Religion Is Not For Christianity And Islam - 1509 Words

It is a widely accepted fact that religion is not limited to Christianity and Islam. Instead, it also incorporates issues such as the fanaticism of expertise, worldly humanism, the consumer culture as well as the consecration to Thursday Night Rugby among other illustrations. Analysis of the historical definition of religion, it has been found that the five core features of religion are also met by politics. For this reason, it is hard to distinguish religion from a policy. As pointed out by the arguments provided regarding religion as a source of conflict, absolutism leads to a scenario where religion is concerned with the ultimate objective (Esposito). This aspect is also true for politics. Similar to the understanding that religion is instrumental in developing communities; the same can be said of politics. Additionally, religion is connected to myths and representations. On the other hand, politics imitates this entreaty through the dedication to a national banner as well as the observation of war memorials (Esposito). Because it is difficult to distinguish religion from politics, it follows that it is tedious to support the arguments provided since they are clouded by the failure to distinguish religion from secular reality. This knowledge renders the argument that profane principles such as autonomy, loyalty, free enterprise, and socialism have a reduced inclination to causing violence compared to belief in the biblical God irrelevant. For this reason, the kind ofShow MoreRelatedChristianity And The Religion Of Islam1180 Words   |  5 PagesChristianity and the religion of islam have many differences. I believe it’s ti me for someone to go into depth of how Christianity and Islam are similar and different. One thing to remember is that all this is based on Historical discoveries, and my opinions are based on my research. So, without further ado, let’s get started. Take in mind that I have never read the, â€Å"Qur’an†, or the, â€Å"Holy Bible†. I will try my best to make everything factual. The descendant - Christianity: All christians believeRead MoreChristianity And Islam : The Religions1510 Words   |  7 PagesChristianity and Islam are the two largest religions in the world. Christianity is a belief built on the life, teachings and death and rebirth of Jesus. He was born as a Jew in Roman-Occupied Palestine (Fisher, pg. 302). Christians believe Jesus was born in Bethlehem. (Fisher pg. 305) According to the Gospel Jesus mother is virgin Mary and she conceived him by the Holy Spirt (fisher, pg. 306). Jesus taught the word of God and he also performed some miracles such as turning water into wine, healingRead MoreReligion : Hinduism, Islam, And Christianity1079 Words   |  5 PagesReligion is known as having a deep relationship with a supreme being or thing. Also, to believe in them with the extent of worship and to follow their practices. A few of the main religions over time have been Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. These three religions consist of ideas and practices that may be very different, but are made up of the same general idea expressed in a new form. Although their main differences, each religion seeks one thing, and that s an afterlife. Most religions areRead MoreReligion and Peace - Christianity and Islam894 Words   |  4 Pagesimperative to understand the source of the teachings for each religion. The principles teachings of peace for Both Christianity and Islam are primarily found in the sacred texts of both religious traditions. Christianity looks to the bible and specifically the New Testament for teachings about peace, whereas Islam focuses’ on the Qur’an and Hadith to guide their beliefs of peace. These sacred texts guide the individual adherents of each religion to achieving inner peace which consequently develops theirRead MoreReligions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam1162 Words   |  5 Pages1. God to the people of the big three monotheist religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) see god as an all-knowing, all-seeing, and all-powerful being. I believe that that the Cosmological argument gives good reason to believe in the existence of God. The Cosmological argument focuses on everything having a cause except one thing that started it all, this starter is known as the â€Å"Prime Mover†. The Prime Mover is the one that starts everything without anything having a previous effect on it. WithRead MoreGlobal Religions of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism1054 Words   |  4 Pagestime for the rise of new, global religions such as Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity. The spread of these new religions all shared certain unique aspects of spreading. These three religions shared what made them global and universal. Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, fit the definition of world religion for the reasons that they each were not culturally specific nor gender specific, incorporated other religions and appealed to all social classes and these religions spread by way of war and conquestsRead MoreChristianity And Islam : A Dominan t Religions Worldwide1471 Words   |  6 PagesChristianity and Islam are most dominant religions worldwide. Statistics show that thirty-three percent of the population is Christian and twenty-one percent is Muslim. Thought they share many similarities in origin and mirrored images in their sacred texts, the two beliefs hold several key differences. Both Christianity and Islam mirror Judaism. From Judaism, Christianity and Islam took hold of the concepts of monotheism, prophecy, resurrection, and a belief in the existence of heaven and hell.Read MoreChristianity And Islam : Religion Or Belief System2376 Words   |  10 PagesBehind every religion or belief system, there is a story. In monotheistic religions, the story usually begins with a god, who created the heavens, the earth, the inferno and all that abides within these three realms. The stories go on to glorify their respective god, through tales of their heroic acts or sublime sermons. These stories exemplify not just a fable of the past, but a promise for the future. For Christianity and Islam, the two most popular religions in the world, these stories are similarRead MoreAbrahamic Religions : Judaism, Christianity, And Islam1407 Words   |  6 PagesAbrahamic Religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam ​The Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are the three key Western Religions they all exercise monotheism, achieving peace though justice, God’s love and mercy, all three trace back to the prophet Abraham in some way, even though he was first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. These three religions are very closely unified because they share many common beliefs and thoughts, and they all rely on holy books or scriptures as a life-guidedRead MoreReligion Is The Most Popular Two Religions Are Islam And Christianity941 Words   |  4 Pagesaccording to his religion. So, the world includes a lot of religions such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Taoism, Buddha but the most popular two religions are Islam and Christianity. Religion is a basic thing in a person life. Every person in the world should follow what his family is following with religion, for example; my family they are Muslims. I should follow what my family is following but I have a friend whose fa mily is Jewish but he is Catholic because he read a lot of Christianity books about

1984 Dystopian Essay - 1254 Words

Ahmed Ali College Prep Senior English Mr Arcuri 7th September 2017 Why 1984 is a Dystopian novel A dystopian novel is a story relating to or denoting an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. 1984 by George Orwell, is indeed a dystopian novel as it describes a nightmare vision of future society which is opposite to a perfect world. George Orwell creates this image using a few different techniques including, the language or style, the setting, characterization, and oppression. The Language in the novel is simple; there are no metaphors. There are limited speeches to give no freedom to the reader to imagine the society in a less oppressive way than it†¦show more content†¦The outer party members, however, even though they are not ill or unhealthy, they are very skinny and small since they lack so much food. The inner party members appear to have a large effect and authority over Oceania. Big brother and the Party are watching everyone in Oceania almost 24/7 w ith telescreens and thought police. An example explaining the telescreens in the novel is, The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely. (1.1.3) They always being monitored and all their facial expressions, actions or thoughts can be seen and reported to the party if it’s not something in which they like. The only time anyone is completely safe is for the few hours in the night when you sleep. Big brother makes everyone believe that there was no past and that there was no history before the present. History is being altered, and since there is â€Å"no past† no one has proof that the past is better than before the revolution occurred. Everything is based on the proles, this kind of society isn t sane; it is very unappealing and unpleasant. The society in this book is just an imagination of a perfect world, yet to exist on this planet. The government is changing and making an organization by the minis try of truth that changes all files and history depending on what Big Brother wants. Everyone now has an idea that whatever Big Brother says is right, thereforeShow MoreRelated1984 Dystopian Essay1392 Words   |  6 Pages Ryan Li 8/22/17 AP Lit/Comp Summer reading 1984 1984 is written by George Orwell and published on June 8, 1949. It s genre is dystopian is dystopian and utopian fiction. 1984 could also be considered a work of political fiction. It is written in the literary period of modernism. Modernism originates in the late 19th and early 20th century mainly in North America and Europe. It is characterized by it s intentional break from traditional ways of writing both in prose fiction and poetryRead More1984 Dystopian Society Essay1164 Words   |  5 Pagesthe same. George Orwell created a dystopian society, Oceania, where the government was controlled by Big Brother. Winston Smith, the main character, slowly realized that the Party, or the government, was manipulating their society to make the Party immortal. Winston presumably wanted to stand up for his beliefs, without facing any consequences for going against the Party. By writing 1984, Orwell warns people of the dangers that totalitarianism places on society. 1984 reflects its historical period byRead More1984 Dystopian Society Essay1212 Words   |  5 PagesEnvision the presence living in a dystopian society - where citizens are watched day-and-night. George Orwell’s novel 1984, written in 1949, depicts and illustrates the future of the 1980’s. Orwell imagined the world in which totalitarianism reigned, individualism is dead, and history is just sentiment. The world diverged into three superstates: Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia. With protagonist Winston Smith and the citizens of Oceania, they have experienced the impression, having to live life behindRead More1984 Dystopian Society Essay1445 Words   |  6 PagesIn the year 1944, famous author, George Orwell, composed a novel about a dystopian society called 1984. Telescreens that could see and hear everything someone did, children who turned in their parents for ideas about overthrowing the government, and a clueless society surviving on only what the government told t hem were the main problems in Orwell s novel. Orwell s purpose for writing this novel was not as a prediction of what the future of society would look like, but more as a warning. He warnsRead More1984 Dystopian Setting Essay974 Words   |  4 Pages Setting Comparison In a dystopian society those in power will manipulate the setting to ensure a controlled atmosphere over its citizens. However, this falsified setting is either displayed as dirty and indigent or as a pristine and neat society with no inbetween characteristics. 1984 by George Orwell is recognized as a dystopian novel that takes place in a futuristic country called Oceania. This society is at non-stop war and experiences spontaneous bombings along with poor living conditionsRead MoreEssay on 1984 Big Brother’s Dystopian World1015 Words   |  5 Pages29th, 2011 Big Brother’s Dystopian World Dystopia: a society characterized by human misery and oppression. A Dystopian world is controlled by a government that can do no wrong. They weed out the individuals and groups that have the thought or intend to commit their lives to â€Å"dethroning† the ruler; Big Brother. The government will do anything to protect their way of life. They will go to the extremes of changing the past to control the future. In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the citizensRead MoreThe Dystopian Society in George Orwells Novel 1984 Essay469 Words   |  2 Pagesbook and helped lay the foundation of the dystopian society George Orwell imagined in his novel 1984. Fear, manipulation, and control were all encompassed throughout this dystopian society set in the distant future. The freedom to express ones thoughts was no longer acceptable and would not be tolerated under any circumstances. Humankind was rapidly transforming into a corrupt and evil state of mind. Even though many of Orwell’s ideas in his novel 1984 seemed completely fictional, several of theRead MoreDystopian Society: Comparing Brave New World and 1984 Essay1705 Words   |  7 PagesDystopian Society: Comparing Brave New World and 1984 Different societies have risen and fallen in the continual search for the â€Å"perfect† society. The definition of this utopia is in constant flux due to changing times and cultural values. Many works of literature have been written describing a utopian society and the steps needed to achieve it. However, there are those with a more cynical or more realistic view of society that comment on current and future trends. These individuals lookRead MoreCreating a Dystopian Society in 1984 and Brave New World Essay2001 Words   |  9 PagesDystopian Society is carved by manipulation of society Throughout many decades people have been searching for the perfect society in which everyone is happy and prosperous . Many literature and movies has been created to depict the utopia world to enable people to explore and experience the perfect society anyone could wish for. Creating a perfect world is not an easy task and this can be seen in our history . Totalitarian states arise from different countries , Stalin’s Soviet Union , Hitler’sRead MoreOne Of The First Dystopian Novels To Become Famous Was1396 Words   |  6 PagesOne of the first dystopian novels to become famous was 1984. The concept of dystopian novels is not only to entertain readers, but to let them understand the characteristics and ideas of a dystopian society. Some of these characteristics are shown through our society but at a more drastic level. Basic fears are exaggerated such as the following: distrust of others, disease, contaminated water, nuclear holocaust, etc. The reader can gain more kn owledge by finding ways in which the topics the author

