Saturday, August 31, 2019

The Truth And Nothing But The Truth? The Legal Liability Of Employers For Employee References Essay

Negligent Referral Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Common law refers to a legal system native and developed in England and in which court decisions set precedence in decreeing case laws subject to usages and customs rather than the codified written laws. In common law, the duty of care refers to a legal obligation in which an individual is demanded to confirm to a standard and degree of reasonable care while undertaking any activity that could inflict foreseeable harm to others (Martin & Jonathon, 2009). This concept was developed by Lord Atkins and it set pace for determination of Tort Laws and especially negligence. For instance, employers are bound by law to observe standards of procedures in referring their former employees to other employers such that the other employer does not suffer (MacLeod, 2011). This paper explores the liability of the employer in making references about his or her employees in common laws, duty of care.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Business corporations today are afraid of providing their former employees’ information to prospective employers for fear of possible lawsuits. Often, the human resource department strongly fears these suits that they result to strong policies against employment references. However, the question of this action as to being the â€Å"best practice† substantially differs between one episode and another (MacIntyre, 2013). Essentially, the liability of employers may arise in any of the following four areas. Firstly, the employer may be liable for defamation at common la. Secondly, the employer may be bound for invading on the privacy of their employees at common law. Thirdly, the Civil Rights Acts, and the retaliation under the Fair Employment Act may deem the employer liable (Adams, 2013). Finally, the common law may fault the employer liable for negligent referral or in breach of the duty to warn potential and subsequent employe rs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The employer’s liability in negligent referrals of their employees arises from the doctrine of vicarious liability. Under this doctrine, a person is assigned liability due to inflicted harm or injury by a negligent person subject to their relationship to the negligent person. Vicarious liability is also known as imputed negligence (Finch & Fafinski, 2011). This doctrine is based on the theory of respondeat superior where â€Å"let the master answer† situation answers. For this liability to arise, the employee’s negligence must have occurred within the boundaries of his or her employment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Legislation to the employer’s liability on employee referrals was sustained in reaction to the defamation privileges claims emanating from employment references. According to Section 895.487(2), it is presumed that an employer’s response to a reference request is made in good faith. Therefore, it is immune to civil liability that may arise from provision of the reference to a prospective employer (Middlemiss, 2011). The good faith presumption, however, may be invalidated or expired if the reference response provided clearly convinces malice and falsehood by the employer. In addition, the presumption expires when the reference response is made in contravention of the blacklisting statute.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Employer reference liability was first decreed in the Gibson v. Overnite Transportation Co. In this case, the plaintiff, Gibson became harassed by union supporters in crossing a picket line aimed at completing his work assignment (Partington, 2011). Consequently, he resigned from Overnite Transportation falsely on grounds that he was going to help in his ailing grandfather’s company. However, the plaintiff was hired by another trucking corporation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Overnite Transportation responded to reference and the plaintiff was fired. He sued Overnite Transportation for defamation. The grand jury ruled that the previous supervisor acted maliciously and was hence liable for defamation. The jury awarded the plaintiff a compensatory damage of $33,000 for lost wages and punitive damages to the tune of $250,000. The appeal chambers upheld the award.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Court Of Appeals sent some light on the proof needed to convincingly establish defamation in employment references responses under the auspices of section 895.487(2) (Partington, 2011). According to the court, the plaintiff is burdened with proving that the employer’s response to a reference inquiry was made out of hatred, bad intent, ill will, envy, revenge, spite or other bad motive in regard to the defamed person (Finch & Fafinski, 2011). Therefore, it was not necessary to prove that the employer acted indeed, with actual malice.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Additionally, the employer maybe held liable for negligent referral or duty to warn prospective employers. This doctrine holds that an employer may be held liable or answerable for providing misrepresentation (Middlemiss, 2011). That is untrue reference information or omission of knowledge of the criminal propensities and dangerousness of its former employee. Most recent cases adopted general non legal obligation to warn potential employers about dangerous former employees as was held in the priest abuse scandal (Riches, Allen & Keenan, 2011). However, there are no clear and uniform rules derailing the liability of the employer to third parties with regard to referring former employees who are known to be dangerous to other employers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the priest abuse scandal, multiple victims of the priest’s abuse scandal sued the diocese, a former employer of the priest for allegedly â€Å"knowing the priests potentiality to abuse children sexually and failing to referring him to the police or preventing further atrocities†. The court commented that doing so aggravated vast obligation overly exceeding the state and other jurisdictions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In recent years, courts gave decreed in favor of the universities in liability lawsuits. As was held in the Bradshaw vs. Rowling, â€Å"students now demand and receive expanded privacy rights in their life at college†. The college administrators no longer have control over the wide berthed arena and hence colleges and universities are not bound to the negligent liability clauses (Finch & Fafinski, 2011). In recent cases, the courts have held no liability subsists for the University for failing to observe the duty to warn. In the 2007Virginia Tech Ruling, the courts held that there was no special relationship subsisting between the university and the students to impose corresponding responsibility (Parry & Parry, 2009). In addition, the court clarified that even if there was a special relationship, the provided evidence failed to give rise to a duty of warning third parties of the criminal acts. However, mental and health specialists attached to a university are obliged to warn potential victims of dangerous and violent students as well as the police of the impeding danger. References Adams, A. (2013). Law for business students (7th ed.). Harlow: Pearson/Longman. (2010). Duty To Warn Third Parties. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 2(3), 235-236. (2010). Employers’ Liability At The Docks.. The Lancet, 142(3664), 1268-1269. Finch, E., & Fafinski, S. (2011). Legal skills (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. MacIntyre, E. (2013). Business law (6th ed.). Harlow, England: Pearson Longman. MacLeod, I. (2011). Legal method (8th ed ed.). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Martin, E. A., & Jonathon, L. (2009). A dictionary of law (7th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Middlemiss, S. (2011). The Truth And Nothing But The Truth? The Legal Liability Of Employers For Employee References. Industrial Law Journal, 33(1), 59-67. Parry, G., & Parry, A. M. (1999). Randi W. V. Muroc Joint Unified School District 1997: Implications For Employer Liability In Employment References. Education and the Law, 11(4), 287-294. Partington, M. (2011). Introduction to the English legal system. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Original work published 6th) Riches, S., Allen, V., & Keenan, D. J. (2011). Keenan and Riches’ business law (11th ed.). Harlow, England: Pearson/Longman. Source document

Friday, August 30, 2019

Fences †Tragic Hero Essay

In August Wilson’s play â€Å"Fences†, he presents a misguided yet accomplished character. The play’s protagonist Troy, creates conflict with every character because of his judgmental nature and contrived haughty perception of himself. Through numerous stories that he re-cants Troy embellishes his experiences to cast himself in a righteous light. Contrary, to the stories he tells, his behavior expose Troy as a foolish man that does irrational things. One moment he is lecturing his family members on how they ought to live their lives and the next he’s off frolicking like a child with no cares or responsibilities. Aside, from his hypocrisies Troy managed to become a talented professional baseball player. As a member of the Negro Baseball League (NBL), Troy was a pioneer and hero of his time. The men associated with the NBL endured the ignorance and hostility of many to advance the footprint of black Americans in professional avenues. Sadly, Troy’s tim e in a groundbreaking career and stable, loving household are overshadowed by the demons he tries to ignore. He struggles to accept the harsh realities of his life and the decisions that he’s made, leaving him to live within the confines of bitterness and denial. It is evident that life has made Troy a bitter man. He was once a talented young baseball player at the height of his career. However, when Major League Baseball began to integrate Troy was too old to become a member. That reality weighed resentfully with him, and influenced many of his relationships, in particular with his son, Cory. His son plays football and aspires to professionally some day. He has the opportunity to go to college on a football scholarship, but Troy won’t allow it and refuses to sign the papers to permit Cory to do so. Troy scoffs that â€Å"ain’t no need for nobody coming around here to talk to me about signing nothing†¦ The white man ain’t gonna let you get nowhere with that football no way† (Wilson 35). Troy’s comments are a direct reflection of his own shattered dreams. Holding Cory back from living to the full potential of his dream illustrates Troy’s pessimism and envy. He stands in an ideal position to encourage and mentor his son, but sadly, he doesn’t have the fortitude to do so. Troy’s wife Rose is another character who comes into conflict with Troy because of his bitterness and irrational decisions. Rose  is a faithful, compassionate and realistic wife. While she loves her family, she recognizes that there is a disconnect. So she asks Troy, with the help of his sons, one of whom she did not bear to build a fence in their back yard. She hopes that the time will be well spent together and the fence will stand as a symbol of the their unity. However, Troy seeks sanctuary through external means, being alcohol and another woman. Against the cautioning of his friend Bono, â€Å"she loves you Troy, Rose loves you† (Wilson 36), Troy maintains a relationship with a woman named Alberta. Alberta goes on to become pregnant by Troy, and sadly, dies in childbirth. With such discord within her marriage, somehow Rose manages to find the compassion to raise Troy’s illigetimate child. Although Troy had the opportunity to emotionally support his caring wife, and build a fence with his sons, he could not escape his own need for external validation correlating back to his time as a professional athlete. Troy is a tragic-hero who is unable to enjoy the fruit that his life bore him. He failed to provide the love and support that would mean the most to his loved ones. He was unable to relish in his time spent playing for the NBL, and encourage his son to follow his dream because Troy’s dream ended prematurely. Troy is also unable to appreciate the love of his wife because of the external adoration heâ€⠄¢d grown to know and desire from others. When his professional career ended he became bitter and began a cycle of irrational decisions because of his depressed outlook. Work Cited Wilson, August Fences Literature : an introduction to fiction , poetry, drama and writing. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Diana Gioia, 12th ed. New York: Pearson, 2013 1153-63

