Saturday, August 31, 2019

Explain what is meant by natural law Essay

Natural moral law contains ethical theories which express that there is a natural order to our world that should be followed. A quote from Cicero, De Republica elaborates on the idea that natural law ethics is a universal and a prescriptive ethical theory, â€Å"The law will not lay down one rule in Rome and another in Athens†¦ There will be one law eternal and unchangeable, binding at all times upon all people†. Natural law suggests deontological and absolutist ideas although there seems to be some form of flexibility. The natural order, according to the theory, which humans supposedly obtain, is from some supernatural power. Natural law relies on human reason and how we interpret different situations and acting accordingly; if all humans share this similar reasoning then we must all bare the same ethical code. The earliest date that has been found of a theory of natural law appeared amongst Stoics. It explains how all humans have something within that aids them to live according to nature. Interestingly the early theories state that humans have a choice in abiding by laws but they must use their reason to understand and decide to abide or not. This differs slightly from Thomas Aquinas’ view as he believes in precepts that must be abided by. Aristotle’s ideas can be tied with natural law, such as the 4 causes. Aristotle explains in his work that every object has a specific nature, purpose and function. It is based on the religious conviction that God created the world, creating a sense of order and purpose to reflect his will. Furthermore, he believes that every object has a supreme good, for humans that are happiness. A sowing needle can be used as an example of supreme purpose, its purpose is thread though materials but it’s supreme good is to thread though a material as effort as possible by being as sharp as it can be. Aristotle believes that the supreme good for humans is to flourish in society and to live a life of reason. This is the same reason that humans must use to guide them though decisions in their life. Also in Aristotle’s work he says â€Å"the natural is that which everywhere is is equally valid, and depends not upon being or not being received†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ what Aristotle means here is that natural law exists whether or not we accept it , it will always be there for eternity. St Thomas Aquinas’ theory of natural law was mainly influence by the works of Aristotle and Plato. Aquinas’ was a Christian philosopher and theologian who developed a fuller account of the natural law. He describes natural law as a moral code existing within the purpose of nature that reflects Gods law, in a sense it is am aid to allow humans to achieve Gods given laws. Aristotle’s idea of purpose may have influenced him to expand on the idea. Aquinas’ theory of natural law differs from ‘divine command theory’ as Natural law is more accessible to all and it relies on reason. Furthermore Aquinas’ theory evaluates both acts and attitude as it allows humans to glorify God an express what a good God is. Like Aristotle, Aquinas explains how humans aim for a purpose but unlike Aristotle who believes this is happiness, he believes all humans are ‘made in the image of God’. Therefore the supreme good must be the development of this image of God, which is perfection. This perfection, according to Aquinas was not possible to be achieved in this life but only in the next life and the purpose of morality is to allow us to fulfill our desires. A fundamental part of his theory Is to achieve as much good as possible and avoiding evil. He believes this because we were created for one purpose and that is perfection . Aquinas believed that there was no such thing as evil as we are all made in the image of God, therefore it is logical for Aquinas to say humans do not carry out evil but apparent goods. For example if a person commits adultery he or she believes that it is good , although this is an error of reason they have apparently done the right thing according to them. Aquinas’ theory of natural law greatly stresses the fact that our nature is knowable and we need to use our reason to know it and understand it. The fundamental primary principles of natural law are of great importance to Aquinas’s theory. They are always true and always apply to everyone. They are: the preservation of life, continuation of species, educating children, lives in society and worshiping God, which is the most important. Although some aspects of these precepts can be debatable, masturbation is against the primary precept as it does not preserve life. But then one can rebuttal and say that rape would be acceptable as it preserving life. The secondary precepts are more flexible and realistic; they are a specific application of primary precepts, such as; do not murder and defend the defenseless. Such examples do not need working out the moral code as they take into account our human limitations and weaknesses, therefore they are presented as relatively straight forward. ‘Natural law is unjust’ Discuss In my opinion there is no ethical theory that pleases everyone, there is bound to one or more flaws. Such theories that have been worked on very many years ago prove hard to search for answers concerning our modern world. Natural law finds it exceedingly challenging to relate to complex decisions to basic principles, for example ; should more money be spent helping charities or on hospitals. It leaves one stuck between two options. Abortion would be considered against the natural ethic code. Having an abortion is stopping life and limiting reproduction, against ‘many and multiply’. But putting abortion in the context of saving a life shows a different perspective. If the mother was in a situation where she would not be able to supporting a child, surely that would benefit instead create life that would suffer. Another topic that is disputable is contraception. Similarly with contraception it is prohibiting new life but then again it can be for the greater good. For example protected sex prevents sexually transmitted diseases. Furthermore a weakness to natural moral law according to Aquinas’ is that it assumes everyone carries out good acts, I find this slightly deluded and optimistic. I find hard to believe that acts such as rape an apparent good, surely one who carries out such an action knows that this is wrong; some people may want to be perceived as evil for unknown reasons. Different societies have different natural values therefore it is hard accepting one universal law. Among the weaknesses, there are several strengths to natural law. It does give a concise, clear-cut approach to morality and establishing common rules which day to day topics can be related to. It has a fairly positive approach by mainly concentrating on the potential goodness than the wrong. Furthermore Natural law concentrates on the character of humans and there potential for goodness rather than the right or wrong decisions on certain acts, it attempts to bring the best out of a situation, it proves to allow some degree of flexibility. It also emphasizes the fulfillment of our natures, all the things we require for happiness – health, friends, the purpose of our existence and morality. Some aspects of natural law I believe to be unjust, such as abortion for the greater good. It seems to be a very optimistic ethical view, which seeks only the good in humans, but in a sense it seems to shun bad as a whole which In my opinion is unjust.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Forensic Science Mod 12 Review Essay

1. What is a comparison microscope? What are the advantages of this microscope? A comparison Microscope is 2 microscopes in one it allows you to view 2 slides at once. This is a huge advantage because it allows you to compare evidence with known sample. 2. What are the three substances that generally make up paint? Describe each part. The three substances that generally make up paint are Pigments, Binders and Solvent. Pigments are what produce a particular color of paint. Binders are what provide support for the paint and the solvent is what makes the paint into a liquid. 3. What are polymers? Polymers are substances that are made up of many atoms that form in repeating patterns. 4. What is a scanning electron microscope? What are its advantages? The scanning electron microscope is a microscope that works by shooting beams of electrons at the slide and recording the emissions of the electrons. One advantage is that it has much better magnification than other microscopes! 5. What is the PDQ? What is it used for? The PDQ also known as the Paint Data Quarry is a database that allows some forensic labs to compare automobile paint to narrow down the paint color to the make and model of a car. Critical Thinking Questions 1. What are some of the challenges for forensic scientists in dealing with fiber evidence? Some challenges for Forensic Scientists dealing with fibers are that they have to find these tiny pieces of evidence. 2. What does it mean if a paint sample â€Å"matches† a known sample from a vehicle? Does this indicate the same source? Why or why not? 3. Why are microscopes important to forensic scientists? Microscopes are important to forensic science because it allows us to compare and analyze evidence such as trace evidence. 4. What elements of paint can help forensic scientists compare samples to each other? Paint samples can be compared to each other by comparing the three core products the! Which are pigments which are added to make a certain color? Another is the  Binder which provides support to the paint and Solvents which are there to disperse these substances.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