Qantas Airline Management Service Marketing †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Qantas Airline Management Service Marketing. Answer: Introduction Qantas Airlines describes itself as one of the most worlds most experienced airline that offers unique services all over the globe. The airline has flight routes all over the world and its success has been attributed to business techniques that are used to manage service quality and customer demands that keep on increasing (Qantas, 2016, P. 1). Through its complementary airline brands of Jetstar and Qantas, customers the airline gives customers different service qualities based on their affordability. This essay analyses Qantas airline business and the techniques used to manage quality and demand from customers. Critique of the airlines service blueprint, A service blue print is an operational tool for providing guidance on how services within the organization are provided. This specifies physical evidence, staff actions and other support systems required to provide quality service (Flieb Kleinaltenkamp, 2004, P. 395). Some organizations use the service blue print to dragonize operational efficiency and develop solutions. Qantas airline operates on a service blue print with five main areas of physical evidence, customer and actions, on stage employee contact, backstage employee contact and support processes (see appendix 1.). This blue print shows different activities that take place within the process of service the customer. However, it lacks appraisal systems where customers can give feedback about the service that they receive. However, it would have worked better if the customer was requested to give feedback before they alight the plane. This will avoid biases and ensure that customers dont forget to give their feedback. On the other hand, all the activities are linked to top management rather than linking to line managers who then link to the top management. This eases decision making and ensures that customer problems are resolved on time. Servicescape strategy Servicescape strategy is a model that focusses on the impact of the environment and the way the behaviour of people within the business context leads to accomplishing of business goals. This has organizational benefits through influences on customer perceptions about the service that they receive (Hoffman,, et al., 2010, P. 2010). This can also influence the nature and quality interactions that exist between employees and customers. Qantas Airline servicescape strategy exists in several business areas that suit customer needs. First, the airline offers two unique services Jetstar and Qantas which have different services. The customer can choose any service according to the amount of money that they have. Bookings can be done online through an online portal that enables the customer determine the flight that suits their needs. With this, the customer keys in the amount of money that they have and allow the system to choose a flight for them that fits the needs that they have (Qantas, 2016, pp. 3). This improves efficiency and ensures that customers are conveniently served. As part of keeping up with technology changes, the company bought the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner that is being used by many flight companies. This is the best flight in the market that gives customers quality service. As part of branding, the airline updated its Kangaroo logo to align it with the new flights system and give it a new look to the customer (World Airline News, 2016, pp. 4). The seats in the plane are designed to differentiate between the two classes of flights available. Further, the airline is designed well with enough ventilation to give customers quality flights. Customer waiting bays are spacious allowing customers to wait comfortably without overcrowding. The airline acknowledges the fact that it has many customers who will crowd at the waiting bay. This is reduced through online booking where customers can be informed of the exact time the flight is leaving to reduce waiting time and congestion in the waiting bay. Service quality Service quality compares the perceived expectations of a customer with the performance that they receive when engaging with a seller or a supplier. This meets the value for money need of the customer through ensures that what they pay for is what they receive(Ojasalo, 2010). According to Sultan Simpson Jr (2000, P. 190), organizations, that consistently meet customer quality expectations have an increased rate of return customers. Qantas airline lines serve its customers through personal attention and convenient timing to meet customer needs. All customers are treated equally regardless of the flight type that they are using. The employees have been adequately trained to ensure that the services they offer are in line with Qantas culture to meet all the five dimensions of tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. Complaint process and service recovery, Complain handling and service recovery is a customer retention tool that can be used as a competitive advantage in the organization (Bendall-Lyon L.Powers, 2001, P. 280) Qantas airline achieves this through an established customer services program to ensure that lost customers are recovered. Through the customer chatter, clear processes for solving problems have been laid down. Further, customers have accessed to the chatter that shows what they expect when being served and how to raise complains in case any of their rights has been violated (Qantas, 2016, pp. 3). A customer feedback form is used to give feedback responses which are then analyzed by management and proper solutions put in place. Managing supply and demand Management of supply and demand is plan management strategy that allows a business to balance its resources against the demands of customers. This allows the business to meet the needs of the customer by putting adequate strategies in place (Obeng Sakano, 2012, P. 43). For example, an airline has to ensure that the number of bookings do not exceed the available flights to minimize congestion and delays. Supply management is achieved through inbound and outbound logistics that includes route selection, yield management system, flight scheduling, crew scheduling and aircraft acquisition to ensure that they meet the needs of the organization. The airline has a target needs to be achieved for business objectives. Demand management is achieved through scalable operations that match the demand with the supply to reduce system bottlenecks. Demand is managed through flight management strategies that display available flights for the customer. To minimize overbooking, Qantas schedules its fl ights so that customers know when the next flight leaves to allow them plan well. Integrated marketing communications Integrated marketing communications usesmarketing strategies to optimize communication of the companys brands to its stakeholders and improve the benefits of each channel (Vladmir,, et al., 2012, P. 142). Qantas adopted an integrated marketing management platform to improve operational efficiencies and increase customer satisfaction. This allows incorporating of marketing operations, campaign management, customer data management and marketing analytics to improve communications between the airline and the customer. This system allows data and campaign to take place at the same time through an automated end-to-end system. This will thus lead to operational efficiencies that will reduce operational costs. Conclusion Service quality management is a key component of business success that every organization must learn to deal with. As a leading airline, Qantas has developed service quality management strategies that have seen the airline become one of the leaders in Australian airline industry. References Bendall-Lyon, D. L.Powers, T., 2001. The Role of Complaint Management in the Service Recovery Process. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality Improvement, 27(5), pp. 278-286. Flieb, S. Kleinaltenkamp, M., 2004. Blueprint the Service Company: Managing Service Processes Efficiently. Journal of Business Research, 57(4), pp. 392-404. Hoffman, K. D., Bateson, J. E., Elliot, G. Birch, D., 2010. Service Marketing. Concepts, Strategies and Cases. Asia-Pacific Edition ed. s.l.: Cengage Learning Australia. News, W. A., 2016. QANTAS refreshes its brand and livery, unveils the upcoming Boeing 787-9 cabins. [Online] Available at: https://worldairlinenews.com/tag/syd/ [Accessed October 2017]. Obeng, K. Sakano, R., 2012. Airline fare and seat management strategies with demand dependency. Journal of Air Transport Management, pp. 42-48. Ojasalo, J., 2010. E-Service Quality: A Conceptual Model. International Journal of Arts and Sciences, 3(7), pp. 127-143. Qantas, 2016. Customer Charter and Frequent Flyer Customer Commitment. [Online] Available at: https://www.qantas.com/travel/airlines/customer-charter/global/en [Accessed 11 October 2017]. Qantas, 2016. The Qantas group at a glance, s.l.: Qantas Airlines. Sultan, F. Simpson Jr, M., 2000. International service variants: Airline passenger expectations and perceptions of service quality. Journal of Services Marketing, 14(3), pp. 188-216. Vladmir, M., Miroslav, K. Papic, T., 2012. The necessity to adjust traditional integrated marketing communications tools and techiques to new global trends. Journal of Marketing Communications, 61(4), pp. 141-154.