Thursday, August 29, 2019

An Issue Of Bone Marrow Donors

An Issue Of Bone Marrow Donors Thousands upon thousands of people living all around the world are searching for a bone marrow donor this very second. Finding a donor with a genetic match is crucial, and will make the difference between life and death for the patients in need. Finding a donor that has bone marrow with the right genetic components as the patient is not an easy task. It is very hard to find a person with a match because there are not many people willing to become a donor. There is a huge controversial debate on whether bone marrow donors should be compensated. As of 2014, unfortunately, it is still illegal for a bone marrow donor to be compensated. Bone marrow donors should undoubtedly be compensated because the number of donors will increase astoundingly, bone marrow does grow back in one’s lifetime and is not like an organ that doesn’t return, and this positive initiative will save a tremendous amount of lives. The number one concern of everyone involved should be about the patient re ceiving the right match for a bone marrow transplant, and surviving, not about how it is considered â€Å"unethical.† While finding a perfect match for a donor isn’t easy in 2014, within the next ten years, hopefully our federal government will see that compensating bone marrow donors isn’t harmful to anyone involved and will save many lives. Compensating bone marrow, by providing scholarships that are completely from charity donations, will be a low-cost solution to make more people interested in becoming a donor. This will immensely increase the number of matches for each patient, because there will be many more donors to choose from. It also must be stressed that charity donations will strictly provide these scholarships, not the patient, or the patient’s family. That would be a financial burden to the entire family, which is not something the family should have to worry about, as well as all of the medical concerns. These compensations would not depend on the financial income of the family, â€Å"†¦so there is no danger that the incentives will â€Å"aid† only the rich† (Rowes 2011). The number of donors will multiply when people interested in becoming a donor see that there is a positive incentive involved. It is illegal to compensate both organ donors and bone marrow donors, but the two have a characteristic that is completely different from one another. When a person donates their organ, it does not grow back. It is gone forever. When a person donates bone marrow, it will eventually grow back again in time. It is perfectly legal for egg, sperm, and blood donors to be paid for their donations. Many people think of bone marrow and think of it as something huge, while it is just blood cells that are just immature. Why is it legal to compensate blood donors, but not bone marrow donors? The procedures used for both blood donations and bone marrow donations are very similar. Bone marrow donors should be treated like egg, blood, and sperm donors. Each of those types of donations will save or create new lives, and the donor will either already have, or gain more of what they donated (sperm, blood, egg, and bone marrow) quickly after the procedure. Many people argue that bone marrow donors shouldn’t be compensated because of its unethicality. Whether or not it is ethical, or right or wrong, shouldn’t stop anyone from seeing how much compensation could really make the difference between life and death for almost all patients. While people may want to donate for the wrong reasons, compensating donors will increase the amount of donors, which is ultimately the most important thing. It is also argued that unethicality of compensation, will raise safety concerns for the patients receiving the transplant and that â€Å"†¦the promise of compensation may cause the donor to be less forthcoming, placing either the patient or the donor at unnecessary risk† (Petersdorf 2011). This means that a person with certain diseases may apply to be a donor and apply for the money aspect, while keeping some of their medical history hidden, putting themselves and the patient in danger. A way that this can be avoided is by maki ng every donor that is applying to provide his or her own complete, official medical records, while also making it mandatory for them to take screenings for certain diseases, and receiving any immunizations, if necessary. This will eliminate any uncertainties concerning safety of compensating donors. By offering compensation to bone marrow donors, and requiring medical screenings and records for those who apply, thousands more lives will be saved every single day safely. Offering compensating to bone marrow donors is the best option to get more people interested in becoming a donor, which will then drastically increase the number of lives that are saved. The donor pool will become much larger so it will be much easier for patients to find the right genetic match. The cells of bone marrow grow back very soon after the donation is given, just like sperm, eggs, and blood do, which is why it should be legal for a bone marrow donor to also be compensated. A bone marrow donation should not be treated like an organ donation because they are very different from one another. An organ will not grow back. Bone marrow is renewable. Bone marrow donors should be rewarded with small scholarships because it will increase the number of donors, it is very similar to donating blood, which is legal to be compensated, and it will make the difference between life and death for most patients. Patients right now are searching for their perfect bone marrow match within the l imited pool of donors, in what may be their last years, months, days, minutes, or even seconds of their lives. This devastating fact can be changed forever, if we allow compensation to bone marrow donors. It can make all the difference. Lets give these patients the life they deserve, and help them live for many years ahead.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Describe how the information you obtain from your information systems Article

Describe how the information you obtain from your information systems provides you with decision support in your role as a nurse - Article Example EHRs help me in evidence based treatment. Also, EHRs are very quick, as there is no need for any paper-work for documenting and sharing of the information and images (Williams, 2010; National Institutes of Health National Center for Research Resources, 2006), and thus, they help me in decision-making without having to go through the manual process. So, the incorporation of EHR technology in my hospital has reduced the documentation time significantly. I use EHRs as tools for continuity of care and for collaborative performance of healthcare providers and other nurses (Iakovidis, 1998). EHRs also make the â€Å"oncology community contribute fully to the development of an efficient national health care system that is based upon evidence-based medicine and responsive to the needs of all constituents† (Ambinder, 2005), and enable the patients to actively participate in the functioning of EHRs along with their physicians. In short, I find that the decision-making is made easy since EHRs have modernized the way patients’ data is stored. Iakovidis, I. (1998). From electronic medical record to personal health records: present situation and trends in European Union in the area of electronic healthcare records. Stud Health Technol Inform, 52, pp. 18-22. National Institutes of Health National Center for Research Resources. (2006). History of EHRs. Electronic Health Records Overview. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://www.ncrr.nih.gov/publications/informatics/ehr.pdf Williams, KR. (2010). Electronic health records reduce costs while improving patient care. EzineArticles.com. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Business research methods Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business research methods - Assignment Example In the case presented, it would prove impractical and impossible to carry a study that involves over 2000 fast food restaurants. Hence, there is a salient need for sampling. Researchers have identified two categories of sampling technique names, probability sampling and non-probability sampling. For the research on fast food restaurants mentioned, it becomes critical to identify the most appropriate method of sampling that will yield a reliable sample for the research. In a bid to identify the appropriate one, an overview of both sampling methods will be presented. Their implications will also be highlighted and eventually the most appropriate method will be identified (Acharya et al 2013, p. 332). Probability sampling is one of the common techniques used by many researchers when they require yielding a sample that can be used in their research. The basis of probability sampling is randomization. At such randomization, the researcher ensures that each item or entity in the target population has an equal chance of being part of the sample (Uprichard 2013, p. 9). Experts have highlighted that probability sampling eliminates the need for systematic and sampling biases. The main objective in probability sampling is ensuring that the sample serves as an effective representative of the targeted population (Acharya et al 2013, p. 332). Notably, such a representative sample is required by researchers for making generalizations about the targeted population. This is the reason why researchers need to be careful when sampling. There are different techniques of achieving the probability sampling, which have been widely used by different researchers (Uprichard 2013, p. 5). One of the common types of probability sampling is the simple random sampling, which may either be done mechanically or using computer software. The basis of simple random sampling is making an all-inclusive list of the entities in the population and then engaging in a

Monday, August 26, 2019

Western Art and History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Western Art and History - Essay Example The lower ground floor houses the Greek sculptures, Egyptian mummies, Etruscan art as well as some artifacts dated from Ancient Rome. The upper ground floor holds a collection of ecclesiastical art from the Middle age, carved wooden ceilings, and some tapestries. Upon visiting the first floor, one would see a vast collection of paintings. Special exhibitions are usually displayed on the mezzanine. B. The artwork contained some elements that art critics have found interesting such as the very specific landscape and the water effects ( Kleiner, 2003) . Indeed, the water effects really showed the expertise of Witz in portraying images in plastic form using contrasting colors and strong shadows. The water seemed so real that accurately reflects the mirror images of the people on the boat as well as the piece of rock on the right side of the painting. The very stark colors in the background complement some of the subjects in the painting: Jesus Christ on the shore and Peter on the water. The vivid red robe of Christ stands out showing his magnificence as compared to the drab wardrobe of Peter struggling in the water. Another interesting feature of this painting is the fact that Witz used Lake Geneva as the setting of the incident instead of Lake Galilee. This resulted to Witz capturing the real background of Geneva during that time it was painted, as described by Hagen ( 2003 )â €  mountains can still be clearly identified: on the right, the Petit Saleve, in the middle the Mole Pointu, on the left the tops of the Voirons†. It can also be observed how Witz shows the position of Christ’s head against the mountain backdrop. The artwork is trying to emphasize Jesus as the figurehead of the church. In addition to that, landscape painting was not yet fully developed that time but the artwork shows how Witz gave justice to the piece. Aside from that

