Personal Swot Analysis Essay example - 1143 Words

Personal SWOT Analysis The career objective that I have in my life is to have started my own business or be a owner of business. The information that follows will be presented in a SWOT analysis format that describes me and more in depth with my current career objective. My first topic will touch on my strengths, followed by my weakness, then opportunities, and finally threats to me not reaching my objective. Strengths My biggest strength toward reaching my objective is my tack that I am on in college. I am a 4 year student here at Wayne State and 2 semesters away from obtaining an accounting degree. This is important because having an accounting degree I have learned a lot about how to handle a business finances, assets,†¦show more content†¦I also know that his partner has already been in his ear telling my uncle about how good his son would be as owner and how the business would not take any steps back if he were to sell to his son. Another threat that I have is my desire to have a family and be able to provide for them to live a good life. I want to have several kids and be married in my life and the reason that this is a threat, even though it is what I want, is because of the money that it takes to have a family. When I start my family it will cost me money and as the family grows the cost goes up. That is not good because I am spending money on my family when I could be saving that money or investing the money in something to try and earn money to put towards my business. The last major threat I have, and that everyone has right now, is the economy. With the current state of the economy it is very hard to start a business. Not many people want to take a risk in a start up business, if it is publically traded. I would really like to see the economy take a turns towards the better here as I get closer to graduating. If the business is not publically traded it makes it hard to come up with the money to start a business and be able to stay above the deficit line, cause the last thing I want to do is invest all money in my business andShow MoreRelatedPersonal Swot Analysis1420 Words   |  6 PagesSWOT Analysis:Evaluate Your 7 Strengths 7 Weaknesses When speaking about a SWOT Analysis, this is a way of doing some serious self-reflecting and figuring out what your internal as well as external strengths and weaknesses are. Think of it as a pro and con list about you! SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. While we are hesitant to use the word â€Å"weakness† as it is very negative, using the word â€Å"shortcomings† doesn’t make as catchy an acronym (SWOS) as SWOT! Read MoreSwot Analysis : My Personal Swot1746 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction: This paper is my personal SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis discusses four specific categories to evaluate a project, situation or in my case my personal and professional life (Hay, Castilla, 2006). In this analysis I will look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that I need to address in my life. The concept of this type of analysis is a great way to find out ways to improve, but at the same time is a difficult task for someone like me who has a hard time outwardlyRead MorePersonal Swot Analysis Essay1022 Words   |  5 PagesPERSONAL SKILLS - SELF DIAGNOSTICS 1) Personal SWOT analysis. Strengths.  · Confident - I feel that I am a very confident person, in a number of different aspects. Im confident when presenting to a large crowd, confident in my academic ability, aswell as confident in putting my ideas across to another.  · Sociable - I am a very sociable person, and like to be around friends alot of the time. I am easy to get along with, and believe that people enjoy my company. I like to goRead MorePersonal SWOT Analysis994 Words   |  4 Pages2. A SWOT analysis helps to identify the different things I bring to a potential employer, and a few things that are weaknesses that will work against me. The personal SWOT is as follows: Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Good education Lack of experience Banking More experienced candidates Financial experience Lack of mgmt. experience Non-banking opportunities Mediocre economy Work ethic No references? Move to a different area? Industry downturn Systems thinking Read MoreMy Personal Swot Analysis854 Words   |  4 PagesIntroduction: SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. The aim of any SWOT analysis is to identify the key internal and external factors that are important to achieving the objective. The internal factors may be viewed as strengths or weaknesses depending upon their impact on the organizations objectives. What may represent strengths with respect to one objective may be weaknessesRead MoreSwot Analysis of Personal Digital Assitants1287 Words   |  6 PagesSWOT Analysis of PDA Introduction Personal Digital Assistant is a very promising consumer technology product, having great applications in various aspects of life. PDAs have various uses in calculation, accessing the Internet, sending /receiving E-mails, video recording, typewriting and word processing, writing on spreadsheets, scanning bar codes, playing computer games and recording survey responses. SWOT Analysis of a PDA: A PDA has a number of strengths to consolidate upon, but the lackRead MoreSwot Analysis UUM695 Words   |  3 PagesUNIVERSITI UTARA MALAYSIA Faculty of Information Technology SWOT Analysis IT POLICY AND STRATEGY Prepared for A.P.D. Wan Rozaini bt Sheik Osman Prepared by Mustafa Musa Jaber (801607) 2009 May 15, 2015 1 content A. Outline 1.Introdection 2.Definitions of SWOT Analysis 2.1.Strength 2.2.Weakness 2.3.Opportunities 2.4.Threats 3. Starbucks 4. Conclusion May 15, 2015 2 A. Outline Through this presentation :ï‚ §Definition of SWOT Analysis ï‚ §Strength ï‚ §Weakness ï‚ §Opportunities ï‚ §Threat ï‚ §Starbucks May 15Read MoreSwot Analysis Of At T1243 Words   |  5 PagesThe purpose of this paper is to perform a brief SWOT analysis of ATT, Inc. This analysis will assess some of the strengths and weaknesses in the organizations internal environment and also the opportunities and threats in its external environment. SWOT Analysis of ATT ATT, Inc. provides telecommunication services and products, including wireless communications, local exchange services, long-distance services, data/broadband and Internet services, video services, telecommunications equipment,Read MoreSwot Analysis For Recruiting Production Leaders927 Words   |  4 Pages A SWOT analysis is used to help a company determine is strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats within the organization. â€Å"SWOT analysis can generally help to portray a strategic organizational situation and to identify what information is needed and what decisions are likely to be made on a personal as well as an organizational level† (as cited in Chermack Kasshanna, 2007, p. 384). This type of analysis helps identify problems that are affecting the company and it may even highlight newRead MoreSwot Analysis: the Fitness Center Industry Essay1569 Words   |  7 PagesSWOT Analysis: Fitness Centers Industry Courtney Albertson PHL/320 30 March 2015 Matthew Hazlett SWOT Analysis: Fitness Center Industry It today’s society, â€Å"going to the gym† has become a normal phrase heard around the world; however, the fitness center industry is not exactly in the spot light of today’s media and headline news. So, that sparks the interest of what makes the fitness center industry succeed, what are their strengths. What about the fitness center industry in the future;