Windshield Survey Essay Example For Students

Windshield Survey Essay Windshield Survey Data Collection Grid and Paper Carletta Pope and Terra Wheeler HCS/457 July 25, 2010 Dr. Jamal, MD, MPH CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY: I certify that the attached paper is my original work and has not previously been submitted by me or anyone else for any class. I further declare I have cited all sources from which I used language, ideas, and information, whether quoted verbatim or paraphrased, and that any assistance of any kind, which I received while producing this paper, has been acknowledged in the References section. I have obtained written permission from the copyright holder for any trademarked material, logos, or images from the Internet or other sources. I further agree that my name typed on the line below is intended to have, and shall have, the same validity as my handwritten signature. Students signature (name typed here is equivalent to a signature): Carletta Pope, Terra Wheeler Windshield Survey A windshield survey is conducted from a car and provides a visual overview of a community. We will write a custom essay on Windshield Survey specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Conditions and trends in the community that could affect the health of the population are documented and provide background and context for working in the community or for conducting a community survey of Charlotte, NC. For Community Health Nurses to be able to knowledgeably plan services for a community, it is essential to know a specific community, identify health-related resources that may be helpful to members, and learn about gaps in services. The boundaries for Charlotte, NC zip code 28216 include highway 16, state road 24 and interstates 77,277, 85, and 485. The economical status of 28216 contains lower class through middle class with an estimate median income of $45,000 per year. The buildings were mostly built between the years of 1950-1989. Homes are constructed from brick, wood, and vinyl siding. This area contains both single family and multifamily homes. The conditions of these homes range from old and abandoned, well kept older homes, homes that need work and reconditioning, homes that have already been reconditioned, and new homes. 28216 are mostly well maintained. As with many other areas, there are areas that have garbage and trash scattered about, abandoned autos, open fields for rodents and other wildlife to live and hide, and vacant lots. There are both old and new homes in this area and some of these homes and buildings have been around for decades. Some areas are being developed quickly. Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation is on Highway 16 and is for children and adults. 28216 also have a YMCA, a track and field at the Johnson C. Smith University, and two other parks for the public to gather and spend time together. There is one park, the Biddleville Park, which is also in the area that is well maintained but does not appear to be used. 28216 contain churches, restaurants, and clubs as well as the previously mentioned parks and recreation areas. Some of the restaurants include Nikki’s, Mr. C’s, and Club Excelsior. There are also fast food restaurants such as McDonald’s, KFC, and Burger King where people can get together and hang out. Teens and young adults also like to hang out at the many corner stores which are easily identifiable by building signs. There are many services for the community and many of them are right off Beatties Ford Rd. These service areas include the public library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, Beatties Ford Road Branch, Prime Care Medical Center, Professional Career Center and many others. The schools in the area include a high school, four elementary schools, and a middle school. 28216 have quite a few stores as well. They have grocery stores, retail shops, drug stores, dry cleaners, and of course gas stations. Residents can travel by car or public transportation. Some people drive a car alone (76%). Others carpool (14%) and then there is the bus or trolley bus (5%). The CATS (Charlotte Area Transit System) is the main mode of transportation. On the observation of 28216, many bus stops were seen with three to four waiting passengers. Some were dressed for work whereas others were dressed casually. There are two main newspapers that are delivered to the 28216 area, the Charlotte Observer and the Mountain Island Weekly. There are billboards promoting local schools, businesses, and public awareness. The busses also have advertisements in the form of posters on them. These posters can also be found in the local university, in small shopping centers, and in health care facilities. The people of the 28216 area code vary. Some were unemployed, others were students, and then there were the workers out on their lunch break. Dress style also varied in this area. Some wore work uniforms and others were casually dressed. There were no animals seen during observations, but when speaking with some of the residents many spoke of having dogs. Cars and up keep of homes showed the individual’s class and as previously mentioned class ranges from lower to middle class. The Education and Health field consists of 11% of the workforce and Retail/Wholesale consists of 9% of the workforce in 28216. Other industries in the area include Manufacturing and Finance/Real Estate. There are also employees at the local stores, banks, restaurants, university, and health care facilities. The fire station and the two police departments also are places for employment even though the fire station appeared to be rather small. The most common ethnic group in 28216 is African American (60%). Only 30% of the community are white with the remaining 10% of the residents being other races such as Pacific Islander/Asian, Hispanic and mixed races. Johnson C. Smith University is considered a HBCU (Historical Black College or University). Another option is Another Choice for Black Children which is a charlotte based adoption agency for African-American children and other children with special needs. 28216 contain a variety of religious facilities and denominations to go along with the variety of religions and cultures. The dominant religion in the area is Baptists. The high number of fast food restaurants and eateries may attribute to chronic disease. Individuals were observed smoking, but no one was seen using drugs or drinking alcohol. While observing the community there wasn’t any active political activity but there were many signs indicating the community was predominantly Democratic. Many car bumpers were decorated with â€Å"Obama† car decals, one small boy was wearing a â€Å"Yes We Can† t-shirt, and some homes had â€Å"Obama† flags visible. The university, Johnson C. Smith, openly affiliates with both the Democratic and Republican parties but the majority is Democratic. .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114 , .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114 .postImageUrl , .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114 , .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114:hover , .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114:visited , .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114:active { border:0!important; } .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114:active , .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114 .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uaa39a733a8cfcf54a013f3a56795f114:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Analyzing the Narrative Structure of Battleship Potemkin EssayBoundaries Are the boundaries geographical, political, or economic? How is this seen? Do neighborhoods have names? Are there sub-communities? How are these identified? Housing and Zoning What is the age of the buildings? What are the construction materials? Are the residences single family or multifamily dwellings? What is the size and condition of the lots (repaired or damaged)? Signs of Decay Is the area well maintained or in disrepair? Is there garbage strewn? Are there trashed/abandoned cars, places for rodents or other wildlife to hide, vacant lots? Parks and Recreational Areas Are there playing areas for children and adults? Are they safe and maintained? Who uses them? Common Areas Where do people collect for social gatherings of all sorts; where do they â€Å"hang out†? Are they for particular groups or are they open to all? Are there signs posted? Service Centers Where the services for the community are located – health care, social services, schools, employment offices etc.? Stores What stores (grocery, retail, drug, dry cleaning, etc. ) are in the area? How do residents travel to them? Transportation How do most people get around the area? Is there public transportation? If so what kind and does it appear to be used? Who uses it? What is the condition of the streets, roads, highways? Communication Is there evidence of local and national newspapers to other media? Are there informational posters on streets, busses, billboards, etc.? People in the Community Who is in the area during the day? How are they dressed? Are there animals (pets) with them or in the area? What evidence is there of particular. â€Å"Classes† of people – upper, middle, working, lower? Industries What are the major industries? What types of occupations are evident? Protective Services Where are fire and police stations located? Is there evidence of police and fire protection in the area? Is it more in one region than another? Ethnicity What is the predominant ethnic group? Are there residents from a variety of ethnic backgrounds or is the community mostly one group? Which one? Are there stores, restaurants, churches, schools, or languages that indicate a particular ethnic group(s)? Religion What churches and church-run schools are in the area? Who apparently uses them and when? How many are there? Health and Morbidity Is there evidence of any health problems such as drug abuse, communicable diseases, chronic diseases, mental illnesses etc.? Politics Is there evidence of any political activity? Are there any signs that indicate predominant political parties and political concerns? The geographical boundaries for 28216 include highway 16, state road 24, interstate 77, interstate 277, interstate 85, and interstate 485. Political affiliation appears to include non-affiliated, conservative, and democratic. The economic status of 28216 in general ranges from lower class – middle class. The estimated median income is $45,000 per year. The neighborhoods are named and identified by entrance signs. There are also sub-communities which are identified by signage. Some of the neighborhoods include Biddleville-Smallwood Community, Claiborne Woods, Fox Chase Community, Hoskins Community, Historic Washington Heights, and University Park. There are homes and buildings that were built before 1950, but majority of the homes and buildings were built between 1950 -1989. The homes and buildings are constructed from brick, wood, and vinyl siding. Specifically in the Beatties Ford Rd. rea there are both single and multifamily homes, as well as low-income housing. These homes vary in size. The condition of the homes also varies in the Beatties Ford area. There are abandoned homes, well-kept older homes, homes in need of reconditioning, homes that have been reconstructed, and new homes. The entire 28216 zip code, for the most part, is well maintained. In different areas there is garba ge scattered, trashed and abandoned cars, field areas for rodents and other wildlife to hide, as well as vacant lots. The residents and city seem to do a great job of maintaining most areas. The area consists of old and new. There are homes and buildings that have been around for decades, such as in the Beatties Ford Rd. area. Then there are areas that are being developed and quickly growing like Mount Holly-Huntersville and the Northlake Mall area. There are parks and recreational areas for children and adults. Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation is on Highway 16. Specifically in the Beatties Ford Rd. area the parks and facilities include the YMCA, the track and field at Johnson C. Smith University, Firestone Neighborhood Park, and Hornets Nest Park. These areas appear safe and well maintained. Biddleville Park is also in the Beatties Ford Rd. area. It appears to be maintained, but not used. All of these facilities are used by the residents of the area. There are many areas for social gatherings in the 28216 area code. There are churches, the park and recreational facilities (as previously mentioned), restaurants, and clubs. In the Beatties Ford Rd. area there is Johnson C. Smith University (which is a common area for the student population), many churches, parks, local eateries such as Nikki’s, Mr. C’s, The Original Chicken-N-Ribs, Club Excelsior. There are a number of fast food restaurants, such as McDonald’s, KFC, and Burger King where many people like to hang out. There are also a number of corner-stores where the teens and young adult population like to gather. These gathering areas are easily identified by building signs. They are open to all, but those that socialize together may share a similar culture and lifestyle. The majority of the services for the community in the 28216 area are located immediately off Beatties Ford Rd. These services include the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, Beatties Ford Road Branch, Prime Care Medical Center, Professional Career Center, Mecklenburg Health Department, Adult Day Care, Family Counseling Services and Another Choice for Black Children. Schools located around the area include West Charlotte High School, Bruns Elementary School, Hornets’ Nest Elementary, Mountain Island Elementary School, Lincoln Heights Elementary School and University Park Middle. The 28216 zip code consists of numerous grocery stores, retail shops, drug stores, dry cleaners, and gas stations. This includes Wal-Mart, Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Circle K, and North Lake Mall. Residents travel by car or public transportation. In the Betties Ford Rd. area there is Food Lion, Two-Way (gas station), Biddleville Pharmacy, corner-stores, meat markets, and a number of beauty salons and barbershops. The most common means of transportation in the Beatties Ford Rd. area include driving a car alone (76%), carpooling (14%) and traveling by bus or trolley bus (5%). The CATS (Charlotte Area Transit System) is the main mode of public transportation. .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc , .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc .postImageUrl , .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc , .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc:hover , .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc:visited , .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc:active { border:0!important; } .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc:active , .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u79664a6a3f0168327864f2961c8b18fc:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Women In Ancient Times: From Matriarchy To Patriarchy EssayWhile observing the community, many bus stops were occupied with 3-4 awaiting passengers. Some of the passengers were in their work uniforms and others were casually dressed. The conditions of the roads range from roads that need minor repairs to roads that have been newly paved. The Charlotte Observer and Mountain Island Weekly are delivered to the 28216 area. There are numerous billboards advertising and promoting local schools, businesses, and public awareness. Informational posters are located on busses, around the university, in small shopping centers, and health care facilities in the areas. The posters contain information about Johnson C. Smith, local events and services around the community. During the day on Beatties Ford Rd. there was a variety of people, ranging from those that were unemployed and just hanging out, students, and workers on their lunch breaks. The style of dress in the area also varied. Some were in their work uniform, some casually dressed (business casual, so to speak), others were dressed in urban wear. While conducting the windshield survey no animals were observed, but after speaking with some residents in the Beatties Ford Rd. rea, many of them noted having dogs. Class is evident in the area by the types of cars that are drive, the up keep of the homes and the surrounding facilities, the appearance of the residents etc. Depending on which end or area of Beatties Ford Rd (or surrounding) that you are on, may help to better determine the class of people. As previously mentioned, it ranges from lower class to middle class. The two major industries based upon employment are the Education and Health field which consists of 11% of the workforce and Retail/Wholesale that consists of 9% of the workforce in the 28216 community. Other industries noted are Manufacturing and Finance/Real Estate. Employers in the area include fast food restaurants, numerous banks, and Johnson C. Smith University and health care facilities. Fire Station 15 is located on Keller Avenue, off of Beatties ford road in Charlotte. The fire department was rather small and didn’t compare to the largely populated area, in case of an emergency it is likely that other fire departments would be contacted for assistance. There are two police stations on Beatties ford road that are located approximately 2 miles from each other. While observing the area numerous officer vehicles were spotted around the community. One officer was sitting in a school parking lot, another officer appeared to be talking to a group of young men in the park and another one was spotted sitting in the middle of a common intersection on Beatties Ford Rd. The predominant ethnic group in the 28216 area is African American population, which consists of 60% of the community. 30% of the residents are White and the remaining 10% consists of other races including Pacific Islander/Asian, Hispanic and mixed races. Johnson C. Smith University is considered an HBCU (Historical Black College or University) and Another Choice for Black Children is a Charlotte-based adoption agency that works to find homes for African-American children and other children with special needs. The area consists of numerous religious facilities and denominations. After talking to some residents around the area, the dominant religion in the area is Baptist. Residents attending the local services range from lower to middle class community members. Some of the bigger churches in the area include University Park Baptist holding Sunday morning worship services, Sunday morning youth worship services are also held in the Family Life and Wellness Center and Thursday evenings, Bible Study begins. In addition to traditional services, The Park offers organized recreational events and professional catering for banquets and receptions. It also encourages physical health by providing a weight room and an aerobics room with scheduled fitness classes. The church has a Prayer Room, counseling services for members and non-members, a children’s nursery, a Mother’s Morning Out and a Kingdom Kids After School program. Williams Memorial Presbyterian Church holds Sunday Services weekly, bible study held daily, and summer camp for children. Wilson Heights Church of God holding services on Sunday, Wednesday Night Bible Study and Cub scouts weekly. The religious based school in the area is the Salem Christian Academy; there are 34 Students who attend daily ranging from kindergarten to 6th grade. On Betties Ford Rd. nd the surrounding area the number of fast food restaurants and eateries may attribute to chronic disease. Individuals were observed smoking, while conducting the survey, but no one was seen using drugs or drinking alcohol. While riding around the community there wasn’t any active political activity but there were many signs supporting and indicating the community was predominantly Democratic. Many car bumper s were decorated with â€Å"Obama† car decals, one small boy was wearing a â€Å"Yes We Can† t-shirt, and some homes had â€Å"Obama† flags visible. The university, Johnson C. Smith, openly affiliates with both the Democratic and Republican party however the vast majority is Democratic. (Modified from Stanhope M. , Knollmueller, R. N. (1997). Public and community health nurse’s consultant: A health promotion guide. St. Louis: Mosby. ) Disability status of the civilian non- institutional population Both sexesMaleFemale Population 5 years and over27,77412,80814,966 With a disability6,2292,8103,419 Percent with a disability22. 421. 922. 8 Population 5 to 15 years4,7672,3782,389 With a disability24314499 Percent with a disability5. 16. 14. 1 Sensory592039 Physical412417 Mental16110853 Self-care20200 Population 16 to 64 years19,4839,04810,435 With a disability4,4442,1192,325 Percent with a disability22. 823. 422. 3 Sensory434196238 Physical1,182415767 Mental672308364 Self-care395176219 Going outside the home1,8927851,107 Employment disability3,2591,6131,646 Population 65 years and over3,5241,3822,142 With a disability1,542547995 Percent with a disability43. 839. 646. 5 Sensory340132208 Physical1,035342693 Mental444150294 Self-care427152275 Going outside the home806256550 Population 18 to 34 years7,5603,5943,966 With a disability1,337795542 Percent enrolled in college or graduate school20. 121. 518. 1 Percent not enrolled and with a bachelors degree or higher9. 16. 912. 4 No disability6,2232,7993,424 Percent enrolled in college or graduate school26. 021. 130. 0 Percent not enrolled and with a bachelors degree or higher19. 019. 718. 3 Population 21 to 64 years16,9627,9139,049 With a disability4,0731,9352,138 Percent employed59. 365. 953. 2 No disability12,8895,9786,911 Percent employed78. 285. 971. 5 (X) Not applicable. Source: U. S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 3, Matrices P42, PCT26, PCT27, PCT28, PCT29, PCT30, PCT31, PCT32, and PCT33.

