Biography of Kate Chopin Essay

Kate Chopin was an American author of short stories and novels. Considered as one of the earliest feminist authors of the 20th century, she was one of the most-celebrated female writers of her time. She wrote several short stories including The Story of an Hour (1894), Euphrase (1850), Mrs. Mobry’s Reason (1891), A Shameful Affair (1893), and many others. Her literature usually described her own life, reflecting the time she lived in and the life she led. When readers look into her literature, they do not only read what is on the text but also try to understand the context. When you look through her fiction, you might notice that the contexts include the life of the author, the time it was written and the social condition during the time it was set, among others. One of her short stories, The Story of an Hour, depicts a woman’s reactions to the news of her husband’s death, upon reading which I found connections between her life and the life of the main character of the short story. Background and early life After Kate Chopin’s father was killed in a train accident, she moved into a household of women in St. Louis. As a girl she was mentored mainly by women – her mother, her grandmother, and her great grandmother. She also had deep bonds with her family members, the sisters who taught her at school, and with her life-long friend Kitty Garasche. A lot of the fiction Kate wrote was hugely influenced by the women she grew up with, especially regarding her views about feminism, and women. In 1870, at the age of 20, she settled in New Orleans. Oscar, her husband, bought a general store in Cloutierville, but in 1882 he died of malaria and left Kate with $12,000 in debt (approximately $229,360 in 2005 dollars). Kate Chopin was widowed at 32. She attempted to run the plantation and store alone but with no success. Two years later, she sold her Louisiana business. Her mother wanted her to move back to St. Louis. The following year, her mother died. After the loss of both her husband and the mother, Kate Chopin found herself drifting into the realms of depression. Her doctor felt that writing would be a good way for her to heal this developing depression. Her doctor understood that writing could serve as a focus for her energy as well as a source of income. She thus indulged herself and became successful, and found many of her work getting published. However, some of her writings were far too ahead of their times and she faced lack of acceptance for almost 12 years. Literary works with examples Kate Chopin commented on the importance of describing â€Å"human existence in its subtle, complex, true meaning, stripped of the veil with which ethical and conventional standards have draped it† (1894). An interview on the PBS website for Kate Chopin says, â€Å"I think she was much more interested in the excitement, the civilization that came in her circle of intellectual friends. That was freedom, the freedom to explore ideas† (PBS, 1999). Kate was neither a feminist nor a suffragist, she said so. She was nonetheless a woman who took women extremely seriously. She never doubted the woman’s ability to be strong. She came from a long line of strong women whom she loved and respected, owing to the affiliation with her great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother. She had strong intellectual women friends. Her lack of interest in feminism and suffrage did not have anything to do with a lack of confidence in women, nor did it have a lot to do with a lack of desire for freedom. She simply had a different understanding of freedom. She saw freedom as much more a matter of spirit, soul, and character than anything else, of living your life within the constraints that the world makes [or] your God offers you, because all of us do live within constraints. There is no indication that â€Å"she regretted her marriage, or regretted being a mother† (PBS, 1999). Early 1970s was the period thriving with women’s rights movements, and Kate Chopin was one leading contributor to the said phenomenon. She contributed a lot through her writings about women, daytime dramas, the feminine mystique, women’s liberation, Mars vs. Venus, self-help and commentary on open marriages. You can see how Kate Chopin’s life event (train accident, A Widow, and Freedom for Women) influenced her fictions through The Story of an Hour. One of the main events in the story is a man’s loss, namely Mrs. Mallard’s husband. Josephine, Mrs. Mallard’s sister, brought the sad message that there was a railroad disaster and of those listed as killed included Brently Mallard, who was Mrs. Mallard’s husband. In Kate’s life, there had been a similar loss. That someone was her father who passed away in a railroad accident in 1855. Furthermore, Mrs. Mallard is in due course assumed to be a widow, but readers will soon find out that Mr. Mallard is alive. In Kate’s life, her father had widowed her mother. Both had experienced what it’s like to be a widow but of course, the response to the loss may entirely be different. In the end, before she learnt of Brently’s return from the accident, Louise died of heart disease – of joy that kills. This could suggest that she had a moment of monstrous joy, which consumed her and overwhelmed her to death. Perhaps Chopin would just let Louise die instead of seeing Brently again, causing her to remain imprisoned and be confined to her husband’s hands. Lastly, in The Story of An Hour, Chopin made no suggestion to the readers that Mrs. Mallard was sorry for her husband’s loss. Instead, she uttered under her breath, â€Å"free, free, and free! † which suggests how happy Mrs. Mallard was to have lost her husband, because she now has freedom of herself. The joy she feels after regaining her freedom is something which consumes her. In Kate’s life, a lot of her work mentioned the rise in the rights of women. She experienced a period where there was a decline in those rights and women were deprived of public needs like education, the right to vote, the right to property and their children. Those events drove her to write the kind of feminist text she did instead of dedicating herself to other themes. As observed, literature can bring us to the world of the author. Literary works reflect the time, state of mind, and the life of the author. By understanding the connection between Kate Chopin and Mrs. Mallard in the short story, The Story of an Hour, it can be confirmed that the novel portrayed a reference to Kate Chopin’s life since most of the events (train accident, A Widow, and Freedom for Women) in Louise’s life are similar to, or at least greatly influenced by her own. References Chopin, K. (1894). One Story. PBS (Director). (1999). Kate Chopin: A Re-Awakening [Motion Picture].

Disparity and Discrimination Essay

Discrimination and disparity both play a role in the American criminal justice system. Many people confuse the two words whereas they have different meanings. We will therefore study the definitions of discrimination and disparity in the justice system and explain the difference between the two terms. We will conclude by giving one example from some other area of life. According to the dictionary, disparity is defined as â€Å"the condition or fact of being unequal, as in age, rank, or degree  ». In the criminal justice system, disparity consists of legal and extralegal factors. On the one hand, the legal factor provides legitimate base explanations for the decisions on the individual’s criminal behavior and criminal record. It includes seriousness of the offense and prior criminal record. On the other hand, the extralegal factor includes lifestyle, gender, race, class, which are not legitimate reasons to base decisions on. The Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparity in the Criminal Justice System, August 20 2010 reported that, in the United States, African Americans are incarcerated at more than six times the rate of Whites and Hispanics more than double the rate of Whites: this is an example of disparity. Disparity can be explained by economic inequality or residential segregation. In all cases, disparity refers to a difference but one does not always involve discrimination. Discrimination, on the contrary, is a â€Å"difference based on differential treatment of groups without reference to an individual’s behavior or qualifications† according to the Commission. Discrimination consists of four types such as institutionalized, systematic, contextual and individual act of discrimination. Institutionalized discrimination involves â€Å"racial disparities in outcomes that result from established policies†, systematic discrimination refers to the â€Å"type of discrimination that occurs at all levels of a social system including the criminal justice system†, contextual discrimination involves â€Å"discrimination in certain situations or contexts† and finally individual discrimination results from â€Å"discriminate treatment of disadvantaged or minority group members by an individual most frequently acting alone† according to Investigating Difference. In comparison, disparity and discrimination are similar because they both influence the decision-making of a sentence or the assumption that someone is guilty. However, they are different: disparity can lead to discrimination and discrimination can lead to disparity. We encounter discrimination and disparity outside of the criminal justice system, in the workplace for instance. Indeed, a white people is less likely to face unemployment than other minorities. The reason may be, partially, employment discrimination, that is to say that some people would prefer hire a less qualified White man than a more qualified Black or Hispanic man.

Business Model and Strategic Plan Essay Example for Free (#5)

