Can Money Buy Happiness? Essay

â€Å"When you have money in hand, only you forget who you are, When you don’t have any money in your hand, the whole world forgets who you are† -Bill Gates Good Morning respected teachers and dear friends. Can Money Guarantee Happiness? It is one of the most heavily disputed questions of all time. However if we look at it practically, we will find an immediate answer, that, YES, Money in all its splendour, is the key to happiness. Imagine being able to buy whatever you wish for- cars, palatial houses, helicopters, jet planes, a journey to space, a walk on the moon-wouldn’t it give you joy & happiness, not to mention an envious social status? Definitely it would and what do you think would allow you to buy these things? The answer is, of course, MONEY! Money, thus, definitely guarantees happiness! To argue on this point, we must observe that the very invention of money was to bring happiness and balance to human life. What with the barter system and its many setbacks, the idea of money instituted a sense of equilibrium, so that everyone could follow a definite routine and a similar pattern of things. Without money, man would be a barbarian with no sense of stability! Money is something that distinguishes man from an animal. How, then, can my worthy opponents say that money does not guarantee happiness and that people would be happier without it? I do think anybody who says that money is everything but happiness would agree that donating brings joy. What will you give to others when you yourself don’t have anything? And how would have anything without buying it using money? Poverty is the greatest curse. It is the lack of money that compels people to cheat or even murder. If one has money, one can buy all things that he or she wants. A torn jeans worn by the rich becomes a fashion statement, whatever the rich do becomes customs & what they say becomes law! Money can buy you authority, power, obedience and whatnot! By appointing domestic servants, you aren’t only saving your time so that you can enjoy with your family, but are also taking an uneducated person out of unemployment. Coins & Notes bring you closer to people. Social interactions lead to happiness and self satisfaction. And how can you host a party for your long-lost friends or go out for a movie with your family if you don’t have money? Money helps you to travel to exotic places, meet new people at luxurious events & thus give a treasure trove of happy memories & a bountiful of acquaintances!

Pavlov vis-à-vis Piaget Essay

Looking at the history, many names flourished in the area of psychology in the desire to learn about man and behavior.   These names have contributions that are of significance even to the present-day studies in the field of psychology. This paper deals with two of the notable names in this realm – Ivan Pavlov and Jean Piaget. Ivan Pavlov was a Russian psychologist, physician, and physiologist. He had substantial contributions to the various fields of neurology and physiology. His researches were mostly focused on conditioning, temperament and involuntary reflex actions. He bagged the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for his researchers and experiments on digestion which became the foundation of a more extensive research on the digestive system. In his work on involuntary reactions to stress and pain, he broadened the description of the four temperament types: phlegmatic, choleric, sanguine, and melancholic. The study of TMI or transmarginal inhibition was also started by Pavlov and his researchers. TMI is the body’s instinctive reaction of shutting down when exposed to overwhelming stress or pain. Of his contributions, Pavlov is widely recognized for his demonstration of classical conditioning or Pavlovian conditioning. Pavlov’s theory of classical conditioning started while he was working on his study of the digestive process in dogs. He observed that the dogs salivated before they received their food. Even just at the sight of the lab attendant, the dogs salivated. He called this phenomenon ‘psychic secretion.’ He made an experiment on this and used a bell and meat powder. He hit the bell and followed the ring with the meat powder. At the onset, only the meat powder made the dog salivate, but after repeating the practice, the ring of the bell made the dog salivate. Even when the meat powder was eliminated, the dog continued to salivate at the ring of the bell. In this theory, a living being learns to correlate one stimulus with one another. It is learned that the first stimulus is an indicator for the second stimulus. In the above experiment, the ring of the bell cued the dog that food might be coming. The following are the key concepts of Classical Conditioning:  · Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) – a stimulus that can already elicits a response, like the food in the experiment.  · Unconditioned Response (UR) – response that is elicited by the unconditioned stimulus, like the salivation of the dog in the experiment.  · Conditioned Stimulus (CS) – a new and neutral stimulus that when matched up with a UCS elicits a similar response, like the bell in the experiment.  · Condition Response (CR) – the learned response when the neutral CS is paired with the UCS, like the salivation of the dog to the ring of the bell after repeated pairing of it with the food. (www.niu.edu) Although many evaluators criticize Pavlov’s theory as being tested only to animals, classical conditioning can actually be observed to a person’s behavior, even without the purpose. A person who experienced a traumatic vehicular accident would be frantic about the sound of screeching tires even at a normal situation. That person’s mind was condition that screeching tires mean accident. Jean Piaget was a biologist who was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland in 1896. He originally was studying mollusks but shifted to the study of developmental psychology and human intelligence from which he became a significant experimenter and theorist. At the age of 10 he published his first paper and at the young age of 22 he received his Ph.D. in science from the University of Neuchatel. Although he was technically a biologist and a philosopher, he regarded himself as a â€Å"genetic epistemologist.’ His interest was mainly focused on how an individual comes to know things. The thought process that lies beneath reasoning was his interest, particularly in the development of thinking.   Piaget believed that children have different way in responding compared to adults because of the difference in reasoning.   He started observing children of various ages and began working on his theory on the process of cognitive development. According to his theory, the development of children’s thinking is not a smooth process.   Before children learn new areas and abilities, there are particular stages at which it â€Å"takes off† and move to those new learning. These transitions transpire at about 18 months, 7 years and 11 or 12 years. Piaget’s key ideas include: schema, assimilation, accommodation, adaptation, egocentrism, and equilibrium. Schema are the set of sensori-motor skills which dictate the manner in which an infant discover his environment resulting to gaining more information of the world and more complicated exploratory skills.   These are the â€Å"representation in the mind of a set of perceptions, ideas, and/or actions, which go together.† (www.learningandteaching.info) Assimilation is â€Å"the process by which a person takes material into their mind from the environment, which may mean changing the evidence of their senses to make it fit.† (www.learningandteaching.info) Accommodation is â€Å"the difference made to one’s mind or concepts by the process of assimilation.† (www.learningandteaching.info) Adaptation is â€Å"learning† in layman’s term. Piaget believed that adaptation or learning is a biological process from which the two sides are assimilation and accommodation. Egocentrism is a part of the early stage of psychological development. It is a â€Å"belief that you are the center of the universe and everything revolves around you: the corresponding inability to see the world as someone else does and adapt to it.† (www.learningandteaching.info) According to his theory, there are four stages of cognitive development: sensori-motor stage, pre-operational stage, concrete operational stage, and the formal operational stage. The first stage, sensori-motor stage, lasts from birth to about 2 years of age. In this stage, the infant makes use of his motor abilities and senses to grasp his environment. During the end of this stage, the infant develops more complicated combinations of his sensori-motor skills. The second stage, pre-operational stage, lasts from about 2 until about seven years old. Because of the child’s new abilities, this is a short step to symbol usage. The child now has a clear idea of past and future. This is the stage, though, that a child is egocentric, seeing things only from his point of view. The third stage, concrete operational, lasts from about 7 to about 11. Aside from the representational use of symbols, a child already has the ability to manipulate those symbols sensibly in the context of tangible situations. In this stage is also where a child develops the skill to conserve length, number and liquid volume. The fourth stage, formal operations stage, takes place from about 12 and up. This is the stage where a child develops hypothetical thinking, or the use of logical operations in the abstract, instead of the concrete. Both of these theories talk about learning. Basically, Pavlov and Piaget believe that learning can be directly influenced by the stimuli found in the environment of an individual. Both of them also imply that an individual has an innate and natural response to a stimulus, the unconditioned response (UR) for Pavlov and the schema for Piaget. What differs one from another is the processes and methods of how an individual learns. In Pavlov’s theory, a new learning is acquired through mind conditioning. A normal response of an individual to a normal stimulus can be altered through introduction of another stimulus from which the normal stimulus can be associated to, like what transpire to his experiment with the dog. In Piaget’s theory, on the other hand, learning can also be acquired through exposure to the environment, but at a certain stage, especially to children. A child, for example, won’t have an idea of what is past and future until he reaches the age of around 2, which is called the pre-operational stage. Piaget’s theory implies that the extent of a child’s learning is restricted to the stage or the age of the child. During the early stage of a child, he is said to be egocentric. Having this characteristic, a child’s health and physical condition is put at risk. The schema of grab and thrust is applied by a child to any object, oblivious of any harm that it may cause. He may be used to grabbing his rattle and thrusting it in his mouth, but once he came across a new object, he may use this schema to it, like a small animal or a pointed thing. These two theories are bases of more comprehensive studies of human behavior. Both of them are true in the sense that they can be observed and applied. It is proper to say that these theories are two of the most significant concepts in the world of psychology.