Mgt 520 Final Exam Study Free Essays

MGMT520 Final Exam Study Guide Finals open on Saturday April 20  at 12:01 a. m. MT (Saturday morning) Finals close on Thursday April 25 at 11:59 p. We will write a custom essay sample on Mgt 520 Final Exam Study or any similar topic only for you Order Now m. MT (Thursday night) PLEASE DON’T WAIT TILL THE LAST MINUTE – THE SYSTEM IS BUSY AND MAY SLOW DOWN AND ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. YOU MAY WANT TO PRINT THIS GUIDE. 1. The final exam is â€Å"open book, open notes. † The maximum time you can spend in the exam is 3 hours, 30 minutes. If you have not clicked the Submit For Grade button by then, you will be automatically exited from the exam. In the final exam environment, the Windows clipboard is disabled, and so you will not be able to copy exam questions or answers to or from other applications. There are three pages to your final, and each page begins with a story. The stories are quite interesting and will make the questions flow easily. The questions that follow are then taken from each story. There is a little overlap. Remember questions are scrambled, so while they vary, all TCO’s will be tested. 2. You should click the Save Answers button in the exam frequently. This helps prevent connection timeouts that might occur with certain Internet Service Providers, and also minimizes lost answers in the event of connection problems. If your internet connection does break, when you reconnect you will normally be able to get back into your final exam without any trouble. Remember, though, that the exam timer continues to run while students are disconnected, so students should try to re-login as quickly as possible. The Help Desk cannot grant any student additional time on the exam. . See Syllabus â€Å"Due Dates for Assignments Exams† for due date information. 4. Reminders: * You will only be able to enter your online Final Exam one time * Click the â€Å"Save Answers† button often * If you lose your Internet connection during your Final Exam, logon again and try to access your Final Exam. If you are unable to enter the Final Exam, contact first the help desk and then your instructor. * You will always be able to see the time remaining in the Final Exam at the top right of the page . Assessments with Multiple Pages: * Make sure you click the â€Å"Save Answers† button before advancing to the next page (we also suggest clicking on save answers while you are working) * Complete all of the pages before submitting your Final Exam for instructor review; check your work and be sure to answer all the parts of questions. * Do NOT use your browser’s ‘Back’ and ‘Forward’ buttons during the Final Exam * Please use the provided links for navigation 6. Submitting Your Final Exam: When you are finished with the Final Exam, click on the â€Å"Submit for Grade† button * Please note: Once you click the â€Å"Submit for Grade† button, you will NOT be able to edit or change any of your answers 7. Exam Questions * The final exam covers all course TCOs and Weeks 1-7. * The exam has two short answer questions worth 15 points each (TCO I and D. ) (Plan about 10 minutes each). * The e xam has 7 essay questions worth 30 points each (TCO A, B, C, E, F, G, and H) (Plan about 23-25 minutes each. ) This gives you about a 30 minute buffer. The exam has a total of 240 points. * The final exam contains 3 pages, which can be completed in any order. You may go back and forth between the pages. * On the short answer questions, just answer the question asked, with any brief detail to explain why you answered that way. If a list is requested, provide it. * On the essay questions your answers should be succinct, fully address each part of the question, and demonstrate your knowledge and understanding in a concise but complete answer. You can use bullets where appropriate (i. e. listing elements, defenses, or steps. Ensure you analyze and give reasons for answers as partial credit is given even if the answer is wrong. * Remember always use proper citation when quoting other sources! Place any quoted or borrowed material (even a short phrase) in quotation marks with the source ( URL, author/date/page #) immediately following the end of the passage. Even cite paraphrased information. Quoted or paraphrased material should not dominate a student’s work; use it sparingly to support your own thoughts, ideas, and examples. Failure to properly cite material can jeopardize a passing grade on the exam. Your work may be submitted to turnitin. com, an online plagiarism checking service. * If you reference your text, it’s OK to just say Jennings, p__. 8. Some of the key study areas are as follows: (while these are key areas remember that the exam is comprehensive for all the assigned course content and this study guide may not be all inclusive. * TCO A: Given an organizational requirement to conform business practices to both the law and best ethical practices, apply appropriate ethical theories to shape a business decision. Schools of thought * Ethical models – you will need to apply them to a factual situation much as you did in your midterm * TCO B: Given instances of federal regulation of business and commercial practices, determine the constitutional and regulatory bases for such regulation, and formulate a strategy by which an  impacted business can influence or contest regulating outcomes. * APA * process of regulation promulgation * Legal challenges to regulati ons (recall our Week 2 assignment, especially #5) TCO C: Given an example of corporate liability arising from the sale of defective and dangerous products, develop a business strategy that includes ethical considerations to minimize liability for claims of product liability and breach of warranty. * Strict Liability 402A – know the elements, relate them to the facts! * Negligence – don’t forget to cite the elements and relate them to the facts! * Warranties – again, expressed and implied, and relate them to the facts. * Defenses to all of these claims – don’t forget to use our terms: contributory negligence, assumption of risk, comparative negligence; relate them to the facts! TCO D: Given a business requirement to form a contract for the sale of goods and services to a customer, define the elements of a contract, and determine whether a duly formed contract is enforceable under the common law or Uniform Commercial Code. * Contract formation – remember the elements! * Contract performance * Defenses to contract performance * TCO E: Given specified circumstances of an employment relationship, determine the circumstances under which an employer is liable to an employee for employment discrimination or wrongful discharge. Creation of the agency relationship, including respondeat superior, negligent hiring, etc. * Responsibilities of the agent and principal * Theories of discrimination under Title VII – disparate treatment, impact; don’t forget sexual harassment, which is also covered, as well as age under the ADEA * Defenses to a Title VII charge * Enforcement of Title VII * TCO F: Given specified circumstances of business ownership of real and intellectual property, evaluate the rights of business to the protection of its property and the obligations arising out of the use of the property. Theories to protect business intellectual property (patents, copyright, etc. ) * Know the difference between app ropriation (a privacy tort) and misappropriation (trade secrets). * Enforcement of business property rights (e. g. , product disparagement, trademark infringement, etc. ) * Defenses to these claims * TCO G: Given examples of anticompetitive or unfair trade practices, apply applicable antitrust or other consumer protection laws, and determine appropriate business strategies to prevent trade practices liabilities. Statutory protections for consumers * Bankruptcy * Restraints of trade * TCO H: Given a conflict between corporate stakeholders over a business decision, evaluate the legal and ethical responsibilities of corporate directors, officers, and controlling shareholders. * Duties and obligations of directors of a corporation * Insider Trading – be sure you know the elements * TCO I: Given specified circumstances of a business decision to expand to international markets, determine what international legal requirements or regulatory controls apply. Principles of international law * Resolution of international disputes * Jurisdiction in a private action between citizens or companies of different countries – understand sovereign immunity and how it applies and who may use it as a defense. * Jennings’s Article â€Å"Why an International Code of Ethics Would be Good† 9. Areas that were discussed in the threads will be prime targets. 10. Assignments will also be prime targets for revisiting. Finally, if you have any questions for me, please post them to our Q;A, or email me. Good luck on the exam! How to cite Mgt 520 Final Exam Study, Papers

Autobiography Of a Pen Essay Example For Students

Autobiography Of a Pen Essay Autobiography Of a Pen feeling that lay inside her. through her authorship. She used to name me her Lucky Pen and I was proud of that position. But one twenty-four hours. I remember her authorship writing†¦ PremiumSaved An Autobiography Through Fiction-Based Prose of his life and   through his prose. still does   George Orwell wrote his autobiography non as a book written in the first individual. but as a life-time of prose based†¦ Premium Jayson De Lemon’s Autobiography Jayson de Lemon’s Autobiography â€Å"I one time asked myself. how history was written. I said. â€Å"I have to contrive it. † When I wish every bit now to state of critical incidents†¦ Premium Autobiography Of a Berra: Drumhead pen of Paramhansa Yogananda. whose instructions my hubby and myself have had the pleasance of analyzing for 20 old ages. † The value of Yogananda’s Autobiography is†¦ Premium Autobiography 1922 THE QUINN A ; BODEN CO. PRESS RAHWAY. N. J. CONTENTS Introduction vii The Autobiography I. Ancestry and Early Life in Boston 3 II. Get downing Life as a Printer 21†¦ Premium The Power Of The Pen Gandhi. He read several plants by this great leader. including his autobiography. and believed in the non-violent ideals that it promoted. â€Å"The impact they made†¦ Premium n Autobiography Twenty One Years In The Devising Autobiography Twenty One Years in the Making Born merely two yearss before Christmas. I started my life in the stamp loving weaponries of my female parent. and my ever-guiding†¦ Premium The Autobiography Of Benjamin Franklin of about 30 old ages and covering his life merely until 1759 ( he died in 1790 ) . The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is really Tells about half of his life†¦ Premium The Autobiography Of Benjamin Franklin He died on April 17. 1790. The first five chapters of the Autobiography were composed in England in 1771. continued in 1784-5. and once more in 1788. at which date†¦ Premium Autobiography Christine Jorgensen Biography Christine Jorgensen ( May 30. 1926 May 3. 1989 ) was the first widely known individual to hold sex reassignment surgery – in this case†¦ Premium Autobiography Memoir. Spiritual autobiography * Biography * Diaries and Journals * Electronic literature * Erotic literature * Fable. Fairy narrative. Folklore * Fiction o†¦

Influence of War on Middle Eastern Society free essay sample

This paper discusses the domestic effects of war on three countries, Israel, Syria and Egypt. This paper contrasts and compares the effects of three different wars, on three different countries in the Middle East. The reasons for Egypt, Israel and Syrias decisions to go to war at different times in the last century are discussed, and then analyzed to show how this decision affected the political and economic futures of the individual countries, and the region as a whole. From the paper: The Yom Kippur War thus fundamentally changed Syrian society, militarizing its government, just as the Six-Day War divided and energized Israel and World War II wove the foundations of socialism into Egypt. That these changes depended upon the presence of war is not a definitive fact, but their essential contribution to the development of these nations cannot be ignored. This conclusion raises a troubling question, a sad and desperate query tinged with hope: must all change in the Middle East spring from the dark bosom of horrific war?

Judicial Notice Essay Example

Judicial Notice Essay Example Judicial Notice Essay Judicial Notice Essay Judicial notice is a rule in the law of evidence that allows a fact to be introduced into evidence if the truth of that fact is so well known or established that it cannot be refuted. This is done upon the request of the party seeking to have the fact at issue determined by the court. Matters admitted under judicial notice are accepted without being formally introduced by a witness or any other rule of evidence, and even if one party wishes to lead evidence to the contrary.In India the concept of judicial notice is governed by S. 56, 57 and 58 of the Indian Evidence act of 1872. The rule of judicial evidence is established by section 56 which states that ‘No fact of which the Court will take judicial notice need be proved. ’ In Furtherance, the circumstances in which the court may take judicial notice of facts are described under section 57.Facts pertaining to laws in force in the territory of India, public acts that are passed or are to be passed by the parliament of th e United Kingdom, Articles of War for branches of Indian armed forces, signatures and seals of any authority established and authorised by the central or state government, and rudimentary facts such as divisions of time, the geographical divisions of the world, and public festivals, holidays etc are to be considered to come under the ambit of section 56.It is clear that the purpose of this provision is to save the court the arduous trouble created by submissions and refutations regarding trivial facts during hearings. The evident aim of the legislature is provide relief to citizens from injustice and inordinate delays in justice arising from misinformed or inappropriate disputes in courts. The section further specifies that if the Court is called upon by any person to take judicial notice of any fact it may refuse to do so unless and until such person produces any such book or document that satisfies the court and enables it to do so.Therefore S. 57 places the onus of proof upon the person praying to the court to take judicial notice of a certain fact. S. 58 of the evidence act states further that, any fact that the parties to a hearing have admitted (during the hearing) or have agreed to admit (in writing) need not be proved. Such facts shall have the same legal character as those mentioned under S. 57 and shall be considered to be undisputed. However it has been provided that the court may in its discretion direct any party to prove such fact despite it being undisputed.