Business Model and Strategic Plan Essay Strategic Plan (66) , Business model (48) , Catering (14) company About StudyMoose Contact Careers Help Center Donate a Paper Legal Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Complaints For any journey the path must be defined with clear and recognizable details for it to be successful. The concepts of markers and landmarks which define the direction of a journey apply to that of any business. We need detailed plans and objectives as well as landmarks and directions we would like the business to travel. The objective of Two Brothers food truck is to create a trusted and popular place for people of the Wenatchee valley to enjoy a quality meal using locally sourced goods and services at a value which all residents of the valley can easily afford. With this detailed strategic business plan we will discuss the concepts which will guide our plan and the obstacles we may face and how we will work to overcome them. Strategic Objectives, Measures, and Targets The objective is the same in all business and that is to keep the business operational and profitable. The profitability of any business is the main reason for which we strive to open and operate businesses; this fact will be  the main reason to implement fundamental financial objectives. The concept of Two Brothers food truck is to keep costs low, maximize profits while maintaining quality ingredients and service to the consumer. The main factor which way affect the profitability of the food truck is locally sourcing fresh ingredients due to the grow cycle of our region. At some point the truck will have to purchase items from a vendor or local grocer to maintain inventory levels. However the other menu ingredients like breads, meats, and dairy items will in most cases be readily available thanks in part to the availability to local butchers and dairies, we plan on baking our own breads. Thanks to the lack of competitive restaurants using locally sourced items we see no issues wit h these items. Methods of Monitoring and Controlling Two Brothers Strategic Plan We understand the importance of a happy employee and their relation to happy customers and relationships play a major role in any business. We strive to build relationships with the community and place high regard on personalized service to each person that visits Two Brothers whether it our guests are local or people visiting the Wenatchee valley. One major way we intend to ensure this will happen is to always empower our staff and make our staff feel like they are part of this business and guide them to feel as emotionally invested in the ideas and concepts of Two Brothers food truck as we do. We plan to offer incentives like shift meals, paid time off after time invested in the company, profit sharing, company events, and bonuses for college students whom receive exceptional grades, we feel the food truck should be a stepping stone and an example of characteristics they can take with them into their careers. We feel that investing the time and energy in our staff and showing them we care as much about them as we do the business will encourage them to feel the same and want to invest time and energy in our customers to ensure their return business and the customers overall satisfaction. Marketing and Information Technology Strategies and Tactics In today’s era of social media and more and more people using their mobile devices for everyday operations we feel we need to maintain that connection. Luckily for Two Brothers food truck the Wenatchee valley is relatively small and offers great coverage for mobile data with most carriers. We would like  to take that a step further and offer a Wi-Fi hot spot as well as charging stations for most devices, we would like to power these items using mainly solar energy to add to the concept of a sustainable culture we are trying to maintain with the business. We understand the importance of technology and social media in the operations of business and how technology can be an aid in our business operations. We plan on focusing our attention on sites like Facebook, Instagram, and other social media outlets to advertise our business which will provide the customer with daily information on specials as well as access to coupon programs we provide. Using social media will provide an outlet for our customers to provide reviews and feedback on our business. Many people feel that bad reviews can hurt a business; we feel that bad reviews provide an opportunity for us to make a new friend and change a process which may harm our business with future guests. Two brothers would also like to develop a smartphone application for iOS and Android which we find is also lacking with many businesses in the Wenatchee valley. This application will also provide instant access to our business as well as letting us track our market. As far as marketing outside of social media we plan to brand our image using items like car clings, bumper stickers, clothing, and sponsorship of local team sports, we feel that the Wenatchee valley is a closely knit tight community and word of mouth and these visual cues will travel fast into making Two Brothers a household name in the Wenatchee valley. Ethical, Legal, and Regulatory Issues Regulatory conditions for mobile food service entities like Two Brothers food truck are rather strict in the Wenatchee valley. We will need to focus on consumer safety within the regards of the regulations put forth by the local health department and maintain or equipment and employee paperwork to remain compliant with these standards. Another important element of the food truck will be a base of operations where we store product and prep for day to day operations. This facility will also have to fall within the guidelines set forth by the health district to ensure food and consumer safety. Two Brothers also plan to offer beer and wine at some point in the future operations of our food truck which is legally allowed in Washington State. We will also have to follow the guidelines set forth by the Liquor Control  Board which are monitoring levels of service, age appropriate clientele, and ensuring on premise consumption only. All of these aspects will be factored into our operational details and regulations will be posted per Washington State RCW’s. Business Model and Strategic Plan Part I The goal is to bring a cross section of favorite foods to the community. Some of these will consist of a local high school favorite the Zombie. The Zombie is fluffy dough stuffed with a variety of meats and cheeses then baked to perfection. Other culinary options will include the popular Cuban sandwich as well as bratwursts, homemade fried chicken, fresh cut fries, and several types of wings and sauces. The goal is to bring in as much locally grown items as well as using local providers for most of our items, keeping it home grown is one of our mottos. We also plan and scratch making as many items as we can to provide the highest quality and freshest product possible, another concept lacking in our town. The goal is to bring the highest quality foods for the most reasonable price that we can. I our idea will be to closely follow what Costco tries to bring to their customers. The goals of Two Brothers food truck are to bring items to customers with little or no access within walking d istance to their locations. We will highlight our operating times to ensure each location we stop at will have ample time to order and receive their items in a fashion congruent with their time frame. We will also provide an â€Å"Order Early† option via text, email, and phone orders so that clients will be able to bypass lines and pick up items whilst on the go. Wenatchee is a smaller mid-size market with many businesses and average options for quick lunch options. Wenatchee offers the same fast food and casual dining as larger cities with a sprinkling of mom and pop restaurants which make up the rest of the options none of which offer high quality ingredients with reasonable pricing structures it is usually either quality or fair price, Two Brothers will accomplish both high quality and fair pricing by operating on volume sales to move business. The plan for Two Brothers is to hand craft all possible food items to cut costs and increase quality of our products because we believe that the more hands something touches through the supply chain the more cost it involves in the end product. This will set us apart from most other options locally and  create an amount of exclusivity of market. What will also help Two Brothers is the relative lack of food trucks within the Wenatchee valley area. We plan to monopolize this fact and create a structure where we remain the top contender with first to market entry with home baked breads, oven roasted meats, and locally grown produce (when available). We will market on our commitment for high quality, price friendly foods which focus on family and togetherness. The vision that I see for the Two Brothers is for it to grow into a family run business with maybe two to three locations in total in the valley, keep it home grown and support the valley by staying true to family, friends, and c ommunity. While the quality and reputation of the establishment are paramount, so is the success of profit. Once I am able to show continued growth and a solid profit margins the possibilities are limitless for expansions. Are good profit margin will also allow for commitments like sponsoring a little league team, giving us a positive public image. The guiding principles or values would be to stay true to myself stay grounded if the business does become a success, and keep my promise to the customers by providing them with fresh food and a fun experience at Two Brothers. The culture of the business reflects my culture and that of my family, and when I say culture I mean that of respecting everyone whom we interact with. We will have a diverse menu because I want a diverse crowd. The social responsibility and ethics would be making sure we only provide fresh ingredients, only buy from the best, and never serve anything that is subpar our internal motto is â€Å"create what you would want to eat.† I will not hesitate to take the opportunity to make things right and apologize on behalf of the business, always treat others the way I want to be treated, and with respect. The business cannot be a success if the mission or vision statement is not only followed but also if the staff and owners do not promote what they inspire. The vision is to have the business grow, but it can do only that if the customers are treated with respect. We as a business must keep our word or promises on the service and products we say we will deliver on. For the business to be successful every promise made must be followed up by not only the owners, but also by staff, and those who we conduct business with Two Brothers. The only way to maintain a competitive advantage over larger chain restaurants, sandwich shops, and fast food joints, is to keep the promise we made in our mission statement,  and continue to stay focused on what is most important, the customer. Strategic Plan Part II: SWOTT Analysis The business world of today the rate of a business succeeding is far outweighed by the rate at which they fail and this needs to be understood when undertaking these endeavors. One of these factors to success or to failure is external factors and how they will work in the operations of a business. In this paper there will be a definition of some external factors for the Two Brothers food truck and how well the business adapts to these factors. We will analyze the supply chain and as well as the operations into consideration along with the identification of other issues and opportunities that may happen. Economic, Legal and Regulatory Forces and Trends One of the biggest driving external forces that can impact my business is the need for people to know where their food is coming from and that it is a good and healthy choice for them. Today’s focus on obesity has many people turning away from the fast food chains like McDonald’s and turning to options like Chipotle for healthier options and knowledge that their food is coming from excellent sources and is handpicked as well as made fresh daily. The Wenatchee Valley is very compact so the ability for people to travel for lunch is easy except the only real options are fast food restaurants dominating a large percentage of the choices. Because these health trends are extremely popular among the many in the valley it is wise to include social factors of healthy living are a huge positive trend for the food trucks fresh philosophy. The active population of the valley is more likely to be health conscious because it is the goal to be in shape and fit with the amount of outdoor recreation in the valley and surrounding areas. Therefore, by eating healthy homemade options provided by the truck, the average Wenatchee resident is a positive external force. Competitive analysis as an external force that we can use to measure the possibility of success or failure or trends which may affect the business. Since the food truck is in the Wenatchee valley and we are known for our agricultural history there is a large population of Hispanics thanks in part to the long history agriculture and the need for skilled labor. Mexican cuisine and  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Taco trucks† are quite prevalent in the area and a different style food truck would be an outlier among the usual fast food chains and the family-owned restaurants. This provides an advantage as the food truck has something new, and different to offer. In addition, the resta urant is mobile and can be available in various areas gives it advantages over restaurants and most other food trucks since most are mainly stationary and no longer mobile. Because the food truck will be in a mobile we can monopolize areas where many people work with the least amount of food options available, we have to cater to them this way and offer a quick high quality option for lunch. The Wenatchee valley also has many spots for tourist exploring attractions of the city and events that could support the food truck. Since the warms temperatures of the valley in the summer and the mild winters, I expect people to at least stop for food or for something to