Race Discrimination in the Workforce Essay

When returning back to Wanzek’s after layoff I had noticed in my paycheck I had lost $2 an hour in pay when I had received a $2 raise and a gift certificate before layoff. I did report the loss of wage to Tina Harrison in Human Resources and she would e-mail Phyllis at Headquarters. Anthony Butler has called numerous times and no response. On November 6, 2012 a text was also sent to Phyllis by Anthony Butler in regards to his loss of pay. Phyllis also has not responded. II. At the Trenton job site on or about October 10, 2012 Anthony Butler (herein Butler) went to the Safety Manager â€Å"Larry† to get a pair of gloves prior to work that morning. Butler was informed by Larry, â€Å"That he was not supplying him gloves every week because it was not his job†. At that time Butler informed Larry that his hands are too big for the gloves and his were tore. On or about October 16, 2012 Butler again went to Larry for work gloves because the two pairs he had that day were wet and his hands were freezing. Larry stated, â€Å"He was not giving them to me and that I needed to take them home and dry them†. Butler informed Larry it was raining out and he needed gloves. Employees from Butler’s crew went to Larry for gloves and received them with no hassles. Butler never did receive any gloves and yet had to continue to perform his job. On October 24, 2012 Butler again went to Larry to get insolated gloves to go inside his work gloves because his were torn and at that time Larry refused to give Butler the insulated gloves and instead gave him water gloves and it was not even raining. At that point Butler went to Ralph Hunt (herein Hunt) his foreman and explained to him what Larry gave him instead of the proper work equipment needed to perform his job duties. Hunt took Butler to the Safety Office and confronted Larry to why his best helper meaning Butler could not have a pair of insulated gloves. Larry said, â€Å"what happened to the gloves I fricken gave you last week†? Hunt at that point told Larry the gloves did not cost more than twenty (20) cents per pair and at that point Butler received a pair of gloves. After these violations Butler was transferred to another jobsite. Basin Job Site III. On or about November 7, 2012 Butler came back from lunch to work in the Fabrication Area when an employee nick named Bommer asked Butler if he was working him to hard. Butler replied â€Å"no, it’s a slow day†. Bommer replied, â€Å"I will work the hell out of you Nigger†. After Bommer called Butler a â€Å"Nigger† he then replied, â€Å"That’s just a joke†. IV. On or about November 14, 2012 while working with Civil, Butler was shoveling dirt and sand and moving warming blankets with another employee. The employee left and Butler was moving the warming blankets by himself when he asked Brandon who is the foreman of Civil, why are his workers standing by the break room watching him work. Brandon did not reply. That went on the entire day the others employees did not work they just watched Butler work. V. On or about November 19, 2012 Butler was working with Bommer ad another employee nick named Zeek. Bommer had dumped a load of dirt in the wrong spot which he had been doing all day. Zeek replied, â€Å"You did it again Bommer†. Zeek looked at Butler and said, â€Å"Get a shovel†. Butler replied to Zeek that he already had the rake and that is what he has been using all day to spread the dirt†. Zeek said, â€Å"What are you just going to stand there and watch me dig†? Bommer was just standing there when Butler said, â€Å"don’t be mad at me because he dumped a load in the wrong area and that you need to make him help also†. That’s when Mark Corbell the supervisor over piping stated, â€Å"You need to back the fuck up†! At that point I walked away to clear my head and then started back working. VI. On November 19, 2012 Butler came into the man camp and turned ESPN on to watch the football game. Wade an employee and also roommate walked into the house mumbling under his breath about Butler having the TV on football. Butler spoke, â€Å"hello Wade† and Wade ignored him. At that point Wade told Kyle Olson (herein Olson) another employee and roommate, â€Å"Let’s go to the bar†. They left the house and came back approximately 1 am drunk, slamming doors, talking loud and making it obvious that they’re intention was to wake me up so I would come out of my room and start a confrontation. This went on for almost 45 minutes. I stayed in my room and couldn’t go back to sleep the rest of the night. In the morning Wade slammed the door so hard Butler thought it broke the window because Butler had made previous complaints about Wade slamming the doors every morning to Wade and Olson. Several of other incidents not mentioned at the present time will eventually be brought to light by Butler after the EEOC investigation has been completed. RULE I. As cited in the Employee Safety Handbook given to employees of Wanzek’s states verbatim on pg. ii; Equal Opportunity States: The Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages women, minorities, veterans and the disabled to apply. We recruit, hire and promote all job classifications based solely upon the personal qualifications of the individual. All employees are treated equally with respect to compensation and opportunities for advancement. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA) This law makes it illegal to pay different wages to men and women if they perform equal work in the same workplace. The law also makes it illegal to retaliate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit. II. As cited in the Employee Safety Handbook given to employees of Wanzek’s states verbatim on pg. 24; Corporate Policy States: Gloves are required for all work performed in the field. Each employee must be able to select the right kind of glove for the task. III. Race discrimination involves treating someone (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because he/she is of a certain race or because of personal characteristics associated with race (such as hair texture, skin color, or certain facial features). Color discrimination involves treating someone unfavorably because of skin color complexion. Race/color discrimination also can involve treating someone unfavorably because the person is married to (or associated with) a person of a certain race or color or because of a person’s connection with a race-based organization or group, or an organization or group that is generally associated with people of a certain color. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 This law makes it illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex. The law also makes it illegal to retaliate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit. The law also requires that employers reasonably accommodate applicants’ and employees’ sincerely held religious practices, unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the employer’s business. Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 This law makes it illegal to discriminate against a qualified person with a disability in the federal government. The law also makes it illegal to retaliate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit. The law also requires that employers reasonably accommodate the known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified individual with a disability who is an applicant or employee, unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the employer’s business. Title VII’s protections include: * Recruiting, Hiring, and Advancement Job requirements must be uniformly and consistently applied to persons of all races and colors. Even if a job requirement is applied consistently, if it is not important for job performance or business needs, the requirement may be found unlawful if it excludes persons of a certain racial group or color significantly more than others. Examples of potentially unlawful practices include: (1) soliciting applications only from sources in which all or most potential workers are of the same race or color; (2) requiring applicants to have a certain educational background that is not important for job performance or business needs; (3) testing applicants for knowledge, skills or abilities that are not important for job performance or business needs. Employers may legitimately need information about their employees or applicants race for affirmative action purposes and/or to track applicant flow. One way to obtain racial information and simultaneously guard against discriminatory selection is for employers to use separate forms or otherwise keep the information about an applicant’s race separate from the application. In that way, the employer can capture the information it needs but ensure that it is not used in the selection decision. Unless the information is for such a legitimate purpose, pre-employment questions about race can suggest that race will be used as a basis for making selection decisions. If the information is used in the selection decision and members of particular racial groups are excluded from employment, the inquiries can constitute evidence of discrimination. * Compensation and Other Employment Terms, Conditions, and Privileges Title VII prohibits discrimination in compensation and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. Thus, race or color discrimination may not be the basis for differences in pay or benefits, work assignments, performance evaluations, training, discipline or discharge, or any other area of employment. * Harassment Harassment on the basis of race and/or color violates Title VII. Ethnic slurs, racial â€Å"jokes,† offensive or derogatory comments, or other verbal or physical conduct based on an individual’s race/color constitutes unlawful harassment if the conduct creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment, or interferes with the individual’s work performance. * Retaliation Employees have a right to be free from retaliation for their opposition to discrimination or their participation in an EEOC proceeding by filing a charge, testifying, assisting, or otherwise participating in an agency proceeding. * Segregation and Classification of Employees Title VII is violated where minority employees are segregated by physically isolating them from other employees or from customer contact. Title VII also prohibits assigning primarily minorities to predominantly minority establishments or geographic areas. It is also illegal to exclude minorities from certain positions or to group or categorize employees or jobs so that certain jobs are generally held by minorities. II. Thru VI * A hostile work environment is an environment in which an employee, due to actions by co-workers or the employer, does not feel comfortable performing duties. In extremely hostile work environments, the employee may not feel comfortable even coming into the work facility. Inappropriate Comments or Actions * A work environment may be considered hostile when co-workers or an employer makes lewd jokes or touches inappropriately (sexual harassment), or when co-workers or an employer makes unwanted comments about an employee’s age, gender, race or physical or mental competence. Even if the majority of the co-workers have no problem with the actions or comments, a work environment can be considered hostile if the actions or comments clearly make an employee uncomfortable in the workplace. Conclusion Butler has filed a complaint with the EEOC in regards to the above violations and is also informing his employer Wanzek Construction Inc. of the mentioned violations above. Butler is afraid to come to work due to the hostile environment in his house by both roommates employed by Wanzek. Kyle Olson is very raciest and has had racial dealings outside of the workplace in the past with Butler’s fiancà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s children’s father whom is also African American. Butler has been violated by not only crew members but also supervisors and higher ups. Butler feels he has finally been verbally and physically harassed to the point that a hostile environment has created by the employees of Wanzek Construction Inc. and their Contractors. Issues have been brought to some higher ups including staying in the house that has been selected to him. His wages were addressed to the proper authorities and again nothing has been done. At this time Butler is seeking the EEOC to address these violations and a complaint has been filed via telephone on November 26, 2012. Butler hopes that this complaint does not bring forth retaliation and more harassment for he cannot take anymore. Butler has kept his mouth shut through all the violations he has been victim to and he wants this discrimination to stop and wants to be treated fairly as all other employees. Other violations not mentioned are in regards to improper discipline given to other employees when creating an unsafe work place. Butler is not even able to buy food to refrigerate his food because the two employees have over taken the fridge and freezer to where Butler could never get food in the fridge. The training Butler should have had the opportunity to receive along with the other employees including operating testing of equipment that Butler operates. Wanzek a Mas Tec Company at P.O. Box 2019 Fargo, North Dakota 58107-2019 and also to MasTec Corporate Headquarters at 800 S. Douglas Road Coral Gables, Florida 33134

