Greek Mythology Fate And The Fates - 1609 Words

The concept of fate and the influence of gods on mortals’ lives are prominent aspects of Greek mythology. While the gods of Olympus are commonly presented as the primary manipulators of human lives, the Fates are the true creators of destiny. Gods may be able to affect human lives in monumental ways, but predetermined destiny and the Fates’ intentions ultimately reign. The gods have respect for this authority, as well, as they’re aware that a limit on their ability to intervene is necessary to maintain the order of the universe. This leaves one to question the amount of knowledge that the gods themselves have of fate, and whether they have their own free will to refrain from intervening or if they truly must submit to the authority of the Fates and their plans. The gods do have some knowledge of the Fates’ plan, but they are also wise enough to avoid too much interference and therefore don’t necessarily need to be commanded; they sometimes help guid e mortals by sending them messages and symbols—and sometimes even influencing them for their own advantage—but ultimate fate cannot be avoided. The Fates of Greek mythology, otherwise known as the Moirae, consist of three deities who personify the concept of human destiny. Clotho, the youngest, spins the metaphorical thread of life; Lachesis measures the thread’s length, or the amount of time a human has to live; and Atropos, the eldest and most powerful, cuts the thread, deciding the moment of a person’s death. The Fates playShow MoreRelatedThe Fates of Greek Mythology757 Words   |  4 PagesSociety If â€Å"The Fates† predate the Greek Gods and seemingly have control over their destinies in addition to those of humankind, then why are they not glorified figures in Greek mythology? Greek mythology is centered upon the various Gods and their contributions to every aspect of human life. The people of Ancient Greece worshipped Zeus and his contemporaries and exalted them in several mythological works. In the eyes of the people, the Gods controlled every sector of Greek society. The MoiraiRead MoreThe Role Of Fate In Greek Mythology1288 Words   |  6 Pageswe look at Greek Mythology we often run into the gods of that era. Sometimes they are merely backdrops to the human element of the story but in stories such as The Odyssey the gods play a prominent if not vital role to the central themes of the story. Fate has a place in the Greek world but is place is not the same as it is in other scenarios or worlds. It is important to understand the word before we discuss it. Fate as far as Greek mythology goes is not just fate, by most standards fate is describedRead MoreAn Analysis Of Edith Hamilton s Mythology1073 Words   |  5 Pages Depicted to be the most important theme within Edith Hamilton s Mythology, Moira is the decided fate of mortal man chosen by the Gods that tower above in Mount Olympus. Thus, fate is a reoccurring theme within Greek storytelling. The Greeks needed an explanation for the elements in their life, such as earthquakes, thunder, storms, the moon and the sky. Human nature dictates that an answer must be nominated for the unknown, for that emptiness to be filled. Even in the tale of the Argonauts, thisRead MoreThe Role Of Fate And Fate In Oedipus1075 Words   |  5 PagesIn the current world, fate and destiny are not things to be believed in. Anyone who says so is often deemed as a fake or a fraud, which is usually true. In stories, however, things like fate and destiny play a large role. It is a common trope found in most novels. There are peaceful fates, but in the case of Oedipus, it was an unruly one, in which he was set on a path to his own demise. The story itself starts at the point in time in which all the Oracle of Delphi had told was true, but everyoneRead MoreOedipus The King, Fate And Destiny1201 Words   |  5 Pagesdid not know, Sophocles is from Greece. In Greek mythology there are three goddesses who preside over the birth and life of humans. Each person s destiny was thought of as a thread spun, measured, and cut by the three Fates, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. In the story â€Å"Oedipus the King† fate and destiny was the main theme. On Google the definition of destiny is the events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future. Fate is defined as, the development of events beyondRead M oreAntigone Moral Dilemma1253 Words   |  6 Pagesburied according to the Gods, but instead He shall be left unburied for all to watch the corpse mutilated and eaten by carrion-birds and by dogs (Sophocles, 1900.). This dilemma is felt by many, especially Antigone (sister of the deceased). In Greek culture it is thought that the spirit of a body cannot find rest if it is has not been laid to rest by the evening of the day it has departed, and it is condemned to roam the earth for eternity. The struggle between human law and divine law is a moralRead MoreThe Discovery Of Mars Bars1635 Words   |  7 Pagesconnection between Mars Bars and the god of war, Mars, creates a powerful and intimidating, yet attractive image of the snack. Source #2: PANDORA is a jewelry brand known for their charm bracelets and is an allusion to the first woman of Greek mythology, Pandora. Aphrodite, Apollo, and several other gods/goddesses bestowed gifts on Pandora, which means all-gifted. In their choice of name, PANDORA is saying their items embody various attractive characteristics, such as beauty. Although PandoraRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Romeo And Juliet1279 Words   |  6 Pagesthey both die by their own hand, due to their star crossed fates. The literary aspect is too vast and advanced for a quick analysis. Everything that Shakespeare wrote has a purpose. On the other hand of the spectrum, Homer was extremely advanced for his time. Homer specialized in greek mythology and is most famous for his two epic poems: The Iliad and The Odyssey. From Homer we learned in depth about all of greco-roman mythology. â€Å"The Greeks did not believe that the gods created the universe. It wasRead MoreGreek Mythology And Mythology Of The Iliad , Oedipus Rex And Others1294 Words   |  6 Pagesbeen shaped by mythology and religion. The impacts of ancient cultures in particular are felt worldwide through a variety of mediums. Others have referenced ancient cultures for a long time, in hopes of better understanding them. Examples of this have been seen throughout the world, especially in Greek culture. The ancient Greeks had a rich culture, which they used often in their works; examples of this are seen in the Iliad, Oedipus Rex and others. The existence of Greek mythology and narrativesRead MoreInfluences of Greek and Roman Mythology863 Words   |  4 PagesInfluences of Greek and Roman Mythology There are many influences that the Greek and Roman’s belief in polytheism that affect today’s cultures and beliefs. Their beliefs are so ancient that they date back to the Roman Empire. Many historians find it astounding that these myths made it through time and their influence is still found in many places of belief. The Greeks had their own principle divinities, these were twelve major gods called, â€Å"The Olympians.† The

Drug Testing - 1837 Words

Mandatory Drug Testing for Welfare Recipients Introduction Mandatory drug testing for welfare recipients is a controversial issue. Should the government hold people accepting government entitlement’s accountable for illegal drug use or would this type of action cross the boundary of civil liberties into an invasion of privacy? The government has a vested interest in getting welfare recipients back into the working population. Holding welfare recipients accountable for illicit drug use only ensures the government’s monetary investment in human resources is protected. Mandatory drug testing for welfare recipients would be beneficial to the state despite its initial cost to initiate the program. There are many benefits of Mandatory†¦show more content†¦Many citizens thought Florida was the first state to require drug testing for welfare recipients but they were not. â€Å"In 1996, Congress said states could test welfare recipients for illegal drug use. In 1999, Michigan instituted mandatory drug test for all welfare regardless of suspicion. But this kind of testing was struck down in as unconstitutional, discouraging other states (Bowers, 2011).† In 2010, shortly after taking office, Florida’s Governor, Rick Scott proposed a bill to mandate blanket drug testing for all state cash assistance programs. In 2011, Florida became the first state to pass and fully implement a bill mandating suspicion less drug screening for all applicants after Michigan’s legal loss. Many people feel the remaining employees are being held to a higher standard than those on welfare. The American Civil Liberties Union has declared mandatory drug testing by the federal government on welfare recipients intrudes on the rights of poor citizens. Yet, most working class citizens have to take drug tests in order to maintain employment. Nearly every profession in the private sector requires drug testing. New hires atShow MoreRelatedDrug Testing : A Drug Test1221 Words   |  5 PagesDrug testing in the workplace started happening in 1988 and till this day is still continuing. Not until 1991 did they start drug testing on employees who work on aviation, trucking, railroads, mass transit, and pipelines. Today, mostly everywhere you apply for a job a drug test is mandatory. Which is reasonable because if illegal drugs are involved, drug use can affect workplace concentration and judgment which could put the employee at risk. But should a drug test be required only for those inRead MoreDrug Testing In Schools. The Topic Of Random Drug Testing1490 Words   |  6 PagesDrug Testing in Schools The topic of random drug testing has been a very controversial one, especially in the last few years. RSDT (random student drug testing) made a rise in popularity after being legalized by the United States Supreme Court in 2006. This ruling made testing students who participate in extracurriculars or drive to school able to be tested for illegal drug abuse. This court decision is like many others in the aspect that some strongly agree and others heavily disagree. One sideRead MoreDrug Testing in the Workplace1739 Words   |  7 PagesDrug Testing in the Workplace: A Costly Mistake Abstract The issue of drug testing in the workplace has sparked an ongoing debate among management. There are many who feel that it is essential to prevent risks to the greater public caused by substance abuse while on the job. However, others believe that the costs far outweigh the benefits and that it is an invasion of privacy. Putting all ethical issues aside, evidence presented in this paper supports the latter. The costs of drug testing areRead MoreEssay On Drug Testing956 Words   |  4 Pagesassistance had to be drug tested prior to receiving help, like many who must be tested to keep their job? Many people must go through drug testing to get a job, then after they have it, they may be selected to be randomly tested again to keep their job. There are people down on their luck or going through a rough patch where they need to receive government assistance, nothing but an application needs to be filled out prior to receiving payment from the government. Drug testing for government a ssistanceRead MoreThe Drug Of Drug Testing Welfare Recipients912 Words   |  4 PagesDrug Testing Welfare Recipients To test or not to test has been has been the question at hand for many states that are dealing with whether or not to pass the law that welfare recipients should or should not be drug tested in order to receive assistance from the government. Florida was the first state to mandate the law in 2011 and thereafter twenty four other states in the last year have also passed this law in our own state of Oklahoma being one of them. Although alcohol is legal it is abused farRead MoreDrug Testing in the Workplace1281 Words   |  6 PagesDrug Testing in the Workplace Thesis statement: Administering a drug and alcohol policy can be challenging, but it can also be beneficial to the manufacturing company. I. Administering a drug and alcohol policy can be challenging. A. The company must comply with State and Federal laws when administering the drug and alcohol policy. B. The company must make sure the implementation of the test is done in a uniform manner. C. Some employees may bring law suits against the employerRead MoreDrug Testing And The Workplace1394 Words   |  6 Pagesworkplace. The implementation of drug testing by companies grew in recent years. American workers have seen a dramatic increase in the use of drug testing in the previous years. Drug testing is implemented to assure safe workplaces for American workers. Drug testing can reduce the company’s health care and insurance costs. Even though drug testing has become common in the workplace, there is little research that exists regarding this matter. Overall, drug testing affects the decisions of workersRead MoreDrug Testing Essay1200 Words   |  5 PagesThere is a big question floating in the air around a lot of people today, â€Å"Is drug testing the welfare constitutional or not?† When dealing with this we come to many road blocks. We should know and understand the difference in a drug use problem and a psychiatric disorder. Also understanding the difference in substance abuse and substance dependence. Confusing the two could be an issue. When you decide to drug test the welfare there is much more that needs to go into it than just the test to determineRead MoreNCAA Drug Testing707 Words   |  3 Pagesare being banned. In a study done, athletes were asked if illicit drugs would negatively impact their performance. Majority of them responded â€Å"yes†, their main reasoning being; the effects of illicit drugs were both mental and physically damaging. Illicit drugs come in many forms, but the testing procedures are all the same for any substance. There is almost always a consequence with the use of prohibited substances. Drug testing is appropriate to help ensure the safety of student athletes whileRead MoreDrug Testing Should Not Be Drug Tested1229 Wor ds   |  5 Pagesaid should have to be drug tested. The use of drug testing to determine aid eligibility would help with the diagnoses and prevention of drug abuse, ensure government aid is reaching those with the greatest need and help strengthen the taxpayer’s confidence in the systems effectiveness. One of the more controversial topics recently being debated by the government is whether or not, anyone applying for or currently receiving government assistance should submit to drug testing prior to receiving their

