Character Traits of a Teenager

Someone asked me why does hate, anger, love, curiosity, admiration, etc. exist in the world. It was a very innocent yet important question that I would like to address. Seekers of the Spirit throughout time have noticed that the Divine Reality expresses in various ways, including Peace, Oneness, Wisdom, Knowledge, Creativity, Beauty, Goodness, Love, Delight, Power, Timelessness, and Infinity. These are also qualities that the Supreme seeks to manifest in the forms of creation. We humans are the means by which they take shape on earth. Interestingly, though the Intent of the Supreme was/is to spread these spiritual aspects throughout the cosmos, they initially took shape in their opposite form, as an inversion. For example, life first emerged in the universe as unconscious physical matter; and only after, emerged higher, more conscious forms. Thus, life, and indeed we humans have roots in unconsciousness mixed with the consciousness. And we have come to embody them in the form of both positive and negative character traits — expressing the physical, vital, and mental levels. An obvious question is why would a Divine Reality allow for both formations of darkness and light? Why not just manifest Its own, infinitely positive spiritual attributes? The answer is that it did so to enable the greatest variety, multiplicity, and possibility of experience. If there were only good traits, the diversity and depth of our life experiences would be limited. Thus, over time, a vast array of positive, neutral, and negative physical, vital, and mental traits came to be. For example, feelings like fear, anger, hatred, are negative expressions that originate in the vital plane of our being. It turns out that not only are these negative expressions inversions of their positive spiritual counterpart of Oneness, Power, Love, etc. , but inversions of our own positive human traits. For example, people who hate, secretly harbor love, but through circumstance inner and outer, have inverted to its darker side. A child might hate a parent because of their abuse, but secretly harbored intense love that reversed itself. In fact, the more intense the hate, the greater the possibility of love when the obstacles are overcome. In humanity's evolution we emerged from physical existence where our physical traits predominated, such as hunting and other survival skills, to the development of more complex vital feelings and relationships, such as trade, cooperation, and affinity toward marriage, to sophisticated traits of the mind, such as analyzing, synthesizing, calculating, rational thinking, etc. These are positive or neutral characteristics developed over the course of human evolution. And yet there are also negative qualities that developed, such as mental ignorance and falsehood. At the vital and physical levels there are far more and more virulent forms of negative character traits because as you go lower in human consciousness, the wanting characteristics tend to appear. Anger, hate, intense desire, lust, jealousy, etc. are negative vital traits; while domination, tendency to violence, etc. are examples of negative physical characteristics. And so we see how life evolved both a plethora of qualities in the human, both positive and negative, to enable the greatest variety of experience, from which we can evolve our nature and through that discovery experience delight.

Guidelines for Proposal Writings

When it comes to the human service field grant funding and the funding programs are both very important to the different organizations and agencies. In the paper it will provide the reader with the different definitions of a needs statement, grants or proposals and quantitative and qualitative data. It will also state what the purpose of a needs assessment is. Further along in the paper the basic format for writing a proposal or grant will be explained. There then will be steps explaining why each of the elements is important. How and where do you use quantitative and qualitative data in a proposal will conclude the paper. A need statement sets the framework for the entire proposal, as it will describe a critical set of conditions or a social need affecting people or things in a specific place at a specific time (Carlson& O’Neal- McElrath, 2008). One of the main purposes of a need assessment is to help assist with some agencies planning. A need statement can be the turning point that will help the funder to give thought on a non- profit request. When it comes to developing a need statement the writer has to address the organization purpose and mission statement. Within the need statement it should generally approach what type of clients their specific organization will or already serving. When there is a need for your specific organization you and the organization have to be well supported and have evidence to back it up. The facts can be on the views or trends found in the experience of doing the work (Carlson & O’Neal- McElrath, 2008). The statement should be easy to understand, by keeping it sweet and simple you can accomplish the goal of making sure the reader understand your true need. When stating your agency need the writer has to make sure there are true facts and good sources. Also never assume and use documents that do not have those legitimate facts. Make sure you state who have spoken on your specific topic, also make sure all data are documented, use touching stories of different individuals for an example and give the funder a clear view of the urgency of your request (Carlson & O’ Neal- McElrath, 2008). When using people to provide the different touching stories within the grant, you have to make sure the agency and the specific individual have data to back up the story. By giving the funder a clear view of your need they will then see how urgent your request is for funds for your specific agency. There is a difference between an assessment and a needs assessment in the examination of learning. A regular assessment will move you forward to academic or professional awards which normally will include measurement of the performance, adequacy by an accessor and information that has been gathered. As for the needs statement it may have some similarities but once again it is mainly based off of professional judgment and data. The need assessment methods are limited by the standards of the assessment but it will eventually fall into the trap of assessing only a narrow range of needs (Learning Needs Assessment, 2013). After you have your need assessment and other things such as the mission and vision statement, you then go on to create the grant or proposal. A grant is an award made to an individual or an institution to support the specific costs of the project implementation or continuation (Grant Writing Guidelines, 2013). Every grant has to make a compelling case. The presentation of the grant must be well spoken on as well as the ideas of the organization. The grant should also be clearly organized, well planned and goal oriented. When the grant has these in order the chance of getting accepted is higher. The basic format for writing a standard grant or proposal includes the following: cover letter, proposal summary or abstract, introduction describing the grant seeker or organization, problem statement or need statement, project objectives, methods or design project evaluation, the future funding and project budget (How to Develop and Write A Grant Proposal, 2007). To start the grant you have the cover letter. On the cover letter it will include who the letter will be addressed to at the funding source. The cover will have the mission of the agency and discuss in which ways their project can add asset to the current goals. Also within the cover letter you should limit the paragraphs to no more than four. In a federal or state grant a cover letter is normally not needed unless they ask for one. The cover letter is important in the grant writing process due to it is your chance to let the funder know up front about the agency goals and to let them know the grant will fulfill the requirements. The introduction of the application will let the agency describe their organization and demonstrate that they are qualified for the project at hand (How to Develop and Write a Grant Proposal, 2007). In this section the history of the organization, goals and mission, how significant it is and the accomplishments and any success stories will be inserted. If the agency have received any endorsements, press coverage or previous grants it should be used as a reference with supporting documents. You also will need to speak on the staff and the list of board directors. The summary part is important due to it is the part where the agency can establish their credibility and get their point across (How to Develop and Write a Grant Proposal, 2007). The next section of the proposal would be the need statement. The need statement is important due to it states the problem that you are addressing and the main reason of your proposal. The need statement which was previously discussed covers the areas as follows: recipients, who they are and how they benefit and receive services, social economic cost, the problem at hand with facts to support, stress what gaps exist in addressing the problem that is talked about in the proposal (How to Develop and Write a Grant Proposal, 2007). Also at the end of the need statement you should explain the time frame of the program to the funder and why securing the funds is critical to your organization. The goals and objective is important to the proposal because it states what your organization hope to achieve. It will also help when you use powerful language that will be persuasive to the reader. The agency should always make sure that all goals and objectives are measureable. Also make sure the objective explains who and what you will be serving. The next part of the grant is the program design. This section shows how the project will work and solve the current problem at hand (How to Develop and Write a Grant Proposal, 2007). Within this section you will have to be explicit, and be able to explain why the methods that you have chosen are the best and how they will make your objectives reachable. Within the program design you will state the supplies such as the equipment services required and the resources for this project. An evaluation plan should be a consideration in every stage of the proposal development (How to Develop And Write a Grant Proposal, 2007). Sometimes the evaluation is where some organizations fall short. The evaluation is important to the proposal due to this is the main part where grant reviewers will look. The evaluation states how you will measure your results for your project. You also as an organization have to make sure methods and the objectives are consistent and explain how you will use the findings. The project sustainability is where the grant funder has funded the agency and now wants to see the results through the project sustainability (How to Develop And Write A Grant Proposal, 2007). In the project sustainability section you and the agency should restate the goals or plans for the project that you are trying to promote. You should also as an agency state how funds will continue to flow in the future for the program. Some of the plans for the agency future could be things such as blueprints of how the plans will work, and include the hiring staff and other contractors if needed. The budget section is very important due to this is where you ask for the money for your organization program. The format of the budget should be clear for the funder to understand. In the budget section it will include personal expenses and project expenses. The budget section should always start with a proposal statement. Generally budgets are divided into two categories one being the personnel cost and the second being the non-personnel cost (How to Develop And Write A Grant Proposal, 2007). In the personnel cost this is where the salaries on the employees come in and the health care as well. The non-personnel section will include utilities, equipment and the rental or the cost of leasing you agency building. When writing a grant you will always use quantitative and qualitative data within your research. Quantitative methods will output hard numbers while qualitative methods use descriptive data (Quantitative and Qualitative Evaluation Methods, 2013). Qualitative data can sometimes include audio recordings, photos and other data. Qualitative methods have been used in research to explain specific methods, but can also show examples of the different applications at the same time. Qualitative method can be used in many complex settings for different interactions. Some of the interactions can be among professional groups and different organizations. Qualitative data will help clarify values, language and meanings attributed to people who play different roles in organizations and communities (Qualitative Methods, 2013). Qualitative data are gathered by interviews and observations. The qualitative involve small numbers and can use open ended questionnaires when needed. A strength that qualitative data has is it can gather multiple methods and provide information on more difficult issues. Some of the limitations could be the time it would take to collect the data. Another limitation is it can sometimes be difficult to analyze. As an organization you can collect qualitative data by observation, interviews and focus groups (Quantitative and Qualitative Evaluation Methods, 2013). Quantitative data can be analyzed by using statistical methods. Some census, government statistics can include quantitative evaluations. Quantitative can have strengths and weakness as well as Qualitative did. A strength that it has is data that is usually collected is efficient and easy to analyze. One limitation that is has is sometimes the data can be too large to explain some of the complex that issues that will arise. Within the grant for the organization the quantitative can come in handy when it comes to surveys or questionnaires, post-test, existing databases and statistical analysis. Qualitative data will be used for observations, interviews and non- statistical focus groups (Quantitative and Qualitative Evaluation Methods, 2013). In the paper it provided the reader with the different definitions of a needs statement, grants or proposals and quantitative and qualitative data. It also stated what the purpose of a needs assessment is. Further along in the paper the basic format for writing a proposal or grant was explained. There then were steps explaining why each of the elements of the grant is important. Then to conclude there was how and where you use quantitative and qualitative data in a proposal. With this information provided in the paper the reader would now be able to complete a successful proposal. References Carlson, M., & O'Neal- McElrath, T. (2008). Winning Grants. Step by Step (3rd ed.). San Francisco, California: Jossey- Bass. How to Develop and Write a Grant Proposal. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.mikulski.senate.gov Grant Writing Guidelines. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.web.riverdeep.net Qualitative Methods. (2013). Retrieved from http://www/ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Quantitative and Qualitative Evaluation Methods. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.civicpartnerships.org