Human Existential Needs individual response 1 Essay

Human Existential Needs individual response 1 - Essay Example In those, the person is seen as but one unit in a greater whole, be that a familial institution, a cultural group, or a religious entity. Self identity gives the person freedom from having to conform to an external norm, and from being obligated to sacrifice their desires, interests and gifts to the will of others. It dissolves the notion that children are the property of their parents, freeing them to pursue their own goals. It destroys the ability of controlling authority figures to use guilt to manipulate individuals into surrendering their autonomy and individuality for a so-called â€Å"greater good.† It also centers responsibility on the individual for their choices and their consequences, as they alone decided on them. One can no longer say â€Å"I was just following orders† or â€Å"it’s what mother or father demanded of me.† Like all of Fromm’s eight values, though, this one is not without its negative side. Humans are not simply individual s wandering through life with no need of others. We all must depend on others for some things, including items we cannot make ourselves. We are also social creatures by nature, and find fulfillment in joining with relatives, business partners, adherents of the same belief system, and those with similar interests. Families, churches and other religious institutions, office parties and fan or hobby clubs help the individual to express themselves within a context of shared affection and responsibilities. Extreme forms of individualism deny these truths, but they fail as workable models, simply because they deny these all too human traits. A healthy person will find a balance between their self identity and their role in cooperative efforts. By so doing they will experience the benefits of relatedness, rootedness and unity, three other existential needs Fromm cites. I saw a positive example of the quest for identity express itself in a female friend who was in an abusive relationship. H er boyfriend verbally belittled her and on occasion struck her. When I spoke with her about this she admitted that she was terrified to leave him because she felt she had no sense of self outside of a relationship. As time went on, however, she embraced her own identity apart from her abuser, took responsibility for her allowing him to mistreat her, and ended the relationship. She is now happily married to a wonderful man who treats her with great respect. She is also employed as a social worker and counselor, a position which empowers her to help others is dysfunctional relationships. This nourishes her desire for effectiveness.. The need for effectiveness is drawn from the desire to believe that one’s life has meaning and purpose, that it in some way makes the world a better place than it was before one was born. It’s what inspires people to work for more than monetary reward; for example, in volunteer positions. Effectiveness is directly related to identity, in that it facilitates the idea that one is a unique actor in the play of life, with a role that makes a substantive difference in the plot. That difference need not be momentous. For example, a person may simply try to brighten other’s days in small ways, with a smile or small gift. Others who believe they have unusually high levels of personal potential may strive to affect the world in larger ways. They may work to achieve business success, run for a political office or strive for

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Economy - Essay Example How has China developed over the past century? Importantly, what is China’s economic growth experience over the 1977-2007 period? China is an ancient civilization with a long tradition of dynastic rule and strong leaders. China has been ruled by the Communist Party of China (CCP) since 1949, an avowedly socialist form of government which established the People’s Republic of China, and initially viewed capitalism through a skeptic’s lens. As a socialist party with communist leanings, successive Chinese governments undertook disastrous social and economic initiatives including Five Year Plans, the failed Great Leap Forward and the violent Cultural Revolution. Despite some recent challenges, Chinese agriculture has witnessed important growth over the past thirty years and this has been propelled by a variety of forces. With a population of more than 1.3 billion, China remains a largely rural country with 43% of its labor force employed in agriculture with another 25% in industry and 32% in the service sector. Accordingly, decollectivization of the agricultural sector, public investment in the indust ry and market reforms have all played a role in stimulating this development. Human capital has been utilized by the authorities in Beijing through direct investment in the agricultural sector as well as through institutional changes aimed at developing this sector. By emphasizing the natural resources which China has been endowed with and employing technology appropriated through an opening up of the economy, the Chinese government is currently employing market liberalization to aid in the development of this industry, among others. China’s latest â€Å"New Rural Campaign† is the latest manifestation of this development, accounting for strong macro-economic growth and sustainable agricultural development (The Economist, 2008; Jia & Fock

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Drug trade between Mexico and the United states Research Paper

Drug trade between Mexico and the United states - Research Paper Example The transshipment of drugs from Mexico across the international border to the United States is not a new phenomenon. Geographically adjacent to the United States it is perfectly positioned as a transshipment point for drugs from other parts of the world. Very little cocaine is grown or processed in Mexico. Rather, it is grown and processed in South American countries such as Peru, Bolivia and Columbia and then shipped to Mexico to be taken across the border into the United States. Much marijuana is grown in Mexico but,again, even more is shipped to Mexico and then across the border to the United States. That said, the behavior of traffickers has changed recently. The shipment of illegal substances to the United States holds the promise of huge profits for those engaged in the trade. The pursuit of these profits has made the cartels – the organizations engaged in smuggling – to become increasingly violent recently, particularly since President Calderà ³n declared war on the drug cartels shortly after coming into office in 2006. The Mexican border states have become much like a war zone with heavily armed military units on the street (since the President deemed local police too corrupt to deal with the cartels) and frequent firefights between the military and the cartels. According to The L.A. Times 28,288 people have died in Mexico since January 2007 as a result of the drug wars. (â€Å"Mexico Under Siege – The Drug War on Our Doorstep†, 2010) Mexico as a whole is not an extremely dangerous place to live or visit. It is less safe than the United States or the United States northern neighbor Canada. However, it is as safe as Jamaica or Israel for visitors and residents. However, this is not the case in the border states. According to The Washington Post, â€Å"The bloodshed is geographically concentrated in key trafficking corridors, notably in the states of Sinaloa, Chihuahua and Tamaulipas.† While Mexico

Friday, August 23, 2019

Core Theories on Economics Related To Economic Slowdown Essay

Core Theories on Economics Related To Economic Slowdown - Essay Example The intention of this study is economic slowdown as the condition in which the gross domestic product growth tends to slow down but it does not turn down. One of the ways of looking at the slowdown in the economy is through gauging the downward revisions in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Economic slowdown can also be identified as the difference obtained in the growth rate between two consecutive years of any particular country. An economic downturn demonstrates that the economy of a particular country is entering into recession. The period in which the country suffers from negative economic growths, declining outputs and increasing unemployment is termed as recession. According to the official definition of recession, when the economy suffers from off-putting economic growth for two consecutive years then it is said to be recession. Prior to defining the economic downturn, it is significant to comprehend the main characteristics of economic downturn. A few of the characteristics of economic downturn are rising unemployment, rising additional capacity, low confidence and falling investment, increasing government borrowing, negative or too low economic growth. Certain problems related to recession or economic slowdowns are evident when there is decline in productivity. In such scenario, the production in the economy tends to be reduced which results to lesser real GDP and lower average income. Furthermore, the wage rates may raise either too slowly or may not rise at all. Unemployment is another problem related to economic downturn. (Pettinger, 2011). Since the production is too less during the times of economic slowdown, the demand for the labor also declines thus leading to unemployment. During the times of economic slowdown, the finance of the government tends to worsen. People are not capable of paying much taxes and their spending on the unemployment benefits tends to rise (Pettinger, 2011). This leads to rise in government borrowing and in the rate of i nterest. With the increase in the bond yields, government is forced to reduce budget deficits via cutting the spending and tax rise. This worsens the recession and it becomes difficult for the economy to come out of it. It is often found that throughout the period of economic slowdown, there is devaluation in the exchange rates because during such period people tend to expect lower interest rates and therefore the demand for the

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Conan Doyle Essay Example for Free