Letter Free Essays

Douglas M. Stillwell Vice President, Human Resources Memorial Health Center Stockton Falls, Ohio 43210 Dear Mr. Stillwell: Please accept my application for the Assistant Administrator position that appeared in this month`s ACHE Job Bank. We will write a custom essay sample on Letter or any similar topic only for you Order Now Recently I served as an Administrator in Training for Marion House Health Care Center (add where that is). As my attached resume describes, I worked with that organization from October 2005 to October 2006. I am prepared to assume the greater management challenges at a larger health care facility like yours.   My experience during my association with Marion House Health Care Center, included planning, implementing and evaluating many of the facility`s programs and activities. I reported my observations and activities to my direct supervisor, the facility administrator. Two of my academic courses proved especially useful while I served as administrator in training. The HSA 571 Medical Informatics Masters course gave me the knowledge and skills necessary to participate in planning, implementing, managing, and evaluating health care information systems for the facility. HSA 685 Special Topics: Quality Cost Consumer Issues in Health Care Masters course helped me develop a better awareness of the concepts and emerging issues in quality, cost containment and the growth of consumerism in health care. Thank you for all your time and consideration. Your listed position offers an ideal fit with my professional background and career goals. I would appreciate an opportunity to interview for the position. I will telephone at the end of the week to discuss this opportunity further. Sincerely, Tejesh Patel, MHSA How to cite Letter, Essay examples Letter Free Essays I have already uploaded our family pictures on our new Website. Practically took the time segregating and scanning the images by page and by year. I was also thinking about your move to run as Governor while browsing the site. We will write a custom essay sample on Letter or any similar topic only for you Order Now There are good things and bad things associated with its duties and responsibilities but I firmly feel in my heart that you can overcome all the bad things that come with the position especially during the campaign. I have reared you to be a brave man of honor. Run as you see fit and serve your country, your countrymen and our God well. Always remember to practice accountability. Make it your personal policy to keep a detailed statement of your expenditures. When your separate accounting software is ready I can guarantee you my full support in tracking and monitoring expenditures, people and results. You need to personally check the flow of your transactions, money and the results to avoid sabotage. Keep your antennae out for information to safeguard your integrity in carrying out public duties. It is always a good thing to be transparent and honest. Treat your friends and your opponents with tact and respect. Always perform deliberate acts of kindness. Loyalty is never paid. Loyalty is being given out of deep respect for you as a person, of your vision and hard works. Never rely on loyalty that does not last long. You do not aspire to win for fame. Your goal is to win to help people. Ask respected higher ups for counsel periodically and spend time alone to think before you make any decision. A council is good but you are to pray for guidance from the most High One alone. God shall lead you as to how to perform your duties and how to help your people. Your basic strategy is to aim to do good, serve with compassion and do your works with passion. Make sure everyone knows you did the work by maintaining press releases, emails to higher ups and newsletters from your office. People have the right to be informed of how things are being run and you have every right to claim the good works that you have done. We are not to be silent with politics attacks on good works. But you are to be silent on politics attacks and smear campaigns on personal issues. We want to let you know that we can be silent with all the anticipated negative campaigns directed to us and to you. A man who damages the reputation of another man is a man that cannot be trusted. Remember my son to be careful not to do that in your political campaign no matter how tempting. Always be transparent and deal with the issues in an objective way. You are a man, be always a man. Friends come and go so choose well. Listen with your heart and not your ears. Choose the ones that will serve you with great dedication and loyalty. Real friendships are hard to find. Feel their honesty and seek for their commitment through good works. The most effective way to conquer the hearts of your people and conquer the respect of your opponents is by beating your opponents through good works. You are an open target to an open world. You are to protect yourself and your people as long as you can. You have your mission from God, you have work to do and we’ll always be here to wait for you to come home when you fail and feel like life seems to tumble down to keep you company. I will not ask any questions for any failure you may encounter. I am your mother who will always keep you in my heart and love you forever as my child. God speed my son. Do what you have to do for the love of God. Loving you always, Your mother How to cite Letter, Essay examples

Debut Albums and Face free essay sample

Hobby that time two or three people passed, stopped, turned to look, and some stood watching. If I turn you loose, will you run? asked the woman. M{seem, said the boy. Then I wont turn you loose, said the woman. She did not release him. Im very sorry, lady, Im sorry, whispered the boy. Urn-hum! And your face is dirty.I got a great mind to wash your face for you. Anti you got nobody home to tell you to wash your face? Infra, said the boy. Then it will get washed this evening said the large woman starting up the street, dragging the frightened boy behind her. He looked as if he were fourteen or fifteen, frail and willow-wild, in tennis shoes and blue Jeans. The woman said, ought to be my son. I would teach you right from wrong. Least I can do right now is to wash your face. We will write a custom essay sample on Debut Albums and Face or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Are you hungry? Noon, said the being dragged boy. I Just want you to turn me loose. By that time wow or three people passed, stopped, turned to look, and some stood watching. If I turn you loose, will you run? asked the woman. Mimes, said the boy. Sorry, lady, Im sorry, whispered the boy. Urn-hum! And your face Is dirty. I got a great mind to wash your face for you. Ant you got nobody home to tell you to wash your face? Noon, said the boy. Then it will get washed this evening, said the large woman starting up the street, Neff, said the being dragged boy. I Just want you to turn me loose. By that time two or three people passed, stopped, turned to look. And some stood watching. If I Yess, said the boy. Your face?By that time two or three people passed, stopped, turned to look, and some stood watching. If I turn you loose, will you run? asked the woman. Sorry, lady, Im sorry, whispered the boy. Um-hum! And your face is dirty. I got a blue Jeans. The woman said, Mimi ought to be my son. I would teach you right from Noon, said the being dragged boy. l Just want you to turn me loose. Noon, said the boy. Blue Jeans. The woman said, muff ought to be my son. I would teach you right from Noon, said the being dragged boy. I Just want you to turn me loose. Noon, said Noon, said the being dragged boy. I Just want you to turn me loose.

Review of Current Trend in Sustainable Manufacturing free essay sample

Sustainable manufacturing revolves around the cooperation and efforts of manufacturers, and the customers support towards this process. The manufacturing industry is in support for sustainable manufacturing, but there are some factors that still need to be ironed out so that manufacturing can go full swing into sustainable manufacturing. Sustainable manufacturing goal can be achieved through sourcing for materials locally, using natural resources for production instead of too much chemical, energy and resource conservation, recycling where whatever waste that the industry produces should and can be recycled and education about environment conservation through sustainable manufacturing to all. These important steps should be taken from now itself in order to protect the environment and for the future of our next generation. Keywords: Sustainable manufacturing, recycling, environment conservation. Sustainable manufacturing is a manufacturing methodology that exists for quite some time in manufacturing environment with an ecological goal set in mind to produce and manufacture products for today’s generation’s ever increasing needs without risking reproducibility of the products in the future [1]. We will write a custom essay sample on Review of Current Trend in Sustainable Manufacturing or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This can be achieved by adopting ecological methods in current manufacturing environment to ensure sustainability. Engineering, ecological and economical aspects must be integrated in decision making for a product’s manufacturability consideration. There are many concerns that manufacturers have in expressing their support of sustainable manufacturing, such as customers’ perception in accepting recycled products with a fear of lack of quality of the product. Another concern of manufacturers would be the stability in supply of recycled materials because the materials that can be reused might not be identified properly by the customers. These items are to be resend to the manufacturer and this needs the support from product end users. In this case, the manufacturer, the recycling industry and the end users should be aligned with the same mindset [2]. Education for . the public also plays a main role in promoting sustainability and about its impact to the environment. All parties, the manufacturers, employees, suppliers, business partners, non-governmental organizations (NGO), customers, schools, communities, local and national governments should play their part in creating awareness regarding sustainability. They need to be provided with sufficient knowledge, training and resources on sustainability in order to create a future generation that cares for the environment and continue doing their part for the future of the human being. In this paper we will be discussing about the concerns that manufacturers express in support of sustainable manufacturing, which will have impact on the conservation of the environment. Looking at the overall picture, the manufacturing industry is in support for sustainable manufacturing, provided the sustainable manufacturing key obstacles could be solved, if not be reduced. The main area to be looked into would be customer segments, product value propositions and resources. Several methods will be deployed to resolve the obstacles and at the same time maintaining the sustainable manufacturing goal. Despite sustainable manufacturing has been a current trend in most of the countries in the world, the main deciding playing factor would still be the manufacturing cost. Although the manufacturing industry is being assisted by international legislations, international trade treaties and a global move towards sustainable manufacturing, many manufacturers are still reluctant to take this bold step. Being holistic alone is not sufficient in this sense. Establishment of new manufacturing paradigms, standards, rules and legislations are necessary. Manufacturers have many concerns that block them from venturing into sustainable manufacturing. 4. 1Economical concerns Many manufacturers are reluctant to venture into sustainable manufacturing due to lack of confidence that this method is economically sustainable and has many advantages. The manufacturers are more worried about their survival and the capability to maintain sustainable design in their manufacturing process [7]. Manufacturers can try to manufacture products using designs that use less energy and fewer natural resources for better sustainability. As the first step, the manufacturers will have to invest in research and development of the most effective way in order to attain these criteria, and this involves cost. Lack of technical support among employees in achieving sustainable manufacturing is another issue that manufacturers need to look into and resolve [3]. 4. 2Knowledge on sustainability The manufacturers fail to understand what sustainable manufacturing is all about. The manufacturers do not realize that lack of knowledge on sustainable manufacturing is a loss to them. At present, there are still not much accessible resources for the manufacturers to refer to broaden their mind on issues concerning sustainable manufacturing. Currently, since not many are practicing sustainable practices, until it becomes something in common the manufacturer will still find it as a difficult process to be followed. Furthermore, some manufacturers are still lacking in awareness regarding the current market trend which demands the manufacturing industry to focus on sustainable manufacturing instead of the traditional way. 4. 3Competition and survival Since not all the countries stress on regulations regarding green or sustainable manufacturing, the manufacturers in countries that enforce the regulations fear that the competitor will be able to give a better pricing by compromising on the environmental concerns. Some manufacturers tend to enter the market for a short period of time frame and manage to offer competitive price by neglecting sustainability. This situation creates a tough competitive environment for manufacturers that are implementing sustainable manufacturing at a higher cost. 4. 4Attitude The manufacturer’s attitude towards sustainability is one of the deciding factors whether the manufacturer will venture into sustainable manufacturing or not. The mindset of employers and employees at all level need to be tuned to accept and implement sustainable manufacturing. This is not an easy task. A clear path to achieve effective sustainable practices need to be drafted, put into action, monitored and only then it can be implemented. Manufacturers are also still lacking of accountability towards the environment.