Atomic

Atomic Essay BombThen a tremendous flash of light cut across the sky . Mr. Tanimotohas a distinct recollection that it traveled from east to west, from the citytoward the hills. It seemed like a sheet of sun. à John Hersey, fromHiroshima, pp.8 On August 6, 1945, the world changed forever. On that day theUnited States of America detonated an atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima. Never before had mankind seen anything like. Here was something that wasslightly bigger than an ordinary bomb, yet could cause infinitely moredestruction. It could rip through walls and tear down houses like the devilswrecking ball. In Hiroshima it killed 100,000 people, most non-militarycivilians. Three days later in Nagasaki it killed roughly 40,000 . The immediateeffects of these bombings were simple. The Japanese government surrendered,unconditionally, to the United States. The rest of the world rejoiced as themost destructive war in the history of mankind came to an end . All while thesurvivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki tried to piece together what was left oftheir lives, families and homes. Over the course of the next forty years, thesetwo bombings, and the nuclear arms race that followed them, would come to have adirect or indirect effect on almost every man, woman and child on this Earth,including people in the United States. The atomic bomb would penetrate everyfabric of Ame rican existence. From our politics to our educational system. Ourindustry and our art. Historians have gone so far as to call this period in ourhistory the Ã’atomic ageÓ for the way it has shaped and guided worldpolitics, relations and culture. The entire history behind the bomb itself isrooted in Twentieth Century physics. At the time of the bombing the science ofphysics had been undergoing a revolution for the past thirty-odd years. Scientists now had a clear picture of what the atomic world was like. They newthe structure and particle makeup of atoms, as well as how they behaved. Duringthe 1930Õs it became apparent that there was a immense amount of energythat would be released atoms of Gioielli 2certain elements were split, or takenapart. Scientists began to realize that if harnessed, this energy could besomething of a magnitude not before seen to human eyes. They also saw that thisenergy could possibly be harnessed into a weapon of amazing power. And with theadvent of World War Two, this became an ever increasing concern. In the earlyfall of 1939, the same time that the Germans invaded Poland, President Rooseveltreceived a letter from Albert Einstein, informing him about the certainpossibilities of creating a controlled nuclear chain reaction, and thatharnessing such a reaction could produce a bomb of formidable strength. Hewrote: This new phenomena would lead also lead to the construction of bombs, andit is conceivable, though much less certain-that extremely powerful bombs of anew type may thus be constructed (Clark 556-557).The letter goes on to encouragethe president to increase government and military involvement in suchexperiments, and to encourage the experimental work of the scientists with theallocation of funds, facilities and equipment that might be necessary. Thisletter ultimately led to the Manhattan Project, the effort that involvedbillions of dollars and tens of thousands of people to produce the atomic bomb. During the time after the war, until just recently the American psyche has beenbranded with the threat of a nuclear holocaust. Here was something so powerful,yet so diminutive. A bomb that could obliterate our nations capital, and thatwas as big as somebodies backyard grill. For the first time in the history ofhuman existence here was something capable of wiping us off the face of theEarth. And most people had no control over that destiny. It seemed like peopleslives, the life of everything on this planet, was resting in the hands of acouple men in Northern Virginia and some guys over in Russia. The atomic bomband the amazing power it held over us had a tremendous influence on AmericanCulture, including a profound effect on American Literature. After the war, thefirst real piece of literature about the bombings came in 1946. The workHiroshima, by Jon Hersey, from which the opening quote is taken, first appearedas a long article in the New Yorker, then shortly after in book form. The bookis a non-fiction account of the bombing of Hiroshima and the immediateaftermath. It is told from the point-of-view of six hibakusha, or Ã’survivorsÓof the atomic blast. In four chapters Hersey traces how the these peoplesurvived the blast, and what they did in following weeks and months to pulltheir lives together Gioielli 3and save their families. The book takes on a toneof sympathy and of miraculous survival à that these people were luckyenough to survive the blast. He focuses not on the suffering of the victims buton their courage (Stone, 7). The following passage from the first chapter showsthis:A hundred thousand people were killed by the bomb, and these six were amongthe survivors. They still wonder why they lived when so many others died. Eachof the counts many small items of chance or volitionà a step taken in time,a decision to go indoors, catching one streetcar instead of the nextà thatspared him. And each that in the act of survival he lived a dozen lives and sawmore death than he ever thought he would see. At the time, none of them knewanything (4). Hersey was attempting to chronicle what had happened at Hiroshima,and to do so fairly. And in emphasizing the survival instead of the suffering hedoes not make his book anti-American or something that condemns the dropping ofthe bomb. He simply gives these peoples accounts of how they survived in a tonethat is more journalistic than sensationalistic. The book empathizes with theirplight while it also gives an American explanation for the bombing (Stone, 7). That it was an act of war to end the war as quickly and as easily as possible,and to save more lives in the long run. Hersey did all this to provide what heconsidered an evenhanded portrayal of the event, but he also did not want tocause much controversy. Although it could be criticized for not giving a moredetailed account of the suffering that occurred, and that it reads more like ahistory book than a piece of literature, HerseyÕs book was the first ofits kind when it was published. Up until then all accounts of the Hiroshimabombing writings about it took the slant that Japanese had Ã’deserved whatwe had given themÓ, and that we were good people for doing so. Theseaccounts were extremely prejudicial and racist. (Stone, 4) Hersey was the firstto take the point of view of those who had actually experienced the event. Andhis work was the transition between works that glorified thedropping of theatomic bomb, to those that focused on its amazing destructive powers, and whatth ey could do to our world. During the period immediately after the war, notmuch information was available to general public concerning what kind ofdestruction the atomic bombs had actually caused in Japan. But starting withHerseyÕs book and continuing with other non-fiction works, such as DavidBradleys No Place To Hide, which concerned the Bikini Island nuclear tests,Americans really began to get a picture of the awesome power and destructivenessof nuclear weapons. They saw that these really Gioielli 4were doomsday devices. Weapons that could change everything in an instant, and turn things into nothingin a moment. It was this realization that had a startling effect on Americanculture and literature. Some Americans began to say Ã’At any time we couldall be shadows in the blast wave, so whatÕs the point?Ó. Thisviewpoint manifested itself in literature in something called the Ã’apocalyptictemperÓ; an attitude or a tone dealing with a forthcoming end to theworld. Also, many people, because of this realization of our impending death,were beginning to say that maybe their was something inherently wrong with allof this. That nuclear weapons are dangerous to everyone, no matter what yourpolitical views or where you live, and that we should do away with all of them. They have no value to society and should be destroyed. This apocalyptic temperand social activism was effected greatly in the early Sixties by the CubanMissile Crisis. When Americans saw, on television, that they could be undernuclear attack in under twenty minutes, a new anxiety about the cold warsurfaced that had not been present since the days of McCarthy. And this newanxiety was evidenced in works that took on a much more satirical tone. And oneof the works that shows this satiric apocalyptic temper and cynicism is KurtVonneguts Cats Cradle. Vonnegut, considered by many to be one of Americasforemost living authors, was himself a veteran of World War Two. He, as aprisoner of war, was one of the few survivors of the fire-bombing of Dresden. InDresden he saw what many believe was a more horrible tragedy than Hiroshima. Theallied bombs destroyed the entire city and killed as many people, if not more,than were killed in Hiroshima. He would eventually write about this experiencein the semi-autobiographical Slaughterhouse-Five. This novel, like Cats Cradle,takes a very strong anti-war stance. But along with being an Anti-war book, CatsCradle is an excellent satire of the Atomic Age. It is essentially the story ofone man, an author by the name of John (or Jonah) and the research he is doingfor a book on the day the bomb exploded in Hiroshima. This involves him withmembers of the Dr. Felix Hoenikker familyà the genius who helped build thebombà and their adventures. In the book Vonnegut paints an imaginary worldwhere things might not seem to make any Gioielli 5sense. But there is in fact anamazing amount of symbolism, as well as satire. Dr. Hoenikker is an extremelyeccentric scientist who spends most of his time in the lab at his company. He isinterested in very few things, his children not among them. His children arealmost afraid of him. One of the few times he does try to play with his childrenis when he tries to teach the game of cats cradle to his youngest s on, Newt. READ: The Harrapan Civilization EssayWhen he is trying to show newt the game Newt gets very confused. In the book,this is what Newt remembered of the incident:Ã’And then he sang, ÔRockabyecatsy, in the tree topÕ;he sang, Ô when the wind blows, the cray-dullwill fall. Down will come cray-dull, catsy and all.Õ Ã’I burst intotears. I jumped up and ran out of the house as fast as I could.Ó(18)WhatNewt doesnÕt remember is what he said to his Father. Later in the book wefind this out from Newts sister, Angela that newt jumped of his fatherÕslap screaming Ã’ No cat! No cradle! No cat! No cradle!Ó(53) With thisscene, Vonnegut is trying to show a couple of things. Dr. Hoenikker symbolizesall the scientists who created the atomic bomb. And the cats cradle is the worldand all of humankind combined. Dr. Hoenikker is simply playing, like he has allhis life, that game just happens to involve the fate of the rest of the world. And little Newt, having a childs un-blinded perception, doesnÕt understandthe game. He doesnÕt see a cat or a cradle. Like all the gamesDr.Hoenikker plays, including the ones with nuclear weapons, this one ismislabeled. This is just one of the many episodes in the book that characterizesDr. Hoenikker as a player of games. He recognizes this in himself when he giveshis Nobel Prize speech:I stand before you now because I never stopped dawdlinglike an eight year on a spring morning on his way to school. Anything can makeme stop and wonder, and sometimes learn (17). And the Doctors farewell to theworld is a game he has played, with himself. One day a Marine General asked himif he could make something that would eliminate mud, so that marines wouldnÕthave to deal with mud anymore. So Dr. Hoenikker thinks up ice-nine, an imaginarysubstance that when it comes in contact with any other kind of water, itcrystallizes it. And this crystallization spreads to all the water moleculesth is piece of water is in contact with. So to crystallize the mud in an entirearmed division of marines, it would only take a minuscule amount of ice-nine. Dr. Gioielli 6Hoenikkers colleagues see this as just another example of hisimagination at work. But he actually does create a small chink of ice-nine, andwhen he dies, each of his children get a small piece of it. They carry it aroundwith themselves in thermos containers the rest of their lives. At the end ofbook one small piece of ice-nine gets out , by mere accident, and ends upcrystallizing the whole world. The game Dr. Hoenikker was playing with himselfdestroyed the whole world. The accident that caused the ice-nine to get outcould be much like the accident that could cause World War III. One small thingthat sets off an amazing series of events, like piece of ice-nine just fallingout of the thermos. And Dr. Hoenikker, like the scientists of the world, wasplaying game and caused it all. Here is a description of the world after theice-nine has wreaked its havoc:There were no smells. There was no movement. Every step I took made a gravelly squeak