Conan Doyle Essay In the The Blue Carbuncle Sherlock Holmes solves the mystery of a stolen diamond. The criminal in this story is a man named James Ryder. After James Ryder had stolen The Blue Carbuncle he stuck it down a gooses throat. The goose that had the diamond was distributed the Breckenridge Stall, then sold to a goose club at the Alpha Inn. Sherlock Holmes bumps into James Ryder outside the Breckenridge Stall. Sherlock Holmes makes the criminal confess to what he had done. Sherlock Holmes then lets him go free because he thinks that he will not commit any more crimes, because of how fearful he was. It was quite important for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to create a strange atmosphere because it adds to the tension. All three stories have strange and unusual atmospheres, but each storys atmosphere is different. In The Red Headed League, Conan Doyle describes the area of Saxe-Coburg Square. He shows how unpleasant and muddled the area is. It was a pokey, little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded laurel bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and uncongenial atmosphere. The words that are used here show the messiness and unpleasantness of the area. The words pokey, little, shabby-genteel, dingy and smoke-laden all give a pretty good idea that the area was quite chaotic. In The Speckled Band Conan Doyle created a thrilling and frightening atmosphere, as if it was a horror story. The Speckled Band was set at Stoke Moran in Surrey, which is where Julia Stoner was killed. At the beginning of the story when Helen Stoner is talking to Sherlock Holmes about her problems she describes how the night was when Julia was killed. It was a wild night, this shows that that night was unlike any ordinary night. The wind was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing against the windows. This describes a lot of the atmosphere; it shows that the weather was quite stormy. This also explains why Helen couldnt sleep. Suddenly, amidst all the hubbub of the gale, there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. Conan Doyles intended effect was to thrill the reader; Conan Doyle has achieved this by using the words wild, howling and beating. Here the writers effect was to try and scare or thrill the reader. Whereas in The Blue Carbuncle the atmosphere was a little different. It was a bitter night. Here, Conan Doyle is trying to show the reader that it is cold outside. He achieves this by describing the night as bitter. The reader will also know that it is cold because Holmes and Watson both put on their ulsters and cravats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly in a cloudless sky, here Conan Doyle is trying to show the reader that the area is very calm and peaceful, unlike in The Red Headed League where the area is busy and unpleasant. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used different ways to show that these stories take place in the 1880s and 1890s. Most of the time he mentions carriages, which were used in that time. Nowadays carriages are not used because they have been replaced by cars. In The Red Headed League when Sherlock Holmes is memorising all the shops at Saxe-Coburg Square he comes across a shop that makes carriages. McFarlanes carriage-building depot. Here the writer intended to show the reader that this was a time where carriages were used as a form of transport. The effect on the reader is that the reader knows this story is set in the 1890s. Conan Doyle also uses dates and newspapers to show that these stories are set in the 1880s and 1890s. In The Speckled Band and The Red Headed league Conan Doyle mentions the date, but he does not mention the date in The Blue Carbuncle. In The Speckled Band, right at the beginning of the story while Dr. Watson is narrating, he says It was early in April, in the year 83; hear the writer is showing the reader that this story is taking place in the year 1883. In The Red Headed League, the note that Jabez Wilson shows to Sherlock Holmes had a date on it. The note said, THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED. October 9, 1890. Also when Mr. Wilson is showing Sherlock Holmes the advertisement he mentions the date on the newspaper. It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months ago. By saying that the newspaper was from two months ago, Conan Doyle is telling the reader that this story was set in 1890. Conan Doyle did not always use the same techniques, to show that each story was set in the 1880s and 1890s. Unlike The Speckled Band and The Red Headed League, in The Blue Carbuncle there are no dates to show that the story is set in the 1880s and 1890s. Conan Doyle uses different techniques to show that this story is also set in that time. In The Blue Carbuncle and The Red Headed Conan Doyle refers to gas-lit lamps, as gas lamps were used in the 1880s and 1890s. In The Blue Carbuncle when Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were jus about to leave the Breckenridge stall, Watson narrates Turning round we saw a little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp. He also says, He sprang round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of colour had been driven from his face. Also in The Red Headed League Watson says, We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. These references to gas lamps show that the stories were set in the 1880s and 1890s. Conan Doyle also referred to matches in The Speckled Band. Even though we use matches nowadays, we do not use them for the same purposes as in the 1880s and 1890s. In those times they were used to see in the dark or to light lanterns. When Helen stoner is talking about what happened to her sister Julia she mentions a match. In her right hand was found the charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box. This shows that when Julia woke up she struck a match to see what was going on. The value of money in the 1880s and the 1890s was much different than the value for money now. At that time people were paid around i 4 a week, which was considered quite a lot of money. Whereas, people now are paid much more and with i 4 you cant really buy much. The social differences in those times also show that these stories were based in the 1880s and 1890s. If you look at Helen Stoner, she was a rich woman that lived in a big house with servants. In those times rich people were considered superior to poorer people. Nowadays you wouldnt find servants working for rich people, because weather your rich or poor you have rights. The audience or readers would recognise the places named in the stories, which are all in England. The intended effect of the writer was to make the reader feel as if he or she was in the story itself, which would make it feel more dramatic. Conan Doyle achieves this by using areas in London that most people live in. Places such as Holborn and Harrow. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used very unusual titles for his stories to intrigue the reader. When a reader sees the title The Speckled Band, he or she wouldnt think of a venomous Indian snake. The reader wouldnt know what to think, which make them want to read the story to see what The Speckled Band is. The same with The Red Headed League, which is a very unusual title. The reader wouldnt think that that The Red Headed League was a club for read headed people who were paid i 4 a week for copying the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Conan Doyle uses these unusual titles to throw the reader off track. In The Speckled band Conan Doyle makes the reader think that the gypsies are the ones that killed Julia Stoner. He makes it look like all the evidence points to them. Helen Stoner says, perhaps to these very gypsies in the plantation. I do not know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which she used. The effect on the reader was that he or she would be thrown off track to make the story feel more interesting. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle uses some very interesting openings to grab the readers attention. Also, every character that Conan Doyle introduces is different in some way, which makes the story feel more interesting and also to intrigue the reader.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Assess the view that women Essay Example for Free

Assess the view that women Essay In order to fully assess the view that women are stereotyped and symbolically annihilated in the media, the two terms; Stereotype and symbolic annihilation must be defined. A stereotype is a negative name given to a group of individuals and which is always an ideological name so that it supports an already existing idea. For example, as the sociologist Meehan found, women are often represented as matriarchs or witches in TV dramas and soaps. Stereotyping is also seen as an ordering process that brings order to potential chaos by the means of relating groups of people so we can understand them. Symbolic annihilation is the way in which a certain group of people are featured less or are totally erased from the media. Within the media, women have been symbolically annihilated if they are not slim, beautiful or fashionable for instance. Instead, all women shown in the media are slim, attractive and seemingly very image conscious. The 3 main types of media in which women have been stereotyped and symbolically annihilated are; TV, magazines and Video games. Research carried out by the sociologist D. M Meehan into the way women are portrayed in television, revealed that women are categorised into 10 different character types. These character types are; The imp, The goodwife, The harpy, The bitch, The victim, the decoy, The siren, The courtesan, The witch and The matriarch. Obviously the imp is a rebellious tomboy character, the Goodwife is a domestic, attractive, home centred character, the bitch is a sneak and a cheat and the courtesan is close to being a prostitute. Even though these findings were released in 1983, they are still relevant today because there are some characters in modern soap operas who still fit into the 10 character types. For example, Pauline from Eastenders is an example of a good housewife, as is Monica in friends. Also, Janine from Eastenders is an example of the courtesan and Steph from neighbours is an example of the imp. Others findings of Meehans study are that women are portrayed as either good or evil, and never a combination, that good women are portrayed as submissive, sensitive and domesticated and that bad women are often portrayed as being rebellious, independent and selfish. Another main finding of Meehans study was that female occupations were limited to a few, primarily housewife, receptionist and whore and that women are portrayed as lacking any sexual appetite. However, studies such as Meehans can be criticized for being dated, because most of the TV programs researched were from the 1960s and 1970s, but because these TV shows are still being shown on satellite channels it means that the study is still relevant. Another type of media in which women are stereotyped and symbolically annihilated is magazines. Almost all women who are shown in magazines are; slim, attractive, fashionable, white and have perfect skin etc. However, when you look more closely at these magazines, you also find that almost all women are portrayed as being in fairly poor jobs and are portrayed as sex objects. The sociologist Ferguson said that womens magazines deal with material that is considered too trivial for general media and that these magazines tell women what to do and how to think about themselves, their men and their colleagues. In adverts within magazines, twice as many women appeared with children than men and women are rarely shown outdoors, instead in the house being depicted as a housewife. Since the 1980s, there has been increased awareness of eating disorders among young people, especially girls, and statistics indicate that the frequency of eating disorders is increasing. The main reason behind this are magazines aimed at teenage girls, which are too preoccupied with romance and reinforcing a dominant ideology of femininity. These magazines show pictures of slim, attractive, beautiful young women, and this causes the readers to strive to achieve unrealistic body sizes girls as young as 11 and 12 are worried about their weight and body size. The sociologist Bruch said that illness is related to the enormous emphasis fashion places on being slim. Movies and magazines carry this message, but the most persistent message is portrayed through TV. The message says that one cannot be loved or respected if you are not slender. Also, the sociologist Coward said that advertising encourages women to view their body as a project, similar to DIY, which can be worked upon and improved. Therefore, some women are symbolically annihilated from this type of media, because only women who are slim, attractive and fashionable appear in them, but you hardly ever see any other type of woman. However, a criticism by the sociologist Hermes points out that people derive pleasure from these magazines and from interviews she found that people found them relaxing and educative. One other type of media that stereotypes and symbolically annihilates women is video games. The sociologist Provenzo pointed out that video games show a very stereotypical view of both males and females. The games are very macho and women are often depicted in poses of ritual subordination. In most video games, women are acted upon rather than being initiators of action and in the game Double Dragon for example, Billy has to rescue Marian, his kidnapped girlfriend. The cover for this game depicts Billy supporting Marian, her dress in shreds and her tank top ripped. Another aspect of video games is that women are not even named very often, instead being referred to as someones girlfriend or the princess. Video games are often very Macho in orientation, depicting boxing, car racing and so on, and the roles of both males and females in such scenarios are very limited. Finally, both male and female characters within such video games are always portrayed and depicted as young and being physically ideal. Therefore there is an aspect of symbolic annihilation in video games too, because only a certain type of character is portrayed as you rarely see a fat, old man for instance. After looking at these 3 media types, I can say the women are indeed stereotyped and symbolically annihilated within them. All of the 3 medias show in ideal image of women; slim, attractive and fashionable, but this raises a question does the media create the people in society or do the people in society create what goes into the media? I think that it is the people who create what goes into the media, because things that get printed or shown are things that people in society want to see. In conclusion, you can also look at the feminist view of the media to try to see if women are stereotyped and symbolically annihilated. Liberal feminists believe that journalists have learnt to portray women in a particular way, usually classless and family based. Radical feminists see men as the enemy. Men hold dominant positions in the media and they consciously manipulate the content for their own benefit, and to the detriment of women Finally, socialist feminists blame the capitalist structure for the disadvantaged position of women in society and that the role of the media is to sustain the capitalist system and the role of women within it.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Qualities Of Good Leadership Management Assignment