The ABCs of Good Conclusion Writing

The ABCs of Good Conclusion Writing A lot of writers can have trouble when they reach the end of their paper or story. We know we want to say something revealing or unique or special, but were not sure what to say or how to say it or how much to say. Well, there is a simple equation that Ive used before to help students learn how a writer develops their final thoughts on a project, whether that project is long or short. It helps writers think through logically what theyve already said and create a sound conclusion that adds value and depth to the piece.A conclusion should deliver greater understanding, a new element or elements that derive or evolve from the elements youve already presented and argued or even dramatized. Creating this interpretative element delivers a conclusion that is original and perceptive. It also strengthens the entire writing effort. Thus, in this final important section of your writing project, you need a practical equation that tells you how to develop or think through your topic and what youv e already said about it and get to your aha or intellectual/emotional revelation.A good conclusion always has an aha or new understanding or new idea that youve developed by discussing your topic and making your arguments. An aha is sort of like having a light bulb go off in your head. Its what you deliver to your reader that makes the entire effort memorable and clearer. The process you need to take as the writer is to stand back and look at the whole scene, your entire work effort, and determine precisely what your discussion said that leads to revealing points and makes all the words extraordinary and insightful. That equation is your memory tool. It will help you think through what youve said and determine what you learned that you now want to communicate to others at the end of the piece.In math, if you combine two digits, youll get a combination of those digits thats new, but still related, i.e., 2 + 2 = 4. In chemistry, if you combine two individual elements youll get a third , i.e., sodium (Na) + Chlorine (Cl) = NaCl (or salt). When writing an outstanding conclusion, apply the same concept. Your writing genre may be a research paper, a college admissions essay, a lab report, a research proposal, sales copy, or even a longer work of nonfiction or fiction. In each case, however, you want to offer a conclusion thats uniquely relevant, i.e., final thoughts and interpretations on your topic and your thesis or your ideas about it, or a great dramatic ending that changes your characters and resolves their story significantly. You dont want a conclusion that simply summarizes everything you already discussed once or restates it just to fill space You want to take an important step, a new step, the next step. When you create a good conclusion, you deliver the best understanding of all to your reader.A great conclusion is always relevant to your topic and its arguments and leaves a lasting impression that says the work is well written and lets your reader to pond er and remember your ideas. Good conclusion writing is vital in academic and technical writing and also in nonfiction and fiction, as well as shorter queries and proposals that writers submit to gain grant money or a publishing contract.In good conclusion writing, you can use this simple-to-use outline. I call it the ABCs of conclusion writing where A (your idea) combines with B (your arguments) to get C by using integrated thinking to form new, related understanding. The equation is an easy one to remember: A + B = C. But what does it mean and how does it work when you are actually writing?Your topic/thesis statement. It presents the questions you are trying to answer or a hypothesis you will support with good arguments or the opening of a plot you will develop by using great characters and exciting scenes.The segments/arguments/plot you then present in detail in the main portion of the work.Your conclusion. It draws from both A + B and supplies answers to your original thesis ques tion and reflects on the meaning of the evidence youve provided. It can also offer final denouement or outcomes of a story for your characters and a plot.Its very important not to get off track when you write a conclusion. Dont summarize everything youre already said or, worse still, start a new topic or another thesis youve brainstormed from the one you just discussed. Both red herrings are easy to do. You can become very involved in talking more about your idea than you should and get a bit carried away. Then youll start wandering off topic and away from your original goal and thesis and best conclusion. Be very specific with your conclusions. Dont be wishy washy or restate what you said at the opening just to get done because youre sick of writing. Add new analysis, new reflections, even potential new directions that suggest additional understanding and potentially future research (just dont start that next research in the current paper).In effect, when youre writing a great conc lusion, you have to know when to stop writing. Avoid the kitchen sink syndrome because you think you have to get everything into a final page or two before you forget something. Dont cut and run either, and write a single paragraph. Write something that needs a bit of explanation for perhaps a page or two. Stay focused and always think A + B = C. Then youll write an amazing conclusion that is insightful and doesnt run on or stop too soon. Youll end your work in the absolutely right place, say something relevant and important, and set the stage hopefully for your next great paper or book sequel.

An Analysis of the Components of a Business Plan

An Analysis of the Components of a Business Plan The purpose of this paper is to analyze the different components of a business plan. Each part will be described in a brief overview, with more focus being put on specific sections. The Small Business Association has outlined each of the documents that make up the proposal on its website. This guideline provides accessibility and reference for businesses to create a roadmap of their own. One important document for any company to include in their business plan is an executive summary. This component informs readers of what your business does, where it is planning to go, and what will make the company successful. The contents of this abbreviated description varies depending on the stage of a business. A well-established company would include its mission statement; explaining what the business does and stands for. The executive summary would also contain financial information such as current investors, and increased growth/profits each year. A new business on the other hand, would describe the decisions and background leading to the startup of the new company as well as the owners’ experience. This information is intended to show potential investors why the company would succeed in its target market. Another key aspect of a business plan is the company description which reviews the different aspects of a business. This is where a company will explain what market their services or products will satisfy a need. Typically following the company description is a market analysis which describes the industry and target market for your business. This is where a company will describe their strengths, weaknesses, and other components of the competitive landscape within their target market. After this, a business will explain its organization and management structure which is an overview of the company’s internal hierarchy. This includes a detailed description of the owner and management team, with resumes for reference to experience. An extremely important part of a business plan is a company’s service or product line which explains their product or service and how it will benefit consumers. This section provides specific examples of how the business’s product or service will fulfill customers’ needs and why it supersedes any competitor’s products or services. Two important details to include in the service or product line is how long its life cycle is as well as any copyright or patents that have been obtained or are still pending approval. Along with copyright and patent information, it is imperative a company lists any legal agreements to be acknowledged by the public. Following the service or product line, a company should state their marketing and sales strategies implemented to make their business successful. This information includes detailed explanations of marketing, growth, distribution plans in addition to strategic sales force and sales activities. Most companies seek financing from a variety of investors and therefor, must specify in their funding request, what this money will be used towards. Information listed in this section includes current and future funding requirements, intended use of the money to remain transparent with potential investors. One of the last pieces to include in a business plan is the financial projections, this is a company’s opportunity to demonstrate its current fiscal data and forecasted projections for coming years. Important points to reference are financial details from previous years such as statements, income and expense sheets, as well as collateral to use for loans. Companies must ensure the projections match funding requests to prevent prospective creditors from finding inconsistencies. Using graphs to represent positive economic growth, most businesses are able to successfully showcase their initiative to potential investors. The final piece to include in a business plan is the appendix, which contains all reference documents, such as product pictures, credit history, licenses and permits, legal contracts, and reference letters. To conclude, a business plan has multiple components that serve as an overview of a company’s proposal to attract customers and investors alike. Each section contains vital information to a business’s marketing and organizational analysis and strategies, funding requests, product or service features, and an overall company description. This plan provides detailed information regarding a company’s business model and future projections. The different information listed lends transparency between a business and the public.

Middle-East and North Africa Countries Case Study

Middle-East and North Africa Countries - Case Study Example The economic milieu in these countries reflected the need for empowerment. World Bank and IMF took the initiative to address the economic issue of these countries and had has taken financial programs for assistance. The MENA conferences held every year aims at providing sound regional economic reforms for these countries in order to strengthen their economic potential. The chief objective of these conferences is to create a business-friendly climate through boosting of international and regional investment. IMF and World Bank strongly believe that the prime challenge faced by MENA countries is the improvement of economic environment for private sector investment. Hence all the programs are designed to boost the private investment in this region. The IMF reforms designed for the MENA region follows a well calculated road towards global integration of these countries. In the beginning the reforms will help to stabilize the macroeconomic conditions within the countries. The next step will be designing reforms that helps to enhance the efficiency of domestic economy. And finally the countries will be competent enough to compete in the global markets. IMF has assisted the countries in MENA region with the ideas for improving the fiscal management of the countries. Some of the notable reforms implemented regarding this issue are implementation of Value Added Tax (VAT) in the countries like Lebanon, Sudan and Islamic Republic of Mauritania, implementing reforms for income taxation especially in the countries of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Pakistan. Development of Financial Market The financial market within the countries of this region needs a radical development. In order to address this issue, Financial Sector Assessment Programs (FSAP) has been launched in 1999 by World Bank and IMF. Building up a resilient and well-regulated economy is imperative in order to establish the macroeconomic stability. The FSAP which is a joint effort by IMF and World Bank was launched with the vision of boosting the efforts taken in these countries for financial soundness. According to the prescribed terms of FSAP, IMF conducts the financial assessments of these countries to gauge their macroeconomic stability. According to the Financial System Stability Assessment (FSSA), probable risks for the country's economy are found out and the nation's ability to absorb macroeconomic shocks is assessed. Improving Transparency and Governance The joint effort of IMF and World Bank to improve the economic conditions of the countries in MENA region included a considerable attention on the quality of governance that prevails there. The economic policies of these countries are examined by comparing them with the international set of standards. IMF publishes the reports after examining the countries on Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC). There are

Corporate sustainability reporting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Corporate sustainability reporting - Essay Example At the same time, as developments in technology and knowledge are contributing to financial development, they also have the potential to assist resolving the threats and risks to the sustainability of environment, social relations and economies. Sustainability reporting is the kind of practice of disclosing, measuring, and being accountable to external and internal stakeholders for organizational performance towards the objective of sustainable development. A sustainability report should offer a reasonable and balanced representation of the sustainability performance of a reporting company consisting of both negative and positive contributions. The guidelines of Sustainability Reporting comprise principles for defining content of report and guaranteeing the quality of reported information. It also consists of standard disclosures made up of indicators of the performance and other items of the disclosure, in addition to guidance on specific technical and technological topics in report ing. A company’s own sustainability and business policy offers the circumstance in which performance is discussed. The relationship between the organizational strategy and sustainability should be made clear, as should the circumstance in which performance is reported. ... A sustainability report also refers to a single, combined disclosure that offers a balanced and reasonable presentation of performance over a fixed period of time. Stakeholders must be capable to directly access all of the information in the report from a single location, such as a GRI content index. The GRI Reporting Structure is planned to provide a normally accepted structure for reporting on a company’s environmental, economic and social performance. The structure includes the guidelines of the Sustainability Reporting, Technical Protocols, the Indicator Protocols, and the Sector Supplements. Organizational operations connected to operating, entering, and exiting can have numerous negative impacts on local communities. Indicators in the GRI structure, such as economic data or environmental emissions, will offer an overall idea of negative and positive impacts, but may not be capable to present them in relation to local communities. Sustainability reporting must consider ev ery material sustainability topics that are appropriate in understanding how a company can create, erode or preserve value over time. Environmental, economic, and social impacts can turn out to be significant over an extended time period. Reports should be capable to reflect both long-term as well as short-term topics and foreseeable longer-term subjects. A sustainability report thus covers a wider range of subjects than constitutional and statutory reporting needs, consisting of, but not limited to: †¢ â€Å"Impacts on stakeholder groups that are of high significance to them †¢ Opportunities to contribute to broader sustainability objectives †¢ Opportunities to adapt to planned changes in policies and regulatory frameworks† (RG Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, 2000). Once a