Causes of the French Indian War

Causes of the French Indian War In 1748, the War of the Austrian Succession came to a conclusion with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. During the course of the eight-year conflict, France, Prussia, and Spain had squared off against Austria, Britain, Russia, and the Low Countries. When the treaty was signed, many of the underlying issues of the conflict remained unresolved including those of expanding empires and Prussias seizure of Silesia. In the negotiations, many captured colonial outposts were returned to their original owners, such as Madras to the British and Louisbourg to the French, while the trading rivalries that had helped cause the war were ignored. Due to this relatively inconclusive result, the treaty was considered by many to a peace without victory with international tensions remaining high among the recent combatants. The Situation in North America Known as King Georges War in the North American colonies, the conflict had seen colonial troops mount a daring and successful attempt to capture the French fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island. The return of the fortress was a point of concern and ire among the colonists when peace was declared. While the British colonies occupied much of the Atlantic coast, they were effectively surrounded by French lands to the north and west. To control this vast expanse of territory extending from the mouth of the St. Lawrence down to the Mississippi Delta, the French built a string of outposts and forts from the western Great Lakes down to the Gulf of Mexico. The location of this line left a wide area between the French garrisons and the crest of the Appalachian Mountains to the east. This territory, largely drained by the Ohio River, was claimed by the French but was increasingly filling with British settlers as they pushed over the mountains. This was largely due to the burgeoning population of the British colonies which in 1754 contained around 1,160,000 white inhabitants as well as another 300,000 slaves. These numbers dwarfed the population of New France which totaled around 55,000 in present-day Canada and another 25,000 in other areas. Caught between these rival empires were the Native Americans, of which the Iroquois Confederacy was the most powerful. Initially consisting of the Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Onondaga, and Cayuga, the group later became the Six Nations with the addition of the Tuscarora. United, their territory extended between the French and British from the upper reaches of the Hudson River west into the Ohio basin. While officially neutral, the Six Nations were courted by both European powers and frequently traded with whichever side was convenient. The French Stake Their Claim In an effort to assert their control over the Ohio Country, the governor of New France, the Marquis de La Galissonià ¨re, dispatched Captain Pierre Joseph Cà ©loron de Blainville in 1749 to restore and mark the border. Departing Montreal, his expedition of around 270 men moved through present-day western New York and Pennsylvania. As it progressed, he placed lead plates announcing Frances claim to the land at the mouths of several creeks and rivers. Reaching Logstown on the Ohio River, he evicted several British traders and admonished the Native Americans against trading with anyone but the French. After passing present-day Cincinnati, he turned north and returned to Montreal. Despite Cà ©lorons expedition, British settlers continued to push over the mountains, especially those from Virginia. This was backed by the colonial government of Virginia who granted land in the Ohio Country to the Ohio Land Company. Dispatching surveyor Christopher Gist, the company began scouting the region and received permission from the Native Americans to fortify the trading post at Logstown. Aware of these increasing British incursions, the new governor of New France, the Marquis de Duquesne, sent Paul Marin de la Malgue to the area with 2,000 men in 1753 to built a new series of forts. The first of these was built at Presque Isle on Lake Erie (Erie, PA), with another twelve miles south at French Creek (Fort Le Boeuf). Pushing down the Allegheny River, Marin captured the trading post at Venango and built Fort Machault. The Iroquois were alarmed by these actions and complained to British Indian agent Sir William Johnson. The British Response As Marin was constructing his outposts, the lieutenant governor of Virginia, Robert Dinwiddie, became increasingly concerned. Lobbying for the building of a similar string of forts, he received permission provided that he first assert British rights to the French. To do so, he dispatched young Major George Washington on October 31, 1753. Traveling north with Gist, Washington paused at the Forks of the Ohio where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers came together to form the Ohio. Reaching Logstown, the party was joined by Tanaghrisson (Half King), a Seneca chief who disliked the French. The party ultimately reached Fort Le Boeuf on December 12 and Washington met with Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre. Presenting an order from Dinwiddie requiring the French to depart, Washington received a negative reply from Legarduer. Returning to Virginia, Washington informed Dinwiddie of the situation. First Shots Prior to Washingtons return, Dinwiddie dispatched a small party of men under William Trent to begin building a fort at the Forks of the Ohio. Arriving in February 1754, they constructed a small stockade but were forced out by a French force led by Claude-Pierre Pecaudy de Contrecoeur in April. Taking possession of the site, they began constructing a new base dubbed Fort Duquesne. After presenting his report in Williamsburg, Washington was ordered to return to the forks with a larger force to aid Trent in his work. Learning of the French force en route, he pressed on with the support of Tanaghrisson. Arriving at Great Meadows, approximately 35 miles south of Fort Duquesne, Washington halted as he knew he was badly outnumbered. Establishing a base camp in the meadows, Washington began exploring the area while waiting for reinforcements. Three days later, he was alerted to the approach of a French scouting party. Assessing the situation, Washington was advised to attack by Tanaghrisson. Agreeing, Washington and approximately 40 of his men marched through the night and foul weather. Finding the French camped in a narrow valley, the British surrounded their position and opened fire. In the resulting Battle of Jumonville Glen, Washingtons men killed 10 French soldiers and captured 21, including their commander Ensign Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville. After the battle, as Washington was interrogating Jumonville, Tanaghrisson walked up and struck the French officer in the head killing him. Anticipating a French counterattack, Washington fell back to Great Meadows and built a crude stockade known as Fort Necessity. Though reinforced, he remained outnumbered when Captain Louis Coulon de Villiers arrived at Great Meadows with 700 men on July 1. Beginning the Battle of Great Meadows, Coulon was able to quickly compel Washington to surrender. Allowed to withdraw with his men, Washington departed the area on July 4. The Albany Congress While events were unfolding on the frontier, the northern colonies were becoming increasingly concerned about French activities. Gathering in the summer of 1754, representatives from the various British colonies came together in Albany to discuss plans for mutual defense and to renew their agreements with the Iroquois which were known as the Covenant Chain. In the talks, Iroquois representative Chief Hendrick requested the re-appointment of Johnson and expressed concern over British and French activities. His concerns were largely placated and the Six Nations representatives departed after the ritual presentation of presents. The representatives also debated a plan for uniting the colonies under a single government for mutual defense and administration. Dubbed the Albany Plan of Union, it required an Act of Parliament to implement as well as the support of the colonial legislatures. The brainchild of Benjamin Franklin, the plan received little support among the individual legislatures and was not addressed by Parliament in London. British Plans for 1755 Though war with France had not been formally declared, the British government, led by the Duke of Newcastle, made plans for a series of campaigns in 1755 designed to reduce French influence in North America. While Major General Edward Braddock was to lead a large force against Fort Duquesne, Sir William Johnson was to advance up Lakes George and Champlain to capture Fort St. Frà ©dà ©ric (Crown Point). In addition to these efforts, Governor William Shirley, made a major general, was tasked with reinforcing Fort Oswego in western New York before moving against Fort Niagara. To the east, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Monckton was ordered to capture Fort Beausà ©jour on the frontier between Nova Scotia and Acadia. Braddocks Failure Designated the commander-in-chief of British forces in America, Braddock was convinced by Dinwiddie to mount his expedition against Fort Duquesne from Virginia as the resulting military road would benefit the lieutenant governors business interests. Assembling a force of around 2,400 men, he established his base at Fort Cumberland, MD before pushing north on May 29. Accompanied by Washington, the army followed his earlier route towards the Forks of the Ohio. Slowly plodding through the wilderness as his men cut a road for the wagons and artillery, Braddock sought to increase his speed by rushing forward with a light column of 1,300 men. Alerted to Braddocks approach, the French dispatched a mixed force of infantry and Native Americans from Fort Duquesne under the command of Captains Lià ©nard de Beaujeu and Captain Jean-Daniel Dumas. On July 9, 1755, they attacked the British in the Battle of the Monongahela (Map). In the fighting, Braddock was mortally wounded and his army routed. Defeated, the British column fell back to Great Meadows before retreating towards Philadelphia. Mixed Results Elsewhere To the east, Monckton had success in his operations against Fort Beausà ©jour. Beginning his offensive on June 3, he was in a position to begin shelling the fort ten days later. On July 16, British artillery breached the forts walls and the garrison surrendered. The capture of the fort was marred later that year when Nova Scotias governor, Charles Lawrence, began expelling the French-speaking Acadian population from the area. In western New York, Shirley moved through the wilderness and arrived at Oswego on August 17. Approximately 150 miles short of his goal, he paused amid reports that French strength was massing at Fort Frontenac across Lake Ontario. Hesitant to push on, he elected to halt for the season and began enlarging and reinforcing Fort Oswego. As the British campaigns were moving forward, the French benefited from knowledge of the enemys plans as they had captured Braddocks letters at Monongahela. This intelligence led to French commander Baron Dieskau moving down Lake Champlain to block Johnson rather than embarking on a campaign against Shirley. Seeking to attack Johnsons supply lines, Dieskau moved up (south) Lake George and scouted Fort Lyman (Edward). On September 8, his force clashed with Johnsons at the Battle of Lake George. Dieskau was wounded and captured in the fighting and the French were forced to withdraw. As it was late in the season, Johnson remained at the southern end of Lake George and began construction of Fort William Henry. Moving down the lake, the French retreated to Ticonderoga Point on Lake Champlain where they completed construction of Fort Carillon. With these movements, campaigning in 1755 effectively ended. What had begun as a frontier war in 1754, would explode into a global conflict in 1756.

Morality and the Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Morality and the Media - Essay Example In other words, just as Thomas Jefferson said, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. The question is who gets to be in the place of the watchman. In Victor Clines essay, he approaches the topic of free speech in media, even when it crosses lines which are traditionally held by moral peoples, in a manner that attempts to strip the moral issues from the essential freedom of speech. Cline approaches the issue of free speech within the media, and the question of setting boundaries on this free speech when it crosses these accepted moral limits, as if the people themselves set the moral boundaries within which they define acceptability. The argument insists that if one group of people feels that this particular expression of pornography or violence is morally wrong, and therefore should warrant censorship, then another group should be able to choose that the same expression is acceptable, and allowable within the boundaries of free speech. And so the argument continues. Media producers have, in my opinion, been allowed to hide behind the veil of free speech by court decisions which have attempted to approach a moral issue from an amoral framework.