Qualities Of Good Leadership Management Assignment With the advent of networking, collectivization and team working, leadership has become a widely discussed topic in the world at the present time. No matter in the field of politics or economy, enterprises or small business, or south or north, leadership has already been accepted as a core quality, individually and generally. This essay is expected to analyze the qualities of good leadership, aims to identify and account for the most important two qualities of good leadership, comparing different type of leaders and illustrating some successful examples. The definition of leadership in the prior research is varied. For example, some people argue that, leadership is ‘a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal’ (Northouse, cited in Grint, 2005:21), while some recognize the leadership is a kind of personal ability. Nevertheless, the term of ‘leadership’ used in this essay will be built upon on the definition given by Hogan and Kaiser (2005:172) ‘the ability to build and maintain a group that performs well compared to its competition.’ Charismatic leadership and strategic leadership are considered to be the most important two qualities of leadership in this essay. Charismatic leadership has outstanding performance in attracting followers while the strategic leadership could guard the further development of the business and the group in the right direction. It is a tough way to become a successful leader, although, theoretically, everyone has the possibility of being a leader. According to Dick Nettell, the new executive officer of Bank of Americas Consumer Call Center in Concord, California, â€Å"everybody wants to win. Everybody wants to be successful. Everybody comes to work trying to make a difference† (cited in James and Barry, 2007:4). However, the numerous people that can be labeled as ‘leaders’, but only a few of them could become a successful leader. That is because only those minority leaders have the qualities of good leadership. Therefore, it is vital to identify and analyze what kinds of qualities of good leadership are indispensable. To some extent, these qualities can be summarized in two points. Firstly, charismatic leadership is essential for a successful leader. That means a successful leader should be charismatic. On the one hand, internally, the relationship between leaders and other team members is quite influential, though it is invisible. There is a vivid saying in ancient China, the relationship between leaders and their fellows is like a metaphor, the boat and the water, and water could support the boat, also could overturn it. In the west, it is believed that, the leaders should ‘attract and inspire his followers’ (Gill, 2006: 54-55). If there is no follower, the leader could not be called a leader. On the other hand, leadership not only have to deal with the troubles from inside, but also, have to face the pressure and difficulties from outside, especially in the network society. Leaders have to built a very good networking with their partners, investors, customers, public, and sometimes, even with their counterworkers. An interesting study of senior managers in Fortune 500 companies in the US by David Waldman et al., shows that, under some conditions, ‘charismatic leadership is associated with net profit margin’ (cited in Gill, 2006:54). Thus, to some extent, charismatic leadership can bring benefit into business, even the world. In fact, it can be seen that there were many charismatic leaders in political field, such as Chairman Mao, who was the first leader of Peoples Republic of China, successfully led the revolutions in China and established the Peoples Republic of China, and Martin Luther King, who had a famous speech I have a dream in 1963, became the president of US during the American Civil Rights Act. In sort, charismatic leadership can help to establish good relationship with both inside and outside the organization, and it can benefit the world and organization itself. However, the charismatic is not the only impact in this research, there is another aspect for a good leader, that is to say, strategic leadership. Johnson and Scholes ‘define strategic leadership as encapsulating entrepreneurial processes and strategic vision’ (cited in Gill, 2006:59). That means the leader should be the core decision maker in a group, and the main conductor in carrying out the decisions. In Johnson and Scholess words, strategic leadership is ‘concerned with strategy development and change’ (cited in Gill, 2006, p: 59). Gill states that main point of strategic leadership is to decide about ‘whether and when to act’ (2006, p: 60). Significantly, strategic leadership is closely related to the personal background of the leader himself, such as the education background and the professional experience. Compare to charismatic leadership, strategic leadership gives more attentions to the practical experience, instead of personalities. Thus, strategic leadership is much easier to be developed by the leaders who would like to be successful but lack personal qualities. Furthermore, it is also worth to be pointed out that the achievement of a group, a company or a business activity could be guaranteed or lost simply by a leaders decision. For example, Kmart, Tyco and ATT were beset by ‘acquisition lust’ and were virtually destroyed because of wrong strategy they followed by (Charan and Useem, cited in Gill, 2006:19). On the other hand, the organization is highly likely to be successful if the leader has good strategic leadership. Take Marks Spencer (Gill, 2006: 197-198) for an example. Marks Spencer suffered from decline during 1990s because of poor strategic management. However, Luc Vandevelde, the chairman and CEO of MarksSpencer in 2000, made his three famous strategies, which were ‘to focus on the heart of the business’, ‘to stop all activities which were non- core or making a lo ss’, and ‘to achieve the right capital structure to make the balance sheet more efficient and to generate greater value for shareholders’, in order to cross the crisis. Resulting from these three strategies, Vandevelde ensured the success of his business for years. In a word, strategic leadership can not only bring success to leaders themselves, but also to the organizations. Although there are many others qualities of leadership, these two qualities are considered to be the most important two for being a successful leader: charismatic leadership and strategic leadership. Charismatic leadership can attract followers and get support from both inside and outside of the organization; meanwhile, Strategic leadership can guarantee the achievement of the whole business and the whole group, and benefits the organizations. If a leader lacks these two qualities of leadership, he might not achieve success in his career life.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Simple Networking :: essays research papers

Simple network wiring Thesis statement This report is to include the basics of the physical wiring of computer networks. Outline I.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Introduction A. Professional wiring. B. Using hubs. II.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Body A. Saving money. B. Tools needed. C. Proper placement. D. Connectors. III.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Conclusion A. Plug in and go. B. Good luck -Page 2 Simple network wiring Professional wiring can cost hundreds of dollars per connection and there never seems to be enough drops. A year after most companies upgrade their network wiring, they find themselves needing to once again rebuild. With three to six drops per office, this can be a healthy bill for the company. There is a better way. Use hubs anywhere you would have put extra drops. Drops are the actual runs of wire that run into the room. Each cable that comes from the main backbone cable, or central point of connection is the â€Å"Drop†. Use the hub to plug everything into. For simple nets you won't need a filtering bridge or router, just a plain unfiltered hub. If you have a DSL or cable model connection, you may want a firewall. In large nets routers are crucial so that heavy internal traffic in one group does not slow down people in other groups. But hubs can be added most anywhere, and are a great way to save on extra wiring. Hubs are available from most any computer mail order, or a good local shop. It is a good idea to get more ports than you need now. Hubs can be 10 or 100 Megabit per second, or able to auto-switch between the two. An 8-port 10/100MB Ethernet hub is now about $37.00. That is far less than a single drop. It is less than -Page 3 just the wire and connectors for the 7 added drops you get. 100MB hubs are a bit more, around 50.00 for the Linksys 8 port. But it is still less than wiring. The general principle is to pull one or 2 drops to each relevant wall, and when you need more just stick in a hub. If you use a hub and put the drops into the inside walls between the rooms, or in the corners they will reach two, or in the center, four interior walls from one point. By doing this you can get by with fewer â€Å"real† drops and save the company money. Say a company wanted 150 drops. A realistic figure for an average first time drop is around $350.00. That would come to $52,500.

Media and Gender Stereotyping :: Media Stereotyping of Men and Women

1 ABSTRACT Past research found that media culture, particularly magazines, present stereotypical notions of gender. Gender stereotypes are not inflexible, like a barometer stereotypes change to reflect both societal and cultural values. This research set out to study current gender stereotypes types in four popular magazines (Marie Claire, GQ, Shape and Men's Health). The advertisements were categorised into gender specific and gender neutral adverts. The results found that the mode for gender specific adverts for both men and women's magazines related to female specific related adverts. Although the findings did not support the prediction of stereotypical gender specific advertising, the research itself was characterised by a number of weaknesses. 2 INTRODUCTION Advertisements have appeared in print media since the invention of the printing press in the 1500s. The usage of the term magazine itself first came about with the publication of 'The Gentlemen's Magazine' and 'The Lady's Magazine' in the 1730s by Edward Cave (1691-1754) (Connor, G 2001). Different types of magazines exist for just about every age and social group, for any interest, hobby and lifestyle. Advertisers make use of information gathered by agencies like ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulation) and the NRS (National Readership Survey), who categorise consumers by age, gender, occupation and socio-economic status. This knowledge enables advertisers to design ad campaigns specific to their target audience through the types of magazines they read (cited in Magazines and Gender, 2004). Even though adverts are designed with a specific audience in mind, they are still developed to appeal to the vast majority within that target audience; there is no resource, finance or capability to market each unique individual. Advertisers exploit stereotypical gender types to produce advertisement to have the widest appeal. Societies have always had ways of differentiating between both men and women, between masculinity and femininity through the assertion of different attitudes and behaviour patterns onto each gender (as cited in Gender and Identity, 2004). It is therefore essential to distinguish between sex, gender and

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Nuclear Fusion :: essays research papers

Nuclear Fusion For a fusion reaction to take place, the nuclei, which are positively charged, must have enough kinetic energy to overcome their electrostatic force of repulsion. This can occur either when one nucleus is accelerated to high energies by an accelerating device, or when the energies of both nuclei are raised by the application of very high temperature. The latter method, referred to the application of thermonuclear fusion, is the source of a lot of really cool energy. Enough energy is produced in thermonuclear fusion to suck the paint of 1 city block of houses and give all of the residents permanent orange Afros. The sun is a example of thermonuclear fusion in nature. If I was a atom, I could only wish to be in a thermonuclear reaction. Thermonuclear reactions occur when a proton is accelerated and collides with another proton and then the two protons fuse, forming a deuterium nucleus which has a proton, neutrino and lots of energy. I have no idea what a deuterium nucleus is, but is must be 10 times cooler than just a regular nucleus. Such a reaction is not self sustaining because the released energy is not readily imparted to other nuclei. thermonuclear fusion of deuterium and tritium will produce a helium nucleus and an energetic neutron that can help sustain further fusion. This is the basic principal of the hydrogen bomb which employs a brief, controlled thermonuclear fusion reaction. This was also how the car in the Back to the Future movie worked. It had a much more sophisticated system of producing a fusion reaction from things like, old coffee grounds, bananas, and old beer cans. Thermonuclear reactions depend on high energies, and the possibility of a low-temperature nuclear fusion has generally been discounted. Little does the scientific community know about my experiments. I have produced cold fusion in my basement with things like: stale bread, milk, peanut butter and flat Pepsi. I have been able to produce a ten-megaton reaction which as little as a saltine cracker and some grass clippings. But enough about my discoveries. Early in 1989 two electrochemists startled the scientific world by claiming to achieve a room- temperature fusion in a simple laboratory. They had little proof to back up their discovery, and were not credited with their so-called accomplishment. The two scientists were Stanley Pons of the university of Utah and Martin Fleischmann of the University of Southampton in England. They described their experiment as involving platinum electrodes an electrochemical cell in which palladium and platinum were immersed in heavy water. These two losers said that