in blue-white frost. And every squeakwas echoed loudly. The season of locking was over. The Earth was locked up tight(179).This description eerily resembles what many have said the Earth will looklike during a nuclear winter (Stone, 62). In addition to Dr. Hoenikker and hisdoomsday games, Vonnegut provides an interesting analysis of atomic age societywith the Bokonon religion. This religion, completely made up by Vonnegut andused in this novel, is the religion of every single inhabitant of San Lorenzo,the books imaginary banana republic. This is the island where Jonah eventuallyends up, and where the ice-nine holocaust originates. (It also, being aCaribbean nation, strangely resembles Cuba.) Bokonon is a strange religion. Itwas created by one of the leaders of San Lorenzo, a long time ago. Essentially,Bokonon is the only hope for all inhabitants of San Lorenzo. Their existence onthe island is so horrible that they have to find harmony with som ething. Bokononism gives them that. It is based on untruths, to give San Lorenzans asense of security, since the truth provides none. This concept can be summed upin this Bokononist quotation: Ã’Live by thefoma* that makes you brave andkind and healthy and happy. *Harmless untruths (4)Ó The inhabitants of SanLorenzo do not care what is going on in their real lives because they have thefoma of Bokonon to keep them secure and happy. And Vonnegut is trying to saythat is what is happening to the rest of us. Americans, and the rest of theworld for that matter, have this false sense of security that we are safe andsecure. That in our homes in Indiana with our dogs and Gioielli 7our lawnmowers,we think we are invincible. Everything will be okay because we are protected byare government. This is the foma of real life, because we are trying to denywhat is really going on. WeÕre in imminent danger of being annihilated atany second, but to deny this very real danger we are creating a false w orld sothat we may live in peace, however false that sense of peace may be. Throughoutthe entire novel Vonnegut gives little snippets of Ã’calypsosÓ :Bokonon proverbs written by Bokonon. Verse like:I wanted all things To seem tomake some sense,So we could all be happy, yes,Instead of tense.And I made upliesSo that they all fit niceAnd made this sad worldA par-a-dise (90).Thiscalypso expresses the purpose of Bokonon and why it, with its harmless untruths,exists. The following one is about the outlawing of Bokonon. To make thereligion more appealing to the people, the leaders had it banned, with itspractice punishable by death. They hoped that a renegade religion with a rebelleader would appeal to the people more.So I said good-bye to government,and Igave my reason:That a really good religionIs a form of treason (118)Thesecalypsos, and the rest of the book, express the points Vonnegut in a moreabstract , symbolic manner. They only add to the impact of the books messageexpressin g it in a very short, satirical way. The black humor used when talkingabout the end of the worldà the nuclear endà was pioneered by Vonnegut. But what many consider to be the the climax of this pop culture phenomena isStanley Kubricks movie, Dr. Strangelove(Stone 69). Subtitled Or How I learnedto Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb , this movie was Kubricks viewpoint on howmad the entire Cold War and arms race had become. Based a little known book byEnglish science fiction writer Peter George, Red Alert, the movie is about howone maverick Air Force general, who is obviously suffering a severe mentalillness, concocts a plan to save the world from the Gioielli 8Communists. Hemanages to order the strategic bombers under his command to proceed to theirtargets in the Soviet Union. They all believe it is World War Three, and theGeneral, Jack Ripper, is the only one that can call the planes back. Kubrickscharacters: Dr. Strangelove, President Mertin Muffley, Premier Kissof andothers, go through a series a misadventures to try and turn the planes around. READ: Human Sexuality EssayBut the one, plane piloted by Major Ã’KingÓ Kong, does get through,and it drops its bombload. This is where Kubrick tries to show the futility ofeverything. The governments of both the worlds superpowers have thousands ofsafeguards and security precautions for their nuclear weapons. But one manmanages to get a nuclear warhead to be hit its target. And this warhead hits theÃ’Doomsday DeviceÓ. The Doomsday device is the ultimate deterrent,because if you try to disarm it it will go off. It has the capability to destroyevery living human and animal on Earth, and it does So it is all pointless. Wehave these weapons, and no matter how hard we try to control them everyone stilldies. And so to make ourselves feel better about all this impending doom,Kubrick, like Vonnegut, satirizes the entire system. By making such moroniccharacters, like the wimpish President Mertin Muffley, Kubrick is saying,similar to Vonnegut with Dr. Hoenikker, that we are ev en worse off because theseweapons are controlled by people that are almost buffoonish and childish. General Ripper, the man who causes the end of the world, is a portrait of aMcCarthy era paranoid gone mad. He thinks the communists are infiltrating andtrying to destroy are country. And he says the most heinous communist plotagainst democracy is fluoridation of water:Like I was saying, Group Captain,fluoridation of water is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communistplot we have ever had to face . . . They pollute our precious bodily fluids!(George 97)And General Rippers personal prevention of the contamination of hisbodily fluids is equally perplexing. He drinks only Ã’ . . . distilledwater, or rain water, and only grain alcohol . . .Ó Kubrick uses this kindof absurd reasoning in his movie to show the absurd reasoning behind nuclearweapons. Both him and Vonnegut were part of the satirical side of theapocalyptic temper in the early Sixties. They laughed at our governments, ourleaders, the Cold War and the arms race, and tried to show how stupid it allreally was. Bu t as time moved on, the writers, and the entire country, startedto take a less narrow minded view of things. The counterculture of the Gioielli9sixties prompted people to take a closer look at themselves. As thinkers,teachers, lovers, parents, friends and human beings. And people concerned withnuclear weapons started to see things in a broader context as well. Nuclearweapons were something that affected our whole consciousness. The way we grewup, our relationships with others and what we did with our lives. One of theauthors who put this new perspective on things was the activist, social thinkerand poet Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg first made a name for himself in the 1950Õsas one of the foremost of the Beat writers. The Beats in the Fifties were aforerunner of the more widespread counterculture of the late Sixties and earlySeventies. And Ginsberg evolved into this. He became a devoted leader in thecounterculture, who set many precedents for the Hippie generation. He lived invarious communes, delved deeply into eastern religions and experimented withnumerous hallucinogenic drugs. In the earlier part of his life Ginsberg had beena rebel against society. He was still a rebel but now he was taking the form ofactivist. By the Seventies he was involved in many causes that promoted peaceand world harmony. What separated Ginsberg from other activists is that he wasone of the first and original members of many of these movements. Now he was thefather figure to many in the non-mainstream world. While teaching at his schoolof poetry in Naropa, Colorado, Ginsberg became involved in protests against thenearby Rock Flats Nuclear Weapons Factory. During the Summer of 1978 he wasarrested for preventing a shipment nuclear waste from reaching its destinationand for numerous other protests against the facility (Miles 474). From theseexperiences came two poems Ã’Nagasaki DaysÓ and Ã’ Plutonium OdeÓ. Both these poems exhibit Ginsbergs more mature style of writing (Miles 475). The poems are more scholarly, containing many mythological and religiousallusions. But both these characteristics show how post war apocalypticliterature had evolved. By the Seventies many writers, instead of taking thedefeatist, satirical view like Vonnegut, were beginning to take a make activiststandpoint, like Ginsberg. Apocalyptic literature also took on a more mature,scholarly tone, and was more worldly and had a broader viewpoint. This stanzafrom Ã’Nagasaki DaysÓ shows how Ginsberg is putting nuclear weaponsinto the context of the universal:2,000,000 killed in Vietnam13,000,000 refugeesin Indochina 200,000,000 years for the Galaxy to revolve on its core 24,000 theBabylonian great year24,000 half life of plutoniumGioielli 102,000 the most Iever got for a poetry reading80,000 dolphins killed in the dragnet4,000,000,000years earth been born (701)The half life of plutonium is brought together withdolphins and Indochinese refugees. Also, Ginsberg makes a reference to theBabyl onian great year, which coincides with the half life of plutonium. Thiscosmic link intrigued Ginsberg immensely. That fact alone inspired him to rightÃ’Plutonium OdeÓ. The whole poem expands on this connection toplutonium as a living part of our universe, albeit a very dangerous one. Here hementions the Great Year:Before the Year began turning its twelve signs, ereconstellations wheeled for twenty-four thousand sunny yearsslowly round theiraxis in Sagittarius, one hundred sixty-seven thousand times returning to thisnight. (702) Ginsberg is also relating the great year, and the half life ofplutonium, to the life of the Earth. The life of the Earth is approximately fourbillion years, which is 24,000 times 167,000 (Ginsberg 796) In Ã’PlutoniumOdeÓ, Ginsberg talks to plutonium. By establishing a dialogue he gives theplutonium almost human characteristics. It is something, and is near us everyday, and is deadly. In this passage he is asking how long before it kills usall:I enter your secret places with my mind, I speak with your presence, I roamyour lion roar with mortal mouth.One microgram inspired to one lung, ten poundsof heavy metal dust, adrift slowly motion over gray Alpsthe breadth of theplanet, how long before your radiance speeds blight and death to sentientbeings. (703) In putting his nuclear fears and worries on the table, and sayingthat these things have pertinence to us because they affect how we live ourlives and the entire the universe, Ginsberg is showing how intrigued he is withplutonium in this poem. By the time Ginsberg was publishing these poems in late1978, post war literature had evolved immensely. At first people had no ideaabout the bomb and its capabilities. Then, as more information came out aboutwhat the bomb could do, they began to began to start to live in real fear ofnuclear weapons. The power of it, a creation by man that could destroy theworld, that was terrifying. Then some artists and writers began to see theabsurdity of it all. They saw that we were under control by people we did not,or should not, trust, and were a constant state of nuclear Gioielli 11fear. Sothey satirized the system unmercifully, and were very apocalyptic in their tone. But then things evolved from these narrow minded viewpoints, and people began toenvision nuclear weapons in the context of our world and our lives. The atomicbomb and nuclear proliferation affected all facets of our lifestyle, includingwhat we read. Literature is a reflection of a countryÕs culture andfeelings. And literature affected Americans curiosity, horror, anxiety, cynicismand hope concerning nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons raised questions that noone had dare ever asked before, and had given them answers that they were afraidto hear. They have made us think about our place in the universe, and what itall means. BibliographyBartter, Martha A. The Way to Ground Zero. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988. Dewey, Joseph. In a Dark Time. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 1990.Dr. Strangelove. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. With Peter Sellers, George C. Scott and SlimPickens. Highland Films Ltd., 1966.(This is a novelization of the movie. Allqoutations from the movie were transribed form this book) Einstein, Albert. Ã’SirÓ (a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt) Einstein: TheLife and Times. Ronald W. Clark. New York: World Publishing, 1971. 556-557.George, Peter. Dr. Strangelove. Boston: Gregg Press, 1979.Ginsberg,Allen. Ã’Nagasaki DaysÓ and Ã’Plutonium Ode.Ó CollectedPoems: 1947à 1980. Ed. Allen Ginsberg. New York: Harper and Row, 1984. 699-705. Gleick, James. Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman. NewYork :Vintage Books, 1992.Hersey, John. Hiroshima. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,1985.Miles, Barry. Ginsberg: A Biography. New York: Harper Perennial,1989.Stone, Albert E. Literary Aftershocks: American Writers, Readers and theBomb. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1994.Vonnegut, Kurt. CatÕs Cradle. NewYork:Dell, 1963.