drink year round as well as eventually becoming a destination spot for locals. External technological forces/trends could go either way depending on how the business is opened. First impressions do matter – as much as businesses do not want them too especially in the era of social media. Wenatchee is a smaller town so word of mouth spreads quickly via sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Craigslist so in this situation, it is very important that the food truck makes a strong first impression. Also the local newspaper is a popular source of information to the valley and perhaps some sort of coupon or deal in the newspaper would be a good way to attract residents to the restaurant. Because the written part of paper has its counterpart on the web, online advertising would probably be an attractive option in attracting the many tourists which visit the city all year round. Supply Chains Organizations Impacts Considering the resource logistics for any business, a strong force that can negatively/positively affect the food truck is the cost of transportation of materials. Originally, the plan was to hand pick fresh material daily through local growers and vendors. However, this would be inefficient and extremely expensive. It makes more sense that these material are obtained from a local source which can deliver on a weekly basis. These items should be items that would definitely have to be locally or regionally located because they have to contribute to the buy local stay local theme. For  example, the vegetables would mainly be locally grown within the season and meats locally purchased and regionally harvested while any baked goods would be homemade by us using regionally sourced materials. Identification of Issues or Opportunities Culture is another internal force, which can make the food truck a great and popular option. Having a family-owned business with a small group of friendly employees makes a huge difference in how a local business is perceived. Hiring employees who not relate well with the business owners generally results in employees perform their duties but may not love the business or take part in the enjoyment that the owners may have in operating the business; in other words, these employees will do their job but they will not have the passion that family has operating the business. Generally, the friendly service that customers will receive from the deli will likely be an incentive for them to return again. The feeling should be relaxing enough that customers will want to continue to hang out after their meal if they have the time. Over time, places like these become a sort of â€Å"favorite† hang out for people; this is very similar to how bars become places where people can hangout and relax while socializing and eating. With technology being so prevalent and because this is a tight knit valley, it is expected that people will have want to socialize so providing portable seating will be an important element. Leadership is an essential part of any business and can lead to better efficiency. It’s very important for the business to have a good set of leaders. In a small business situation the leaders should be the owners, there is a sense of warmth and gratitude when being greeted and served by the owners/operators. Sometimes, a customer may ask a certain question that requires a bit of prerequisite knowledge about a certain type of food or product and to answer the question. When the owners are available, and a part of the general operations, that knowledge is passed on the other employees when the owner is serving guests. Good leadership also is integral to making a business run smoothly. There usually has to be someone â€Å"in charge† that can direct people around in case they are lost. In this  case, if an employee is making a certain product and is confused on how to finish it or continue with it, the owner can usually step in and aid in the completion of the product. Therefore, a good leader will run the business in a smooth manner while the lack of a leader can result in the business losing money because of customer dissatisfaction (due to problems such as excessive wait for food, bad service, bad food, etc.) The internal strategy will be to keep consumers pleased and to keep their visit to the food truck memorable so they would want to come there again. Operating the food truck as a fun family oriented business will keep people hopefully wanting to hangout and comeback for that family open arms feel. Possibly providing outdoor games and events will give the customer something to keep them occupied and enjoy their stay. To keep the menu a bit unique, there would be a diversified menu by serving specific options and specials on different days of the week. There would also be incentives provided in the form of discounts, punch cards and options for catering a large group of people, such as parties, weddings or other events. Economic forces and trends that can benefit or work against the food truck are most definitely included the price of oil and prices of raw materials. Because transportation is a must in any business to bring items to the truck and the truck to the clients, rising gas prices will hurt business and cost more. Similarly, a lack of local items in the area will also exacerbate the situation and raise prices of raw materials to be used by the food truck. Nice weather in the summer and good snow in the winter increase the draw of tourism to the valley this would increase the number of potential customers increasing business. In regards to regulatory forces/trends that would affect this business would be the health inspection and how they regulate length of time a certain product is fresh. As an example, if health regulations of food trucks are usually more stringent and regulated than say a brick and mortar business since the food truck has the ability to become mobile and the options of  safe storage of foods is limited more so than the regular restaurant. By not following health procedures and safety, laws would be broken and there would be the risk of the business closing or people being hurt by contaminated foods. Because this is a small food truck business, it would not be too difficult to make changes unless the changes are extreme – like the change corresponding to the reliable sourcing of local goods. Making changes to the menu or making different items is usually just a change in how a certain product is prepared. Because food trucks usually provide food made on premise and is easily adaptable to many items this will not be very difficult if changes needed to be made. However, if people were to ask for particular items or drinks these would have to be purchased and that could take some time for delivery. The food truck is a small scale business; it is easier to apply changes than it is for bigger businesses that may be spread out in several locations. The most recent global issue for most business right now is the price of oil. Gas keeps the trucks moving and the equipment operating whether they are buying items, operating as in cooking food items, or moving from location to location gas is an unavoidable cost and rising prices could pose a threat to the sustainability of the business. Other options of clean energy can be examined to ensure the best operating options for the business. Providing great service seems almost nonsensical as every business strives to do so. Small businesses have to make greater strides in this department. Consistency is the key in order to be consistent a system or process is needed for every detail. When there are definite procedures for the everyday tasks the employees and the customers know what to expect. For instance the opening and closing procedures will have specific tasks and duties every day. This type of consistency will keep a positive momentum. Strategic Plan Part III: Balanced Scorecard The reason an individual opens a business is to be successful and make a profits to provide as their livelihood. My vision and my mission for my  business are to be one of the most popular food trucks in the Wenatchee Valley area. In addition, should be a highly respected business and not just another business serving food. Getting to know the customers on a personal basis and prove friendly service that is appreciable and that leaves customer with a sense of superior service that keeps them coming back. But mostly, the food truck will provide great food that people will enjoy to eat and crave. The vision for the food truck is to see it open and available to travel to multiple locations throughout the Wenatchee Valley so that the entire valley can access the unique options we offer. Because the initial location will be near the main medical facility and high school in the southern part of the valley, it can hold a considerable market share over other restaurants in that area of the valley since no other locations exists. After that the financial perspectives include market share, the vision influences the market share in this way and it allows for enhancement of profitability and the competitive position. More restaurants around the valley use the same supply chain operations that the initial food truck would have, keeping the costs relatively the same. Increasing the number of food trucks would, also help to lower prices of raw materials because the business would be buying larger quantities for more trucks and use volume pricing. This in turn would reduce the cost of spending but would increase the profits. The mission values are to provide great tasting food to a large variety of people of different social groups and to provide great service. To achieve such a goal, it is very necessary that some objectives for customer service and employee satisfaction are put into place. Obviously, the amount of satisfaction that the employees will have will translate to a higher level of service they provide to customers. Therefore, increasing employee satisfaction is a must for the food truck. Stimulating and offering incentives to the employees is a great way to keep them productive. A method of stimulating the employees would be to rotate the duties. A rotation of duties ensures that all of the employees understand the functions of the different stations but they also understand all the cleaning duties as well and knowing each station helps in the overall  understanding of the business. This, in turn, affects their productivity and how they relate to the customers. The satisfied customers, in turn, helped to enhance the customer’s value perspective in areas such as customer retention and customer value. Providing warm, friendly service is an asset to the food truck will have and will set it apart from other options in the valley. An objective that should be maintained is to keep the same level of service and customer satisfaction going throughout time. Ways to measure customer satisfaction is how customers react to the food truck on social media sites such as Facebook and Craigslist or frequency in which they visit. Offering a punch card with a reward is way to measure the frequency that they visit the food truck. Obviously, a majority of people frequenting the food truck signifies that the truck is a popular destination and signifies the mass popularity of the truck. Noticing changes in trends can help an owner to understand where problems may exist. An important strategic objective that should be respected in the organization of the food truck is keeping service quick and without any hassle and maintains a high level of quality and service. To achieve this objective, the food truck needs to, again, maintain a fast and reliable service plan for the company. This requires planning, as the employees need efficiently to produce the product that the customer wants. This is not only encompassing the employee perspective but also the customer service perspective. Popular restaurants usually have a method through which they create menu items in an efficient manner. They create recipes and options on the menu which staff and customers can use to guide their experience and production processes. This orderly method that will be developed is essential for the business to run properly because it reduces the work that the employees do and allows the customer more freedom in choosing how they want their foods prepared as well as options available. In addition, I feel like this will be a necessary feature of the food truck because other restaurant businesses serving food create items from various  ingredients and recipes will also be producing their products in a similar procedure. Therefore, to keep competitive and streamlined to business practices of the industry this method should also be used in the food truck. Designing and building a strategic objective is a crucial element for any business to operate successfully in the world today. Creating a mission statement with clear and defined objectives will help guide the business through their operations and should be looked to consistently to maintain the objectives set forth by the business creators. By doing this the management and operations of the business will be understood and how the business relates in the marketplace and how to operate through growth and handle competitors. A foundation of objectives will maintain the core concept of the business when changes or shifts in the market place occur and when new strategies need to be developed to handle these changes. The foundation of any business operation is the consumer and the major influence on whether they become a customer for life is the employee. These two factors are the direct drivers for any business and their happiness can bring about failure or ensure success. When the mission and core values are established and clear then it becomes easier for these two factors to provide the success businesses need to remain operational and sustainable. Reference Pearce, John A. , & Robinson, Richard B. . (2009). Strategic management. formulation, implementation, and control. United States: McGraw-Hill. Thompson, Arthur A. , Gamble, John E. , & Strickland, A. J. (2006). Strategy: winning in the marketplace: core concepts, analytical tools, cases. United States: McGraw-Hill Companies. MacDonald, Denise. (2008, October 15). Mcdonald’s marketing strategy. We have essays on the following topics that may be of interest to you