USS Indianapolis - World War II

USS Indianapolis - World War II USS Indianapolis - Overview: Nation: United States Type: Portland-class heavy cruiser Shipyard: New York Shipbuilding Co. Laid Down: March 31, 1930 Launched: November 7, 1931 Commissioned: November 15, 1932 Fate: Sunk July 30, 1945 by I-58 Specifications: Displacement: 33,410 tons Length: 639 ft., 5 in. Beam: 90 ft. 6 in. Draft:: 30 ft. 6 in. Propulsion: 8 White-Foster boilers, single reduction geared turbines Speed: 32.7 knots Complement: 1,269 (wartime) Armament: Guns 8 x 8-inch (3 turrets with 3 guns each)8 x 5-inch guns Aircraft 2 x OS2U Kingfishers USS Indianapolis - Construction: Laid down on March 31, 1930, USS Indianapolis (CA-35) was the second of two Portland-class built by the US Navy. An improved version of the earlier Northampton-class, the Portlands were slightly heavier and mounted a larger number of 5-inch guns. Built at the New York Shipbuilding Company in Camden, NJ, Indianapolis was launched on November 7, 1931. Commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard the following November, Indianapolis departed for its shakedown cruise in the Atlantic and Caribbean. Returning in February 1932, the cruiser underwent a minor refit before sailing to Maine. USS Indianapolis - Prewar Operations: Embarking President Franklin Roosevelt at Campobello Island, Indianapolis steamed to Annapolis, MD where the ship entertained members of the cabinet. That September Secretary of the Navy Claude A. Swanson came aboard and used the cruiser for an inspection tour of installations in the Pacific. After participating in a number of fleet problems and training exercises, Indianapolis again embarked the President for a Good Neighbor Tour of South America in November 1936. Arriving home, the cruiser was dispatched to the West Coast for service with the US Pacific Fleet. USS Indianapolis - World War II: On December 7, 1941, as the Japanese were attacking Pearl Harbor, Indianapolis was conducting fire training off Johnston Island. Racing back to Hawaii, the cruiser immediately joined Task Force 11 to search for the enemy. In early 1942, Indianapolis sailed with the carrier USS Lexington and conducted raids in Southwest Pacific against Japanese bases on New Guinea. Ordered to Mare Island, CA for an overhaul, the cruiser returned to action that summer and joined US forces operating in the Aleutians. On August 7, 1942, Indianapolis joined in the bombardment of Japanese positions on Kiska. Remaining in northern waters, the cruiser sank the Japanese cargo ship Akagane Maru on February 19, 1943. That May, Indianapolis supported US troops as they recaptured Attu. It fulfilled a similar mission in August during the landings on Kiska. Following another refit at Mare Island, Indianapolis arrived at Pearl Harbor and was made flagship of Vice Admiral Raymond Spruances 5th Fleet. In this role, it sailed as part of Operation Galvanic on November 10, 1943. Nine days later, it provided fire support as US Marines prepared to land on Tarawa. Following the US advance across the central Pacific, Indianapolis saw action off Kwajalein and supported US air strikes across the western Carolines. In June 1944, the 5th Fleet provided support for the invasion of the Marianas. On June 13, the cruiser opened fire on Saipan before being dispatched to attack Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima. Returning, the cruiser took part in the Battle of the Philippine Sea on June 19, before resuming operations around Saipan. As the battle in the Marianas wound down, Indianapolis was sent to aid in the invasion of Peleliu that September. After brief refit at Mare Island, the cruiser joined Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitschers fast carrier task force on February 14, 1945, shortly before it attacked Tokyo. Steaming south, they aided in the landings on Iwo Jima while continuing to attack the Japanese home islands. On March 24, 1945, Indianapolis took part in the preinvasion bombardment of Okinawa. A week later, the cruiser was hit by kamikaze while off the island. Hitting Indianapolis stern, the kamikazes bomb penetrated through the ship and exploded in the water underneath. After making temporary repairs, the cruiser limped home to Mare Island. Entering the yard, the cruiser underwent extensive repair to the damage. Emerging in July 1945, the ship was tasked with the secret mission of carrying the parts for the atomic bomb to Tinian in the Marianas. Departing on July 16, and steaming at high speed, Indianapolis made record time covering 5,000 miles in ten days. Unloading the components, the ship received orders to proceed to Leyte in the Philippine and then on to Okinawa. Leaving Guam on July 28, and sailing unescorted on a direct course, Indianapolis crossed paths with the Japanese submarine I-58 two days later. Opening fire around 12:15 AM on July 30, I-58 hit Indianapolis with two torpedoes on its starboard side. Critically damaged, the cruiser sank in twelve minutes forcing around 880 survivors into the water. Due to the rapidity of the ships sinking, few life rafts were able to be launched and most of the men had only lifejackets. As the ship was operating on a secret mission, no notification had been sent to Leyte alerting them that Indianapolis was en route. As a result, it was not reported as overdue. Though three SOS messages were sent before the ship sank, they were not acted on for various reasons. For the next four days, Indianapolis surviving crew endured dehydration, starvation, exposure, and terrifying shark attacks. Around 10:25 AM on August 2, the survivors were spotted by a US aircraft conducting a routine patrol. Dropping a radio and life raft, the aircraft reported its position and all possible units were dispatched to the scene. Of the approximately 880 men who went into the water, only 321 were rescued with four of those later dying from their wounds. Among the survivors was Indianapolis commanding officer, Captain Charles Butler McVay III. After the rescue, McVay was court-martialed and convicted for failing to follow an evasive, zig-zag course. Due to evidence that the Navy had put the ship in danger and the testimony of Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto, I-58s captain, which stated that an evasive course would not have mattered, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz remitted McVays conviction and restored him to active duty. Despite this, many of the crewmembers families blamed him for the sinking and he later committed suicide in 1968.

Do you aspire to live a stress-free life You might want to reconsider.

Do you aspire to live a stress-free life You might want to reconsider. STRESS. Just the word brings on a quickening of my heartbeat, a tightening in my chest and upper back, and a narrowing of my brow. These are the signs of stress for me. When my stress level gets really high, I might feel a pulse in my left temple that is alarmingly out of my control. Stress is not a comforting or comfortable feeling, and when experienced on an ongoing basis can literally kill. But is stress inherently a bad thing? It turns out it’s not. Stress raises our levels of cortisol and adrenaline, hormones that prepare us for reacting under an imminent threat. This response is useful not just for escaping from a physical attack, but also for handling non-life-threatening challenges that come our way. For instance, I am historically a high performer on standardized tests. I have pulled scores that surprise me as being significantly higher than my practice test scores. Believe me, I felt plenty of stress when I took the SAT, the LSAT, and the New York Bar Exam. It was stress that made me focus intensely, work fast, and think more clearly than I ever would under everyday conditions. I feel stress every time I give a presentation or even write a blog article. Stress has helped me in multiple job interviews. Stress somehow got me, as a 13-year-old gymnast, to earn a medal in my â€Å"worst† event (vault) at the New Jersey State Championship – and to win the competition in my age group. Stress pushes me to perform. I never thought I would say this, but†¦ I would not want to give up my stress! However, since there are inarguably negative health effects to persistent stress, it’s worth looking at how to take a break from stressful episodes. I think this is where things like exercise and meditation come in. If I did not have my daily yoga and swimming practice, I might never get a break from my anxiety-ridden daily life. Hugs help too (they release oxytocin, which helps our heart cells regenerate). Psychologist Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., in a TED Talk, noted that how we manage stress is key to how harmful or helpful it is. If someone views stress positively, that person is likely â€Å"to be less stressed-out, less anxious and more confident.† Stress can help us with solving problems, tackling challenges, and bouncing back from failure. Not only that, but if someone views stress as helpful, their physical response actually changes! In particular, their blood vessels do not constrict, but instead stayed relaxed. That difference, compounded over time, could easily be the distinguishing factor between an early heart attack and living into old age. McGonigal recommends that we become aware of our negative thinking, so that we avoid defaulting to drama and jumping to unsupported conclusions. The support of friends, family, and colleagues can be key in this process. I historically have viewed some of my stress as positive and other as negative. My commitment now is to spin it to positive as frequently as possible so I can live a long and stress-managed (not stress-free) existence. Do you experience stress as a positive or negative influence in your life? What techniques do you find useful for managing stress? Please share below! [This article was inspired by John H. Ostdick’s article, â€Å"The Upside to Stress,† published in the May 2014 issue of Success Magazine.]

Research Study on the Position of the Unites States in World Politics Paper

Study on the Position of the Unites States in World Politics - Research Paper Example ormation of a nation’s view about its importance and role in the world, but also, and perhaps more importantly, determine the manifestations of thus conceived role in trade, culture, diplomacy or war2. In the realm of world politics, however, the position of a state in the international system, along with interstate interactions, is the subject matter of a particular area of study, namely International Relations, usually defined as protracted competition between realist, liberal and radical traditions, or schools of thought3. Realism, as the dominant theoretical tradition throughout the second half of the twentieth century, most notably the Cold War, describes international affairs as â€Å"a struggle for power among self-interested states† within an anarchic environment, where each state seeks to survive on its own4. Liberalism, in turn, includes various theories such as some that regard the interactions between domestic actors – either in the political, societal or economic spheres – as the most important explanatory factors, as well as others that are predominantly focused on political constitutions, economic systems or dominant ideologies5. This paper is intended to examine the set of domestic and international factors and developments that brought about or/and facilitated the US rise to the position of global superpower during the twentieth century, in order to determine whether or not the country is able to retain this position in the years or decades to come. Being based on historical evidence, as well as taking into consideration the theoretical discourse on the basic forces that shape international outcomes6, the paper attempts an insight into China’s ability to challenge or successfully contest the current US supremacy. Historians widely agree that America’s isolationism from the early twentieth century, i.e. from the 1920s to 1940s, should be ascribed to then domestic political priorities such as the commitment to economic development and

LEARNING PAPER 3-OTHER CULTURE GROUP Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

LEARNING 3-OTHER CULTURE GROUP - Research Paper Example is means that American citizens were under obligation to play a significant role by adopting lifestyles that would maintain and preserve the youthful state of their bodies. In the next few years, the media began to concentrate on discussing various aspects of human health. This was accompanied by a considerable increase in the health related services and goods. This then spiked an even greater preoccupation, in the public, with subjects such as health consciousness. Citizens also started showing anxiety that was related to the possibility of developing conditions that would harm the body. Even in past civilizations, people sought to find ways in which their behavior influenced the state of their health. Modern medicine has shown that there is a definite connection between what people consume, how they live, and their state of health. This reality has spurred a health culture that revolves around regimens involved with hygiene, diet, and daily exercise. Today’s health culture calls for citizens to take supplements, partake in regular exercise, and consume only healthy foods. Today, there is an emphasis on self-care movements, adopting holistic practices, and acquiring attractive body images. This trend has been internationalized by the corresponding increase of media consumption, along with the efficiency with which modern advertising is conducted. Today, the internet, television, radio, newspapers, and other forms of media all carry information about weight loss, magazines, vitamins, books, energy-foods, and dieting. There are numerous educational advantages that have been brought about by the increase in health knowledge. For instance, people today are more knowledgeable about the connection between health and science. They understand their own bodies better, and have more confidence in their abilities to heal with as little assistance as possible from the medical sector. Due to the fact that many people recognize the symptoms of deadly diseases, the modern

Dubai Essay Example for Free

Dubai Essay Harvard Business Review On Corporate Strategy Page 4 Google Books Result books. google. com/books? isbn=1578511429 C. K. Prahalad 1999 Business Economics (See the exhibit â€Å"The Triangle of Corporate Strategy. †) The resources that provide the basis for corporate advantage range along a continuum—from the highly Creating Corporate Advantage Harvard Business Review hbr. org/1998/05/creating-corporate-advantage/ar/1 Great corporate strategies come in the first instance from strength in each side of the triangle: high-quality rather than pedestrian resources, strong market Corporate Level Strategy: Theory and Applications Page 2 Google Books Result books. google. com/books? isbn=0203844521 Olivier Furrer 2010 Business Economics This framework can be represented graphically as the corporate strategy triangle (see Figure 1. 1). In this framework, the three sides of the triangle—resources, Business Strategy Blog: Newell Company: Corporate Strategy deepakbusinessstrategy. blogspot. com/ /newell-company-corporate-strateg Feb 20, 2011 – Use the Corporate Strategy Triangle to evaluate Newells corporate strategy. Do you think this corporate strategy is effective? Newells goal is to The Triangle of Corporate Strategy | Business Entrepreneurship yourbusiness. azcentral. com/triangle-corporate-strategy-16752. html Making the sum of the parts greater than the whole is not necessarily a magicians sleight of hand. The Triangle of Corporate Strategy is a management model [PDF]corporate strategy in turbulent environments IESE Business School www. iese. edu/research/pdfs/DI-0623-E. pdf by AA Caldart 2006 Cited by 6 Related articles The Corporate Strategy Triangle (Caldart and Ricart, 2004) is a dynamic . The data collection process was framed by the Corporate Strategy Triangle. [PPT]Chapter Note 1 www. csun. edu/~dn58412/IS655/chapter1. ppt Define and explain the Information Systems Strategy Triangle. Dells mission is to be the most successful computer company in the world at delivering the best Searches related to corporate strategy triangle corporate advantage what constitutes a good corporate strategy and why develop corporate strategy key elements of corporate strategy corporate level strategies examples creating corporate advantage list three directional strategies