Business Strategy and Strategic Directions Research Paper - 1

Business Strategy and Strategic Directions - Research Paper Example The restaurants are marketed as the trend to attract high-value clients. The company has been listed by Forbes as one of the best employers in the United States (Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group, n.d.). It runs a loyalty program that helps in reducing the rate of turnover and motivating employees. The research paper seeks to analyze the strategies undertaken by Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant as it endeavors to stay ahead of competitors in San Francisco and United States. Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group Inc. faces major competition from Joie De Vivre Hospitality, Morgans Hotel Group, and Ian Schrager Hotels. Kimpton relies on differentiation, which makes it stand out from the crowd. It has competitors all over the United States because of its size. The hotel acquires old buildings found in urban centers and turns them into four-star hotels with trendy restaurants. The acquisition of old property reduces the cost of capital for the Kimpton Hotels and Restaurant Group. The hotels are turned into classy hotels with a vintage feeling that makes it unique. The sense of style shown by Kimpton is what makes it stand from most of the competitors in San Francisco and across the United States. Kimpton has a vision to experience both personal and organizational growth as time goes. The hotel’s mission says, â€Å"Getting and Keeping Guests, Keeping and Developing Employees.† (Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group, n.d.)The mission shows that the company values human resources and clients. Keeping and developing employees makes it possible to get and keep guests for a long time (Hill & Jones, 2013). The organizational culture prioritizes creativity, teamwork, and personal development. The strength of the Kimpton is their difference. The main goal is to give guests a unique experience that will make them coming back to Kimpton. The hotel management believes the unique Kimpton hotel experience that focuses on the

Womens Liberation through the Equal Rights Amendment Research Paper - 1

Womens Liberation through the Equal Rights Amendment - Research Paper Example The aim of this scholarly treatise is not only to provide pertinent information regarding the women rights advocacy but also to demonstrate insightful ideas and recommendations for the now and the future. In 1848, the first-ever Women’s Rights Convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York. Abolitionists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott spearheaded the two-day meeting of over 300 people who rallied for justice and equality for women who author outline from the rights and privileges of a citizen. The said convention generated the Declaration of Sentiments among other eleven resolutions denouncing inequality and proposing suffrage. However, the nation was far from ready to seriously pay attention to the issue of women’s rights and thought that the call for justice was not only ridiculous but also a worthless endeavor (Becker 39). After the Civil War, while the constitutional reformation centered on giving freedom to the slaves, Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth, as well as the already-veteran Stanton, fought for the legal ground of providing the same civil and political rights that men enjoy to the American woman. Citing the 14th and 15th Amendments of the Constitution that the right to vote shall not be deprived to citizens on basis of their race, color and previous states of servitude, these women freedom fighters underscored the obvious and utter neglect of women in the laws of the land (Whitney 57).   In 1872 during the presidential election, Anthony cast her ballot in one of the poll precincts in New York invoking her right as a citizen as provided in the 14th Amendment. Her somehow rebellious act prompted her arrest, conviction and a penalty of $100, which she refused to pay.

Interview Report Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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StarBurst Technologies Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

StarBurst Technologies - Case Study Example Quality techniques and quality assessment tools are also suggested in this article. StarBurst Technologies (ST) has their name in the field of technology especially in the market of MP4. Their last product has marketed so well that it provided the required capital for the investment in their new project. That product was Stroll-a device through which all directions to the computer can be given through voice. It was designed to work at the place of mouse. They were going to launch another product which was a mega project too. But this time there are threats to the company's reputation. Their plants in Australia and Asia were not working at per satisfactory level of quality. The rejected Stroll units were running at 43 percent which is enough ratios to effect the reputation of ST. ST is facing problems of bad reputation as well as some quality issues were also faced by some suppliers. Some of the suppliers were found to be not working as per requirement of their job and others need more understanding their job. The above all situations were in the mind of the Operations Director (OD) and he was thinking to resolve these issues. He was satisfied on one aspect of the issue that they have four weeks to set all the issues. 1- ST's suppliers have a number of problems that need fixing. ... 3- There are a number of quality issues highlighted and it is not possible to change all the suppliers, so the only way is to improve how some suppliers work. Provide recommendations for the quality technique a supplier could adopt and why. 4- Having selected the quality technique the need is now to make recommendations on their quality assessment tools that can be used in assessing the issues and problems. 5- State the assumptions made on any aspect of the article. The main problem described in the report is the working behavior of suppliers of the company. It is the fact that it is hard to change the all supplier structure. Rather there should be a planned, well define guideline for system of work of the suppliers to be followed. One to One Market Strategy It is an approach more than a sales approach. It is also called one component, one supplier, one market strategy. It means to identify the customers' needs and then provide the services to one customer at a time. Clearly one supplier will deal with one customer at a moment of time. This strategy aims to recognize the customers' requirements, their complaints and issues on which they want the company to improve its services or products. The basic concept behind this strategy is to concentrate on the customers rather than products or services. It is strongly recommended to identify the company's customers. In customer identification, usually two types of customers are found: 1- A customer who switches to any other company in seek of bargain. 2- A customer who does not switch to any other company rather wants to get a product meeting his/her requirements from the same

Social research method--（traditional chinese medicine and Essay

Social research method--ï ¼Ë†traditional chinese medicine and acupunctureï ¼â€° - Essay Example In contrast, a quantitative research done on the same subject will tend to use pre-determined categories experienced, pre-studied, or identified by prior research. In contrast, qualitative research does not have to use pre-determined categories formulated by the research based on researcher’s prior experience. The researcher can rely on participants’ descriptions of the â€Å"ways in which patients taking antihypertensive drug balance reservations against reasons for taking them†. Qualitative research is appropriate for the study because the information needed for the study will not require statistical procedures or other means of quantification (Straiss and Corbin 1998, p. 10-11). Appropriateness of research design. As described by Benson and Britten (2007, p. 1), the research design is â€Å"qualitative study using detailed interviews†. Cresswell (2007a, p. 20) calls this design as the â€Å"narrative design† of qualitative research. In my interpretation of the Benson and Britten (2007) write-up, the authors probably used semi-structured interview. This is highly appropriate considering that the objective of the research is â€Å"to describe the ways in which patients taking antihypertensive drug balance reservations against reasons for taking them† (Benson and Britten 2007, p. 1). Meanwhile, Cresswell (2007b, p. 6-10) identified the narrative design or approach as one of the five approaches that are frequently used in qualitative research. According to Cresswell (2007b, p. 6-10), the five designs or approaches frequently used are the narrative, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnographic, and case study approaches or research design. Holstein and Gubrium (1997, p. 113) had described the use of interviews in qualitative research as a way of generating data on how people view their life. By extension, it follows