Joseph J. Campbell 'The Hero with a Thousand Faces' Essay

Joseph J. Campbell 'The Hero with a Thousand Faces' - Essay Example Campbell’s monomyth (also known as a hero’s journey) is an essential pattern that a person who is to become a hero must take, in order to become a hero. It is a matter of great interest that most people who are fit being regarded as hero, have led a life that is commensurate with Campbell’s monomyth and this includes the life, times and achievements of Martin Luther, the German monk, professor of theology, the head figure of the Great Reformation of the 16th century Christianity (Protestant Reformation) and former Catholic priest. This element of consistency between the two shall be seen in the discussion that ensues forthwith. According to Campbell, the first stage that the potential hero has to experience is the experiencing of the ordinary world. Herein, the individual becomes uncomfortable, unaware or uneasy as he is introduced to the audience, so as to identify with his situation or dilemma. The individual may be depicted against a background of personal his tory, heredity and environmental background. Particularly, there is a strong element of polarity in the life of the individual and thereby pulling him in different diametric directions, causing him stress. The immediately foregoing can also be seen in the life of Martin Luther (November 10, 1483- February 18, 1546), a man of German nationality who grew up to be a monk, a priest, a theologian and the professor who authored the 95 theses. Having been born into the Holy Roman Empire, Luther rose up to be a Catholic priest. At the time, the religious environment in which Luther operated and lived was putrid with complacency, since the Roman Catholic Church: was practicing the selling of indulgences; suffered covertly the popes and members of the clergy to keep mistresses; continued to operate as an integral part of the state; neither regard the teachings of Biblical Scriptures nor taught the same to the laity; and had amassed a vast pool of wealth illegitimately, through these means. Even life outside the Church was not any better. The raunchy lifestyle that had suffused the rest of Germany is underscored by Luther referring to University of Erfurt which he had attended as a beerhouse and a whorehouse (Maritain, 75). Secondly, there is a call to adventure. Herein, there is an element that shakes up the situation. These elements may emanate either from external pressures, or from internal pressure. This pressure compels the hero to face the beginnings of change. One of the events that clearly served as a call to adventure for Martin Luther was the July 2, 1505 incident. Herein, Luther was riding on a horseback on his way to the university when a lightning bolt struck near him. He made a cry for help and promised to become a monk- a development that seriously infuriated his father who had invested heavily in Luther’s education. Later, after he had become a priest, Luther’s encounter with St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (especially Romans 1:17) seriously woke him up to the spiritual reality that was contradictory to the Catholic Church’s teachings and practices. This encounter compelled Luther to read more and to begin questioning the practi ces pertinent to Catholicism, until he was convinced that Catholicism was not in line with Scriptural teachings. The foregoing may be succeeded by the refusal to call. This refusal may be underpinned by the fear of the unknown and any danger that may lie ahead, and thereby dissuading the individual from embarking on the adventure. This usually happens briefly. It is a fact that even after the lightning bolt incident, Luther was somewhat reluctant to join the monastery, even though he answered the call almost immediately. Secondly, even after the

The Value of Early Marriage in Islam Essay Example for Free

The Value of Early Marriage in Islam Essay Because of Islams great love for marriage, it has strongly emphasized that people get married as soon as possible. This is more so for women, and the Prophet (s) and Imams (as) have strongly emphasized that it is the responsibility of a father to ensure that his daughters become married as soon as possible. This is in order so that the woman may not fall into fornication as a result of not being able to marry, and that this very important part of her life become dealt with as soon as possible. We see this reflected in the following ahadeeth: 1.It is a blessing for a man that his daughter does not menstruate in his home.1 2.The Prophet (s) said in a khutbah: Jibrail came to me from the Subtle and Aware one [Allah (swt)], and said: Indeed, virgin girls are like fruit on a tree. When you take the fruit from a tree, then you do not have to fear that the sun will spoil it or that the wind will scatter it away. Similar is the case when a women is taken in the way that they are taken [meaning marriage]. There is no remedy for this problem except that they take a husband, and if they do not, then one will have to fear that they will become corrupted. Beyond this, Islam also believes that women have a stronger sexual urge then men, and that this urge should be satisfied at an early age. There are many narrations, from both Sunni and Shia sources, that state that women have nine times as much sexual desire as men: 1.Imam Ali (as) said: Allah the Mighty and Glorified has created desire in ten parts; nine of these parts are in women, and one part is in men. Had not Allah (swt) given more power to her modesty than over these parts of desire, then every man would find himself with nine women attached to him. 2.Imam as-Sadiq (as) said: Indeed, Allah the Mighty and Glorious has given women the patience of ten men. If a woman is fighting with you, then it is because she has been given the desire of ten men. 3.Imam as-Sadiq (as) said: Women have been blessed with ninety nine percent of desire, however Allah has placed modesty over them. As such, when a girl is young, this force will be even stronger in her, and so it is more important that she not fall into sin. If a father is to be considered the guardian of his daughter, then it is one of his duties to make sure that she does not fall into sin by using his age and experience to help find for her a proper husband at an early age. It is even said of slave-masters that they should either marry their slave girls or find husband for them, and that if they fornicate, the sin will be on himself. However, Muslims have tended to forget this teaching of the Prophets (s) and Imams (as). The growth of a middle-class throughout the Muslim world has led families to become more concerned with their daughters education and work then with their spiritual life, and fear that if they marry their daughters at an early age, the girls will not be able to complete their education. Even if this were true, it would still be inexcusable to make it difficult for young girls to get married, for then one will be putting pressure on them to fornicate. The fact is that it is not true that girls will somehow fail in life if they marry at an early age. A woman can balance the demands of her marital life and her educational/professional life, and should be allowed and encouraged to do so. It is important, as well, that as girls enter adolescence, that Islam is not being used as a barrier upon them enjoying their life and fulfilling themselves sexually. When Muslim families put pressure on their daughters not to marry and seek to isolate them from this blessing of marriage, it is only natural that many young women will turn against practices like hijab and other aspects of Islam. Lack of satisfaction in the area of sex will lead to depression and frustration, which can manifest itself in a variety of ways. Parents should not only allow their daughters freedom in this regard, but should actively encourage them. The fact is that young men and women will usually get together anyways, and a young woman may very well connect with a young man whose morals and character are less than satisfactory. By families openly involving themselves in this aspect of their daughters life from an early age, they can not only help their daughters to quickly find what they need in terms of their love life, but also help to guide their daughters to a marriage that will be beneficial for her, both emotionally, physically, and spiritually. When the parents refuse to help, however, then they are leaving their daughter to her own devices in finding a path to dealing with her sexuality. She may restrain herself until her family allows her to marry, or she may not. But at that stage, the family will not play any role in that decision one way or the other. It is also the obligation of the family to make it easy for a husband to marry his daughter, and not place the kind of absurd demands upon a prospective husband that are made now. Filled by love of dunya, many families will only marry their daughter to a rich man with a PhD or several degrees in engineering or what have you. This, even more than the restrictions they place on their own daughters, creates a terrible barrier on a young woman getting married, as it makes it impossible for her to find somebody similar in age. Enormous dowries are another source of fitna in this regard, and this practice has been condemned in the ahadeeth: 1.The Prophet (s) said: The best of womenare those who ask for low dories. 2.Imam as-Sadiq (as) states: The blessed of women are those who ask for small living expenses, and the evil of them are those who are demanding in terms of living expenses. The practice of large dowries is even more haram, however, because it is almost always done for the sake of show inside the community, which is a form of shirkthat is most condemned in Islam. We see that, tragically, many families are willing to sacrifice the happiness of their daughter during her adolescence for the sake of their appearance in the community. It is interesting to note that most cases of huge dowry, the daughter had no interest in a large dowry. She would ask for something extremely small, or even want to wave it altogether. But then the family steps in and demands thousands upon thousands of dollars in dowry, and then forces the daughter to make a decision between her husband-to-be and her family. Usually she will choose the family, especially since the family will make all manner of threats about what will happen if she goes ahead with a marriage they dont approve of (Your uncle in Pakistan will kill himself, your father will lose his job, etc., etc., etc.) Nothing could be more reprehensible than for families to blackmail their daughters in this way, and it is a terrible cause of fitna amongst the youth. We see that someulama in Iran today, such as Ayatullah Ibrahim Amini, have been very strong in condemning this practice, for they have seen how harmful it is to the spiritual state of the youth. Many famlies are under the deluded impression that if they make it impossible for their daughters to marry that the girls will simply sit tight until the permission and possibility of marriage comes. Certainly many do; but of course, as is human nature, many dont. It is entirely possible that the sin of fornication may fall upon the heads of the people who prevented the young from marrying, rather than the young themselves. There is a story that a man was brought to Imam Ali (as) to be punished for fornication. He asked the man if he had been able to marry, and the man said that nobody would allow him to marry, nor did he have the money to purchase a slave girl. Imam Ali (as) then let him go. The authenticity of this story is not verified, but the import remains: that a society that makes it impossible for the young to satisfy themselves sexually is responsible for the fornication that inevitably results. If the young cannot receive the blessing and assistance of their parents in this regard, then it is their duty to rebel against these pressures. We have discussed, elsewhere, the fact that it is not obligatory for a mature girl to seek the permission of her parents to marry, but merely recommended. A system of culture and overly conservative jurisprudence has combined to place barriers on the young, and the only way to break through this is for the young to, quite simply, rebel, and take the matter of marriage into their own hands. It is the right of every mature and sound-minded person to marry, and marriage is one of the greatest blessings of Islam. If the older generation are not willing to accept this fact, than it is upon the younger generation to break the chains that have been set upon them.