How to Make Dumpling

For Chinese, dumpling is our traditional food. In Ancient, dumpling represents money. So they eat it for good luck. Until now, we also eat it when we celebrate some traditional festivals. Because we think it will bring some good luck for us. In lots of Chinese’s mind, dumping is delicious. But if we want to make it, the process is complicated. Now I will explain you how to make dumpling. Because the dough should ferment, we must make dumpling wrapper first. At this step we should have flour, water, a container, a wet cloth, a knife, a rolling pole and a pastry board.After prepare those materials, we can beginning to make the dough. We put flour into a container, then pour water into the container, and be careful about the proportion between flour and water. It is important to make the good dough. After that, stir it strenuously to make it sticky, put a wet cloth on the dough and wait 20 minutes to let it ferment. 20 minutes later, we can roll dough into a round piece. We shoul d cut part of the dough and put it on pastry board, knead a part of it to a strip and cut it into small pieces.Then press each piece and roll it with a rolling pole into a round piece. Now we will do the stuffing. It is the core of making dumpling. If we do not have good stuffing, it means we fail in the whole steps. Today we choose pork and scallion stuffing to an example. At the start of making stuffing, we should chop pork up and mix it with chopped scallions. Meanwhile we also put in seasonings like salt, sesame oil, pepper, chopped green onion and ginger to get our favorite flavor.And then stir the ingredients in a container well to make them evenly mixed. We can also put an egg to make the stuffing tender. When we finish those two steps, we will do the last step which is make dumpling. There are many shapes of dumpling like waveform, crescent, wallet form and lock from. Waveform is easiest to make. So lots of us like to make dumpling like it. Now I will tell you how to make th is shape. Put right amount stuffing in the middle of dumpling wrapper. And double over the dumpling wrapper to become the semicircle.Then knead it from left and let the forefinger around thumb to push it have pleat. Repeat this motion until it to right. After that, a dumpling it completely finished. Those are all steps of make dumpling. Please notice those steps and do not forget the core of making dumpling. Stuffing is the head of dumpling. And memory that delicious dumpling comes from carefully person. Do not careless in it. In our mind, dumpling is so complicated. But if we do it with our family, it will become an unforgettable thing for us.

Managerial Economics Essay

Chapter 1: Introduction to Managerial Economics 4. Describe the importance of the â€Å"other things equal† assumption in managerial economic analysis. 5. Describe what constitutes a market, distinguish competitive from non-competitive markets, and discuss imperfect markets. 6. Emphasize the globalization of markets. NOTES 1. Definition. Managerial economics is the science of directing scarce resources to manage cost effectively. 2. Application. Managerial economics applies to: (a) Businesses (such as decisions in relation to customers including pricing and advertising; suppliers; competitors or the internal workings of the organization), nonprofit organizations, and households. (b) The â€Å"old economy† and â€Å"new economy† in essentially the same way except for two distinctive aspects of the â€Å"new economy†: the importance of network  effects and scale and scope economies. i. network effects in demand – the benefit provided by a service depends on the total number of other users, e.g., when only one person had email, she had no one to communicate with, but with 100 mm users on line, the demand for Internet services mushroomed. ii. scale and scope economies – scaleability is the degree to which scale and scope of a business can be increased without a corresponding increase in costs, e.g., the information in Yahoo is eminently scaleable (the same information can serve 100 as well as 100 mm users) and to serve a larger number of users, Yahoo needs only increase the capacity of its computers and links. iii. Note: the term open technology (of the Internet) refers to the relatively free admission of developers of content and applications. (c) Both global and local markets. 3. Scope. (a) Microeconomics – the study of individual economic behavior where resources are costly, e.g., how consumers respond to changes in prices and income, how businesses decide on employment and sales, voters’ behavior and setting of tax policy. (b) Managerial economies – the application of microeconomics to managerial issues (a scope more limited than microeconomics). (c) Macroeconomics – the study of aggregate economic variables directly (as opposed to the aggregation of individual consumers and businesses), e.g., issues relating to interest and exchange rates, inflation, unemployment, import and export policies. 2 Chapter 1: Introduction to Managerial Economics 4. Methodology. (a) Fundamental premise – economic behavior is systematic and therefore can be studied. Systematic economic behavior means individuals share common motivations and behave systematically in making economic choices, i.e, a person who faces the same choices at two different times will behave in the same way both times. (b) Economic model – a concise description of behavior and outcomes: i. focuses on particular issues and key variables (e.g., price, salary), omits considerable information, hence unrealistic at times; ii. constructed by inductive reasoning; iii. to be tested with empirical data and revised as appropriate. 5. Basic concepts. (a) Margin vis a vis average variables in managerial economics analyses. i. marginal value of a variable – the change in the variable associated with a unit increase in a driver, e.g., amount earned by working one more hour; ii. average value of a variable – the total value of the variable divided by the total quantity of a driver, e.g., total pay divided by total no. of hours worked; iii. driver – the independent variable, e.g., no. of hours worked; iv. the marginal value of a variable may be less that, equal to, or greater than the average value, depending on whether the marginal value is decreasing, constant or increasing with respect to the driver; v. if the marginal value of a variable is greater than its average value, the average value increases, and vice versa. (b) Stocks and flows. i. stock – the quantity at a specific point in time, measured in units of the item, e.g., items on a balance sheet (assets and liabilities), the world’s oil reserves in the beginning of a year; ii. Flow – the change in stock over some period of time, measured in units per time period e.g., items on an income statement (receipts and expenses), the world’s current production of oil per day. (c) Holding other things equal – the assumption that all other relevant factors do not change, and is made so that changes due to the factor being studied may be examined independently of those other factors. Having analysed the effects of each factor, they can be put together for the complete picture. 6. Organizational boundaries. (a) Organizations include businesses, non-profits and households. (b) Vertical boundaries – delineate activities closer to or further from the end user. (c) Horizontal boundaries – relate to economies of scale (rate of production or delivery of a good or service) and scope (range of different items produced or delivered). 3 Chapter 1: Introduction to Managerial Economics (d) Organizations which are members of the same industry may choose different vertical and horizontal boundaries. 7. Competitive markets. (a) Markets. i. a market consists of buyers and sellers that communicate with one another for voluntary exchange. It is not limited by physical structure. ii. in markets for consumer products, the buyers are households and sellers are businesses. iii. in markets for industrial products, both buyers and sellers are businesses. iv. in markets for human resources, buyers are businesses and sellers are households. v. Note: an industry is made up of businesses engaged in the production or delivery of the same or similar items. (b) Competitive markets. i. markets with many buyers and many sellers, where buyers provide the demand and sellers provide the supply, e.g., the silver market. ii. the demand-supply model – basic starting point of managerial economics, the model describes the systematic effect of changes in prices and other economic variables on buyers and sellers, and the interaction of these choices. (c) Non-competitive markets – a market in which market power exists. 8. Market power. (a) Market power – the ability of a buyer or seller to influence market conditions. A seller with market power will have the freedom to choose suppliers, set prices and influence demand. (b) Businesses with market power, whether buyers or sellers, still need to understand and manage their costs. (c) In addition to managing costs, sellers with market power need to manage their demand through price, advertising, and policy toward competitors. 9. Imperfect Market. (a) Imperfect market – where one party directly conveys a benefit or cost to others, or where one party has better information than others. (b) The challenge is to resolve the imperfection and be cost-effective. (c) Imperfections can also arise within an organization, and hence, another issue in managerial economics is how to structure incentives and organizations. 10. Local vis a vis global markets. (a) Local markets – owing to relatively high costs of communication and trade, some markets are local, e.g., housing, groceries. The price in one local market is independent of prices in other local markets. 4 Chapter 1: Introduction to Managerial Economics (b) Global markets – owing to relatively low costs of communication and trade, some markets are global, e.g., mining, shipping, financial services. The price of an item with a global market in one place will move together with the pries elsewhere. (c) Whether a market is local or global, the same managerial economic principles apply. (d) Note: Falling costs of communication and trade are causing more markets to be more integrated across geographical border – enabling the opportunity to sell in new markets as well as global sourcing. Foreign sources may provide cheaper skilled labor, specialized resources, or superior quality, resulting in lower production costs and/or improved quality. ANSWERS TO PROGRESS CHECKS 1A. The managerial economics of the â€Å"new economy† is much the same as that of the â€Å"old economy† with two aspects being more important – network effects in demand and scale and scope economies. 1B. Vertical boundaries delineate activities closer to or further from the end user. Horizontal boundaries define the scale and scope of operations. ANSWERS TO REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Marketing over the Internet is a scaleable activity. Delivery through UPS is somewhat scaleable: UPS already incurs the fixed cost of an international collection and distribution network; it may be willing to give Amazon bulk discounts for larger volumes of business. 2. Number of cars in service January 2002 + production + imports – exports – scrappage during 2002 = Number of cars in service January 2003. Number of cars in service is stock; other variables are flows. 3. [omitted]. 4. No, models must be less than completely realistic to be useful. 5. (a) Average price per minute = (210 + 120 x 4)/5 = 138 yen per minute. (b) Price of marginal minute = 120 yen. 6. (a) Flow; (b) Stock; (c) Stock. 5 Chapter 1: Introduction to Managerial Economics 7. (a) The electricity market includes buyers and sellers. (b) industry consists of sellers only. The electricity 8. (a) False. (b) False. 9. [omitted]. 10. If there are scale economies, the organization could product at a lower cost on a larger scale, which means wider horizontal boundaries; and vice versa. 11. Yes. Horizontal boundaries: how many product categories should it sell? Vertical boundaries: should it operate its own warehouses and delivery service? 12. Intel has relatively more market power. 13. (b). 14. Both (a) and (b). 15. Competitive markets have large numbers of buyers and sellers, none of which can influence market conditions. By contrast, a buyer or seller with market power can influence market conditions. A market is imperfect if one party directly conveys benefits or costs to others, or if one party has better information than another. WORKED ANSWER TO DISCUSSION QUESTION Jupiter Car Rental offers two schemes for rental of a compact car. It charges $60 per day for an unlimited mileage plan, and $40 per day for a time-and-mileage plan with 100 free miles plus 20 cents a mile for mileage in excess of the free allowance. a. For a customer who plans to drive 50 miles, which is the cheaper plan. What are the average and marginal costs per mile of rental? (The marginal cost is the cost of an additional mile of usage.) b. For a customer who plans to drive 150 miles, which is the cheaper plan. What are the average and marginal costs per mile of rental? c. If Jupiter raises the basic charge for the time-and-mileage plan to $44 per day, how would that affect the average and marginal costs for a customer who drives 50 miles? 6 Chapter 1: Introduction to Managerial Economics Answer (a) It is helpful to sketch the total rental cost as a function of the mileage (see figure below). The breakeven between the two plans is at 200 miles per day. For 50 miles, the time-and-mileage plan is cheaper. Average cost = $40/50 = 80 cents per mile. Marginal cost = 0. Total cost ($) time-and-mileage plan unlimited mileage plan $60 $40 0 100 200 Quantity (miles per day) (b) For the 150 mile customer, the time-and-mileage plan is still cheaper. Average cost = $(40 + 0.2 x 50)/150 = 33 cents per mile; marginal cost = 20 cents per mile. (c) After the increase in the basic charge, the average cost = $(44 + 0.2 x 50)/150 = 36 cents per mile, while marginal cost = 20 cents per mile. The increase in the basic charge doesn’t affect the marginal cost. 7