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Egon Schiele Biography

Egon Schiele (1890-1918) was a man concerned with issues of sexuality and death. Like other members of the Expressionist movement of the early twentieth century, he was fascinated with making his mental processes visible through his art. He wished to express his feelings about sexuality directly, rather than alluding to the subject as so many artists had done previously, artists such as Manet or Ingres. Instead, he took his cue from the influences of Rodin and Gustave Courbet, dealing with his subject directly, as he does in the piece Nude with Green Turban (1914). But unlike Courbet, who dealt with his subject in an effort to shock and influence the staid French Royal Academy, as in the case of L'Origine du Monde, 1866 (at right), Schiele explores the issue of sexuality in an attempt to express his own fascinations with the subject, irregardless of the opinions of others. In Nude with Green Turban, the subject is placed in a blank space. She is seemingly alone, so alone that there is nothing in the world of the piece except her. It's as if the viewer is meant to become part of the immediacy of her moment. Indeed, this may be what Schiele intends, having become lost in his own moment of artist to subject. Schiele owes much of this immediacy to Rodin's innovation of the continuous line drawing, and Schiele employs the method here. He has sketched her quickly, capturing her in her moment before going back to fill in the details. However, he has only completed the details selectively. Her shoes are well rendered, as are the shadows and fullness of her thighs and hands. In the turban as well, he has completed the small details of a knot, and filled it with the same color as the colors he's used as emphasis to the shadows her hands create. But her face is hastily done, her nose and closed eyes mere triangles. Her mouth is only the symbol of a mouth. She's as if she's a puppet, expressionless with no individuality. In so doing, he has removed the humanity from her, making her merely a body upon which her hands, and presumably the fantasies of the artist and viewer, play. I'm sure an argument could be made about how this is an example of the objectification of women within the early twentieth century and before. History has certainly shown repeatedly how women in art are mere objects for the male fantasy. What makes this different is how Schiele has not created her as a prize for whomever owns her, but has created her as an outlet for his own fantasy (and, I should hope, for hers). However, today I don't believe Schiele would be able to create such overt expressions of his fantasies without cries of outrage from the feminist community. Since the 1960's, women have progressed away from being objects and possessions, giving themselves a face and a voice within the western world. Today, Schiele would be forced to give his model a face, and perhaps a name. While much of today's art is as direct in its subjects as Schiele's art is, the mere suggestion of objectifying a woman in a sexual act is taboo. Instead, if Schiele were to give her a face, a name, and place her into a world other than the blank canvas of the viewer's mind, she would become, in effect, â€Å"real. † In becoming a â€Å"real† woman, she would become an expression of femininity not being afraid to be feminine. She would become part of the world women inhabit, able to be claimed by women as one of their own. As she is now, she is a fantasy, a creature of male sexual expression. Much of the art today seems to be concerned with issues of fantasy versus reality. With the advent of the internet, more and more people are able to express their internal fantasies upon someone else. In this way, Schiele's work is extremely contemporary. People want to lose themselves within images, feeling the ideas of the artist, but I do not believe that most art patrons want their art to be as obvious as Schiele's. That said, I believe that Schiele's themes of fantasy and sexuality would be more subtle today. People want the slow glow of accomplishment that they receive in correctly interpreting a piece of art. Direct sexuality is outre and today's public seems to prefer a more subtle approach. Nude with Green Turban is a prime example of Egon Schiele's objectification of his subject, not out of line with the schema of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, portraying women as sexual objects of the male fantasy. With the women's movement of today, this theme would be handled in such a way as to include not only the male fantasy, but the female fantasy as well, by removing her objectification. She would become more real. In addition, the sexual subject would be more subtle in an attempt to reach all viewers, introducing an intellectualism that appeals to the female mind as well as the male, creating eroticism out of perceived pornography.