Business National Btec Unit 13 Essay

|To achieve a pass grade To achieve a pass | | | |grade the evidence must show that the learner|To achieve a merit grade the evidence must |To achieve a distinction grade the evidence | |is able to: |show that, in addition to the pass criteria, |must show that, in addition to the pass and | |evidence must show that the |the learner is able to: |merit criteria, the learner is able to: | |learner is able to: | | | |P1 identify how two organisations | | | |plan recruitment using internal and external | | | |sources | | | | | | | |P2 explain the impact of the legal and | | | |regulatory framework on recruitment and | | | |selection activities | | | | | | | | | | | |P3 prepare the documents used in selection | M1 compare the purposes |D1 evaluate the usefulness | |and recruitment activities |of the different documents |of the documents in the | | |used in the selection and |interview pack for a given | | |recruitment process of a given organisation |organisation, in facilitating | | | |the interview process | |P4 plan  to take part in a selection interview|M2 analyse your contribution |D2 evaluate your experience | | |to the selection process |of planning and participating | | |in a given situation. |in the recruitment and | | | |selection process. | |P5 take part in a selection interview | | | | | | | | | | | Unit 13: Investigating Recruitment and Selection Task 1: How organisations plan recruitment (towards P1). â€Å"P1 Identify how two organisations plan recruitment using internal and external sources.† You need to understand that there are a number of reasons why vacancies occur and that the decision to recruit will be the result of an analysis by the organisation of its requirements. The vacancy may be filled internally or externally. External sources may be used but they may have time and cost implications. You need to include the following points; Understand the processes involved in recruitment planning Recruitment planning: †¢ reason for vacancy, eg employee leaving, increased volume of business, different work, maternity cover, sickness; †¢ decision to recruit; †¢ internal recruitment; †¢ external sources of recruitment (use of job centres, consultants, recruitment agencies); †¢ cost and time considerations of external sourcing Task 2: How organisations advertise vacancies (towards P1). The vacancy may be advertised internally and externally. If advertised externally, the choice of media will be important in order to reach the targeted market. External advertising is more costly and there are legal considerations to be aware of on all recruitment advertising. You need to cover the following points; Recruitment advertising: †¢ internal advertising; †¢ external advertising (choice of media, use of external agencies, format and type of advertisement, cost implications, legal considerations of recruitment advertising); †¢ methods of application, eg letter, online, telephone. â€Å"P2 Design a concise briefing sheet for a selection panel to guide them on the regulatory requirements of recruitment and selection practice.† This requires an overview of the key legal and ethical requirements of selection interviews. It should be a concise guide that interviewers can easily understand. You need to include the following points: Current UK and EU legislation: †¢ Sex Discrimination Act 1995/97; †¢ Race Relations Act 1992; †¢ Equal Pay Act 1970; †¢ Disability Discrimination Acts 1995 and 2005; †¢ European Working Time Directive; †¢ Employment Act 2002; †¢ national minimum wage; †¢ Data Protection Act 1998 (together with any future amendments) Ethical issues: †¢ asking candidates the same questions; †¢ interviewers not related to candidates; †¢ gender and ethnic balance on panels Task 3: Preparing a job description and person specification (towards P3). â€Å"P3 Prepare the advertising, job description and person specification required to recruit an employee for a specific role in a selected organisation.† You will prepare the documentation for an identified vacancy. This will encompass a job description and person specification. The completion of these two documents to an appropriate standard will provide the evidence for this criterion. Prepare the job description and person specification. You need to include the following points: Job description: †¢ purpose and standard formats; †¢ title of job; †¢ department and location of post; †¢ broad terms of job; †¢ responsible to whom; †¢ responsibilities; †¢ scope of post; †¢ education and qualifications; †¢ name of compiler and approver; †¢ date of issue Person specification: †¢ purpose and standard formats, eg job title and reference number; †¢ location in management line; †¢ essential and desirable attributes; †¢ physical characteristics required; †¢ attainments and qualifications; †¢ previous experience; †¢ general intelligence; †¢ special aptitudes; †¢ temperament and personality; †¢ hobbies and interests; †¢ personal circumstances Task 4: Job Applications â€Å"P3 Apply for a job by completing the application documentation.† You should use the Morrisons website to find the application documents. You should complete the process as if you were applying for the post. You should complete the application form and include any other documentation requested, which should include your curriculum vitae and a covering letter. The completion of the required documentation to an appropriate standard will provide the evidence for this criterion. Know the documentation involved in the recruitment process Application documentation: †¢ letter; †¢ application form; †¢ curriculum vitae Task 5: Briefing the selection panel on regulatory requirements. (P4) You need to include the following: Pre-interview: †¢ selection criteria for short-listing; †¢ application packs and information for candidates; †¢ references; †¢ types of interviews (group, individual, team, panel, telephone, multi-stage); †¢ tasks and tests used to complement the interview process, eg occupational preference tests, attainment tests, aptitude tests, psychometric tests; †¢ use of specialists in the interview; †¢ a list of interview questions; †¢ procedure for informing candidates on interview decisions Task 6: Taking part in a selection interview (towards P5). â€Å"P4 Participate in a selection interview.† You should adopt the role of either an interviewee or an interviewer in your pairs for a mock selection interview. You should demonstrate through role play that you have prepared for the interview. Roles can then be reversed to give everyone in the class opportunity to see the recruitment process from the perspectives of both the applicant and the interviewer. If you are not participating in an interview you will be observing and taking notes. Evidence is likely to come from a copy of the documentation used by each participant and a witness statement from the assessor. In your planning you should show evidence that you have considered each of the following points: Interview: †¢ interview protocol; †¢ confidentiality; †¢ fairness; †¢ interview environment; †¢ agreed questions; †¢ checking of personal information; †¢ interview checklist; †¢ control of interview; †¢ decision criteria and documentation; †¢ communicating the decision to candidates; †¢ communication and listening skills; †¢ body language; †¢ questioning techniques; †¢ barriers to communication; †¢ analysing and summarising Task 7: Following up the interview (towards P5). You should prepare the necessary documentation to fill the vacancy and complete the interview process. You should include the following: Post interview: †¢ informing candidates; †¢ making a job offer; †¢ verbal/non-verbal offers; †¢ contents of job offer, eg start date, wage or salary rate, hours of work, holiday entitlements; †¢ other conditions, eg references, medical test, passing specific qualifications; †¢ expenses claims; †¢ candidate’s feedback; †¢ taking up and checking references; †¢ police and/or medical checks including a CRB check; †¢ rejection of unsuccessful candidates Task 8: Comparing selection documents. â€Å"M1 Compare the purposes of the different documents used in the selection process of a given organisation.† You must be able to identify the documents used in the three stages of the selection process. You should know the purpose of the key documents. You should be able to explain the purpose of the information that the completed documents will provide for the interviewers. You should be able to draw comparisons between the purposes of appropriate documents. Task 9: Evaluation of the usefulness of interview documents. â€Å"D1 Evaluate the usefulness of the documents in the interview pack of a given organisation in facilitating the interview process.† You must make judgements on the usefulness of documents that you have collated in the interview pack. This will be informed by a mix of theory and practice. You must be able to demonstrate that you are able to assess the usefulness of documents that belong to a real organisation or that you have used in the role play exercise. In what ways did the documentation contribute to the organisation, management and conduct of the interview and the process of making a selection decision? Task 10: Analysing your contribution to task 5 (see P4). â€Å"M2 Analyse your contribution to the selection process in a given situation.† You must show that you can prepare for and perform in a role-play situation. You should ensure that an application pack is prepared and that all the necessary documentation is provided for the interviewee and the interviewers. The interview should be organised and conducted in a professional manner. Observers will be looking for evidence that the participants have prepared for the interview. This can be judged by observing how the learners organise and manage the sequence of the interview, the ability of the participants to ask appropriate questions, the quality of their participation and whether they have used communications and listening skills to good effect. Evidence will come from supporting documentation such as interview questions that interviewers and interviewees have prepared. The evidence will be supported by a witness statement on the role play of each Participant. Task 11: Evaluation. â€Å"D2 Evaluate your experience of planning and participating in the recruitment and selection process.† You must be able to demonstrate that you can critically reflect on your  experience and draw lessons from it. Evidence will require an evaluation of the role play and this should be linked to the feedback on the witness statement. You must also be able to critically evaluate your experiences of the planning stages of the interview. Websites www.bbc.co.uk/learning/subjects/business_studies.shtmlA changing bank of learning resources and up to date case studies. This site also has links to other useful sites www.bized.ac.uk Includes a number of pertinent case studies from thetimes100 including McDonalds and Cummins www.cipd.co.uk Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development www.thetimes100.co.uk Includes a number of pertinent case studies including McDonalds and Cummins, British Gas and Tesco ———————– Scenario: You work in the HR department at Morrisons where vacancy rates have been high over the past year. Your manager is concerned about this and has asked you to do a presentation to identify why vacancies occur and to compare with a competitor. In your presentation you must also include a plan of how to fill the vacancies using internal and external sources. Presentation date: Scenario: Following your presentation your manager has asked you to write a report on the steps that your department should take to go about advertising a vacancy both internally and externally. Your manager also wants you to consider the possible ways that applicants can apply. Hand-in date: Hand-in date: Scenario for Tasks 3 and 4: You are the assistant to the head of Business at Sheffield Park Academy and you have been asked to find a new Business Studies teacher to join your growing department for this popular subject. Design appropriate advertising for to attract a suitable candidate for the role and submit a report to your manager alongside the advert to show that you made all the necessary considerations. Hand-in date: Scenario: You want to apply for a part time job at Morrisons to get some extra cash while you are studying. Complete the documents to apply for the job. Hand-in date: Scenario: You are head of recruitment at Sheffield Park Academy and will be interviewing candidates for the advertised role of Business Studies teacher. The interview panel will be made up of various senior members of staff and some members of the Business department. Not all members of the panel have interviewed before so they are not familiar with the regulatory requirements. Design a briefing sheet which is easy to follow and will help them plan the interviews. It must include all the important points that they will need to know to avoid any legal or ethical problems. Hand-in date: Scenario: After advertising the position of Business Studies teacher at SPA and receiving several applications, you are now ready to start planning the interviews for the potential candidates that have been selected. Work in groups and discuss how you will select your candidates. Make a list of your selection criteria for the interview panel to follow when selecting candidates. You will role play the interviewee as well as the interviewer so prior to the role play you will need to read a candidates CV to help you prepare and make any notes that you feel necessary. Interview date: Hand-in date: Scenario: You have completed the interview process and selected a candidate successfully. The head of recruitment at your school has asked you to review the selection process by comparing and explaining the purpose of the documents that are used at SPA to recruit new teachers. Hand-in date: Scenario: You have interviewed all candidates using the documentation that you prepared for P4. How useful was this documentation in organising your interview, managing the interview process and choosing which, if any, of the candidates to employ? Hand-in date: Hand-in date: Hand-in date:

To Spy or Not to Spy on Software Company Globe Alive, Inc Case Study

To Spy or Not to Spy on Software Company Globe Alive, Inc - Case Study Example The company has more than 150 employees. Its vision is to be a leading company that assists in the network design and servicing of Canadian firms who were conducting business in a foreign country. Several issues exist in the enterprise. It needs to address them for it to succeed in the software industry. According to the CEO, the company needs an appropriate technology to solve its issues. The human resource department has noted that technology cannot build a team-oriented workforce (Mondy, Noe, & Gowan, 2005). The production manager and the Operations Manager agree that it is impossible to build trust between management and subordinate staff members if the company embraces the spyware usage. Helmut Schwartz is a technological person with a vast experience and education in Information Technology. He thus believes that, based on his experience, technology will go a long way in the growth of the Globe Alive company. However, he faces a lot of resistance from the other executives against new ideas and a lack of innovative thinking at the firm. Schwartz embraces more expansive and modern strategic philosophies, unlike the previous CEO. He wants all employees to embrace creative t hinking in their operations. Additionally, Schwartz spies employees to ensure they are not wasting time. On the other hand, Stuart Miller has a rich background in human resource management. He believes that embracing appropriate human resource strategies is the best way of moving the firm ahead. He thus proposes the use of Human Resource metric services in measuring turnover, resignation rates, sick days, and other parameters. The human resource manager impressed the members of the executive team by his presentation of an innovative idea of analytics and tracking data of employees. However, the CEO presentation of surveillance software failed to impress them. Various symptoms suggest that GAI Company is experiencing some problems. The company lacks an efficient communication with global partners.  

Write about a single special needs area mine is ( ADHD). research that Essay

Write about a single special needs area mine is ( ADHD). research that special needs area - Essay Example What once was dubbed as an immaturity is now classified as a disorder.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a mental condition that is characterized by age-inappropriate features of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity (Heward, 2006). The DSM-IV-TR Diagnostic Criteria focuses on a persistent pattern of inattention or hyperactivity-impulsivity or both, with emphasis on the frequency and severity than is typical among individuals of the same age. Inattention is defined failure to focus attention on those elements of the environment that are most relevant to the task at hand. On the other hand, hyperactivity is the excessive psychomotor activity which is out of proportion to the situation while impulsivity is the tendency to act suddenly without giving it much thought.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder has a wide array of symptoms that could very well mimic those of other conditions. This warrants a thorough assessment process by developmental pediatricians, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals to rule out other disorders. This entails complete medical examination, review of medications, dietary habits and living conditions. ADHD can be classified as predominantly inattentive type, predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type, or a combined type (Heward, 2006). ADHD combined type has both inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity for the past 6 months while ADHD predominantly inattentive type has only inattention for the past 6 months. Subsequently, ADHD hyperactivity-impulsivity has only hyperactive and impulsive symptoms prevalent for the past 6 months.   Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is the most common neurobehavioral disorder among school-age children (Antai-Otong, 2003). It is estimated that 3-5% of all school-age children have ADHD (American Psychiatric Association, as cited in Heward, 2006). This translates

Analysing two websites Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Analysing two websites - Essay Example The site features and other characteristics are noted to its full length for the comparison. Amazon’s homepage provides the user with an overview of their whole site, which is vitally important as (Nielsen, 2002) explains "The homepage is your companys face to the world." As recommended by Nielsen (2002) Amazon has used a tagline to capture and communicate the essence of the company; making the sites purpose immediately clear â€Å"Amazon.com: Online shopping for electronics, apparel, music, books, DVDs & more.† Their logo is also apparent, boosting brand awareness, differentiating identity from competitors and providing familiarity to users. It can be found in the top left hand corner of the homepage, showing standard HTML conventions have been adopted. Guerrilla marketing is a corner stone for only books on marketing and the site is not that usable for frequent visits in comparison. The HTML conventions are not followed for wide practice however it provides detailed information about every marketing journal about marketing and presentation abilities. Amazon site is inked with major products like books and every site featuring essential products like books and other resources is interlinked for purchase. Amazon use standard blue hyperlinks, tab navigation, browse box, graphics and a search input box to help users interactively navigate the site, in a simple, easy to use fashion. Key worded category hyperlinks, emphasise product variety and the sites most important sections. Amazon is a path-based homepage; we recommend duplicating this approach to split the audience immediately into interest groups and to offer them specific, more relevant information in menu pages deeper within the site. (Lynch and Horton, 2002.) Amazon reveals real site content (Nielsen, 2002) offering easy access to recent homepage features. Homepages are updated regularly; visual graphics are kept meaningful and often

Human Resources Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Human Resources - Essay Example Differences between Personnel management and HRM Personnel management is essentially an administrative record keeping function at the operational level. Personnel management attempts to sustain fair terms and conditions of employment while simultaneously, efficiently managing personnel activities. HRM, on the other hand, is concerned with the development and implementation of people strategies that are integrated with corporate strategies and guarantee that the culture, structure, and values of the organization, as well as the quality, motivation and commitment of the employees contribute fully to the attainment of the organization’s goals (Armstrong 2006, p.5). HRM is concerned with undertaking of analogous functional activities conventionally undertaken by the personnel function such as job analysis, employee relations, planning, and compensation management; however, the HRM approach undertakes these functions in qualitatively distinct way relative to personnel management (D uberley and Walle1995, p.891). Personnel management is essentially workforce centered, directed largely at the organization’s employees. ... HRM, on the other hand, is strategic in nature concerned with directly aiding organizations to gain sustained competitive advantage (Guest, Michie, Conway, and Sheehan 2003, p.291). HRM is mainly more proactive than personnel management, whereas personnel management is concerned with the maintenance of personnel and administrative systems. Personnel management is largely applied in the public sector, tertiary education, and local government despite the complexity associated with public sector including a mix of politics, service delivery, and management. In the private sector, HRM can be used to manage the human side in corporate and large organizations, banks, small and medium –sized enterprise, consultancies, and trade unions. High performance working environment is linked to attainment of high levels of performance, profitability, and customer satisfaction (Armstrong 2006, p.6). Firms such as Tesco and British Airways have demonstrated the significant role played by HRM in the attainment of management objectives mirrored in the transformation of the personnel management function. (P2) The function of HRM centres on planning, developing, and administering policies and programs designed to render the expeditious utilization of organization’s human resources. HRM is concerned with the process of hiring and developing employees with the aim of transforming the employees into valuable resources for the organization (Sims 2002, p.3). The human resources function is mainly responsible for managing workforce as primary resources that play a critical part in the firm’s success. HRM largely functions as a value adding a component in the organization based on the strategic utilization of

Adult and embryonic stem cells-2 Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

Adult and embryonic stem cells-2 - Thesis Example In fact, the uproar from Christian groups in the US was largely responsible for President Bush’s decision regarding research on human embryonic stem cells that put a ban on further production and use of hESCs, and limiting the research to existing sixty lines of hESCs. Though this consoled the priests and other religious figures in the US, this decision also received much opposition from other religious groups within US and other parts of the world. For instance, Protestants believed in the apostle that stated, ‘We may not do evil so that good may come.’ The Orthodox Christian Church argued that ‘the very act of killing those embryos is evil, and we may not profit from evil even to achieve a good and noble end’ (Waters and Cole-Turner, 2003; p.173). Islamic scripture indicating that life begins in the embryo after 40 days post fertilization has given rise to many other perspectives on embryonic stem cell research (Peterson, 2003). However, the Hindu and Buddhist beliefs are not centered around the life of embryo but on doctrines of karma (action or duty) and ahimsa (nonviolence). In connection with this, Jafari et al (2008, p. 90) point out that the intentions of donors, needs, scientists’ beliefs, and the potential recipients are important factors that determine the fate of embryonic stem cell (ESC) research and its clinical applications. This article concludes that Muslims, Jews and the majority of Protestants favor ESC research from a religion perspective (see Appendix 1.1), but do have moral and ethical considerations attached to destruction of embryos. The varied religious beliefs have resulted in great debate over ESC research in multiple dimensions that have emerged from theological, ethical, and/or moral convicti ons in various parts of the world. Gotweis, Slater and Waldby (2009) argue that little evidence exists to prove

Should Project Managers Behave Like Prima Donnas Article

Should Project Managers Behave Like Prima Donnas - Article Example The balancing act is about taking the different stakeholder requirements together and then ensuring that everything falls together for the common purpose of meeting the project deliverables. This then is the bottom-line guideline for project managers. The practice of management for the express purpose of delivering customer delight and stakeholder value. This paper looks at the components of project management and the way in which the project manager has to ensure that conflicting and competing demands on his or her time and bandwidth are managed to ensure optimal success for the project. I answer the question of whether the project manager must be a Prima Donna by referring to the situational and contextual aspects of project management. The contention of this author is that project managers and the art of project management is highly contextual and situation dependant that theory can only point the way and it is up to the individual to make the decisions and tread the path accordingly. Real world scenarios often have a way of surprising the most experienced project manager and hence theory can only help to a point in making decisions that affect real people. Thus, one way of looking at the question is that project managers have to combine the science of project management with the art of people and process management to achieve optimal results. Project Management combines statistics and people skills in equal measure and it is incumbent upon the project manager to plan their strategies accordingly. According to the PMBOK 3rd edition, A project is defined as a â€Å"temporary endeavor with a beginning and an end and it must be used to create a unique product, service or result†. Further, it is progressively elaborated. What this definition of a project means is that projects are those activities that cannot go on indefinitely.