2.03 Cell Membranes and Homeostasis Essay

Objective(s): The reason for this experiment is to see how starch and iodine affect each other and how a plastic bag works similar to a membrane in certain situations. Introduction: I know prior to doing this experiment that iodine mixed with starch creates a dark color and that most objects, organic and inorganic, naturally experience isotonic reactions. Hypothesis: I think that the potato will absorb more starch than the sweet potato and they will both absorb relatively similar amounts of water. Procedure: Variables: Controlled- water and size of potatoes. Manipulated variables- potatoes growth based on contents of solution. Data: Data and Observations Bag ContentInitial color of water/iodine solution in the cupFinal color of the solution in the cup Starch and Water Dark blue, purple Blackish Blue WaterOrangeyOrange Analysis Questions Part 1 1.Restate your hypothesis and discuss if the observed results supported the hypothesis. -Based off what I observed, my hypothesis, stating that the potato will absorb more starch than the sweet potato, was correct. 2.Identify the control and variables in your experiment. -Variables: Controlled- water and size of potatoes. Manipulated variables- potatoes growth based on contents of solution. 3.Why do we observe the color of the solution before adding the sandwich bags to each cup? -To make sure that the solutions contain the necessary contents. 4.Based on your observations, is the sandwich bag permeable to starch? To iodine? -Iodine is permeable to the sandwich bag, while starch is not. 5.Look up the molecular structures of starch and iodine, and use those structures to explain your observations. -Starch is a more complex compound than iodine, making it easier for iodine to pass through objects. 6.If a balance was available, describe how you could use it in this experiment and what the purpose would be. -The balance could be used to also see the difference is the potatoes before and after the observation time. 7.Living organisms are made of cells. Those cells must receive nutrients and gases in order to undergo the metabolic processes that maintain homeostasis. In paragraph form, explain how you think the nutrients and gases enter the cell. Distinguish between the molecules that can enter by diffusion by simply moving across the membrane and those that must expend energy to cross the cell membrane. -Nutrients enter cells in to major ways, through active and passive transport. When a molecule uses diffusion or other processes that require no energy, they are using passive transport. An example molecule for this would be water or glucose. Other molecules, that need to use energy to enter a cell use active transport. Many molecules that use this are macromolecules, like proteins. Molecules use one of these two transports to enter a cell. 8.List three criteria cells use to select materials to enter or leave the cell. Then explain the role of each criterion in determining the type of transport a cell will use for different sized molecules. For instance, small molecules move across the membrane by diffusion, given they are moving with the concentration gradient. -Water can enter the cell in order to balance the amount inside to the amount of the environment. This is passive due to the fact that it happens without any external energy. -Some molecules can pass into the cell by facilitated diffusion. This is passive due to the nature of diffusion and because the solute is moving down its concentration gradient. – Sodium is moved out of an animal cell while potassium is moved into the cell by the sodium-potassium-pump. This is through active transport because it uses energy. Restate your hypothesis and discuss if the observed results supported the hypothesis. -Based off what I observed, my hypothesis, stating that the potato will absorb more starch than the sweet potato, was correct. 2.Use your observations to explain if each type of cell (potato, sweet potato/pear/apple) was isotonic, hypertonic, or hypotonic to each of the solutions. Explain what happened to each type of cell in response to the type of solution it was in. -Potato- it was hypertonic and gained water in the water solution. In the starch solution, it was hypotonic. -Sweet Potato- it was hypertonic in the water solution and went through plasmolysis in the starch solution. 3.Based on the observed volume changes, which of  the vegetables/fruits used in this experiment has a greater amount of sucrose in its cells? Explain your answer. -The Sweet Potato seemed to have an originally larger amount of sucrose in its cells. Conclusion: In conclusion, it seems like the hypothesis was relatively c orrect. From the data collected from the experiment, the two potato samples were subjected to different solutions. The potato was hypertonic to the distilled water and hypotonic to the starch solution. The sweet potato, on the other hand, was a little harder to determine, though it was obvious that it was hypertonic to the distilled water, it was hard to determine if it was hypo-,hyper-, or isotonic. Since it was hard, I did a little research and realized that what I was seeing was the sweet potato going through plasmolysis. This experiment was somewhat difficult due to the fact that I was observing periodically, but it seems like it was a success.

Case study of Mcdonalds Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Case study of Mcdonalds - Essay Example The rapid decline of revenues and deteriorating market position of 1990s could be contributed to number of factors like highly competitive global business environment, tough market conditions, tough labour conditions, lowering of costs of products, lack of new products etc. But under the stewardship of James Cantalupo, who took charge in 2003, the firm started making a definite turnaround. Efficient exploitation of the internal resources of the firm was the major contributory element which helped it to regain its market. McDonald’s corporate strategy mainly relies on creating value through customer satisfaction. It has been able to gain effective leverage against its rivals by exploiting its internal resources which are: brand equity, quality products and exemplary service. It has evolved into the best fast food centre through customer satisfaction and meeting their changing preferences. The use of technology and uniformity in its products has been the hallmark of its fast food across the world. The unmatched efficiency in the delivery of its services and the uniform quality of its food has become the unique feature of all its outlets. They provide quality food at low prices and give ‘value’ to the customers. Indeed, McDonald is the first food chain that has truly become global in its operation and values. The managerial leadership realized the importance of identifying the changing eating habits and accordingly introduced changes within its products. The burgers have been its main products that it has maintained by customising it as per the preference of the customers. It has also introduced wide variety of salads and healthy food in its menu while at the same time, localizing the products by adding local flavour. They differentiated the products by customising it according to the demands of the customers. The use of technology and uniformity in its

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Report for Sustainable Global Enterprise Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Report for Sustainable Global Enterprise - Essay Example This is because it operates in an industry that is rapidly evolving and is therefore highly competitive. In such a field, it is a difficult task to maintain a sustainable global enterprise. It has therefore been essential for the company to review policies so that it can be able to cope with the changes in the industry and at the same time maintain its position in the competitive environment (Britishairways.com). The last quarter of the 20th century has seen a whole lot of changes being experienced in the transport sector. These changes have contributed to a number of issues that are being experienced in the aviation transport industry today (Kamarth & Tornquist, 2004, p23). The industry is having challenges from different fields such social, environmental and technological technicalities. The social issues that are facing the industry are many. One of the social issues is the financial crisis which caught the industry by its neck. The financial crisis makes prices to keep fluctuating and therefore players in the industry can never be sure of the outcome of a financial year. In 1997, there was the Asian financial crisis which affected the industry considering that Asia was an emerging market for companies in the industry. 2009 was one of the least profitable years because the economic crisis in the world had hit very hard (Belobaba, Odoni, & Barnhart, 2009, p41). The financial crisis is a macro-economic instability that is facing the industry. Another macro-economic instability that is facing the aviation transport industry is terrorism. This issue was a result of the 9/11 bombing in 2001. Ever since then, the industry has been under immense pressure from the public to tighten security and ensure

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Gambling Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Gambling Industry - Essay Example ingapore Government in order to introduce the casinos officially in the international market was in 2005 by providing licenses to two of the casinos in Singapore. There were many controversies and remarks that went against the policy but today after taking proper legal actions and control the government have recorded to generate large incomes in terms of tax revenues from the gamblers. Another reason why gambling is so important for the economy is that it attracts customers from all around the world. Therefore, it enhances the growth of tourism sector, which is another major contributor to the Singapore Economy. This paper in this regard is focused on the challenges of the international market and the competencies of the gambling industry in Singapore. Conclusively the paper shall also direct to evaluate the limitations and drawbacks that can prove to be affective for the growth of the industry and try to suggest the economy to eradicate those factors. On this behalf, the paper shall also consider the Porter’s Diamond Model to analyze the competitive edge of the gambling industry of Singapore. Geographically emphasizing, Singapore is a country originated by the amalgamation of 63 islands in total and is termed to be the smallest country situated in the south eastern hemisphere of Asia. According to the economists’ view, Singapore is a developing economy, mixed by its nature, with a minimum interference from the part of the Government in its trading market. Mentionable, the economy ranked to be second among the economies possessing the best potential for international investment with the outlook to be most welcoming and liberal for the international trading business. Undoubtedly, despite the fact that the economy is geographically small, it is economically powerful as any other developing economy to attract the international trade (Economy Watch, 2010). The economy, in a wider perspective rather than international investments, is depended on the agricultural

Monday, August 26, 2019

Attitudes,values and job satisfaction Research Paper

Attitudes,values and job satisfaction - Research Paper Example This becomes a problem when the recruited personnel are unable to deliver on their mandate or bring the organization (Robins & Judge, 2013). Financial accounting, reporting and advising are perhaps the areas plagued the most by the problem of dishonesty. Accountants fabricate financial statements in bid to either cover up for the company money they have used on personal spending, or for money they want to rob the organization. On the other hand, audit firms are bought into covering up a company’s dishonest or fraudulent financial deals hence reporting inaccurate information to regulatory agencies and authorities such as Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Some financial advisers collude with organizations in influencing potential clients to join their investment deals even when they would have objectively advised against them. Dishonest financial accounting, reporting and advising can affect negatively on organizational attitudes (Wilson, 2004). Dishonesty has adverse effects on job satisfaction. Rationalization makes dishonest employees justify their dishonest conduct on a cost-benefit analysis. The rewards that come with dishonesty are short-lived and they haunt when the person enjoying realizes that these rewards would have gone into helping other deserving people. Additionally, dishonesty affects job satisfaction when a person in the workplace, especially one in a senior position, unfairly denies an employee some benefits and gives them to another person. This is what happens when promotion opportunities are given to people undeservedly and unequally. Employees are dissatisfied with their work when dishonest conduct brings strife and wrangles amongst them (Robins & Judge, 2013). An issue that contributes to the propagation of dishonesty in the workplace is the lack of elaborate oversight measures. When incumbents are not assessed for dishonesty, it leaves a leeway for them to flout an organization’s culture and values.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Case Study Example This implies that older employees are of more importance to the organization. The firing of such employees must identify those resistant to change or those considered ineffective and offer them an effective retirement package. The plan for the changes thus begins with the study of the market. An extensive market research reveals new mechanisms of doing business and the changing trends in service delivery. This enables the management strategize and effective come back plan that will inform the subsequent decisions. After an effective audit of the market, the second step in implementing the change is a study of the organizational structure. This includes a study of the nature of service delivery and product design and distribution. A reconciliation of the two research reports reveal the discord thereby informing the necessary changes. Changes are often bold and begin by review the employee status in the firm thereby resulting in the firing of ineffective employees and hiring new ones. It also includes the installment of newer better technologies to aid the management process. This subsequently result in either the expansion or contraction of the organization. Either of which, presents a number of both challenges and opportunities. Question 2 One of the most important operational components is diversification. The original company failed to realize profits because of the resultant miscommunication between the company’s productions and the requirements of the market. While the market kept changing, the company stuck to previous means of doing business thereby resulting in the subsequent failure. The changes in the market should often dictate the changes in operations of an organization, one way of ensuring such is through diversification. By diversifying the products and services, the organization targets a wider market. Furthermore, the wide market provides an effective market research through monitoring sales. This way, the management observes the most pre ferred products and therefore strategies the production in accordance to the patterns in the sales of the specific products. Diversification often demand changes in the means of doing business. The organization must have a constant consultative nature of relationship with the market. This implores the need for constant market research in order to effect the necessary changes to meet the demands of the market. The new management of the organization carries out an audit of the company’s operations and the results show major discrepancies even in the new dispensation. The fact lack of grooming in the employees’ of the firm stifle the sales despite the extensive research. This implies that while the new management has carried out effective market research, it fails to carry out an audit of its internal structures in order to determine the best ways of conducting business in the new market in order to realize the profitability (Thomas & Michael, 2001). Question 3 Interperso nal skills refer to the human management skills. Managers plan, control, organize and motivate numerous employees depending on the size of the organization the managers must therefore have relational skills to enable them work effectively with their employees, such skills help determine the factors affecting their employees’ productivity thereby crafting the necessary cha