History of the US before 1877 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

History of the US before 1877 - Research Paper Example There was also American interest to expand west, which was currently owned by Great Britain as well as blockades against America due to the war with France. Many historians consider the War of 1812 to be the second American Revolution due to the fact that once the war started; America was again fighting for its right to be a sovereign nation. Unlike the American Revolution, the fighting took place by both land and sea. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent in 1815. One of the many changes that occurred both during and after the war was the political system of the United States. This change is important due to its step in the progression of United States politics (Grodzinski 2008, 28-51). The development of politics prior to the war of 1812 was a crucial step once the United States achieved its independence from Great Britain. Under George Washington, there was no real party system, however some of the main arguments about the constructs of government existed, which wo uld still radiate through the history of the development of the United States. Since the country had just fought a war from independence from a monarchy, this was the last type of system of government that they wanted. The biggest debate was the idea of states’ rights and power versus the power of the federal government. Each side had a different attitude as far as how the country should be run, how the economy should develop, and how we should deal with foreign nations. This difference in attitude is what leads to the development of the first party systems in the United States, which carry on to current day. The other main problem that George Washington addressed when he left office was his advice to stay away from partisanship. Nevertheless, a two-party system emerged in American politics. Prior to the War of 1812, the two main political parties in the United States were the Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party. The Federalist Party favored a strong centrali zed government, whereas the Democratic-Republican Party was in favor of states’ rights. One of the newest ways in which political information and propaganda was through newspapers, which could now be mass-produced using the printing press. As a result, the people were more involved with events happening in the legislature. This furthered the growth of political coalitions and support. The Democratic-Republican Party was extremely anti-European in that they wanted nothing to do with Great Britain and supported the war. The Federalist combated this with the Jay Treaty, which was a way of trying to forestall war, which inevitably came (Hickory 1989, 72-100). After the United States won the War of 1812, the era known as the â€Å"Era of Good Feelings† came about over the United States. This is one of the only times in United States history in which there was only one main power player in the political system, which was the Democratic-Republican Party. The Federalist Party, which had opposed the war, lost a majority of its support and eventually became non-existent. The lack of partisanship was ushered by President Monroe, who like Washington, was not in favor of partisanship in government. Even though the majority of the period between from 1817 to 1825, attitudes were starting to shift would eventually lead to the debate over whether slavery should exist or not. Unfortunately, this crisis was only averted for a short amount of time with the passing of the Missouri Compromise, which

Mulvey's Analysis of Visual Structure Extended to Consider Racial Essay

Mulvey's Analysis of Visual Structure Extended to Consider Racial Difference - Essay Example Her work was inspired by theories presented by Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan (Mulvey 836). She incorporated their theories as â€Å"political weapons† (Mulvey 833) into her own work. Based on these concepts, she contended that conventional Hollywood cinema place the viewer in a masculine subject situation; and women are depicted as mere objects of admiration. Traditional Hollywood cinema fostered spectators to relate to the hero, evidently a man. She states (Mulvey 837): â€Å"In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness. Woman displayed as sexual object is the leit-motif of erotic spectacle: from pin-ups to striptease, from Ziegfeld to Busby Berkeley, she holds the look, plays to and signifies male desire. Mainstream film neatly combined spectacle and narrative.† On the other hand, Mulvey states that wom en were â€Å"to-be-looked-at-ness† (Mulvey 837). She conceived two primary roles in which males construed female characters during this era. These were â€Å"voyeuristic† and â€Å"fetishist†. ... In addition, that she had not borne in mind that the impact of a feminist role might be different on bisexual or heterosexual spectators. Moreover, she failed to account for media audience researches related to fans and their interface with celebrities. Mulvey wrote in rebuttal that the purpose of her writing was to provoke though and present novel notions instead of a logical academic work. However, her views were slightly modified on some issues as demonstrated in her subsequent article â€Å"Afterthoughts on Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema†. Generally, the portrayal of blacks in Hollywood cinema and their categorical absence in films leads to condemnation by spectators. Normally, black spectators avoid identifying themselves with depicted characters and even oppose the convincing elements of films. Most articles such as Mulvey’s ‘Imaginary Signifier by Christian Metz’, ‘Difference’ by Stephen Heath and the like revolved around issues of gendered viewership. Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott have presented an attention-grabbing analysis of the personification of blacks in Hollywood in their article titled â€Å"How the Movies Made a President† (Dargis and Scott). They illustrate the development of characters assigned to blacks during the previous decades â€Å"from the ghetto to the boardroom, from supporting roles in kitchens, liveries, and social-problem movies to the rarefied summit of the Hollywood A-list†. This draws attention towards the crucial resemblance between how blacks are allotted stereotypical and relegated roles and how women encountered similar derogatory treatment. Although, the stereotyping in characters is different for the two groups; but primarily it represents the

Case Study 1 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

1 - Case Study Example GE Company, in its effort to remain relevant in the last century, has resorted to modest management practices as a strategy to remain competitive in the business market. This article seeks to examine the management developments that GE Company has applied in the last century. According to Cole (5), the traditional management practices have been phased out by modern management practices. In his theory of management, Cole (7) regards innovation as the core value in modern management strategies. To a large extent, GE has remained innovative in modeling its strategic goals and objectives in the last century. One indicator of innovation in this company is the adoption of employee empowerment stages, which is a dominant strategy in modern management. For instance, the organization has upheld employee training as a way of keeping to at par with changes in worker environment, and apart from planning, the organization has exercised expertise in the implementation of its innovations. Another a ttribute of modern management theory that can be identified in this organization is the use of research management as a tool for overcoming business threats and taking advantage of opportunities. Cole (76) points out that business in the last century has been phased by the forces of competition, and that the only way to survive in the dynamic market research strategies should be employed to identify market opportunities and to initiate differentiation strategies. GE has embarked on corporate research to identify possible areas of business development, which has helped it to remain unique in the energy provision sector. In this regard, it is possible to regard the management development patterns adopted by GE as relevant to the pattern proposed by the management theories. Which of GE’s management innovations seems to draw on a classical management perspective? Which seem to draw on a behavioral management perspective? How does the contingency perspective explain the management changes that GE has made over the years? Explain each of your responses. Classical and Behavioral strategies of management are different schools of thought that seek to optimize productivity in an organization. In classical management, managers seek to maximize output by optimizing the productivity characteristics of employees. GE has employed classical perspective in their innovation strategies by capitalizing on marketing strategies to enhance product flow to the customers. Marketing is a push strategy that aims at rolling out business products to the target customers and is crucial in optimizing organizational productivity. In addition, the organization has capitalized on worker experience to improve their productivity. In fact, the CEO of GE points out that employee in this organization relies on ‘past experience’ to improve their efficiency within the organization. As Griffin (13) explains, the use of classical perspectives is still superior in modern strategic ma nagement strategies. Behavioral perspectives are part of organizational management strategies that pay attention to employee empowerment as a way of aligning employee goals to the organizational goals and strategies. Griffin (14) regards behavioral management as a modern approach to organizational management that is relevant in the dynamic business environment. GE has