GERONIMO Essay -- essays research papers

More than 5,000 troops were under General Miles' command at that time, including elements of the 4th, 6th and 10th Cavalry. He gave the principal pursuit mission to the 4th because it was headquartered at Fort Huachuca, the base of operations for the campaign. The Army had permission to go to Mexico in pursuit. Captain Henry Lawton, commanding officer of "B" Troop, 4th Cavalry, was an experienced soldier who knew the ways of the Apaches. His tactics were to wear them down by constant pursuit. Stationed at the fort at that time were many men who would later become well known in the Army: Colonel W. B. Royall, commanding officer of the fort and the 4th Cavalry, who was responsible for the logistical support of the Geronimo campaign; Leonard Wood, who went along on the expedition as contract surgeon; Lieutenant Colonel G. H. Forsyht; Captain C.A.P. Hatfield; Captain J.H. Dorst; and First Lieutenant Powhatan H. Clarke, who was immortalized by the artist, Remington, for saving a black trooper during the campaign. With the fort as advance base for the pursuit forces, the heliograph communications network, which General Miles had established in Arizona and New Mexico, was used effectively for logistical purposes. However, the Indians and the Army were conducting their chase in Mexico where the system did not extend. So the most the heliograph could do in the campaign was relay messages brought by fast riders from the border. April 1, 1886 was the date that Captain Lawton led his troopers with two pack trains and 30 Indian Scouts through the Huachuca Mountains to Nogales, Mexico, to pick up Geronimo's trail. Though various units would join the pursuit later and separate to follow trails left by the Indians back and forth across the border, there were few times that Army troops and members of Geronimo's band would come face to face. Four Months later, Captain Lawton and Leonard Wood were sent back to Fort Huachcua, worn down by the rough country and grueling campaign. More than 3,000 miles were covered by the Indians and the Army during the chase, which took a month longer than General Miles had planned. The men had walked and ridden through some of the most inaccessible desert land in North America, in heat sometimes above 110 degrees. After Geronimo's surrender, "B" Troop of the 4th Cavalry was given the mission of escorting the Apache's to Flo... ...were killed by Mexicans in 1858, he participated in a number of raids against Mexican and American settlers, but eventually settled on a reservation. In 1876 the U.S. government attempted to move the Chiricahua from their traditional home to San Carlos, New Mexico; Geronimo then began ten years of intermittent raids against white settlements, alternating with periods of peaceful farming on the San Carlos reservation. In March 1886, the American general George Crook captured Geronimo and forced a treaty under which the Chiricahua would be relocated in Florida; two days later Geronimo escaped and continued his raids. General Nelson Miles then took over the pursuit of Geronimo, who was chased into Mexico and captured the following September. The Native Americans were sent to Florida, Alabama, and finally to Fort Sill, Oklahoma Territory, where they settled as farmers. Geronimo eventually adopted Christianity. He took part in the inaugural procession of President Theodore Roosevelt i n 1905. Geronimo dictated his memoirs, published in 1906 as Geronimo's Story of His Life. He died at Fort Sill on February 17, 1909.

The French and Russian Revolutions: Similar? Or Different?

The French Revolution and the Russian Revolution were the same in many ways, but were also different in just as many ways. A king who believed in absolutism, just as France was before the revolution, led Russia; the kings didn't accurately represent their people, nor were they close to them; the middle class (bourgeoisie, in France, Duma, in Russia) wanted recognition; and in both cases, the royal families were executed. There were even more comparisons to the two Revolutions. Both Louis XVI and Nicholas II were absolute rulers. Neither of them wanted to be king. Louis simply wanted a quiet life where he could be tucked in and eat to his delight. He wanted nothing to do with the problems that arose in his reign. It was also his indifference to the crown that caused those problems. Tsar Nicholas also felt that way. Both kings followed their ancestors' rulings. The Bourbons and Romanovs had always ruled their country with a firm, absolute hand. Though they were relatively kind, gentle men, their people did not see it that way. They saw them as uncaring towards their countries and wanted a new monarchy – but without a monarch. They wanted a fair government. France's Revolution followed America's Revolution, their desire for a free, fair Constitution strong. The problems that arose and caused the French and Russian Revolution were many. In both cases, however, it was the starvation and the bitter winter that had taken its toll on the people. A bread riot began in both cases. In the French Revolution, the women marched to Versailles and chased after Marie Antoinette, fixed upon killing her. They then forced the royal family into the Tuilleries Palace in Paris so they could keep a good eye on them. In the Russian Revolution, the women were calmer and simply paraded down the streets on International Women's Day, merely wanting some bread to sate their hunger. Unlike in the French Revolution, soldiers were ordered to shoot at the people in the â€Å"parade. † They disobeyed and instead shot their officers and joined the â€Å"parade. † The middle-class, which had hardly existed in Russia until socialism was introduced, was also a major factor in both Revolutions. In the French Revolution, the middle-class – or bourgeoisie – was practically ignored by Louis XVI, who only gave recognition to the aristocracy. As for Tsar Nicholas, he refused to acknowledge the middle-class, whom was called the Duma. The aristocracy enjoyed their place in society and had no problems with the way things were. The Duma, on the other hand, was disgusted with the way Tsar Nicholas ruled. Their discontent, along with the poor people's, were one of the uprisings that led to the Revolution of 1917. This, too, happened in the French Revolution. The bourgeoisie planned and organized until striking at the monarch and setting up their own government. The Duma had set up what was called the Provisional Government on March 12, 1917, which â€Å"established equality before law; freedom of religion, speech, and assembly; the right of unions to organize and strike; and the rest of the classic liberal program. † The government in which the bourgeoisie had set up was identical. The Provisional Government lasted only a short time before Vladimir Lenin, an extreme socialist, overthrew it, giving this proclamation: â€Å"To the Citizens of Russia! The Provisional Government has been deposed. State power has passed into the hands of the organ of the Petrogad Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies – the Revolutionary Military Committee, which heads the Petrogad proletariat and the garrison. The cause for which the people had fought, namely, the immediate offer of a democratic peace, the abolition of landlord property-rights over the land, workers' control over production, and the establishment of Soviet power – this cause has been secured. Long live the revolution of workers, soldiers, and peasants! † Conclusively, though the French Revolution and Russian Revolution had many similarities, it also had many differences. Both Revolutions ended in both happiness and sadness. There were two sides to each of the Revolutions. To this day, many see Tsar Nicholas and Louis XVI as men that had ended in a position they were not destined for and paid with their life and their family's for that.

Becoming a Healthy Team: Five Traits of Vital Leadership

Stephen A. Macchia, who is the writer of this book, is the founder head of Leadership Transformations group. This has been a ministry which mainly focuses spiritual needs which leaders together with their roles is supposed to have in day operation of fellowship or in ministry activity in churches both local and international.Creation of team has proved to be difficult as described by Stephen A. Macchia. He goes further to say that; it’s hard to motivate and lead most teams, since they can tend to inspire greatness into a leader and sometimes discourage someone to lead.Teams can be assembled together in a short while and at the same time they can disintegrate apart faster. Thus, this is why he saw a need to write more about building and managing a team. For a healthy and well organized team, it should possess characteristics of understanding, friendship, efficiency and effectiveness of team work which could lead to vitality of the team. Discussion Stephen A. Macchia, summarized his five traits of a team as TEAMS meaning; Trust, Empowerment, Assimilation, Management, and Service.He discussed all this with guidance from bible plus reflection questions at the end of each chapter. In this book, he formed a valuable team building resources for both pastors and leaders of the ministries, and also for other individuals who are most of the time involved in leadership process or role. From the back page, he explains how healthy and essential its for building a formidable team. The writer of this book has helped many churches to develop effectiveness in church service. Currently, he has concentrated on provision of practical leadership practices which leadership team does the same.He illustrates ways of trusting, empowering, assimilating, managing and serving. Lacking efficiency in our church leadership teams may lead to a failure in ministering. This book is outline with guidelines, which shows one to a good member of a team together with questions aligned with th eir answers of actual leadership to control and maintain team’s leadership track. As they face challenges. In most cases this challenges will rarely be handled spiritually or with clear approach like Stephen Macchia.In case someone is part of the ministerial team, one is advised to miss this book- Larry Crabb, the originator of New Way Ministry. It has been described that for one to be a great leader or team member, then greatness is the least expected. Stephen's approach to building a great team has played an important role the literature. † Compelling and appealing, this is a must-read for leaders who desire to build a biblical Spirit-led team. â€Å"-other authors like Luis Palau, a healthy Church, Becoming a Healthy Church Workbook, and Becoming a Healthy Disciple.To have a healthy church, Stephen illustrated ways of being lifted ahead and developing healthy church. It has been emphasized further that a healthy church will require assuming risks and their managemen t together with prompt evaluation. Stephen’s book is a real and practical publication which has been essential in transforming churches and leadership in ministries. Majority of churches and leaders have tried to implement the main traits and their effect have been applied in many churches worldwide regardless of their denomination, race and size.He suggested that the tool he could suggest to churches is being guided by the purpose. The nurturing of the most remarkable qualities will be guided by God, so that churches can obtain a good revival. Conclusion Stephen’s book has greatly made a good support in renewal of churches and leadership development universally. His alertness and spiritual guidance has strengthened the pillars of local churches. By reading this book one will find a spiritual guidance in undertaking leadership activities in churches. He has focused on spiritual development of leaders in local churches.He has also written exemplary books like Becoming a healthy disciple and church. He has helped many churches in the develop revival of healthy ministries. Nowadays he offer practical leadership training of church leaders, as he show them how to be trusted, empowered, assimilated, managed and served, which provides the TEAMS spelling. He has emphasized on the needs of teams which when not considered will lead to their failure. Reference Macchia, Stephen A. (2005). Becoming a Healthy Team: Five Traits of Vital Leadership, New York: Baker Books

The Works of Charles Darwin essays

The Works of Charles Darwin essays Charles Darwin had the greatest influence on the world of science by proving the evolution of living things. He had first noticed the similarities of plants and animals on the Galapagos Isles while embarking on a five-year cruise on the H.M.S Beagle. After noticing the similarities between the plants and animals on different islands, he decided to study them more closely. Charles published his first work "The Origin of Species" with the work he had collected on his voyage. In his book, he explained how Organisms had for millions of years been evolving ways to help them better survive. Darwin stated that the organisms had steadily adapted to their surroundings to ensure their survival. In his work, Darwin stated that changes were to have occurred during reproduction. The most valuable traits were to become dominant while the weaker, less valuable traits became recessive. That is why having brown eyes, as opposed to blue eyes, is a dominant trait among humans because it helps protect your eyes from the sun. To illustrate what Charles Darwin would later call "Natural Selection"; he used an example of long-necked and short-necked giraffes. The Long-necked giraffes could get to more food on higher parts of the trees. When the all food on the lower parts of the trees was consumed, the short-necked giraffes starved, and eventually died out, leaving only the long-necked giraffes to mate and pass on their traits of long necks to the next generation. This is what Darwin would call "survival of the fittest." This is also an example of how traits (such as long necks, can become dominant). Darwin also hypothesized about how humans came to have different colors of skin. He concluded that the color of your skin was greatly dependent on where you lived. People who lived in hotter places with longer hours of bright sunlight tended to have darker skin. The extra pigment helped shield them from sunburn. Once again, a perfect example of nature adapt...