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Medical Ethics in the clinical laboratory science Essay

Medical Ethics in the clinical laboratory science - Essay Example The ethical problem will be lying about the capabilities and abilities of john in fulfilling his the new jobs roles. This will dirty the reputation of the manager’s name for a bad recommendation, and it will put john into deep waters for failure to take full charge. The primary stakeholders in the scenario are the laboratory manager and john. The secondary stakeholder is the clinical laboratory that is offering the new job while the tertiary stakeholders are the society and the clinical laboratory science profession (Zhong, 22). Being the manager, the practical alternative is writing a recommendation based on the actual abilities of john. The professional code of ethics addresses the situation and states that the integrity of the profession should be placed above individual and personal interests. As the manager, it is best to mention in the letter, that john is not fit in the position based on his skills level. This enables the manager to work with integrity, respect and competence in accordance with the code of ethics. It is best not to tell john the he was not recommended for the job in order to maintain a peaceful, working environment (Jones, 370). I am a worker working in the night with other technicians in a 300 bed community hospital. One of the co-workers working in the evening shifts is faking the quality control figures. However, after making the realization, I talk to the supervisor about the situation and he tells me to do my work and only mind my business. No one in the department seems to take the quality control matter seriously, yet the errors are avoidable in order to achieve better patient’s results in quality control as well as enhance quality care delivery to the patients. The ethical problem in the scenario is falsification and negligence of the test results yet the supervisors does nothing about it even after being told of the situation in hand. The

Friday, August 23, 2019

Preparing to Conduct Business Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Preparing to Conduct Business - Research Paper Example Qualitative Research is only ideal during the earlier phases of research projects while the notion of Quantitative Research is highly recommended because it supplements the preliniary research. Additionally, quantitative Research provides the researcher a much better picture into challenges for any given organization. In Zappo’s case, it must understand its customer’s purchasing power as well. I think it is crucial to understand that both can very beneficial for Zappos. For instance, qualitative can provide pivotal hindsight a broader picture of hypothesis whereas quantitive can be utilized for focused niche research. In essence, both can provide a detailed view and a holistic approach on customers, sales, inventory, etc. The drawback of using one method is that it confines the organization to one thinking and does not provide a holistic approach to problems. Zappos has been facing many challenges as it continues to be a leading retailer for shoes. However, it must still address the cost issues and operations logistics to serve its customer base

Thursday, August 22, 2019

In 2-3 pages, I want you to write about the misfit characters we have Essay

In 2-3 pages, I want you to write about the misfit characters we have encountered in _Bartleby the Scrivener_ story by(Herma - Essay Example The Misfits: An Analysis The story â€Å"The Lady with the Pet Dog† captivates two central characters and the story actually revolves round them. The story â€Å"The Lady with the Pet Dog† is an illicit or extra-marital love affair between Anna Sergeyevna and Dmitri Gurov who are both married and are in love with each other during their vacation at Yalta sea shore. Gurov seems quite misfit as a character as his attitude takes him beyond the normal parameters of the human conventions and behaviour. He thinks women as â€Å"inferior sex† but at the same time falls in love with women myriad times in his life even after having married and being a father of a twelve year old girl and two sons. His passion for Anna takes him to St. Petersburg and Anna’s refusal to continue any kind of extra-marital relation with him makes him desperate to the extent that he follows Anna and her husband into the theatre and speaks with her at the first interval when her husband g ets away for couple minutes. Despite Anna’s repeated refusal, Gurov at last succeeds in confiding from Anna the fact that she is in love with him too.

Ghost Town Essay Example for Free

Ghost Town Essay A graveyard at midnight was always going to be scary. I just hadnt expected it to be quite so scary. Shadows scuttled behind crooked grave-stones. Street lights glowered like white unblinking eyes through the fog. Cold, clammy fingers stroked the back of my neck. Its just the wind, I told myself. Dont go shrieking like some silly girl, or youll give them away. I clutched my bad tighter, keeping my eyes on the circle of bobbing torches. Those Cool Club kids thought they were so cool, coming to the graveyard in the middle of the night, dressed all in black. I could hear them giggling, and making spooky sounds, as Reaper whose real name was Matt held a torch under his chin and told some stupid ghost story. Skeleton was glugging down some disgusting black drink they called bats blood, though I knew it was really blackcurrant cordial with green food colouring and a bit of flour. I knew this because Skeleton is my big brother Hamish, and hed chased me all round the house this afternoon trying to make, me drink it. Hamish and his mates thought they were so cool, but Id show them! I crouched down behind a broken stone angel, and carefully rummaged through my bag. A bag of flour, a toy microphone that made your voice echo loudly, a length of ragged white muslin curtain right, I was ready. Just then, I heard a weird shuffling sound right behind me, I whipped round and saw A rage infected dog! It was moving rapidly, in my direction and ready to pounce. Slowly and quietly it snuck up on me edging closer and closer. Without out any sudden warning the mad dog pounced. Rapidly, I moved just in time to get out of the way. The rage infected dog sensed my fear and I stood still as still can be. Furiously, I ditched my plans and I decided to make a run for it, leaving my bag and equipment behind. As soon as I started running, the dog came racing behind me, just waiting to take a bite out of my, little legs. The graveyard was a dark and mysterious place, which I would have never dared to go. My thoughts and my fear were getting the better of me and my legs. I started to slow down. In the moments of shear disbelief, the river came upon me, which ran past the graveyard. Without any conscious decision I leapt into the river with full force. The dog came to an abrupt halt. The blood was pumping frantically throughout my body. Moments later my heart rate began to normalise. The dog lost my scent and gave a frightening howl, which temporarily paralysed my hearing. The rage within the dog was building. I looked up through the shrubs, in the direction of the river bank. Slowly and quietly I swam towards the bank. The dog turned back and bailed. I was determined to get back to the club but the winds and the noises of the graveyard were again taking advantage of me, breaking me down slowly and slowly. I made the most immediate decision, and that was to follow the dog. As stupid as I was, I would always keep a safe distance away from the unpredictable creature. With no clear path and all dense shrubs, I had trouble getting out of the banks. My body was shivering; the hairs on my legs and arms were all straight and upright. The deep cuts from the bushes started to emerge on my legs and the lacerations started to sting as the dry wind grazed against them. With blood trickling out of the cuts on my legs I started walking, keeping a good distance from the dog. I soon got back to the clubs location and no one was there. And then it hit me, I had just lost track of the dog. The problem was where was the dog? After 10 minutes of walking, I soon spotted the club whimpering behind a cold hard abrasive rock. I was worried. There was no sign of Hamish, my big brother. Matt said that Hamish had gone off wandering tying to find me. One of the other club members spotted a dark red trail just ahead of the rock. Matt, his mates and I grouped together and we started following the blood trail. It seemed endless. The trail went on and on and no one knew when it would stop. After endlessly travelling in the middle of a graveyard, I became weary. Then we heard a noise. It was a deep heavy growl. Matt peeked through the bushes and gave a terrifying shriek. His face was purple. I looked through the bushes I looked up and I saw the rage infected dog right at him. It was Hamish. He was missing a great chunk from his neck and the dog was furiously tugging at the remaining leg. The shear force of the dog ripped the leg off. It was sent flying. The dog rapidly chased after the remaining leg and chewed it to pieces. All the blood and flesh went everywhere. I felt weak and dizzy. My brother was dead. Right in front of my eyes, in pieces! I had sunk to an all time low. I began weeping on Matts shoulder. My brother had gone. Just perished Matt tried calling for help but there was no answer. The group started moving on. We all walked up to Hamishs body, which was ripped up in pieces. We all thought the dog was long gone, until I turned around. Black creatures were emerging from the bushes. Slowly they grew bigger. The street lights around the graveyard began flickering. Suddenly they went out. From nowhere howling began to start. The lights started flickering again. And then everything stopped. Matt looked around and immediately clenched my hand. We were surrounded. Dogs were everywhere. Suddenly, Matt pulled out a knife. But how? Matt handed me a silver serrated knife, which was identical to his. I could barely hold on to it with one hand. With both hands I gripped it. And with my life on the line, we all charged at the dogs. Waving our knives back and forth, hurling flesh everywhere. In a flash, one of the dogs started heading in my direction. With a last and desperate attempt, the dog made a frantic move. It pounced at me I moved the knife right into the view of my face. I hacked the dogs face off with the knife. Its mangled body came flying into my face and knocked me over. Another ferocious creature came and looked over me. I was finished! Suddenly the wind started howling and a silver knife came down on the dog. Its innards flew everywhere. What looked like a stomach came flying into my mouth. Furiously I spat it out. With my mouth bathed in blood, I felt sick. The dogs had bailed. But what was ahead of us?