Security Practitioners Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Security Practitioners - Essay Example The whole procedure of software/application development is usually guided by a systematic software/application developing method that includes the following phases. The first step is evaluating the weaknesses of the existing software by interviewing the users; the second phase is where the new system is defined which takes care of the deficiencies in the old model. The third phase involves designing of the proposed system, in this phase, strategies are put in place regarding the physical development, hardware, operating system, programming, communication and security matters, the fourth phase is the development of the new software, in this phase, the users are also trained on its use. In addition its performance capabilities are also tested, if need be, adjustments are made at this stage. The next phase is putting the software into use where it can be phased in by gradually removing the old system or removing the old system at once and replacing it with the new system. ... This forms the basis of handling future projects whereby the background knowledge endowed to the students (what they learnt at school) is fundamental in enhancing their skills. A major challenge through this form of learning is that the security part, which is very critical in any software, is usually left to the professional to handle it therefore denying software development learners a chance to have an intensive hands on experience in software security. Software developer training and learning involves certification in SAS certified base programmer and SAS certified advanced programmer which are very important especially to programmers who deal with business applications and software. The other relevant certifications include Siebel, Oracle and Microsoft (McGraw, 82). Due to the rise in cybercrimes, it is vital for security training to be undertaken to ensure that all the information is safeguarded. To enhance security, IP filtering is necessary to ensure that specific information is only available at restricted areas; the students should b taught on the same though practical lesson by working alongside professionals while undertaking such assignments. Software developers learning has not been much concerned about the security of the applications that they make since their training involves creating applications with little attention to security issues of the software. This can be explained by the fact that the curriculum that is used in formal training institutions was made when there were few security threats therefore it did not put into account training in security. However, with increased security concerns, there has been a change in the tread with most software

Summary of the book Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Summary of the book - Essay Example Wes Moore the author is a very successful man who managed to escape his poor background and childhood problems to become a well-respected person and even an author. He was born in a poor Baltimore neighborhood and got in trouble several times with law enforcement and then he was sent to a military academy where he turned his life around and he eventually went on to Oxford to become a successful person. While he was there he read an article in a newspaper about a man called Wes Moore who waas from the same neighborhood as him. This other Wes Moore referred to by the title was not as lucky as the author. His life has ended badly, and he is serving a life prison term for murder. He could have had similar chances in his life to become a good person but because of his circumstance he instead became a drug dealer and was engaged in crime early on. He did not have enough support from the community to turn his life around, and eventually shoots a police officer and is found guilty of the murder, ending up in prison. The way these two stories are told is in different sections through the book, which sort of suggests that each of the stories could have just as well happened to the other Wes Moore instead of the one it did happen to. The author thinks that there is not much of a difference between their lives, really, and even though both of them had slightly different circumstances in life he thinks that they are both basically different sides of what will happen to most African-American young men who grow up in an urban environment where the community is poor and dangerous. Ultimately the book is about what Tavis Smiley talks about in the end of it, that what makes people successful is the help they receive from other people even if it is just small kindnesses and attention. This is shown throughout he book by the differences in Wes Moore the authors fortunate circumstances and Wes Moore the

Biology 101 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Biology 101 - Essay Example ine that the oxygen in CO2 indeed comes from sugar, and not from oxygen gas, cells (e.g bacterial or yeast cells ) that are actively respiring can be given sugar substrate which has been synthesized with the oxygen isotope 18O. The cells are exposed to regular oxygen which carries the commonly occurring 16O isotope. After some time, gases are to be collected from the headspace and subjected to mass spectrometric analysis which can separate the CO2 based on their molecular weights. If the oxygen in the carbon dioxide came from the sugar, it will be present in higher concentration at a higher molecular weight (because the labeled 18O will have heavier mass). If the oxygen came from the air, then the reverse would be true. 2. A food manufacturer is advertising a new cake mix as fat-free. Scientists at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are testing the product to see if it truly lacks fat. Hydrolysis of the cake mix yields glucose, fructose, glycerol, a number of amino acids, and several kinds of molecules with long hydrocarbon chains. Further analysis shows that most of the hydrocarbon chains have a carboxyl group at one end. What would you tell the food manufacturer if you were the spokesperson for the FDA? If I were the spokesperson of the FDA, I would tell the food manufacturer that his claim of a fat-free mix is downright false. Fats and oils are made up of fatty acids that are anchored on a glycerol backbone. Glycerol is a three-carbon compound with 3 carboxylic groups, each can form an ester bond with a fatty acid. For this reason, fats are also called triacylglycerols. Hydrolysis of fats and oils will yield glycerol and three free fatty acids. The free fatty acids are long-chain hydrocarbon compounds (most common fats have 16-18 carbon atoms) with a carboxyl group (-COO) at one end. Further analysis will even show if these fatty acids are either saturated or unsaturated with hydrogen atoms. 3. Imagine that you are a pediatrician and one of your

Ddbates concerning knowledge are not relevant to accounting and its Essay

Ddbates concerning knowledge are not relevant to accounting and its practice - Essay Example As such, knowledge has its limits; some synthesis of object matter is needed through reasoning to create understanding. To objectively generate new knowledge various sources of knowledge exists that include; induction, intuition, observation, experience, testimony, and introspection among others. Plato cautions that those seeking to understand knowledge must distinguish it from opinion. For example, accounting statements have to be viewed objectively other than subjectively in creating reality and true knowledge. In my view, knowledge is fixed, absolute, and eternally true while opinions are changeable. Therefore, for one to be a true knowledge seeker, then they must naturally not consent to opinions, but have to strive with unwavering passion to establish the essential nature of things that constitute facts. However, it is not certain that accounting operations can lead to such knowledge or truth, making knowledge not an essential consideration in accounting profession. On the other hand, Juan (2007) defines accounting as ‘the art of collecting, analyzing, recording and posting, summarizing and reporting financial results in a significant and orderly manner, aimed at providing useful concepts essential in decision making.’ Juan (2007) explains that accounting operates on clearly defined fundamental principles; those working in the profession have little discretion in influencing the output of end results from accounting practices. First, accounting operates on a going concern principle, which assumes that a business entity will continue its operations for unforeseeable future without termination. Secondly, accounting assumes that businesses are legal entities different from owners. In my view, the above two concepts in accounting are much based on assumptions rather than reality, which implies their application may not lead to reality or truth, but have been put in place to facilitate a standardized approach in accounting statements under a concep tual framework. Such assumptions may not lead to truth or reality in knowledge. Hines (1988) argues that the body of knowledge on which the profession of financial accounting is based shows that such professionalization took place a round a number of personal qualities such as respectability, honesty and independence, unlike other professions which presume the existence of knowledge as the legitimate way to claim expertise and professionalism. Hine notes that the knowledge foundation of accounting profession is problematic; in order to advance the accounting profession and maintain its credibility, there was need to stem such threats of the profession caused by the underlying knowledge foundation. For example, accounts perceived in high regard in ethics and morality will presents a perception of reality and truth in their statements compared to those who do not. This explains why some accountants may be preferred over others. Therefore, the increasing advocacy for a conceptual frame work is perceived to be the best way to counteract the threat of accounting profession to social legitimacy in the accounting profession .According to Hines (1988), a conceptual framework will bring together national accounting standards, sound accounting rules, stock exchange requirements, and other statutory requirements, which may vary from country to country. In my view, a conceptual

Disscuss the relevance of the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) to a Essay - 1

Disscuss the relevance of the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) to a company seeking to evaluate its cost of capital - Essay Example The market risk or systematic risk is the unavoidable risk brought in by the economy wide perils (Brealy et al, 2005). The CAPM’s focus is on the method of measuring systematic risk and its effect on the required return and share prices. Though it was initially evolved for investment in equity, it is also used for evaluating company investments in capital projects now (Davis & Pain, 2002). Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) attempts to bring out a linkage between risk and return for the assets (Gitman,2006). The CAPM is built on the premise that well diversified investors dominate the stock market and their paramount concern being the market risk. The assumption is plausible in a situation in which large institutions and small investors can diversify at a low cost (Brealy et al, 2007). The CAPM builds on the proposition that additional risk requires a higher return. This return has two components: (1) what may be earned on a risk-free asset, such as a U.S. Treasury bill, plus (2) a premium for bearing risk. Since unsystematic risk is reduced through diversification, a stock’s risk premium is the additional return required to bear the non-diversifiable, systematic risk associated with the stock (Mayo 2007). The key input for the CAPM is therefore the excess return of the market over the risk free rate, which is the market (equity) risk premium. The practice adopted commonly has been to apply the historical average return over a long period as a measure of what investors expect to earn. As a substitute for the market portfolio, a broad equity market index is applied. Ke is the cost of equity capital, Rf is the risk free rate of return usually measured by the rate of return on US treasury securities, Rm is the market return of a diversified portfolio and I is the Beta co-efficient of the firm’s portfolio. The beta coefficient shows the volatility of the stock relative to that of an average stock. If it is 0.5, it is half as