Martha Stewart Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Martha Stewart - Essay Example She was the CEO of her own multi-million dollar empire who was now facing felony time at Alderson Federal Penitentiary for what amounted to pocket change for Ms. Stewart. How could things have gone so wrong for Martha? Could her attorneys have done something to present a more strategic defense for her case in an effort to minimize her sentence? Martha's case was a classic white-collar crime, and her troubles began shortly after selling ImClone stock based on insider information, a crime known as insider trading. She was contacted by the FBI and US Attorneys in January 2002 and scheduled an interview with them for the first week in February This was the first of several legal errors made in Martha's case. Martha, absent an attorney, ended up lying to the investigators during her initial interview A good defense would have been to exercise her right to remain silent. (Bennett, 2006). Defense attorneys familiar with white-collar crime all generally agree that cooperating with the authorities is not a good thing. The most common legal advice is, "not to give statements or otherwise cooperate with investigators until you’ve talked with an attorney" (Bennett, 2006). The most common defenses against financial crime are insanity, intoxication, incapacity, and duress. Most of her contemporary white-collar criminals say simply they were out of the loop and just did not know. This is known as the "Absence of Intent" defense which Enron, WorldCom, and others have popularized in the recent months. Entrapment is another common defense used in white-collar cases. The defendant claims they could not have committed the crime without the aid of the investigators. This defense is most often used after lengthy undercover investigations and would not have been usable in Stewart's case. Martha's initial error of lying without legal counsel was compounded by her attorney's failure to reach a plea agreement and allowing the case to go to trial. As many as 87% of federal fraud cases are settled with plea agreements and there is a sound legal reason for it. Sentencing can be negotiated during a plea agreement, but a judge is under strict restrictions and has to conform to federal guidelines when imposing punishment after a guilty verdict in a trial (France, 2004). The issue of Martha not testifying in her own behalf has also been criticized, though when a defendant takes the stand in a white collar case the defense runs the risk of the jury forgetting that the government has to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt (France, 2004). The jury found Ms. Stewart guilty of lying to investigators and she received a sentence of 5 months in prison and 5 months on home detention. This was at the minimum end of the federal guidelines and below the national average of 15.7 month s prison time (US Sentencing Commission, 2003). The simple sale of a stock for what amounted to a few dollars drastically altered Martha's world. In a statement shortly after her release she commented, "The experience of the last five months ... has been life altering and life affirming" (Porteus, 2005). However, the damage that the trial did to Martha's image will be long lasting and costly. As a convicted felon, there will be restrictions placed on her ability to operate in certain financial positions. She has been denied entry into Canada and the conviction has scarred her status as a product spokesperson. The price of Martha Stewart stock took an initial beating and after 4 years has just returned to the level it was before the indictment. With the incident behind her, Martha has moved on with some new television programming, a successful talk and domestic show, and "Living". It just goes to prove that it's hard to keep a good thing down.

Natural monopoly Essay Example for Free

Natural monopoly Essay I believe that times change and as they, change rules and regulations must adapt to the times. Therefore, the treatment of the different industries must represent the different industries as they grow. I do not think the Telephone and Broadcast should never have or ever be considered a â€Å"Natural Monopoly†. The concept of natural monopoly presents a challenging public policy dilemma. On the one hand, a natural monopoly implies that efficiency in production would be better served if a single firm supplies the entire market. On the other hand, in the absence of any competition the monopoly holder will be tempted to exploit his natural monopoly power in order to maximize its profits. A natural monopoly is defined in economics as an industry where the fixed cost of the capital goods is so high that it is not profitable for a second firm to enter and compete. There is a natural reason for this industry being a monopoly, namely that the economies of scale require one, rather than several, firms. Small-scale ownership would be less efficient. Natural monopolies are typically utilities such as water, electricity, and natural gas. It would be very costly to build a second set of water and sewerage pipes in a city. Water and gas delivery service has a high fixed cost and a low variable cost. Electricity is now being deregulated, so the generators of electric power can now compete. But the infrastructure, the wires that carry the electricity, usually remain a natural monopoly, and the various companies send their electricity through the same grid. Cable as a Natural Monopoly Nearly every community in the United States allows only a single cable company to operate within its borders. Since the Boulder decision [4] in which the U. S. Supreme Court held that municipalities might be subject to antitrust liability for anticompetitive acts, most cable franchises have been nominally nonexclusive but in fact do operate to preclude all competitors. The legal rationale for municipal regulation is that cable uses city-owned streets and rights-of-way; the economic rationale is the assumption that cable is a natural monopoly. The theory of natural monopoly holds that because of structural conditions that exist in certain industries, competition between firms cannot endure; and whenever these conditions exist, it is inevitable that only one firm will survive. Thus, regulation is necessary to dilute the ill-effects of the monopoly. [5] Those who assert that cable television is a natural monopoly focus on its economies of scale; that is, its large fixed costs whose duplication by multiple companies would be inefficient and wasteful. Thus, competitive entry into the market should be proscribed because it is bound to be destructive. The Competitive Reality 1. A skeptic hearing exhortations that cable television is a natural monopoly that should be locally regulated could have some questions at this point. First, if cable is a natural monopoly, why do we need to guarantee it with a franchise? Economists Bruce Owen and Peter Greenhalgh argue persuasively that given economies of scale, if a cable company is responsive and efficient in its pricing and service quality then there will be little incentive for competitors to enter, and no need for an exclusionary franchise policy. [9] Thus, if entry restrictions are necessary to arrest competition, the industry by definition is not a natural monopoly. 2. Second, if cable is a natural monopoly, is it necessarily a local monopoly? Some observers use the terms interchangeably, but there is no evidence that economic laws respect municipal boundaries. Given large fixed costs, does it make sense to award a local franchise to one company when another already has facilities in an adjacent community? Yet such wasteful duplication, as the natural monopoly proponents would call it, occurs frequently under the franchise system. Local franchises make no sense in a true natural monopoly setting. 3. These questions, however, go to the heart of natural monopoly theory itself, a doctrine that is under increasing attack. [10] In the face of crumbling conventional wisdom in this area, the burden should be on the natural monopoly proponents to demonstrate that competition is not possible, and further, that regulation is necessary. Such a demonstration will prove impossible in the cable context. Cable is both extremely competitive, facing both direct and indirect market challenges, and, in any event, is better left unregulated. For many decades, economic textbooks have held up the telecommunications industry as the ideal model of natural monopoly. A natural monopoly is said to exist when a single firm is able to control most, if not all, output and prices in a given market due to the enormous entry barriers and economies of scale associated with the industry. More specifically, a market is said to be naturally monopolistic when one firm can serve consumers at lower costs than two or more firms (Spulber 1995: 31). For example, telephone service traditionally has required laying an extensive cable network, constructing numerous calls switching stations, and creating a variety of support services, before service could actually be initiated. Obviously, with such high entry costs, new firms can find it difficult to gain a toehold in the industry. Those problems are compounded by the fact that once a single firm overcomes the initial costs, their average cost of doing business drops rapidly relative to newcomers. The telephone monopoly, however, has been anything but natural. Overlooked in the textbooks is the extent to which federal and state governmental actions throughout this century helped build the ATT or Bell system monopoly. As Robert Crandall (1991: 41) noted, Despite the popular belief that the telephone network is a natural monopoly, the ATT monopoly survived until the 1980s not because of its naturalness but because of overt government policy. I hope that the above facts help support my beliefs that these industries should not be considered Natural Monopolies. These companies just executed and had better site than other in the same industry had. Today ATT is just as strong as it ever was. References Benjamin, S. M. , Lichtman, D. G. , Shelanski, H. , Weiser , P. (2006). FOUNDATIONS. In Telecommunications Law and Policy . (2nd ed. ). (pp. 437 469). Durham, NC : Carolina Academic Press. Foldvary, F. E. (1999). Natural Monopolies . The Progress Report. Retrieved January 9, 2012, from http://www. progress. org/fold74. htm Thierer , A. D. (1994). UNNATURAL MONOPOLY: CRITICAL MOMENTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BELL SYSTEM MONOPOLY . 14(2).