The Emergence and development of landscape painting Article

The Emergence and development of landscape painting - Article Example The essay "The Emergence and development of landscape painting" explores landscape painting, its development, and emergence. A painter must capture the actual features of the scenery ensuring the use of appropriate colors among other elements of the art. The art has grown progressively to become a fundamental aspect of nearly every form of painting, landscape painting often form appropriate backgrounds for numerous paintings. Landscape painting has been an integral aspect of panting among other types of art for numerous years. However, the first actual landscape paintings were the frescos developed in Greece around the 1500BCE. Such were a series of paintings that had no human depiction. Besides the frescos, numerous other paintings at the time had depicted natural scenery owing to the importance of nature. Painters captured hunting scenes provided a detailed representation of the natural scenery thus giving rise to landscape painting. Landscape painting thus changed throughout the h istory of art. During such periods as the medieval, the renascence and earlier centuries, numerous artists contributed to the development of the landscape maintaining by adding new twists thus contributing to the development of the contemporary landscape painting. During the medieval times, landscape painting remained a reserve as backgrounds in other paintings. Most painters at the time depicted natural scenery only as part of other paintings. As explained earlier, natural scenery forms appropriate backgrounds for painters.

Sam 489 unit 9 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sam 489 unit 9 - Assignment Example this regard, the 911 commission conducted investigations across the government’s security departments and presented its findings to the then president George Bush (Haddow, Bullock & Coppola, 2011). The major findings/recommendations of the 911 commission were that the security intelligence failed to prevent the attacks. It emerged that the intelligence failed to disclose vital information obtained at the airports, before and after the attacks, to the military and police forces. This is because the commission realized that there were loopholes at the airport when the terrorists accessed the country to execute the attacks (Haddow, Bullock & Coppola, 2011). The commission also found that most of the attackers were Saudi Arabian citizens drawn from the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization. The evidence was derived from video footages obtained from the airport control unit (Felzenberg, 2006). As a result, the commissioners recommended more funding to be added towards the security kitty to enable them to adequately prepare. The Bush administration received grades from the commission on their efforts towards national security. For instance, the Congress performance was low because it failed to mark terrorism as a major policy to handle. The intelligence agencies were also ranked below average because of their failure to liaise with other security department for maximum protection (Haddow, Bullock & Coppola, 2011). It is apparent that the government did not consider threats from Al-Qaeda to be serious and ignored calls for tight security measures along the borders. The report grading also indicated that the citizens should be vigilant by cooperating with the security teams in case of threats or risks in their neighborhoods (Haddow, Bullock & Coppola, 2011). The grading provided a challenge to the US government to design new measures of approach the emergent terrorist extremism. This is because the occurrence of the 911 attacks exposed considerable challenges and

Informative speech on music and marketing or Presentation

Informative on music and marketing - Speech or Presentation Example This era is regarded as techno-oriented era more commonly as digital age therefore the old marketing strategies are not going to work here anymore when there is lesser time consuming, cheap and easily accessible marketing strategies are available through social media. Internet is now hailed as â€Å"â€Å"contemporary society’s great equalizer of social, economical, and political power†, with little cost and immense communication effects (Fox, 2009). Various marketing tactics such as viral marketing are spreading consumer awareness of the product even by masking their names generating their attention and intriguing consumers before even revealing the company’s name. Reverse psychology marketing strategies also create interests and awareness among the consumers by tarnishing the brands (Fox, 2009). Buyers no longer wait for the new marketing information and they are not even paying much attention today. They are more interested in seeking out the desired informat ion in their own ways. The flyers, brochures, TV ads, in transit media etc have become too trivial. On the other hand, asking face book about which novel marketing tactic to use is effective, in which it is mired and there is an ongoing debate for that. Zuberance, a firm, allows its customers to advocate about the company on their favorite social media channels. They are requested to write a review or recommendation about the product that is accessible to the company official website endorsed with customer’s name and spread around his peer network and he actually finds himself as a promoter of the product. Our timings of consuming meals is varying greatly due to work load, late night studies, slumber parties, networking hangouts etc. Many of the U.S restaurants are being triggered due to this changed habit of the people around. Consequently, Big M launched a new marketing tactic of luring and targeting these â€Å"up-high nights† and nocturnal diners with value deals. They extended their closing hours till 2 a.m. Furthermore, they also started offering mid night deals on Night Hunger menu with Buffalo wings from Thursday till Saturday. Almost all the restaurants are targeting the Nighters with their light night menus where serving the â€Å"Nighters† has now become a niche. Another significant marketing tactic was used by Target (Big Data) which identified the pregnant ladies before anyone. Target conducted an exclusive and extensive research on the shopping habits of the pregnant females for example when they purchase vitamins, see the couples and kids, and many more. They utilized this research and started sending the valuable coupons to those they had identified as â€Å"pregnant†. A father of a girl who had been receiving such coupons complained about these annoying coupons but later on discovered that he was unaware that her daughter was pregnant but they knew it. So it is a cliche now which says, â€Å"All stores will be doin g this, and all governments will be doing this. Your doctor will do this. Your employer will do this. This is the new norm† (NPR STAFF) Another very amusing tactic is how Google tracks the flu. Google never wastes or ignores any of its searches stores every bit of the searches. Google used to scribble over the searches screening them with intent to look for those searches from the database that were either a likely predictor or related to the outbreak of flu collecting from certain various regions of America. The seasonal flu outbreaks is reported by CDC, â€Å"

Interactive Listening Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Interactive Listening - Research Paper Example This means that the listener should make sure that the speaker speaks at a speed that could not hinder his understanding. He should also ensure that the speaker uses understandable explanations and makes repetition when necessary. According to Stitt (2004), the three major techniques for effective interactive listening are paraphrasing, acknowledging emotions, and asking clarifying questions. Paraphrasing is trying to state the content spoken by the speaker in one’s own words. When the ideas spoken by the speaker are paraphrased, the listener tries to understand them in his own context. This would promote understanding and alertness of the listener. The interactive listening technique of acknowledging emotions involves use of actions like nodding by the listener to show whether he understands or not. This technique could be very appropriate especially to shy listeners who are unable to react verbally to ideas spoken by the speaker. The other interactive listening technique involves asking the speaker to clarify his ideas if you do not understand them. This technique gives the listener a chance to react verbally to what he is hearing, which can promote his understanding of the ideas spoken by the speake r. This week, we have learned several ideas that can help promote a communication as well as enhancing communication abilities. Among the ideas, the one that I did not know before is the idea of accommodating cultural differences in a communication. As Samovar, Porter & McDaniel (2009, p. 353) state, â€Å"communication competence requires more than just opening the door for listener-speaker dialogue.† This is because communication takes place in culturally diverse settings. Individuals in such settings have several cultural differences that result to factors that could hinder communication. However, if the cultural differences are accommodated, then the factors

Business Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business Research - Essay Example Speaking in the terms of economics we need to strengthen first the factors of production to set up a new venture namely land, labour, capital and organization; be it either service oriented or manufacture based or even trading. The first and foremost necessity is the project with clear layers of strategic growth. One has to acquire land that covers building and machinery for the initiation. After the acquisition of the land, the entrepreneur has to move on proper legal documentation such as â€Å"Registration of the Firm†. Once the registration is done furnishing its source of fund, annual estimated turn over, chain of man power and delegation of responsibilities we can precede further. Then it is important needs to the source of raw materials that have to be procured from the possible cheapest region with the lowest cost of transportation. Eventually we need a clear road map to market our product. Thus, every entrepreneur set the bridge of profit across the flow of the possib le consumers.

Reaction to the Movie Passion of the Christ Essay

Reaction to the Movie Passion of the Christ - Essay Example (The Making of The Passion of the Christ, 2003). As a believer in Jesus Christ and the Bible, I fully understand the miracle of how this movie beat all odds and logic to be aired in such a controversial world that is against anything that is Christian and Godly. Its production, its airing, its rating, everything surpassed logic. To me, it was God-ordained and inspired as only a very famous and well-liked celebrity such as Gibson, one with so much influence, could be chosen (by God) to get the job done. If I were an "ordinary" person, it would probably not have passed all objections. Not only this, but Gibson funded it with his own money so it did not need the approval and funds of anyone else. A movie with this much violence with an R-rating would normally cause parents to not allow their children to view and a movie about religion, a specific religion (Christianity), no less, would definitely not bring in the masses.

Ellen DeGeneres and her importance in the Gay Community Essay

Ellen DeGeneres and her importance in the Gay Community - Essay Example It also tries to explore her importance in the GBLT history and understands the various persuasive techniques that she used in her struggle for gay rights. Ellen DeGeneres: An Introduction Ellen DeGeneres, who was born in 1958 in Louisiana has played an important role bringing issues related to LGBT rights to the forefront so that they get appropriate media and political attention. As a stand up comedian, DeGeneres made a large number of appearances on very popular TV shows such as, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Oprah Winfrey Show (Biography, n.d). This increased her popularity and very soon, she appeared in a sitcom, which was called Ellen (1997), where she used her character, Ellen to come out to the public. At the same time, she also publicly declared her homosexuality on the Oprah Winfrey show. Post her coming out in public, the show Ellen faced a lot of criticism because acknowledging homosexuality openly was not common in the United States during the late 1990s. In fac t, DeGeneres is regarded as the first lead case of a show who acknowledged the fact that she was a lesbian on air (Biography, n.d). Because of that, some of the affiliates that were associated with the channel ABC on which Ellen aired, refused to air the particular episode of the show. Furthermore, some of the sponsors associated with the show also withdrew their support (Biography, n.d). After the main character came out as a homosexual, there were many episodes which followed the same track and continued that way until the season got over. Due to this, both the show and the channel received strong criticism. However, Ellen's performance was critically acclaimed and won her an Emmy award (Foley, 2007). In addition, it also received immense support from the gay community all across the United States. In spite of these, the show was canceled within a years time. In the meantime, DeGeneres had gained enough popularity and became a common face in both the television industry as well as the movie industry. Due to her popularity, she began her own show known as the 'The Ellen DeGeneres' show which ran over 10 seasons (Foley, B. (2007). Ellen DeGeneres. Wmagazine 36(3), 496–501. ). In addition, she also hosted the Academy Awards, became a judge on the popular show American Idol, acted in movies and wrote books. She is often considered to be one of the best role models for the LGBT community in the United States (Foley, B. (2007). Ellen DeGeneres. Wmagazine 36(3), 496–501. ). Role of Ellen DeGeneres in GBLT history, community, or social movements It is a given fact that involvement of celebrities and public figures with regards to social movement has an impact on resource mobilization and constructing a collective identity (Barber, 2012). The fact that the celebrity is in the public eye gives much more importance to the issues that they highlight and hence, deeply influence the causes that they join or start. This is because the involvement or participa tion of a celebrity results in attention from the mass media and increases participation from their supporters. Hence, the celebrities can provide a high level of visibility to any event or social cause that they participate in (Bird et al, 2011). Ellen DeGeneres also used her popularity and her status as a public figure to raise issues that were relevant and important to the LGBT community. During the 1990s, the homosexual community found it a big