Limited Liability Essay -- Business Finance

The term â€Å"Limited liability† is generally used to describe a situation where a person is excused entirely or in part from incurring a debt after taking an action which would have required under the prevailing rules of the legal system that they pay money. The doctrine of limited liability as it relates to corporate law is central to the principle that a company upon incorporation assumes a corporate personality independent of its members. This means that a new legal person is created at law and accordingly has its own assets, liabilities and rights, inter alia, to enter into and be bound by its own contracts. In some respects, the name, â€Å"Limited liability† Company is greatly misunderstood. It is a common faux pas to think that the liability of the company for its various debts is limited and that the doctrine was created as a loophole by which the company can get out of its contractual obligations. This is however not the case as on the occasion of insolvency, a company must liquidate all its assets to meet the demands of the creditors. Where the value of these assets is insufficient, the company will call on the unpaid share capital of its members or the amount which they have agreed to contribute to the assets of the company in an event of it being wound up . It is the liability of these members that is limited and not that of the company. There are also exceptional circumstances where courts will allow creditors pierce the â€Å"corporate veil† making it mandatory for shareholders to satisfy creditors’ claims. Hence for the shareholder, limited liability mea ns participation in a company with limited risk. For the creditor however, it means the very real risk that in the event of bankruptcy he could remain unpaid for g... ...panies and subsidiaries- The corporate veil [1991] company Lawyer 12(1) pp 16-17 Ireland P (2010), â€Å" Limited liability, shareholder rights and the problem of corporate irresponsibility†, Cambridge journal of Economics, vol 34, pp837-856 Ibid Hatfield was one of a long series of fatal rail accidents in which Rail track’s working practices and safety record was implicated. Blankenburg,S and Plesch, D (2007) â€Å"Corporate rights and responsibilities: restoring legal accountability† Retrieved on 12th of February 2012 from http://www.stwr.org/multinational-corporations/corporate-rights and responsibilities- restoring-legal-accountability-html Ireland P (2010), â€Å" Limited liability, shareholder rights and the problem of corporate irresponsibility†, Cambridge journal of Economics, vol 34, pp837-856 ibid ibid

Loves Song, with Two Goldfish Essay

In the poem, â€Å"(love song, with two goldfish)† by Grace Chua, the author describes the evolution of a young romance between two goldfish with its consequential rise and fall using imagery and metaphors. From the title we can automatically understand what the poem will be about and the parenthesis give an image of the shape of the fishbowl, creating a setting. The title is not capitalized because it is not just a statement, but is in fact part of a story that is constantly evolving and has many aspects. Upon the first stanza, we immediately get the impression of unrequited love. In the first sentence, â€Å"he’s a drifter, always floating around her, he has nowhere else to go,† we meet the two characters, him and her, and we encounter a lot of water imagery with words such as â€Å"drifter† and â€Å"floating†. These words however give off the impression that he’s alone and would be lost without her to follow. As if she’s his everything. We get the impression though that his love for her is not returned when Chua says, â€Å"he wishes she would sing, not much, just the scales.† The reader can understand from the word â€Å"wishes† that her singing is not something often received and because he doesn’t even want her to sing much, we can infer that his attention towards her is not reciprocated. However, I do not think that the fish is necessarily bitter about the circumstances because he uses humor when he says that he wishes she would â€Å"give him the fish eye† or â€Å"sing just the scales.† Because the characters are fish, the light-hearted metaphors offset the melancholy first sentence of unrequited love. Transitioning to the second stanza, we again see this fishbowl imagery. Just as the first stanza was in parenthesis, so is the second one, but now the reader gets the impression that the fish are in separate fishbowls when Chua says, â€Å"Bounded by rounded walls she makes fish eyes and kissy lips at him.† The word â€Å"bounded† gives the impression that she is trapped and being kept away from him, but we also learn that the feelings felt by the male goldfish are now felt by her as well. We also get a fun, flirtatious feel from this stanza which hints at a budding relationship. In response to him, she â€Å"makes fish eyes†¦kissy lips†¦darts behind pebbles.† I find the darting to be flirtatious because it hints at the caution she feels towards this new love, but as even pebbles are too small for a goldfish to hide behind, it shows her tentative openness towards the budding romance. Finally at the end of the stanza it says she â€Å"swallows his charms, hook, line and sinker.† The metaphor for the fishing line imagery again adds humor, but it also alerts the reader that she has completely fallen in love with him – an idea that progresses into the third stanza. Throughout the third stanza, we come across a certain ambiguity about whether the two goldfish are actually separate from one another. No longer are the two fish only referred to as â€Å"he† and â€Å"she† but by the end they’ve become a â€Å"they†. Both fish are also referred to within the same parenthetical statement which hasn’t occurred before this point. Unfortunately, they remained trapped in the bowl, and words such as â€Å"could† and â€Å"would† are scattered throughout the entire stanza. Depicting images of what the two would do if they could escape. One of the activities he describes is, â€Å"he would take her to the ocean, they could count the waves.† I think that this phrase describes his feelings towards the relationship very well. Because he’s with her and her company is all that matters to him, he doesn’t need to go out and have lavish experiences. He says that, â€Å"in the submarine silence, they would share their deepest secrets.† The consonance here with the â€Å"s† sound helps progress their seclusion from the rest of the the world along with the depth of their love with words such as â€Å"submarine† and â€Å"deepest†. The stanza ends with a simile stating that they would â€Å"dive for pearls like stars†. I think that the simile could have a much deeper meaning than them just diving to the bottom of the ocean. While the phrase could be seen as their love growing stronger and deeper, I see it as almost the opposite because of the constant usage of the words would and could in the stanza. The use of the heavens in love poems often give off the impression that love is infinite, but here they can’t reach the heavens as they are trapped within the bowl. Their entrapment symbolizes the lack of growth in their relationship and how they have not been able to move past the initial flirtatiousness of new love. By the fourth stanza we have reached the end of the relationship, and it becomes apparent that the fish could be metaphors for a human relationship. The goldfish could’ve been chosen to represent actual human beings because of the simplicity associated with a goldfish’s character and the similarly simplistic relationship. The stanza opens with her ending the relationship, and fish-related death imagery becomes common with phrases such as â€Å"belly-up†, â€Å"sinks like a fish† and â€Å"drowns†. While in previous stanzas, the fish imagery added a humorous note, here they add a much darker tone where the dead-fish imagery becomes metaphoric to the death of the relationship. The reader can infer that the ex-lovers were in fact humans when Chua says, â€Å"He drinks like a stone. Drowns these sorrows, stares emptily through glass.† The word drown here might not be relating to the actual act of drowning, but to the act of getting drunk and possibly drowning his sorrows in liquor. As he â€Å"stares emptily through the glass,† the glass could symbolize both the fishbowl and the end of his drink, and the loneliness that would accompany both. Finally in the last stanza, we learn as to why the couple broke up, and the use of parenthesis plays a major role in exhibiting their distance- as if they’re in two separate fishbowls once again. This stanza is the shortest, and it goes, â€Å"(the reason, she said/ she wanted)/(and he could not give)/ a life/beyond the/ (bowl).† Here we see the two separate sides, and how she left him because she felt trapped within the relationship. This theme of entrapment is noticeable throughout the entire poem with the fishbowl imagery, along her desire to escape with the words â€Å"would† and â€Å"could†. When lines 26-27 don’t use the parenthesis, it shows her dream of exploration and moving past the known realms of the fishbowl. The break-up was her escape from the binding fishbowl, and her ensuing freedom from the confining relationship. Throughout the poem, Chua described the evolution of a relationship from the bubbly excitement and tentativeness of new love, to its downfall from confinement and resulting break-up with emotions ranging from sorrow to freedom. Real human emotions are expressed through those of goldfish to express the simplicity of their relationship and to create a metaphor through the entrapment they must feel within the bowl.

Haverwood Furniture Inc Case Study Essay

Background on the merger In April 2008 Haverwood Furniture merged with Lea-Meadows, a manufacturer of upholstered furniture for living and family rooms. The merger was not planned in any conventional sense. The merger proceeded smoothly since the two firms were located on adjacent locations and the two companies would maintain as much autonomy as was economically justified. The only real issue that still remained was merging the selling efforts. The question was straight-forward â€Å"do we give the upholstery line of chairs and sofas to our sales force, or do we continue using the sales agents?† Haverwood’s vice president said the line should be given to his sales group, but Lea-Meadows said the upholstery line should remain with sales agents. Lea-Meadows Inc. Lea-Meadows Inc. is a small, privately owned manufacturer of upholstered furniture for use in living and family rooms. The firm is more than 75 years old. The company has some of the finest fabrics and frame construction in the industry. Their net sales in 2007 were $5 million and the total industry sales in 2007 were $15.5 billion. A forecasted industry sale for 2008 is about $16.1 billion. Over the past 5 years sales had increased 3% annually, also believing that this trend would continue. Lea-Meadows employed 15 sales agents to represent its products. Sales agents found it necessary to deal with several buyers in a store in order to represent all the lines carried. On a typical sales call, a sales agent first visited buyers to discuss new lines, in addition to any promotions being offered by manufacturers. These new orders were sought where and when it was appropriate. Lea-Meadows paid an agent commission of 5 percent of net company sales for these services. Also were thought to have spent 10-15 percent of their in-store time on Lea-Meadows products. There is no influence on who to sell their products to but there is a stigma of not selling to discount houses. Records show that agents were calling on specialty furniture and department stores. An estimated 1,000 retail accounts were called on in 2006 and 2007. All agents had established relationships with their retail accounts and worked closely with them. Haverwood Furniture Inc. They are a manufacturer of medium- to high-priced wood bedroom, living room and dining room furniture. Their net sales in 2007 were $75 million; and the industry sales of wood furniture in 2007 were $12.4 billion. It is projected that in 2008 they will have $12.9 billion in industry sales. The company has 10 fulltime sales representatives, who call on 1,000 retail accounts. They perform the same activities as sales agents but were paid a salary plus a small commission. In 2007 the average sales representative received an annual salary of $70,000 and a commission of 5% on net company sales. Total administration costs were $130,000 Haverwood’s salespeople were highly regarded in the industry. They were known particularly for their knowledge of wood furniture and willingness to work with buyers and retail sales personnel. Sales representatives were presently making 10 sales calls per week with an average sales call running three hours. Their remaining time was accounted for by ad ministrative activities and travel. It was also recommended that the call frequency be increased to seven calls per account per year. Pros and Cons Points in favor for combing the two companies Haverwood has one of the most respected sales force in the industry. Their sales force could easily learn the lingo to interacting with upholstery buyers. Selling Lea-Meadows would only require 15% of present sales call times More control over sales efforts is possible and a combined sales forces fits with the belief that â€Å"only our people are willing and able to give† It would not look right if both representatives and agents called on the same stores and buyers because of the overlap on the companies on both companies’ accounts. Points in favor of keeping in the sales agents All sales agents had established clients and were highly regarded among the store buyers. Sales agents represent little cost beyond commission Sales agents were committed to the lea-meadows line. Sales agents were calling on buyers not contacted by haverwood sales force. Haverwood sales people would have a tough time learning the ways of lea-meadows because there are over 1 billion possible items to learn. Both companies make valid points but the main thing is to determine the cost and profitability. Financial calculations based off the cost of sales force,  and sales agents. Haverwood 10 (sales force members) x $70,000 (average salary) = $700,000 .005 (commission) x $75,000,000 (net sales) = $375,000 x 10 = $3,750,000 $130,000 (total sales administration costs) Total cost of sales force $4,580,000 Lea-meadows 5,000,000 (net sales) x .05 (commission) = $250,000 x 15 (sales agents) Total cost of sales agents $3,750,000 Although Lea-Meadows pays their sales agents less with 5 more employees, their profit margins fall 5% below that of Haverwood. It ultimately will affect them more than the cost for Haverwood affects them. If Lea-Meadows were to give their line to the Haverwood sales force, they would only need to pay for 15% of the cost for the sales force. Haverwood Total sales force cost = $4,580,000 Lea-Meadows $4,580,000 x .15 (percentage of time devoted to Lea-Meadows line) = $687,000 The decision to give the line to Haverwood saves Lea-Meadows $3,063,000. Haverwood’s sales process Haverwoods personal Sales forces Retail Consumer Lea-Meadows sales process Lea-Meadows Sales agency Retail Consumer