Ranking of Learning Benefit of Each CEO Essay Example for Free

Ranking of Learning Benefit of Each CEO Essay For those who have not read any great leaders biographies and theirs accomplishments, the book provide good introduction of all the seven exceptional corporate leaders and their signature strategies. The books should be able to stir reader interest for more serious reading and learning on other more in-depth leadership books. 2. Strengths Kramess rigorous analysis of each of the CEO and their strategies, provide reader an understanding of what are their strategies and how the strategies implemented and why they were implemented. The book not only discusses the framework of each of their strategies but also entails some of the example of the leaders relevant experience. Through these leaders, the book portrays proven business insights, ideas and innovations of practiced by these world-class organizations. The inclusion of thoughts provoking case studies and self-test Assessing Your CEO Quotient at each of the chapters provide interactive learning experience. 3. Weaknesses The book could have provided experience from wider spectrum of leaders from other non-profit organization, corporate leaders from emerging economies and corporate leaders from Asia. The definition of successful leaders in this book is narrow is the sense its only from the perspective of immediate financial wealth creation. 4. General Learning Benefit The author, being a novice in the area of strategic leadership studies found that the book provide a very good introduction to strategic leadership and corporate strategy. The books open the author mind on the dynamism of strategic and critical thinking of addressing corporate problems. The author found that the More Lesson From CEO sections at the end of each chapter were practical and applicable to the author current profession. Ranking of Learning Benefit of Each CEO Out of all the CEOs the author has learned the most is from Andy Grove. Turning from negative situation to positive though it took resourcefulness to achieved, without real strong courage and determination, many leaders would not succeed. These strong qualities possessed by Grove no doubts would have developed through his early days hardship and this had earned Grove the respect of being a leader. Through his ability see the condition Intel from the perspective of an outsider enable him to prepare Intel for drastic change and turn into a multi-billion dollars business. The author admired Grove leadership style based on truth telling. Ranking second after Grove is Herb Kelleher. The author learned the important of building performance-based culture in business. Kellehers down-to-earth leadership style, by putting customer and employee, putting aside title and protocol caught the attention of the author especially when it came from the leader from big organization like Southwest. Kelleher lean management structure that made him accessible by his front lines supervisor plus his flamboyant and people treatment breed loyalty and commitment from his staff. Ranking third is Sam Walton. Walton continuous endeavor to be better by learning from his competitors, and remain faithful to his vision to provide lowest cost impressed the author. Normally when organization became big, they will not adopt lowest cost strategy. Lesson that the author draws from Walton leadership style was to lead by example in the aspect of learning from others. Ranking fourth is Bill Gates. Bill Gates leadership approach to knowledge management was definitely a lesson that that the author have learned. Gates ability to see the future label him as visionary leader. Ranking fifth is Jack Welch. Jack Welch was good corporate strategies. Though through learning organization make GE a great company, his number one or number two strategy was mean and neglected the human aspect which the author believe negate the overall leadership pursuit. This strategy though might work with big corporation like GE, might not work on the smaller organization. People commitment to their job could be due to job security. Ranking sixth is Lou Gerstner. Gerstner approach to put IBM under the scrutiny of its customer and use the market feedback to transform IBM would be expected of him. His previous experience in Nabisco naturally would give IBM a fresh perspective of how to business would be directed. No doubt his leadership abilities would have contributed to his success transforming IBM. Ranking seventh is Michael Dell. Dell approach to build DELL business model surround the customer and his strategy of mass customization would be the natural things to do for highly competitive industry like computers. Whereas other failed, Dell succeeded to harness the power of Information Technology to build DELL supply chain. Probably other computer makers would have recognized the important of bringing the business closer to the customer but they fail to know how. 6. Other Prominent Leader. Another leader that the author regards to be prominent is Fujio Cho, the president of the Toyota Motor Corporation. Fortune reported that Toyotas worldwide sales leapt 10%, to 7. 5 million vehicles, posting strong growth in all regions. Toyotas profits for fiscal year 2003 exceeded those of GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and Volkswagen combined. (Annex A) Cho portray his leadership style particularly dedicates his time through interaction with the working group on the production floor, congratulating them of their best achievement. Cho leading by example has earned him admiration and respect from his employees. (Annex B) Cho none compromising stand on environmental issue evident went he lambasted his own company saying The sense of crisis we feel, despite increasing sales and profits, stems from our fear that we have no kept up. Particularly fears that we have not kept up with environmental issues (Annex C) To be globally competitive today, according to Cho, a company must be agile, able to make rapid decisions and respond quickly to changing business environments (Annex D) and this factor has brought Toyota to the current level. Cho leadership exemplifies the quest for organization for continuous improvement. Lesson that can be drawn by the author from his leadership and strategy are, his treatment for his employee, passion for quality and meeting customer expectation and respect for the environment. Conclusion The reading of the book provides the author a good introduction of the practice and the dynamics of strategic leadership. Based on experiences of these CEOs, the author realized that the application strategic leadership varies depending on the personality of the leadership and the circumstances and type of the organization they are in. Source:Â  http://www.fortune.com

Victorian Schoolmistress :: Victorian Era

Victorian Schoolmistress Education It was preferred that the schoolmistresses were certified, particularly to work in the better schools during the latter half of the 19 th century. To become certified they were tested in grammar, geography, history, math, and writing from dictation. Additionally, their handwriting was analyzed for readability (Jackson). Appearance of Schoolhouse The focus on the appearance of the schoolhouse was mainly limited to the private schoolhouses, which wanted to attract the best students. Schoolmistresses decorated the school so that they looked relatively well-off, and conducted the school to give the appearance of a family/domestic setting. Unlike the public schoolhouses, the private schoolhouses aimed to attract a small number of the best students, whereas the public schools wished to attract enough students so as to collect an adequate amount of money for their salaries and other extraneous fees (Pederson 142). Salaries Generally, the pay was rather poor, barely ever being more than  £300 per annum. From this, lodging fees, repairs, taxes, and payment to assistants was removed, causing the profit for personal expenses to be well below  £100. Their salaries were garnered from the payments of their students. At the best boarding schools,  £70 for boarders and  £20 for day students was average. Conversely, in the poorer boarding schools,  £3 to  £10 was the average (Pederson 141). Public vs. Private School Lessons The public schools looked towards the public sphere for inspiration and trained students to be productive in the world and focused on their academics. On the other hand, the private schools tended to celebrate a life of leisure in the private setting. However, in public and private schools, music, French, arithmetic, writing and reading were the core subjects. Greater emphasis was put on domestic subjects and lessons were only taught to the point of being satisfactory in a social setting (Pederson 138, 144). The Typical Day in a Girls’ Boarding School 7:00 – Wake Up 8:00 – Breakfast is Ready, Usually Including Meat 9:00 or 9:30 – Day’s Studies Begin Noon – Girls Take a Walk After Having a Slice of Bread and Butter Dinner Follows the Walk 3:00 – Studies Continue Until 5:00 or 5:30