Tom Clancy Essay Example for Free

Tom Clancy Essay Last month as I was browsing through a used bookstore, I came across a dog-eared copy of Red Storm Rising. Tom Clancy, being one of my favorite writers, I decided to pick it up and read through the book. What surprised me was not the author’s attention to detail which he is known for, but the depth of the scenarios which take place on the global landscape and development of each scenario on the overall picture. One of the facets of the novel is the journey made by a USAF meteorological officer stationed in Iceland when the Soviets decided to invade. Lt. Mike Edwards as described in the book is a scholarly looking weatherman for the base he works at. Although nerdy looking, he was a quickly liked by his comrades for his humorous outlook and no-nonsense approach to life. When the Russians attacked he and three other marines were forced to retreat and execute partisan activities against the invading force. Armed with light weapons and a satellite radio, they began their trek from Keflavik airbase pondering on how best to hamper their enemies with what little they had. The invaders already quelled most of the armed resistance in the country and had the edge in numbers and equipment. Their best contribution would be in the form of real time intelligence to their allies. Their first goal was to reach a hill a couple of kilometers from the fallen base where they could establish communications and find out what was going on. The marines Edwards was teamed up with did not know him very well since they were from different services but they passed judgment on him based on his bookish features. Priding themselves with their physical prowess (the USMC has one of the toughest training programs) they strove to exhaust their â€Å"pencil pushing† officer into the ground. Mike matched them stride for stride much to the surprise of the hardened soldiers. Through flat terrain and mountainous crags, he kept up with their pace, never slacking, never complaining. In one of their layovers, the sergeant he was with asked him how he could keep up. Mike simply answered that he used to run the marathon foe the Air Force Academy in Colorado. After that the marines treated him with a newfound respect stemming from embarrassment at having misjudged their leader. Another important event in their journey was meeting Vigdis Augustdottir, a local who lived in an isolated farm with her parents. The group came across her in their trek when a squad of garrison soldiers decided to cure their boredom by raping and pillaging the farm she lived in. This was another surprise for the marines when they immediately found out what was going on. Edwards usually an easygoing guy who avoided confrontation with the enemy immediately gave orders to fan out and engage with minimal casualties. The encounter was short and ugly. All of the Soviets had to be eliminated to prevent them from reporting back and both of Vigdis’ parents were killed by the Russians. They had no choice but to take the girl with them as survivors would most likely be questioned and dumped the dead soldiers to make it look like an accident. Vigdis provided them with comfort though not at first. As an attempted rape victim, the Americans tried their best to keep her mind away from what had happened by keeping the strenuous pace previous to the meeting. Ever mindful of their fragile companion, they each took turns looking out for her and responded to her little cries for help. On and on they trekked without a goal. They just did what they were told by the person on the other end of the radio. Go to this hill and report on the number and type of Soviet aircraft taking off and landing. Get to coordinated positions to verify destruction of target by bombers. Keep out of sight and reestablish contact at prescribed time. These were just some of the things they were ordered to do while walking between 15-20 kilometers a day and kept in the dark on their ultimate goal. The physical journey of this small group might have seemed insignificant but hiking almost 200 miles through enemy territory while surviving off the land is no small feat. Given a less significant task, some people might have folded and gone their own way to await the outcome without doing their share. The information this group provided paved the way for the retaking of Iceland which is a critical point of the G-I-UK line. It is s an array of sonar sensors which allows tracking and early warning of submarines trying to enter the Atlantic and hamper the shipping lanes into Europe. Without this supplies and arms could not be ferried into mainland Europe where the center of the conflict was being waged. The symbolism of a hard journey in order to attain one’s goals although not yet clear was beautifully captured. It also provided a personal and lighter perspective on the war which was being waged. The beautiful and accurate descriptions of the Icelandic landscape and relationships of the group gave meaning to what they were fighting for in the book. Like a corner jigsaw piece, the role of Mike Edwards and his group was essential in painting the big picture. Through their trials and travels, they added another piece to the whole by sending data to allied command which could be utilized in driving the Russians back.

Definition of Europe in the 21st Century

Definition of Europe in the 21st Century Europe is ringed from Kalingrad in the North, to the Caucasus and Central Asia, to the Balkans by an arc of danger and instability. (EU Commissioner for external relations Christopher Patten, July 2001). Does this mean that at the present time Europe and the European are one and the same thing? Introduction: The European or EU citizen is at the present time becoming synonymous with the definition of the point to where the continent of Europe extends. This seems to be the case with the present reaction to enlargement and the focus on crime from outside the borders of the EU and the fears of crime from the newly integrated countries and from those countries that ring the EU. Enlargement will illustrate the new tiered system in the EU, the newly ascended countries from post-Communist countries, which are viewed as not truly European. Therefore this discussion will illustrate how the definition of what Europe is in the 21st Century has been narrowed from the expanse of the European continent to the membership of the EU; whereby countries are aiming to join this political unit in order to gain legitimacy within the global political and economic structure. Enlargement A Case Study of a Narrow Definition of Europe: Enlargement of the EU is a mixed blessing, because on one hand it is helping to achieve a status of stability and cohesiveness throughout the region. On the other hand, there are concerns that in making the Union larger will in fact de-stabilize the region. This is due to prejudice of certain groups which would have free access in the region, one such group are the Roma Gypsy migrants from Slovakia. In the past few months the newspapers have displayed the concerns of the British public and politicians about these migrants when the nation joins the EU. Therefore this introduces the question whether the EU really respects the integrity of cultural difference? Other problems include the possible de-stabilizing of the economy by incorporating smaller, less affluent countries; marginal and war torn countries; and transitional countries. These countries could also cause the EU problems in regard to its unique approach of ensuring cohesiveness by using the rule of law, because if the EU get s too large it may not be possible any longer to ensure its political and legal stability. Therefore the consistency and coherence that the rule of law ensures is no longer apparent due to the sheer size of the Union. Another problem lies in the fact that smaller nations may not have the legal, political and economic clout to ensure that their agenda is considered. Although previously it has been mentioned that the EUs rule of law acts as a check and balance to more powerful nations, in truth the original countries in the EU were mainly ex-colonial empires. The newer nations that are joining the EU are akin to colonies of a colonial power, therefore there is an inherent imbalance in the Union. However in response to the negative effects of the possible de-stabilization of the region, one must consider that in order to join the Union each nation must have fulfilled the Copenhagen Criteria. This criterion states that each joining nation must be: Be a stable democracy, respecting human rights, the rule of law, and the protection of minorities; have a functioning market economy; adopt the common rules, standards and policies that make up the body of EU law. The EU paints a very enthusiastic picture of enlargement, where the only outcome of enlargement is beneficial. In truth this is a very lopsided picture because of the public outcry against the possible immigration into the original EU states. This can be seen in the article by Cathy Newman in the Financial Times: Britain will throw open its doors to workers from the former communist countries joining the European Union on May 1, but those that refuse to get a job will be denied benefits and thrown out, the government has pledged Tony Blair after months of pressure from the Tories and the right wing press over fears of an influx of immigrants from the former Soviet bloc vowed: If they cant support themselves, they will be put out of the country. This article illustrates the problems that have occurred within one nation over the policy of enlargement. Although the enlargement is supposed to bring together the European region, the public opinion of at least one EU nation is resisting the expansion, in relation to economic migrants migrants which the nation has traditionally refused asylum applications. However these fears may be unfounded because as Kraus Schwager argue that increased migration from East to West EU countries would only occur under the fear of rejection to Union membership. In fact they argue that the EUs expansion will have a beneficial effect on the economy of these smaller nations and this will result in a boost of their economies and job market, hence reducing the amount of migrants from East to West. The conclusion of their article they state that: Policy makers who are, for whatever reason, reluctant to accept large numbers of immigrants should not feel troubled with enlargement. On the contrary, the prospect of joining the EU may well reduce immigration. The economic and social benefits which probably accrue to Eastern Europe from accession should be presented as a means to reducing the incentives to emigrate. Policies which enhance convergence of income levels in eastern and Western Europe, such as the internal market and, possibly, Structural Funds should be promoted. .. In this process, diverging interests of major EU members have created substantial uncertainty about the date and conditions of accession. It is quite plausible that such uncertainty has raised the fear among potential migrants that accession may fail or be postponed for a long time. According to our result, this may have increased immediate immigration. Thus, if immigration is not desirable, for future accession rounds a straightforward and predictable neg otiation process is to be recommended. Hence Kraus Schwager argue that the fears of the right, which have been fed to the public through the media, concerning immigration from the East that will de-stabilize the economy, have no place. This is because the possible migrants would prefer to stay in their homeland with a stronger and growing economy rather than move to another nation. However, although these fears may be unfounded the resistance to these new citizens from the Eastern Europe illustrates the possible de-stabilization of the EU politically. In addition to this it causes problems legally because the cornerstone and the uniqueness of the EU lies within the rule of law and one of the most important laws that is upheld is the Free Movement of EU Citizens, which includes their ability to trade, reside and work in part of the EU. Yet, the accession of the new Eastern European nations has heralded blocks to this ability by many of the original and major EU players. In the UK it has caused a debate because the governme nt was going to allow a free movement of possible immigrants but this has been resisted by the right, as well as members of the public. This is illustrated by the arguments of Michael Howard, leader of the Conservative Party: Mr Howard, seeking to make political capital out of Labours discomfort on the issue, will accuse the Government of complacency over the implications of the EUs expansion in May. This comes as the Government sought to play down fears that Britain would be flooded by migrants seeking work in more prosperous parts of the EU. During a high-profile visit to Burnley, the scene of race riots in2001, Mr Howard will demand that Britain copy the transitional arrangements adopted by Germany and France to prevent citizens from new EU members from working there. Mr Howard will say: The Conservative Party has always supported the enlargement of the EU to take in the former communist countries of Eastern Europe. We continue to do so. But he will continue: Almost every other country in the EU has quite rightly taken the precaution of putting in place transitional arrangements to deal with immigration from the accession countries. It is still not too late for the British Government to put in place transitional arrangements as well. If we were in government, we would do so. The Government has approached this problem in typical fashion. First it failed to address it, then it ignored it, now it is claiming to face up to it. In short the cohesiveness that the EU has claimed will occur with the enlargement has not happened in the expected manner. Ever since enlargement there have been a greater amount of problems combating organized crime, because of decreased security, corruption of public officials in favour of organized crime groups in the newly acceded nations and the breaches of human rights in arrests. Therefore this creates problems for combating organized crime with either prisoners being let off on technicalities, the vastness of places to hide decreasing the effectiveness of policing or the police not interested in fighting organized crime. Kennedy has commented that the EU is committed to justly and fairly fighting organized crime within the realms of human rights and justice; however its weakness is that it relies only on specific domestic member state intelligence: We are being told that Europol and Eurojust the new European body to strengthen collaboration between justice ministries and prosecution services- will only act on specific intelligence. This is to rely on the integrity of the state and its officials [I]t also means relying on the intelligence of other countries and, as I have said before, we have no idea about how this may be collected and by what standards. Justice does not permit shortcuts, but governments will readily pursue quick and dirty solutions to problems if not kept under scrutiny. Therefore by purely relying on only specific intelligence this will reduce the effectiveness of the fight against organized crime, especially when there is the added problem of corrupt post-communist regimes that have joined the EU after enlargement; whereby the true European, i.e. the EU citizen needs to be protected especially those original member states which define the true Europe.