Help You Do an Expository Essay like a Pro an Explicit Example About Friends

Help You Do an Expository Essay like a Pro an Explicit Example About Friends They say that friends are the family you can choose. Its also an invisible shield that keeps you warm on a cold day. Read about the qualities of a great friend and think whether you are the one. What Is an Expository Essay? An expository essay is a type of written discourse that serves the purpose of explaining, describing and providing information to the reader. This is a simple expository essay definition. Expository essays can also be fairly accurately termed ‘information’ or ‘informative’ essays. 50 MOST POPULAR EXPOSITORY ESSAY TOPICS If you are looking for expository essay examples here is a great one below Expository Essay Example: Qualities of a Good Friend Of all the friends one gets to have in a lifetime, the good friends are the ones who last longest and become family. Friends are the people we let into our walled-off lives – they are the people we know well and with whom we have a bond of mutual affection. A good friend is someone who defends and protects, who is loyal, considerate and kind, a person who is fun and brings out the best in their friends. The list of qualities making up a good friend is endless and depends on the individual. However, there are many common qualities that can be seen in all â€Å"good† friends. For starters, a good friend is a person on which someone else can always depend. This can probably be said about all good friends. They are dependable. When another friend needs them, they are the first there to help. They make their friend’s problem their own problem, too. Whether it’s money, time, resources or emotional support, a good friend is always there for someone they care about, for their other friends. They are reliable – you can always rely on a good friend. Its kind of a little miracle, that your friend always happens to be there for you, willing to offer their time and energy. Also, another quality of a good friend is being a good listener. Sometimes, people just need someone to talk to, someone who will listen and put their own thoughts, concerns, and opinions aside just for a few minutes. Being a good listener is a friend attractor, actually, because listening demonstrates one’s support, sensitivity, empathy, kindness, and consideration – among other things. In times of celebration and in times of hardship, what everyone needs and wants and requires is someone they can express their thoughts, emotions, concerns, and celebrations to. It’s a rather simple, almost innate need – to have a friend. On top of that, a good friend is thoughtful. A good friend is a friend who will, upon hearing of their friend’s bad day, will change their plans and plan something that friend will definitely find uplifting. A good friend in someone who will, upon getting the news about their friend’s promotion or a new job, will throw a party in their name and celebrate with them to make the moment memorable and special. Thoughtfulness means mindfulness, which requires being a good listener and caring about a person. Everyone wants respect, needs it and has to have it. It feels good. It’s a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements, something all good friends also must have or demonstrate from time to time. Most good friendships are supported by mutual respect. This means they look up to that person and have an immense amount of satisfaction in being close to, associating with this person and calling them a â€Å"friend.† Lastly, straightforwardness is also a quality that can be found in good friends. This means they say things as they are and can be honest without sugarcoating the truth. This occurs only in the case the friends trust each other’s opinions and can share them. The qualities of a good friend range, as there are tons of different qualities that people find valuable and attractive in others. But the qualities listed above – that illustrate how a good friend is dependable, a good listener, thoughtful, respectful and straightforward – are the ones most people most likely see, or want to see, in a really good friend. A really good friend will always help you to face facts and make your life easier. Always be a good friend! If you are looking for an excellent expository essay that will be written according to your requirements, will contain proper formatting, language, and structure, feel free to contact our writing staff and  place your order  with us. We have written hundreds of expository papers in the past and have developed extensive expertise in expository essay writing.

12 Hilarious ‘Billy Madison’ Quotes

12 Hilarious ‘Billy Madison’ Quotes If you are the kind who cannot tolerate Adam Sandlers over-the-top kind of comedy, stay off this one. Billy Madison is a signature Adam Sandler movie, complete with in-your-face ribald humor. He has the ability to be hilarious in an annoying sort of way. But if you enjoy  movies  that are high on  sexual innuendo, Billy Madison is the right movie for you. Unlike Jim Carrey, Sandler does not rely on goofy antics to draw an audience. He comes across as the funny guy caught between two raging seas. In Billy Madison, Adam Sandler redefines idiot as he portrays Billy Madison. Yet your heart goes out to him because you know that idiotic people are hardly malicious. Billy Madison is a favorite among the younger audience. Kids connect with this child-like adult, who knows and understands the challenges of being a kid.   Read these Billy Madison quotes to understand why kids find this  movie a laugh riot. Billys exaggerated behavior, the weird magazines he reads, and his other silly acts are very enjoyable. Adam Sandlers comic timing in this movie is undoubtedly one of his best. Chris Farley and Norm MacDonald add to the fun. Here are some memorable Billy Madison quotes. PrincipalMr. Madison, what youve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.Billy MadisonBack to school. Back to school, to prove to Dad that Im not a fool. I got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I dont get in a fight. Oh! Back to school... back to school... back to school. Well, here goes nothing.​EricWell, sorry doesnt put the Triscuit crackers in my stomach now, does it Karl?Lunch LadyHave some more sloppy Joes. I made em extra sloppy for yous. I know how yous kids like em sloppy.Billy MadisonSometimes I feel like an idiot. But I am an idiot, so it kinda works out.JuanitaIf youre gonna stay home today, you can help me shave my armpits!Billy MadisonI am the smartest man alive!JuanitaOoh that boys a fine piece of work all right. Hes a fine piece of ass though, too.Old LadyWhat is a horseshoe? What does a horseshoe do? Are there any horse socks? Is anybody listening to me?Old Farm LadyIf peeing in your pants is cool, consider me Miles Davis.Brian MadisonYou were brought up with every advantage. I bought you everything. Toys, cars, vacations, clothes...FrankWhen I graduated from first grade, all my dad did was tell me to get a job.

The Future Gulf Currency Union Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Future Gulf Currency Union - Essay Example However, one has to be concerned about the factors that led to the success of monetary unions for the US and Euro-zone. The economy of the Gulf States is homogenous in nature, which relies heavily on oil. In contrast, the economy of the Euro-zone and US is heterogeneous with each state relying on diversified economic sectors. The economics of the currency unification are clearly spelt out by Mundell (1961) in his theory of optimum currency areas. According to Mundell R. A. (1961), for a successful currency union there should be factor mobility within the region of currency union, while there should be factor immobility between other regions in the world. So what are these factor mobility and factor immobility for the case of the Gulf States? These are factors of production within the region of currency union. The mobility of factors of production helps to compensate for asymmetrical economic shocks in the region of currency union. The asymmetrical economic shocks are normally adjusted for by the flexibility of the currency exchange rates. Without these adjustments or the mobility of the factors of production, unemployment and inflation would result. In line with the premise advocated by Mundell R. A., (1961), there should be little movement of factors of production outside the region of currency union. This paper will examine the case of the Gulf States in order to form an opinion on whether a monetary union is feasible based on the theory of optimum currency areas advocated by Mundell R. A. (1961). The situations leading to the formation of United States and Euro-zone currency union will be examined in order to determine how well they compare with the impending Gulf Monetary Union. The paper will further examine the economies of the six member countries, namely; Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates (UAE), and see the impacts, which the use of a common currency can have on them. The factors that can

Read the document I send you carefully Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Read the document I send you carefully - Essay Example This paper tries to understand how the market for clothes/ textiles has changed over the years to adopt technology and gain competitive advantage. The past and present trends in clothes business will be studied to understand the impact of e-business initiatives in the sector. How value chain has emerged to impact the marketers of clothes will be discussed and recommendations for increasing online purchasing of clothes will be given. e-Marketing and clothing trade Noting Corral (2000), â€Å"The apparel industry has started using the Internet in an attempt to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing, provide customers access to information about products and their availability, build brand value, and to offer customers a convenient medium to make purchases online. The most valuable aspects of Internet shopping, as compared to store-based ad catalog shopping, are typically perceived to be competitive pricing, one-source shopping, convenience and time-savings (Tuunainen an d Rossi, 2002). Rapidly changing consumer preferences and distribution requirements in the increasingly globalized world where trade is liberalized and need innovation is also strong, textile and clothing sector has undergone a sea change as did the other sectors. Businesses in the sector are vying for differentiation on price as there is a high concentration on manufacturing and distribution. Companies that have tried to adopt change are increasingly focusing on reducing operational costs in the supply chain while reducing time to market and lead time. There is an increased use of information technology to integrate the supply chain to control quality, time and operational costs. The European Union is the largest trader and exporter of textile and clothing with a large portion of exports considered temporary as they are re-imported for final production and distribution (e-business watch, 2004). Although there are different opinions as to the impact of ecommerce on retailing in the clothing industry, one fact is true, that those that do not adopt technology will lose their competitive advantage. Ecommerce is set to make a significant and permanent impact on retailing as it is set to increase revenue flow phenomenally. In the US, it is seen that a significant portion of the economy is contributed by internet-influenced revenue with a seven percent sales on internet can reduce profits of brick-and-mortar businesses by almost 50 percent. While e-retailers deliver well on product, price and place, traditional retailers manage to deliver well on margin flexibility, location, selection and delivering physical products at the right time (Taylor and Cosenza, 2013, pp 46, 47). Businesses can transform into electronic enterprises to reduce operational costs and improve process productivity. The speed at which businesses transform to adopt electronic transactions determines the capacity with which they implement processes. Greater the speed of adoption and transformation , higher the number of processes they can execute and the more rapid their expansion since it reduces transactional costs. This also gives enterprises strategic competitive advantage. A business can have a website and the extent to which it is open to customers determines its adoption of ecommerce (Figure 1): Figure 1: Ecommerce industry transformation. Source: (Rollyson,

Conduct Apple SWOT analysis for deciding whether to investin in that Assignment

Conduct Apple SWOT analysis for deciding whether to investin in that company or not - Assignment Example Every business has its strengths and weakness. Apple is one such a company. Its origins are humble from the garage where the company’s founders, the two Steves worked on their inventions (O’Grady, 2009). The company has grown from those times to the large company that it is today. This article will, therefore, attempt to look into the company and come up with an analysis, to give the potential investor an idea about the company. This will then guide the potential investor towards making the decision on whether to invest in the company or not. One prominent, strength of a company is its ability to be innovative (Ferrell & Hartline, 2011). This allows the company to maintain a competitive edge over its rivals. The launch of the IPod, I pad and the App store has allowed APPLE to become successful. This was done through the product design, branding, strategic alliances and its business model. The APPLE Company’s leadership, for example, has ensured that its corporate governance has remained stable (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2008); even with the demise of its iconic Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs. This was done by the appointment of Tim Cook who has a long history spanning around 13 years (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2008). This, in effect, has served to stabilize the company and saved it the turmoil that comes with the search for a successor. Leadership has historically been one of the strong points of the company. In 1997, when the company was facing bankruptcy, it resulted in the hiring back Steve Jobs as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who helped restore the company’s profitability (Schneiders, 2011). This was mainly through the CEO’s creation of NEXT, as well as, the film company Pixar. This created a platform on, which the company rode on to return to profitability, momentum that has remained to date. Strength of the company has also to do with its brand. The company’s resolve to change the product line, as well