The role of the tutor in the Lifelong Learning Sector Essay Example for Free

The role of the tutor in the Lifelong Learning Sector Essay There are many facets to the role of the tutor within this diverse learning sector and the responsibility and commitment required from the tutor is of the highest. Analysis of the role of the tutor needs to start firstly with†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ the tutor! Although qualified to deliver material on a specialised subject, to teach that subject effectively requires strong personal commitment from the tutor. The tutor needs to be committed to a path of delivering excellence in all areas to the pupils and this can only be achieved if the tutor sets high standards in the first place. This is so important as to be quoted in the overarching standards document introduced by Lifelong Learning UK in 2007 titled â€Å"New professional standards for teachers, tutors and trainers in the lifelong learning sector, Domain A: professional standards and practice† (LLUK2007, pg3). Page 2 To achieve high standards in their own personal work, a tutor must be prepared to maintain a programme of continual professional development enabling continual learning to take place within their own subject matter and the peripheries of that subject. This ensures that only the most up to date information is conveyed to the pupils and maintains relevancy in the latest subject matter. However, â€Å"The key purpose of the teacher is to create effective and stimulating opportunities for learning through high quality teaching that enables the development and progression of all learners. † (LLUK 2007, pg2) and it is within this statement that three key words exist: effective, stimulating and development. The tutor needs to be mindful of these words when constructing, creating, delivering a lesson and especially when assessing the outcomes of a lesson. Tutors are required to deliver curriculum based lessons and as such need to be able to formulate the art form that delivers quality teaching that encompasses relevant material, a delivery methodology, a means of assessing the learning and all done in such a way that measures the value of the learning. Lifelong learning pupils are extremely diverse and as such will require different teaching methods such as visual, auditory, kinaesthetic methods and all these different styles may even be required in one class. Petty (2004, p141) clearly suggests that ‘Student learning styles can be categorised in a number of ways. However, it is now thought that all students can learn in all these learning styles, and the more learning styles each learner experiences the better. ’ although later research has cast some doubt on Petty’s statements. All of this must be done whilst ensuring that every pupil feels they are treated as individuals, certainly without favouritism or discrimination. (This is a professional teaching requirement, supported by Gravels (2008) and made a requirement by the Institute for Learning (IfL) 2008. A tutor understands how to engage with each of their pupils at whatever level of teaching is relevant to that one individual, facilitating the pupil’s progress through the learning and measuring the outcomes to gauge pupil’s understanding. Measuring outcomes may be a relatively simple process done through a simple scoring system based on the number of correct answers and whilst being objective, doesn’t always show that the pupil understands the material, just they can answer questions or pass a test. So a tutor needs to be able to measure in different ways, both objectively and subjectively and this may lead to different formats of teaching and flexibility within the learning process. Now we need to look at the second part of the equation – the pupil. The prime key to a pupil’s learning is motivation and desire to achieve and a successful tutor is able to capitalise on this to allow the pupil to achieve. This was echoed by Reece and Walker who said â€Å"Motivation is a key factor to successful learning. A less able student who is highly motivated can achieve greater success that the more intelligent student who is not well motivated†. (Reece Walker, 1997. p96). In summary a pupil may be likened to an empty book with blank pages waiting to be filled and it is a symbiotic relationship between the pupil desire to succeed and the tutor’s ability to develop interesting and engaging teaching that creates the successful outcome, in other words a moving art form!

Security Assessment Essay Example for Free

Security Assessment Essay Directions: Choose one of the Facts for Consideration sections from Ch. 3 of the text and list the page number for the section you chose. Then, complete the following table. List five threats appropriate to the environment from the section you chose. Rate the risk for each threat from 0 (low) to 10 (high). Then, list five appropriate countermeasures. Once you complete the table, write a brief explanation of the countermeasures for the two threats with the highest risk total, stating how the countermeasure reduces the risk associated with that threat. Transport should be equipped with a thick metal cage surrounding area inmates are in. Inmates should be contained also with shackles on hands and feet. Property damage and or personal harm All inmates, shackled together or not, need to have shackles anchored to sturdy eyebolts welded into floor to maintain limited movement. Escape during bathroom breaks Armed guard escort to restroom from transport, armed escort to transport, with remaining guard still on transport. Inmates relieves themselves under armed surveillance, with door open at all times. No civilians allowed near inmates, or bathrooms during the inmate’s bathroom breaks and guards must inspect bathrooms thoroughly before and after leaving restrooms. Extra guards in escort cars should help in this process to maintain security. Escape through windows or vents All windows and vents should be secured outside of the cage surrounding the inmates, armed guard should be in transport at all times, regardless of the guard, a head count should be done before and after all stops. Escape through outside resources. Limit all contact between prisoner and outside contacts prior to transport, restrict prisoners’ knowledge of schedule for transport. Two armed guards on transport, not counting driver. Two security cars, with two armed guards in each car, following transport. One car leading transport, with two armed guards. Cameras with audio on transport, communication between transport and escorts at all times. In my assessment, I chose to evaluate the article of the prisoner escape from prisoner transport. I need to assess the importance of securing the vehicle to establish the safety of the inmates, the security personnel, the driver, and all citizen’s in and around the route. I determined that one threat that is a high probability is physical assault. I can determine this on a few different areas which is why I gave it a criticality of 7. If a prisoner were caught escaping a fight would ensue, if the prisoner were seen by a bystander, physical harm could come from the interaction, or if the prisoner got a hold of a weapon, he could become too brave instead of just running. My thought of countermeasures are that the transport should have a strong metal cage separating the inmates from the guards; furthermore, the inmates should be shackled, hands and feet, with a sturdy chain running from wrist shackles to ankle shackles. This should be restrictive to eliminate excess movement on the prisoner’s part. The prisoners are being transported to facilities better equipped to deal with them, not to go to a spa; therefore their comfort is less important. The next strong threat factor is through  outside resources. This could happen in many ways. Since the inmates that are generally on these types of transports are considered dangerous, security measures must be made to ensure no contact with anyone on the outside for a period of time prior to transport and should have no knowledge of transport date. This could help prevent communicating with someone on routes, times, or any other knowledge that could be given to organize a breakout. There should be at least two, or more, armed guards in the transport with the prisoner’s and driver at all times. This would allow rest as well as backup. There should be at least two cars following the transport to ensure the transport is not ambushed easily. There should be two armed guards in each car. Another car with two armed guards should escort the transport. Finally, open lines of contact should be in place between all guards at all times, either via a system installed on the bus or through ear pieces and microphones. Having all guards in constant communication can prevent many problems from arising; because, one guard may see something another does not, and there are extra hands in case of trouble should the inevitable happen. The assessment I have provided, while requiring extra manpower, makes sense to me in the fact that this type of transport is moving dangerous cargo. The object of security in this matter is not to provide comfort, but to provide an extra measure of protection for the inmates, driver, guards, and civilians alike.