Absorption Costing: Advantages and Disadvantages

Absorption Costing: Advantages and Disadvantages There are two main costing methods that this company can use, absorption costing and Activity based costing. Absorption costing and Activity based costing (ABC) are two similar systems that are used to assign indirect costs to cost objects. Absorption costing is also called traditional costing; it is more simplistic and uses arbitrary allocation. On the other hand, ABC is more sophisticated and uses cause-and-effect allocation. This report will deal with the different definitions, the history, the advantages and disadvantages of absorption and ABC systems. Then finial a recommendation on which system is better suited for this company. This company needs either of the two costing system because they are useful during planning and budgeting. Furthermore having the systems in place will allow overheads to be charged to services. ABSORPTION COSTING Absorption costing is a method of costing that, in addition to direct costs, assigns all, or a proportion of product overhead costs units by means of one or a number of overhead absorption rates. Cima (2005) Absorption costing systems is a costing system where manufacturing costs are allocated to products and non manufacturing costs are not allocated to the product but charged directly to the profit statement and excluded from the inventory. Drury (2008) Absorption costing is a system in which all the fixed manufacturing overheads are allocated to the products. Drury From all these definitions the Cima definition is the better definition because it mentions most of the key processes that are involved in absorption costing which straight away gives you an idea of what absorption costing is. The other definitions are also good as they state some processes involved in absorption but Cima puts the definition in a more understandable way. History This costing system was developed decades ago when companies were much smaller and had less overhead costs. During the time this system was developed there were mostly industrial companies which made this system suitable to assign costs to cost objects. How it works This company currently operates under absorption costing system for working out overheads for their services. Working out absorption costing involves a two stage process. Stage one considering the allocation and apportionment of indirect costs to service and production cost centres and then apportionment of the service department to production department. Allocation is the process of estimating the cost of resources consumed by a product that does not use direct measures. This process deals with overheads that can be directly assigned to cost centres without the need to be apportioned. Cost apportionment is a process of charging indirect costs to cost centres that cant be directly allocated. Service department overheads are transferred to the production department so they can be covered. Stage two works out the absorption rates that are then used to charge overheads to cost objects. The absorption rate worked out is used to calculate the total overheads of a product. From all these three stages only allocation is used in ABC. There are advantages and disadvantages of absorption costing: Advantages Inexpensive and simple to operate. Absorption costing is simple to operate which makes it less expensive to operate. This is good for the company as it allows them to reduce their costs and understand what they are doing. Disadvantages Less accurate. Its good that the system is simple, but this makes it less accurate when charging costs to cost objects because of the intensive use of arbitrary allocation. Arbitrary allocation is when an allocation base used is not a considerable determinant of its cost. Not knowing all the exact causes of certain costs will make it difficult during planning and budgeting. Absorption costing emphasises on variable and fixed costs. This makes it difficult for the company to use information from this system for decision making; its not detailed enough to help the business make predictions or budgets. ACTIVITY BASED COSTING Different sources define ABC in different ways: An approach to the costing and monitoring of activities which involves tracing resource consumption and costing final outputs. Resources are assigned to activities, and activities to cost objects based on consumption estimates. The latter utilise cost drivers to attach activity costs to outputs. Cima terminology Activity based costing is a refinement of absorption costing that aims to charge overhead costs in much more detail so that the overhead cost can be charged on the basis of a cost driver. Drury (2005) Between these two definitions Cima definition clearly states what ABC is all about and mentions cost drivers which are a key area of this system. While the other definition does not specifically state what is involved in ABC e.g. cost drivers though it does point out that its similar to absorption costing. Overall, the Cima definition is better as it is a more detail explanation. History ABC system was developed when the current system then (absorption costing) was becoming less useful for assigning costs to products in the changing business environment. In the 1980s companies begun to increase in size and producing wider product ranges and services. Information processing costs were high, which made it difficult for sophisticated overhead allocation methods to be justified. There was an increasing demand for more accurate product costs; this led to the introduction of the ABC system. Cooper and Kaplan conceptualised the ideas behind this system as a way of trying to improve the accuracy of the charge made to cost objects in complex business environments. How it works ABC system is worked out differently compared to absorption costing. They both use the two stage allocation process to assign overheads to cost objects. First stage overheads are assigned to cost centres and in the second stage the cost accumulated in the cost centres are allocated to cost objects. ABC differs from absorption costing by having more cost centres in the first stage and a greater variety of cost drivers in the second stage. Exhibit 1 shows an example of a companys annual overhead costs which i will use to how ABC works. Similarly to absorption costing, an overhead analysis sheet is produced where overheads are allocated to cost centres. This is shown in exhibit 2. Then activities are identified for each cost. From exhibit 3 column A, you can see that there are lots of activities that have been identified from major activities e.g. General factory support. The costs created over a specific period have to be assigned to the activities. When costs are accumulated by activities they are called activity cost drivers. Activity cost drivers have to be selected for each activity centre in order to assign the cost attached to products. In exhibit 3-column C and D you can see the activity cost drivers and the cost they each accumulate. Cost driver rates are worked out for each activity. Finally, the cost driver rates are applied to products. In exhibit 4 there is an example of Product G that is produced and uses various activity cost drivers and cost driver rates are applied. There are advantages and disadvantages of having ABC in place, these are: Advantages Helps identify unprofitable items from the product line. This will allow the company to make changes to their production, and improve their efficiency. Removing these unprofitable items reduces un-necessary costs the company maybe encountering. Also it enables the company to increase its profit without the need to increase prices. Provides quantifiable figures for planning and estimates. ABC identifies all the different cost drivers that contribute to the total overheads of producing a product or service. This will help when giving quotes to customers as well as for the business to see if taking up a certain project will be profitable to them. ABC uses a large number of cost centres in the first stage and a greater variety of allocation bases in the second stage. This makes the system accurate at charging overheads to products. Accurate cost charges to products or a service reduces the risk of making a loss if the right amount is not charged. Disadvantages Expensive to operate. The complexity of this costing system makes it expensive to operate compared to other alternatives. The business will have to invest time and resources in order for them to identify the cost drivers. E.g. one of the steps needed to identify cost drivers is to interview staff and have them fill in time sheets. This process will reduce the production time available to the company. Time consuming. Using ABC is a very long process and requires a lot of information to implement; this is time consuming for the company and its staff. There is too much attention to detail and control. Sometimes paying close attention to detail might make it difficult for the company to see the bigger picture or make the firm lose sight of strategic objectives just to seek for small savings. It may be difficult to implement. In service companies there are costs that are difficult to allocate to specific service units and service department, staff often get involved in many non informal activities which may be challenging to record cost data. Recommendations Given that the company supplies services to government bodies and operates under absorption costing, I recommend that we should change the costing system to ABC as it will be more suitable for the company. This costing system may be difficult to implement in service companies but it shows the company more detail of the various costs involved in each service they provide which is essential during decision making and planning. To implement ABC there certain things the business will have to do: Proper planning and commitment from staff, carrying out a pilot study first may be vital. This will provide information about whether having ABC will be a benefit to the company. A team will have to be set-up that will be responsible for determining which activities are necessary for the services. The team should be made up of experts from different departments of the company and a consultant from outside can be used. Having individuals from different allows accurate identification of overheads involved.5 When a team has been assembled, elements of each activity that cost money are determined. Attention to detail is vital as some costs are hidden. Once all the costs have been identified and recorded, they have to be put in a computer system. After the business has had enough time to analyze the data they can use the information in various ways e.g. working out total overheads for each service. Conclusion Absorption costing has been around for a long time, ABC was developed as an improvement of absorption costing. ABC is a more accurate costing system compared to absorption costing as it looks at individual activities that contribute to the total overheads, while absorption costing looks at departments. Having looked at both advantages and disadvantage of the two costing systems it is clear that even though they are similar they have significant differences. I have recommended that we introduce ABC, it will be a huge benefit for the company as it will decrease the number of errors made during costing.