Middle Range Theory Essay Example for Free

Middle Range Theory Essay Bank of America is the largest US bank founded in 1904, it has expanded through several acquisitions. By the end of 2009, Bank of America was the market leader serving 82% of the US population and over 53 million customers. They are positioned as number one in online and mobile banking. Their mobile banking services were launched in 2007 and have gained 4 million customers in less than three years. Acquisitions made by Bank of America prior to the financial crisis caused a very strong drop in their stock price. Customers: In 2009, 10 million customers used mobile banking and this is expected to grow to 37 million by 2014. Customers that use mobile banking are not the same as online customers. Customers that use mobile banking represent a different segment of the market that other banking customers. Security issues, a perceived low value and expense, were the primary reasons that customers did not switch to mobile banking. Potential customers were reluctant to try a new banking service that are represented an extra cost and they were also afraid of losing control of their finances. Debit cardholders were the most active users. It was convenient for them because they could check their account at any time. Customers that used this service changed their usual banking channels and as a result -the bank had a higher retention for these users of online services. Competition/Competitors: Bank of Americas main competitors were: Bank of New York Mellon, JP Morgan Chase ; Co. , Wells Fargo ; Co. , Citigroup, and PNC Financial Services. These competitors also used mobile banking to ensure good service for their customers. They used SMS, customized web browsers and apps, depending on the bank and the customers they served. Citibank and Wells Fargo had different applications customized for their target groups. General Context Considering that the banking industry is fragmented, with thousands of banks offering retail and wholesale banking services; ten of the largest banks hold 46. 4% of total deposits, Bank of America being the largest one. The mortgage crisis of 2009 led to a deep recession and spilled over into a financial crisis that affected the retail banking business. Banks started waving fees and offering additional benefits in order to capture and retain customers. Mobile banking was introduced in the US in 2007 which added costs to each transaction. However, these costs were lower than call centers and interactive voice response costs. Bank of America had three options: mobile messaging (mobile stream modification without any software installation), mobile Internet (wireless application protocol), and mobile applications. Mobile applications in particular were more sophisticated and costly. Smartphone use was estimated to grow to 46% by 2014. Development Dilemma: Bank of America has two options to handle the future of mobile banking: 1) Build new and various applications to target different customers a) Pros: i) Customers want customization in the products; this will increase retention and satisfaction. ii) Marketing strategies can be segmented into different types of clients. This increases efficiency and reduces costs. iii) Superior brand and innovation perception. a) Cons i) Cost of application creation will increase due to the different areas and type of customers at Bank of America ii) Any changes in the bank services will have to be applied to all apps. Some customers will have to download and use various apps at the same time 2) Refuse to add complexity to the current application a) Pros: i) No extra costs on building a new application ii) Customers that don? t like technology or doubt about security issues wont be affected b) Cons: i) Other banks offer better mobile apps and this will increase their competitive advantage ii) Customer satisfaction will suffer if the app is not updated and does not fulfill their needs. iii) Transactions will still be done through ATMs, Call centers and IVR, which are 4 to 11 times more costly. Opportunities: Since Bank of America is one of the largest financial institutions in United States that has millions of customers; online banking is an important feature that offers to ease transactions and provides access to billing statements. However, because of the multitude of services banks offer it is overly-complicated to provide all items in one bundle. Because of this complexity (to add all the banking features in one app for mobile banking) Bank of America should target tablet-users to provide all the banking features with different applications. For example Bank of America can provide tools like market reports for savvy investors or savings programs for households (where it is easier to keep track of expenses. ) Tablets are relatively easier to use than mobile phones. Targeting such a market at an early stage can broaden the spectrum in which Bank of America operates its mobile banking. This opportunity which targets future markets as computers are being replaced by tablets should not be forgone. Ease of access and use for customers with multiple Bank of America services, easier tracking of frauds or errors. ) Bank of America customers will be able to access a large array of services online. c) For some high-end apps a nominal fee may be charged to cover some of the technology budget. 2) Cons a) Customer information may be at risk as it is insecure to access sensitive information online for which Bank of America will have to maintain high privacy, increasing cost. b) Some of the features may still be complex and require customer support hotline. c) Customers may act on unintended transactions involving significant funds. Recommendations: Bank of America needs to improve the complexity to the current application. After analyzing the options and the opportunity, we think that Bank of America has to differentiate themselves from their competitors while offering a great service to their clients, we would recommend to increase the functionality of the mobile app. This change will bring extra benefits to the different type of clients in a single download. The company will also cut costs in the type of transactions made by the clients. The continuous growth of the mobile market especially the Smartphone use is another aspect of the recommendation. Having a mobile has become a commodity for the population. The new generation will get so accustomed to this technology that they will be able to deal with any app complexity without any problem. Bank of America has to think of its future customers, not only the current mobile technology adaptors. 1) Pros: a) Having a better application will differentiate the bank compared to their competitors b) Customers will have overall services in a single application. Mobile payment services would be added to the app and will attract and benefit many customers. d) Transaction costs will become lower as the % of Smartphone users grows (46% for year 2014). 2) Cons: a) Added complexity will discourage some customers to use the application b) Speed of the application may suffer if the customer has a bad connection or has too many applications downloaded in their mobile. c) The cost of developing a more complex application is larger and may require more expertise and training for employees and customers as well.

Putin And Yeltsin Foreign Policy Applications Politics Essay

Putin And Yeltsin Foreign Policy Applications Politics Essay Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin who was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999 and Vladimir Putin who served as the second President of the Russian Federation from 2000 to 2008 had similarities and differences in their foreign policy implementations. Yeltsin was dealing with chaotic economic conditions and a decreasing public support and failing reforms inside, while his successor Putin benefited from economic rise, rising oil prices and successful domestic reforms. Different conjunctures had different reflections in the Russian foreign policy of the presidents. In this paper, firstly, I tried to describe the conditions that Putin and Yeltsin encountered, then I made a comparison between the two leader in their foreign policy applications. Background In 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia lost control over 5.3 million km2 of territory and 139 million citizens which included over 17% of the ethnic Russian population. Invaluable natural resources, historical and cultural sights, and some of the most advanced Soviet military infrastructure and equipment were also out of Moscows reach.  [1]  The world politics has turned to unipolarity from bipolarity. Russia was restricted with a shrinking economy and transition policies to free market economy. Moscow was in a disastrous chaotic economic situation after the collapse of communism. The Russian economy fell dramatically; experiencing goods shortages in 1991 and 2500% hyperin ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ation in 1992. In the 1990s, the dynamics of Russian foreign policies shifted considerably. In the Yeltsin era, Russia gradually withdrew from its global military and political role to focus its foreign policy on the transformation of the former superpower relationship with the United States and its relationship with Europe, and on the development of relations with the other states immediately on its borders.  [2]  But Russia lost the capacity to continue providing financial aids to the other states of the former Soviet Union and thus to maintain its economic attraction.  [3]  At the same time, there were NATO expansion and new European Union memberships were being made among nations of the former Soviet bloc in Eastern Europe. There was again the threat of dissolution of Russian territory. US led international investment started to get advantage of economic spaces in energy sector in the Caspian Basin in Central Asia. Russias economy deteriorated more badly when devolution occurred in 1998 . Russian energy power declined in the late 1980s and 1990s, due to low oil prices, the dislocations of the collapse of the USSR, and the privatization of many oil companies. Oil production decreased from 600 to 300 million tons per year between 1990 and 1995. However, Russias ample resources and extensive network of pipelines ensured that its petro-power was ready to re-emerge under President Putin.  [4]   After a noticeable decline under Yeltsin (starting from Gorbachev), the Putin era saw a resurgence of Russian power. Putin focused on recovery after a great economic depression. Russia, having the world largest energy resources, benefited positively from the increasing energy prices due to prevailing international concern about energy security, instability in the Middle East since 1999. This increase in prices gave great support to the Russian economy. Since 1999, Russias annual GDP growth was averaged between 6 and 7 percent. The government boasted a healthy budget surplus and record currency reserves.  [5]   Since 2000, having the advantage of improving economic power which was in chaotic condition in Yeltsin era, Putin started to use soft power to influence neighboring states to implement its regional policies and he also evaded from using its military power to ensure its geopolitical position. Russia has turned itself from a dead military superpower into a new energy superpower in Putin Era by using soft power. Energy revenues no longer supported a massive military-industrial complex as they did in the Soviet period. As Fiona Hill underlines, new oil wealth has been turned more into butter than guns. Russian natural gas, technology, culture, consumer goods, and job opportunities became a Russian power in Ukraine, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.  [6]  And energy-rich countries like Kazakhstan benefited from the same oil price increase as Russia. As Eurasian economies started to recover and grow, Russias neighbors began to look to it as a market for their exports.  [7]  Since then dependency on Russia grew increasingly. The emergence of new transnational threats to US and Western interests, especially terrorism emanating from Afghanistan and the Middle East, shifted international priorities. It was also evident that, with the notable exception of the three Baltic states, none of the other states of the former Soviet Union was likely to be a viable candidate for membership of either NATO or the EU in the near term.  [8]   Similarities in Foreign Policy Implementations Russia doesnt want world domination as it did in Soviet times, but plan to rebuild itself as a great power. Russian foreign policy implementation of both presidents is different from Soviet Era and Tsarist Era policies. For Moscow, in general Eurasian politics are no longer priority. Ideology doesnt exist and military power is hardly appealing. Multipolarity is a key concept of Russias foreign policy both in Yeltsin and Putin era, which aims to secure Russian position as a great power on the world arena and to help to keep the balance of power. Russia is a member of the Mediator Quartet for the Israel- Palestine conflict along with the United States, the United Nations and the EU, and it has become a participant in the six-nation talks concerning North Koreas nuclear programme with the USA, South Korea, China and Japan. Russia has participated in the G-8 summits since 1997, both in two era. Both presidents tried to utilize multipolar staretegy in their foreign policies. Russia both in Yeltsin era and especially in Putin era, gave special importance to the UN Security Council, where it has a veto right with other 4 powerful member countries in the world politics. Russia within this platform opposed to the invasion of Iraq which was brought to the table by United States. In addition, Russia accepted the US intervention in Afghanistan in 2001. Cooperation against terrorism with US in Afghanistan improved relations and contributed to the decision to accord Russia a seat on the G-8 and to create the NATO-Russia Council. In order to exert influence and be recognized as a major power, Putin, as Yeltsin before him, relies on so-called strategic partnerships with the most important western states, especially the United States, the only indisputable superpower in the world.  [9]  EU is the main trade partner of Russia. The EU states were Russias main trading partners, and some of them are quite dependent on Russian oil and gas. Russia prefers to develop relations with EU members separately, with Germany, France, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy, rather than as a group. In addition, although that Russia left the vision of Common European Home aiming to share common European values which was forwarded by Gorbachev, Europe is still the region where Russia wants to see itself. Judged by any criterion-level of political commitment, economic involvement, and security engagement, human and cultural contacts-Moscows world-view continues to be overwhelmingly Westerncentric.  [10]   Differences in Foreign Policy Implementations Yeltsin, during its presidency, was dealing with chaotic economic conditions and a decreasing public support and failing domestic reforms inside, while his successor Putin benefited from economic rise, rising oil prices and successful domestic reforms. Energy power set a big advantage both in domestic and foreign politics. Putin managed to use it as a foreign policy tool, while being experienced improvements in economies of Russia and Eurasian countries. In Yeltsin era, Russian interests were not purely aiming to enhance regional security but also to restore the post-Soviet space under Russian leadership. Knowing that it was beyond Moscows economic capacity, Yeltsin aimed to build common threat assessments as well as having strong mutual ties between Russia and individual countries. Russian actions during Yeltsin can be better understood as being opportunist. Putin was more pragmatic. Putin ceased to thinking of a new reintegrated Eurasia. Russia became a stronger actor in the international system but had no ambition to reassert itself as a Cold War global power. Putin put Russias sovereign interests as a priority in foreign policy. Putin was also more pragmatic in its assessment of threats than Yeltsin. For Putin, the key threats do not come from the United States, but from terrorist activities and those nations falling behind in economic development. Although the Kremlin is wary of US policies and intentions, it prefers engaging with Western partners rather than the balancing tactics implemented in Yeltsin era.  [11]   Putin gave more importance to the use of soft power in the near abroad which means using cooption rather than coercion in foreign policy. Soft power speaks to people and societies rather than governments and elites.  [12]  The absence of pro-Russian governments in Georgia, Ukraine and elsewhere, the task of mobilising ties amongst peoples, rather than with governments, is seen as especially important for preserving in ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡uence. This is a key lesson learned by the Kremlin from its defeat during the Orange Revolution in Ukraine.  [13]  Russia gave start to policies as a tool of soft power such as spreading of Russian mass media, fostering the use of Russian language, giving financial support to Russian diaspora, increasing economic interdependence and creation of a special department for Interregional and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries at the Kremlin. The Kremlin aimed to integrate Russia into regional structures and processes. Soft power which speaks to people and societies, rather than governments and elites can be divided into three components: political legitimacy, economic interdependence, and cultural values.  [14]  Relating political legitimacy aspect, Russia, in Putin era, was considerably more con ¬Ã‚ dent than the Russia of Boris Yeltsin.  [15]  According to the assessment of Economic Development and Trade Minister GermanGref, the GDP almost tripled from 1999 to 2005 and it continues to grow at the annual pace of 4 6%.  [16]   Putin conducted a marked Asianization of Russian foreign policy. Unlike Yeltsin, for whom Asia served mainly to counterbalance the United States, Putin has pursued closer relations with China, Japan, the Koreas, and the ASEAN member- states both for their own sake and as building blocks in a larger challenge to American unipolarity.  [17]  Ceasing the endeavors to integrate central Asia as a whole, gave importance to bilateral relations. Private sector was used as a soft power. On the February 2003 an agreement were made to create the Common Economic Space with Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, to eliminate trade barriers and provide shared energy transport policies. In the security area, by the foundation of mutual security institution, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2010, Russia strengthened its counter terrorism and security policy in Central Asia with members countries China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. In addition to this, Russia signed an alliance treaty with Uzbekistan In November 2005, concering peace, security and stability in the region. In addition, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Armenia- created the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) in 2003, with the aim of  ¬Ã‚ ghting terrorism in the area. The Kremlin stepped up efforts to integrate Russia into regional structures and processes. Bilateral strategic partnerships have been supplemented by membership of, or increasing interaction with, organizations such as APEC, the ASEAN Regional Forum, ASEAN, the East Asia Summit, and the Organization of Islamic Conference. In the area of economic interdependence, Putin increased its economic presence in the economies of the former Soviet republics. Russia participated in energy privatization in the former Soviet region, and as a result of bilateral negotiations, the Kremlin asserted control over the strategic property and transportation of the former republics. As a result of soft politics conducted by Putin, Turkmenistan has turned out to be an energy partner. Russia obtained the right to be the main electricity provider in Georgia. Russia obtained a nuclear power station and became main gas provider in Armenia. Finally, in the area of cultural values, Putin allocated more financial support for Russian diasporas in the post-Soviet area. For instance, in 2003, the government allocated R210 million towards this goal, and in 2004 such funds grew by 20%. Russia has devised the Russian language federal programme led by Lyudmila Putin, the presidents wife.  [18]   Conclusion Although that the two presidents faced with different conditions during their presidencies, both of them conducted a multilateral and multivectoral policy in the international relations. Their policies were without ideology and they didnt have any ambition of world domination as were in Soviet era. In Putin era, there was a more self-reliant and pragmatic Russia in the foreign policy, who got the benefit of Russian soft power more intensively.