Audience Analysis Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Audience Analysis Paper - Essay Example All cultures everywhere use various behaviors and belief systems. The most critical thing to remember is the simple fact that audiences in Japan, United States, Europe, or the Muslim world will have significant differences in their individual behaviors and belief systems. Because most cultures are more formal than the United States, when addressing this type of audience, one must keep in mind that titles may be more meaningful to them. Therefore, use titles and not first names. Another important key to international communication is that the author of the document or the presentation needs to avoid the use contractions, slang, and sports metaphors. If one is not familiar with the audience's language then it is proper to use, English. If the presentation is in an overseas office generally, an interpreter is present to properly present to findings to the individual stakeholders, managers, etc of the foreign entity (Locker, 2008). A manager's responsibility is to learn about the differe nt cultures around the world and the different people that we may work with. Stereotypes make for well-intentioned efforts at communications effectiveness. However, Carver and Livers found in their studies of stereotyping where they wrote in the Harvard Business Review in 2002 that African-Americans clients of their firm were complaining about the fact that were asked more about diversity then about the job (Caver, 2002). What communication channels are appropriate? Explain. Interpersonal dimensions always focuses on the following. First, focus on the people in order to promote friendliness, cooperation and group loyalty. The next dimension focuses on the content in terms of the problem, data, and possible solutions. The procedural dimension will focus on the method and the processes (Locker, 2008). This will necessitate that the speaker be aware of what the group consists of and performing some prior research is always a good idea. Allowing the audience to ask questions and having the ability to provide on the spot answers is wise. Knowledge of the company is helpful to any audience. The speaker needs to make the audience aware of where the company is now and where he/she expects it to be in the future. This type of information is critical to the meetings success. In this case, if quarterly sales do not meet the expected goals, the speaker should be aware of that fact to satisfy the audience with presently plans for the future. Prior research of the audience comes into play in this step. Knowing what the audience is expecting, what he/she goals are for the future are some key points to making this meeting successful (Locker, 2008)? These steps will keep the speaker on tract to success while at the same time considering this particular audiences point of view. At many points in the meeting, the speaker may find they need to paraphrase some of the content back to the audience; he/she may need to mirror some feelings or ask for information or clarification by of fering to help solve the problems together. What are some considerations to keep in mind given the diversity of the audience? Within every culture is a subculture. It is up to the speaker to cut through the diversity by cutting across these different cultures and use differentiating factor like gender, race, and economic position. The speaker holds the key to researching cultures and subcultures. The speaker needs to know what presentations will work the best with this diverse audience. Sometimes, this goes beyond these basics when one deals not only

Cultural competency Essay Example for Free

Cultural competency Essay Cultural competency is an important strategy of eliminating racial disparities and improving quality in health, human and social services. The goal of cultural competency in these services is to create a health, human and social service system and practitioners who are capable of delivering the highest-quality care to all clients regardless of their cultural background, ethnicity, and race and language proficiency. If the professionals are not culturally competent they will not be in a position to handle social problems (Lecca, et. al. 1998, p. 71). Professionals offering these services do require an interpreter in certain situations such as; when the provider is not thoroughly effective and fluent in the target language should always use an interpreter. In situations when a client is not mentally fit a provider may need an interpreter. In cases in which language and literacy rate of the patient and practitioner vary due to different cultural groups, an interpreter will be required. Incase the client is a child who is under five years or more or an elderly person an interpreter is required. If the client is unconscious the provider can request for an interpreter (Lecca, et. al. 1998, p. 89). To minimize these problems, a professional should use an interpreter of the same sex as the client to avoid client from feeling insecure. Family members should be avoided as interpreters. Professional should learn basic words and sentences to minimize use to interpreter since they don’t deliver effective works due to biasness. They should address patients directly without any direct commentary to or through interpreter. Incase the professional suspects any problems and gets a negative response, then s/he should know that the interpreter knows what he wants. Interpreter should not be confused through backing up rephrasing or hesitating. Finally providers should attain training to be culturally competent to avoid cases of having an interpreter so as to offer effective service to clients (Lecca, et. al. 1998, p. 210). Using of an interpreter is not a good idea because the service given to the client will not be sufficient since an interpreter may be bias. Incase the interpreter is of different sex, s/he no knowledge on the service provided to clients of other sex leading to poor or wrong service being given to the client. There is no guarantee that practitioner’s conversion will be correctly interpreted to the patients and patient’s comments may not be conveyed accurately (Lecca, et. al. 1998, p. 211). List of References Lecca, P. J. , et. al. (1998), Cultural Competency in Health, Social and Human Services: Directions for the Twenty-first Century. NY: Garland Publisher