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Journalists war on terror

Journalists war on terror Difficulties Facing Journalists Reporting the War on Terror Introduction This essay will focus on illustrating the present difficulties facing by journalists who will report war on terror after the outbreak of 911 and series of terrorism activities around the world, to make us understand the serious status quo of journalism in the warfare time and nations. In the main body part of the essay, it will give us a simple introduction about the background of present global safety and the implementation of war on terrorism by the US Government. Then it moves on to illustrate the threats and hardships that have been or will be undertaken by war journalists in their reporting process and give us a detailed analysis of the reason. Then corresponding suggestions are provided in the final part to facilitate the media coverage activities of journalists reporting in those dangerous areas of war and improve the development of press freedom in the world. Main Body Background The outbreak of September 11 terrorists attack gave the US Government a heavy blow. As a response, the Bush Administration implemented the war on terror program immediately after the attack and international coalition gathered for rooting out terrorism has created a dangerous situation, where journalists may be reduced to the victims and targets of terrorists and become key actors of those super powers in reporting events to satisfy the need of the public in understanding the situation in the frontier of battlefield. Journalists have been used as a tool of the government in propaganda and they are being forced to a difficult brim that on one hand, the mass need them to report the progressing of the so-called war on terrorism based on press freedom, on the other hand, the actual danger of life and political pressure in reporting may influence their thinking and judgement. Inevitably, the press freedom and pluralism is being gradually undermined by the increasing imperialism of super p ower countries such as the United States. First DifficultySafety and Health Journalists are facing dangers when undertaking reporting tasks in those volatile countries and regions. According to the date released by IFJ (International Federation of Journalists), 129 journalists and media staff were killed in 2004, making it the worst year on record for the casualty of journalists. In the Iraq War, more than 50 media staff have been killed by political extremists and criminals (Aidan White, Ben Hayes. 2005. Journalism, Civil Liberties and the War on Terrorism. IFJ. P3). From this we can know that the most dangerous difficulty facing by journalists reporting the war on terror is their personal safety. The misunderstanding and hatred between hostile nations gradually press journalists to the teeth of storm since they are the communicator of message. Those terrorists kidnapped and even killed journalists due to their hatred toward the country or government of the journalists and they fell to be the victims of political war. Why so many journalists depart from the ir home to report in those dangerous countries with no regard of their safety, most of their answers can be categorized to their original pursuit of truth and justice for the world. People all over the world are entitled to know whats happening on the other side of the world and the real difficulties they are facing. In order to feed the hungry of information of the mass, many journalists have been dispatched to batterfield and suffered great difficulty not only in body but also in mind. Feinstein, Owen, Blair measured the emotional impact of reporting war on journalists and concluded that war journalists suffered from higher extent of depression and PTSD than their fellow traders who did not report on war events. They have to seek for mental health treatment to release inner psychological distress. Second DifficultyPress Freedom Under the political pressure of the United States and its coalitions in war on terror, journalists are facing great difficulty in reporting events since the government used the so-called war on terrorism to expand its scope of investigation and to restrict press freedom and other civil rights. The unveiling of anti-terrorism increased the curbs and surveillance on free expression, which not only retarded the work of reporters but also negatively affected the basic right as a citizen. For example, the Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Act promulgated by the US Government just constituted a suppress on free speech in the media and academia while limited civil rights as well. Journalists have gradually departed from original principle of media openness due to the media oppression since jounalists have to dwell on the attitude and actions of the American government, when the world is full of real villains, might seem unfair, were it not for the immense power and influence that the US wields on the global stage and the effects its policies and example have on so many other countries, said the WAN President. References Feinstein, A., Owen, J., Blair, N. (2002). A hazardous profession: War, journalists, and psychopathology. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159(9), 1570-1575. Aidan White. (2002). Journalism And The War on Terrorism. International Federation of Journalists

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

ARE WE JUST WHO WE ARE :: essays research papers

To consider that we as humans are born with genetic directions determining who we become in my opinion are only part of the explanation. According to the article by Tom Wolf, Edward O Wilson believed that we as humans are born with genetic instruction that requires development in order to reach a predetermined mental destiny. If this were true, this would give, if anything, an excuse to those in society, who are thought to be inferior to other races as is. This idea would basically support the notion of difference beyond cultural effects. It obviously would also put other groups such as homosexuals in a position to say that they are born a certain way and simply developed their homosexual views through society. This is what had so many different groups opposing the study according to the article. For anyone to be able to prove that there are genetic differences that make one group more or less inferior to another would be an opportunity for the human and economic majority to separate the human race even more. These supposed innate differences would be the blue print for a caste system. Just looking at America history of slavery and ethnic dominance, anyone could understand that the development of a caste system on any level would lead to a civil war on some levels. I wonder exactly what those who sponsor these studies plan to do with the information other than inform. Possibly it was a large corporation who first funded this study because they see opportunity for human control through human assignment. With this kind of situation, it would be as Huxley explained in Brave New World, mental control through predetermined beliefs and life assignments. If any race or group felt they were created for any one specific reason that seemed more or less important than another group would automatically lead to the implication of human being inferior to others. I am not sure even if it is possible how great this information would be for those who are minorities in the world. Also, what about those who are put in positioned to change their situation financially and socially? Obviously, not everyone who is born poor and so-called with little class remains in this state.

Monday, August 19, 2019

The Boston Strangler - Serial Killer :: essays research papers

The Boston Strangler was probably the most notorious criminal that Boston, Massachusetts has ever known. But who was the Boston Strangler? Was he Albert DeSalvo, the person who confessed and went to jail for these crimes? Is he someone that took his secret to the grave and let an innocent man take the blame for his crime? Or is he still walking the streets of Boston, or even the streets of another city? We may never know for sure because based on all the evidence I've read, in my opinion Albert DeSalvo was not the famed Boston Strangler. The Boston Strangler wreaked havoc on the city from June 1962 until January 1964. He claimed the lives of thirteen women, ages ranging from 85 years old to 19 years old. The first victim had been raped and her bathrobe tie wrapped around her neck in a bow in June 1964. The next victim, was 85 year old Mary Mullen, she was not technically killed by the strangler, but rather a fatal heart attack when confronted by him. On June 30th, 1962, Helen Blake met death at the hands of the strangler. Next was 68 year old Nina Nichols. The fifth victim was 75 year old Ida Irga. On August 20th, 1962 Jane Sullivan had been raped and strangled with her nylons. The only black woman to be killed by the hands of the Boston Strangler was Sophie Clark. On December 30th, 1962, 23 year old Patricia Bissette was killed. Then 68 year old Mary Brown met her fate. In August 1963, Beverly Samans met the strangler, she was stabbed instead of strangled and was not raped, but the police still thought it was the strangler's work. The next victim was Evelyn Corbin . On November 11th 1963, Joann Graff was found raped and strangled in her apartment. But the Boston Strangler was getting sloppy, because he allowed himself to be seen. A man that lived upstairs from Joann reported to police a man had knocked on the door across the hall from his and inquired about Ms. Graff, when he told the man where she lived he quickly left, but not without being seen. The final murder occurred on January 4th 1964. The victim was Mary Sullivan. She was the youngest of the strangler's victims. Susan Kelly in The Boston Stranglers: The Public Conviction of Albert DeSalvo and the True Story of Eleven Shocking Murders makes a persuasive argument for DeSalvo being innocent of the strangling murders. She cites a number of reasons why she and others still believed that DeSalvo was innocent. One of the strongest of these reasons is that there was "not one shred of physical

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Analysis of Paul’s Case by Willa Cather Essay examples -- Analysis of

According to many readers of Paul’s Case, this is a short story that shows affection, passion, and most of all enthusiasm. Willa Cather seems to base her stories off of daily life and events that she thought progressed in many lives. Her passion for writing showed in her literature giving a visualization on what people think doesn’t occur in the regular life of a person. Also throughout Willa Cather’s short stories she gave examples upon her childhood and her time spent in a small town she grew up in. Giving her the brilliancy and the ambition to become a writer of short stories which included, Paul’s Case. Themes are represented in all short stories in Paul’s Case, Cather shows the readers a young boy being brought up in a hostile environment whose only dream is to one day pursuiting more than what he came from to make his life better. In Paul's Case by Willa Cather, a boy by the name Paul is the protagonist of the story. Paul is a roundcharacter, but not only does Paul show different personalities Paul seems to change his feelings throughout the story in many different situations. In the meeting in the beginning of the story Paul shows a careless attitude towards being entered in school after returning from suspension."His teachers felt this afternoon that his whole attitude was symbolized by his shrug of his shoulders" (Cather 1). Although shows this trait throughout the entire story along with similar actions, this makes him look like a disobedient student and shows his careless attitude towards the situation that he is in. Throughout the story Willa Cather portrays Paul as a different character from the beginning of the story, to the middle until the end. After returning to school Paul headed off to his job which wa... ... ending. Many elements would have to deal with this fatal ending if it was from Paul’s selfishness, carelessness, ignorance or selfishness no one should have to endure the pain that was caused upon Paul throughout the entire story â€Å"Although Paul’s Case was a story of a ill behavior child it is still known to be some of Will Cather’s work† (David 1). Even though the story ends with an crashing it still gives examples of other human life, asking you to put your foot in others shoes. Work Cited Paul’s Case.† Short Stories for Students. Ed. Kathleen Wilson. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale. Web. 11 Jan. 2015. â€Å"Critical Overview: â€Å"Paul’s Case†.† EXPLORING Short Stories. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center – Gold. Gale. Web. 11 Jan. 2015. David, Carpete. â€Å"Paul’s Case.† Short Stories for Students. Ed. Kathleen Wilson. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale. Web. 11 Jan. 2015.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Be Sample Paper