Nissan Planning New Fuel-cell Vehicle

The global environment has been afflicted to a considerable extent by the conventional combustion engines of the vehicles, creating certain problems of global interest like exhaust emission, global warming and increased dependence on fossil fuel. (Paul Nieuwenhuis, Peter Wells, 2003)It has been estimated that fossil fuels are a limited resource. Nissan has always played a key role in automotive industry and foreseen that mobility is an inevitable part of economic development of any country. Nissan has contributed his share by harnessing the technological strengths that has accumulated over many years of its dedication and ever-changing discoveries.The basic charm in the philosophy of fuel cell vehicle is in its environment friendliness. It is expected to play an evermore important role as a clean energy vehicle. Main feature of fuel cell vehicle is that electrical energy is obtained by the chemical reaction of hydrogen and water. In this reaction sole emission is water which is alrea dy the part of ecosystem means least or almost no pollution. The electrical energy obtained in this manner will be utilized to get it converted into mechanical driving force by a number of engineering processes. (Lloyd Dixon, Isaac Porche, Jonathan Kulick, 2002).The Nissan FCV employs elements of a variety of technologies, including electric vehicle (EV), hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), and compressed natural gas vehicle (CNGV) technologies.Nissan's FCV applies technologies that have been developed in Nissan, such as lithium ion batteries and high voltage electric systems for electric vehicles, control technologies for hybrid vehicles and high pressure gas storage systems for CNGV. Nissan has been developing FCVs that endeavors to accomplish outstanding environmental and energy-saving capacity. (Geographical, 2003)Nissan Canada Inc. (NCI) declared in February 2006, a program that will put its newest fuel cell-equipped vehicle to the test trial for analysis. The new seventy mega Pasca l (MPa) high-pressure hydrogen-powered Nissan X-Trail FCV (fuel cell vehicle) was at home in Canada for testing, which will take place in the vicinity of the Greater Vancouver. The Nissan X-Trail FCV encloses a hydrogen fuel cylinder manufactured by Dynetek Industries Ltd. of Calgary, Alta. The important thing about this cylinder is that it has been built in Canada.The vehicle is under test at Surrey, B.C.-based Powertech Labs Inc., an entirely owned auxiliary of BC Hydro, in collaboration with Fuel Cells Canada. Fuel Cells Canada administers the Hydrogen Highway, a synchronized, large-scale presentation and utilization program intended to accelerate the commercialization of hydrogen and fuel-cell technologies. Nissan joined these organizations in Surrey to start the testing.â€Å"Through Nissan's advances in hydrogen fuel cell technology, we hope to improve the practicality of fuel cells as a future clean power source,†These are the words uttered by John Junker-Andersen, Dir ector, Parts, Service and Quality Assurance at NCI. He further added,â€Å"Together with the assistance of Powertech and BC Hydro, we are working hard to make the benefits of fuel cells and their promise of high efficiency and zero emissions a viable reality.†A fuel cell vehicle is in consequence an electric vehicle, using a fuel cell to alter hydrogen and oxygen into electricity. The electricity is produced by a chemical reaction inside the fuel cell stack when hydrogen from the fuel cylinder merges with oxygen in air. The only by-product is water, making FCVs completely emissions-free. Robb Thompson, Dynetek Industries Ltd said,â€Å"With partners such as Nissan and BC Hydro, we are able to test compressed hydrogen in real world situations,†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Through these tests, we have demonstrated that compressed hydrogen is the best commercially suitable alternative for the success of the hydrogen economy.†nyne-ngvp.orgNissan will test the vehicle in a number of enviro nments and drive cycles, including moderate cold-weather, high-speed hill climbs and highway driving, to evaluate the vehicle's capabilities and the hydrogen fuel system's performance.Livio Gambone, Manager, Vehicle Programs at Powertech said,â€Å"As members of the Hydrogen Highway(TM), we are pleased to support Nissan's vehicle testing program,†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Our climate and geography, plus access to our seventy MPa hydrogen filling station, make the Vancouver area the best and only place to test the viability and endurance of this FCV.†The seventy MPa high-pressure hydrogen-powered Nissan X-Trail FCV is the company's most-recent developmental fuel cell vehicle. Equipped with the first-ever Nissan-constructed fuel cell stack, the X-Trail FCV also boasts a more compact design and increased power. A previous 2003 model offered a cruising range of 350 km, but thanks to improved stack efficiency and a 30 percent increase in the high-pressure Dynetek hydrogen cylinder's storage ca pacity, the new X-Trail FCV is expected to achieve a cruising range of more than 500 km.John Tak, President and CEO, Fuel Cells Canada said,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"We applaud Nissan Canada's decision to test their newest hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicle along the Hydrogen Highway(TM),† â€Å"As a world-leading centre for hydrogen and fuel cell expertise, British Columbia's Hydrogen Highway(TM) is an ideal proving ground to test and demonstrate these technologies.†Nissan has been working on FCV development since 1996. In addition to design and engineering work conducted in Japan, extensive testing and development has also been conducted in other markets, including the United States, where Nissan is a member of the California Fuel Cell Partnership (CaFCP). About Nissan Canada Inc. Nissan Canada Inc. is the Canadian sales, marketing and distribution subsidiary of Nissan Motor Limited and Nissan North America, Inc. With offices in Vancouver (BC), Mississauga (ON), and Kirkland (QC), N issan Canada directly employs two hundred and ninety staff, while one hundred and forty six independent businesses hold exclusive Nissan dealerships and twenty nine hold exclusive Infinity dealerships. (Jim Motavalli, 2003).Ten years devotion of Nissan for fuel-cell research has evolved as the latest FCV X-Trail sport/utility vehicle. Nissan engineered and assembled a fuel stack in-house and its most recent unit manages to squeeze the stack’s sophisticated technology in a smaller and lighter package. The new stack develops 120 horse power—35 horse power more than the one fixed to the previous 2003 FCV X-Trail. As a consequence the new model put forward better linear speeding up and response, higher top speed too.Fuel cell packaging has gifted the new vehicle with more freed passenger space. The lithium-ion battery pack, that is stored under the trunk floor, is also built smaller, permitting for more goods room. In addition to this the smaller fuel-cell unit releases 40 percent extra space under the front seats.The considerable egg shaped hydrogen tank, which is lined by aluminium in its inner wall and strengthened with carbon fiber in its outer covering posed substantial packaging problem. Nissan has resolved it by placing it under the rear seats with resultant diminished headroom. The texture of the new tank provides it with greater accommodative capacity imparting thirty percent more hydrogen storage capacity that has a great impact on vehicle cruising mileage, sometimes attaining three hundred and twelve miles.The vehicle X-trial has been observed efficient on the road. Drive of this car is as easy operative as selective drive and tapping into the zero-emission power once the onboard computer system indicates the green signal. Nissan has manufactured the FCV X-trail to bestow the drivers a feeling of normal driving experience a part from the apparent lack of a noxious exhaust. In fact the car is being propelled by the electrical energy generat ed as a result of discussed chemical reaction. Since a train-like motor sound is audible from the background, however it is never annoying. (Robert L. Olson, 2003).The X-Trail accelerates readily up to a seventy mile per hour cruising speed and easily achieves a ninety three miles per hour top speed.Japanese government has approved public road testing and leasing of the Nissan’s latest fuel cell vehicles due to  Nissan’s determined hard work and research in the field of fuel cell technology. Let us see when Nissan markets its matchless vehicle for the use of consumers.References:Geographical (2003). Cleaning Up the World's Exhaust Pipes: They're Quiet, Efficient, Run on Renewable Energy Sources and Their Exhaust Is Just a Cloud of Water Vapour. Could the Rise of Fuel-Cell Vehicles Spell the End of the Internal Combustion Engine? Magazine article; Vol. 75, AugustJack Doyle (2000). Taken for a Ride: Detroit's Big Three and the Politics of Pollution; Four Walls Eight Wi ndowsJim Motavalli (2003). Power Plays: Fuel Cells Are Reaching the Market, in What Could Be a $100 Billion Industry; E, Vol. 14, JanuaryLloyd Dixon, Isaac Porche, Jonathan Kulick (2002). Driving Emissions to Zero: Are the Benefits of California's Zero Emission Vehicle Program Worth the Costs; RandPaul Nieuwenhuis, Peter Wells (2003). The Automotive Industry and the Environment: A Technical, Business and Social Future; CRC PressRobert L. Olson (2003). The Promise and Pitfalls of Hydrogen Energy: Nonpolluting and Renewable, Hydrogen Energy Holds Great Promise as an Energy Alternative in the Future. Here's a Look at What's Right about Hydrogen Energy- and How It Can Go Wrong; The Futurist, Vol. 37, Julynyne-ngvp.org Nissan Planning New Fuel-cell Vehicle The global environment has been afflicted to a considerable extent by the conventional combustion engines of the vehicles, creating certain problems of global interest like exhaust emission, global warming and increased dependence on fossil fuel. (Paul Nieuwenhuis, Peter Wells, 2003)It has been estimated that fossil fuels are a limited resource. Nissan has always played a key role in automotive industry and foreseen that mobility is an inevitable part of economic development of any country. Nissan has contributed his share by harnessing the technological strengths that has accumulated over many years of its dedication and ever-changing discoveries.The basic charm in the philosophy of fuel cell vehicle is in its environment friendliness. It is expected to play an evermore important role as a clean energy vehicle. Main feature of fuel cell vehicle is that electrical energy is obtained by the chemical reaction of hydrogen and water. In this reaction sole emission is water which is alrea dy the part of ecosystem means least or almost no pollution. The electrical energy obtained in this manner will be utilized to get it converted into mechanical driving force by a number of engineering processes. (Lloyd Dixon, Isaac Porche, Jonathan Kulick, 2002).  The Nissan FCV employs elements of a variety of technologies, including electric vehicle (EV), hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), and compressed natural gas vehicle (CNGV) technologies.Nissan's FCV applies technologies that have been developed in Nissan, such as lithium ion batteries and high voltage electric systems for electric vehicles, control technologies for hybrid vehicles and high pressure gas storage systems for CNGV. Nissan has been developing FCVs that endeavors to accomplish outstanding environmental and energy-saving capacity. (Geographical, 2003)Nissan Canada Inc. (NCI) declared in February 2006, a program that will put its newest fuel cell-equipped vehicle to the test trial for analysis. The new seventy mega P ascal (MPa) high-pressure hydrogen-powered Nissan X-Trail FCV (fuel cell vehicle) was at home in Canada for testing, which will take place in the vicinity of the Greater Vancouver. The Nissan X-Trail FCV encloses a hydrogen fuel cylinder manufactured by Dynetek Industries Ltd. of Calgary, Alta. The important thing about this cylinder is that it has been built in Canada. The vehicle is under test at Surrey, B.C.-based Powertech Labs Inc., an entirely owned auxiliary of BC Hydro, in collaboration with Fuel Cells Canada. Fuel Cells Canada administers the Hydrogen Highway, a synchronized, large-scale presentation and utilization program intended to accelerate the commercialization of hydrogen and fuel-cell technologies. Nissan joined these organizations in Surrey to start the testing.â€Å"Through Nissan's advances in hydrogen fuel cell technology, we hope to improve the practicality of fuel cells as a future clean power source,†Ã‚  These are the words uttered by John Junker-Ande rsen, Director, Parts, Service and Quality Assurance at NCI. He further added,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Together with the assistance of Powertech and BC Hydro, we are working hard to make the benefits of fuel cells and their promise of high efficiency and zero emissions a viable reality.†A fuel cell vehicle is in consequence an electric vehicle, using a fuel cell to alter hydrogen and oxygen into electricity. The electricity is produced by a chemical reaction inside the fuel cell stack when hydrogen from the fuel cylinder merges with oxygen in air. The only by-product is water, making FCVs completely emissions-free. Robb Thompson, Dynetek Industries Ltd said,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"With partners such as Nissan and BC Hydro, we are able to test compressed hydrogen in real world situations,†Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Through these tests, we have demonstrated that compressed hydrogen is the best commercially suitable alternative for the success of the hydrogen economy.†Nissan will test the vehicle in a number o f environments and drive cycles, including moderate cold-weather, high-speed hill climbs and highway driving, to evaluate the vehicle's capabilities and the hydrogen fuel system's performance.  Livio Gambone, Manager, Vehicle Programs at Powertech said,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"As members of the Hydrogen Highway(TM), we are pleased to support Nissan's vehicle testing program,†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Our climate and geography, plus access to our seventy MPa hydrogen filling station, make the Vancouver area the best and only place to test the viability and endurance of this FCV.†The seventy MPa high-pressure hydrogen-powered Nissan X-Trail FCV is the company's most-recent developmental fuel cell vehicle. Equipped with the first-ever Nissan-constructed fuel cell stack, the X-Trail FCV also boasts a more compact design and increased power. A previous 2003 model offered a cruising range of 350 km, but thanks to improved stack efficiency and a 30 percent increase in the high-pressure Dynetek hydrogen cylin der's storage capacity, the new X-Trail FCV is expected to achieve a cruising range of more than 500 km.John Tak, President and CEO, Fuel Cells Canada said,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"We applaud Nissan Canada's decision to test their newest hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicle along the Hydrogen Highway(TM),† â€Å"As a world-leading centre for hydrogen and fuel cell expertise, British Columbia's Hydrogen Highway(TM) is an ideal proving ground to test and demonstrate these technologies.†Nissan has been working on FCV development since 1996. In addition to design and engineering work conducted in Japan, extensive testing and development has also been conducted in other markets, including the United States, where Nissan is a member of the California Fuel Cell Partnership (CaFCP). About Nissan Canada Inc. Nissan Canada Inc. is the Canadian sales, marketing and distribution subsidiary of Nissan Motor Limited and Nissan North America, Inc. With offices in Vancouver (BC), Mississauga (ON), and Kirkland (QC), Nissan Canada directly employs two hundred and ninety staff, while one hundred and forty six independent businesses hold exclusive Nissan dealerships and twenty nine hold exclusive Infinity dealerships. (Jim Motavalli, 2003).Ten years devotion of Nissan for fuel-cell research has evolved as the latest FCV X-Trail sport/utility vehicle. Nissan engineered and assembled a fuel stack in-house and its most recent unit manages to squeeze the stack’s sophisticated technology in a smaller and lighter package. The new stack develops 120 horse power—35 horse power more than the one fixed to the previous 2003 FCV X-Trail. As a consequence the new model put forward better linear speeding up and response, higher top speed too.Fuel cell packaging has gifted the new vehicle with more freed passenger space. The lithium-ion battery pack, that is stored under the trunk floor, is also built smaller, permitting for more goods room. In addition to this the smaller fuel-cell unit releases 40 percent extra space under the front seats.The considerable egg shaped hydrogen tank, which is lined by aluminium in its inner wall and strengthened with carbon fiber in its outer covering posed substantial packaging problem. Nissan has resolved it by placing it under the rear seats with resultant diminished headroom. The texture of the new tank provides it with greater accommodative capacity imparting thirty percent more hydrogen storage capacity that has a great impact on vehicle cruising mileage, sometimes attaining three hundred and twelve miles.The vehicle X-trial has been observed efficient on the road. Drive of this car is as easy operative as selective drive and tapping into the zero-emission power once the onboard computer system indicates the green signal. Nissan has manufactured the FCV X-trail to bestow the drivers a feeling of normal driving experience a part from the apparent lack of a noxious exhaust. In fact the car is being propelled by the electrica l energy generated as a result of discussed chemical reaction. Since a train-like motor sound is audible from the background, however it is never annoying. (Robert L. Olson, 2003).The X-Trail accelerates readily up to a seventy mile per hour cruising speed and easily achieves a ninety three miles per hour top speed.  Japanese government has approved public road testing and leasing of the Nissan’s latest fuel cell vehicles due to Nissan’s determined hard work and research in the field of fuel cell technology. Let us see when Nissan markets its matchless vehicle for the use of consumers.References:Geographical (2003). Cleaning Up the World's Exhaust Pipes: They're Quiet, Efficient, Run on Renewable Energy Sources and Their Exhaust Is Just a Cloud of Water Vapour. Could the Rise of Fuel-Cell Vehicles Spell the End of the Internal Combustion Engine? Magazine article; Vol. 75, AugustJack Doyle (2000). Taken for a Ride: Detroit's Big Three and the Politics of Pollution; Fo ur Walls Eight WindowsJim Motavalli (2003). Power Plays: Fuel Cells Are Reaching the Market, in What Could Be a $100 Billion Industry; E, Vol. 14, JanuaryLloyd Dixon, Isaac Porche, Jonathan Kulick (2002). Driving Emissions to Zero: Are the Benefits of California's Zero Emission Vehicle Program Worth the Costs; RandPaul Nieuwenhuis, Peter Wells (2003). The Automotive Industry and the Environment: A Technical, Business and Social Future; CRC PressRobert L. Olson (2003). The Promise and Pitfalls of Hydrogen Energy: Nonpolluting and Renewable, Hydrogen Energy Holds Great Promise as an Energy Alternative in the Future. Here's a Look at What's Right about Hydrogen Energy- and How It Can Go Wrong; The Futurist, Vol. 37, July

