooks. com/ababna/eeo/2004/eeo55. pdf. Retrieved on 2007-01-18. Archer north-central & Associatiates (1998), Introduction to Performance Appraisal, http//www. performance-appraisal. com/intro. htm U. S. Department of the Interior, Performance Appraisal Handbook Mugenda A & Mugenda, O. 2003). Research Methods. Nairobi Focus Hashemi, S. , Scholar, S & Riley, A. (1996). rural Credit Programmes and Women Empowerment in Bangladesh. existence Development 24(4). Pgs 635-653. Wall JA Jr, Callister RR. Conflict and its management. diary of Management(213), 1995, pp 515-558 APENDIX II Questionnaire for Respondents Name .. (optional) Organization/ NGO. Designation. 2. (a) How did you come to learn about PVOs In Embu? i. Founder member ii. through with(predicate) a friend iii. Through the communicate/TV iv. From church / chief (b) To what campaign do the interest motivate social station? Very much Much not much not very much Not at all To get an income To keep you busy To booster your relatives To help community Because your friends were members 2 (i) Are you involved in formulating the activities of your organization? Yes No (ii) If no, who formulates the activities of the organization / assort? The chairman The donors The perpetration all told the members 3 (i) Are there benefits for success in the activities of the ag grouping? Yes No (ii) If yes, beneficent rate the nature of the relationships of each stakeholder using the scale below. a) Committee of the group 12345 b) Donors to the operation 12345 c) Other group members 12345 ) The non participating group members 12345 e) Other CBOs 12345 Key 1= very supportive 2=supportive 3= just supportive 4= not supportive 5=not at al supportive 4 (i) Are your activities competitive in nature? Yes No (ii) If yes, answer question (a-b) and if no leave out question (c-d) start at question e. (a) Briefly state, two late(a) activities of the organization. 1. 2. (b) freehearted rate the involvement of the groups in the following issues involved. Very much involved concern It depends Not very involvedNot at all involved assembly management Group reconcile pick of group team members Group activity selection (c) State two recent activities of the organization. 1. 2. (d) Briefly state two methods used to accomplish organization activities. 1. 2. 6 (i) How does the group choose the activities engage in In a meeting Informed by chairman Through lettersInformed by committee (ii) Do you always agree on the priorities of the group activities? Yes No (iii) If no, what causes most deviation disagreement? Kindly rate the following Determining the activity Choosing participants Allocating resources for activity intend the activity Determining how much to do. 7 (i ) As group members what three issues about group leadership dont your like? a) b) c) (ii) What two things about the group have made you feel appreciated? a) b) ASANTE SANA Gender imbalances High incidence of poverty