Business Environment Contents 1. Understand the organisational purposes of businesses3 11. Identify the purposes of different types of organisation. Define Anglo American’s purpose. 3 1. 2. Describe the extent to which Anglo American meets the objectives of different stakeholders3 1. 3. Highlight responsibilities and also explain strategies used to fulfil them at Anglo American. 4 3. Understand the behavior of organisations in their market environment5 3. 1.Evaluate the impact of competition policy and other mechanisms of Anglo American’s activities5 3. 2 Define the various types of markets and explain how they determine the strategic decisions6 3. 4. Judge how the business and cultural environments shape the behaviour of a organization8 4. Assess the significance of the global factors that shape national business activities8 4. 1 Discuss the significance of international trade to UK based mining organisations8 4. Analyze the impact of global factors on UK business orga nisations9 4. 3 Evaluate the impact of policies of the European Union on UK business organisations. 10 Task-1 1. Understand the organisational purposes of businesses 1. 1Identify the purposes of different types of organisation. Define Anglo American in terms of organisational purpose. The purpose of an organization or a company can be multi facet. The purpose of all the organization is to satify the needs of the customers The goals of an organisation may be multi facet.The similarity in goal of every organisation is to reach to the top by its brand name, goodwill, quality of product. No company should make a compromise when the question of goodwill of the organisation is concerned. It takes years together to establish a Brand Name of the product produced by the company. Apart from quality,the question of after sales service, availability, net work system play important role. An organisation of repute should strive for profit which is the essence of any organisation.An organization i s a social entity which pursues specified goals and controls its own performance. There are some boundaries which separate organization from its environment. There are various purposes of different organizations like profit-for and not-for-profit organizations operate for various purposes. The purpose of a not-for-profit organization is to bring social reforms like educational institutions etc. On the other hand, the purpose of a profit for organization is to offer products or valuable services to earn returns.Therefore, the purpose of every organization differs and all employees are motivated to attain the goals set by the organization Rate This Answer The organizational purpose primarily defines the major reason of existence of an organization in the market. Generally, the sole purpose of any organization should be satisfying customers. For a manufacturing organization, which is into manufacturing of farming equipments, the purpose can be providing wide-range of innovative solutio ns to farmers so that the starvation and malnutrition can be eliminated.For an organization, which is into providing educational services, the purpose can be providing quality education to people to enable people to be more efficient and to make people to achieve legitimate goals of their life. In the same way, the purpose of a non-profit organization is to provide services that benefit to public or in simple terms, to serve humanity. Likewise, every organization will have a purpose, which emphasizes on organizational growth as well as society growth.Similarly, the purpose of Anglo American, a leading mining company in the world, is to deliver excellence in safe and responsible way by adding value to communities, people, organizations, governments and stakeholders in areas such as mining and exploration (AngloAmerican, 2011). With the help of sustainable policies and approaches such as integrated sustainable development, transparency, ethics, human rights and collaborations, Anglo A merican has been striving to stick to the basic purpose of the organization (AngloAmerican, 2011). . 2Describe the extent to which Anglo American meets the objectives of different stakeholders Stakeholder is a person or a group of people or organizations that directly or indirectly get affected due to the actions or activities of an organization. Organizations have to keep all stakeholders in mind while taking any decision that impacts internal and external organization. Employees, suppliers, creditors, debtors, investors and customers etc. , are considered some of the major stakeholders of any organization (James, 2002).Different stakeholders of an organization will have different objectives. For example, the objective of an investor is to gain profits from the investment which he or she made in the organization. Similarly, the objective of employee to work in a safe working environment, learn work and grow in the corporate ladder etc. As a mining organization, Anglo American has t o meet the objectives of primary stakeholders like investors, employees and creditors and secondary stakeholders like general public, communities, activist groups and media.With the sustainable development approach, Anglo American has been reaching the objectives of all stakeholders for past few years. With the performance score card, which tracks the performance of organization against social and environmental indicators, Anglo American has been focusing on areas such as safety, health, social performance, socio-economic performance, rural health systems development and enterprise development (AngloAmerican, 2011).As far as safety is concerned, the fatal injuries have reduced to 17 in 2011. The number of new cases of occupational disease has been significantly dropped to 190 in 2011 from 280 in 2007. Nearly 93% sites maintain OHSAS 18001 standards, which is a predominant achievement of Anglo American in the area of safety and health management. Overall, the organization has witness ed good growth rates in every area that affects stakeholders in 2011.To comply the rules of environmental management systems standards, nearly 94% of all sites have undergone ISO 14001 certification; all infrastructure and equipments are purchased to make comply the rules of environmental standards (AngloAmerican, 2011). 1. 3. Highlight the responsibilities and also explain the strategies used in connection with fulfilling these responsibilities at Anglo American. As a mining organization, Anglo American has to fulfill economical, social and environmental responsibilities.Some of the major responsibility of Anglo American is to implement best practices across all branch offices to avoid social and community issues; to build site level capacities to manage social issues; to contribute to societies by allocating funds to enrich poor communities, improve facilities at site level to avoid health and safety risks; to make a framework improves the engagement of all stakeholders; to develo p sustainable environment. With the help of the Anglo American plc’s Socio-Economic Assessment Toolbox (SEAT), the organization has been effectively assessing the social and environmental responsibilities (AngloAmerican, 2011).With the help of SEAT, Anglo American has been effectively identifying the local stakeholders, environmental risks, social and community issues, analyzing risks at shop floor facilities across all sites, developing a matrix to help communities and societies to address some major challenges etc. With the help of SEAT, Anglo American has been successfully fulfilling social and environmental responsibilities (AngloAmerican, 2011). Task-3 3. Understand the behavior of organisations in their market environment 3. 1.Evaluate the impact of competition policy and other regulatory mechanisms of theUK government on Anglo American’s activities The major aim of the competitive policy and other regulatory mechanisms in UK is to make organizations work in a be tter environment and to let organizations contribute to effectiveness and competitiveness of UK economy. These regulatory policies have been impacting Anglo American organization both positively and negatively by eliminating anti-trust groups or cartels in the industry, liberalizing the market, implementing State Aid Control and involving in merger control.Organizations like Anglo American, which strive for ethical values and transparency, have been losing their market share due to antitrust agreements and cartels in the market (Parkin, 2002). The first pillar of competition policy of UK works on eliminating antitrust agreements and fixed-price agreements that seek to restrict competition. By restricting the antitrust and fixed-price agreements in the market, Anglo American will get a chance to serve more customers in an ethical and transparent way.The second pillar of the competition policy, which takes care of liberalized the market, may impact Anglo American in a negative way bec ause the liberalization of the market is nothing but giving chance to fresh competitors. The increased competition may affect some business segments of Anglo American (AngloAmerican, 2011). The third pillar of competition strategy, which takes care of State Aid Control, may also impact Anglo American in a negative way because it will be very difficult for the organization to get grants or funds from government if the organization does not show any future prospects (AngloAmerican, 2011).The fourth pillar of competition policy is merger control. This might affect Anglo American in positive and negative ways because Anglo American can take the help of government to successfully close a merger activity if everything is perfect but some times government will not approve for the merger activity if the merger between two companies spoils the competitive environment. 3. 2 Define the various types of markets and explain how two of these types of markets would determine the pricing and output decisions of a UK based organisation.Perfect competition is nothing but a market, where all organizations will have equal strengths and weaknesses. In this type of market, it is very difficult to find organizations that have power to influence pricing structure. Monopoly is nothing but an organization which has power to the control of the market (Binger and Hoffman, 1998). Organizations will act as monopolies when there is no competition in the market. Monopolistic competition is nothing but a market which has numerous of competitors but they sell slightly differentiated products.Monopolistic competitive market is an imperfect competitive market which give space for numerous of companies as long as the profits are attractive (Binger and Hoffman, 1998). Oligopoly is nothing but a market, which is dominated by a few numbers of organizations. The market form, oligopoly arises due to lack of competitors in the market. Similar to Monopoly, where only one major organization exists in the market, the duopoly is a market form, where only two organizations exist (Binger and Hoffman, 1998).Source: Binger and Hoffman, 1998 Google is a perfect example of Monopoly, which commands nearly 70% of search engine traffic. As a monopoly in search engine market the pricing structure of Google will influence the way nascent search engines like gocomb. com, which is launched very recently. As a new search engine, to compete with big giants like Google and Yahoo, it has to offer advertising services at cheaper cost. When it comes to output decision, Gocomb. com has to offer high advertising space at marginal or no profit.The perfect examples for perfect competition in UK are fruit vendors or vegetable vendors who sell products at almost same price. The pricing decisions and output decisions will not be influenced in perfect competitive market because of no entry/exist barriers and switching costs. 3. 3. Using a range of examples both from within and outside the context of a UK based company illustrate how market forces influence and dictate the responses of organisations. Market forces such as political, economical and social will influence the responses of organization (Dunnett, 1997).Political forces are majorly related to government actions and law. The way recent London riots 2011 impacted the business activities of various organization can be considered as perfect example for political force. These riots demanded assets of numerous organizations pushing them to cost pressures. Economical forces that influence organizations are economic crisis, unemployment and poor economic climate. The recent economic crisis of 2008 is a perfect example for how poor economic climate or business environment influence organizations.In response to economic forces, organizations will face pressures from all stakeholders including employees. As social forces affect attitude, perception and interest of individuals, the result will obviously influence organizations (Hornby, 200 1). The perfect example of social factors is the changing attitudes of UK people towards health and diet. To cater the increased demand, numerous of fitness centers and organic food centers have come up in UK. 3. 4.Judge how the business and cultural environments shape the behaviour of a selected organization Business environments such as religious organizations, banking and financial institutions, and government agencies will shape the behavior of organizations like General Healthcare Group. Government agencies such as regulatory bodies and policy making institutions will shape the way GHS operates. Generally, most of the policies of UK healthcare system are made in favor government organizations.Similarly, the interest rates offered by banking and financial institutions will influence the decisions of GHS in launching new services. Cultural environmental factors such as national cultures, traditions, individual behaviors, and green issues will also influence the way organizations operates. In this globalized environment, national culture, which is comprised of values, beliefs and tradition and religions of employees, will influence the organizations like Anglo American in a great way.To manage diverse workforce, the top management of Anglo American or GHS has to implement wide-range of human resource and leadership strategies to create an all inclusive environment that facilitates growth of the organization. Individual behaviors such as attitudes, perceptions and personal characteristics of employees will also shape the behavior of Anglo American or GHS. 4. Assess the significance of the global factors that shape national business activities 4. 1 Discuss the significance of international trade to UK based mining organisationsInternational trade is nothing but exchange of goods and services across the international borders of various countries. While mining companies make a signification contribution to the economy of UK, and world economy, international trad e is playing a significant role in this contribution. In fact, international trade is making UK’s mining companies to be in comfort zone. The major benefit of international trade to UK mining companies is to the opportunity to export construction equipments, and mining equipments to developing countries like India, China, Brazil, and Eastern Europe (Dawes, 1995).The international trade has also been helping mining organizations of UK to effectively utilize existing natural resources to produce more goods and services that lift the world economy. As London is considered as a home for large scale metal producers, UK has become a dominant player to export mining goods to several other European Countries as well as the United Sates (Dawes, 1995). The international trade is also helping UK mining companies to important raw materials from other European countries and Asian Countries at cheaper cost. 4. Analyze the impact of global factors on UK business organisations In todayâ€⠄¢s competitive environment, numerous of global factors such as international markets, international competitiveness, export markets, trade blocs and international growth will impact the way UK business organizations operate. Based on these key factors, UK organizations should rework on their business strategies in regular in regular intervals. Global factors majorly influence strategic decisions related to access to new international markets, trade blocs and important acquisitions.Trade Blocs will majorly impact UK organizations at the time of entering into new markets such as NAFTA. Some of the other factors that impact UK organizations are social, political, economical, technological and legal factors in various countries. Global factors majorly impact organizations that depend on imports and exports (Dicken,1998). If taxation policies in Asian Countries like India and China, from where most of the UK companies import raw materials, are changed, it will impact the cost structure of the UK organizations.In the same way cultural factors like religious considerations, environmental considerations and ethical considerations in one country to where UK organizations export goods and services may impact sales. Similarly, economic policies such as fiscal policies, exchange rates and internal regulations will also impact the exports of UK companies (Dicken,1998). 4. 3 Evaluate the impact of policies of the European Union on UK business organisations. Some of the major policies that impact the UK business organizations are Agricultural Policy and Common Fisheries Policy and Healthcare Policy.Mostly, European policies will impact organizations in both positive and negative way. It helps organizations to increase the productivity, ensure fair trade across all sectors, market stabilization, streamline supply markets, and provide goods and services at an affordable rate to customers. European policies will also help organizations work in a perfect competitive markets, fa cilitates acquisitions and mergers and work closely with related regulatory bodies etc. Moreover, policies of European Union will demand organizations in major sectors like healthcare sector to maintain good infrastructure to provide quality services.The major policies of European Unions have majorly four mechanisms. The first mechanism demands organizations to produce quality products and take care of grading as well as packaging. The second mechanism helps organizations to protect themselves from market changes. The third mechanism asks organizations to set competitive prices. The fourth mechanism is set various standards for trade with non European Nations. References AngloAmerican, 2011. Anglo American Annual Report, 2011. Retrieved on 23rd November, 2012 from Binger, B. and Hoffman, E. , 1998. Microeconomics with Calculus, 2nd ed.Addison-Wesley. Dawes, B. , 1995. International Business: A European Perspective. London: Nelson Thornes Publishers. Dicken, P. , 1998. Global Shift T ransforming the World Economy. London: Paul Chapman Publishing. Dunnett, A. , 1997. The Macroeconomic Environment. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Hornby, W. , 2001. Business Economics. New Jersey: Financial Times Prentice Hall. James, P. , 2002. Redefining the Corporation: Stakeholder Management and Organizational Wealth. Stanford University Press. Parkin, M. , 2002. European Economics. New Jersey: Pearson Education