Manage finance and budgets :: essays research papers

Pre-amble Custometal Pty Ltd has been trading since 1992 under a couple of different names before becoming a proprietorship in 1998. Since its conception in 1992 it has been with the same owner and trades today as a sole proprietorship. Custometal’s customers consist of the construction industry across Melbourne. Custometal is what is known in the industry as a metal work sub-contractor, with our scope of works basically consisting of custom fabricating all metal items excluding structural steel and items that can be mass produced. Custometal’s company structure consists of 1 general manager, 2 accounts staff, 2 estimating staff, 1 foreman, 2 leading hands and 16 tradesmen, 4 labourers and one apprentice. Being a trade based company; really what we are selling is the time and skills of our workforce more then a physical end product of their labour. 1.0 Introduction Being a trade based company; Custometal’s budgets are not as easy and strait forward as those of manufacturing, retail or even most services companies. Like most companies, we have sales targets, administration budgets, and services budgets that can be fixed, but our workshop budgets and production-based budgets rely heavily on the amount of contracts we have and the type of products we have to supply. The flow of Custometal’s budgets like most are circular, therefore it is difficult to talk about communication of budgets without talking about reporting procedures and how activities are controlled and monitored. The production cycle of our products starts with the estimating department, once the contract is awarded, the estimating department communicates the budget to the production staff who intern communicate the budget to the tradespeople. With the aid of the accounts staff, the production staff monitor and control the budget though the production cycle and report the outcomes back to the estimating department and the general manager and this analysis is used by the estimating department to refine quoting procedures and formulate estimates for simular jobs. 2.0 Roles of the departments 2.1 Estimating Department The estimating department is responsible for formulating production budgets by providing quotes to Custometal’s customers. By submitting quotes, the estimating department enters into a legal agreement with the customer where they are agreeing that if a contract is awarded to Custometal, we will undertake the works at the price stated. The quote and the documentation provided by the customer become legal documents stating the following:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The product on offer – Tender documents are a package that includes a scope of works, written specifications of the product, requirements such as Australian standards to conform with and conditions that the product has to stand up to, detailed drawings and bills of quantities.

Gender Barriers in Athletics Essay -- Sports Feminism Equality Essays

Gender Barriers in Athletics 2. What are the social and cultural costs and benefits of an individual (male or female) entering a non-traditional sport for their gender/sex (eg women who enter body building, power lifting, boxing; men who enter synchronized swimming or field hockey)? Throughout history it is clear that not only women, but both genders have faced seemingly insurmountable barriers when attempting to break into a sport that is not "proper" or stereotypical for their gender to participate in. Though as a society we are making strides towards equality in sport, such as the advent of Title IX, it is clear that we still have a long way to go. Though breakthrough policies such as this are moving in the right direction, other evidence points towards the fact that as a society, we are still more comfortable with women in traditionally female sports such as field hockey as opposed to boxing, and men in traditionally male sports such as body building as opposed to synchronized swimming, since these activities fit with our preconceived notions of what is "normal" for a specific gender. Supporting this idea is the fact that though we seem to be moving towards equality in sport with many coeducational universities and colleges having sport opportunities for bot h sexes, funding is still extremely unequal, as states by the Women's Sports Foundation in 2001: But women and girl athletes have yet to reach parity with men. Women are still only about one-third of interscholastic and intercollegiate athletes. In addition, women college athletes receive less than 26% of college sports' operating budgets, and less than 28% of college recruiting money. Though as a society we are making progress towards equality, there is no way... ...n of both sexes, as described below by Sandi Bittler, Director of women's sports marketing for Nike: It's not like when the boys used to play sports and the girls play with dolls. Now there is crossover in appeal. The first time I noticed it was in 1995 when I traveled with the women's national basketball team tour to 30 universities. For the first time I started seeing these female athletes touching younger kids and it didn't matter if it was a young boy or a young girl (http://www.reporternews.com/1999/features/sport0822.html). In this manner, it is clear that these athletes are taking strides towards equality by affecting the future of our society, youth. Though as a society we face many remaining obstacles in striving toward gender equality in sport, it is important to look at what has been accomplished, and also look to the future for what can still be done.