Internal and External Analysis of Volvo

Internal and External Analysis of Volvo The macro and micro environmental factors 1) Outline and discuss the macro and micro environmental factors that are influencing Volvos strategy? The micro environment is which explains the internal environment of the company and which tells the position of the company in all the terms of the business and hence this gives an idea of the current position of the company. Micro environment: The Volvo name is 90 years old and has become a Swedish international icon. In the year 1999, Volvo a Sweden based company is sold to Ford motor company, but Volvo maintained independency but benefited from the shared research and development and also the buying power. Volvo employs 27,500 employees. Volvo has its company in 120 countries. And has wide network and distribution of its product ranges to different parts in the world. Volvo sells its products through 2400 dealers worldwide. Volvos main mission is safety, and also invests huge money in Research and development in Safety. Safety in driving has a major role to play in automotive, as majority of the customers priority is safety. Volvo sold 14 million cars in its life time, the figure shows success of the Volvo cars and also how Volvo has retained its position in the market in long run. Volvo is the strongest brand of FORD motors. Volvo is the major contribution to the success of Ford Motors. Volvo has asset oriented advertis ing. The main asset of Volvo is Safety, and hence its advertising campaign is also based on its core competence or asset safety. Volvo being a subsidiary of FORD enjoys a shared Research and development programs. This is very beneficial and cost effective for Volvo, as being a part of the giant automotive group, Volvo can share the cost involved in Research and Development program. Hence this can be one of the key advantages for Volvo to be cost effective. Volvo is also popular for its innovations in the car industry which developed and produced different ranges of cars and hence Volvo has made large profits to FORD motors. The core positioning strategy of Volvo is the Safety and longevity. In order to compete with the luxury brands of Toyota and Lexus, Volvo produced the premier cars which are symbol of luxury. Volvo brand was primary key aspects are Big estate cars, and Safety. Hence Volvo is the symbol of safety and innovations which helped the FORD financially. Macro environment: The macro environment gives the clear picture of the changes in the external environment and how these changes in the external environment have an effect on the performance of the company. The macro environmental factors include Political, Economic, social, technological, environmental, legal factors, which are lose but external to the society. Political factors: There has been an increased regulation on the car industry and also automotive industry is facing a huge taxation on trade. Economic factors There is rise in the fuel prices, and this economic factor has hit the automotive industry fiercely and leads to reduce the performance of the company. Due to this rise in the prices of the oil, most of the customers have started choosing fuel-efficient cars, which has reduced the demand for luxury cars in the market. Social factors: The major problems Volvo is facing is shift in the consumers preferences from a luxury, large engine cars with huge carbon emission to a fuel-efficient, and small cars, due to many reasons like rise in the prices of oil, and also governments are providing tax incentive to those who buy fuel-efficient and eco-friendly cars and other incentives include free parking and road tolls. This shift in the consumers preferences which is a Social factor has downturn the performance of the company. There is also Volvo much emphasis on family sector but in Europe there is decline in the number of families. Hence Volvo market segmentation is wrong and may not be useful for sales growth. Technological factors: Toyota has occupied a major share in the market, with the adaptation and implementation of new and advanced technology into its product strategy, and hence has met the needs of their changing environment with fuel-efficient cars with low carbon emissions into the atmosphere. This technological change of the external environment of including many advanced features into the product was not adapted by Volvo. Volvo has advanced only in safety but did not understand the need for the other features of the product which have become the center of attraction in the market, and those advanced features are fuel efficient, eco-friendly, etc. Environmental factors: Due to the emission of large carbon from the big size cars increased the pollution and hence have caused many problems like polluting air, etc. Legal factors: New laws on the protection of the environment have started rallying and this has hit the whole automotive industries. Due to these environmental protection acts and Clean air Act, which was passed by the legislation, brought about a changes in the preferences and shift the needs and hence as discussed above choosing for eco-friendly cars. Volvo asset was and is also is only Safety, but the external challenges are seeking for more reliable, eco-friendly, fuel-efficient cars as the government is putting heavy taxes on the large cars, who emit large carbon into the atmosphere, and more over the governments are proving more tax incentives for those who choose fuel efficient cars, like free road tolls and parking etc. Volvo has introduced flexi-fuel cars but they did not show a good sign on the profits of the company. 2) Conduct a SWOT analysis on Volvo cars. Strengths: Safety of both the environment and driving is the main strength of the Volvo cars, and hence the Governments policies on safety in driving will not have much influence on the performance of Volvo. Volvo has a reputation for big estate cars and last for long periods of time. Goteberg safety center which is a world renowned, and hence after the acquisition, Volvo has introduced ten new models for its customers, and hence earned more profits for FORD. Volvo has 2400 dealers worldwide and has its presence in 120 countries of the world. Huge investments in safety research and development programs. Volvo is a wholly owned subsidiary of ford motor company which is a world famous company and this helps the Volvo can draw synergies of technical innovations and improvements for its parent company. And also the buying power. 90 years of brand heritage, where Volvo has gained much expertise in manufacturing a car which is very safe in driving and this is the core-competence which has played a vital role which has brought glorious years to Volvos brand. Weakness: No change management programs in its product strategy. There has been no innovations and improvements in the product, improvements like fuel-efficient, best performance, etc, which is quite important for Volvo to meet the intense competition. There is a decline in the sales of the Volvos bi-fuel cars. Cannot meet the customer requirement of fuel-efficient cars. Even though the prospective customers of Volvo are shifting their interests from the big engine cars to fuel-efficient cars, Volvo still stress only on the safety in their mission statement, where its core positioning strategy to face the present changed perceptions of the consumers and external environments demands should be fuel-efficient and reliable cars. Moreover the mission statement aims at providing safest and more exciting car experience for modern families, the brand concentrating on the family sector. But in Europe there is decline in the number of families and many couple is opting to be childless, hence this mission of Volvo would badly hit its performance in future. Most of the market for Volvo is in US and Sweden and consequently it is open to irregular economic and political circumstances of those markets. Volvos most of the production is from the Belgium and hence, the cars produced in Sweden is very expensive for the US consumers. This is due to the less facilities of production of Volvo cars in US. Volvos flexi-fuel cars only in certain geographic markets. Opportunities: There is a hope for further growth for the business due to new business in china and India, with a forecast of sales in china of 10,000 a year. The penetration into new markets has an opportunity for improvement in the performance of the company. Threats: Has the Volvo only concentrates on the Safety in its product design, and ignoring on the other aspects like eco-friendly and fuel efficient cars (Toyota Lexus), performance, styling, reliability, handling and value for money, which are all vitally important. Low restriction on imports and trade will increase the competition from the Japanese companies in the Asia pacific regions. Volvos safety may not have any importance as safety is integrated by almost all the car manufacturers. Hence safety which is the main asset for Volvo has no role to play for the improved performance of the company. 3) Outline the strategic options available to Volvo cars, recommending what you believe to be the best option available, give reasons for your answer? The main problem Volvo cars is facing is the external pressures and changing perceptions and requirements of its customers. Volvo who strategy of Safety was very popular during 1990s but with the changing needs of its customers and external environmental factors, the strategy of Volvo did not change hence Volvo has faced such a downturn in its sales during the period of 2004 to 2006. The external challenges are demanding for a more reliable, fuel-efficient and eco-friendly cars, which Toyota have understood the need of its customers and hence have concentrated heavily on fuel-efficient and eco-friendly cars, and therefore have become the world largest and most successful car manufacturer. Moreover, most of the car manufactures have integrated safety into their product design and hence safety, key element or the core positioning strategy can no more help Volvo to retain its position in this fierce competition. To outline the strategies for the Volvo cars Ansoff product/ market grid (Ansoff, 1957). This model would help the business identify the strategy that gives business the way to grow their business. The four strategies proposed by the Ansoff let us find which would help the Volvo cars to improve their business. This model helps to identify what have to be marketed and at what time and risk involved in marketing these products. The alternatives available to the Volvo cars are: Price strategy, as the cars of Volvo is unaffordable for the common man and hence has to introduce such a model of car for the middle class people. This is the market penetration strategy where with the same product and same market the company has to reduce the cost and hence in turn can reduce the price of its products compared to its competitors. Market development strategy, where the same product is sold in different markets. Product development strategy, where a new product is developed and is sold in the current and existing markets, extensions in the product features which make it different from its competitors and this can also be called as product differentiation. Diversification strategy is one where the new product is sold in new markets, but this is more risky then the market penetration. Let us find which will be best strategy for Volvo cars from the available alternatives from the Ansoff matrix. Market penetration strategy, this strategy of selling its same products in the same market, for lower price by reducing the costs may not be useful for Volvo cars, this is because challenges Volvo is facing is the price rises of complimentary goods and environmental protections laws, which have changed the preferences of its customers from large engine luxury cars to the fuel-efficient cars because of government taxation policies, etc. hence , reducing the price of the cars will not be the best solution to face the challenge. Market development strategy, If Volvo adopts this strategy may not succeed as most of the current markets of Volvo is the developed countries and hence the consumers are in position of afford to buy a premium car. But, if Volvo looks for a market in developing and under developed countries, there is much risk factors involved for the growth of the industry. Diversified strategy will not have a positive effect on the growth of the business as this is risky, and Volvo which is facing a huge performance crisis should not be risk taker but should be risk averter. Product development strategy, this might be the best strategy for Volvo, as in this strategy there is product development according to the changing trends and requirements and hence this would help the Volvo for growth, if it produces cars not only safety and reliability its cars, but integrating safety, fuel-efficient, styling, performance and this leads to differentiation among the players in the industry. If the company integrates all the requirements of the demands of its customers, would automatically increase sales and will enjoy a rapid growth for the business. Volvo being the wholly owned subsidiary of Ford motors enjoys shared research and development. Therefore an investment for further product development is easy and hence it can meet the requirements of the customers. There are Volvos flexi-fuel cars which distributes only to certain geographical areas, and hence Volvo should even have to perform certain product development programs and innovations in these flexi-fuel car s and there should make improvements in distribution networks for these cars so that they are available to all the 120 countries, where Volvo has its network. The reasons for choosing the product development strategy as the best alternative for Volvo cars is, because product development is the only alternative which meets the target customers (especially Volvos target segment of last 15 years) needs and this is the only possible solution to withstand with the challenges Volvo is facing, and Volvo should also consider the some of the aspects like the competitors of Volvo has already met the needs of the customers who are seeking fuel-efficient cars, and hence Volvo have to integrate all the aspects like safety, performance, reliability, fuel-efficient, with low carbon emissions and comfort to compete with their competitors, as Volvo is already reputed for safety and reliability, Volvo has to some other elects in list of product design to provide a best alternative for its customers. Volvos introduction of Flexi-fuel cars to reduce the sales shrink as the customers are moving to fuel-efficient cars shows a positive sign in its performance in the future. Future Product development programs also helps Volvo to achieve its programs like Volvo 2020, where it is trying to differentiate itself on two factors safety of both the environment and driving. Volvo should conduct a budgetary process on the available resources as product development process requires an excess investments into many aspects like research and developments and raw materials and advertising campaigns. REFERENCES: www.volvocars.com WWW.MINTEL.COM Kiley, D (2004), Driven: Inside BMW, the Most Admired Car Company in the World,N.J. John Wiley Sons, Inc. (US). West, P (2000) Organizational Learning in the Automotive Sector, Routledge. Wilson, R. M. S.; Gilligan, C (2005) Strategic Marketing Management: Planning, Implementation and Control 3Rd Ed., London Elsevier. Wilson, A (2002) TheMarketingAuditHandbook: Tools, Techniques Checklists to Exploit Your MarketingResources,CT Koran. Pickett, K. H. Spencer.; Pickett, Jennifer M.(2003)The Internal Auditing Handbook,NJ John Wiley Sons, Ltd. (UK).

American Women Leaving the Home and Going to Work Essay -- Working-Wom

One of the most significant sociological changes in the nation's history began in the last decade of the nineteenth century and the ramifications are still being felt today. This change consisted of the large numbers of women who entered the work force. This dramatic change in American society was accompanied by a great deal of controversy and prejudice directed towards women. It was predicted that female employment would bring about the downfall of society and the change of the American family. While a large portion of the public was appalled by the thought of independent young working women, they were also fascinated. Therefore, the attitudes of the public toward these women can be seen in the literature that was produced at that time. The works of Edith Wharton and Theodore Dreiser immediately come to mind as dramatizations of the life of women of this period. Slowly, attitudes began to change. The employment opportunities for women enlarged and women began to slowly gain their rights as full citizens, finally receiving the right to vote in 1920. The attitudes of the women in the work force also changed as time progressed. At first, they struggled for even the opportunity to work. As the century progressed, they became more active in union activities and, as newspapers from the period demonstrate, they fought to achieve better working conditions and better wages. By 1900, many poor and working-class young women, mostly of Northern white extraction, were leaving the confines and moral structures of their families and elders and venturing forth to the large industrial cities such as New York (Lunbeck 781). There they became enthusiastic participants of the new pleasures that were offered to consumers in the brand-new century. Essentially, these young women added a stage to the female life cycle that had not previously existed à ±adolescence (Lunbeck 781). In the 1890s, female factory workers were seen as a serious economic and social threat. Because women generally worked at the bottom of the pay scale, the theory was that they depressed the overall pay scale for all workers (Kessler-Harris 98). Many solutions were suggested at this time that all revolved around the idea of these women getting marriedà ³the idea being that a married woman would not work for wages. Although this idea seems ludicrous from a modern perspective, it should be noted that t... ...Times (1913): 12 January, p. 7. Connell, Eileen. "Edith Wharton joins the working classes : 'The House of Mirth' and The New York City Working Girls' Clubs," Women's Studies, v26 n6 (1997): November, pp. 557-604. Dreiser, Theodore. "Sister Carrie". Dover Publications, 2004. Fennell, Dorothy E. "Common Sense and a Little Fire: Women and Working-Class Politics in the United States, 1900-1965," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, v49 n4 (1996): July, pp. 773-774. Keep, Christopher. "The cultural work of the Type-Writer Girl," Victorian Studies, V40 n3 (1997): Spring, pp. 401-426. Web. 26 May 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3829292?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Kessler-Harris, Alice. Out to work: a history of wage-earning women in the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982). Web. 26 May 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2150229?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Lunbeck, Elizabeth. "The 'girl problem': female sexual delinquency in New York, 1900-1930," Journal of American History; June 1996, Vol. 83 Issue 1 Web. 26 May 2015. http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/48102053/the-girl-problem-female-sexual-delinquency-new-york-1900-1930