Ethical Decision Making Essay

Abstract Ethics is the branch of philosophy that examines questions of morality, or right and wrong. In this paper we will discuss the philosophical approaches used in ethical decision making. The two approaches that will be elaborated on are the utilitarian approach and the universal approach. Several questions will be addressed, (1) what is the utilitarian and universal approach? (2) How do we use them in the ethical decision making process and (3) examples of how it relate in the field of Criminal Justice? When conflict arises it’s not always possible to decide who is right or wrong; however our moral responsibility is to resolve problems to the best of our ability. The utilitarian and universal theories are two of several philosophical approaches or methods that can be implemented when making these types of decisions (Zalta & Geoff, 2008). The Utilitarian Approach: Utilitarianism is one of the most powerful and persuasive approaches to normative ethics in the history of philosophy. The utilitarian approach to ethical decision making focuses on taking the action that will result in the greatest good for the greatest number of people. It also focuses on the consequences of the course of action and policy, as well as the affects it has on the well-being of the people directly or indirectly impacted by that action or policy. This approach is used to promote the welfare of everybody by maximizing benefits and minimizing harm (Zalta & Geoff, 2008). For instance, when faced with a situation your first thought or question is what should you do? Once you assess the situation then you would apply which ethical decision is the best action to take. If you implement the utilitarian approach you did so with the intent of producing the greatest balance over harm. Utilitarianism offers a relatively straightforward method for deciding the morally right course of action for any particular situation we may find ourselves in. In the criminal justice field this approach can be widely used. To discover what we ought to do in any situation, we first identify the various courses of action that we could perform. Second, we determine all of the foreseeable benefits and harms that would result from each course of action for everyone affected by the action. And third, we choose the course of action that provides the greatest benefits after the costs have been taken into account (Velasquez, Claire, Shanks, & S.J). The Universal Approach: The universal approach to ethical decision making is similar to the Golden Rule. The golden rule is best interpreted as â€Å"Treat others as you want to be treated†. Universalism argues that knowledge can and should be applied to everyone in every similar situation (Williams & Arrigo, 2008). This approach can be taken in two steps. First, determine whether or not a particular action should be applied to all people under all circumstances. Second, decide if you would be willing to have that same rule to you. This approach claims that ethical principles hold for all and not for some, it is for everybody without exception (Williams & Arrigo, 2008). In other words if you act a certain way towards another and are not willing to be treated in that same regard than you are in violation of the universal rule. To apply the universal approach correctly we need to take into consideration the effects our decision making have on other people’s lives. We also have to be able to imagine ourselves in the other person’s shoes on the receiving end of the action. Imagine you are a police officer in pursuit of what seems to be a drunk driver, while in pursuit the drunk driver hits a pregnant woman crossing the street. What do you do, do you stop for her and leave a drunk driver on the road, or do you call the accident in and continue to pursue the drunk driver to keep him from potentially killing himself and others. The utilitarian approach would more likely call for back up and continue after the drunk driver, but if we use this same example and compare it to the universal approach, the question then becomes what would you want done to you. Both philosophical approaches are infused with flaws, the use of â€Å"utilitarian† thinking is not always clear of what form of action should be taken or if the action you took will have a favorable outcome for the majority. It is difficult to judge what decision will supply the best way to respond to a situation. The universal approach unlike the utilitarian bases its decisions on the facts that the action taken is best for everyone regardless of the situation or the difference in people. My choice between the two is somewhat tossed, because my belief is that you should do unto other as you would want done to you, but at the same time my desire to ensure the greatest number of success is important to me as well. Within the Judicial system decisions are made with or without the input of others; however it is our moral obligation to ensure that we make the best ethical decisions that we can, because every decision somehow directly or indirectly affects someone else. References Velasquez, M., Claire, A., Shanks, M. M., & S.J. (n.d.). Markula Center for Applied Ethics. Retrieved from Santa Clara University: http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/thinking.html Williams, C. R., & Arrigo, B. A. (2008). Is Morality Relative? The variability of Norms and Values. In C. R. Williams, & B. A. Arrigo, Ethics, Crime and Criminal Justice (p. 77). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall. Zalta, E. N., & Geoff, S.-M. (2008). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosphy : http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/metaethics/

Homework and Multiple Reasons Essay

Homework and Multiple Reasons Essay Homework and Multiple Reasons Essay _______________________________________________________________________ One student that I worked with this past term had difficulty being successful in class for multiple reasons. The online student was a stay-at-home mother who often had a difficult time getting away from distractions in order to complete her work. During our first two tutoring sessions over the phone, she was disrupted by her young children who were at home with her. After the second occurrence, she had explained to me that she has difficulty completing homework assignments because one she starts, she always seems to be disrupted by her family. After gauging and finding out when some downtime occurred for the student, I had suggested that she set some time aside in the afternoon during naps and later in the evening after the children were put to bed and devote it to studying. With flexible hours, we were able to schedule tutoring appointments at these times also. More recently, the student was again demonstrating some poor time management practices. With unexpected situations that can come about with having a family, the student explained to me once that her schedule is often â€Å"fly by the seat of her pants.† Last week for two of our appointments, she answered the phone at our scheduled time, but was unable to hold the appointments due to family circumstances. I also noticed that the student was losing a few points on assignments for turning them in past the due date. She shared with me that she often

Financial Reporting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Financial Reporting - Assignment Example The assets listed in Coca-Cola Company’s balance sheet are classified into two main categories, current and other assets. Current assets are divided into two sections, with the first one being cash and cash equivalents and short term investments (The Coca-Cola Company, 2013). All the other assets that do not make up part of current assets are the long-term assets that are listed individually. In a balance sheet, cash equivalents always appear with cash as the first of current assets. From research, it is noted that cash equivalents are non-cash assets that are highly liquid or can be converted into cash immediately. This means that cash equivalents are assets that can be readily sold or disposed of and converted into cash for immediate use. Just like cash, cash equivalents are usually low risk and return assets, meaning that their face value rarely changes much. From the annual report for The Coca-Cola Company, it can be seen that the total value for the total current liabilit ies for 2012 was $27,821,000,000 while the total value for the total current liabilities for 2011 was $24,283,000,000 (The Coca-Cola Company, 2013). It should be noted that 2012 was the most recent annual reporting period while 2011 was the previous annual reporting period for The Coca-Cola Company. ... The creditors expect to be paid at a future date, so they review the financial statements to see if the company will be able to pay its debts in time. The creditors will look at the balance sheet to determine if the company has enough current assets to pay immediate debts and if the company’s debts can be covered by the assets that it owns. The creditors will also look at the annual reports to assess the liquidity of the company should it need to pay its debts immediately. Conversely, investors are the people who own the company, mostly in the form of shareholding. In any investment, the investors look to earn a return on their investment and get a return for their investment. This means that information contained in the balance sheet and income statements is important to the investors. The investors will look at dividends paid out to determine if they will earn a return on their investment, that is whether they will make a profit by investing in the company. The investors wil l also want to be sure that their original investment is paid back, so they look at the current assets and current liabilities to know if they will get paid the value of their investment. Finally, the employees of the company are assumed to want to work for the company for as long as possible. This means that the employees of the company expect the company to be a going concern, meaning that the company is expected to have sound performance and look to be profitable. To determine this, the employees of the company will look at the financial information presented in the balance sheet and income statements to determine if the company is growing or failing.

Starting a Business Online Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Starting a Business Online - Assignment Example They may think the prices are too high and since a sales person is not in front of them to convince them, impulse buying may be limited. Opportunities: After going online, the clothing store can explore and tap a niche market to differentiate itself from the competition. It can position some products as unique to the area in which the store is located. Moving beyond geographical boundaries, there is also an opportunity to build a well-known brand name and more credibility. We can engage more people online, develop a customer database and send them offers/E-greetings etc. in order to create some customer loyalty. Customers who live far away can be expected to pay a visit to the store when they come to Jersey Shore boardwalk. Threats: There are many online stores selling clothing, with very strong channels of distribution and more financial resources. Many have already built a name for themselves so it may be hard to convince customers to buy from a lesser known store. Some competing stores will have more knowledge of foreign markets and perhaps representatives there who can keep them abreast of any changes in those markets in terms of buyers’ needs, affordability, market size/growth, etc. Engaging in e-Commerce means that the business will become an international business and one will have to consider factors such as trust, culture, language, government and infrastructure when catering to foreign markets. First of all, initially the store will select and focus on a few foreign markets, which are close in terms of geographical distance as well as in terms of language, culture, etc. For instance, products can be supplied to the United Kingdom and some other European countries. Of course, the current fashion trends in these countries will need to be looked into but chances are they will be similar. Their culture in terms of clothing is the same, so one can expect them to buy t-shirts, tunics, skirts, pants, etc. English is the

Human Resource Management in UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Human Resource Management in UK - Essay Example It would appear that the dynamic business environment at that time certainly had great influence, if in fact not actually being the catalyst towards an overall full scale adoption of HRM or at least the embracing of a number of elements of the concept. HRM is a good example of how the macro environment can influence change within an organisations micro environment. Essentially it is an organisations response to macro environment factors which will determine success. In the 1980's in the UK the macro environment produced a range of political, economic, social and technological factors which favoured a movement towards a HRM approach to people management and it is also true to say that the macro environment still has a very powerful influence over the extent to which HRM is practiced and types of HRM implemented today. The term 'human resource,' first emerged in the USA in the 1950's, coined by Peter Druker in one of his seminars and traces back to organisational development and human capital theory. HRM is controversial and debatable surrounded by great academic diversity. Confusion is caused because of the 'ambiguous pedigree' of the concept (Noon, 1992). There is a lack of clarity, the term can be viewed as being broad. HRM is a concept regarded as being enigmatic / obscure due to ideological, empirical and theoretical reasons and in many cases because of micro politics (Storey, 1992). Difficulties in defining HRM and the lack of a universally accepted definition implies that HRM is an innovation that takes on the meaning of whatever the person speaking at the time wants it to be (Torrington, 1989). Questions arise over the existence of HRM (Armstrong, 2000), over its meaning and status; is HRM a 'map,' 'model' or 'theory' (Noon, 1992) and of whether it is distinct from the traditional rhetoric of personnel and industrial relations management. Or is HRM simply old wine in a new bottle, a catch all term which basically re-labels the generic activities of personnel management (Torrington, 1989; Poole, 1990; Storey, 1995). Until the emergence of HRM, debatable as it is, the traditional approach to people management was personnel management. Personnel management is based on compliance, management control over employees, it was pluralist and concerned with adverse relations and thus operating via collective relationships (Trade Unions and employee representatives) and it is characteristic of a bureaucratic style of management. Personnel management tends to be reactive, tactical and concerned with short term objectives. Personnel management tends to have more pragmatic objectives, concerned greatly with cost effectiveness. In contrast HRM is proactive and strategic, it integrates personnel /industrial relation considerations with strategic decision making. HRM is based on commitment, it is unitarist with no conflict of interests thus focusing on an individual relationship between employee and line management. HRM concentrates on people as a vital resource and focus' upon greater utilisation of this asset through its policies so as to achieve organisational

Evaluating Popular vs. Scholarly Presentations of Global Climate Change Essay Example for Free

Evaluating Popular vs. Scholarly Presentations of Global Climate Change Essay There is a very clear distinction in the presentation of material on climate change between the popular and scholarly sources. The popular source tends to present a more emotion-driven content that primarily appeals to a politically motivated side of the issue. For example, the emphasis of the article in the L.A. times emphasize â€Å"an iceless Arctic summer† and â€Å"suffering Polar bears† which gives the impression that climate change is something extremely detrimental. The popular media podcast takes this political route to a higher level, by directly linking these dangers to administrative policies done by government. What is clear about the popular article is that climate change is a very bad thing, what is clear in the subsequent podcast is that there are people responsible for it. What is not so clear though is how apparent the evidences are to these supposed grave detriments. The article attempted to substantiate this initially by citing that half of their models says so without really explaining why half of 15 models saying so is good enough. They even used this opinion from one person saying that You have to fly a lot longer to get to the ice edge than you used to, which is fairly unscientific and not reliable at all. The scholarly article and its subsequent podcast both present hard facts regarding climate change and its possible effects. There is a uniform level of clarity regarding the subtopics that they present backed up by objective data such as charts on carbon emissions vis-à  -vis global warming stats following the same time-span. This presents a clear view of the extent of damage caused by carbon emissions. What is a bit lacking is content on the social relevance of the objective findings, which I don’t think I can expect from the material in the first place since delving into such contexts would already have a subjective inkling. I think the writers/directors of the popular sources aim to make readers sympathetic to their cause and consequently, to their political agenda. On the other hand, the authors/directors of the scholarly journal and podcast aim to present unbiased information which might hopefully spur other researchers into action towards verification or further development of their current work. I think the way global climate change is presented in the popular sources makes us more afraid of the event. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing since even the scholarly sources point out that there are significant possible detriments, but being overly afraid because of sensationalized news might not evoke the best thought-of response from the reader/listener. On the other hand, the scholarly sources are not very exciting to read or listen to, which may be a barrier if you’re not really into all the science stuff but you want to learn more about helping the environment. What’s good about popular sources is that they know what people like and how people like to hear news. They can get readers and listeners to be more interested in topics. Scholarly sources although bland in style present the actual facts and objective data that people who might have been social awoken by popular sources might want to look into. In this way, I can see a synergistic aspect between the two models. One danger is causing unnecessary panic, or making people unjustifiably angry against certain entities like the government instead of realizing the problem and working on it. I think directors have to maintain a certain decency of not going overboard with the sensationalism and being as objective as they can be. Perhaps all the scientific journals need is just a bit more style in the presentation, a more layman way of talking about all the scientific details. Also, better visual representation by the use of computer animation may make objective studies a lot easier to sit through and understand. Sources: Zarembo, A. (2007).  Forecast: an iceless Arctic summer. Los Angeles Times.   Mar 16, 2007.  pg.  A.32 Phoenix, G. Lee, J. (2004) Predicting impacts of Arctic climate change: Past lessons and future challenges. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK Scientific podcast. Retrieved April 28, 2007 from: http://www.exploratorium.edu/poles/climate.php Popular media podcast. Retrieved April 28, 2007 from: http://a.abcnews.com/podcast/050726blakemore3.mp3

Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis

Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis The chapter is a theoretical examination of the discipline of contrastive analysis. Its main aim is to provide a literature review of contrastive analysis. In pursuit of this aim, the chapter first sheds the light on the history of the discipline of contrastive analysis by providing a definition and a sketch of its origin. Then, an account of the stages involved in the comparison and contrastive process is provided. After that a classification of the contrastive studies is introduced. Additionally, a brief review of the contrastive analysis hypothesis is presented as well as CAs applications and contributions to other fields like language teaching, language universals, etc. Finally, the criticism directed towards CA is identified along with the recent developments originating from the discipline itself. Definition and Origin There are three types of comparative studies. They are comparative historical linguistics, comparative typological linguistics, and contrastive linguistics. Comparative historical linguistics developed in the 19th century, it aims to find the common genetic relatedness between groups of languages. Comparative typological linguistics classify languages according to the characteristics and features they share. Note that languages which belong to a given typological group do not need to be genetically related, i.e., two languages can be closely related in their typological classification regardless their genetic distance. Contrastive linguistics/analysis is a sub discipline in linguistics which is concerned with another kind of comparison. It is concerned neither with historical development nor with the problems of describing genetic relationships. Contrastive analysis is purely synchronic in its orientation. It differs in its scope from comparative historical linguistics, since it is t ypically concerned with a comparison of corresponding subsystems in only two languages. To put it differently, Contrastive analysis studies the language items used in the same period, not those items which exist in different periods. It involves comparing and contrasting languages or subsystems of languages in order to identify their similarities and differences. Accordingly, contrastive analysis is based on theoretical linguistics as well as descriptive linguistics. It is based on the former since the success or failure of these comparisons depends on the theory applied; and it is based on the latter since no comparison is to take place without a prior description of the languages under study. Contrastive analysis had a long history. As early as 1000 A.D, the English abbot Aelfric of Eynsham (c. 955 c. 1010) wrote his Grammatica: a grammar of Latin and English, based on the assumption that the knowledge of grammar of one language facilitates the learning of the other. Additionally, in the 17th century, the grammarian John Hewes expresses the view that the knowledge of the native grammar cannot only facilitate learning a foreign language but also interface (the idea of interference) with it. Hewes in his (1624) A Perfect Survey of the English Tongue taken according to the USA and analogie of the Latine, presented the fundamentals of English in order to provide the learner with a Right knowledge censure of their owne mother tongue, in regard it holden a great difference in it selfe from the dialect of the Latine (as cited in Krzeszowski, Tomasz, 1990, p. 02). Other grammarians like Howel (1662), Coles (1675), and Lewis (1670?) applied the idea of facilitation (positive transfer) through adapting the grammars of English or of Latin to the needs of speakers of various native languages. Note that those early contrastive studies were motivated in almost the same way as modern contraceptive studies in the USA. As early as 1670, Mark Lewis stated the following: The most facil (sic!) way of introducing any in a Tongue unknown is to show what Grammar it hath beyond, or short of his Mother tongue; following that Maxime, to proceed a noto ad ignotum, making what we know, a step to what we are to lean (sic!) (as cited in Krzeszowski, Tomasz, 1990, p. 02). Nearly three centuries later, Charles Fries wrote the following: The most efficient materials are those that are based upon a scientific description of the languages to be learned, carefully compared with a parallel description of the native language of the learner (Fries, 1945, p. 9) Although the word contrast did not appear until the end of the 18th century, the idea of comparing languages for pedagogical reasons is not a new one, as it goes back to the beginning of the foreign language teaching tradition. Nevertheless, written records of such kind of procedures went back to the 15th century. It should be mentioned that earlier contrastivists were not concerned with methodological problems, though they did develop a method of comparison know as The Sign Theory, the first method in contrastive studies. The sign theory is an approach introduced by Krzeszowski (1985) and was designed for teaching Latin in England; it involved adjusting the grammatical descriptions of both English and Latin. For many years, contrastive studies were practiced in the classroom intuitively. However, modern linguistic theories which flourished in the 20th century did affect the state of contrastive studies and hence, interests in methodology and theory of contrastive analysis began to grow. Contrastive analysis usually involves two languages and it is based on the assumption that languages have enough in common to be compared, as stated by James (1980, p. 3): CA is a linguistic enterprise aimed at producing inverted (i.e. contrastive, not comparative) two-valued typologies (a CA is always concerned with a pair of languages), and founded on the assumption that languages can be compared. Among the prominent objectives of contrastive analysis are: supplying insights into the convergences and divergences existing among languages, predicting problematic areas in L2 learning and contributing to the development of language teaching materials. A quick glance at the history of the discipline of CA will manifest that it has been assigned different labels by different European and American scholars. It was referred to as parallel description (Fries 1945), analytical comparison (Mathesius, 1964), comparative descriptive linguistics (Halliday-McIntosh-Stevens 1964), differential description (Mackey 1965), descriptive comparison (Catford 1968), dialinguistic analysis (Nemser 1971), analytical description (Ibid), differential studies (Lee 1974), interlingual comparison (Fillipovic 1975c). However, the widely used term contrastive linguistics has been coined by the American linguist and anthropologist Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897-1941) in his 1941 article Languages and logic. In the aforementioned article, Whorf distinguished between comparative and contrastive linguistics. He claimed that contrastive linguistics is of even greater importance for the future technology of thought (1967, p. 240); and he defines it as a discipline which plots the outstanding differences among tongues in grammar, logic, and general analysis of experience. Contrastive analysis first appeared in Central Europe before the Second World War and spread afterwards in North America. It was Lados Linguistics Across Cultures (1957) which sets the corner stone of contrastive analysis, specifically the idea that the degree of differences between the two languages correlates with that of difficulty. In its early days in the forties (1940s) and fifties (1950s), CA was seen as a pedagogical tool, through which problematic areas in language teaching and learning can be predicted. Accordingly, CA relies very much on psychology as it is concerned with the prediction of learning difficulties which crop up from learners NL and TL; hence it needs a psychological component. It should be mentioned that CA is more powerful in the prediction of pronunciation difficulties, however, when it comes to grammar, it is not so powerful since most of grammatical errors in second language learning occur in areas where CA cannot predict. It is important to realize that there are three phases of Contrastive Analysis; each having its own characteristics: the (1) traditional, (2) classical and (3) modern phase. Traditional contrastive studies which marked the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century were horizontal in dimension in the sense that an element(s) in language A is compared with an equivalent element(s) in language B. They proceed from the description of the same features in the two languages to their juxtaposition on the basis of translation equivalence as assessed by a bilingual informant. Normally, a point of reference, often called tertium comparationis, is required outside the languages to be contrasted. The period between the end of the Second World War and 1965 was recognized as the classical period of contrastive studies. In this period, CA has been credited its status as a scientific, pragmatic as well as academic discipline. The most prominent figures of that period are Charles Fries, Robert Lado, Kenneth Pike, Ureil Weinreich among many others. The modern period of contrastive studies has been marked by the numerous contrastive projects carried out all over the world. However, it should be emphasized that theoretical issues of previous periods came under severe criticism. We will return to this presently, for the time being, it is sufficient to see that a problem exists. Despite the criticism of the previous periods, this phase marked the establishment of CA as an academic discipline throughout the world. It should be emphasized that modern linguistic approaches and technology have opened new horizons for CA. Notably, cognitive linguistics, pragmatics and corpus linguistics have all offered new theoretical frameworks and methodology. Stages of Contrastive Analysis Contrastive Analysis involves three stages, description, juxtaposition, and comparison. Lets consider each stage separately. The descriptive stage In this stage, the contrastive analyst provides an exhaustive description of the languages under study. Note that each language should be described individually apart from the other. Furthermore, the two languages should be described using the same model or framework, because if it happens that the two languages were described using different models, certain features may be described successfully than others. The juxtaposition stage In this stage, the contrastive analyst should respond to the following question: what is to be compared with what? In classical contrastive studies, the decision was based on intuitive judgments of competent bilingual informants. It was thought that competent bilinguals are able to decide about whether an element X in language A is equivalent to element Y in language B or is not. However, these intuitive judgments proved to be very weak as there are no clear principles underlying these decisions and as they were based on formal resemblances only which are not enough. As a consequence, the contrastive analyst faced the problem of establishing the criteria of comparison, also referred to as the tertium comparationis. It should be mentioned that the tertium comparationis is a kind of constant against which differences are measured, as stated by James (1980): The first thing we do is make sure that we are comparing like with like: this means that the two (or more) entities to be compared, while differing in some respect, must share certain attributes. This requirement is especially strong when we are contrasting, i.e., looking for differences-since it is only against a background of sameness that differences are significant. We shall call this sameness the constant and the differences variables. (p. 169) The notions of the equivalence and the tertium comparationis were presented graphically in Djordjevi (1987). In traditional contrastive studies, the TC was defined as the common platform of reference (Krzeszowski, 1990, p. 15). During the classical period, however, the TC was either formally or semantically based (James, 1980). Note that in phonological CA, the tertium comparationis is the IPA chart and the vowel diagram; in Lexis, it is the set of semantic components. However, contrastivists failed to establish a clear TC for grammatical CA. Because of this failure, three candidates have been proposed: surface structure TC, deep structure TC, and translation equivalence TC. The comparative stage In this stage, the contrastive analyst identifies the similarities and differences existing among the two languages. Note that the comparison involves types and not tokens (i.e. the contrastive analyst compares structures rather than strings of sound or graphic substance). Another issue related to the comparison stage is the fact that one does not compare languages in toto, instead a specifying process is usually under way, like for example the area of grammar, phonology or lexicology; which result in a variety of contrastive studies such as grammatical CA, phonological CA, and lexical CA. According to Krzeszowski (1990), there are three distinguished areas in this stage: Comparisons of various equivalent systems across languages, such as pronouns, articles, verbs, and in phonology consonants, vowels, as well as sub-systems, such as nasals, laterals, etc., depending on the degree of delicacy of the grammar. Comparisons of equivalent constructions, for example, interrogative, relative, negative, nominal phrase, etc., And in phonology clusters, syllables, diphthongs, and various distributions of sounds. Comparisons of equivalent rules (in those models where the concept of the rule appears), for example, subject raising from the embedded sentence, adjective placement, interrogative inversion, passivization, etc., and in phonology assimilation, dissimilation, metathesis, etc. In each area of comparison, one of three possible situations may arise: XLi = XLj When item X in Li may be identical in some respects with an equivalent item in Lj. XLi à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚   XLj When item X in Li may be different in some respects from an equivalent item in Lj. XLi = ØLj When item X in Li has no equivalent in Lj. (Krzeszowski, 1976, p. 90) (as cited in Krzeszowski, Tomasz, 1990, p. 39). Levels of Analysis Contrastive analysis can be conducted at different levels of language, for example it can be carried out at the phonological level, grammatical level, as well as the lexical level. Phonological CA When comparing the sound system of two languages, the contrastive analyst has to go through four basic steps. Firstly, he should draw up the phonemic inventory (describe and compare vowels and consonants) of the two languages under study. Secondly, the contrastive analyst should compare the phonemes in the two languages interlingually. At this stage, the contrastive analyst should apply the minimal pair test. Here is an example of the minimal pair test between the phonemes /k/ and /g/ in English and Arabic: English: came /Keim/ vs. game /geim/ Arabic: /kelb/ dog vs. /gelb/ heart In Algerian Arabic /q/ and /g/ are phonemes and allophones: /gern/ horn vs. /qern/ century à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ phonemes /gma::r/ moon vs. /qma:r/ moon à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ allophones Thirdly, the contrastive analyst should state the allophones of each phoneme of the two languages being compared. And fourthly, he should state the distribution restrictions of the phonemes and allophones of both languages. Grammatical CA In a grammatical contrastive analysis, the contrastive analyst compares and contrasts between the grammatical systems of two languages. The comparison may take different forms, for example, in English; word order is used to differentiate between an affirmative sentence and an interrogative one: you are a teacher/are you a teacher? In Spanish, however, the same distinction is indicated via the use of intonation; while in Arabic, the same distinction is expressed through the addition of functional words like Ù†¡Ãƒâ„¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ at the beginning of sentences. Another kind of grammatical contrastive analysis may investigate how a given linguistic category functions in two different languages, such as the case of adjectives in English and French. In English, adjectives tend to be pronominal, however, in French; they tend to be post nominal, for example: The narrow door La porte etroite. Lexical CA Contrastive lexicology is carried out between the vocabulary system(s) of two languages. It is concerned with the way lexical items in one language are expressed in another language. This can be done through identifying both the semantic fields and the semantic properties in order to specify the divisions and sub-divisions of the lexicon. Lexical CA may result in complete, partial, or nil equivalence between languages. Towards the Classification of Contrastive Studies Contrastive studies can be divided into various subdivisions according to many criteria. Jacek Fisiak distinguished between theoretical contrastive studies and applied contrastive studies as stated in the following quote: Theoretical CS give an exhaustive account of the differences and similarities between two or more languages provide an adequate model for their comparison, determine how and which elements are comparable, thus defining such notions as congruence, equivalence, correspondence, etc. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Applied CS is part of applied linguistics. Drawing on the findings of theoretical contrastive studies they provide a framework for the comparison of languages, selecting whatever information is necessary for a specific purpose, e.g. teaching, bilingual analysis, translating, etc. (Fisiak, 1981, p. 9) He claims that theoretical contrastive studies do not investigate how a given category present in language A is represented in language B. Instead they look for the realization of a universal category X in both A and B (Fisiak et al. 1978: 10). Whereas, applied contrastive studies are preoccupied with the problem of how a universal category X, realized in language A as y, is rendered in language B. (Fisiak et al., 1978, p. 10), as illustrated below: X X A B A(y) B(?) Figure 2. a) Theoretical CAs b) Applied CAs Hence, a theoretical contrastive study provides us with exhaustive descriptions of the languages being compared and contrasted. Also, it highlights the main points of convergences and divergences between the languages in question. A worth emphasizing point is that there are no claims to be made as to whether the results are applicable for other purposes or not. An advantage of theoretical contrastive analyses is that they make reference to the universal tertium comparationis X; whereas applied contrastive analyses do not make such a reference. Additionally, theoretical contrastive studies contribute to the establishment of language universals. Also, they are language independent and non-directional. It should be mentioned that theoretical contrastive studies insist on the descriptive neutrality between the two languages under study, which is why attention should be drawn to some problems of terminology. In contrastive studies, terms like SL vs. TL, L1 vs. L2, and NL vs. FL occur and re-occur. However, the avoidance of these terms is highly required in theoretical contrastive studies, simply because the languages under study have an equal status. Applied contrastive studies draw on the findings of theoretical contrastive studies. Their aim is not merely linguistic but also applicable to other domains like: language teaching, translation, bilingual education, etc. Traditionally speaking, applied contrastive studies have been concerned with setting out the possible problematic areas in the learners target language, i.e., providing reliable prediction of the learners difficulties (James, 1980, p. 181-7). It should be mentioned that Applied contrastive studies devote more attention to surface representations since these are what the learners/translators have a more immediate access to and what language teaching has always been concerned with. Despite the fact that applied contrastive studies draw on the findings of theoretical contrastive studies, still they do not deal only with differences but also they give importance to the similarities. Hence, the teacher should point out the similar forms, so that learners will not guess them, because very often, an element of a foreign language is similar to what one has in his own language. Notice that the first contrastive studies were predominantly theoretical (Grandgent, 1982; Vietor, 1894; Passy, 1912; J Baudouin de Courtenay, 1912; Bogorodickij, 1915). Still, the applied part of CA was not completely neglected (e.g. Vietor, 1903), but it was of little importance. Also, the aim of developing pedagogical materials was more visible in the US, while Europe was more interested in the theoretical dimension. The other classification of contrastive studies is based on the linguistic model applied when describing the languages involved. Since contrastive analysis can be carried out in different linguistic frameworks, there are the structural, transformational, stratificational, or systemic contrastive studies. A third taxonomy is the one provided by Di Pietro (1971). He divided contrastive studies into Autonomous vs. Generalized and into Taxonomic vs. Operational. In autonomous contrastive studies, no reference is made to any universal which may be shared between the languages compared. Each language is described independently from the other. However, in generalized contrastive studies, reference is made to the shared features/structures which exist between the compared languages, not only because of their typological or genetic similarities but because of the universal grammar which underlie all human languages. Concerning the Taxonomic vs. Operational contrastive studies, the former states the similarities and differences across languages, the latter seeks to formulate a series of conversions performed on the source language in order to produce the forms of the goal language (Di Pietro 1971, as cited in Krzeszowski, Tomasz, 1990, p. 24). Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH) Definition and origin Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis states that the structure of the learners L1 affects the acquisition (the two terms acquisition/learning interchangeably) of their L2, in the sense that whenever there are similarities the L2 learning is facilitated, and whenever there are differences the learning process is difficult. The term Contrastive Hypothesis implies the theory itself, while the term Contrastive Analysis implies the methodology. Hence, the term Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis implies both theory and methodology. CAH came into existence in the 1960s. It originated from Lados Linguistics across Cultures: The plan of the book rests on the assumption that we can predict and describe the patterns that will cause difficulty in learning, and those that will not cause difficulty, by comparing systematically the language and the culture to be learned with the native language and culture of the student (1957, p. VII). CAH is based on the assumption that second language learners tend to transfer L1 features to L2 utterances as stated by Lado (1957): Individuals tend to transfer the forms and meanings, and the distribution of forms and meanings of their native language and culture to the foreign language and culture (p. 2). Accordingly, Ellis (1965) suggested that the psychological foundation of CAH is transfer theory. In fact, CAs assumption that L1 interferes with the learners L2 acquisition/Learning leads us to the notion of transfer; be it positive or negative. Transfer refers to the application of native language knowledge when trying to speak the target language. Positive Transfer (facilitation) occurs when the structure of the two languages is the same; hence no errors will crop up. However, negative transfer (interference) occurs when the structure of the languages is different, and here errors will crop up and so the difficulties in tackling the target language. All in all, the more the similarities the more the learning process is facilitated, and the more the differences the more the learning process will be difficult. The aforementioned statement reflects linguists belief that a comparison of learners L1 and L2 will reveal problematic areas for L2 students, as stated by Lado (1957): In the comparison between native and foreign language lies the key to ease or difficulty in foreing language learningà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Those elements that are similar to (the learners) native language will be simple for him, and those elements that are different will be difficult. (p. 1-2) The linguistic framework of the CAH is structuralism which assumes that language is a finite structure which can be compared with structures of other languages. Additionally, Skinners behavioural psychology is the basis of the CAH, specifically, the idea that learning is a habit formation process that takes place by reinforcement. Language acquisition consists of the acquisition of a set of habits; errors in second language were seen as the result of the first language habits interfering with the acquisition of the habits of the second. Procedures of the contrastive analysis hypothesis CAH applies the following procedure when attempting to predict areas of difficulty, as illustrated or stated by Whitman (1970): A contrastive analysis must proceed through four steps; description, selection, contrast, and prediction. Unfortunately, most analyses are weakened by insufficient care or attention at one or more of these steps, each of which is beset with a host of problems. (p. 191) In the Description stage, the contrastive analyst provides a formal description of the learners L1 and L2. In the selection stage, he selects specific forms (linguistic items, or rules, or structures, etc.) for contrast, as it is impossible to contrast every single facet of two languages. In the contrast stage, he carries out the contrastive process which will result in highlighting the similarities and differences existing among the two languages. Finally, come the stage of prediction in which the contrastive analyst predicts the problematic issues and difficulties, which the learner may or may not face while learning the target language. In order to describe the stage of prediction, Stockwell et al. (1965) proposed a hierarchy of difficulty based on the notion of transfer, be it positive transfer, negative transfer or zero transfer. When the forms of the two languages are similar, positive transfer will occur and hence the facilitation of the learning process; however, when the forms of the two languages are different, negative transfer will occur and hence difficulty in learning; when there is no relation at all between the forms of the two languages, here no transfer is to take place, i.e., zero transfer. Versions of the CAH It is important to realize that there are different versions of the CAH. These are the strong and weak versions of Wardhaugh (1970) and the moderate version of Oller and Ziahosseiny (1970). Wardhaugh (1970) suggested that the strong version predicts areas of difficulty via providing a systematic and scientific analysis of the learners L1 and L2. However, the weak version requires of the linguist only that he uses the best linguistic knowledge available to account for observed difficulties in second language learning. (Wardhaugh, 1970, p. 129) So, there is a shift in focus from the predictive power of areas of difficulty to the explanatory power of observable errors. In addition, Oller and Ziahosseiny (1970) find the strong version too strong and the weak version too weak, and so they proposed a moderate version of the hypothesis which they summarized as follows: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the categorization of abstract and concrete patterns according to their perceived similarities and differences is the basis for learning; therefore, wherever patterns are minimally distinct in form or meaning in one or more systems, confusion may result (p. 186). To explain their view, they conducted a study based on English spelling errors on the UCLA placement test. In this test, they compared the spelling errors of foreign students whose native language employed/uses a Roman alphabet with foreign students spelling errors whose native language has little or no relation to the Roman alphabet. They arrive to the conclusion that knowledge of one Roman writing system makes it more difficult to learn/acquire another Roman spelling system. Implementations of Contrastive Analysis Be it a very useful tool, CA is applied in many fields of inquiry. It contributes to different areas of study as stated in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied Linguistics: CA has been used as a tool in historical linguistics to establish language genealogies, in comparative linguistics to create language taxonomies and in translation theory to investigate problems of equivalence. In language teaching it has been influential through the contrastive analysis hypothesis CAHà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Johnson Johnson, 1998, p. 85) Contrastive analysis and language teaching In the field of language teaching, CA has been influential through the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis, as Fries point out: The most efficient materials are those that are based upon a scientific description of the languages to be learned, carefully compared with a parallel description of the native language of the learner (1945, p. 9) As a matter of fact, the contributions of contrastive analysis to the field of language teaching are numerous and remarkable. First, a contrastive analysis of the learners L1 and L2 helps syllabus designers to prepare effective teaching materials taking into consideration students difficulties. As stated by Lado in his (1957) Linguistics across Cultures: The results of such comparisons have proven of fundamental value for the preparation of teaching materials, test and language teaching experiments. Foreign language teachers who understand this field will acquire insights and tools for evaluating the language and culture content of the textbooks and tests, supplementing the materials in use, preparing new materials and tests, and diagnosing students difficulties accurately. ( p. I) Secondly, contrastive analysis provides useful insights to the teacher who has performed a contrastive analysis between the students L1 and L2, and makes him/her aware of the real learning problems and the best way(s) to teach them, as stated by Lado (1957): The teacher who has made a comparison of a foreign language with the native language of the student will know better what the real learning problems are and can better provide for teaching them. (p. 2) In addition to Lado, Mackey (1965) illustrates the significance of CA to language teaching in the following quotation: CA is of particular interest to language teaching because many of the difficulties in learning a second language are due to the fact that it differs from the first. So that if we subtract the characteristics of the first language from those of the second; what presumably remains is a list of the learners difficulties. I DID NOT FIND THE PAGE It seems likely then, that the most useful contribution that Contrastive Analysis can make to language teaching lies in predicting learning difficulties and helping syllabus designers to produce the most effective materials. Contrastive analysis and language typology