Experiences of Afro Caribbeans and Asian migrants to Britain

Experiences of Afro Caribbeans and Asian migrants to Britain The second half of the twentieth century saw a transformation of British society in which peoples from areas of the world that had formerly constituted colonies of the British Empire migrated to Britain in large enough numbers to have a significant impact upon the host community.   Since Elizabethan times, Britain had been host to significant numbers of black people. Yet their impact had never been felt as profoundly as it was in the late twentieth century, when many parts of Britain became what successive governments chose to term ‘multicultural.  Ã‚   This change did not come about without resistance and upheaval.   The impact of migration was often traumatic, especially upon those individuals who had left their homes to seek a different life in what they had looked upon as the Mother Country.The term ‘Mother Country is well-known and widely used.   However, during the period of the British Empire it was used as a trope that assumed a very particular meaning whe n applied to the relationship between the colonial power and its dependent territories.   During the nineteenth century, the expansion of the Empire was accompanied by a discourse that cast Britain in the role of parent and protector, as may be seen in visual products of the period, such as the Punch cartoon from 21 April 1894 in which John Bull is depicted discovering a black baby on his front doorstep, wrapped in a cloth marked ‘Uganda, and with the caption: ‘THE BLACK BABY.   Mr Bull: â€Å"What, another!! Well, I suppose I must take it in!!†Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   David Dabydeen, in his first collection of poetry Slave Song (1984), includes an illustration of ‘Britannia and the Natives, from a publication dated 1814, in which Britannia is shown on a raised pedestal surrounded by kneeling and supplicating black people with, in the background, the figure of Justice with her scales.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Britannia is thus configured as the ideal mother.   Such im ages gave Britain a benevolent and protective role (albeit with the reluctant undertones of John Bull), whilst to the colonies there were attributed the characteristics of immaturity, loyalty and submissiveness. However, in the history of Britains relations with its colonies, there is copious evidence of a breach in this unwritten contract of mutual loyalty and support.   At home and abroad, Britain exploited, rejected and abused the ‘Children of the Empire, yet the bonds were not easily broken and the twentieth century saw a significant number of colonial (or ex-colonial) peoples seeking a first-hand encounter with Britain.The growth of migrant communities has been termed ‘diaspora, a term that was   borrowed from its traditional role in describing the dispersal of Jewish people, and it carries with it ideas of banishment and trauma, suggesting ‘a linkage asserted in the context of exile from a homeland, and a unity maintained in varying circumstances confronting a scattered population. Beginning with the slave trade and continuing with indentured labour and the economic migrations of the later twentieth century, the British Empire was a significant force in the global migrations of successive communities of African and Asian peoples.   Postcolonial literature and the theories that it has produced addresses the issue of migration and the dismantling of the European imperial and colonial enterprise.There are two important strands to postcolonial discourse that, rather than opposing one another, are often overlapping and inter-related: the first is one that might be termed pessimistic in that it concentrates on the debilitating effects of colonialism and the racism with which it went hand in hand, and the second is a more optimistic view of the transformative power of migration discourses that reveal that ‘truth is relative and that the shifting viewpoints of ‘outsiders and minorities have more to reveal about modern life than a totalising and deterministic central power.  Ã‚   The ‘pessimistic viewpoint is usually one that is concerned with militant protest and the recovery of history and culture that had previously been denigrated and undermined and it has to be seen in the context of the negative effects of loss and dislocation suffered under the colonial system.   Any examination of migration must devote attention to the economic and social conditions which cause migrant peoples to seek opportunities away from their home communities and the structures of colonialism were particularly conducive to population movements, usually forced or encouraged by Britain for its own economic advantage.   The late twentieth century migration of Caribbean and Asian people to Britain was initiated by Britain for economic reasons and was accomplished by the combined mechanisms of active government policy and the poor living conditions which many hoped to escape. It is clear that the economic rationale for the system of colonialism was exploitation and colonies inevitably remained underdeveloped because they were used as sources of cheap raw materials. Poverty was endemic; work was unskilled, low paid and intermittent; the reliance on foreign capital gave overseas companies a stranglehold over the economy; processed goods were all imported, including most staple food stuffs; housing was overcrowded and lacking in sanitation; the child labour force was large; spending on education was low and illiteracy was widespread .  Ã‚  Ã‚   The neglect of any political development towards self-determination and independence was also a feature of twentieth century British colonialism: executive control was centralised in the British parliament and, prior to the independence movements of the nineteen sixties, any expression of local government was chiefly confined to the representatives of the colonial power.  Ã‚   The denial of the cultural heritage of the black peoples of the Empire was also a vital part of the colonising process.   It particularly affected those who were able to become educated through the system of providing scholarships to the most able pupils, who continued their studies to secondary and sometimes university level.   All education was dictated by European standards French, Spanish, Latin, English literature, English history were all taught, whilst local history and geography were ignored.   The language of education was standard English: local accents, vocabularies and grammatical constructions were denied a voice.   The intention was to inculcate a sense of loyalty and belonging to Britain, creating a local educated elite whose knowledge and values were determined by colonial rather than national standards.  Ã‚  Ã‚   The long-term effect of this has been variously interpreted: Caribbean writer Kenneth Ramchand has written of a ‘cultural void‘   a nd poet Edward Kamau Brathwaite has referred to the ‘fragmented culture‘   of the Caribbean.   Yet Amon Saba Saakana claims that the indigenous communities retained many of their African characteristics and were in conflict with the imposed colonial culture official culture may have been European, but many aspects of the alternative African culture remained intact, even though under siege.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Such diversity of opinion illustrates the dilemma of a society which had traditionally been unable to develop any real perception of itself, except in the terms dictated by an imperial foreign power.   It is impossible to ignore the fact that, for the first generations of twentieth century colonial and postcolonial writers, the system under which they were educated was colonial in outlook and many of them continue to be preoccupied by their responses to European influence and the artefacts of European culture.   For the individual growing up in a colonial society, the difficulty of developing any real sense of self was compounded by the constant conflict between the standards and values of the indigenous community and the official norms imposed by the ruling power; a dual sense of perception was often the result of these competing discourses.   The image of a psyche that is alienated, divided, open to exploitation, overawed and unable to assert itself in the face of the imperial aggressor particularly pervaded the earlier literature which was concerned with migration (for example in Jean Rhyss Voyage in the Dark or V.S. Naipauls The Mimic Men). The twentieth century had thus perpetuated its own version of the nineteenth century discourse that figures the colonial subject as child-like and in need of parental protection.   Although the historical evidence suggests the contrary that, in the Caribbean at least, colonialism was aggressively imposed and required the stationing of quite large garrisons of troops to suppress opposition throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries  Ã‚   nonetheless, until quite recently the belief in the passivity and powerlessness of the local population was widely held and has found its way into literature.   The myth of British superiority therefore had to be confronted when migrants had a firsthand experience of Britain and it is the dismantling of this myth that can be seen as a vital aspect of the postcolonial literary project.   One of the seminal texts of postcolonial literary theory is entitled The Empire Writes Back and this aspect of   ‘writing back t o the imperial power, when previously colonised peoples create work which ‘adopts, adapts, and often rejects the established European models has become a key idea in postcolonial literature.  Ã‚  Ã‚   From this idea of the liberating of postcolonial voices and the opening up of a new form of discourse a second, more optimistic, strand of thought has developed that is particularly concerned with the postcolonial experience of migration.   For writers such as Salman Rushdie and Hanif Kureishi, the newly emergent identities of migrants can be sites of excitement, new possibilities, and even privilege. The migrant seems in a better position than others to realise that all systems of knowledge, all views of the world, are never totalising, whole or pure, but incomplete, muddled and hybrid.   To live as a migrant may well evoke the pain of loss and of not being firmly rooted in a secure place; but it is also to live in a world of immense possibility with the realisation that new knowledges and ways of seeing can be constructed out of the myriad combinations of the ‘scraps‘ which Rushdie describes knowledges which challenge the authority of older ideas of rootedness and fixity. The cultural commentator Homi K Bhabha, in his book The Location of Culture emphasises this notion of marginality and regards the crossing of boundaries as an exciting new departure in the construction of identity, not merely in terms of the individual, but also for communities.   The migrant has a crucial role:Standing at the border, the migrant is empowered to intervene actively in the transmission of cultural inheritance or tradition (of both the home and the host land) rather than passively accept its venerable customs and pedagogical wisdom. The argument is that hybridity, liminality and the postcolonial condition are positive and productive and it forms the basis of a more optimistic reaction to the essentially negative history of slavery, Empire and colonisation.   However, it is possible for this approach to be seen as over-optimistic, in that it is produced from a cosmopolitan and educated elite (Rushdies experience of migration consisted in being educated at a top British public school and later joining the celebrity literary society of London and New York).   Smith warns that, for many migrants, ‘disconnection is not necessarily a comfortable state of being and that there is a danger in celebrating a very privileged form of mobility and in ignoring typical, everyday experience of localized forms of control and resistance. During the latter half of the twentieth century, the first substantial number of Caribbean migrants travelled to Britain on the S.S. Empire Windrush in 1948, and were greeted at Tilbury Dock by newspaper reporters whose banner headlines read ‘Welcome Home‘.  Ã‚   The idea of Britain as ‘home was one which had been deliberately encouraged in the British Empire and had served to alienate colonial peoples from their actual homelands.   Once in Britain, the idea of home was transposed onto the places that had been left behind.   Home therefore became a contradictory idea and was displaced from actuality into the imagination, never in the here-and-now, but always in the desired future or the remembered past.   John McLeod utilises Salman Rushdies essay ‘Imaginary Homelands to argue that the migrant experiences the concept of home as ‘primarily a mental construct built from the odds and ends of memory that survive from the past,  Ã‚  Ã‚   yet it is a lso true to say that, for many migrants, ‘home had always had a dual aspect: it was partly situated in the the ideologically determined concept that was the originating location of British education, law, language and culture but it was also located in their ancestral homelands in Asia or Africa.   The migrant experience is therefore one of liminality, poised on the threshold, never fully occupying the space called ‘home.   Just as identity within the colonial context was a contested site of contradictions, so the effect of migration on identity has become a recurrent theme of tension and conflict.   The ways in which postcolonial writers have found methods of replying and re-writing, rejecting, utilising and transforming European traditions and canons of literature has been complicatedly affected by migration.   As Anne McClintock remarks, the ‘tenacious legacies of imperialism continue to dictate ‘the sanctioned binaries colonizer-colonized, self-other, dominance-resistance, metropolis-colony, colonial-postcolonial, making strategic opposition problematic: ‘such binaries run the risk of simply inverting, rather than overturning, dominant notions of power‘.  Ã‚   The existence of these binaries is often explored thematically in the literature and can be detected in the oppositions of the past and the present; the places from and to which the migration occurs; the wider so ciety and the individual; the language and culture of two (or more) places.   The perpetual tension created by the contradictions of postcolonial experience is explored through these oppositional themes.   The sense of self and the identity of the migrant is thus a divided one and, whether optimistic or pessimistic in outlook, the creative fertility of this division is what the postcolonial writer seeks to explore. By reading a few examples of postcolonial literature it is possible to weigh the positive and negative strands of theory and to explore to what extent the writers demonstrate that the contradictions and complications of migration and the muddle and pain of rootlessness have been outweighed by the excitement of discovering a fertile site of new identity. In the discussion that follows, the poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson and Grace Nichols will be explored, together with David Dabydeens novel The Intended and Ayub Khan-Dins play and film East is East.   Not every work will necessarily be discussed in each chapter, as the different literary works exemplify the experience of migration in differing ways.   However, the thematic concerns of all of these works will, it is hoped, be seen to be so closely intertwined that each chapter will represent a facet of the whole. The contrasting experiences of the past and present of the migrants experience is a common theme within much of the literature of migration.   As has been previously discussed, the colonial past was a brutalising political system.   David Dabydeen has taken up the theme of migration in Caribbean literature in terms of the shattering of illusions, ‘trauma and alienation‘, ‘personal disintegration and ‘shared vulnerability and dependence‘.  Ã‚   His novel The Intended is intensely concerned with the colonial past and he uses Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness as its inspiration and organising theme.   