Rebecca Nurse: Fact Vs. Fiction :: essays research papers

In his article, â€Å"Why I Wrote The Crucible,† Arthur Miller speaks of the 1950’s â€Å"which nobody seems to remember clearly†- a time of fearful insanity and unrest. Anyone could be accused. Showing excessive opposition ensured prosecution. Most shrunk back from disputing the McCarthy hearings for fear of their safety. Now, this period of panic is viewed as absurd. As Miller describes Hitler as being almost comical to his generation, the modern generation sees the Salem witch trials as foolish scuffles between ignorant people. The actual events were much different as perceived. Just as a feud with a neighbor seems trivial to those not involved but of intense frustration to the embroiled , the trials were not silly and insignificant. The trials were more about personal issues between rivals than witchcraft itself- the witchcraft was a weapon for Salemites to obtain revenge on their enemies. A tool Miller uses to show the reader this emotion is Rebecca Nurse, seventy-year-old grandmother, wife, and respected member of Salem society. Miller modifies her character in his play. Some facts remain true in the play, others are altered, and some have been neglected altogether. What did he change, and what did he regret to? Why did Miller take such liberties with Rebecca’s character in his play? Rebecca Nurse and her husband, Francis, were both well-respected people in the town of Salem Miller describes. They owned about three hundred acres, and after a land dispute with the Putnams, they broke away from Salem and founded Topsfield. Miller mentions that the founding of Topsfield upset the old Salemites. This is true - aberration was resented in Puritan society. The essence of Puritanism is in the intensity of the Puritan's commitment to a morality, a form of worship, and a civil society strictly conforming to God's commandments . Certain Puritans were â€Å"saved† despite their sins, while the remainder of society led lives strictly following the saved clergy’s interpretations of God’s will. Salem’s minister, Mr. Samuel Parris, was God’s man, as unfit for this title as he may have been. Like Proctor, Rebecca and her husband no longer hungered for religion when Parris became their minister. Their disgust for Mr. Parris cut down on their chur ch appearances. In a judgmental, religious town as Salem was, even an unpleasant minister was no excuse to avoid church. A few Salemites resented the Nurses for their rise in social status as their lands stretched through town.

A Human Transporter Protein that Mediates the Final Excretion Step for

Introduction The kidney is an excretory organ that filters wastes from blood and excretes them as urine. Blood plasma filtration occurs at the glomerulus, which is a network of capillaries. Transporters are specialized proteins located in the membranes of the nephron. There are different concentrations of transporters located at various regions of the nephron. For instance, the proximal tubule retains most of the sodium transporters. Some transporters require adenosine triphosphate while others perform passive transport. The method of excretion of toxic organic compounds in mammals is mainly through the kidney and liver. Toxic organic compounds are absorbed by the basolateral membranes and later excreted by brush border membranes that absorb nutrients from the small intestine. These toxic organic compounds are also absorbed by hepatocytes at the sinusoidal membranes and excreted through the bile canaliculi. The objective of this research is to identify the transporter involved with the final step of excretion of toxic organic chemicals. Based on biochemical and physiological studies of the organic compound exporter, the tentative hypothesis proposed is that mammalian orthologues of bacterial multidrug are involved with the excretion of organic compounds. These multidrug transporters include the ?major facilitator superfamily, the small multidrug resistance family, the resistance nodulation cell division family, the ATP binding cassette family, and the multidrug and toxin extrusion (M ATE) family (8?10)?. The MATE family proteins facilitate the coupled export between hydrogen and sodium ions of cationic drugs in bacteria. In this experiment, MATE1 is revealed as the transporter involved with the final... ... locations fit the description of a H+ coupled organic cation transporter. Does hMATE have the correct physiological fingerprint for a toxic organic cation exporter? Yes! Even before they discovered this protein transporter, physiologists had a set of characteristics that this unknown transport protein would display. This protein would be pH sensitive, use H+ as the active step in secondary active transport, and saturable of course. In addition, this protein is found just where it should be, in the apical regions of tubes in the kidney and liver. Since hMATE fits the description, it is a convincing suspect for exporting toxic organic cations. Sources Article: A human transporter protein that mediates the final excretion step for toxic organic cations. By: Masato Otsuka, Takuya Matsumoto, Riyo Morimoto, Shigeo Arioka, Hiroshi Omote, and Yoshinori Moriyama

Blue Nile Essay

The spreadsheet I did presents a summary of Blue Nile financial results from 2005 to 2009. From 2005 to 2007 revenues and net income both increased. The deep recession which began in late 2007 seriously affected the revenue in 2008. And then in 2009 the revenue recovered and increased slightly. I am going to analysis the financial performance in three parts. First, profitability ratios. Blue Nile had steady return on asset ratios around . 1. The company utilized its assets very efficiently and outperformed their competitors. By doing research on Yahoo Finance, we know the industry return on equity is 0. 18. Blue Nile’s return on equity ratio was much higher. It created better return to investors. Net profit margins were mostly lower than the industry average level. For example in 2009, Blue Nile only had net income of 4 cents for each dollar sale. Its low margins can be explained by its low pricing of products. As Rita said, Blue Nile had a much lower markup than Tiffany. Blue Nile’s number for liquidity ratios are impressive. Such high ratios from 2005 through 2009 show the company’s great ability to pay short-term debt. One of the company’s strategies is that suppliers finance Blue Nile’s sales growth. ( ) The business model contributed to higher sales volumes with minimal additional capital investment. With respect to leverage ratios, Blue Nile had really low long-term debt to equity ratios compared to the industry. Tiffany’s long-term debt to equity was as high as . 39. Because Blue Nile offered a balance between the debt to equity range and firm’s cost of capital, its capital structure was optimal. The company had low capital investment financed by creditors and bondholders. Its debt to assets ratios are over . 5, which means it, had a lot of debt obligations. However, most of the company’s debt was current and it was able to pay off creditors in a timely manner. Creditors did not need to worry about getting paid. Blue Nile’s strong financial performance intuitively indicated the company’s strategies were pretty well-conceived and well-executed.

How does Dickinson mock puritan values in her poems? Essay

Dickinson poem ‘the world is not conclusion’ does not reflect a concentrated attack however she does mock puritanism and undermine its values, although she is a religious catholic Christian herself she feels that people do not understand religion like she does and that they are trying understand something which they never will. She conveys in the poem that there is an afterlife and how it undiscovered ‘s you have to go through it to know, suggests that she has experienced death. mentions themes of puritanism and death in this poem, similar themes are discussed in ‘I felt a funeral in my brain’ and ‘There’s a certain slant of light’. Dickinson starts poem 501 with the lines ‘This world is not Conclusion. ‘ this line shows that Dickinson is certain that there is afterlife, this line also shows confidence in the speakers tone suggesting that maybe Dickinson has experienced this to be so certain. This line is paradoxical since since in this line she is suggesting that there is an afterlife however she ends the sentence with a full stop, implying a stop or end to something. The word conclusion stands out in this line since it starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop. This gives the word ‘conclusion’ emphasises and shows its importance. This line shows religious connotations since it is related to death. It neither mocks or supports puritanism however it just highlights something that the speaker confidently believes. Poem 501 is written without any stanzas and flows right the way through this may be to highlight the continuous search for answers about death and religion and how this search it futile and everlasting since death can not be discovered. The tone at the beginning of the poem is quite arrogant implied by her confidence. Similarly in poem 280 Dickinson says ‘ I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,’ this suggests that she has been through death and that she is now recalling events from the past, this also hints that Dickinson is mocking puritan values since she may be implying that people try to understand death and she has already understood it, making her self more knowledgeable then the ‘scholars’. The word brain associates to mental stability or state of mind, we may interpret that by using the phrase ‘in my Brain’ it shows Dickinson losing her sanity and losing her mental stability as she is experiencing this in her mind rather than in reality. The coma used after ‘Funeral,’ is quite significant as it breaks the sentence in too two parts highlighting the distance between her actually experiencing death and her thinking that she is experiencing death. Against the tone her is quite arrogant as she seems to be more knowledgeable then the believers and the faithful people, suggesting she is pointing a finger at puritan values. Dickinson clearly mocks puritan values in the line ‘To guess, puzzles scholars-‘ this lines picks on the scholars knowledge and questions his knowledge, this line also suggests that the scholars are naive and in actual they don’t know what they are talking about. This shows a slight arrogance on the speakers part as it makes it seem as if the speaker has the knowledge and the scholars don’t. It also shows that maybe Dickinson has experienced death since she is so confident. The word ‘puzzles’ in this poem associates to confusion, which shows that Dickinson is mocking the puritan values as she claims they don’t have enough knowledge or understanding about something they believe in so strongly. The line ends with a dash this may represent how the scholars are trying to work out something which is not able to be understood and the dash may represent the endless search for answerers. Similarly in poems 280 she also highlights the puritanisms nativity by saying ‘That sense was breaking through-‘ this makes the puritans seem like they have no sense since she say ‘sense was breaking through’ its like she is implying that finally they are understanding. This line ends with a dash implying that the puritans are having some result and maybe that there is hope , this line also shows that the puritans are finally understanding god or religion. Dickinson criticises puritans again by saying ‘Faith slips-and laughs, and rallies’ from this we interpret that Dickinson is saying that faith can slip and is not always perfect. This picks at puritan values and makes it seem that they are not perfect, by saying this she implies that she may be something better then the people who follow puritan values. The word ‘slips’ associates to imperfection showing how Dickinson attacks puritan values it shows how she undermines the puritan values as imperfect and weak. Dickinson uses a dash after ‘slips’ in this line to emphasise the flaws of puritan values. The line has two comas in it, to slow the sentence down and really emphasise what Dickinson is saying, the comas also make us question the puritan beliefs. The capital letter of ‘Faith’ makes it something important and gives it a status. Similarly in poem 258 Dickinson says ‘That oppresses, like the Heft/Of Cathedral Tunes-‘ this line shows that the puritan values such as the cathedral tunes oppress people and put down there individualism. The word ‘Heft associates to something heavy or burden like, this shows how Dickinson attacks puritans since she is saying there traditions are suppressing, she also capitalises ‘Heft’ giving it a heavy and downwards feel, the capital letter almost literally puts a burden on the reader. Dickinson puts a dash at the end of this line since it shows a unfinished feeling and shows that their traditions are incomplete and they are never ending. Overall Dickinson does attack puritan values and mocks them. She repeatedly shows them to be oppressing and incomplete in the sense that puritans themselves are unaware of there teahings and faith.