Friday, August 16, 2019

Divide by Two †Short Story Essay

They have set down a line of adobe blocks, three blocks wide and two blocksdeep, across the lawn between their cottage and ours, Belle said.â€Å"Yes, I know,† I said. I walked into the window and stood there, looking over attheir cottage. The piano music from the cottage came strong and clear. â€Å"I was here thismorning when he brought those blocks home.† I peeled my shirt; it was soggy withsweat. â€Å"He carried the blocks in the baggage compartment of their car. It took him allthree trips. He had three boys with him to help.† I shook my shirt in the cooling air andwalked in my room. â€Å"And I know where he got those blocks, too. There is aconstruction going on right now at engineering school. They have a pile of adobe blocksthere as high as the Cheops. You can’t miss it. You see it from the busline everytime.† In my room, the strains of piano music didn’t reach sustainedly.Belle had followed me into my room. â€Å"They have marked off boundaries,† shesaid. â€Å"They have defined limits.†I folded my shirt about the back of the armchair. â€Å"So they have,† I said. â€Å"So theyhave.† My undershirt was wet, too. I yanked it off.â€Å"It is all as if they have put up a fence,† Belle said.â€Å"Fences make good neighbors,† I said. I whipped the apple-green towel off the T- bar and rubbed myself briskly.â€Å"It might as well be the great wall of China,† Belle said.â€Å"Well, no, not really,† I said. â€Å"It is not as bad as that.† I returned the towel to thecrossbar. I looked around for a dry undershirt but did not find any. I went to the bedroom where my clothes-closet was. Belle followed me. There was no light in thecloset. The bulb hadn’t been changed since it went bad shortly after we moved into thecottage. I fumbled in the dark feeling with my fingers. In the darkness in the closet thestrains of the piano came steadily, strong and clear.â€Å"She is no Turk but she keeps playing the Turkish March,† Belle said.I knew where my undershirts would be and it didn’t take me long to find themwith my hands. I pulled one out and was putting it on while I walked back to the sala.â€Å"It is unkind, inconsiderate, not neighborly, not nice,† Belle said. I stopped beneath the light in the narrow passage from the bedroom to the sala between the book-closets and the bathroom, one arm through one armhole, half out of thesando shirt the neck of which I held open with my hands. I looked at Belle. â€Å"Comeagain, Belle?† I asked.Belle said again the denunciatory words.I got my head through the armhole, got into the shirt. I walked on to the sala. Ididn’t know how tired I was until I fell back on the lounging chair.Belle picked up the foot stool, brought it near my chair and sat down. â€Å"The leastthing they could have done was to tell us first about it.†I felt very tired and shut my eyes and didn’t say anything.â€Å"Don’t you think they owed it to us?† Belle asked. â€Å"Out of regards for our feelings shouldn’t they have asked us how we feel about the fence?† The piano music threaded through the words like leitmotif. â€Å"How is that again,Belle?† I asked.â€Å"They have no regard for us,† Belle said. â€Å"They don’t care what we think. Theydon’t mind what we feel. As far as they are concerned, we are not human.†The piano came jubilantly threading through the words.â€Å"Is that right, Belle?† I asked.â€Å"Don’t you think they should at least have gone to us and said: Look here, you!We are putting up this boundary, see? You keep to your side of these markers and wewill keep to ours, understand?† Belle asked.â€Å"Do you really think that?† I asked.â€Å"Yes, I do,† Belle said. â€Å"Distinctly, don’t you?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"I don’t know.† I said. â€Å"I haven’t thought about it.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Well, then,† Belle said, â€Å"think about it. You can start thinking about it now.†I wondered why now the words kept ringing clear to me. Then I felt and sensedthat the piano had been stilled. Suddenly the night was silent, suddenly the air was still.I rose from the lounging chair. I walked to the globe-traveler near the wall outlet, plugged the cord in and snapped the lid open. Belle followed me. I was playing therange disk for music when Belled leaned forward and snapped the lid shut. â€Å"What’s the matter, Belle? I asked.â€Å"There’s nothing the matter.† Belle said.â€Å"Well, then get off,† I said. â€Å"Get off them and get off me.†Belle was silent for a moment. Then: â€Å"It is she,† she said.â€Å"What about her?† I asked.â€Å"I don’t think she likes me,† Belle said.â€Å"She doesn’t like anyone,† I said. â€Å"What makes you think so?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"I have given her things.† Belle said. â€Å"They don’t seem to make an impression onher. I gave her cheese on her last birthday. She didn’t even thank me.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Why do you have to go around giving people things for?† I asked. â€Å"Maybe shedoesn’t like cheese. Maybe the cheese wasn’t such a good idea.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"She doesn’t like me.† Belle said. â€Å"And she doesn’t like anyone to like me†¦when he gave me flowers from her garden, I don’t think she liked that.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Who would?† I asked. â€Å"Maybe the flowers weren’t such a good idea either.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"He was only being friendly as I was,† Belle said.â€Å"Oh, yes,† I said.â€Å"He was only being neighborly as I believe in being,† Belle said.â€Å"Sure, sure,† I said.â€Å"But she doesn’t like to be and I don’t think she believes in being,† Belle said.â€Å"And I don’t think she wants him to be either.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Oh, well, Belle,† I said. â€Å"I don’t really know them. It is you they really know.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Oh, you do, too,† Belle said. â€Å"You ride with them too sometimes.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"I did that only once,† I said. â€Å"I rode with them on the front seat. She tapped himon the thigh when she got off at Pavilion 2. That was the last time.â⠂¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å"Did that bother you?† Belle asked. â€Å"Not that in itself,† I said. â€Å"Only the demonstrativeness: as if to show that she ishis and he is hers.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"What about the demonstrativeness of puttering about her garden in very shortshorts?† Belle asked.â€Å"When you visited the area for the first time to see the cottages, was he looking atthe cottages too-and the third time?† I asked.â€Å"He was going to look at the cottages himself,† Belle said. â€Å"He was only beingfriendly.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"And the second time you looked at the cottages, he was looking at the cottagestoo-and the third time?† I asked.â€Å"That was for our going to be neighbors,† Belle said.â€Å"There are forty cottages in this area,† I said. â€Å"Why did we have to pick up thisone right next to theirs?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"It was as much your choice as it was mine,† Belle said.â€Å"So it was,† I said. â€Å"So it can’t be helped.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"No, it can’t,† Belle s aid.â€Å"All right, then. Get off. Get off them and get off me,† I said. â€Å"But you must do something,† Belle said.â€Å"What about?† I asked.â€Å"They didn’t set the adobe markers right,† Belle said. â€Å"They have been laidnearer our cottage than theirs. Their half of the lawn is bigger than ours.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Is that right?† I asked. I walked to the window. It wasn’t too dark to see theadobe markers gleaming in the ghostly light. I saw the flowers, too-the roses, the zinnias,the dahlias, the African daisies-swaying like specters in the night. Walking back to mychair, I looked up at the clock. It was getting on a quarter to nine. The clock began tochime just as I got to the lounging chair. I sat down and put my feet up on the stool.â€Å"Their half of the lawn is bigger than ours,† Belle said.â€Å"Maybe they need all the lawn they can get so she can plant them all to flowers,† Isaid. â€Å"They haven’t divided the lawn fairly,† Belle said.â€Å"You mean the halves are not equal? The halves are not halves? I asked.â€Å"What’s the matter with you?† Belle said.â€Å"What’s the matter with him?† I asked. â€Å"Isn’t he a doctor of mathematics or something? A fine doctor of mathematics he’s turned out to be if he can’t even divide bytwo!†Ã¢â‚¬Å"What’s eating you?† Belle asked.â€Å"Maybe he should have brought a survey team with him and used a transit, a plumbline, and a pole,† I said. â€Å"Maybe he could divide by two then. Maybe he couldeven divide by ten.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Don’t tell me,† Belle said, â€Å"Tell him. Tell them.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"For crying out loud.† I said.â€Å"Go ahead,† Belle said. â€Å"Go over. Tell them off. Tell them where to get off.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Get off, Belle,† I said. â€Å"Get off them.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"If you won’t, I shall,† Belle said.â€Å"Get off me,† I said.â€Å"If you don’t, I shall,† Belle said. â€Å"I shall right now.† She started for the door.â€Å"For crying out loud, Belle,† I said. â€Å"I don’t know them well enough to speak tothem. I shall write them a note.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"All right,† Belle said.The portable typewriter was in the case under my bed. I set it up at the head of the dining table. When I pulled my hands away from lifting the case, they were coveredwith dust. I removed the lid but didn’t take the machine off its base. The inside cornersof the lid were spun with cobwebs. There were webs between the machine and the ridgeof the base. I couldn’t find any white paper anywhere so I decided to use one sheet fromthe legal size pad of rules yellow paper.I didn’t date the note. I made it short and to the point. It was fascinating to watchthe keys falling forward and then back leaving the black marks on the yellow sheet. As Ityped I heard the opening bars of Marriage of Figaro from the high fidelity radio- phonograph next door. (â€Å"Mathematics and Mozart,† I said. â€Å"Mozart and Mathematics.†)I typed on my name but didn’t sign it. When I saw that I had not quite filled half the sheet, I folded it once and tore it in half. I fed the clean half back to the machine andhanded the other half to Belle. â€Å"There you are.† I said. â€Å"Short and sweet: I hope helikes it.†Belle read the note. After she finished, she didn’t say a word. â€Å"Is it all right?† Iasked.â€Å"Yes,† Belle said. â€Å"Then send it off,† I said.â€Å"All right,† Belle said. She called Nata and had the note delivered at once.I didn’t get to hear Mozart to the end of the night. About halfway through theopera (that would be after Face I of the long playing record), the player was snapped off.Then I saw him leave their cottage.I sat up erect in my chair and watched him head bob up and down as he walkedout to Finchshafen road. When he turned up the road and I knew where he was going, Istood up. I walked up to the screen door and watched him walk up the concrete walk tothe porch steps. He stopped at the foot of the stairs. I looked down through thewirescreen at his upturned face.â€Å"Yes?† I asked.â€Å"Can I see you for a minute?† he asked.â€Å"Me?† I asked.â€Å"Yes, you,† he said.â€Å"Won’t you come up?† I asked.â€Å"No,† he said. â€Å"I’d much rather talk to you on the street.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"All right,† I said. â€Å"If that’s the way you feel about it.†I joined him at the foot of the porch steps. We walked down the cement walk together. As we went past the shelter of the cottage, a blast of the cold night air struck my face. I felt my left cheek twitching.â€Å"Yes?† I asked. â€Å"What’s on your mind?† We walked down Finchshafen road. He didn’t say anything for a long time. Ilooked at him. I had never spoken to him before. He considered a long time, longenough for me to be able to look back at the house to see if Belle was at the windowwatching.When he spoke, his first words were: â€Å"Have you and Belle been fighting?† Itwas not only words, it was also the way he said them: my left cheek was twitching so badly it was almost spastic. He had spoken so softly and in such a low-pitched voice I barely heard him. It was as if he didn’t wish either his house or my house to hear; as if we were conspirators both and we were plotting a conspiracy together.â€Å"Fighting?† I asked. â€Å"What about? What for? What are you talking about?† Isought his face for the guilt that could only be the mirror of the guilt in my own. We stood in Finchshafen road halway between out cottages; we were waiting tocatch the guilt upon our faces which nonetheless we were mortally afraid to see? I stoodon the upper slope of the road towards our house and he stood on the lower slope in thedirection of his.â€Å"Your note wasn’t very friendly,† he said. â€Å"It wasn’t very neighborly.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Why should it be?† I added. â€Å"It wasn’t meant to be.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Oh, so,† he said. â€Å"It wasn’t meant to be.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"You bet your life it wasn’t,† I said.â€Å"Well, if that’s the way you feel about it,† he said.â€Å"How else did you expect me to feel?† I asked.â€Å"In that case then,† he said. â€Å"You can appeal to authority and I shall not move theadobe blocks an inch.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"For Christ sake,† I said. â€Å"Who is talking about authority? Who is talking aboutadobe blocks?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Don’t raise you r voice,† he said.â€Å"Why shouldn’t I raise my voice?† I asked.â€Å"Don’t shout at me,† he said.â€Å"I shall shout at you if you please,† I said. It was a cool clear lovely night. The sky was clear and cool and full of stars. Thesky and the stars seemed very far away but the air was clear and you could see all theway up to the sky and the stars and it seemed a long, long way. There was a very palemoon and a very cool wind was sweeping the pale moon and the white clouds before itall the way across the sky.Across and up and down Finchshafen road in the cottages, people were comingout of their porches to listen and to watch. I looked back at out house to see if Belle wasthere standing behind the window wirescreen and I looked at their house too.â€Å"A plague on both our houses,† I said.Belle wasn’t on our porch when I looked; I didn’t hear her go down the porchsteps, down the concrete walk, out to and down Finchshafen road.â€Å"I shouldn’t even be talking to you; this is pestilence,† I said.I didn’t feel Belle around until I heard her voice rising shrill and clear and abovethe snarl of our voices. She was standing beside me and before him and shouting in hisface.â€Å"For Christ sake, Belle,† I said. â€Å"Let go. This is man’s work.†She couldn’t hear me.Her voice rose clear and passionate, piercing and shrill in the inviolate night. I pulled at her arm to make her turn to me. I thrust my face savagely before her.â€Å"For Christ sake, Belle,† I said. â€Å"Get off. This is my fight and the adversary ismine.†Belle couldn’t see me for the fury that possessed her purely.I sought her face but couldn’t look there long. Even as I turned away I had afleeting glimpse of my declared adversary’s face: the shock there was not more than theshock of mine.â€Å"For Christ sake, Belle, let go. This is man’s work. I have met the enemy and heis mine. Let go, get off. This is my fight, not yours. The enemy is mine,† I said as I pulled her and dragged her bodily away.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Review of Universal History of Infamy Essay