Complex Words Definition and Examples

Complex Words Definition and Examples In English grammar and morphology, a complex word is a  word made up of two or more morphemes. Contrast with monomorphemic word. A complex word may consist of (1) a base (or root) and one or more affixes (for example, quicker), or (2) more than one root in a compound (for example, blackbird). Examples and Observations [W]e say that bookishness is a complex word, whose immediate components are bookish and -ness, which we can express in shorthand by spelling the word with dashes between each morph: book-ish-ness. The process of dividing a word into morphs is called parsing. (Keith M. Denning et al., English Vocabulary Elements. Oxford University Press, 2007) Transparency and Opaqueness A morphologically complex word is semantically transparent if its meaning is obvious from its parts: hence unhappiness is semantically transparent, being made up in a predictable fashion from un, happy, and ness. A word like department, even though it contains recognizable morphemes, is not semantically transparent. The meaning of depart in department is not obviously related to the depart in departure. It is semantically opaque. (Trevor A. Harley, The Psychology of Language: From Data to Theory. Taylor Francis, 2001) Blender Let us consider the complex word blender. What can we say about its morphology? One aspect we can mention is that it consists of two morphemes, blend and er. Besides, we can say that blend is the root, since it is not further analysable, and at the same time the base to which the suffix -er is attached. To conclude, if we carry out morphological analysis, we usually show what morphemes a word consists of and describe these morphemes in terms of their type. (Ingo Plag et al, Introduction to English Linguistics. Walter de Gruyer, 2007) The Hypothesis of Lexical Integrity The lexicon . . . is not just a set of words, but also comprises word combinations. For example, English (like most Germanic languages) has many verb-particle combinations, also called phrasal verbs of the type to look up which clearly consist of two words which are even separable: (20a) The student looked up the information(20b) The student looked the information up The verb look up cannot be one word since its two parts can be separated, as in sentence (20b). A basic assumption in morphology is the hypothesis of Lexical Integrity: the constituents of a complex word cannot be operated upon by syntactic rules. Put differently: words behave as atoms with respect to syntactic rules, which cannot look inside the word and see its internal morphological structure. Hence, the movement of up to the end of the sentence in (20b) can only be accounted for if look up is a combination of two words. That is, phrasal verbs such as lookup are certainly lexical units, but not words. Words are just a subset of the lexical units of a language. Another way of putting this is to say that look up is a listeme but not a lexeme of English (DiSciullo and Williams, 1987). Other examples of lexical multi-word units are adjective-noun combinations such as red tape, big toe, atomic bomb, and industrial output. Such phrases are established terms for referring to certain kinds of entities, and hence they must be listed in the lexicon. (Geert E. Booij, The Grammar of Words: An Introduction to Linguistic Morphology, 3rd ed. Oxford University Press, 2012)

Emily Dickinson Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Emily Dickinson - Essay Example In a tumultuous time, American writing became introspective and biographical (Casper, 19), and Dickinson's melancholic poetry of the self reflected both her immediate surroundings and her nationality. The mid-nineteenth century was also a time of high expectations for the future, and this was a theme that Dickinson picked up on in her work. The reader's expectations play a huge role in literature, and Dickinson played with them mercilessly, asking why we expect certain things and completely blind-siding us. Although it can be argued that our expectations of literature are merely to be entertained, and occasionally provoked, this essay will look at expectations as a motif of literature, both internal and external. This essay will look at five of Dickinson's poems, of varying lengths, styles and subjects, and show how the poet uses and manipulates the motif of 'expectation' to constantly surprise the reader, in ways both good and bad. It is difficult to date much of Dickinson's work, a s her copious output was private, and typically her texts lack titles. The first line of the first poem to be discussed is â€Å"I had been hungry all the years†, and is a perfect introduction to the idea of subverted expectations. The extended metaphor of the poem uses lunch to represent a long anticipation for an event which turns out to be extremely disappointing – although it sounds silly, Dickinson's use of rhyme and rhythm creates a pounding tone which reinforces the sense of misfortune, and of high hopes dashed. The speaker describes herself as â€Å"trembling† (3) in impatience to eat the food, only to find that it makes her feel â€Å"ill and odd† (14), and that â€Å"Nature's dining-room† (12) in which she ate before is far more suited to her temperament. This could be an allegory of growing up, as the speaker fails to mention if she was allowed to return. The final stanza concludes the moral of the story, that the mere fact of not being able to eat creates hunger, which â€Å"The entering [into the new realm] takes away† (20). The speaker's expectations were always fruitless. The repetition of the word 'hungry' grounds the poem, reminding the reader of the physicality of the subject. Punctuation provides the same function in â€Å"Frequently the woods are pink†, a poem which subverts the very notion of expectation itself. The speaker of â€Å"Frequently† expresses wonder at the â€Å"Wonderful Rotation!† (11) of the earth, turning everything alternately â€Å"pink† (1) and â€Å"brown† (2). The liberal sprinkling of dashes and exclamation marks – five of the former and three of the latter, in a poem just twelve lives long – induces the reader to pause at certain points in the poem, enhancing the effect of the preceding line. The pauses echo the speaker's surprise, and implicitly encourage the reader to ask themselves: why do we not find the fast rotation of th e earth as impressive and amazing as it is? Extending the question, does being accustomed to a phenomenon necessarily mean that we forget its wonder? The interjection of â€Å"– they tell me –† (9) increases the sense of wonder, as if the speaker cannot quite believe what â€Å"they† say. Sunrise and sunset are so magical as to deserve such a â€Å"Wonderful†

Fictional children's story about homelessness + critical component Assignment

Fictional children's story about homelessness + critical component - Assignment Example Therefore, he could not ask her to get him a new pair. One day he decided, it was time to get new shoes at his own. He’d been saving money for a month now. And today he could finally paint the fence outside Robinson’s house and get the remaining money that he needed for buying the shoes. While passing a shop on his way, Sam noticed his reflection in the glass window. Except for the fresh wound from last evening, he thought he looked presentable. A day earlier, Sam was on his way to the basketball court when a random car stopped near him for merely a second. The window rolled down and a stone came out and landed on his forehead. So, seeing his reflection, Sam adjusted his hair to hide the wound and continued heading towards Mr. Robinson’s house. The Robinson’s place was a huge white house with a beautiful front garden. The fence Sam was to paint surrounded the lush green garden, and added to the homely feeling of the house. Ringing the bell, he was invited in by Mrs. Robinson. The house felt warm, cozy and welcoming from inside as well. She led Sam to Mr. Robinson’s study where she offered him some homemade cake as well. Sam instantly developed a liking for the Robinsons family. Sam was 14 years old. So he got the work on basis of a class assignment in which he had to share a thrilling experience. He told Mr. Robinson that he had decided to paint for the assignment but his house neither had a fence nor anything else that could be painted. Mr. Robinson agreed to help and provided him with the paint brush, a bucket of paint and a pair of his son’s old clothes which seemed newer to Sam than the ones he was wearing. So, Sam kept them and decided to work in his own. Sam found the painting job easy. Being near the Robinsons family was a pleasant experience for him. From time to time, Mrs. Robinson would come out to check how he was doing, and gave him something homemade to eat on every visit. Robinson’s family comprised of the parents, a 4 year old daughter and a son of Sam’s age. After a while the family came out in the lawn to enjoy the sun. The boy started playing with Jack, his dog. The little girl sat near her mother scribbling on a drawing pad. Mr. Robinson sat on the lawn chair and got busy reading the newspaper. Sam smiled watching them. In nearly two hours, Sam’s work was complete. Stepping back and looking at his work, Sam felt thrilled, noticing that he had done a decent job. The Robinsons liked it too. So he took the money and headed towards the shoes’ shop. On his way, he kept nibbling on the brownie Mrs. Robinson had given him for the way. He did not remember the last time he had something so tasty to eat. Sam crossed a pet shop on the way. His glance rested on a kitten sleeping in a white cage. With a creased forehead, he watched the kitten for a minute. He went inside and bought it with the money he had saved for the shoes. He kissed the cat and whispered in it s ear, ‘I will give you something that I don’t have’. A few minutes later, he knocked at the door of the town’s shelter that he lived in. References Capdevila, G. (2005). More Than 100 Million Homeless Worldwide. Retrieved from http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=28086 This article highlights how homelessness has become a worldwide problem in the developed as well as developing countries. The government policies and inadequate housing plans suppress the poor and force them to live without proper housing altogether. The story is themed on this