Environmental Impacts: The Fashion And Textile Industry

Environmental Impacts: The Fashion And Textile Industry This report aims to understand the social and environmental impacts of the Fashion and textile industry, and the Sustainability challenges in the industry. The main focus of our work is on finding innovative solutions. However, first it is important to understand the issues. We have observed that there has been a lot of commotion revolving around fair trade fashion and new niche clothing labels emerging. We need to make sustainable clothing mainstream, for which there are some aspects of the industry that need to be tackled. Key issues in this regard are: Consumption the increasing number of fashion goods being purchased and disposed of Cotton production requires lots of energy, water and pesticides. Working conditions across the supply chain from cotton production to factories. Unsustainable man-made fibres can take longer to degrade Throughout this report we focus on ways for moving towards sustainable fashion. The sustainable garment should be designed carefully and made from renewable material. It would be pesticide free and produced by workers in decent working conditions. It would be washed at low temperatures and have fashion upgrades to extend its life. Recycle, Reuse or Compost. To make this vision a reality, the headline issues are: Raising awareness among the key industry players. There needs to be a common understanding within the industry of the scenario- the sustainability issues that need to be focussed on. Transparent supply chains should be developed. Brands and retailers should be able to trace the origins of their stock. This will ensure they can enforce high standards of sustainability. International standards need to be reviewed and developed. This will help in creating a common ground so that brands and retailers can differentiate on other issues for example fabrics used, design etc. Training and support should be provided along the supply chain. As well as a fair price and terms of trade, suppliers need support, time, encouragement and incentives to convert to sustainable practices. Empowering consumer An important driving demand for sustainable clothing. Research shows that most of the carbon footprint of an item of clothing tends to be in its washing, ironing and tumble-drying. Raising awareness to change behaviour will make a big impact. Designers are crucial in the success of sustainable fashion. They play a key role in coming up with innovative solutions for clothing, and making ethical fashion appeal to the target consumer ensuring it is in vogue, functional and stylish. Contents Introduction This report aims to draw a line in the sand for Primark to be able to move forward and seize opportunities. Primark and (un)sustainability Primark, the clothing industry, is challenged with the cycle of unsustainability. The relationship between productivity and resource use has entered into a lasting and unsustainable pattern. The lifecycle of any common item of clothing are shown below. There are social, environmental and economic impacts at every stage. Research shows that energy use at the usage phase overlaps that of any other stage so focusing on how we care for our clothes will have a significant impact. Having said that, impacts can be reduced at every stage. Why is Primark clothing unsustainable? The social and environmental factors are poorly considered in clothing and this becomes very complicated. But there are two main factors that have mainly pushed the sector towards unsustainability. One is the high street dynamic. High competition has been blamed on driving costs and standards down. And fast fashion changes means that clothing has become more disposable. The other is the complex and opaque global supply chain. Primark has different stages of production, often taking place in different parts of the world. Retailers can either purchase clothing directly from known suppliers or through agents and vendors. Before doing that, most fabrics (wool, cotton etc.) are bought on global commodity markets. Keeping track of items can be difficult in high stock turnover. To identify and ensure standards of sustainability throughout the supply chain, Primark should know the origins of their materials or stock. These challenges hold the key to creating a more sustainable industry. We are seeing some mainstream that primark embrace more sustainable options such as organic or fair trade products- and reap the benefits. Better traceability of the supply chain will allow Primark to procure more ethically and will allow customers to make more informed choices. Findings Fashion fabrics: producing natural fabrics sustainably The issues à ¢-  Pesticide use in growing cotton à ¢-  GM- Genetic modification à ¢-  Water use à ¢-  Fair conditions and prices for growers Clothes these days are made with a combination of wide range of Natural, man-made and synthetic fabrics. The sustainable impact of all types of fabric need to be managed and, where harmful to people and planet, should be reduced. Cotton as is by far the largest single fibre in production. The global demand for this amount of cotton, cheaply, encourages large scale, intensive production. Cotton fibres are blended from different origins around the world and sold on commodity markets and hence tracing the origins is very difficult. This complexity in the supply chain makes the incorporation of sustainability more of a challenge. Pesticides cause serious health problems to the cotton workers, and degrades the soil and also Biodiversity loss. Cotton needs a lot of water to be grown which is why it is called a Thirsty crop. This is made even worse by poor agricultural practices, where in some cases over 10 tonnes of water are used to grow enough cotton to make 1 pair of jeans The impact of this level of water use can be gigantic. Also cotton provides significant employment to local population and has a lot of economic benefits to the developing countries that produce it. What are the solutions? Naturally grown raw materials: They should be produced to the highest standards. While organic cotton production is still less than 1 percent of total cotton production, it is in increasing demand in the many developed countries. Water efficiency: Special reference to cotton production (including organic), is important. When Water havesting and drip irrigation are combined, Irrigated cotton can be very efficient. Labelling Country of Origin: There are calls for labelling, so that consumers can make an informed choice, and this creates more awareness of the social and environmental issues in that country. This would also allow retailers to control their supply chain. This also requires direct relationship with suppliers. Search for a substitute: Substitute cotton for other natural materials can be an overall solution Fashion workforce The issues à ¢-  Working conditions à ¢-  Human rights à ¢-  Boycotts à ¢-  Supplier audit fatigue Just like major global cloth producers, primark clothing industry has re-located much to low-cost economies, where labour costs are lower. The working conditions and human rights have forced to show concerns that many trade unions and NGOs may not have been maintained in some regions of the world, giving rise to what are referred to as sweatshops. The Textile workers in Bangladesh are working at as low as 5pence an hour for Primark, according to a recent study. This is largely due to workers being prevented from forming and joining trade unions. Poor treatment of labour can include people working for unreasonably low wages, excessive hours or overtime, in dangerous conditions and employing child workers. Boycotts can upset the production cycle and can damage the brand, the staff morale, and retention of both cuonsumers and employees, and to a very large extent sales and share prices. High street working conditions is a concern. Primark is a victim of Audit fatigue as they get to asked to fill in multiple questionnaire from different retailers and brands. Even if supply chains can be traced, the auditing, monitoring and enforcement of standards is often weak. Just being compliant is complex for suppliers. What are the solutions? Raising standards: The UK government took a lead and has set up the Ethical Trading Initiative in 1998.This organisation includes trade unions, NGOs and companies who work together improve working conditions. Membership only shows a commitment to addressing the issues but not a proof of actual standards. In addition, some companies have adopted the SA8000 standard which covers many aspects of working conditions. Many fashion retailers and brands have called to come together and draw up regulations to enforce minimum standards to draw a baseline for competition. This helps in real leaders to seize opportunities to seize more.To date 968 facilities have been certified worldwide. Transparency: Transparency is very crucial. Retailers and brands now include information on how they assess and how many they have conducted and what actions they have taken in their annual corporate social responsibility (CSR) / sustainability reports. Support for suppliers is the solution to help combat audit fatigue and improve conditions along the supply chain. There are various tools like the e-textile box are emerging that provide suppliers with the manual to be able to adhere with various different codes. The website provides guidance on setting up very basic management systems like how to measure water use. It explains the business benefits for improving social and environmental performance. Retailers, at the top of the supply chain, often have the power to encourage social and environmental good practice through: à ¢-  fair pricing policies Ensuring fair prices for producers à ¢-  lobbying Encourage suppliers to clean up the acts by lobbying for other incentives à ¢-  longer term commitments with suppliers Remove barriers by working together à ¢-  country of origin labelling- Support small suppliers by labelling country of origin on garments, à ¢-  Auditing garment suppliers and reducing this approach down to fabric, dye house and component suppliers paying particular attention to key points of production including any outsourcing or home working Global fashion markets and trade The issues à ¢-  Subsidies and quotas à ¢-  Price pressures à ¢-  Fair pay along the supply chain The reason to issue subsidies and quotas is to protect the domestic players and also to limit economic impact. This is mainly to protect the players from Free Market that would over whelm them. to prevent the sudden closure of critical industries in poor economies, free-trade is introduced it is clear that transitions need to be handled responsibly. As with most industries that involve long supply chains there are concerns over distribution of profits. The chart shows that besides production occurring mostly outside the UK, the largest gross profit throughout the clothing supply chain is for the retailer. This reflects the high costs of operating in the UK but also raises questions over fair pay further down the supply chain. What are the solutions? Lifting subsidies will help counter the downward pressure on price. Incentives should be given to command higher prices that may come from improving fibre quality Quality control in harvesting and efforts to improve the grade of cotton sent to market. Reflect the terms of trade between buyer and seller through Fair Trade standards which exist through International Fair Trade Association (IFAT). Fashion consumption: Disposal The issues à ¢-  Unsustainable consumption à ¢-  Recycle Clothes which are ending up in landfill Clothing has become increasingly affordable for everyone, and especially over the last two decades. Retailers have cashed on this affordability by shifting away from seasonal collections to fresh collections throughout the year. Because of much lower unit costs retailers have to sell significantly more product in order to maintain levels of turnover and market share. The success of retailers and brands currently demands an increase in volumes of clothing and apparel.. Increasing amounts of clothing is ending up in landfill when it could be recycled or reused. What are the solutions? Raising awareness- show the impact of clothing disposal and making recycling as easy as possible. Include promoting clothing hire and other entrepreneurial solutions. Take care of the easy ways to win, by reusing coat hangers and carrier bags and reducing packaging waste. In the longer term, government / industry could develop a producer responsibility policy where customers can take used clothing back to where they bought it to be disposed of in the most appropriate way. Conclusions These issues are inter-related and need to be considered in the wider economic context. Integration of the clothing industry, regulators, designers, the recycling industry and consumers need to work together to deliver these improvements so that we can continue to enjoy fashion without damaging the environment and people; industry can thus be productive and gain economic sustainability. Recommendations

The Human Brain Vs. The Computer :: essays research papers

The Human Brain vs. the Computer   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Over the millennia, Man has come up with countless inventions, each more ingenious than the last. However, only now, as the computer arises that mankind's sentience itself is threatened. Ridiculous, some may cry, but I say look about you! The computer has already begun to hold sway over so many of the vital functions that man has prided himself upon before. Our lives are now dependent upon the computer and what it tells you. Even now, I type this essay upon a computer, fully trusting that it will produce a result far superior to what I can manage with my own to hands and little else.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It has been commonly said that the computer can never replace the human brain, for it is humans that created them. Is this a good reason why the computer must be inferior to humans? Is it always true that the object cannot surpass its creator? How can this be true? Even if we just focus on a single creation of man, say the subject of this essay, the computer, there are many ways in which the computer has the edge over man. Let us start with basic calculation. The computer has the capability to evaluate problems that man can hardly even imagine, let alone approach. Even if a man can calculate the same problems as a computer, the computer can do it far faster than he can possibly achieve. Let us go one step further. Say this man can calculate as fast as a computer, can he, as the computer can, achieve a 100% rate of accuracy in his calculation? Why do we now go over the human data entry into a computer when a mistake is noticed instead of checking the computer? It is because computers now possess the ability to hold no error in its operation, where mankind has not advanced in this area in any noticeable margin. Why do you think the words 'human error' and 'to err is human' have become so popular in recent years? It is because the failings of the human race are becoming more and more exposed as the computer advances and becomes more and more omnipotent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Perhaps the computer is not truly a competitor with the human brain but rather its ideal. After all, the computer is far superior to the human brain in those aspects where the brain is weakest. It is perhaps the attempt of the human brain to attain perfection after realising its own weaknesses. If you think about it carefully, do those who use the computer not use it supplement