Apple Inc Marketing Report Essay

Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation, which designs, manufactures and sells personal computers, consumer electronics and software, and provides related services. The business has experienced a tremendous growth from 2001 when it has introduced its iPod mp3 player. Apple Inc. is considered to be the most successful electronics company in the world. Introduction Executive Summary Marketing Mix Today, Apple unveiled its new product, the iPad. The much publicized rumour about a tablet created by Apple is now a reality. Tablet pc’s have been around for a long time, but what makes the iPad different from the other market offerings? What strategy does Apple have in place in order to make this a runaway hit like its iPhone and iPod product lines? We’ll use the marketing mix (4 P’s) to see how Apple strategized its goal to make the iPad a bestseller. Marketing Mix is the set of controllable, tactical marketing tools that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market. Price, product, place and promotion are the 4 P’s or components that make up a marketing mix. Product Apple sells a variety of electronic devices. In 2010, Apple introduced their first tablet, iPad. Ipad is a tablet device that has several features. It looks like a bigger iPhone or iPod Touch and possess a led touch screen interface. Its dimensions are 9.56 in x 7.47 in. It is also very thin and has a battery life of ten hours. This product has the ability to surf the internet, listen and purchase music, watch videos, view photos, read e-mail, read and purchase e-books and execute multiple applications. In fact, the multiple applications available for the iPhone will be fully compatible with the iPad! There will be different versions of the iPad at launch with different hard drive capacities and 3g capability. There will be a 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB variants. Also all iPads will have Wi-Fi and are wireless-n capable. The iPad will also feature the latest Bluetooth profile and will have an on-screen keyboard for inputs. Price The base model of IPad (16 GB) without 3g capability is the cheapest at $499, 32 GB at $699, this is I pad and I phone 5 prices and 64 GB will retail for $699. If a customer wants 3G capability they will have to pay an additional $130 on top of the base price. The consumer also has the option to sign up for AT&T data plan that allows them to have access to the internet virtually anywhere and in areas without Wi-Fi connections. The data plan is two tiered: the customer has a choice between $14.99/month for 250mb and $29.99/month for unlimited access. The data plan will also allow the consumer to access various AT&T hotspots for free. Unlike the iPhone, the customer will not be locked into multi-year contractual obligation and they can terminate it at any time. As far as discounts go, Apple is known for charging higher, premium prices however, they usually offer $100 off certain products to college and University students. They also do special bundles for purchasing certain products during different times of the year. For example, I purchased a MacBook Pro during the summer and they had a promotion that gave me a free iPod and a free printer plus the $100 discount because I was a University student. They have done the same promotion for the previous two years as well. Place There are multiple Apple stores across the Australia, 20 of them, in which all the apple products will be sold. Apple’s retail stores ensure high quality customer experience; provide direct contact with knowledgeable staff and increases brand awareness. Customers can also purchase the products online in Apple’s official website. Best Buy, one of Apple’s partners, also sells Apple products and also has a large retail footprint in the Australia. Amazon, one of the largest online retailers, also carries Apple products. Apple should gauge consumer demand and produce enough in order to satisfy the market. Promotion In the past two decades, Apple has become well known for its advertisement. Its most significant ad campaigns include the â€Å"1984† Super Bowl commercial, the 1990s Think Different campaign, and the â€Å"iPod people† of the 2000s. Other than that Apple Inc. also held press conference to before each products launch debut the products. Several of the major techblogs, forums and websites also invited to cover the event. Given Apple’s track record of heavy promotion and advertisement of its marquee products, the future apple new product has a high probability of getting the same advertising treatment. The Mac, Iphone 5 and iPad is already highlighted on the front page of Apple website and the hour long keynote by Steve Jobs regarding the Mac, IPhone 5 and iPad are also available on the website.

Freedom: John Stuart Mill Essay

1. John Stuart Mill: Freedom Freedom is generally defined, by a dictionary, as the condition or right of being able or allowed to do, say, think, etc. whatever you want to, without being controlled or limited (Cambridge). This means there is no interference or influence in ones’ actions or opinions by anyone else. There is no domination or dictatorial government who affects these actions or opinions. John Stuart Mill, an English philosopher and economist, gives a similar view on freedom as the Cambridge dictionary, and looks at the ‘nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual’ (Mill, 6). Mill’s view of freedom, as he writes in his book On Liberty, is that â€Å"Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign,† (Mill, 13). By this he means that an individual is free when they make independent choices, have independent opinions and have independent actions. When a person thinks and acts without the influence of outside opinion, a person exercises his or her own freedom. Mill divides human liberty into three regions. The first is the ‘domain of the conscience’ and ‘liberty of thought and feeling,’ (Mill, 15). The second is the ‘liberty of tastes and pursuits,’ and ‘framing the plan of your life’ (Mill, 16). The third region is ‘the freedom to unite, for any purpose not involving harm to others’ (Mill, 16). He states that if a society has a respect for these three regions of human liberty, then a society is free (Mill, 16). ‘The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it’ (Mill, 16). However, he states that if an individual exercises their freedom in a way that threatens harm to another, there should be interference to prevent harm from being done. He asserts that the only time anyone can interfere with or exercise power over an individual’s liberty is when that individual is threatening harm to another and this interference is used for self-protection, (Mill, 13). If an individual is practicing their own freedom in their own way, without preventing others from doing so, then there should be no interference with the individual. For example, if an individual decides to drink an alcoholic beverage, such as a beer, at 10 in the morning, then there should be no interference with that. He knows alcohol is harmful, he is choosing to drink the beer and as long as his actions do not interfere with anyone else then he should not be interfered with. However if his drinking makes him violent, and he decides to start a fight with someone else, there should be interference to prevent the intoxicated individual from causing harm to another individual. Mill’s states that the right of liberty does not apply to children, ‘those who are still in a state to require being taken care of by others’ or ‘backward states of society’ (Mill, 14). Another struggle discussed by Mill in his book, is the struggle between society and the individual about which should have control over the individual’s actions. Mill observes that the world seems to be in a place where in a society, laws and public opinion have more power over an individuals’ actions and thoughts, than the individual has over himself. However society seems to prefer conformity and even demand it. Mill argues that due to conformity, an individual is unable to make meaningful choices, which keeps him from personal development. He believes that freedom, along with individuality, is essential to both individual as well as social progress (Mill, 66). Conformity keeps people from learning from each other and they are unable to approach their life in an appealing way. In his opinion, â€Å"the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race,† (Mills, 19.) When contrasting Mill’s view on freedom with the Dutch philosopher Benedict de Spinozas’ view, there is a clear difference. Spinoza defined freedom as self-caused, which implied that only God can be free (Kisner, 8). He did not believe that humans could be free because we are not free from being determined by outside agents (McKinnon, 109). He also believed that finite things, such as a humans’ brain, could not make a choice that was not caused by external factors. In Spinoza’s IIp48 he asserted that â€Å"In the Mind there is no absolute, or free, will, but the Mind is determined to will this or that by a cause that is also determined by another, and this again by another, and so to infinity.† He did not believe in free will, because he strongly believed that something cannot be caused by nothing, therefore God is the only entity that is free, as he is not limited by outside agents (Kisner, 12). For example, an individual taking a sip of water could argue that they did so because they chose to do so. However external factors are involved as the choice to drink water could be because they wanted to prove that they have free will, which would be because they believed in free will. The individual could also have chosen to drink water because of thirst, which was caused by the individual’s body losing water, which could be a cause of playing sports in the hot sun, due to being part of a school sports team, and so on until infinity. Friedrich August Hayek, an Austro-Hungarian economist and philosopher, has an interesting similar yet opposing view from Mill’s. His view of freedom is when an individual is not a part of ‘coercion by the arbitrary will of another or others’ (Lukes, 160) but also that it is ‘not the absolute liberty to do as one pleases, rather it is a recognition of the necessity of law and morality in order to ensure that human interaction is cooperative and orderly,’ (Horwitz). For Hayek freedom depends on whether an individual can make his own individual decisions on what course of action to take, or whether somebody else uses power to manipulate this person’s choice of action, to make the individual act as they want them to (Lukes, 160). Hayek states that a society with law should try and maintain negative freedom, the freedom to not do anything prohibited and to avoid positive freedom, giving people the power to do things, which allows people to be absent from coercion, as there is no inequality in power under the law (Roberts). Hayek and Mill share the belief that freedom involves no coercion. An individual should not be manipulated or forced to do something that the individual did not decide himself. However Hayek and Mill disagree on the view of conformity. While Hayek states that law and morality are important for a society, Mill disagrees and says that it keeps individuals from progressing, and that it hurts a society as a whole. In conclusion, there are many philosophers who have contrasting as well as similar views on freedom as John Stuart Mill. Mill believes that a person is responsible for his or herself, the way the act, what their opinion is, and should not be interfered with unless the individual poses a threat to someone else. Bibliography MLA Cambridge University. â€Å"Definition of Freedom Noun from Cambridge Dictionary Online: Free English Dictionary and Thesaurus.† Cambridge Dictionary Online: Free English Dictionary and Thesaurus – Cambridge University Press. Cambridge University, 2010. 11 Sept. 2011. . Horwitz, Steven. â€Å"Hayek and Freedom.† The Freeman. May 2006. 13 Sept. 2011. . Kisner, Matthew J. Spinoza on Human Freedom: Reason, Autonomy and the Good Life. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2011. Lukes, Steven. Power: a Radical View. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. McKinnon, Catriona. Issues in Political Theory. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty: 1859. 4th ed. London: Longman, Roberts & Green, 1869. < http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/mill/liberty.pdf> Roberts, Andrew. â€Å"Friedrich Hayek and Freedom.† Study More. Middlesex Universty, 2007. 13 Sept. 2011. .