Bitumen Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Bitumen - Lab Report Example Each test aimed at measuring the depth of to which a standard needle would penetrate the sample of bitumen under standard conditions. There were two conditions hereunder: temperature of 25 degrees Celsius and a load of 100 grams for a given time frame. The result of this test revealed the average value of depth of penetration to be 49.33 dmm. Apparently, the bitumen sample (44-60) grade bitumen. When a steel ball of diameter 9.5 mm was allowed to fall through the sample of bitumen to a depth of 25 mm, the study found 61.5 degrees Celsius as the softening point temperature. Bitumen is non-crystalline oil based viscous substance or solid, which is derived from petroleum, which exists as a by-product of oil refinery process. It is soluble in carbon disulphide and has adhesive properties. Bitumen is made up of organic liquids mixtures, which are characteristically highly viscous, sticky, and black. It is mainly composed of highly condensed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. In the refinery process, bitumen is often obtain in a process involving the removal of lighter fractions such as petrol, diesel, and liquid petroleum through distilling blends of crude oil in the refinery process. Bitumen is widely used in the construction industry. It is primarily used as a key constituent of most products that used in roofing and paving applications. Bitumen is also largely used in asphalt as a binder for roads. Besides, bitumen is used in paved regions such as car parks, footways, and airport runways. Natural bitumen is often formed from the oil that has already been generated and migrated into reservoirs. This oil should also have been subjected to normal processes alongside other effects. This study explored various properties of bitumen as used in the construction industry. The focus was determining the softening point of a sample of bitumen, the penetration value of three samples of the penetration grade bitumen, identifying which of the three given

Core Values and Concept at Pals Sudden Service

Core Values and Concept at Pals Sudden Service It sells hamburgers, hot dogs, chipped ham, chicken, French fries, and beverages as theyll as breakfast biscuits with country ham, sausage, and gravy. It can easily distinguish itself from fast-food competitors by delivering competitively priced food of consistently high quality, delivered rapidly, cheerfully, and without error. Pals is the first business in the restaurant industry to receive a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The performance excellence goals and criteria for the Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award offer a formalized program that defines, measures, and rewards organizations who exemplify the principles of an organization that is actively taking step and reaping the results of being a high-performing organization. Visionary Leadership Pals Senior Leaders (Chairman and President/ CEO) set their Vision and Values annually as part of their strategic planning process after carefully analyzing the market environment and actively seeking input from all stakeholders. Senior Leaders personally lead, monitor, and coach the Pals Leadership Team in interpreting their Vision and Values. Leadership is sharply in tune with customer preferences and organizational needs. Senior Leaders communicate with employees throughout the organization by: Using the Pals Communication/Feedback Process, frequently being present at the restaurants Employing an open-door policy, providing easy access to all Senior Leaders for the entire staff, reading and responding to employee e-mails, and being easily accessible by phone or e-mail. The impact on Pals organization from this leadership-driven, full stakeholder involvement approach has been rapid improvement actions, standardized processes, ongoing organizational learning, employee development, a proactive culture, and high-value business results. This employee engagement practice creates and reinforces an environment for participation, employment, and innovation. It also drives organizational agility and organizational and employee learning. Besides, the leadership team uses the Strategic Planning Process to set direction and pursue future opportunities for the business while using inputs from all key stakeholders (e.g., customers, store owner/operators, general staff, suppliers/partners), taking into account their needs and expectations. This process is used to define, align, review, and maintain a Corporate Mission Statement, Vision Statement, Key Business Drivers, Values Code of Ethics, and action plans. Through these strategic outputs, Pals Leadership Team maintains clear values, high performance expectations, and a keen focus on all stakeholder needs. Senior leaders and store owner/operators communicate and interpret these at each organizational level to define organizational, store, and individual responsibilities and to identify opportunities for learning and innovation. Innovation is driven through the Product/ Service/ Process Introduction Process. Senior leaders personally lead cross-functional teams through this systematic approach for developing new or modified products, services, or processes. Senior leaders personally lead cross-functional teams through this systematic approach for developing new or modified products, services, or processes. Leadership Team members adopted the On-line Quality Control Process (Figure 4) and routinely review its application of best practices to achieve high performance and excellence in Pals operational and support processes. This ensures consistent adherence to procedures, standards, and targets. Organisational Personal Learning The impact on Pals organization from this leadership driven, full stakeholder involvement approach to deployment has been rapid improvement actions, standardized processes, ongoing organizational learning, employee development, a proactive culture, and high value business results. Leaders create a sustainable organization by: Investing in the future by developing the people to ensure that they will be able to always meet future needs and requirements Employing a progressive capital reinvestment plan Pals brand-building Actively listening and staying tightly aligned with their customers and their needs, Building a strong and healthy supply chain, Helping the communities where they operate to grow and prosper. Pals has a process for everything organizational and operational. There are always new product introductions to hiring decisions to the design of support processes and work systems. Key learnings are captured and shared throughout the organization using the Communication/Feedback Process and the On-line Quality Control Process. Pals market research seeks comparative information relating to key issues such as (1) customers likes or dislikes concerning Pals or specific Pals competitors, and (2) reasons a particular restaurant is selected as a favorite. They analyze the comparative data for trends and shifts in buying patterns to identify needed changes in their business strategy and to target other potential customer groups and future markets. Key customer requirements and drivers of purchase decisions are determined from the application of the following listening and learning methods: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Telephone interviews à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Mall interviews à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Drop-in surveys à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Mail-in surveys à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Marketing By Wandering Around (MkBWA), à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ On-site interviews à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ user-based surveys Pals frontline staff training program includes intense instruction on effective listening skills. These skills are not only critical for high performance on the food preparation line (required for order accuracy, speed, and customization), but are also beneficial for gathering valuable customer information about needs, expectations, and satisfaction (as post transaction feedback). Through the Plan-Do-Study-Act improvement cycle they conduct small-scale pilot efforts to evaluate and improve their processes for listening to and learning from customers and their ability to understand changing customer needs and buying habits. In addition, they measure and evaluate the overall effectiveness of their customer listening and learning approaches by checking the validity of their market research, customer surveys, and results against operational data, industry trends, and competitor information. They also evaluate how they are doing against their customer-focused strategic objectives by benchmarking their Key Business Drivers against competitors. Moreover, Pals staff members (from hourly worker to senior leader) have continual learning ingrained into their basic approach to performing work. They participate regularly on improvement and learning teams where brainstorming and consensus-building sessions enable them to identify problems or opportunities for improvements, analyze processes, and recommend solutions. This experience builds individual confidence, provides skills in problem solving and continual learning, and motivates employees to develop and utilize their full potential. Valuing Employees and Partners Pals aims to provide the quickest, friendliest, most accurate service available. Achieving this objective is a real challenge in an industry with annual employee turnover rates of more than 200 percent. The companys success in reducing turnover among front-line production and service personnel, who are between the ages of 16 and 32, has translated into a competitive advantage. The companys training processes support improvement in operational and business performance with the aid of benchmarking studies. Owner/operators and assistant managers have primary responsibility for staff training. They use a four-step model: show, do it, evaluate, and perform again. Employees must demonstrate 100 percent competence before they are certified to work at a specific work station. Initial training for all employees includes intensive instruction on effective listening skills. In addition, in-store training on processes, health and safety, and organizational Culture is required for new staff at all facilities via computer-based training, flash cards, and one-on-one coaching. Cross-training is required of all store-level staff to ensure their complete understanding of all production and service procedures as well as quality standards. Recognizing that most of its front-line workers are first-time entrants into the labor force, Pals management believes it has responsibility to help its workers develop knowledge and skills that can be applied in future jobs. This approach, along with competitive wages and financial incentives, has made the restaurant chain a desirable place to work for high school and college students. Pals has leveraged its reputation by implementing a statistically controlled, talent-based hiring system that helps managers identify applicants with attributes associated with effective job performance and customer satisfaction. In their work environment, where their staff meets the customer face-to-face, they employ effective job designs and a flexible work organization to encourage cooperation, collaboration, individual initiative, responsibility, and innovation. The staff at each Pals facility is organized into process. They also performed extensive market research to pinpoint customer requirements: convenience; ease of ingress and egress; easy-to-read menu; simple, accurate order system; fast service; wholesome food; and reasonable price. This data has been used to translate their key customer requirements into Key Business Drivers. Customer requirements are linked to clearly define operational processes, procedures, and systems that are continually monitored to ensure that they are meeting customer requirements. They maintain on-going communications links to their customers so that they can listen to how well they think they are meeting their needs. They also listen to learn if customer needs are changing or if new needs have arisen. Pals has three key suppliers/partners who provide the majority of their raw materials. Focusing their supplier/partner base on just three vendors has reduced product variability. It has also allowed them to develop a more positive relationship with each supplier/partner with whom they have established long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships. They work with suppliers to design in quality, value and their unique flavor profile. The Key Business Drivers are mainly: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Quality of products, service, and process à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Service à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Cleanliness à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Value à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ People à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Speed Customer Excellence Customer-driven excellence is a strategic concept imbedded in the Baldrige Award Criteria. Pals uses the industry-proven standard method of segmenting by age, gender, income, and proximity to the store location for analyzing buying patterns and defining expectations. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Age à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Gender à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Income à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Proximity Product quality, hospitality, accuracy, and speed are important factors to their customers. Pals has solidified its already strong market position on product and service performance by realizing improvement in each of these customer-linked critical areas. Pals performance in customer-rated results for food quality, service (hospitality, convenience, ease of access, menu board readability), and accuracy are consistently improving. These product and service outcomes are a direct reflection of Pals ability to understand the voices of customers and the market and to address them with menu design, pricing strategy, sudden service performance, and proactive customer contact standards. Pals order handout speed has improved more than 30 percent since 1995, decreasing from 31 seconds to 20 seconds, almost their times faster than its top competitor. Errors in orders are rare, averaging less than one for every 2,000 transactions. The company aims to reduce its error rate to one in every 5,000 transactions. In addition, Pals has consistently received the highest health inspection scores in its market and in the entire state of Tennessee. Through the Plan-Do-Study-Act improvement cycle, they are able to continually evaluate and improve their processes for listening to and learning from customers by assessing how have understood changing customer needs and buying habits. Through small-scale pilot efforts, the Customer Listening and Learning Process are continually evaluated and improved. Customer complaints are tracked at the store level on an Opportunity Log and then aggregated at the company level to indicate trends. This critical-incidents information is used to understand key service attributes from the point of view of customers and frontline employees. Also, as part of their market research, they ask customers very specific loyalty questions that they translate into key customer loyalty data. Focus on Results and Creating Value Pals begins considering user requirements during the data and information selection stage with predefined user criteria. The data selection, collection, and reporting criteria include: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Meets stakeholder requirements à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Links to our Key Business Drivers à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Provides a balanced scorecard à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Drives action à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Creates reliability à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Provides rapid access à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Allows rapid update à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Supports continual learning/improvement Besides, the rapid acceptance, popularity, and growth of our web site, www.palsweb.com, is another strong indicator of customer loyalty to the Pals brand. The rapid acceptance, popularity, and growth of our web site, www.palsweb.com, is another strong indicator of customer loyalty to the Pals brand. The companys Business Excellence Process which is the key integrating element and a management approach ensures that customer requirements are always met in every transaction. Pals lays emphasis on data which is the basis for sound planning and decision making. Customer, employee, and supplier feedback is central to all processes, and it is gathered in numerous formal and informal ways. For example, Pals owner/operators must devote part of every work day to marketing by wandering around. Views on how a location is performing and to solicit ideas for improvement from employees and customers are noted. Anstheyrs to predesigned questions are recorded, compiled, and later analyzed at the store and corporate levels. Owner/operators also maintain a communications log. The Communication/ Feedback Process is a progressive and rapid means of communication to/from all stakeholders. This process serves as a standard operating mode for Leadership Team members. SysDine, is a key tool, generating store-level and company-wide data on sales, customer count, product mix, ideal food and material cost, and turnover rates. This information supports daily operational decisions. It also is used to update Pals Balanced Scorecard of Core Performance Measures, which links directly to its key business drivers: quality, service, cleanliness, value, people, and speed. Managers regularly review the value of the data collected, and the company employs an outside statistician to evaluate the type of information tracked, how it is used, and how it is collected. Social Responsiblity Pals measures and pursues continual improvement in the areas of ethics violations, labor violations, sexual harassment complaints, and honesty violations. Pals Senior Leaders promote an environment of legally, morally, and ethically correct behaviors by: modeling correct decision making and behaviors, providing training in correct decision making and behaviors testing to verify that the training transferred the desired knowledge holding monthly reviews at leadership meetings, creating a culture of open-book whole-company data sharing communicating openly and honestly Food safety, which is a primary indicator of compliance with sanitation requirements established by federal and state regulations and of Pals ability to serve wholesome food products, is their key measure of industry leadership and social responsibility. Pals consistently receives the highest health inspection scores in their market. Agility Customer and Market Needs/Expectations are evaluated using market research studies and customer complaint data. These data are used to interpret customer needs and requirements, to project market trends, and to establish new strategies that will delight customers and sustain our competitive advantages. Competitive Environment and Capabilities Relative to Competitors are evaluated with data from our benchmarking process, benchmark data exchange, and competitive reviews. They use the data to identify market and industry trends, industry and competitor capabilities and Best Business Practices, competitor strategies, potential competitor reactions to our strategies, and promotional and technological improvement opportunities. Technological Risk is evaluated with data gathered from manufacturers, vendors, and industry trade associations using the following criteria: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ How will the technology help them meet needs? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Are any of their technologies becoming obsolete? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Do our existing technologies have new hazards/ risks? Managing by Innovation Operational Capabilities and Needs are considered by evaluating anticipated needs and capabilities for human resources, technology, research and development, innovation, and business processes. Internal capability data are analyzed against industry trends, technology developments, and performance advances, looking for ways to develop dominant positions within our market. They have focused their Human Resources strategies, plans, job/work designs, and HR processes for developing capabilities that support the key competitive performance expectations of their organization (speed, accuracy, quality, and hospitality). In their work environment, where their staff meets the customer face-to-face, they employ effective job designs and a flexible work organization to encourage cooperation, collaboration, individual initiative, responsibility, and innovation. The equipment, facilities, and technologies that Pals uses to meet customer needs are components that serve their manufacturing, service and retail needs through ongoing use of their Benchmarking, Innovation and Product/Service/ Process Introduction processes Innovation is driven through the Product/ Service/ Process Introduction Process. Senior leaders personally lead cross-functional teams through this systematic approach for developing new or modified products, services, or processes. Also, their Business Excellence Process will continue to drive them toward performance improvement over the next two to five years by maintaining their focus on strategies and plans linked directly to Key Business Drivers and derived heavily from customer/market. Pals projected performance will continue to strengthen their position as the market leader versus their leading competitor by generating additional sales, and by developing the required operating capabilities. At this time, they are the regional leader in all major areas of comparative performance (quality, service, speed, food health/safety, customer satisfaction, market share, sales, and profit). Management by Fact Pals Leadership Team has carefully designed a performance measurement and analysis system for the collection, integration, and analysis of information and data that feeds and interacts with their Strategic Planning, Continual Improvement, Benchmarking, and Management Review processes. Pals Management Information System is also used to guide the selection, gathering, integration, management, and effective use of information and data to support our key operational processes, action plans, and performance management system. Pals Management Information System gathers and integrates data and information from multiple sources (e.g., operations, customer listening/learning processes, market research, benchmarking studies, suppliers, regulatory agencies, and industry publications). Much of the data is gathered at its source (in the store) through our automated SysDine data collection, integration, and analysis system. SysDine generates store-level and companywide reports on sales, customer count, product mix, ideal food and material cost, and turnover rates. This data, which is readily available at each store, is reviewed and analyzed for use in support of daily operations. Focus on Future The Pals Strategic Planning Process is used by Senior Leaders working with the Leadership Team to provide a disciplined and structured approach for setting strategic directions to strengthen business performance and competitive position. Strategic planning is performed annually, with primary emphasis on one- and three-year planning horizons. strategic objectives and action plans with a planning horizon of up to five years are also maintained. Pals organizations strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) are addressed during strategic planning, using the SWOT analysis process and supported by various analyses of key processes, internal capabilities, and Key Business Driver data. Technological changes and risks are evaluated with data gathered primarily from manufacturers, vendors, and industry trade associations. Human resources strategies and plans are developed to recruit, staff, train, and educate personnel to build staff capacity for success; to improve work/job designs and work areas; and to build a better culture for excellence and employee well-being. Employee turnover shows that employee retention levels are clearly superior to the industry average. Pals continues to reduce employee turnover and to set the pace for other QSR operations. Their group of store Owners/Operators and Senior Leaders has experienced near-zero turnover for the past 25 years, which has provided a major advantage in leadership continuity over their competitors. Pals existing strategic objectives, action plans (short term and longer term), and target completion are carefully managed throughout the year. Systems Perspective Pals Business Excellence Process is based on the core concepts of the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. These principles, which are a pervasive part of our culture, are used to achieve our action plans. They are integrated throughout our training for team skills, performance measurement, standards, continual improvement, problem solving, quality control, and benchmarking. Pals Training Program contains a variety of modules designed to support our strategic objectives, key action plans, and operational capabilities by addressing organizational and employee needs for development, learning, and career progression