Attending a Speech on Brown versus Board of Education -- Linda Brown C

The Brown Sisters Revisited Five weeks ago I made my way through the atrocious March weather to Foellinger auditorium to hear the sisters whose name introduces the landmark case of 1954 which began the uphill process of integration. On that chilly March day, Linda Brown and Cheryl Brown Henderson spoke to a crowd of about five-hundred consisting of students, faculty and local citizens. The sisters addressed the assembly consecutively, Linda Brown being the first to speak. Their topics ranged from their first-hand memories of the case to their continuing efforts to fight for equal education through their efforts with the Brown Foundation. The familiarity of the Brown decision became a little easier to grasp after seeing this marquee event of the Brown v. Board of Education jubilee celebration. I first heard of the Brown decision in elementary school. For four years I attended a progressive Montessori school in my hometown of St. Paul, MN. The school had an enrollment smaller than most of my lectures here at the University. My teacher for those four years was a seventy year old woman named Joan who to this day I revere as the best educator I had besides my parents. Joan had more intelligence than most college professors and more social consciousness than a human rights activist. In February of my first grade year, roughly twelve years before the Brown sisters’ presentation at Foellinger, Joan loaded up the Civil Rights movement film strip. After lunch and recess, the lessons usually revolved around a video or a film strip. Afternoon instruction topics ranged from early Greek art to the Theory of Relativity and everything in between. Often the antiquated film strip machine would break and w... ...le girl had helped change the way America thought about race relations. I learned the emotions, the dialogue and the family ties that facilitated the early movement. These were things that even Joan, bless her heart, could not teach me. One cannot learn the inside details and feelings of those who went through such tumultuous times and rode the waves of a sea of change. Usually when I am assigned to do something outside of school I don’t get much learning out of the assignment. But this assignment proved invaluable to my understanding of the Civil Rights movement and I am in debt to the educational powers that be for requiring me to go. Would I go see this speech without the required assignment? The answer unfortunately is no. I have come to realize over my years of education that it is the events outside of school in which one learns the most.

The Benefits of Genetic Engineering Essay -- Genetic Engineering Resear

Outline I. Thesis statement: The benefits of genetic engineering far outweigh its potential for misuse. II. Genetic Engineering A. Definition of Genetic Engineering. (#6) B. Who invented Genetic Engineering Gregor Mendel (Christopher Lampton #7) Thomas Hunt Morgan (Christopher Lampton #7) III. Benefits of Genetic Engineering A. Genetic Screening (Laurence E. Karp #4) B. Gene Therapy (Renato Dulbecco #6) C. Cloning D. Genetic Surgery (Christopher Lampton #7) E. Benefits in Agriculture (David Pimentel and Maurizio G. Paoletti #2) IV. Potential Problems A. Ethics-playing God. B. What can be considered a disease or not. C. Mutant Army V. Arguments Against Problems A. Creation is a gift. B. All technologies have potential for abuse. C. Already unlocked "genetic genie" cannot put back into bottle. D. Laws to regulate genetics. E. Genetic Engineering can be used for so many good things. (restate benefits) VI. Closing Statements A. Though genetic engineering has potential for abuse, with tight control, the abuse can be minimized and the benefits can still be reaped from it. Genetic engineering is a quite volatile topic these days. On the one side, people are screaming about how people are "playing God" and the potential for disaster, and on the other side people are screaming about the vast potential for good that it has. But how can anyone make a decision if most of those people do not even know what genetic engineering is? The man who perhaps started this genetic revolution was a humble Augustinina... ...hether one likes it or not. Works Cited Mabie, Margot C.J. Bioethics &the New Medical Technology . New York: Athenium, 1993 Pimentel, David and Paoletti, Maurizio G., "Genetic Engineering in Agriculture and the Environment," Bioscience Oct. 1996. CD-ROM. UMI-Proquest. Jan. 1997 Wilson, Jim, "Finding New Wonder Drugs," Popular Mechanics Oct. 1996. CD-ROM. UMI- Proquest. Jan. 1997 Karp, Laurence E. Genetic Engineering: Threat or Promise? . Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1976 Lampton, Christopher. Gene Technology, Confronting the Issues . New York: Athenium, 1995 Dulbecco, Renato. "Gene Therapy," UNESCO Courier . Sep. 1994. CD-ROM. UMI-Proquest. Jan. 1997 "What is genetic engineering?" (16 Apr. 1996). http://www.aba.asn.au/leaf2.html (24 Jan. 1997) Marsa, Linda. "Edible Vaccines: Enhancing the benefits of nature," Omni Sep. 1994. CD- ROM. UMI-Proquest. Jan. 1997

Why Homework Is Bad

For decades, teachers have delegated homework to students. The purpose of homework is to discover if students understand the material well enough to complete an assignment on their own. Yet, is homework really helping kids or hurting them? From teachers’ point of view, homework is helpful to get an idea of how well students understand the material. On the other hand, from the parents’ and students’ point of view, homework is extremely stressful and time-consuming. I believe that homework doesn’t help students and may actually be hurting them.First, homework isn't helping kids as they rarely have time to get outside and be active. Without time to get outside and exercise, more and more kids are being diagnosed with ADHD and obesity. They don’t get to have fun and let out energy so when they are at school for seven hours a day they have a harder time concentrating. This has become a growing problem with middle and high school students as many schools have taken out physical education from the school schedule.When kids get home, they won’t have time for exercise if they have hours of homework waiting for them. Second, kids are only kids once and need time to do what they want. They need creative outlets for their personal interests, like music, drama, and sports. If kids have no time to do what they want, are they going to be happy? Of course not! If they aren't happy, will they try their best in school? Doubtful. When tired kids get overwhelmed with work, they block out or miss important information in the classroom.Then, they don’t have what they need to know for their homework and what about that test next week in Spanish class? Are they going to get a good grade on that? No! Not completing homework has a domino effect. When the teacher explains tonight's homework and stressed kids don’t get it, let’s just say, â€Å"It’s going to be a very long night! † Kids can get so upset over home work; it doesn’t only affect the child but also the parents. Wouldn’t life be so much easier without homework? A third reason that homework doesn’t help is that children are growing and need more sleep.Now that homework has become a huge part of a child's night, it is still being done late into the night. Most kids are getting less than seven hours of sleep. If kids don't get a good night’s sleep, how do parents and teachers expect them to do their best in school? When kids are tired, they are more likely to get overwhelmed and stressed. If exhausted, do you think their work is going to be quality? No! Doing poorly on homework impacts kids’ grades. Homework has become something that children stress over every night. Let’s put it this way, homework is not helping.It is causing more kids to get diagnosed with ADHD and obesity since they don’t have the time to just get outside and play in the bright, sunny outdoors . Because they have ho mework piling up, they have less time to just be kids and do what they want. Also, kids don’t get enough sleep with so much homework every night! Think about what life would be like without homework. The world would be a better place and kids would be doing so much better in school. Have you ever thought about the fact that children spend most of their day doing school related things? Does homework still seem like a good idea? ?