Friday, August 16, 2019

2002 Ap Euro Dbq: Manchester

The Effects of Industrialization on Manchester, England 1750-1850 England in the 18th and 19th centuries changed dramatically as a result of the Industrial Revolution, which had many effects on the social structure of England and increased the gap between the rich and the poor. Because of this, industrialized English towns such as Manchester were both criticized and admired by poets, politicians, journalists, and outsiders, who were particularly from France. The most powerful points of view were from supporters of industrialization, those who opposed industrialization, journalists, and outsiders. Supporters of the industrialization of Manchester were typically British politicians or businessmen, impressed by the progress and production of Manchester. One of these was Englishman W. H. Thomson, writer of History of Manchester to 1852. Thomson provides a map that shows the growth of Manchester over a period of one hundred years in which in transformed from a small town into a robust industrial city with railroads and canals. This map shows how industrialization leads to rapid population growth and expansion, making Thomson an obvious supporter of industrialization. Another supporter of industrialization was Englishman Thomas B. Macaulay, a liberal member of parliament and a historian. In his essay, â€Å"Southey’s Colloquies,† Macaulay praises industrialization and Manchester for producing wealth for the nation, which in turn would improve the quality of life for the middle class and peasantry. A final supporter of industrialization was Wheeler and Co. , which praises the industrious spirit of Manchester in the preface to an 1852 business directory, shortly after Manchester was granted a royal charter as a city. The authors owe the fruits of the city’s labor to its â€Å"energetic exertions and enterprising spirit,† which is an unrealistic description of the motivations of the working class, and the preface was likely propaganda, being in association with the Crown. The supporters of industrialization were the ones becoming richer by it. They were separated from the working class and did not understand their plight. Those who opposed the industrialization of Manchester were more concerned with the well-being of those affected by it. These were poets, women, socialists, and health reformers who were disturbed by the living and working conditions of the middle class and the peasantry. One protester was Robert Southey, an English Romantic poet and author of Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society in 1829. Being a Romantic poet, Southey laments on the industrialization of the city and describes it as a miserable place where the buildings which are â€Å"without their antiquity, without their beauty, without their holiness,† and where, â€Å"when the bell rings, it is to call the wretches to their work instead of their prayers. Another protester is Frances Anne Kemble, an actress, poet, and dramatist, who, in her account of a journey of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830, depicts a protest by the disgruntled working class over Corn Laws, which were tariffs on imported grain. In her depiction, the protesters scorn the â€Å"triumphs of machinery† and the â€Å"gain and glory which wealthy Manchester men were likely to derive from it. † This is a very Romantic depiction, as the protesters are breaking free from their bonds to choose liberty over wealth. A final protester was Edwin Chadwick a public health reformer, who, in his Report of the Sanitary Conditions of the Laboring Population of Great Britain, argued that the cramped conditions, unsanitary practices, and air pollution of Manchester greatly lower the average lifespan of its citizens, and that more lives are lost due to unsanitary conditions in industrial cities than in modern wars. Journalists reporting on life in Manchester were sometimes in favor of industrialization, but some opposed it. One journal in favor of the industrialization of Manchester featured an article by William Alexander Abram, a journalist and historian, in 1868. Abram claimed that conditions had increased dramatically since the early Industrial Era through law reform. A journal that was opposed to the industrialization of Manchester was the Lancet, a British medical journal founded and edited by Thomas Wakley. In 1843, The Lancet published a chart displaying the average age of death in four districts, two of which were industrial and two of which were rural. The average age of death in the industrial districts was far younger, but was especially young in Manchester, showing that Manchester was indeed the unhealthiest of industrial cities. A final journal that protested the industrialization of Manchester was The Graphic, a magazine that dealt with social issues. The Graphic published a picture of a view from Blackfriars Bridge over the river Irwell in the 1870s. The picture was a very dirty depiction of Manchester, showing smokestacks that blotted out the sky with lack plumes of smoke and waste pouring directly into the river Irwell, both of which caused tremendous health issues for the people of Manchester. Outsiders who visited Manchester in the 19th century were often disgusted by the monochromatic, unsanitary, and dangerous lifestyle of the laboring class of Manchester. These were typically French socialists who spoke out against the maltreatment of the poor by the rich. One such Frenchman was Alexis de Tocqueville, author of Journey s to England and Ireland in 1835. De Tocqueville, a socialist, tells us that the city of Manchester is based on the successes of individuals and the enslavement of others, rather than the success of society as a whole. Another French Socialist opposed to the industrialization of Manchester is Flora Tristan, a women’s rights advocate, who published her journal in 1842. The fact that it is her private journal makes it the most credible source to the opposition of industrialization because she is merely reflecting and not attempting to sway anyone’s mind. Tristan describes the working class of Manchester as sick and emaciated, and ends her entry with this lamentation: â€Å"O God! Can progress be bought only at the cost of men’s lives? † The industrialization of Manchester in the 18th and 19th centuries created wealth for the rich, but conditions for the laboring class worsened, and the gap between rich and poor increased. Many poets, socialists, and health reformers criticized the industrialization of Manchester, but politicians and business praised the industrious spirit of the city that filled their pockets. All of these feelings led to the revolutions of the 19th century and the rise of socialism and communism.