Domestic Violence: Loopholes in the Arizona Legal System Essay

The United States has a long history of domestic violence. Nearly six million American women will be battered by their spouses every year (United Way, 1998). Tradition gives men the right to control their family including their wife. Violence is tolerated under these traditional conditions as discipline (Cohen, 1996). Domestic violence is overwhelmingly committed by men ".. to discipline and coerce women" (Cohen, 1996). "Husbands use violence against their wives as a way of coercing them, establishing control, and conveying rules to regulate 'proper' female behavior (Dobash & Dobash, 1977-1978)." This type of abusive behavior often comes from the ideology that women are subordinate to men (Cohen, 1996). This way of thinking was dominant until the feminist movements when women protested for equal rights and got them. It has still been a struggle to get women's issues recognized by law, however. Domestic violence is a serious issue that needs to be thoroughly addressed, especially in border states like Arizona which have a large Mexican immigrant population, often with traditional views. To have an effective legal system which thoroughly addresses domestic violence, abusers must be held accountable by law for their a ctions and all victims need to be able to receive aid and support from the state. Currently, these requirements for an effective legal system regarding domestic violence are not met in Arizona. Every year there is some 16,000 domestic violence charges filed in the Tucson Police Department and Pima County Sheriff's Office combined (United Way, 1998). The state does have punishment for these abusers. There are many laws is Arizona regarding domestic violence, however there are problems with the... ... Social Policy, and Violence, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 70, No. 5, 1996. Moore, Roberta. Advocate for the Oasis Crisis Center, University of Arizona, 1999. Neff, James; Holamon, Bruce; Schluter, Tracy. Spousal Violence Among Alglos, Blacks, and Mexican Americans, Journal of Family Violence, Vol. 10, No. 1, 1995. Vargas, Alexia. Split Decision, Wall Street Journal, Vol. CCXXII, Nove. 18, 1998. Wabnik, Alisa. Bill Proposes Prison for 3rd Offense, Arizona Daily Star, March 16, 1998. http://www.azstarnet.com/plusb-cgi/fastw... National Research Council. Lack of Research Hampers Strategies to Stem Violence Against Women. May 1, 1996. http://www.nap.edu/bookstore/lsbn/0309054257.htm. United Way of Greater Tucson. Special Report on Domestic Violence, 1998. http://www.unitedwaytucson.org/unitedway/report/domestic.htm.