Huck Finn :: essays research papers

The truth has withstood the test of time. Since the beginning of time the search for truth has plagued humankind. It has caused man to travel to distant lands, to fight one another, and to gain knowledge in its search. It is this truth that will unlock the door that has stood between man and the discovery of his true purpose and innermost self. Man searches for the truth not only for himself but to help benefit society as a whole. The truth teases humankind and implores him to bring it to light, yet the closer he gets the more confusing it becomes. It is because of this search that society has come to develop its ethics as well as the rules and standards for morality. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel written by Mark Twain. This book is very controversial and has even be deemed immoral by some members of society. One particular character that some have said is immoral is Huck Finn. But is he? In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain the character of Huck can be seen as a moral person who grows through his actions and experiences both on land and in the river, even though his actions might go against the set standards of society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Huck is a moral person at the beginning of the novel before he begins his journey on the river. The character of Huck can be seen as subdued in the beginning of the novel. Huck has not let out his true self and it is important to understand this point that Mark Twain tries to get across. This is so important because at this point Huck is conforming to society and following all the standards and guidelines which it has set. The moral correctness of his actions are not questionable. The character who represents society and its views is Widow Douglas, and it is to her that Huck conforms. While on land at the beginning Huck is taken captive by Pap, his estranged father. Huck then starts to see another side of society. When Huck is captured by Pap he is upset because he does not like his father and would rather stay with Widow Douglas. As time goes on Huck begins to enjoy being away from Widow Douglas and the rules of society. Huck begins to feel a sense of discovery and true freedom, but what he does not see is that Pap also represents society.

Common Sickness Experience by Seafarers

Introduction Seafarers both work and live in the same place for varying lengths of time, at times away from their usual place of residence. Seafarers’ stays being restricted more or less to port towns or cities, they are therefore, at the risk of contracting infectious sickness at ports of call in different countries. It can be argued out that, with â€Å"turn around† times at ports of call being short at present, the risk should be considered less; however, this is not the situation as demonstrated by some studies conducted in the recent past.It may be that other factors such as recruiting seafarers from countries where certain infectious diseases are endemic without conducting a proper pre-recruitment medical examination, sexual behavior on board, intra-venous drug abuse on board, living in close proximity to infected carriers, use of unhygienic food and water obtained at ports of call for consumption on board can still, cause infectious diseases among international s eafarers. The effort of reducing and combating the rapid global spread of infectious diseases is no simple task.The causes are multifaceted and thought to be identified before seeking their control. Most infectious diseases are preventable but their a etiology oftentimes lies outside the control of the health sector. Most of all, seafarers encountered this sickness because when they get to the other country some crew member cannot resist the weather of one country, most areas of the world costing substantial proportion of sicknesses Against this backdrop it is without doubt that global spread of infectious diseases had exacerbated and persists as a challenge to the seafarers health and also to national health economies. 1In present day, seafarers where aware some diseases like Hepa, this diseases is danger in health of all human, hepa might came from dirty food or something. Not also from seafarers this is also for all people we should be aware dangerous diseases. Seafarers can cost sickness due to their emotions, they miss their families or even other they are lack of eating from time to time, and it has been happen the given outline above like injuries, poisons, diseases. crew members must have skills to avoid sickness of their daily lives to prevent good health in a right situations.2 Chapter II Discussion of Findings I. Common forms of sickness . Injuries – is a legal term for an injury to the body, mind or emotions as opposed to an injury to property. a. Eye injuries – cost an flicking sand, flying pieces of wood and glasses. b. Head injuries – is also the common sickness of seafarers like they smell a bad chemical on board ship or some they smell a chemical that is bad to their daily activities. c. Bone, joint and muscle injuries – it is the result of high force impact or stress while joint injury if more often caused by a sudden impact to the joint, the ligaments always became damaged as a result of a dislocation. http://en. wiki/ Personal Injuries y:James Gillay 2. Disease – is an abnormal condition that affect the body of an organism. It is often construed as a medical condition associated with specifics symptoms and signs. d. Skin disease – are common for people of all ages whether you suffer with a rash, itchy skin, fungus or infection, skin bumps or skin tags. e. Infection disease – an organisms that are capable of causing disease are called pathogens. A pathogen attacks the body infection occurs whether the infection becomes a disease.But the pathogens get past the defenses infection spreads and causes an infection disease most can be passed from individual. World health organisms International Medical Guide, WHO 2007) 3. Poisoning – are substances that cause disturbance to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organisms. f. Toxic – Toxic is the degree to which a substance ca n damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a substructure of the organism, such as a cell (cytotoxicity) or an organ such as the liver (hepatotoxicity).By extension, the word may be metaphorically used to describe toxic effects on larger and more complex groups, such as the family unit or society at large. â€Å"Toxicity Endpoints & Tests†. AltTox. org. Retrieved 25 February 2012. g. Venom – Venom is the general term referring to any variety of toxins[1] used by certain types of animals that inject it into their victims by the means of a bite, sting or other sharp body feature. [2] Unlike poison, which is ingested or inhaled, venom is usually delivered directly into the lymphatic system, where it acts faster.Graystock, Peter; Hughes, William O. H. (2011). h. Poison to gases – are used in industry as chemical reagents. The chemical reactions they can be used for are more important than their toxicity. Today, chemists try to avoid the use of poisonous gases, but it is often not possible. Examples of large-volume industrial poisonous gases are hydrogen sulfide, cracked from oil, chlorine, in diverse chemical uses and to disinfect drinking. 4 i. Food Poisoning –You may sometimes become very ill with the food poisoning problems after you eat the food.Graystock, Peter; Hughes, William O. H. (2011). II. Causes of Illness j. Accident – An accident or mishap is an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance, often with lack of intention or necessity. It usually implies a generally negative outcome which may have been avoided or prevented had circumstances leading up to the accident been recognized, and acted upon, prior to its occurrence002E International Labour Organization (ILO) k. Bacteria- constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms.Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging fro m spheres to rods and spirals. Bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most habitats on the planet, growing in soil, water, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste,[2] and deep in the Earth's crust, as well as in organic matter and the live bodies of plants and animals, providing outstanding examples of mutualism in the digestive tracts of humans, termites and cockroaches.On February 6, 2013, scientists reported that bacteria were found living in the cold and dark in a lake buried a half-mile deep under the ice in Antarctica. Gorman, James (6 February 2013). 5 l. Virus – is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living calls of an organism, iruses can infect all type of organisms from animals, plants to bacteria and archea. Mary, Brouson M. 1994 m. Chemical Exposure – can result in varying symptoms with different degress of danger mild reactions including buring and tearing of the eyes. WHO press, 2007 III.Reme diations n. First Aid – is the provision of immediate care to a victim with an injury or illness usually effected by a lay person, and performed within a limited skill range. First Aid is normally performed until the injury of illness is satisfactorily dealt with a paramedic or doctors. Insel, Paul M. and Roth, Walton T. mayfield company. 1998 o. Herbal Cure – is the study and use of medicinal properties of plants. The scope of herbal medicine is sometimes extended to include fungal and bee products, as well as minerals, shells and certain animal parts.Pharmacognosy is the study of all medicines that are derived from natural sources. Lichterman, B. L (2004) 6 p. Protection – The protection of sources, sometimes also referred to as the confidentiality of sources or in the U. S. as the reporter's privilege, is a right accorded to journalists under the laws of many countries, as well as under international law. Simply put, it means that the authorities, including t he courts, cannot compel a journalist to reveal the identity of an anonymous source for a story.The right is based on a recognition that without a strong guarantee of anonymity, many people would be deterred from coming forward and sharing information of public interests with journalists. As a result, problems such as corruption or crime might go undetected and unchallenged, to the ultimate detriment of society as a whole. In spite of any such legal protections, the pervasive use of traceable electronic communications by journalists and their sources provides governments with a tool to determine the origin of information. 1] In the United States, the federal government legally contends that no such protection exists for journalists. Liptak, Adam (February 11, 2012). q. Medical assistance – is a non-licensed allied health occupation who reform administrative and clinical tasks to support the work of physicians and other health professionals. They preformed tasks procedures suc h as measuring patients vital signs, administering medications and injections, recording information in medical records keeping systems. Ventura, Florencio T. Medical First Aid

Psychology Prospect Theory

PSY 302 Prospect Theory Review This paper is written in order to compare and contrast two articles that were chosen from the social psychology field. I chose my topic as Prospect Theory. It is one of the theories related to decision making process. This theory not only supported in social psychology but also supported fields of economic, consumer choice, political science and marketing. Prospect theory explains that people are loss averse that means they weigh losses heavily than gains.In other words, â€Å"looses looms larger than gains†. To illustrate; the person who found $100 on street would be less happy than the person who lost $100. The one of reason could be looses are more painful than gains are pleasant. Thus, humans cannot easily get rid of the effect of bad outcomes. I learned firstly this theory from one of my marketing courses and I really interested in that theory because it is implications likely to occur in our lives but I have never thought of it.That is why I choose two of my articles from that theory and I wanted to learn what different perspectives to that theory are. Those chosen articles are â€Å"When small losses do not loom larger than small gains: Effects of contextual autonomy support and goal contents on behavioral responses to small losses and small gains† and â€Å"When gains loom larger than losses: reversed loss aversion for small amounts of money. † However those two article tried to explain the time when looses do not loom larger than gains.That means within a specific situations prospect theory would be reversed. The rest of the paper will be devoted to comparison of their methodology, research question and predictions. Finally I will explain my opinion and suggestions to improve that research. First of all there will be an explanation of their research questions. â€Å"When gains loom larger than losses: reversed loss aversion for small amounts of money† tried to predict that when there is small loss, gains loom larger than losses. Thus, it says that prospect theory would be reversed for small things.However the article called â€Å"When small losses do not loom larger than small gains: Effects of contextual autonomy support and goal contents on behavioral responses to small losses and small gains† tried to predict that in the conditions of psychological needs may increase behavioral responses to gains more than behavioral responses to losses. To sum up, their theory same as â€Å"When gains loom larger than losses: reversed loss aversion for small amounts of money† because both of them predicted that loses may not loom larger than gains.However there are differences in terms of conducting those predictions. The main difference among those two articles is that â€Å"When gains loom larger than losses: reversed loss aversion for small amounts of money† put their hypothesis in terms of monetary values whereas other article tried to understand behavioral a nd affective responses to gains because writers think that loss aversion hypothesis gives importance to monetary phenomena not behavioral responses. Thus, they tried to understand the effect of goal fulfilling on prospect theory.Goals are related to this issue because in article they pointed out that, goals are seen as reference points. Humans evaluate their success or unsuccessfulness of outcomes comparing themselves to reference point, they determined. Thus, reference outcomes determine whether they faced a loss or they face a gain. That means in terms of behavioral responses of prospect theory, reference points are important. REFERENCES Harinek, F. , Dijk, E. V. , Beest, I. V. , & Mersmann, P. (2007). When gains loom larger than losses:reversed loss aversion for small amounts of money.Psychological science, 18(12), 1099-1105. (Harinek, Dijk, Beest & Mersmann, 2007) Chatzisarantis, N. L. D. , Kee, Y. H. , Thaung, H. K. , & Hagger, M. S. (2011). British journal of social psychology . When small losses do not loom larger than small gains: Effects of contextual autonomy support and goal contents on behavioral responses to small losses and small gains, Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary. wiley. com/doi/10. 1111/j. 2044-8309. 2011. 02033. x/abstract (Chatzisarantis, Kee, Thaung & Hagger, 2011)