The First Day In Australia

Would like to talk about my first day in Australia in this essay. I arrived in Sydney on the 3rd of April 201 3 and it was raining heavily. However, everything looked interesting to me. Was planning to visit Commonwealth Bank at Martin Place as soon as I stepped out of the airplane. When got there, was surprised because the architectural style of the building was luxurious and antique, and it felt very Western. Then I met a teller who greeted me kindly. He made jokes to me. They were funny jokes, but at that time, I did not answer.I was regretful I could not say anything to him in English. After that, I left for a backpacker hostel that is known as a popular place for foreigners. Unfortunately, there were a lot Of people waiting to Stay in there. Thus, I had to move another one. Finally I found a different backpacker hostel. As I opened the door of my room, its melancholic atmosphere overwhelmed me. Eventually, I decided to stay only 3 days because of the uncomfortable, unfamiliar ai r and because the accommodation fee was unfair.In the first night, I was not able to sleep deeply. Lying in the bed, really worried about my life in Australia. Being unsure about my future made me afraid. Time has slipped along. Compared with the past, many things have changed recently. Nowadays I am trying to improve my life in Australia constantly in order to step forward by studying English and making friends. If I have an opportunity, I would like to settle in Australia.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Does School Prepare You for Work Essay

Nowadays, it’s harder for fresh graduate to get employed because of the competition among one another. Many people have degree certificates now, as it is becoming more common and institutions are looking more for experiences over certificates. But then the purpose for going to colleges or universities are not mainly for the certificate provided, but mainly to get prepared for work later on. Well, for the key for success, the skills we need are to have academic knowledge to understand more about the field we’ve chosen, morality to gain trustworthiness in our working field and also communication to help us do better in our career. With knowledge, We can utilize the skills we learnt in school in our work field in future. Well, lecturers will teach us the basic that could help us in the specific career field we’ve picked, for example I’m now thinking of being an accountant in future that’s why I took accounting for my degree. Also, school can enable us prepare for our job as we learn how to write resume to be submitted before the interviews are carried on. In school, we’re also taught to have manners and a good behavior. Basically we’ve to respect the elderly, like teachers, in working field, we have to pay respect to our fellow colleagues and boss in order to gain loyalty. The second thing which is important is honesty,no one wants to employ a untruthful employee in their company that can’t be trusted. Another important thing is social communication, eye contact is a very important thing we shouldn’t missed out. We can participate more in public speaking which could help us to build more confidence and competency to help in our future jobs as charisma could help us become the leader. Working also enquire a lot of teamwork, so we should be more cooperative and always listen to each other’s opinion. As a conclusion, I think that by putting effort, we could definitely acquire a stable job that gives you a fixed income and also should approach for advice when we’re reluctant instead of ignoring it. With knowledge, manners and the right way to communicate, we wouldn’t have any worries for getting a job in the future.

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Memories of Childhood Essay

Childhood is a golden period of man’s life. It is the time when man is dependent but he enjoys all the comforts of the life. He has nothing to worry about. He has to do nothing to get his demand fulfill except weeping. It is a carefree time. In my childhood I was free from worries and sorrows. When every day and night brought joys for me. Parents tried to amuse me. They loved me so much that I began to think they were living only for me and it was not wrong as well. Near our house there was a pond. Father took me daily to the pond to enjoy the beautiful sight of the setting sun. Once my father fell ill and could not go to the pond. I was very fond of taking bath in the bright water of the pond but father did not allow me to fulfill my desire. Now it was a golden chance. I went alone to the pond and jumped into the water. Deep water took me into its lap. After this what happened I do no know. When I opened my eyes a doctor was bending over me. Mother and sisters were weeping. I had to remain for one month in the hospital. Now when I recall that horrible accident my heart begins to sink with fear. Then I decided not to do anything without the permission of parents. There is one more thing which I cannot help mentioning More over I can never forget the day when I was beaten by the gardener for stealing mangoes. My friend Maria and I went to the garden to eat mangoes. Maria was very active and clever. She remained out of the garden and asked me to climb up the mango tree. Consequently I was caught by the gardener and he bead me with his sharp stick. Maria ran away The gardener took me before my father and told the whole story. Father prohibited me from going to the garden. I was much ashamed but soon all it was over. If you have female companion you are fond of dolls as well. The same case was with me. I was very fond of dolls in my childhood. Maria and I played with the dolls for hours, marrying and decorating them. Mother did not like her daughter wasting time in playing. As a result she took me to the school. I was much frightened and puzzled among the strange girls. I began to weep bitterly. While I was weeping I felt a soft hand on my back it was my teacher. She consoled me and gave me a beautiful book of colorful pictures. I was taught by her to smile in the storm of tears and sufferings. Now she is far away from me but her memory is fresh in my mind and I will never forget her as well. Children usually keep on gamboling and playing . Sometimes they keep on running in childhood I was like a playful deer wandering through the meadows. Maria and wandered the whole day long in the green fields of our villages picking wild flowers and making garlands. How beautiful moonlit nights were in childhood! When the shining moon appeared we all played in the open fields catching one another. Now childhood is no more but it appears a beautiful dream.

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Strategic Role of Employee Performance Recognition in Increasing Statistics Project

Strategic Role of Employee Performance Recognition in Increasing Employee Productivity - Statistics Project Example The following section will discuss the findings regarding the values of correlation coefficients for each of the pairs under consideration. Correlation coefficient has been found to be positive statistically significant at 1 % level of significance. It simply implies that with increase in the level of employee participation in management and decision making process, the level of job satisfaction increases significantly. This finding provides great support to the findings of those studies which advocated increasing employee participation for the betterment of job satisfaction among employees (Coch and French, 1949, Pfeller, 1994; Verma, 1995; Maslow 1954; Herzberg, 1966). All these studies have talked about a strong positive relationship between employees’ participation in the work place and the level of job contentment. There have been a few studies which have not found any strong connection between employee participation and job satisfaction. But the findings of the current study have once again reinforced the positive relationship between job satisfaction level and the level of employee participation. (ANY QUAN TATIVE DATA FROM YOUR SURVEYS TO SUPPORT THIS? ) (table 1 itself shows the correlation coefficient) Hence, it would not be wrong to say that in the Effort companies selected for this study the efforts that have been taken to enhance the level of employee participation have resulted in increasing the level of self actualization among the employees along with enhancing the level of enthusiasm employees, all of which in turn directly resulted in higher level of job contentment among the employees of the companies as they have now obtained higher level of self-esteem. Such a strong significant relationship between the level of participation and job statistician might have stemmed from the fact that the process of participation involves distribution of the impact of participation among all the employees

Monday, August 12, 2019

Journal of Korean Melodrama A Moment to Remember(2004) Movie Review

Journal of Korean Melodrama A Moment to Remember(2004) - Movie Review Example A Moment to Remember (2004) is a typical Korean melodrama which is a beautiful romantic story with a heartbreaking view of love. Many may believe that A Moment to Remember is one of those typical love stories where the couple falls in love and eventually one of them gets terminally ill. This film was, however, one of those but the difference was that the girl was struck by Alzheimer’s disease. The film shows the series of forgetfulness suffered by the girl and how it leads to frustration and pain for the boy. The male lead is played by Chul Soo and the female lead is played by Su-Jin. This film gives thought to the views about the most important part of life. Some believe wealth and power are the most important while others say love and friendship. This movie rather portrays a simple view that our experiences are the most important part of us as they make us who we are. The movie teaches an important lesson about the significance of treasuring memories as they are the only thing we actually own. There are many other touching moments in the movie. One of them is the act and importance of forgiveness shown when Chul Soo is trying to forgive his mother for abandoning him when he was a child. Even though the movie is about the couple, it gives certain important messages such as being able to forgive is a gift. The movie then shows some really sweet and cute moments between the couple as they are torn apart by life. The story turns out to be painful and tragic as Su-Jin loses her memory. Death is common in melodramatic movies but this movie has pain and tragedy that is portrayed and acted very well. Thus, this movie clearly consists of all the elements that make it a good melodramatic movie. Melodramatic movies may commonly have five characteristics that are observed in this movie as well. The first is that it begins and ends with innocence. Secondly, the movie recognizes the virtue of the heroes and focuses on the victim. Thirdly,