John Worthing Critique :: essays research papers

I chose to evaluate the acting of Jason Dormeyer, who played John Worthing. I want to say first of all that even though the main points mentioned in this paper will be negative, the performance of Jack was quite convincing and carried out very well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The actor seemed very uptight whenever he was on stage. Luckily, being uptight works with the character of Jack. His jaw and his neck seemed to be tense during the performance. Jason’s voice, however, does not seem to suffer because of that. The fact that he is uptight tends to put me on edge in the audience. I started to feel less comfortable and get somewhat tense because of this.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jason rushes too much. He needs to slow down and enunciate more to make his lines more audible. I don’t want him to lose any of the energy that he has, but I do wish that he would take more time to give more clarity to the words. A good example of this is the way that the line, â€Å"†¦while I’m in this horrible trouble,† is rushed trough. I believe that the line is in the second act during the muffin scene. It was not hard to figure out what was being said, but it did take more effort to understand.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The clarity of Jack’s relationships was good. Jack and Algernon were definitely friends that have known each other for a while. They were comfortable enough with each other to argue and tell faults, while knowing that they would still remain friends. Jack was also very clear on his relationship with Gwendolyn. She was obviously of romantic interest with him because of the way he saw to her every need. A good example is when she first walks in and Jack says, â€Å"you are quite perfect Miss Fairfax.† This is also displayed well when Jack fills Gwendolyn’s teacup. He jumps up with great haste when she hands the cup to him. I was confused on the relationship with Lady Bracknell, though. She was clearly Jacks superior, yet Jack acted somewhat indifferent and overconfident while talking to her about his childhood and social standing. I felt that he could have been reminded of his social standing at times like the â€Å"Good morning!† line. J ack is trying to obtain consent to marry her daughter.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The age of John Worthing was very consistent throughout the play.

Noise Pollution: Practical Solutions to a Serious Problem Essay

   Noise Pollution:    Practical Solutions to a Serious Problem   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Noise pollution is a growing concern for most Americans.   It is a problem because many city, suburban, and rural areas are affected.   Noise creeps into our cars, our homes, and schools and disrupts everything.   Noise pollution is a more harmful pollutant than most think.   Medical evidence proves that noise can have detrimental physical and psychological effects upon a person.   It is a danger to one's mental health, it interrupts the learning development of children, and it hinders sleep. The physical consequences of short-term exposure to noise pollution can result in higher blood pressure and cholesterol increase (Bullock- Loughran 12,13). Medical evidence proves that prolonged exposure to noises can cause persistent health problems such as ulcers or hypertension (Thomas 20, Bullock- Loughran 12). There have been cases where heart attacks have occurred in individuals with already present cardiac problems. One common and harmful form of noise pollution, aircraft noise, has amazing effects on one’s physical health.   A study conducted in the early eighties proved that people residing within 3 miles of the Los Angeles International Airport had a higher death rate of 19% than the death rate of those residents six miles away from the airport.   Similar conclusions occurred at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (Thomas 20). Along with the physical effects, there are psychological issues related to noise pollution.   A psychological study concludes that humans may adapt to noise at times but random and unpredictable noise may eventually cause some deterioration in everyday activity (Thomas 18). Some people have even committed murder, used drugs,... ...y 1997: 5. McCabe, Michael.   â€Å"Anti-Noise Crusaders Get Louder and Louder.†Ã‚   The San Francisco   Chronicle   19 Feb. 1998, final ed.: A1. Singleton, Janet.   â€Å"Huh? Hear! Hear! Noise Pollution is No Joke.†Ã‚   The Denver Post   24   Apr. 1995, second ed.: E1. Sulski, Jim.   â€Å"Tone It Down!; The Ins and Outs of Soundproofing a Noisy Dwelling.†   Chicago Tribune 18 Sept. 1998, final ed.: C1+.    Thomas, Sharon M.   â€Å"Perception of Airport Hazards by Land Users in the Vicinity of   Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.†Ã‚   Diss.   Arizona State University, 1980. Ward, W. Dixon.   â€Å"Noise-induced Hearing Loss.†Ã‚   Noise and Society.   Ed. Dylan M. Jones and Antony J. Chapman.   Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd., 1984. 77-109. Young, Leslie A.   â€Å"Sonic Boomers; Clinton’s Hearing Aid Catches His Generation’s Ear†   Mountain News   14 Oct. 1997, D3.   

Child Bed fever case study Essay

PART I 1. What were Semmelweis’ initial observations? Answer: Semmelweis’ initial observation was the death rate of women after childbirth. 2. What was the problem at hand? Answer: The problem at hand was more women were dying after childbirth in the ward with male physicians and fewer were dying in the female physician ward. 3. What possible explanatory story might Semmelweis come up with? Answer: An explanatory story that Semmelweis might come up with could be that the women physicians are more understanding to the female anatomy than the males. 4. How might Semmelweis test his suspicions? Answer: Semmelweis might test his suspicions by going to the female physician side and observing the way the females work compared to the way the men work. PART II 1. What might Semmelweis now propose as an explanatory story? Answer: Swmmelweis’ explanatory story might be that there is some sort of infection linked to the death of women and his friend. 2. How could Semmelweis test his new hypothesis? Answer: He could test the women and his friend that died for infections to see if that is the cause of death. PART III 1. What conclusions can be drawn from Semmelweis’ experiment? Answer: Hand washing was the conclusion to Semmelweis’ experiment. He realized that cleanliness was a necessity in keeping the patients from getting very sick and dying. 2. How might Semmelweis revise his original hypothesis or his experiments to gain additional information? Answer: Semmelweis could possibly observe if that is what the female physician ward was doing all along to reduce the rates of mortality among the women they were treating. He may also not only do hand washing but begin to sanitize all equipment before patients are treated. PART IV 1. When presented with what appears to be unequivocal evidence in support of hand washing, why might Semmelweis’ colleagues have dismissed his ideas? Answer: Semmelweis might not have had much evidence to back up the fact that hand washing alone would slow the mortality rate. There was still women dying from childbirth and for those few women there was no explanation. 2. How else might Semmelweis have approached the problem of disseminating his research findings in order to ensure their acceptance? Answer: He could have studied into the hand washing longer and found other things that supported the mortality rates of the few that were dying. He could have also had other people who believed that hand washing was the solution to help support and explain his ideas to his colleagues. 3. What, if any, role did serendipity play in Semmelweis’ story of childbed fever? Answer: I do believe that serendipity did play a role in the story of childbed fever because if Semmelweis’ friend would have never â€Å"accidentally† cut his hand while performing the autopsy from a women who died from the childbed fever and showed the similar symptoms, the research might not have been studied as fast or might not have come up with a solution to the problem of infection (sepsis).