Her First Ball Essay

My first impression of Leila simply from the first page of â€Å"Her First Ball,† was that she was an innocent girl that wasn’t completely satisfied with her current situation in life. Leila was portrayed as having a weak/inexperienced heart. For example, â€Å"†¦she couldn’t have helped crying because she was an only child, and no brother had ever said ‘Twig? ’ to her† (265), and for the fact that being different from the others bothered her. Despite her innocence and immaturity, she attempts to compose herself and act mature than she is capable of by â€Å"trying not to smile too much; she tried not to care† (265). Her life up to now wasn’t eventful or memorable in any way and she has a desire to cling onto the present/momentary excitement and not let go. â€Å"She would remember forever. It even gave her a pang to see her cousin Laurie throw away the wisps of tissue†¦as a keepsake, as a remembrance† (265), shows her emotions on how she wants to keep hold of every little detail of this first ball. I made the connection of this ball being her first in relation to not only the actual ball, but numerous ‘first times’ down her path of becoming mature. First time interacting with the opposite gender, feeling the lack of maturity amongst the other girls in the ladies’ room and first time in being hit in the head with reality, a frightening image from the fat man that Leila had never considered before, resulting in a somewhat loss of her previous innocence. I was able to relate to Leila’s situation of having missed out on the experiences of the ‘real world,’ such as the comparison between Leila and the Sheridan girls. Having lived in Abbotsford for my entire middle school life, I believe I missed out on experiences that I would have had if I lived out in the city (Surrey), seeing that Abbotsford is relatively an isolated/country city. Although I wasn’t as isolated as having the â€Å"nearest neighbor for fifteen miles† (265), I felt I could relate to Leila’s uncontrollable excitement that she felt while she was taking in her new surroundings. The impactful last sentence of the story, â€Å"She didn’t even recognize him again† (270), I found it almost eerie regarding the fact that it seemed like her memory was wiped blank. I questioned that even though her innocence was already long gone, whether that meant she would have to go through the same horrible process of being hit on the head by reality, as the first time she met the fat man and how she will be able to cope with the shock and sadness she feels every time. Throughout the reading, her style of writing, her word choices portrayed Leila’s perspective of her first ball in a magical/fantasy way. The presentation of a perfectly set up ball, â€Å"she clutched her fan, and gazing at the gleaming, golden floor, the azaleas, the lanterns, the stage at one end with its red carpet†¦how heavenly; how simply heavenly (267)! Every little detail was attractive and well suited to her fantastical desires. Leila was not yet revealed to the somewhat frightening reality that comes along with her magical world that is inevitable.

‘I’m ceded †I’ve stopped being Theirs-‘(Emily Dickinson) Essay

The theme of Poem 508 Im ceded Ive stopped being Theirs- is the exploration of the narrators growth from childhood to adulthood, through the development of spiritual consciousness. The reader is immediately made aware that the narrator has undergone a dramatic change. With the use of the word ceded, there is the sense that something has been given away. It is usually territory that is the object of this verb and so its unusual application to a person captures the readers attention. Furthermore, it is punctuated by Dickinsons familiar dash which isolates and emphasises it as if it were followed by an exclamation mark. This expression appears to be an exclamation of relief to be freed from the obligations of the expectations of her parents and this interpretation is supported by her statement -Ive stopped being Theirs-. This is a strong, almost defiant statement, which seems to be a declaration of liberation and individual existence and identity. The forced caesura created by the use of dashes on either side of the statement indicates a rupture. The use of ceded makes it sound as if it is not a person who is being discussed and the sense of the impersonal is further developed in the way that Dickinson refers to The name. The narrator is not taking ownership of the name and emphasises this with is finished using now, implying it was temporarily borrowed. Similarly, the narrator does not take ownership of the spirituality of the Baptism They dropped upon my face. The narrator does not regard it as holy, thereby rejecting the sense of divinity. The narrators childhood is finished And They can put it with my Dolls,. In this phase of life she has no use for the toys. Equally she has no use for The name. It is noticeable that name is not capitalised illustrating its lack of importance for the narrator. In this first stanza, there is also the rejection of and moving on from the string of spools, and threading which are typically womanly pursuits. The narrator used to obediently follow such activities but she daringly declares her rejection of traditional, female roles. The dashes on either side of too give this declaration an anxious, breathless quality, further indicating the narrators audacity. In the second stanza, the reader is alerted to the narrators development and growth; it transcends beyond the physical development of the child to adult,  to the spiritual development culminating into her entering into a covenant with God. The narrator is aware that to have been Baptized, before, without the choice does not have significance. The Baptism before is the imposition of her parents beliefs and values. By rejecting their religious beliefs, the narrator is also rejecting their name and the imposition of feminine activities, thus asserting herself as a strong, adult woman who is free to make her own choices. As in Poem 324 Some keep the Sabbath going to Church-, Dickinson emphasises the importance of choice; in Poem 508, the narrator objects to her parents values and beliefs, together with the religious expression of the community. Similarly, in Poem 324, the narrator rejects the way in which the majority of people choose to observe the Sabbath, preferring to keep it, staying at Home-. The Poem ends with the narrator stating So instead of getting to Heaven, at last -/ Im going, all along. This seems to pre-empt the ending of Poem 508, in which the narrator concludes I choose, just a Crown-, showing that through the course of both poems, Dickinson grapples with the issue of religious belief and its expression, arriving at the conclusion that she will engage with religion in her own way, indicating that both Dickinson and the narrator have grown by the end of the poems. Paradoxically, in her sonnet Tears Elizabeth Barrett Browning, whose poetry influenced Dickinson, talks about an unconscious refusal to grow. She advocates that the reader look up! †¦ And leave the vision clear for stars, yet she seems to be refusing to do so herself preferring to keep hold of her grief for fear of again losing what she mourn s for. The narrators second Baptism contrasts dramatically with her first, this time, consciously, of Grace-; her spiritual growth is evident. Gods Grace allows the narrator salvation from Original Sin. By choosing freely to participate in a second Baptism, the narrator is embracing a religious and spiritual life and is Called to my Full. It appears that she is undergoing an epiphany. Through this transcendent experience, the narrator is completed, connecting with the spirituality of God. With the use of supremest, Dickinson is able to convey both God as the Supreme Being and the supreme name bestowed upon the narrator by Gods Grace. By referring to her small Diadem filling up Existences whole Arc, the narrator suggests that her  soul has expanded, thus demonstrating her spiritual growth. In the third and final stanza, Dickinson contrasts the life of her narrator pre-epiphany, with that post-epiphany. My second Rank too small the first- Dickinson makes the reader aware of the enormous impact that the epiphany has had on the narrator. In the previous stanza, Dickinson described how the narrator filled up, and now she allows the reader to see how it has influenced her life, through the direct comparison between the size of her existence before the epiphany and the size of it afterwards. With her words, she creates a picture of the repression of her childhood, symbolising this with the half unconscious Queen- on her Fathers breast. In holding the narrator to him, her father is simultaneously protecting her and repressing her. Dickinsons earlier denunciation of [Their] values, along with her final declaration of the right to choose illustrates a Romantic desire to be herself. Dickinson clearly believes that her first Baptism lacked significance, due to her unconscious state. This time however, the narrator is said to be Erect; literally she is no longer a baby who is unable to stand, and needs the support of her Fathers breast. Furthermore it is a strong visual image, symbolising her full adult status. The narrator has clearly grown through the course of Poem 508; physically she has grown from a baby to a strong, independent woman, yet more importantly, she has grown spiritually. The narrator has been selected by God to be saved from Original Sin and the magnitude and significance of this cannot be overstated. It is evident from many of her poems that Dickinson despises the way in which the Calvinist community placed a greater importance on religious ceremony than on the meaning behind it. The narrator therefore appears grateful that God has recognised her inner spirituality over the ostentatious actions of others which can lack sincerity. The narrators contemplation throughout the poem results in her coming to a conclusion at the end. This is reflected by the rhyme scheme of the poem; whilst the first and second stanzas lack an apparent rhyming sequence, Dickinson employs rhyme and off-rhyme in the third stanza, demonstrating a subtle movement towards a more harmonious existence, thus ending with the optimistic sense of growth. Bibliography McNeil, Helen ed., Emily Dickinson: Everymans Poetry, Orion Publishing Group, 1997http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinismhttp://www.quotesandpoem.com/poems/poeticworks/Browning/Poems_of_1844/11