Sunday, August 11, 2019

Nike Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Nike - Research Paper Example In this paper, some of the main matters have been questioned and thrown into the open as to how the company has faced accusations from different sections of society and the world, and what led to it. Since the mid 90s, Nike has been accused of being a violator of women’s’ rights, child labour, exploitation of labour in terms of wages, as well as forced labour. Many of these cases have been uncovered and let out of the bag, thus making the company lose a great deal of its goodwill. This brand has been known to violate a number of Articles present in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well. These are a certain set of rights that are universally applicable to all human beings, not taking into account anything about their race, colour, gender or age. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it has been set out and stated in Article 1 that â€Å"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.† Article 3 and 4 state, â€Å"Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person†andâ€Å"No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.† Article 5 says â€Å"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment and treatment.† All these Articles and more have been laid down with a view to respect human beings all over the world, however, Nike has been found to be violating them in many ways, in its run d own factories in the third world countries. A better look has been taken during the course of this report, into how the company has been violating these Articles of the Declaration of Human Rights. The main concerns for the company have been coming in from their factories which are located in South Asia. Here, in places like Vietnam, China, Indonesia etc, there are people who have been contracted by Nike, and work under their name. They mass produce the sports equipment as well as sports apparel, but their

The new meaning of Quality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The new meaning of Quality - Essay Example If we see the size of operations at Sainsbury's meting these attributes consistently is a big challenge . Over the years the business and organizational environment has increasingly become more and more complex. There has been an explosion in choices, options, opportunities and threats, requirements, data and information through IT systems. Organizations have understood the hidden cost of quality, errors, inventories associated with inefficient supply chain. These factors have led to the emergence of a new discipline of supply chain management. A supply chain is essentially managing the journey of inputs to the outputs along with all the associated activities having impact on cost, speed and quality of the output through the journey. Ganeshan & Harrison in their paper explains how traditionally there has been organizations within organizations, silos of functions / departments, each one having their own characteristic goals, many a time at conflict with the organizational goal, resulting in an inefficient supply chain marked by interface problems. The result of these factors is that there is not a single, integrated plan for the organization. Supply chain addresses these issues effectively. Coordination between the various players in the chain is key in its effective management. Cooper and Ellram [1993] compare supply chain management to a well-balanced and well-practiced relay team. Quality begins and ends with customers For any Quality Management System, customer requirement is the input and customer satisfaction is the desired output. The entire quality movement is based on simple but elegant Deming's PDCA cycle. First step in the quality journey is capturing customer requirement followed by design / modification of functions/systems for deployment and continuous improvement of the same through repetitive cycles of feedbacks. The customer experience is captured at Sainsbury's through well-placed mechanisms. Customer Insights group carries out the work of obtaining the true customer requirement by interacting with more than 4000 customers every month which includes obtaining the performance of competitors also in the area of customer satisfaction. Besides the regular channels of obtaining customer perception there is another mechanism to find out customer requirement, which involves trained auditors capturing the customer experiences in the store itself. The practice of interviewing customers in their homes is yet another valuable source of customer expectation determination. The information captured through these mechanisms form the inputs for the Quality Management systems and other operational instruments for delivering the quality products and services to the customers. Supply Chain Transformation at Sainsbury's for improving delivery of quality Sainsbury's had witnessed more than 100 years of successful operations and established itself as market

Saturday, August 10, 2019

Article response paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Response paper - Article Example They also point out the misconception that many scholars have on the relationship between L2 and L3 acquisition; L3 is not a continuation of L2 as they are independent of each other. As such, the authors highlight the reasons why L3/Ln must be analysed independent of their predecessors, L1 and L2. They also outline the differences between the factors, while specifying their individual and collective contributions to the study of language acquisition. How Article Relates To Previous Knowledge Up to until when I read the article, I was unaware of the existence of any differences in language acquisition; to me, learning a new language was the same process as the child first-language. However, the article outlines the differences in language acquisition clearly. Universal grammar, obtained from first language (L2), and previous linguistic knowledge affect the acquisition of adult third language (L3). Whereas there are controversies on the extent to which these factors affect adult acquis ition, there is a general agreement that experiences with L1 and L2 determine its path and ultimate attainment. The article also outlines how children acquire L2 using linguistic experiences from L1. Just like adults do, children form hypotheses about the second language that they are expected to learn. They use these hypotheses to form opinions and come up with techniques and methodologies that help them acquire second languages. The fact that children with L1 experience function, in a similar way as adults, means that L1 acquisition is often referred to as child language ineffectively. This is because it offers children an experience similar to that which L2 acquisition, referred to as adult acquisition, offers grown-ups. Some studies have revealed unexplainable characteristics in L3 that were not learnt in L1 or L2. It is, therefore, correct to deduce that universal grammar is available even at L3. This reinforces the argument that language acquisition is age independent; thereby discrediting the notion that L1 is ‘child first language’ and L2 and L3 as adult acquisition. When L2 learners decide to acquire new languages, whether through tutoring or naturally, they become L3 learners. At this level, they have more metalinguistic acquaintance and learning experience than at L2, increasing their proficiency and instructional experience. The article also brings out the fact that tests reveal that the effects of L1 and L2 on L3 depend on the relationships between the languages, as well as the typological proximity of the studies. This is determined by the level of similarity, or difference, between the L1 and L2 and the L3 acquisitions. For instance, studies showed that placing German as a constant L3, and English and French as alternative L1 and L2, L2 yielded stronger presence in L3, with English showing a stronger influence than French. This is in spite of English and French having very little similarity. This is indicative of the fact that the l anguage learnt as L2 has a greater impact on L3 than that used at L1. Other researches also revealed that no matter the languages, some instances of L1 will be transferred to L2, and in some cases, L3; on the other hand, L3 absorbs some features of L2 as well as L1. Three Concise Excerpts from Article i. †Ã¢â‚¬ ¦it is largely accepted that some level of transfer obtains and significantly alters the path and ultimate attainment potential of adult acquisition†

Friday, August 9, 2019

Review of an Academic Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Review of an Academic Research Paper - Essay Example The research paper conveys the whole process of research from collection of data, to analysis, and to final discussion. For this reason the researchers should be careful while writing the academic research paper and should make sure that all elements and parts of a proper academic research paper are included. The basic layout of the academic research paper consists of following elements: abstract, key words, introduction, literature review, methodology part, analysis and findings, discussion part, and the conclusion and recommendations. Along with this another important element is of the references, as it is important to properly acknowledge the sources of secondary information within the academic research paper. In this paper, the academic research paper by Stainton, Johnson, and Borodizicz (2010) on the topic of â€Å"Education validity of business gaming simulation: a research methodology framework† has been critically analysed on the basis of the proper layout for the acad emic research paper. In the research paper the authors have explored the overall validity of the business gaming simulation on the basis of the previous researches and have proposed a framework for the successful educational validity studies which can facilitate the simulation designers in the process of implementing the valuable simulation media.

Thursday, August 8, 2019

The relationship between iron and zinc status and treatment of ADHD Essay

The relationship between iron and zinc status and treatment of ADHD (subject to modification) - Essay Example Diagnosis is therefore rather subjective and obtaining epidemiological data is cumbersome. Co-morbidities are often present and these make diagnosis even more difficult (Rowland, Lesesne et al. 2002). Despite these limitations, there are valid data that suggest that ADHD seems to have a higher rate of occurrence in white children than in black children in the USA (1.7% to 4.4% in 1997) according to treatment records obtained by physicians. (Olfson, Gameroff et al. 2003). Also, the national epidemiological survey in UK showed a lower prevalence of ADHD in black children than in white children (0.4% to 1.6%) (Meltzer, Gatward et al. 2000). There is the postulation that cases of ADHD in black children could possibly have been under-diagnosed in these societies simply because black families possibly lack access to health facilities due to poorer economic status. This argument may not be valid considering that even higher access to facilities by black families have not resulted in increas ed diagnosis of cases of ADHD in them. Moreover, the U.K epidemiological survey cuts across racial and socioeconomic barriers. ... The ADHD Help-Seeking model is a basis of understanding factors that are predictive of service access and utilization, with a view to using such understanding to break the barrier to service utilization in ADHD treatment (Eiraldi, Mazzuca et al. 2006). The model proposes that for effective treatment, there must first be problem identification on the part of the affected, and then the decision to seek help must follow. Also, service selection and service access by the affected are integral parts of the model pathway. It is believed that through its predictive nature, the model will provide answers to various questions regarding disparities in access to healthcare by various ethnic and racial groups. (Eiraldi, Mazzuca et al. 2006). The model however needs to be made stronger by reconstructing it on factors that are less general and are more specific for affected groups, so that individual needs could be more effectively met (Eiraldi, Mazzuca et al. 2006). Cultural influences could play a very significant role in the Teacher and Parent Ratings across cultural divides (Olfson, Gameroff et al. 2003). The prevalence rates for ADHD from 1997-2001 among African American, Hispanic and White children (6-11 years old) were obtained using a National Health Interview Survey. Information was obtained from parents about health and socio-demographic characteristics of their children. Drug therapy history was taken. Again, White children were found to have the highest rate of ADHD than any other ethnic group, though occurrence of learning disability was higher in the African American and Hispanic children. About 1% of Hispanic children were reported to have ADHD without LD, against 4% white children. Compared to white children, the percentage of