Dabydeens view of Conrads novel can be summarised by his comments from his A Readers Guide to West Indian and Black British Writing:Conrads Heart of Darkness offers a powerful denunciation of the horrors of Imperialism in its depiction of the cruelty of Europeans and the decimation of native Africans.   In the greed for ivory and quick profit, life is smashed up and squandered. Dabydeen comments on the confusion, grotesqueness and absurdity depicted in the novel as the hallmarks of imperialism and he contrasts the brutal reality with the dreams and aspirations which had originally impelled it.   The figure of Kurtz degenerates from noble idealism to a squalid end:At the beginning, he is a classical missionary figure, full of noble ideals about torch-bearing, about setting the bush alight with the concepts of European civilization. †¦ Instead of the fulfilment of these burning ideals, Kurtz degenerates into an emaciated figure crawling on all fours and the only burning that takes place in the novel is fire which destroys the grass shed and which exposes the Europeans as ineffectual buffoons in their attempts to control it.   Conrads theme is the turning of a dream into a sort of confused nightmare and Dabydeen has used this idea as the theme of his own novel.   For Dabydeens migrants, the journey from Europe to Africa is reversed, but their migration from their homelands to London, the heart of Empire, has a similarly brutalising and corrupting effect.   They also experience a descent into corruption, as they become increasingly involved in prostitution and pornography.   Whilst the desire to exploit the commodity of ivory is the motivating force for Conrads empire builders, Dabydeen turns this desire into an exploitation of white female flesh as a commodity.   Dabydeen has used Kurtzs name for his fiancà ©e ‘the intended as an ironic title for his own book in order to highlight the gap between aspiration and actuality.   The narrators comment to his girlfriend, Janet, reveals to him and to the reader this gap: ‘But you are fragrant, you are everything I intended, I blurted out, the words seeming to come from nowhere, and as soon as they were uttered, sounding foolish.   In one accidental sentence I had finally confessed all the dreams that I had stuttered out to her in a year of meetings, always trying to structure the expression of my desire for her so as to make it impersonal, philosophic, universal, but always failing, my plain needs leaking through the cracks in words. However, in this very ability to articulate himself, the narrator, like Conrads Marlow, shows him able to distance himself and thus survive the brutality that surrounds him.   This is in contrast to figure of Joseph, who, in committing suicide by setting light to himself, recalls the futility of Kurtzs ‘burning ideals.   Throughout Dabydeens novel, Joseph is depicted as the person least involved in European culture.   The narrator imbibes European culture through his contact with Western literature, as he reads Chaucer, Milton and Conrad.   Illiteracy frees Joseph from these influences and he is often depicted as a character who can take an outside, alternative view of things.   His adoption of Rastafarianism also aligns him with a more elemental Africanness and a closer association with his Jamaican origins.   Joseph stands outside European culture and is therefore a more trenchant critic of its negative forces.   It is he who comments that ‘Ivory is the heart of the white man  Ã‚  Ã‚   and he similarly exposes the sterility of the narrators attitude to literature in the dissection of poetry that is an   uncritical mimic of his teachers methods: Poetry is like bird†¦ Joseph remarks, You turning all the room in the universe and in the human mind into bird cage.  Ã‚   Yet Jo seph is unable to use his insight to gain freedom.   He is repeatedly confounded by his own ignorance, even to the extent of being unable properly to operate the video camera which is his chosen method of intercepting and interpreting his experiences.   His attempt to film ‘the wind as it brushed against the   leaves †¦ capturing on film the invisibility of the wind leaves him ‘dangling dangerously by the waist high up in a tree and is misunderstood by witnesses as an attempted suicide.  Ã‚   Such an image is used to evoke other familiar images of slaves being punished, particularly one which Dabydeen has used in his own article on ‘Eighteenth-century literature on commerce and slavery (see below).  Ã‚   This illustration was based on a 1773 eyewitness description.   The background shows skulls on posts reminiscent of a scene in Heart of Darkness and also alludes to Josephs preoccupation with bones and skeletons. It appears, therefore, that Josephs function in the novel is to represent the past in which the enslaved African was denied access to education and so was rendered inarticulate and, in terms of history, silent.   Joseph is eventually reduced to crouching in a derelict building, emaciated and silent, vainly attempting to scratch letters into the soil with a stick.   He has been unable to organise and record his experience in anything but confused and fragmentary images and in this way Dabydeen demonstrates the inarticulacy of the state of slavery and the ways in which modern historians and writers must reconstruct a past from inadequate evidence.   In telling Josephs story, the narrator of The Intended preserves Josephs history through the written word, but, just as in the history of slavery, it must always be a third person narration because, without access to reading and writing, Josephs own I is lost when he himself dies. Although it has been argued that the characters in Dabydeens novel ‘suddenly materialize, having no history, the past as empty as their pockets   this is not true, for Dabydeen is using the past figuratively and the past of his characters is often not a personal one, but is implied by their relationship to history.   The novels narrative swings between the past, present and future of the narrators experience, relating his sense of ‘shame and unreality in the present, as he feels himself to be in a state of suspension between the past from which he has come and the future to which he aspires.   For him, the past and the future are always present, creating conflicting images of who he is, what he has been and what he will become.   In this way, he demonstrates the constant crossing and re-crossing of temporal boundaries and thus lives in the liminality of which Home K Bhabha has written.    Dabydeen is not unique in his attempt to come to terms with the violence of colonial history and the aspiration towards a different future.   East is East illustrates the relationship between the past and the present through the intergenerational conflict in the Khan household.   The Khan children have no memory of a past elsewhere because they have been born in Britain; instead they are an example of the youthful offspring of the migrant generation who have an uncertain sense of where they truly belong and are alienated by their inability to find acceptance in the host community.   Having little or no sense of their past, their fragmented responses to identity are governed by their differing attempts to ‘assimilate‘.   George Kahn‘s inability to relate to his children and their aspirations symbolises the tension between the past and the present.   Though he is frustrated by his own inability to govern his family in traditional Pakistani ways and though he has failed to inculcate Muslim values into his children, George has a strong sense of his personal identity which his children seem to lack.   He is concerned at the current war in Kashmir   and he has a sense of personal involvement, feeling members of his family to be at risk.   The progress of this conflict on the television and radio acts as a background noise in the familys life, just as the past of colonial conflict is a background to their current situation.   The British Raj had united the disparate parts of the Indian subcontinent, but with independence came partition and the creation of East and West Pakistan.   The political events to which the film alludes are the rumblings of war and discontent which continued into the 1970s, with the separation of Pakistan and Bangladesh.  Ã‚   The past seems to offer no hope for the alienated generation of children who have been born in Britain.   The history of empire, whose repercussions continue to be felt, both poli tically in Asia and culturally in Salford, does not seem to offer a transformative or positive trope for the characters in Khan-Din‘s drama. Linton Kwesi Johnsons central concern is with this generation that has little or no sense of a past elsewhere or of the history which has moulded their identity.   In his work the theme of   ‘giving voice to the present and making sense of the past is always significant.   He has commented on the positive effects for the older generation of having memories with which to identify: ‘at least we could still identify with home because we came from somewhere else†¦ [Young people] born in this country †¦ dont have any other home to identify with.  Ã‚  Ã‚   In this way, he describes the migrant experience of ‘routes that have to act as a substitute for ‘roots, as McGill argues: ‘Preferring routes to roots, Johnson operates in what Homi Bhabha calls the â€Å"interstitial passage between fixed identifications.†Ã‚  Ã‚   Thus, Johnson can juxtapose his current experience of Britain with his memories of a distant homeland in very overt ways , for example in the trope of the letter home in ‘Sonnys Lettah (Anti-Sus Poem).   This poem illustrates Johnsons strategy in its title, by uniting the writers relationship with the past (as a son, he is explicitly identifying his place within the generations of history) and the present political situation (the hated sus law which enabled police to stop and search and was perceived as a racist weapon against young black men).   The poem opens with the address ‘Brixtan Prison / Jebb Avenue / Landan south-west two / Inglan which by its spelling, defamiliarises Britain.   The following greeting, Dear Mama, / Good Day, is rendered in normal English spelling, yet it uses an expression that is specific to Jamaica, since Good Day is not a way in which a British person would begin a letter.   Johnson is thus re-working both the spelling and familiar modes of British address in order to weld the past of Sonnys warm and secure childhood to the brutality and grief of the pr esent experience of Britain.   Johnsons elegiac attitude to the ‘home of Jamaica is also clear in his poems Reggae fi Dada and ‘Jamaican Lullaby‘, which both exemplify the importance of memory in the present and a connection to the past from which the migrant has come. In her poem One Continent/To Another, Grace Nichols demonstrates that it is futile to separate the theme of past and present from the sense of place.   The passage of slaves and later migrants moving from one continent to another is a transition in space as well as time.   In her book I is a Long Memoried Woman, Nichols seeks to relate the past to the present by her focus on the subject of slavery and in poems such as One Continent/To Another she describes the experience of the slave as a movement in time and space: from the past of bleeding memories in the darkness to the future of ‘piecing the life she would lead‘.   Nichols uses the confusion between beginnings and endings to suggest the notion that past, present and future are simultaneous: Being born a womanshe moved againknew it was the Black Beginningthough everything said it wasthe end. This is an example of what Easton describes as ‘the imaginative, in particular metaphoric processes by which Nichols transforms the historical African-Caribbean female experience into positive images.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Easton also comments that ‘Forgetting †¦ is to be silenced.  Ã‚   Just as Joseph in The Intended is silenced by his inability to record his experiences, so in the work of Nichols, the inability to call up memories is another form of silencing of the past and, through it, the present.   In the poem One Continent/To Another Nichols uses the repeating of a negative phrase to convey a positive sense of the past when she describes the woman who hasnt forgotten / hasnt forgotten.   As the title of this poetry collection suggests, the theme of memory is central to Nicholss intention and her construction of memory as a double negative in this poem not merely remembering, but, more importantly, not forgetting illustrates the experience of memories that on the surface are emphatically negative but that can actually be transformed into the positive and life-giving experience of the present.   In this way, Nichols transforms the memory of the experience of slavery into a discussion of the present experience of migration.   One Continent/To another records the first experience of enforced migration: that of the slaves in the middle passage womb of crossing the Atlantic who encounter a metaphorical giving birth to a new New World self.   Each migrant experiences the sense of figuratively stumbl[ing] onto the shore, being dragged down, thirsting, the disorientation of displacement, yet Nichols turns this negative, bereft of fecundity into her final affirmation of the future: the life she would lead.   Nichols thus succeeds in changing an essentially brutal experience into one of affirmation and strength.   The transformational potency of migration is thus embedded not in the experience itself, but in the memory of survival and in th e imaginative power of the migrant.   In this way Nicholss work can be interpreted as an example of the power of the imagination over the ‘scraps of disparate experience to which Salman Rushdie refers (as discussed by John McLeod, above). For David Dabydeen, too, the time shifts in the narration of The Intended are also geographical shifts.   Large portions of the book are concerned with the narrators childhood in Guyana and these memories of a distant homeland which are juxtaposed upon his experience of Britain.   During the time of the period of the British Empire there was always a sense that England and especially London was the dominant metropolitan centre, while the colonial homeland was regarded as dominated periphery and was denigrated as inferior.   Unable to define themselves, except in contradistinction to the imperial centre, the inhabitants of the colonies looked upon their own homelands with a sense of unreality because they were undefined in terms of the dominant colonial discourses.   In seeking to create his own homeland as a setting for his novel, Dabydeen creates multiple literary landscapes, not only enshrining London and Oxford as markers of education and achievement, but also giving sta tus to the homeland in which his imagination was formed. Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin have discussed the crisis of migration in terms of the ambivalent relationship between identity and place that often distinguished the colonial experience:A major feature of postcolonial literatures is the concern with place and displacement.   It is here that the special postcolonial crisis of identity comes into being; the concern with the development or recovery of an effective identifying relationship between self and place. For the postcolonial writer, to re-cast their own homeland as a reference point against which to see Britain is a reversal of the pattern of the past in which all other countries were contrasted with the ‘normative core of British literature, landscape and history.  Ã‚   What is perhaps most crucial to Dabydeens use of Guyana as a setting is its interweaving with the narrators experience of London in a way that always tends to dominate and qualify London.   For example, in his first reference to Guyana, the narrator begins with a metaphor: I walked down Bedford Hill feeling sorry for myself, wishing I had a family to go home to.   Nasims mother was like my grandmother who waited by the roadside and when I stepped of the bus at Albion Village would take my hand tightly in hers and lead me