Meaning of Life and Fast Lane Essay

Good coop, bad coop situation. leave well enough alone | let well enough alone Meaning: If you leave well enough alone, or let well enough alone, you don’t try to improve or change something that’s already good enough. For example: The kids seem happy enough now so let’s just leave well enough alone and forget about finding a new school for them.? skate on thin ice- Meaning: If you’re skating on thin ice, you’re doing something risky, or you’re in a situation that could quickly become dangerous. Jockey for position- Meaning: If you jockey for position, you try to get yourself in a good position in relation to others who’re competing for the same opportunity or the same goal. let the cat out of the bag – Meaning: If you let the cat out of the bag, you let someone know a secret. You could have knocked me over with a feather. – Meaning: You can say â€Å"you could have knocked me over with a feather† to show how surprised you were when something happened, or when you heard about something. add fuel to the fire If you add fuel to the fire, you do something to make a bad situation even worse. ahead of the game You are ahead of the game if you have an advantage over your competitors in any activity in which you try to do better than others, such as in business, academia, sports, etc. all the rage Informal If something is all the rage, it’s very popular or it’s in fashion at the moment. asking for trouble If someone is asking for trouble, they’re doing something risky that could lead to a problem. itchy feet Informal If you have itchy feet, you feel the need to go somewhere different or do something different. in the long run If you talk about something â€Å"in the long run†, you mean over a long period of time. At cross-purposes If you’re at cross-purposes with someone, you think you’re both talking about the same thing but you’re actually talking about different things. at loose ends If you’re at loose ends, you feel restless and unsettled because you don’t have anything to do. a blessing in disguise You can say something is a blessing in disguise if it appears to be bad at first, but it results in something very good in the end. back to square one If you have to go back to square one, you have to stop and start again, usually because something isn’t working as well as expected. bite your tongue | hold your tongue If you bite your tongue, or hold your tongue, you force yourself not to say something you really want to to say. the icing on the cake | the frosting on the cake If something is the icing on the cake, or the frosting on the cake, it makes a good situation or a good result even better. joie de vivre If you have joie de vivre, you feel the joy of living. make hay while the sun shines If you make hay while the sun shines, you make good use of the chance to do something while it lasts. Fast friends good, loyal friends. The two of them had been fast friends since college. See also: friend fast one a clever and devious trick. (Compare this with pull a fast one. ) That was a fast one. I didn’t know you were so devious. This was the last fast one like that you’ll ever catch me with. life in the fast lane a very active or possible risky way to live. (See also in the fast lane. ) Life in the fast lane is too much for me. See also: lane, life make short work of something to deal with or finish something quickly We made short work of the food that was put in front of us. fast and furious if an activity is fast and furious, it is done quickly and with a lot of energy The first half of the game was fast and furious with both teams scoring three goals each. Ngn av dessa till din story a queer fish Meaning: If someone’s a queer fish, they are a bit strange and can sometimes behave in an unusual way. For example:Your great grandfather was a queer fish, Johnny. He used to write funny poems and then he’d read them aloud to everyone on the train on his way to work let the cat out of the bag Meaning: If you let the cat out of the bag, you let someone know a secret. For example: We’d planned a surprise party for Donna, but some guy she works with let the cat out of the bag, so now she knows.? Don’t forget that this is a secret, so whatever you do, don’t let the cat out of the bag.? †There? s an elephant in the room† – Meaning: If you make a killing, you make a lot of money from a sale or a deal of some sort. For example: My aunt made a killing when she bought some shares in a company as soon as they were issued, and sold them a few weeks later for three times what she paid.? Lots of people made a killing when property values went so high back in the nineties. †Bark is worse than his bite†, †put your money where your mouth is† – prove it.. alot of not air? all hell broke loose Meaning: You can say â€Å"all hell broke loose† if a situation suddenly became violent or chaotic. Bad news travels fast ’ â€Å"Bad news† means news about â€Å"bad† things like accidents, death, illness etc. People tend to tell this type of news quickly. But â€Å"good news† (passing an exam, winning some money, getting a job etc) travels more slowly. Least said soonest mended Possible interpretation: When we do or say something bad to someone, a long apology and discussion does not help. In such a case, the less we say the better. It’s written all over your face. If you say â€Å"it’s written all over your face†, you’re saying that the expression on someone’s face is showing their true feelings or thoughts. Group 20 ENOUGH IS ENOUGH Words Relating to More Than Enough (did you get it? ) ample copious lavish myriad plethora profuse prolific superfluous surfeit Memory tips: use these mnemonics (memory devices) to boost your vocabulary. Make up your own memory clues for words in this lesson that are personally challenging. Add these tips-and your own-to your Vocabulary Notebook. Copious let yourself see the word copies within copious, and think â€Å"lots of copies. † Certainly â€Å"lots of copies† leads to the defining ideas of abundant and plentiful. Plethora Let the ple lead you to plenty. When you write plethora in your Vocabulary Notebook, underscore the ple with a colored pen or marker. Superfluous The prefix super means over and above. This knowledge is helpful because superfluous means â€Å"above what is needed; extra. â€Å" Surfeit Like super-, sur- is also a prefix meaning over and above. So a surfeit is an amount over and above what is needed. Using apperception, (http://www. merriam-webster. com/dictionary/apperception) link a word you most likely already know, surplus, to the new word, surfeit. These two-syllable synonyms even have the same number of letters! Solidify the meaning of surfeit in your memory. Ample think of the word sample but get rid of the S. and since Ample means more than enough you can think of many samples! Lavish think of marangsvisch with lakris sas! And put the letters LA from the word Lakris instead of S. Profuse(overflodande) think about refuse and proactive, because proactive is â€Å"overflowing† with vitamins. Change the re to pro Prolific, the word productive has the same meaning, so take the PRO from productive and add it with lyric which at least makes me think of lific. So think productive lyric. Myraid (skiftande mangd) think My ride†¦ Group 19 (2nd cluster for Fall Term) Wonderful You Are! Words Relating to Praise and Respect (did you get it? ) Acclaim accolade adulate esteem eulogize exalt extol laud panegyrize revere venerate Laud If you know applaud, then simply connect the new word laud to the word you already know, applaud. The meanings of these two verbs are closely connected. Plaudits means praise. Revere You remember Paul Revere from American History, right? Now, I am sure you’ll agree that it’s only right to respect, or revere one of our nation’s Founding Fathers! Another tip: you can repeat this chant to yourself over and over â€Å"Revere the Reverend. Revere the Reverend. Revere the Reverend† Acclaim think of ass, but with cc, and slajm (slaim)! Accolade think of assa, but with cc and chocolade Adulate ad-ul-ate Esteem think of S team, but with double e Eulogize think ekoloogisk / EU logisk Exalt think Exaltera, without era, since exalterad means vara upprymd like exalt. Extol, ex stol Panegyrize think, pannkakor & risgrynsgrot Venerate Think â€Å"ata vanner†, but switch place, let vanner lead you 2 Vener, and ata-ate.

Sri Lanka Tourism

Tourists Return to Paradise Isle a Year After War’s End By Amantha Perera COLOMBO, May 17, 2010 (IPS) – A year since Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war ended on May 18 last year, tourists are returning in huge numbers to a popular beach destination located over 300 kilometres from where the last battles were fought. Nowhere is the relief at the end of fighting more tangible than on the beautiful beaches of Hikkaduwa, south of the capital Colombo.The war against the secessionist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, fighting for a separate state for the minority Tamils, cost over 70,000 lives in over two and half decades and sent over 280,000 fleeing for their lives in its final phase. Hikkaduwa, famous for its coral reef, sandy beaches and swanky hotels, is on the rebound. Visitors who abandoned the sun and the beach when bombs started going off have begun to return. The best days may be still ahead of this famous tourist destination south of the capital Colombo. Already, it is bracing itself for huge arrivals during the next European winter season.Arrivals grew by an impressive 50 percent or an increase to 160,000 from 106,000 in the first quarter of 2010, compared to 2009, according to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, the government agency that monitors tourist arrivals. This year, the island known for its scenic beauty expects over half a million tourist arrivals, making 2010 one of the best seasons in the last half a decade. â€Å"We saw very good arrival rates this season (between November 2009 and April 2010),† Siri Goonewardene, president of the Hikkaduwa Hoteliers’ Association, told IPS. With the war no more, travellers feel safer visiting here and there were no unexpected security-related incidents that would have driven them away. † The general manager of Coral Sands, a 75-room luxury hotel on the Hikkaduwa beach, expects better results later this year when the next winter season starts. â€Å"The bookings h ave been good. If the trend continues the next season will be definitely better than this one,† says Goonewardene.He adds that operators expect about a 50 percent growth in arrivals next season. The upbeat assessment is shared by operators who run smaller hotels and restaurants and others who depend on the tourist trade. This season was good. We had a high number of visitors,† says Dhammika Silva, who runs a small hotel at Mirissa, a cove-like beach south of Hikkaduwa. He depends on individual tourists who visit the Mirissa area as his business is too small to tie up with tour operators. â€Å"I needed more people on the beach having a good time to make ends meet. This time it happened. † The same is true of Nimal, who sells traditional woodcarvings from a small shop near the beach. â€Å"We had a very good season. I made some good sales,† adds Nimal, who simply identified himself by his first name.These hopes for a bumper tourist season are a far cry from the beach operators’ downcast mood less than 18 months back. With the war raging in the north, by the time the winter season began in November 2008, arrivals were sliding. With earnings going down, in 2008, tourism fell to number six in the country’s top foreign revenue earners from the fourth slot, accounting only for 2. 8 percent of the gross national product. The industry supports a large workforce, much of it informal. According to a labour survey conducted by the Sri Lanka Census and Statistics Department in 2007, over 100,000 were employed in the trade, 56 percent of whom were nformal employees. It was the informal employees that felt the pinch when arrivals kept going down without the security of at least a small wage packet. In early 2009, business operators like Nimal were complaining that they could not keep their shops open and at least pay the utilities.Some decided to close shop. The downturn in arrivals due to the war attracted low spenders to the island. Silva says that many tourists from Eastern Europe and Russia began arriving in Sri Lanka when the big spenders from Western Europe stayed away. I have nothing against them. But these were budget travellers who travel through the region. They don’t spend much,† he told IPS. Nimal concurs. â€Å"They are not the type who buy souvenirs, let alone expensive carvings, they will show up in the number of arrivals, but have no money. † Goonewardene from Coral Sands warned that the high numbers should not be an indication that the industry has fully recovered. â€Å"When the numbers are analysed, we will see that there will not be a 50 percent increase in earnings corresponding to the increase in arrivals. â€Å"He says the government should launch an aggressive public relations campaign to attract high-end spenders and give incentives like tax breaks to the industry. The new government that took office last month has brought tourism under the purview of the Economic D evelopment Ministry, which has been tasked with accelerating development. It is an indication that tourism is to be a vital component in the new economic plans. â€Å"It is good that the government is showing signs of making tourism part of the bigger national plans. Whoever invests in tourism now will be making a lot of money come next season if we make the right decisions,† Silva