The word ‘Magical realism’ first introduced by Franz Roh, a German art critic, conjures up images of the fantastic and the profane in the minds of the reader transporting him into a world whose edges are as blurred as the characters or the situations the stories portray. The works of Jorge Luis Borges are characterised by this style of literature. Though ‘Magical realism’ is not considered a genre by itself, it has all the makings of one and is profoundly illustrated in all the works of Borges. David Mullan in his article Magic Realism: A Problem says ‘†¦. Angel Flores applied the term (with some modification – he referred to it as â€Å"magical realism†) to Spanish-American writing. Flores put forward Borges as the master of this form†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. ’ ‘In his first series of fiction Historia Universal de la Infamia (‘A Universal History of Infamy’) he took real and mythical characters and created new stories around them. Sometimes creating new events for fictional characters, at other times creating fantastic incidents involving real life characters. In these stories, again published in newspapers, it can be said he laid the foundations for Latin American Magical Realism’ (BBC, 2003). 2. 0 Overview This article attempts to show how Borges rewrites/reconstructs history/historical figures that are seen as infamous legendary figures in the book ‘The Universal History of Infamy. ’ An attempt has been made to identify history, lie and legend lacing the characters and events presented in the stories. The link between Oscar Wilde`s essay, `The Decay of Lying` and Borges book has been brought out. Other works by Borges such as ‘The Ficciones’ ,`The secret miracle`, and `The South` have also been used for the purpose of this discussion. 3. 0 Literature Review: ‘A Universal History of Infamy’ is a collection of stories that first appeared in Critica, a Buenos Aires newspaper, August 1933 to January 1934. The remarkable element which flows through this collection is violence and death and as with many other stories of Borges, contains the occasional twist as the story unfolds. For the purpose of this article the stories ‘The South’ and the Secret Miracle’ of Borges have also been taken into consideration. Before we venture further given below a summary of the above said stories so that we will be able to appreciate Borges better as well as render justice to the topic for discussion. In ‘The South’, Juan Dahlmann, the protagonist, while taking a copy of the Arabian Nights home, gets injured on his forehead on a window and is forced to be in bed for a number of days before his doctors move him to the hospital. In the words of Borges, ‘Fever wasted him and the pictures in The Thousand and One Nights served to illustrate nightmares. ’ Learning that he is dying of septicemia, he travels to his ranch to convalesce. Reaching his destination, he enters a restaurant to have his food before proceeding. The locals at the restaurant taunt him by throwing bread crumbs at him and challenge him to a duel, one even providing him with a knife. Though Dahlmann is aware that he would lose if he were to accept the challenge, he feels that that would be the death he would prefer. In the words of Gorges, ‘As he crossed the threshold, he felt that to die in a knife fight, under the open sky, and going forward to the attack, would have been a liberation, a joy, and a festive occasion, on the first night in the sanitarium, when they stuck him with the needle. He felt that if he had been able to choose, then, or to dream his death, this would have been the death he would have chosen or dreamt. ’ In the â€Å"The Secret Miracle† the protagonist is Jaromir Hladik, who is arrested for the two reasons: i) being a Jew and ii) for opposing the Anschluss, and consequently sentenced to die by firing squad. Borges says,’ The execution was set for the 29th of March, at nine in the morning. This delay was due to a desire on the part of the authorities to act slowly and impersonally, in the manner of planets or vegetables. ’ Though appalled at first by the fact of his inevitable and impending death Hladik turns his attention to his unfinished play, ‘The Enemies’ which he resolves to complete before his execution. The night before his death, Hladik prays to God to grant him one year to finish his play. At night he dreams of a voice that says: ‘The time for your labor has been granted. ’ The next day at the moment the sergeant gives order to the firing squad, time stops and Hladik, though motionless like all others, completes the play mentally and after he completes, the bullets from the firing squad end his life. Borges works seem to defy the proposition of Wilde that, ‘One of the chief causes that can be assigned for the curiously commonplace character of most of the literature of our age is undoubtedly the decay of Lying as an art, a science, and a social pleasure. The ancient historians gave us delightful fiction in the form of fact; the modern novelist presents us with dull facts under the guise of fiction. ’ (David Scott-Okamura, 1998) It is not hard to see that Borges created fantastic worlds out of legends , humanizing them and making them more real as if made of flesh and blood as the examples quoted in this write-up would show which is in line with Wilde’s observation : ‘The only real people are the people who never existed, and if a novelist is base enough to go to life for his personages he should at least pretend that they are creations and not boast of them as copies. The justification of a character in a novel is not that other persons are what they are, but that the author is what he is’. (David Scott-Okamura, 1998). Wilde is right when to emphasize his theory that fiction is more interesting than fact, he says, ‘In fact what is interesting about people in good society†¦ is the mask each one of them wears, not the reality that lies behind the mask. ’ Borges’ portrayal of the character in his stories adds credence to this observation.

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Steve Jobs Leadership

Some would say that Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computers Inc. , was an exceptional leader. However, there are many who would disagree with that statement. Jobs could define leadership in some aspects, yet he fell short in others. Jobs’ leadership style is difficult to pin down because his position fit very many styles. Steve Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 and in 1984 he created the Macintosh, the first small computer with a graphic interface. Unfortunately in 1985 Jobs was forced to leave after an internal power struggle with the companies CEO. Jobs later returned to a struggling Apple after 12 years and turned the company around. During the 12 years he was away, Steve Jobs created successful companies such as Pixar and NeXT. Pixar was acquired by Disney and NeXT was acquired by Apple Computers upon Jobs’ return. Jobs created such technological staples as the Ipad, Ipod, and Iphone. Steve Jobs was also known for his excellent speeches and captivating his audience. Unfortunately in 2011, Steve Jobs lost a long battle to pancreatic cancer. The characteristics of a superior leader are not hard to identify. Drive, integrity, self-confidence, and knowledge of business are characteristics of an exceptional leader. All of the above described Steve Jobs. Jobs was a very driven man, not for money, or power. Jobs believed that power is a necessity for what actually drove him: achievement itself. Jobs’ persistence was shown even more after leaving Apple. Steve could have spent his life dwelling over his loss, but instead he created two new, very successful companies. Maybe this drive is why Forbes named Jobs 2007’s most powerful person in business. Integrity was important to Jobs; his drive would push him to live up to what he promised. At times, following through with his promise would not always come out in the â€Å"nicest† way. Jobs was known to be difficult to get along with, especially in team meetings. Steve Jobs’ self-confidence was over flowing and considered arrogant by some, but he always believed in what he was trying to accomplish. Jobs’ knowledge of his business was extraordinary, revolutionizing technology at every turn. One of Jobs’ greatest quotes on leadership is â€Å"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower† (Jobs, 2006). Steve Jobs’ leadership style is very difficult to clearly identify. Jobs’ characteristics and traits sporadically fit into different leadership styles. Jobs would be classified as an autocratic leader, he tells people what to do, asserting themselves, and serving as a model team member. Jobs was definitely not a democratic leader, it has been said that Jobs hated team meetings and was rather rude when employees spoke their mind. Steve Jobs could also be classified as entrepreneurial, despite the fact that he is a multibillionaire, his work ethic never changed. Andrew Dubrin defines an entrepreneur as â€Å"someone with a strong will for achievement and a sensible risk taking, high degree of enthusiasm, tendency to act quickly on opportunity, being impatient, visionary, amongst others† (Dubrin, 2010). Dubrin’s definition describes Steve Jobs to a tee. A transformational leader is one who â€Å"brings about major, positive change for the group, organization or society† (Dubrin, 2010). Jobs’ leadership showed many similarities to a transformational leader except one, Jobs lacked the humane qualities necessary. Jobs’ could also be considered a charismatic leader. Steve’s exceptional ability to captivate his audience during a speech is the time his charisma can be clearly seen. Jobs could fit himself into whichever scenario necessary to reach his audience. Steve Jobs is such an exceptional businessman, leader, and innovator. I have enjoyed learning more about his leadership and his career. Jobs has made me realize that there is no cookie cutter style of leadership that one person can follow. I found it helpful to relate different leadership styles to an actual person. To have a detailed explanation about how the text about leadership changes into real life is useful. He has made me open my eyes to the possibility that no one leadership position is more effective than another. Jobs was not necessarily the warmest of bosses yet he was still able to find that personal connection with his customers. Steve Jobs was able to interest and excite the consumer to have his latest â€Å"miracle. † Not every leader is great at everything, even the best struggle with certain aspects of their leadership. For me, I can see how the lessons that I have learned in my research will apply in my future. I have learned not to ever give up, always keep your eyes focused on the goal ahead. No matter how big or small the project is, the end goal is the same; success. Steve Jobs’ ability to rise above disappointment or despair and move on with such drive to succeed is extraordinary. This drive has motivated me to want to strive for the same. Steve Jobs has given me the examples of leadership that shows that how a strong leader can revolutionize the world. Think of how many homes have Iphones, Ipads, Ipods, or any other Apple product in their home. The products have become the â€Å"norm† in many homes. What a feeling of accomplishment Steve Jobs’ must have felt. All of his hard work and ingenuity is shown in the excitement his customers show with his inventions. I would consider Steve Jobs to be one of the most effective leaders that I have had the pleasure of researching. Being able to overcome being pushed out of the company that he co-founded is unbelievable. Only to later come back to that company and be able to turn around the sinking company. What a display of true leadership Steve Jobs showed the country. Steve was able to show not only his fellow Apple employees but everyone in the world how drive and perseverance can inspire anyone to reach for the stars. References Bateman, . & Snell, . (2009). Management: Leading and Collaborating in a Competitive World [University of Phoenix Custom Edition eBook]. : . Retrieved from, MGT330 website. Jobs, S. (2006, January 24). The leader-follower [Video file]. Retrieved from Subconscious Films website: http://www. subconsciousfilms. Kramer, D. (2010). david. kramer. wordpress. com. Retrieved from http://davidkramer. wordpress. com/2010/02/15/leadership-behaviours-and-attitudes-of-steve-jobs/ Steve Jobs Leadership Case Study. (2011). Retrieved from http://www. leadership-with-you. com/steve-jobs-leadership. html

The Little, Brown Compact Handbook with APA Essay

The Little, Brown Compact Handbook with APA - Essay Example This is beneficial to the writer in that it allows them to include commonly known information into a paper without having to identify the proof for any, and all, facts that are included in that paper. The serial comma is a comma that is used when three or more items are listed, and is located at the end of the series of commas (Becker, 2011). This is helpful for the writer as it can be used to clarify potentially confusing lists of names. Furthermore, it allows the writer to include longer lists of information without creating ambiguity in their writing style. Finally, the APA has released a new way to identify online sources which is called a Digital Object Identifier or DOI (Lewis, 2008). This DOI allows writers to have continued access to a file once it has been found as this number is permanently attached to this article by an approved agency. This process is helpful in that is negates the need for a URL and retrieval date when citing online