Racism against the African-American Essay

African-Americans since the beginning of slavery have suffered extreme segregation in all sectors of life. This group of people formed the civil rights movement in order to fight for their rights. This paper looks at the significant events which have changed the course of the civil rights movement in the United States. This paper will include the past and contemporary experiences of societal discrimination for this population, theories of identity formation, issues, and challenges as well as potential problems that result from discrimination and oppression. Various systems which directly or indirectly maintain the marginal position of the African-American in the United States society will also be looked at. Marginalization of African-Americans in United States society in social circles will also be looked at. Introduction Approximately one fourth of African-Americans, fall below the poverty line and continue to survive in poverty in America today (Riphagen, n. d. ). It is claimed that more than 50% of all African-American children in the United States today are living in poor conditions (Riphagen, n. d. ). One big question that arises from simply looking at the level of poverty among African-American families is how this discouraging picture of poor living conditions of a single ethnic community is possible in an industrialized, wealthy, as well as superpower nation as the United States (Riphagen, n. d. ). In modern U. S. society, one of the chief challenges remains to be the disproportionate social status of cultural minorities as compared to the Caucasian inhabitants. Even though, the United States is a wealthy and a prosperous nation, it is the white population that reaps and benefits from unequal share of privileges (Marable, 2007). African-Americans, who make a sizeable percentage of the country’s populace and being the oldest minority community, form the major oppressed group. African-Americans, according to Bandele (2008), are yet to benefit from social, economic and political equality as compared to the Caucasian community within the country. Even though other minority communities, for example Latinos, are also subjected to racial discrimination, African-Americans tend to experience a more severe yoke in regards to absolute numbers as well as proportions of families suffering from discrimination in any given community (Childs, 1993). The extent of poor living conditions among African-Americans is very high, and poverty for a lot of African-Americans presently, as asserted by Childs (1993), is still a harsh reality. It would be right to state that the American Dream has avoided a very big percentage of the African-American community. Nevertheless, as Marable (1997) indicates, neoconservatives have taken other races, for example Latinos and Asian-Americans, as model minorities attaining values that make a distinction between them and the African-American underclass (Childs, 1993). As Caucasians become more and more contented with their ability to attain the American Dream and believe in its transmission to African-Americans, the latter become extremely doubtful whether the dream can actually be attained for them (Marable, 2007). This is, in the first place, a result of a disproportional starting point and in addition established American values that play a vital function in hardships African-Americans go through. The prevailing American values go on portraying and presume that in spite of someone’s ethnic background, economic status, and place of residence, handwork is a major strategy that can enable a person to climb the social ladder and set up a better life (Riphagen, n. d. ). The strength of this assertion, however, has to be questioned as in numerous contexts appears to be used to lay the blame on African-Americans themselves for living in poverty, as it portrays a lack of motivation as well as being lazy (Hutchinson, 1997). Over the last few decades, African-Americans have gained considerable increasing opportunities in economic, political, as well as social circles (Bandele, 2008). From a circumstance in which absence of civil rights legislation resulted in extreme segregation of African-Americans from the dominant communities, presently the same civil rights apply to all people regardless of their ethnic background or gender (Riphagen, n. d. ). Though this may appear promising, it is not as positive and comprehensive as it might seem. The same civil rights, as Riphagen (n. d. ) argues, might be used and transcend races, though without stipulations, investments, in addition to inclusion to maintain this upward movement; it appears a rather impossible goal to attain. Nevertheless, even though numerous opportunities and inclusion portrays an optimistic move forwards, in regards to opportunities, it has fatefully had some negative effects too (Cohen, 2006). As an outcome of increasing visibility of on the global as well as national scene and have the wave of political turbulence that occurred in the 1960s, significant pessimistic attentions in addition to more negative perceptions of Americans of African origin have arisen (Marable, 2007). Whereas people became bitterer towards African-Americans, other people of color acquired the benefit of the doubt, as aggression to those communities was decreasing. Caucasian supremacy, though many deny of its existence in the 21st century, is one of the major factors that resulted in the oppression of the African-American community (Riphagen, n. d. ). A big percentage of Caucasian-Americans continue to directly or indirectly carry out various activities based on the doctrines of white supremacy. Studies, according to Riphagen (n. d. ), have revealed that the culture of African-American oppression have remained much the same over the years. Scholars claim that racism is still alive in the U. S. although its effects are less severe and portrayed in a more indirect manner as compared to the past (Cohen, 2006). When the issue of discrimination of African-Americans is looked at, one cannot help, but ask why African-Americans faced and continue facing marginalization in the social circle especially in the modern United States (Jackson, 2004). A continued marginalization of African Americans: Racism against the African American Slavery in the United States is one of the most significant events that clearly underlie a conceptual comprehension of racial discrimination (Childs, 1993). Slavery of Americans of African origin resulted in greater freedom for the unfortunate whites, even though it maintained a social framework that made sure that the latter remained poor. From time immemorial African-Americans have been used to offer undesirable services to benefit the whites (Riphagen, n. d. ). Slavery was part and parcel of the early American society to an extent that it was codified by the law. Hecht, Jackson and Ribeau (2003), assert that from the beginning of slavery to the present day, African-Americans have collectively been fighting for freedom. Racial difference is believed by many to have been a major cause of the American Civil War. Variation in ethnic backgrounds is also perceived to have been a major hindrance for reconciliation. However, the Civil War is claimed by many to be the demarcation point for beginning of African-American nationalism. Though it was the war that ended slavery, it was the biggest social tragedy that America has ever experienced. After the war, the lines of ethnic division became exceedingly apparent again (Riphagen, n. d. ). Civil rights movements, as indicated by Riphagen (n. d. ), aimed at reclaiming the social position of African-American community emerged in the 1960s. The civil rights movement however, did not make any remarkable contribution for redistribution of wealth along racial lines, or to encourage extensive ethnic restructuring addressing race and racial discrimination at the time. Even though legal equality was achieved, politicians argued that the endeavors of civil rights movements were immaterial (Bandele, 2008). They claimed that the most appropriate way to handle racism was integration. Many whites did not take into account the distinctive race consciousness of African-Americans. Wherever civil rights activists emerged, this resulted in great anxiety amongst whites. Integration is therefore believed to have directly and indirectly resulted in neglect as well as lack of dedication to the vitality of African-American population (Childs, 1993). Research, as asserted by Riphagen (n. d. ), reveals that the skepticism of Caucasian-Americans to the notion that racial discrimination is the factor that hinders upwards mobility of African-Americans. A majority of the whites are comfortable with the way African-Americans in society are treated. On the other hand, however, African-Americans are embittered by the way the society, and in particular the white population treats them (Hecht, Jackson and Ribeau, 2003). It is unfortunate that bias towards African-Americans is only rising along with a stagnating image of progress of African-Americans community in regards to education, housing and job availability. Studies reveal that most whites in America believe that African-Americans are lazy and violent (Jackson, 2004). Research has also revealed that a majority of white-Americans believe that African-Americans live in poverty as a result of their lifestyle (Riphagen, n. d. ). This unending stigmatization of a whole race, grounded on group characteristics, highly discourages African-Americans from developing their talents and makes it very hard for them to succeed in the eyes of mainstream white-Americans. Bias, as Hecht, Jackson and Ribeau (2003) argues, also continues in situations whereby observations gathered from broadly concentrating on the African-American underclass who are not employed are taken as a representative of the broad sweep of African-American across American society. Nevertheless, inherent in focusing on the unemployed African-American underclass is possibly trying to avoid acknowledging unfair as well as racist practices and policies (Marable, 1997). The prison department in the United States, as illustrated by Free (2003), locks up more people as compared to other industrialized countries in the world. Another fact in regards to the U. S prisons is that the proportion of African-American in them is disproportionate as compared to other races. African-Americans make up the largest percentage of the prison population in the United States (Riphagen, n. d. ). This enormously grim image has been scrutinized by intellectuals to determine whether the criminal justice system is made up of a legitimized regulatory system over minority communities, or whether it is a fact that African –Americans commit more offenses (Free, 2003). All in all, there is a major difference in regards to the magnitude of the offenses committed by African-Americans and the extensive burden of the jail sentences by which they are penalized. Intellectuals perceive policies set in such a way as to put more African-Americans, particularly males, in jail as a clear scenario to regulate as well as restrict African-Americans communities in regards to activities and progress (Free, 2003). Selective rules, particularly targeted at offenses committed in grater ratio among African-Americans, have led to inconsiderate along with longer sentences for African-Americans. Free (2003) makes it clear that little, if any, strategies are put in place for treatment and prevention of crime making it quite clear that the exact agenda is to control the problem, instead of tackling the cause of the problem. The high rate of crime drives investors away from the African-American neighborhoods, in turn leading to adverse implications on the economic and social conditions of all African-Americans (Riphagen, n. d. ). Prisoners, majority of who are African-Americans males, in different states are banned from voting (Free, 2003). Research reveals that a very large percentage of African-American men are in prison as compared to those enrolled in formal education (Riphagen, n. d. ). Along with educational segregation, housing segregation is one of the most traumatizing systems in the United States today. African-Americans over the past fifty years have experienced the worst form of housing segregation as compared to other American communities. Housing segregation not only affects African-Americans of low socio-economic status, but also those of higher socio-economic strata (Marable, 2007). Housing segregation not only underpins unfairness, but also increases it. Various properties belonging to the African-Americans, due to the extremely segregated nature of separated locality, continues to suffer from devaluation in terms of its minimized desirability leading to a drop in value as compared to properties of equal nature found in predominantly white neighborhoods (Childs, 1993). This scenario makes white communities to move out of localities inhabited by majority African-Americans. Housing segregation is also displayed whereby estate agents only show African-Americans only a small proportion of existing housing, while steering white-Americans away from neighborhoods containing a large percentage of people of color (Free, 2003).